Mar 23, 2021 - Politics & Policy

Exclusive: LGBTQ advocacy groups plan $4 million Equality Act campaign

Orion Rummler

Two men hold a rainbow flag with the US Capitol in the background. — The West Lawn of the US Capitol. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

16 LGBTQ and social justice advocacy groups including the Center for American Progress, the Human Rights Campaign, and the Trevor Project are putting $4 million behind a lobbying and ad campaign to pass the Equality Act.

Why it matters: The act, which would expand federal protections for LGBTQ people by prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, passed the House last month and faces an uncertain future in the Senate.

Senate Republicans who oppose the bill say it would hinder religious freedoms, expand abortion access and discriminate against women by allowing transgender girls to play school sports with cisgender girls.
The legislation passed in the House in May 2019, but never reached the Republican-controlled Senate under former President Trump.

What they're saying: Organizers expect funding to reach eight figures, Ben Becker, a spokesperson for the “Freedom & Opportunity For All” campaign, said.

"The Equality Act represents a landmark step in the fight against all sex discrimination," Fatima Goss Graves, President of National Women’s Law Center," said in a press release.

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Exclusive: LGBTQ advocacy groups plan $4 million Equality Act campaign

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