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Equality Act set for reintroduction on Tuesday

Comprehensive LGBT bill would amend Civil Rights Act

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Equality Act, gay news, Washington Blade
Equality Act, gay news, Washington Blade

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) speaks at the press conference introducing the Equality Act on July 23, 2015 in the LBJ Room of the U.S. Senate. (Blade photo by Michael Key)

Comprehensive legislation seeking to ban discrimination against LGBT people in all areas of civil rights law is set for reintroduction in Congress on Tuesday, according to two Capitol Hill sources familiar with the legislation.

Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) are set to reintroduce the Equality Act in their respective chambers of Congress on Tuesday at 11 am in the Rayburn Room of the U.S. Capitol, the sources said.

First introduced in the previous Congress, the legislation isn’t expected to change from its previous iteration. The bill had sought to amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act to bar anti-LGBT discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, jury service, credit, education and federal programs.

The bill also sought to update federal law to include gender in the list of protected classes in public accommodations. Moreover, the Equality Act had to sought to expand the definition of public accommodations to include retail stores, banks, transportation services and health care services.

David Stacy, director of government affairs for the Human Rights Campaign, said the Equality Act is a necessary tool to combat anti-LGBT discrimination.

“LGBTQ people face unfair and unjust discrimination just because of who they are, with few explicit legal protections in place,” Stacy said. “As lawmakers in states around the country target LGBTQ people for discrimination, it is even more critical that Congress pass a clear federal law to ensure LGBTQ people are fully protected by our nation’s civil rights laws.”

It remains to be seen which lawmakers will co-sponsor the legislation. In the previous Congress, only members of the Democratic caucuses were co-sponsors upon introduction. Although former Rep. Robert Dold and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) joined as co-sponsors in the House and former Sen. Mark Kirk joined as a co-sponsor in the Senate, only Ros-Lehtinen remains in Congress after last year’s election (the other two Republicans lost their races).

For the Senate version of the bill this time around, a Senate aide said no Republican co-sponsors are expected upon introduction of the Equality Act.

The legislation will almost certainly not move after introduction in the Republican-controlled Congress under the Trump administration. Although President Obama came to support the legislation in the previous Congress, it sought no movement other than at one least unsuccessful attempt from Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) to amend the bill to other legislation.

The bill is seen as a counterweight to the First Amendment Defense Act, federal legislation seen to enable anti-LGBT discrimination in the name of “religious freedom.” Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) have said they reintroduce the legislation, but haven’t yet done so in this Congress.

President Trump is unlikely to support the legislation given anti-LGBT actions from the administration, such as reversal of Obama-era guidance protecting transgender kids from discrimination in school and ensuring they have access to school restroom consistent with gender identity. The administration justified that move by saying the issue belongs to the states, not the federal government.

However, 17 years ago, Trump said in an interview with The Advocate he likes the idea of amending the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include sexual orientation, which is a core component of the Equality Act. Trump hasn’t explicitly addressed whether that remains his position during his presidential campaign or since the time has occupied the White House.

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Hungary

Hungarian authorities lift Budapest Pride ban

Country’s new government took office last month

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Budapest Pride participants march over the Erzsebet Bridge in Budapest, Hungary, on June 28, 2025, despite an official ban. The country's new government will allow this year's Budapest Pride march to take place without restrictions. (Courtesy photo)

Hungarian police on May 29 announced they will allow the annual Budapest Pride march to take place.

“The Budapest Metropolitan Police has approved the 2026 Budapest Pride Parade and also has issued restrictive orders in relation to three counter-demonstrations,” a Budapest Metropolitan Police spokesperson told Politico.

Budapest is Hungary’s capital and largest city.

Hungarian lawmakers last year passed a bill that banned Pride events and allowed authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify participants. MPs later amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.

More than 100,000 people defied the ban and participated in last year’s Budapest Pride parade. The event became one of the largest protests against then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government since he took office in 2010.

Prime Minister Péter Magyar took office last month after his center-right Tisza party ousted Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition in elections that took place on April 12. The European Union’s top court, the EU Court of Justice, days after Orbán’s ouster struck down Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law that MPs approved in 2021.

The EU on May 29 announced it will release more than €16 billion ($18.59 billion) in funds to Hungary that it withheld while Orbán was in office.

The Budapest Pride march will take place on June 27.

“We will march freely in fresh air for our rights, for the democratic Hungary,” said Budapest Pride on its Facebook page.

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Colombia

Claudia López comes up short in Colombian presidential election

Former Bogotá mayor would have been country’s first lesbian head of government

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Former Bogotá Mayor Claudia López speaks at the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute's International LGBTQ Leaders Conference in D.C. on Dec. 7, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Former Bogotá Mayor Claudia López on Sunday finished fifth in the first round of Colombia’s presidential election.

López, a centrist who ran as an independent, received 225,517 votes. This figure is .95 percent of the total votes cast.

López was the Colombian capital’s mayor from 2020-2023. She was a member of the Colombian Senate from 2014-2018. López, whose wife is outgoing Colombian Sen. Angélica Lozano, would have become the country’s first female and first lesbian president if she would have won the election.

The LGBTQ+ Victory Institute honored López in D.C. in 2024.

“We need to listen to each other again, we need to have a coffee with each other again, we need to touch each other’s skin,” she told the Washington Blade during an interview. She hadn’t yet declared her candidacy, and did not specifically discuss her plans to run.

Runoff to take place June 21

Abrelardo de la Espriella, a far-right lawyer who has praised U.S. President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, on Sunday finished first with 43.74 percent of the vote. Senator Iván Cepeda, a member of outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s Historic Pact party, came in second with 40.9 percent of the vote.

Neither men received a majority of votes. A runoff between them will take place on June 21.

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Ghana

Ghanaian lawmakers approve anti-LGBTQ bill

Measure that would criminalize allyship awaits president’s signature

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Ghanaian flag (Public domain photo from Pixabay)

Ghanaian lawmakers on Friday approved a bill that would, among other things, criminalize LGBTQ allyship.

Reuters reported MPs approved the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, in a voice vote after parliament’s Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee backed it.

MPs in 2024 approved a similar bill, but it faced legal challenges and then-President Nana Akufo-Addo didn’t sign it. Lawmakers last year reintroduced the measure after President John Dramani Mahama took office.

The bill awaits his signature.

Rightify Ghana, a Ghanaian LGBTQ advocacy group, in a series of social media posts notes MPs passed the bill days before the 4th African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family Values and Sovereignty will take place in Accra, the country’s capital.

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