A California Democrat Rep. has once again introduced legislation to remove the terms “husband” and “wife” from federal law and replace them with gender-neutral terms in the name of “equity,” Fox News reported.
Congresswoman Julia Brownley (D-CA) introduced for the fifth time the “Amend the Code for Marriage Equality Act,” which aims to “strike gendered terms” from federal laws and replace them with terms like “married person” or “spouse.”
The bill would also replace the term “husband and wife” with “married couple,” while scrapping “former husband” and “former wife” in favor of “person who has been, but is no longer, married.”
In her statement reintroducing the measure, Rep. Brownley cited the “extreme” Supreme Court and “extreme” state legislatures whom she accused of rolling back LGBTQ rights as the reason it was so important for Congress to showcase its commitment to equity.
Brownley notes that despite the Supreme Court ruling in favor of gay marriage, the US Code in “many instances” “does not respect that constitutional right.”
Brownley argues that the bill would ensure that the federal code “reflects the equality of all marriages” by “recognizing” that “words in our laws have meaning” and reflect our “values as a country.”
The “Amend the Code for Marriage Equality Act” was initially introduced in the House in 2015 by former California Congresswoman Lois Capps. After Capps left office, Rep. Brownley took up the fight, introducing the bill in 2017, 2019, and 2021, according to the Washington Times.
The specific laws in the federal code targeted by the legislation include the 1978 “Ethics in Government Act,” the 1993 “Family and Medical Leave Act,” and the 1971 “Federal Election Campaign Act.”
When the measure was introduced in the House in 2021, it had 39 Democrat cosponsors.
It is unlikely Brownley’s bill will go anywhere in the Republican-controlled House.
