IIB 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 5 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
MAY 20, 2019 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
AN ACT 
To prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, gender 
identity, and sexual orientation, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Equality Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) Discrimination can occur on the basis of the 
sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or preg-
nancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition of 
an individual, as well as because of sex-based stereo-
types. Each of these factors alone can serve as the 
basis for discrimination, and each is a form of sex 
discrimination. 
(2) A single instance of discrimination may 
have more than one basis. For example, discrimina-
tion against a married same-sex couple could be 
based on the sex stereotype that marriage should 
only be between heterosexual couples, the sexual ori-
entation of the two individuals in the couple, or 
both. Discrimination against a pregnant lesbian 
could be based on her sex, her sexual orientation, 
her pregnancy, or on the basis of multiple factors. 
(3) Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and 
queer (referred to as ‘‘LGBTQ’’) people commonly 
experience discrimination in securing access to pub-
lic accommodations—including restaurants, senior 
centers, stores, places of or establishments that pro-
vide entertainment, health care facilities, shelters, 
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government offices, youth service providers including 
adoption and foster care providers, and transpor-
tation. Forms of discrimination include the exclusion 
and denial of entry, unequal or unfair treatment, 
harassment, and violence. This discrimination pre-
vents the full participation of LGBTQ people in so-
ciety and disrupts the free flow of commerce. 
(4) Women also have faced discrimination in 
many establishments such as stores and restaurants, 
and places or establishments that provide other 
goods or services, such as entertainment or transpor-
tation, including sexual harassment, differential pric-
ing for substantially similar products and services, 
and denial of services because they are pregnant or 
breastfeeding. 
(5) Many employers already and continue to 
take proactive steps, beyond those required by some 
States and localities, to ensure they are fostering 
positive and respectful cultures for all employees. 
Many places of public accommodation also recognize 
the economic imperative to offer goods and services 
to as many consumers as possible. 
(6) Regular and ongoing discrimination against 
LGBTQ people, as well as women, in accessing pub-
lic accommodations contributes to negative social 
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and economic outcomes, and in the case of public ac-
commodations operated by State and local govern-
ments, abridges individuals’ constitutional rights. 
(7) The discredited practice known as ‘‘conver-
sion therapy’’ is a form of discrimination that harms 
LGBTQ people by undermining individuals sense of 
self worth, increasing suicide ideation and substance 
abuse, exacerbating family conflict, and contributing 
to second class status. 
(8) Both LGBTQ people and women face wide-
spread discrimination in employment and various 
services, including by entities that receive Federal fi-
nancial assistance. Such discrimination— 
(A) is particularly troubling and inappro-
priate for programs and services funded wholly 
or in part by the Federal Government; 
(B) undermines national progress toward 
equal treatment regardless of sex, sexual ori-
entation, or gender identity; and 
(C) is inconsistent with the constitutional 
principle of equal protection under the Four-
teenth Amendment to the Constitution of the 
United States. 
(9) Federal courts have widely recognized that, 
in enacting the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Congress 
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validly invoked its powers under the Fourteenth 
Amendment to provide a full range of remedies in 
response to persistent, widespread, and pervasive 
discrimination by both private and government ac-
tors. 
(10) Discrimination by State and local govern-
ments on the basis of sexual orientation or gender 
identity in employment, housing, and public accom-
modations, and in programs and activities receiving 
Federal financial assistance, violates the Equal Pro-
tection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the 
Constitution of the United States. In many cir-
cumstances, such discrimination also violates other 
constitutional rights such as those of liberty and pri-
vacy under the due process clause of the Fourteenth 
Amendment. 
(11) Individuals who are LGBTQ, or are per-
ceived to be LGBTQ, have been subjected to a his-
tory and pattern of persistent, widespread, and per-
vasive discrimination on the bases of sexual orienta-
tion and gender identity by both private sector and 
Federal, State, and local government actors, includ-
ing in employment, housing, and public accommoda-
tions, and in programs and activities receiving Fed-
eral financial assistance. An explicit and comprehen-
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sive national solution is needed to address such dis-
crimination, which has sometimes resulted in vio-
lence or death, including the full range of remedies 
available under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 
(12) Numerous provisions of Federal law ex-
pressly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, 
and Federal agencies and courts have correctly in-
terpreted these prohibitions on sex discrimination to 
include discrimination based on sexual orientation, 
gender identity, and sex stereotypes. In particular, 
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 
correctly interpreted title VII of the Civil Rights Act 
of 1964 in Macy v. Holder, Baldwin v. Foxx, and 
Lusardi v. McHugh. 
(13) The absence of explicit prohibitions of dis-
crimination on the basis of sexual orientation and 
gender identity under Federal statutory law has cre-
ated uncertainty for employers and other entities 
covered by Federal nondiscrimination laws and 
caused unnecessary hardships for LGBTQ individ-
uals. 
(14) LGBTQ people often face discrimination 
when seeking to rent or purchase housing, as well as 
in every other aspect of obtaining and maintaining 
housing. LGBTQ people in same-sex relationships 
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orientation and gender identity),’’ before ‘‘or national ori-
gin’’. 
(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Title II of such Act 
(42 U.S.C. 2000a et seq.) is amended by adding at the 
end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 208. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 
‘‘A reference in this title to an establishment— 
‘‘(1) shall be construed to include an individual 
whose operations affect commerce and who is a pro-
vider of a good, service, or program; and 
‘‘(2) shall not be construed to be limited to a 
physical facility or place.’’. 
SEC. 4. DESEGREGATION OF PUBLIC FACILITIES. 
Section 301(a) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 
U.S.C. 2000b(a)) is amended by inserting ‘‘sex (including 
sexual orientation and gender identity),’’ before ‘‘or na-
tional origin’’. 
SEC. 5. DESEGREGATION OF PUBLIC EDUCATION. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 401(b) of the Civil Rights 
Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000c(b)) is amended by inserting 
‘‘(including sexual orientation and gender identity),’’ be-
fore ‘‘or national origin’’. 
(b) CIVIL ACTIONS BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.— 
Section 407 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000c–6) is amended, 
in subsection (a)(2), by inserting ‘‘(including sexual ori-
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