<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><BillSummaries>
    <item congress="119" measure-type="hr" measure-number="1543" measure-id="id119hr1543" originChamber="HOUSE" orig-publish-date="2025-02-24" update-date="2025-08-13">
        <title>EQUITY Act</title>
        <summary summary-id="id119hr1543v00" currentChamber="HOUSE" update-date="2025-08-13">
            <action-date>2025-02-24</action-date>
            <action-desc>Introduced in House</action-desc>
            <summary-text><![CDATA[<p><strong>Equal and Uniform Treatment in the Military Act or the EQUITY Act&nbsp;</strong></p><p>This bill prohibits discrimination within the Department of Defense (DOD) against individuals on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation.</p><p>A qualification established or applied related to eligibility for service in any of the Armed Forces&nbsp;must only consider (1) the ability of an individual to meet the general occupational standards for service, and (2) the particular military occupational specialty.</p><p>On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled <em>Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government</em>, declaring that the United States recognizes two sexes (male and female) and these sexes are not changeable.</p><p>On January 27, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled<em> Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness</em>, expressing that the policy for troop readiness is inconsistent with gender dysphoria or the use of pronouns that inaccurately reflect an individual’s biological sex. Further, the order directs DOD to update specific guidance documents related to medical standards for military service to reflect the purpose and policy of the order.</p>]]></summary-text>
        </summary>
    </item>
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        <dc:language>EN</dc:language>
        <dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
        <dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
        <dc:description>This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.</dc:description>
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