This morning, thousands of you tuned in to Facebook and YouTube for the #EqualityActExposed rally. Since the event first aired live, it’s garnered more than 32,000 impressions – and counting.
If you joined us live or afterward, thank you for joining to speak out to Congress. Today we made a clear statement that Americans oppose the dangerous Equality Act for a myriad of reasons.
If you haven’t watched the video yet, we encourage you to check it out here. And, don’t forget to share with friends!
We were honored to be joined by 12 other leading national and state organizations, as well as U.S. Senator Mike Lee (UT), Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler (MO-04), and Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (AZ-08).
Throughout the rally, speakers shared many reasons they opposed the Equality Act – ranging from its harm to children, to its destruction of girls’ sports, to the implications for medical professionals. We even had the privilege of being joined by Natasha Chart of the Women’s Liberation Front – a self-styled radical feminist group that opposes the Equality Act because, in their words, it would “erase” women!
Here were some of our favorite moments:
Craig DeRoche, President & CEO for Family Policy Alliance, explained why a diverse collection of groups spanning the ideological spectrum came together in a united front to oppose the so-called Equality Act:
“The sponsors have to call the bill the Equality Act in order to hide what’s really lurking in it—a broken proposal that sets us back decades when it comes to America’s long and hard-fought march toward equal justice for all. We may not agree on all of the issues, but one thing we do agree on: the Equality Act is a deeply broken proposal that amounts to a massive federal government power grab into the most intimate parts of American life and family, intentionally silencing all of us who disagree along the way. There is no other option. Congress must reject it.”
When we experienced technical difficulties at the start of the stream, Joseph Backholm of Family Research Council stepped up to the plate and opened the rally with a great overview of the Equality Act’s many harms. Thank you, Joseph!
Senator Mike Lee (Utah), who has authored a great bill to protect women’s sports (S. 251), spoke about why we must defend girls’ and women’s sports:
“Not only are these girls denied the ability to be able to stand on the stage and be able to compete and get their awards, they are also being denied scholarship potentials. And, if this is allowed to continue across the country, or even as we look at the upcoming Olympics, we are in big trouble as far as all the gains we have made in women’s sports will be wiped away. We’ve got to stand up and stop this right now.”
“We’ve spent years fighting to defend the unique differences between men and women and now not only are those differences being erased biologically, they will be eliminated legally. We must cry out ‘Nonsense. Nonsense!’”
Dr. Sharen Ford, Director for Foster Care and Adoption, Focus on the Family shared an inspiring message about the importance of faith-based adoption and foster care – and how the Equality Act would hurt that.
Due to technical challenges, we were unable to stream these messages, but we’re thrilled we can share them with you now:
Many of the organizations participating in the rally, including Family Policy Alliance, asked constituents and viewers to send a message to their U.S. Representative to “Vote NO” on the Equality Act. Together, these organizations are generating tens of thousands of messages into congressional offices!
Here’s a full list of participating organizations, including links they provided to viewers during the rally.
- Family Policy Alliance
- The Heritage Foundation
- Family Research Council
- Concerned Women for America
- American Association of Prolife OB/GYN’s
- Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF)
- Save Women’s Sports
- Massachusetts Family Institute
- March for Life
- Hawaii Family Forum
- Focus on the Family
- Alliance Defending Freedom
- Independent Women’s Forum
All participating organizations will continue their work to stop the Equality Act.
What comes next? We expect that the Equality Act vote will take place this afternoon (Thursday), and we will be sure to update you of the outcome. If you haven’t already, please send a message to your member of Congress in our Action Alert now. It only takes a minute!
Thank you all again for showing up in force today. This is how we make a difference.
Don’t forget to contact your member of Congress and share the rally recording with friends!
Together in the fight,
Meridian Baldacci
Policy and Communications Strategist