House passes Equality bill to give biological males access to women’s dressing rooms, locker rooms

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The US House of Representatives passed a sweeping bill Thursday that, in addition to prohibiting harassment, violence, and unfair treatment against LGBTQ people, also grants biological males who “identify” as females access to girls’ and women’s spaces, including restrooms, locker rooms, and dressing rooms, CNS News reports. The bill passed by 224 to 206 with 2 members not voting. Three Republican lawmakers voted in favor of it; no Democrats voted against it.

Entitled “The Equality Act,” the stated purpose of the bill is: “To prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation, and for other purposes.” According to its text, the legislation is required because discrimination against them “prevents the full participation of LGBTQ people in society and disrupts the free flow of commerce.” Moreover, the bill asserts, “Federal courts have widely recognized that, in enacting the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Congress 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 actors.”

Among clauses prohibiting discrimination against LGBTQ people in accommodation, employment, and public spaces, the bill specifies that “(with respect to gender identity) an individual shall not be denied access to a shared facility, including a restroom, a locker room, and a dressing room, that is in accordance with the individual’s gender identity.”

The prohibition of discrimination “Gender identity,” the bill explains at Section 1101 Subsection (a)(2), means “the gender-related identity, appearance, mannerisms, or other gender-related characteristics of an individual regardless of the individual’s designated sex at birth.”

Therefore, under the specific terms of the bill, biological men will have access to women’s private spaces if they claim to identify as female. Critics are concerned that such legislation will result at the end of any safe spaces for women, including shelters for female sexual assault survivors and battered girls and women.

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