Equality for All Resolution of 2015

Equality for All Resolution of 2015

Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals are valuable, contributing members of society who deserve equal treatment under the law.

Declares that: (1) discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is a serious problem; (2) existing federal protections are inadequate to ensure nondiscrimination; and (3) Congress should pass legislation that prohibits such discrimination in areas including credit, employment, education, federally funded programs, housing, jury service, and public accommodations.

Encourages states to prohibit such discrimination and to reject laws that undermine nondiscrimination protections.

[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 208 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 208

 Expressing the sense of the Congress that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and 
 transgender individuals should be protected from discrimination under 
                                the law.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 16, 2015

 Mr. Carson of Indiana (for himself, Ms. Adams, Mr. Al Green of Texas, 
     Ms. Bass, Mr. Becerra, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Bera, Mr. Beyer, Mr. 
 Blumenauer, Ms. Brownley of California, Mrs. Bustos, Mrs. Capps, Mr. 
  Capuano, Mr. Caardenas, Mr. Cartwright, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mr. 
 Castro of Texas, Ms. Judy Chu of California, Mr. Cicilline, Ms. Clark 
 of Massachusetts, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Cohen, Mr. 
 Connolly, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Courtney, Mr. Crowley, Mr. Cummings, Mrs. 
    Davis of California, Ms. DeGette, Mr. Delaney, Ms. DeLauro, Ms. 
 DelBene, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mr. Deutch, Ms. Duckworth, Ms. Edwards, Mr. 
  Ellison, Mr. Engel, Ms. Esty, Mr. Farr, Mr. Foster, Ms. Frankel of 
    Florida, Ms. Fudge, Ms. Gabbard, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Grayson, Mr. 
     Grijalva, Mr. Gutieerrez, Ms. Hahn, Mr. Hastings, Mr. Heck of 
 Washington, Mr. Higgins, Mr. Himes, Mr. Honda, Mr. Hoyer, Mr. Israel, 
Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Keating, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. 
  Kildee, Mr. Kilmer, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Ms. Kuster, Mr. Langevin, Mr. 
  Larsen of Washington, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Mrs. Lawrence, Ms. 
Lee, Mr. Lewis, Mr. Ted Lieu of California, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Lowenthal, 
  Mr. Ben Ray Lujaan of New Mexico, Ms. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New 
 Mexico, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney 
of New York, Ms. Matsui, Ms. McCollum, Mr. McDermott, Mr. McGovern, Mr. 
Meeks, Ms. Moore, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Murphy of Florida, Mr. Nadler, Mrs. 
   Napolitano, Mr. Neal, Mr. Norcross, Ms. Norton, Mr. O'Rourke, Mr. 
Pallone, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Peters, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Polis, Mr. 
  Quigley, Mr. Rangel, Miss Rice of New York, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Mr. 
Ruiz, Mr. Rush, Mr. Ryan of Ohio, Ms. Linda T. Saanchez of California, 
  Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Mr. Sherman, Ms. 
Sinema, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Smith of Washington, Ms. Speier, Mr. Takai, 
   Mr. Takano, Mr. Thompson of California, Ms. Titus, Mr. Tonko, Ms. 
 Tsongas, Mr. Van Hollen, Ms. Velaazquez, Mr. Visclosky, Ms. Wasserman 
  Schultz, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. Welch, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. 
  Yarmuth, Mr. Perlmutter, and Mr. McNerney) submitted the following 
    resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Congress that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and 
 transgender individuals should be protected from discrimination under 
                                the law.

Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 7 states ``All are 
        equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to 
        equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection 
        against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against 
        any incitement to such discrimination.'';
Whereas many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals experience 
        discrimination throughout the scope of their lives including in 
        acquiring credit, seeking jobs, accessing public accommodations, 
        attending school, receiving services, renting a home, and performing 
        their civic duty as a juror;
Whereas Americans of every age, every faith, every political party, and every 
        socio-economic background recognize discrimination against lesbian, gay, 
        bisexual, and transgender individuals to be a serious problem;
Whereas religious liberty and nondiscrimination laws have long co-existed;
Whereas existing Federal law and recent executive actions provide some 
        protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender workers, 
        students, and Federal program recipients;
Whereas the States of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, 
        Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New 
        Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, and Washington 
        (plus the District of Columbia) prohibit discrimination on the basis of 
        sexual orientation and gender identity in employment and housing, and 
        New Hampshire, New York, and Wisconsin prohibit discrimination on the 
        basis of sexual orientation in employment and housing;
Whereas the States of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, 
        Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New 
        Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington (plus the District 
        of Columbia) prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation 
        and gender identity in public accommodations, and Massachusetts, New 
        Hampshire, New York, and Wisconsin prohibit discrimination on the basis 
        of sexual orientation in public accommodations;
Whereas the States of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, 
        Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, 
        and Washington (plus the District of Columbia) prohibit discrimination 
        on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in education, and 
        Wisconsin prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in 
        education;
Whereas more than 100 cities in States without explicit nondiscrimination laws 
        have adopted ordinances barring discrimination on the basis of sexual 
        orientation and gender identity;
Whereas 89 percent of Fortune 500 companies have proactively adopted 
        nondiscrimination policies inclusive of sexual orientation and 66 
        percent of Fortune 500 companies have adopted non-discrimination 
        policies inclusive of gender identity;
Whereas lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals may still be legally 
        discriminated against in many jurisdictions in the areas of credit, 
        employment, education, housing, jury service, and public accommodations; 
        and
Whereas discrimination based on who a individual is or whom the individual loves 
        is antithetical to a society based on the protection of human and civil 
        rights: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of House of Representatives that--
            (1) this resolution may be cited as the ``Equality for All 
        Resolution of 2015'',
            (2) lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals are 
        valuable, contributing members of society and that 
        discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender 
        identity is a serious problem,
            (3) lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals 
        deserve equal treatment under the law and existing Federal 
        protections are inadequate to ensure nondiscrimination 
        protections,
            (4) the Congress should pass legislation that prohibits 
        discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender 
        identity in areas including credit, employment, education, 
        federally funded programs, housing, jury service, and public 
        accommodations, and
            (5) the Congress encourages each State--
                    (A) to simultaneously adopt laws that prohibit 
                discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and 
                gender identity in credit, employment, education, 
                federally funded programs, housing, jury service, and 
                public accommodations, and
                    (B) to reject laws that undermine nondiscrimination 
                protections.
                                 <all>