Feb 26, 2021
A Minot City Council member and five other local leaders in North Dakota recently joined more than 140 mayors, city council members and municipal leaders from 28 other states in sending a letter to members of Congress, calling for passage of comprehensive LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections at the federal level.
The Equality Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Feb 18. The legislation would guarantee explicit, permanent protections for LGBTQ people under existing federal civil rights laws in areas such as housing, access to public spaces, credit, employment and education.
“Unfortunately, LGBTQ North Dakotans cannot rely on our state legislature to provide these protections,” Carrie Evans, vice president of the Minot City Council and the state’s first open lesbian elected to office, said in a news release. “The Equality Act is our only opportunity to protect all LGBTQ North Dakotans from discrimination.