I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2796 
To repeal executive overreach, to clarify that the proper constitutional 
authority for social transformation belongs to the legislative branch. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 7, 2017 
Mr. OLSON (for himself, Mr. BABIN, Mr. ABRAHAM, and Mrs. HARTZLER) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 
Judiciary 
A BILL 
To repeal executive overreach, to clarify that the proper 
constitutional authority for social transformation belongs 
to the legislative branch. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Civil Rights Uni-
formity Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF 
PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Over the past half century, Congress has 
passed numerous civil rights laws prohibiting dis-
crimination on the basis of ‘‘sex’’, a designation long 
understood to be grounded in objective biology up to 
the present day. There is no evidence that Congress 
or the American people ever understood the word sex 
or gender in civil rights laws to include subjective 
self-identification. 
(2) For years, advocates have pressed Congress 
to include a person’s subjective self-declared ‘‘gender 
identity’’ in Federal civil rights laws that prohibit 
sex discrimination. Congress has declined to do so 
except for the Shepard-Byrd Act of 2009 and the 
Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 
2013 where gender identity is defined as ‘‘actual or 
perceived gender-related characteristics’’ with ‘‘gen-
der’’, there referring to characteristics associated 
with biological males and females. 
(3) This demonstrates that when Congress 
wants to protect sex, it does so explicitly; when it 
wants to also elevate gender identity it does so ex-
plicitly; and when it does not want to elevate gender 
identity, it can do so either explicitly or by simply 
not disturbing the status quo. 
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(4) Despite the complete clarity of this point, 
President Barack Obama’s administration has at-
tempted to effectively replace the word ‘‘sex’’ with 
the phrase ‘‘gender identity’’ for purposes of Federal 
antidiscrimination law and policy through a series of 
unilateral executive actions. 
(5) For example, on December 15, 2014, Attor-
ney General Eric Holder announced that the De-
partment of Justice would reinterpret the ban on 
‘‘sex’’ discrimination under title VII of the Civil 
Rights Act of 1964 to encompass ‘‘gender identity’’. 
This was followed on March 27, 2015, by an Equal 
Employment Opportunity Commission decision hold-
ing that declining to use a female pronoun to ad-
dress a male who identifies as female constituted 
‘‘sex’’ discrimination under title VII. 
(6) On May 9, 2016, the Obama administration 
sued the State of North Carolina and threatened it 
with fines and loss of Federal funding if it did not 
adopt the administration’s incorrect readings of title 
VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and title IX of 
the Education Amendments of 1972. 
(7) On May 13, 2016, the Departments of Jus-
tice and Education issued a ‘‘significant guidance’’ 
letter stating that under title IX of the Education 
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Amendments of 1972 ‘‘when a school provides sex- 
segregated activities and facilities, transgender stu-
dents must be allowed to participate in such activi-
ties and access such facilities consistent with their 
gender identity.’’ The guidance further states that 
schools ‘‘must treat a student’s gender identity as 
the student’s sex’’ including in the context of ‘‘sex- 
segregated restrooms, locker rooms, shower facilities, 
housing, and athletic teams, as well as single-sex 
classes.’’ In other words, the Departments consider 
it a title IX violation if a person of the male sex who 
self-identifies as a female is not granted unfettered 
access to women’s or girls’ dorms, showers, locker 
rooms, and bathrooms. This, despite assurance that 
such a thing would never happen from the likes of 
Ruth Bader Ginsburg who wrote in 1975 that ‘‘sep-
arate places to disrobe, sleep, perform personal bod-
ily functions are permitted, in some situations re-
quired, by regard for individual privacy.’’ This posi-
tion was codified in Federal regulations, 34 CFR 
106.33, which state that recipients of Federal funds 
‘‘may provide separate toilet, locker room, and show-
er facilities on the basis of sex,’’ with sex obviously 
referring to biology. 
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(8) Also on May 13, 2016, the Department of 
Health and Human Services finalized regulations 
that redefined the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition 
on ‘‘sex’’ discrimination in federally funded health 
programs and activities to cover ‘‘gender identity’’, 
thereby opening health care professionals and insur-
ers to extensive liability if they decline to participate 
in or pay for ‘‘gender transition’’ treatments or ‘‘sex 
change’’ operations. 
(9) The Obama administration’s actions are an 
affront to the rule of law, the separation of powers, 
the will of the people, language, history, safety, pri-
vacy, and biological realities. 
(b) PURPOSE.—The purposes of this Act are— 
(1) to prevent the executive branch from unilat-
erally rewriting Federal civil rights laws by enacting 
or implementing any policy or undertaking any en-
forcement action that is based on construing the 
term ‘‘sex’’ or ‘‘gender’’ to mean ‘‘gender identity’’; 
and 
(2) to ensure that gender identity is not treated 
as a protected class in Federal law or policy without 
the affirmative approval of the people’s representa-
tives in Congress. 
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SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF POLICIES REDEFINING SEX TO 
MEAN GENDER IDENTITY. 
(a) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—In determining the 
meaning of any Federal civil rights law, and of any related 
ruling, regulation, guidance, or interpretation of the var-
ious administrative bureaus and agencies of the United 
States, the words ‘‘sex’’ and ‘‘gender’’ and their equiva-
lents shall not be interpreted to mean ‘‘gender identity’’ 
or its equivalent, and the words ‘‘man’’ and ‘‘woman’’ and 
their equivalents shall refer exclusively to a person’s ge-
netic sex. 
(b) RULE OF INTERPRETATION.—No Federal civil 
rights law shall be interpreted to treat gender identity or 
transgender status as a protected class, unless such law 
expressly designates ‘‘gender identity’’ or ‘‘transgender 
status’’ as a protected class. 
(c) DEFINITION
OF
‘‘FEDERAL
CIVIL
RIGHTS 
LAW’’.—For purposes of this Act, the term ‘‘Federal civil 
rights law’’ means any Federal law prohibiting discrimina-
tion on the basis of sex or gender, including title IX of 
the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et 
seq.), the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a et 
seq.), the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.), the 
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 
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111–148), and any other Federal law or provision thereof 
prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex or gender. 
Æ 
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