H.R. 15 119th Congress House

Equality Act

Official title: To prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation, and for other purposes.

Introduced: April 29, 2025 Introduced by: Mark Takano Democratic · California See on congress.gov

Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues

Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps

Introduced

In committee

Reported out

Passed House

Passed Senate

To President

Became law

Apr 29, 2025

Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Education and Workforce, Financial Services, House Administration, and Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Apr 29, 2025

Introduced in House

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What's happening now April 29, 2025

Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Equality Act

This bill prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity with respect to businesses, employment, housing, federally funded programs, and other settings.

Specifically, the bill expands Title II and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit public accommodations and federally funded programs, respectively, from discriminating based on sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. It also includes stores, transit services, recreational facilities, and establishments that provide health care, accounting, or legal services as public accommodations under Title II.

The bill also expands Title IV (desegregation of public schools) and Title VII (employment discrimination) to specifically include sexual orientation and gender identity. (The Supreme Court held in Bostock v. Clayton County that Title VII's prohibition of employment discrimination based on sex also prohibits employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.)

The bill similarly expands the Fair Housing Act (discrimination in public and private housing) to include sexual orientation and gender identity. It also prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity by creditors and with respect to jury selection.

The bill defines sex for purposes of the aforementioned provisions to include sex stereotypes, pregnancy, childbirth, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.

Related & companion bills 2

Bill text 1 version

Introduced in House Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

Committees of jurisdiction 5

Committee on House Administration
House of Representatives
Education and Workforce Committee
House of Representatives
Financial Services Committee
House of Representatives
Judiciary Committee
House of Representatives
Oversight and Government Reform Committee
House of Representatives

Lobbying activity 25

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN
for HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
ALLEGIANCE STRATEGIES, LLC
for AMERICAN UNITY FUND, INC. · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
NATIONAL TREASURY EMPLOYEES UNION
for NATIONAL TREASURY EMPLOYEES UNION · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
HADASSAH, THE WOMEN'S ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA, INC.
for HADASSAH, THE WOMEN'S ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA, INC. · New York · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
ALLEGIANCE STRATEGIES, LLC
for AMERICAN UNITY FUND, INC. · District of Columbia · 2nd Quarter 2026 (Apr 1 - June 30)
NATIONAL TREASURY EMPLOYEES UNION
for NATIONAL TREASURY EMPLOYEES UNION · District of Columbia · 2nd Quarter 2026 (Apr 1 - June 30)

Bodies those filers lobbied

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
25 filings
SENATE
25 filings
Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
15 filings
Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS)
15 filings
Homeland Security, Dept of (DHS)
13 filings
Labor, Dept of (DOL)
13 filings
White House Office
13 filings
Office of Management & Budget (OMB)
12 filings

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

See all 25 filings →

Cosponsors 218