The so-called “Equality Act” is racist, men’s rights legislation
The U.S. chapter of Women’s Declaration International (WDI USA) stands firmly in support of all women and girls as a sex class.
WDI USA has a Lesbian Caucus, which authored the Lesbian Bill of Rights and was the founding member of Lesbian Bill of Rights International (LBORI). LBORI includes the WDI USA Lesbian Caucus, LAZ reloaded (Germany), Lesbian Resistance (New Zealand), the Lesbian Action Group (Australia), Lezbicon (Norway), and Arcilesbica (Italy).
WDI USA also has a Black Women’s Caucus, which authored a Statement Against Gender Ideology, explaining why Black women must reject the lie of “gender identity” (and has issued numerous other statements and interviews with Black women who reject the pernicious lie of “gender identity”).
Finally, WDI USA also has a Desisted & Detransitioned Women’s Caucus, which authored the Desisted & Detransitioned Women’s Bill of Rights, outlining the rights, reality, and political potential of women who formerly believed themselves to have a so-called “gender identity” and have since become some of the most outspoken critics of that ideology, advocating to protect others from its harms.
The so-called “Equality Act,” reintroduced in the U.S. House and Senate on April 29, 2025, is a men’s rights bill and an attack on every woman and girl in the United States, including lesbians, because it would redefine the word “sex” to include the sexist and homophobic concept of “gender identity” throughout U.S. civil rights law. It is also an insulting appropriation of the movement for Black Liberation, which won the 1964 Civil Rights Act, outlawing racial segregation in places of public accommodation.
The Equality Act was introduced in both the House and the Senate in 2015. It would have redefined the word “sex” to include the nebulous, sexist, and homophobic concept of “gender identity” for all purposes under U.S. civil rights law. It also would have redefined the word “sex” to include sexual orientation; WDI USA unapologetically supports efforts to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The bill has been reintroduced in every session of Congress since 2015.
In April of 2019, it went before the House Judiciary Committee for a hearing. Speaking on behalf of the group Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF), a lesbian radical feminist Democrat named Julia Beck testified against it at the invitation of a Republican House member named Debbie Lesko. At the end of her testimony, she said, “I thank the Republicans who invited me here, and I urge my fellow Democrats to WAKE UP. Please acknowledge biological reality.”
It has been six years since Julia Beck urged her “fellow Democrats to WAKE UP.” They have not.
When he was campaigning for the presidency in 2020, Joe Biden promised to get the bill enacted and signed within 100 days of taking office. He failed to do so. He failed throughout 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. This should have been an enormous embarrassment for Biden and the Democrats in Congress.
The bill passed in the House of Representatives in 2019 and again in 2021. After the bill passed in the House in 2021, WDI USA sent a letter to then Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, urging him not to advance it in the Senate. Thanks to WDI, the letter was signed by thousands of women all over the world. It stated:
Our understanding is that the current version of the U.S. Equality Act, which passed in the House of Representatives earlier this year, would redefine the word sex to include “gender identity” throughout U.S. Civil Rights Law. “Gender identity,” which the Equality Act defines in a circular fashion with reference to “gender-related identity, appearance, mannerisms, or other gender-related characteristics,” is, in practice, the mechanism by which individuals may claim the identity of the opposite sex. It has no basis in material reality.
Although the enactment of the Equality Act would only affect U.S. women directly, we are terrified of the impact that such enactment is likely to have globally. Our governments look to your government for leadership, expertise, and guidance. Already, we are seeing the word sex being redefined to include “gender identity” in laws throughout the U.K., the European Union, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. These laws have had devastating impacts on the lives of women and girls, including the rapes of vulnerable women in prison, the inclusion of men in women’s spaces such as locker rooms and changing rooms, and the inclusion of men in women’s sports. This situation will only get worse if this law passes in the U.S., and similar laws are likely to extend to other geographic areas as well.
The letter was sent directly to the inbox of one of Majority Leader Schumer’s top staffers, with whom we had met virtually. That staffer confirmed that she received it and that she would share it with him.
The bill then went before the Senate Judiciary Committee and WDI USA former president Kara Dansky submitted written testimony opposing it. The testimony presented three arguments:
- The nation simply has not had the national conversation that we need to have about the far-reaching implications of redefining sex to include so-called “gender identity,” which the current version of the bill would do. We need to have that conversation before any legislation is enacted that would redefine sex to include so-called “gender identity.”
- Simply put, men aren’t women, even if they say they are, and even if they claim to “identify” as such. Women and girls need separate spaces from male people, also known as men and boys. There is no credible scientific evidence to support the proposition that a person born with a Y chromosome can be a woman. It is appalling that these things need to be said in the 21st century.
- Children are being permanently harmed at the altar of so-called “gender identity,” whether the Democrats on the Committee are willing to recognize it or not.
The Equality Act has never gone to the Senate for a full floor vote. It appeared to be dead at the end of 2022, and WDI USA issued a statement celebrating its apparent death. In that statement, we predicted that having thoroughly embarrassed themselves by failing to get it enacted during the first two years of the Biden Administration, the Democrats were not self destructive enough to introduce it again. We were wrong. They did introduce it again in 2023. It went nowhere.
Democrats in Congress have now introduced it again in 2025. On April 29, Senators Merkeley, Booker, and Baldwin introduced it in the Senate and Representative Makano introduced it in the House. The House version is here and the Senate version is here. The Associated Press covered a press conference announcing the introduction of the bill in both chambers, which was attended by very few people. One of the people who spoke at the press conference was a man named Olivia Hunt, who serves as the Director of Federal Policy for Advocates for Trans Equality. The press conference was also attended by Representative Sarah (Tim) McBride, who wore a bright pink suit.
The original 2015 bill contained the following Congressional finding:
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (referred to as “LGBT”) people commonly experience discrimination in securing access to public accommodations—including restaurants, stores, places of or establishments that provide entertainment, and transportation. Forms of discrimination include the exclusion and denial of entry, unequal or unfair treatment, harassment, and violence. This discrimination prevents the full participation of LGBT people in society and disrupts the free flow of commerce.
The 2025 version replaces “LGBT” with “LGBTQ.”
The WDI USA Lesbian Caucus has made it perfectly clear that the forced teaming of LGB (i.e., people who are same-sex attracted) with any other letters and/or symbols harms lesbians. One wonders why these Congressional Democrats could only be bothered to add the Q to the acronym, without including a + sign.
The current version of the Equality Act contains repeated references to phrases such as “LGBTQ people, as well as women,” and “LGBTQ people and women.” This is without regard to the fact that the L in the acronym is supposed to stand for lesbians, who are all women.
It is perfectly obvious to WDI USA that by “LGBTQ people and women,” these Congressional Democrats mean to protect men who claim to have “female gender identities.” They want such men to be permitted to invade all spaces intended for women (i.e., adult human female people), including all lesbian spaces. It is equally obvious to WDI USA that this men’s rights movement is trying to hijack the 1964 Civil Rights Act—a crowning achievement of the Civil Rights Movement—to allow men to access all female-only spaces. We won’t stand for it.
The Equality Act is a racist, men’s rights bill and must be opposed if the rights, privacy, and dignity of all women and girls across the nation are to be protected.
