I like to imagine the letter President Obama sent to every school in the country demanding ‘bathroom access’ for transgender students contained a musical greeting card proclaiming ‘Ooo Girl! You Got Shemail!’ That would be amusing if trans activists had not already shamed RuPaul for using that exact phrase on his TV Show, "RuPaul’s Drag Race", already. But the message is the same. This president feels entitled to decree social changes as he sees fit and with now routine audacity. For the time being this merely impacts federal funding for schools that do not comply. It is more of an act of blackmail than federal enforcement. This, however, will change if the Equality Act is passed.

The media has not been very vocal about the Equality Act (H.R.3185), its details or its consequences. This is very dangerous. While much of the country is arguing over whether a person should be able to enter a public restroom purely on their own sense of gender, this act, which alters the Civil Rights Act of 1964, threatens to take away the very option to debate it at the state level. The act is designed to add sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex to the Civil Rights Act and empower the Federal government to determine exactly what that entails for the foreseeable future.

While the original Civil Rights Act caused controversy due to its inclusion of both public and private affairs, it is considered fairly straightforward by today’s standards. It is easy to agree that race should not be used to determine access to public accommodations everyone pays into and as citizens have a right to access. The right of private businesses to discriminate is a libertarian argument for another time. But suffice it to say the general idea is fairly uncontroversial. It may also seem equally benign to include additional characteristics for the same effect.

The problem, however, is that we live in a different time and the motivations are far from guaranteeing freedom to all. To begin, LGBT citizens do not experience discrimination in public accommodations, nor have they in previous times. We can vote without molestation, own property, purchase guns and so on and our sexual orientation is irrelevant to legal access or equality. Transgender individuals gained legal access to change their gender and name with legal battles starting in the 1960s. To be sure, there has not been a history of ‘Straights Only’ water fountains or back-of-the-bus demands for LGBT in the United States. To complicate matters, sexual orientation and gender identity are only determined through self-reporting and under no other verifiable method. A black person is unable to conceal their skin color but a gay person merely identifies as gay to receive the protection. The need is just not there. But the threat of this act goes beyond merely being generally unnecessary.

While the language for sex and sexual orientation are fairly standard, it is the language regarding gender identity that is at issue. The act reads: “"gender identity" as gender-related identity, appearance, mannerisms, or characteristics, regardless of the individual's designated sex at birth.” The act explicitly bans discrimination based on this definition. It also expands the Department of Justice’s authority to investigate a public school or college that is accused of discriminating against anyone based on sexual orientation or the above qualities known as ‘gender identity.’

A key point to this is the following statement: “Prohibits an individual from being denied access to a shared facility, including a restroom, a locker room, and a dressing room, that is in accordance with the individual's gender identity.” The wording of this act nullifies any state or local decision to define gender separated restrooms as suitable for only said gender. The demands of the left today that a person should be able to enter any restroom they choose based solely on their self-reported identity will become codified into Federal law with the full protection and force of the United States Constitution. The act authorizes the DOJ to fully intervene and prosecute in Federal court any claim that violates this.

The act will also nullify the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act and all state laws guaranteeing religious freedom in relation to sexual orientation or gender identity. A wrinkle here is ‘sex’ which would prohibit religious organizations from segregating based on gender. Muslim and Orthodox Jewish citizens do not seem aware of this possibility. Ironically neither do gay men who frequent gay bathhouses which are exclusively for men (a Chicago transman has already sued a gay bathhouse over this demand.)

Republican Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois has already publicly endorsed this act. The act is widely supported by Democrats who routinely demand it be passed whenever any issue of LGBT social concern arises. Naturally all major LGBT organizations and leftist media outlets are supportive. The average person may not blink twice since the name conveys a concept most consider positive. Who wants to oppose the ‘Equality Act” in public? But the reality is if this addition to the Civil Rights Act is signed into law, ‘freedom for all’ will become much closer to ‘special rights for the few.’ Your state will not be able to override the regulations and your religious freedom will be interpreted through this bill.

I believe this act must be aggressively opposed. We must not allow current ideas of gender identity to become codified into Federal law. As usual, LGBT people and our rights are not involved. But we simply cannot allow this power grab to take place and we certainly cannot have the DOJ policing public accommodation of personal identity. We must get the word out and ensure this act never passes. The freedom to associate, practice your religion, choose how to interact with LGBT in your professional life or even use a public restroom in peace is at stake. Your children are already being used as leverage to coerce you, as we speak, in public schools. Wait until there is DOJ enforcement.

Chad Felix Greene (@Chadfelixg), author of Jewish Children’s Books, Non–Fiction and Social Commentary

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