Democratic presidential bet Hillary Clinton has endorsed a new bill that prohibits discrimination against gays in education, employment, housing, credit and federal jury service.
The Equality Act was introduced by 40 US senators led by Democratic senators Jeff Merkly, Tammy Baldwin and Cory Booker and filed by 158 representatives led by Democratic Rep. David Cicilline.
In a Twitter post, Clinton said, "The Equality Act will mean full federal equality for LGBT Americans & stronger anti-discrimination protections for everyone. Past time."
The filing of the bill follows the legalisation of same-sex marriage by US Supreme Court.
It will amend the Civil Rights Law of 1964 and add sexual orientation and gender identity to other protected classes, such as race or religion, in existing federal laws.
The bill aims to prohibit discrimination in a host of areas, including employment, housing, public accommodations, jury service, access to credit, and federal funding.
In public accommodations, the bill adds sex, sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes and expands the types of public accommodations receiving federal protection to cover nearly every entity that provides goods, services or programs including retail stores, banks and those that provide transport and health care services.
Under public facilities, the bill will allow the attorney general to initiate cases against state and local governments for discrimination in publicly owned facilities other than public schools and public colleges.
In employment, the bill "does not change the existing religious exemption, so that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity is treated exactly the same as discrimination on the basis of race, sex, or national origin."
It will continue to let religious corporations, associations, educational institutions, and societies to hire only individuals of a particular religion to perform work connected with their religious activities.
