Grand Canyon Times

U.S. House. Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) opposes the H.R. 5, otherwise known as the Equality Act, primarily authored by Rep. David N. Cicilline (D-RI).

“The Democrats are once again pushing their radical legislation that is masquerading as the ‘Equality Act,’” Lesko wrote on Twitter. “It doesn’t promote equality — it would actually erase women and their rights!”

In summary, “this bill prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in areas including public accommodations and facilities, education, federal funding, employment, housing, credit, and the jury system. Specifically, the bill defines and includes sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity among the prohibited categories of discrimination or segregation,” according to congress.gov.

In Inez F. Stepman’s opinion piece for WSJ, she writes, “the Equality Act would go much further by making it illegal to distinguish 'identity' from biology and thereby prioritize transgender people over women.”

This would happen “by erasing sex as a distinct legal category, the measure threatens to open up female-only spaces and opportunities designed to increase representation for girls to biological men, which can endanger the safety of women and girls," Stepman wrote.

The Equality Act would also give the Department of Justice the power to “intervene in equal protection actions in federal court on account of sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Both Lesko and Stepman declared that H.R. 5 would threaten women’s rights.