[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 136 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 136

 Expressing the sense of the Congress that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and 
 transgender individuals should be protected from discrimination under 
                                the law.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 16, 2017

 Mr. Carson of Indiana (for himself, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. 
 Bonamici, Ms. Brownley of California, Mr. Carbajal, Mr. Cardenas, Mr. 
    Cartwright, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mr. Cicilline, Ms. Clark of 
Massachusetts, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Crowley, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Danny K. Davis 
 of Illinois, Mrs. Davis of California, Ms. DeGette, Mr. Delaney, Ms. 
 DelBene, Mrs. Dingell, Ms. Esty, Mr. Foster, Ms. Frankel of Florida, 
Mr. Garamendi, Mr. Al Green of Texas, Mr. Gutierrez, Mr. Hastings, Mr. 
  Higgins of New York, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Jeffries, Mr. Johnson of 
 Georgia, Mr. Keating, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Mr. 
Larsen of Washington, Ms. Lee, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Ben Ray Lujan of New 
 Mexico, Ms. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Sean 
  Patrick Maloney of New York, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Meeks, Ms. Meng, Ms. 
Moore, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Neal, Mr. Norcross, Ms. Norton, Mr. 
  Panetta, Mr. Peters, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Polis, Mr. Raskin, 
  Miss Rice of New York, Mr. Rush, Mr. Ryan of Ohio, Ms. Sanchez, Ms. 
   Schakowsky, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Schneider, Mr. Schrader, Mr. Scott of 
  Virginia, Mr. Serrano, Ms. Shea-Porter, Ms. Speier, Mr. Swalwell of 
    California, Mr. Takano, Mr. Tonko, Ms. Tsongas, Mr. Veasey, Ms. 
  Wasserman Schultz, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. Welch, Mr. Yarmuth, Mr. 
    Aguilar, Mr. Khanna, and Ms. Slaughter) submitted the following 
    resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Congress that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and 
 transgender individuals should be protected from discrimination under 
                                the law.

Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 7 states ``All are 
        equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to 
        equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection 
        against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against 
        any incitement to such discrimination.'';
Whereas many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals experience 
        discrimination throughout the scope of their lives including in 
        acquiring credit, seeking jobs, accessing public accommodations, 
        attending school, receiving services, renting a home, and performing 
        their civic duty as a juror;
Whereas Americans of every age, every faith, every political party, and every 
        socio-economic background recognize discrimination against lesbian, gay, 
        bisexual, and transgender individuals to be a serious problem;
Whereas religious liberty and nondiscrimination laws have long co-existed;
Whereas existing Federal law and recent executive actions provide some 
        protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender workers, 
        students, and Federal program recipients;
Whereas the States of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, 
        Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New 
        Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and 
        New York (plus the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands of the 
        United States, Puerto Rico, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 
        Islands) prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and 
        gender identity in employment and housing, and New Hampshire and 
        Wisconsin prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in 
        employment and housing;
Whereas the States of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, 
        Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New 
        Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Massachusetts 
        (plus the District of Columbia) prohibit discrimination on the basis of 
        sexual orientation and gender identity in public accommodations, and New 
        Hampshire, New York, and Wisconsin prohibit discrimination on the basis 
        of sexual orientation in public accommodations;
Whereas the States of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, 
        Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and 
        Washington (plus the District of Columbia) prohibit discrimination on 
        the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in education, and 
        Wisconsin prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in 
        education;
Whereas more than 100 cities in States without explicit nondiscrimination laws 
        have adopted ordinances barring discrimination on the basis of sexual 
        orientation and gender identity;
Whereas 89 percent of Fortune 500 companies have proactively adopted 
        nondiscrimination policies inclusive of sexual orientation and 66 
        percent of Fortune 500 companies have adopted nondiscrimination policies 
        inclusive of gender identity;
Whereas lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals may still be legally 
        discriminated against in many jurisdictions in the areas of credit, 
        employment, education, housing, jury service, and public accommodations;
Whereas legislation was introduced in the 114th Congress to clarify that under 
        Federal law lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals should 
        not be subject to discrimination in public accommodations;
Whereas in 2015 the Supreme Court affirmed in Obergefell et al. v. Hodges, 
        Director, Ohio Department of Health, et al., Supreme Court Docket No. 
        14-556, decided June 26, 2015, that the Fourteenth Amendment to the 
        Constitution requires States to recognize the right of 2 individuals of 
        the same sex to marry;
Whereas in 2016 the Attorney General and Secretary of Education issued jointly 
        guidance to clarify that transgender students are protected from sex 
        discrimination under title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and 
        that schools must treat students in a manner consistent with their 
        gender identity; and
Whereas discrimination based on who an individual is or whom the individual 
        loves is antithetical to a society based on the protection of human and 
        civil rights: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of House of Representatives that--
            (1) this resolution may be cited as the ``Equality for All 
        Resolution of 2017'',
            (2) lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals are 
        valuable, contributing members of society and that 
        discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender 
        identity is a serious problem,
            (3) lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals 
        deserve equal treatment under the law and existing Federal 
        protections are inadequate to ensure nondiscrimination 
        protections,
            (4) the Congress should pass legislation that prohibits 
        discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender 
        identity in areas including credit, employment, education, 
        federally funded programs, housing, jury service, and public 
        accommodations, and
            (5) the Congress encourages each State--
                    (A) to simultaneously adopt laws that prohibit 
                discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and 
                gender identity in credit, employment, education, 
                federally funded programs, housing, jury service, and 
                public accommodations, and
                    (B) to reject laws that undermine nondiscrimination 
                protections.
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