USCCB Asks Senators to Stop Equal Rights Amendment In Part Due to LGBTQ Concerns

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has written to U.S. senators asking them to reject a reconsideration of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), in part because it would help protect transgender people’s rights.

The letter, signed by four bishops who are USCCB leaders, raises several objections to the ERA relating to abortion rights, religious liberty, and LGBTQ+ equality—and the present question of whether revoking the 1982 deadline for ERA passage, which failed, is even justified legally. About LGBTQ+ rights, the bishops write:

“Advocates have argued that laws forbidding sex discrimination also forbid discrimination based on ‘sexual orientation,’ ‘gender identity,’ and other categories. . .In fact, that year’s [2020] House Judiciary Committee report on H.J. Res. 79, a resolution purporting to remove the ERA’s ratification deadline, stated ‘the ERA’s prohibition against discrimination “on account of sex” could be interpreted to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.’ These claims heighten our concern about a federal constitutional provision that, in broad fashion, purports to forbid the abridgement [sic] of rights based on sex.”

The ERA would add language to the U.S. Constitution simply stating “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

In a latter section of the letter, which provides background on the bishops’ concerns, it notes legal advances made to protect LGBTQ+ people from discrimination in recent years, such as the Supreme Court’s Bostock decision. The bishops explain:

“If the ERA were to be ratified, many would argue that its prohibition of discrimination ‘on account of sex’ extends constitutional-level protections to sexual conduct and ‘transgender’ identities. . .The result could be a radical restructuring of settled societal expectations with respect to sexual difference and privacy.”

The bishops allege that such consequences of the ERA’s passage could include ending gender-segregated spaces, such as restrooms, stating:

“The ERA could also be asserted as a basis for compelling people’s speech, such as to conform to ‘preferred pronouns.’ The ERA could bolster the claim that public social services devoted to the most vulnerable of women, including homeless and domestic abuse shelters, must admit men. Healthcare workers in public facilities could be forced to provide, and taxpayers made to pay for, ‘gender transition’ procedures, including on children.”

In the bishops’ backgrounder document, the bishops make their religious liberty argument. They argue that the ERA could “force private charities that offer a broad range of services to their communities to change their facilities, speech, and practices to promote abortion, or to affirm ‘gender identities’ or living situations, contrary to their sincerely-held religious and moral beliefs.” Conscience protections for religious organizations allegedly would be imperiled, and they continue:

“The ERA could likewise make it more difficult for faith-based organizations to compete on a level playing field with secular organizations in applying for and obtaining public resources to provide needed social services. For example, the government could argue on a constitutional level that a decision not to perform an abortion or transgender surgery is sex discrimination, so that a health care provider is ineligible to receive generally available federal funds (including Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements) for its healing work if it declines to perform such a procedure.”

The signatories of the letter are Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, chair of the Committee for Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth; Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, chair of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities; Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, chair of the Committee for Religious Liberty; and Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, chair of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

It is unsurprising by now that the USCCB opposes legislation aimed at improving the lives of women and LGBTQ+ people through expanded non-discrimination protections. This present letter is further evidence that a primary concern of the bishops is ensuring they can still receiving government funding while discriminating at will. To do so, they are willing to use arguments that rely more on stoking people’s fear than offering a reasoned approach, as when they suggest healthcare providers would be forced to provide gender-affirming surgery to children, a practice which is almost unheard of. With this approach, they lose sight of the greater common good and the benefits the ERA could provide to millions of people who face daily discrimination because of their sex and/or gender. Whether or not the ERA can be resurrected and passed is uncertain. What is certain is that legislators should disregard the U.S. bishops’ flimsy arguments against it.

—Robert Shine (he/him), New Ways Ministry, March 7, 2023