In Favor of the 2019 Equality Act: A Comment on Burt

Abstract

There are three reason why I disagree with the author’s premise that 2019 Equality Act disadvantages women by blurring the distinction between sex and gender identity. First, it ignores current legal theory and practice that sex discrimination encompasses gender identity discrimination in federal law; second, it has not made a sufficient case that the Act’s interpretation of sex would harm women; third, it incorrectly assumes gender equality in the workplace can be achieved while sex-segregated spaces remain segregated by biological sex. In sum, revising the Equality Act to exempt women’s spaces would sacrifice the principle of gender equality upon which the Act is based.