Following the introduction today of the Equality Act, the Heritage Foundation’s Emilie Kao, director of the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, warned the legislation would erase important protections for women and constitutional freedoms for all Americans.

“Lawmakers should uphold and protect our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms, respect the rights of parents, and work to ensure women's and girls' safety.

“The so-called Equality Act undermines fundamental freedoms by mandating a single viewpoint on sexual orientation and gender identity, which would violate the rights of a wide variety of Americans—including parents, doctors, business owners, and charities—to peacefully live and work according to their sincerely held beliefs.

"This dangerous legislation would empower government authorities to open every girl’s locker room and sports team to males who self-identify as female; pressure doctors to administer puberty-blocking hormones to children over the objections of their parents; and punish Americans who fail to engage in government-compelled speech.

“Authorities have used similar laws in states to threaten people for affirming that we are born male and female and that marriage is a union of a husband and wife.

“Congress should resist the deeply authoritarian impulse that this bill represents.”