[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5054 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5054

 To amend title 10, United States Code, to prohibit discrimination in 
                           the Armed Forces.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 27, 2023

Ms. Strickland (for herself, Ms. Escobar, Ms. Sewell, Mr. Horsford, Ms. 
Tokuda, Mr. Veasey, Ms. McClellan, Ms. Norton, Mr. Carson, Ms. Sanchez, 
Mr. Espaillat, Ms. Adams, and Mrs. Torres of California) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 10, United States Code, to prohibit discrimination in 
                           the Armed Forces.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Equal and Uniform Treatment in the 
Military Act'' or the ``EQUITY Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Women, Black, Native American, and LGBTQIA+ Americans 
        have served in the Armed Forces since the Revolutionary War.
            (2) In 1948, 16 years before the enactment of the Civil 
        Rights Act (Public Law 88-352; 78 Stat. 241), which desegrated 
        civilian spaces, President Truman issued Executive Order 9981, 
        which allowed Black members of the Armed Forces to serve side-
        by-side with white members.
            (3) In 1948, President Truman signed the Women's Armed 
        Services Integration Act (Public Law 80-625; 62 Stat. 356) into 
        law, officially allowing women to serve as full, permanent 
        members of each Armed Force.
            (4) In 1967, President Johnson signed into law Public Law 
        90-130, which authorized the promotion of women to the ranks of 
        general and flag officers.
            (5) In 1972, women were allowed to command units that 
        included men.
            (6) In 1982, the Department of Defense Instruction 1332.14, 
        ``Enlisted Administrative Separations'', banned homosexual 
        individuals from serving in the Armed Forces.
            (7) In 1993, President Clinton signed into law the National 
        Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 (Public Law 103-
        16), which enacted section 654 of title 10, United States Code, 
        ``Policy concerning homosexuality in the armed forces'', 
        commonly known as ``Don't Ask, Don't Tell''.
            (8) In 2011, President Obama signed into law the ``Don't 
        Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010'', allowing homosexual 
        members to openly serve in the Armed Forces.
            (9) In 2015, the last remaining policy restrictions on 
        women serving in direct combat roles were removed.
            (10) In 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 13988, 
        which rescinded the policy that prohibited transgender 
        individuals from serving in the Armed Forces.
            (11) It should be the policy of the United States that 
        every member of the Armed Forces has the right to serve, 
        advance, and be evaluated based on only individual merit, 
        fitness, capability, and performance, in an environment free of 
        discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, 
        religion, sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

SEC. 3. NONDISCRIMINATION IN THE ARMED FORCES.

    Chapter 49 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
after section 985 the following new section:
``Sec. 986. Prohibition on discrimination
    ``(a) Prohibition.--(1) Subject to paragraph (2), discrimination 
within the Department of Defense against an individual on the basis of 
race, color, religion, sex, national origin, gender identity, or sexual 
orientation, is prohibited.
    ``(2) A qualification established or applied regarding eligibility 
for service in an armed force shall take into account only the ability 
of an individual to meet--
            ``(A) general occupational standards for military service; 
        and
            ``(B) the particular military occupational specialty.
    ``(b) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `gender identity' means the gender-related 
        identity, appearance, mannerisms, or other gender-related 
        characteristics of an individual, regardless of the 
        individual's designated sex at birth.
            ``(2) The term `sex' includes--
                    ``(A) a sex stereotype;
                    ``(B) pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical 
                condition; and
                    ``(C) sex characteristics, including intersex 
                traits.
            ``(3) The term `sex stereotype' includes--
                    ``(A) stereotypical notions of masculinity or 
                femininity;
                    ``(B) an expectation of how an individual 
                represents or communicates their gender to others 
                through behavior, clothing, hairstyle, activity, voice, 
                mannerism, or body characteristic;
                    ``(C) the expectation that an individual will 
                consistently identify with only one gender; and
                    ``(D) an expectation regarding the appropriateness 
                of a role for a certain sex.''.
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