As
civil rights organizations work toward passage of these critical
federal protections, accelerating progress at the state level is
critical. This year, the number of states that obtained the
SEI’s highest rating, “Working Toward Innovative Equality,” increased
from 13 to 17. These states -- including Colorado -- currently
have robust LGBTQ non-discrimination laws covering employment, housing
and public accommodations, as well as protections in the areas of credit
and insurance.
This SEI report comes as more than 46 state legislatures have opened their sessions -- and with New York
kicking off the year on a tremendous note by passing both the Gender
Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) and legislation protecting
LGBTQ youth in the state from the dangerous and debunked practice of
so-called “conversion therapy.” The Virginia State Senate
has also passed legislation that would prohibit discrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. And governors in Kansas, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin signed executive orders protecting LGBTQ state employees.
The
U.S. House is soon poised to begin considering the Equality Act, a
historic bill that would provide consistent and explicit
non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people across key areas of
life, including employment, housing, credit, education, public spaces
and services, federally funded programs and jury service. More than 130
major employers, with operations in all 50 states, have joined HRC’s
Business Coalition for the Equality Act, urging Congress to pass these
crucial protections.
“The
work of the HRC Foundation and programs like the State Equality Index,
along with HRC's efforts day in and day out to advance protections for
LGBTQ people at the state and federal level are vital to the struggle
for LGBTQ civil rights,” said HRC President Chad Griffin.”HRC
and our partners on the ground defeated dozens of anti-LGBTQ bills last
year, and worked to pass crucial pro-equality measures that ensure
LGBTQ Americans are protected wherever they live. Already, we see the
promise of even more protections passing in 2019 -- with action taken in
New York, Virginia, Kansas, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin.”
Griffin
continued, “However, LGBTQ people still face the sobering reality that
their rights are determined by which side of a state or city line they
call home. As this year’s State Equality Index makes clear, the time has
come for us to do away with this patchwork of state laws and to protect
all LGBTQ people by passing the federal Equality Act.”
Said Daniel Ramos, executive director of One Colorado:
“The State Equality Index highlights protections for LGBTQ Coloradans
and identifies the areas where we can improve the quality of life for
our community. As a state working toward innovative equality, we are
proud to be one of three states to have a third gender option on both
drivers licenses and birth certificates. Last year, One Colorado
collected over 11,000 petition signatures to ban conversion therapy in
Colorado. With our successful efforts to elect pro-equality majorities
in both the house and senate, we are confident our bills to ban
conversion therapy and to make it easier for transgender people to
update their birth certificates will make it to the desk of our first
openly gay Governor, Jared Polis.”
