House Democrats passed their so-called “Equality Act” today by a vote of 236-to-173 — eight Republicans inexplicably succumbed to the Demo siren song. Speaker Nancy Pelosi claims it will bring America “closer to equal liberty and justice for all,” but the truth is just the opposite. As Mark Alexander wrote last week, “This Orwellian legislation dictates that our individual and corporate views must comport with those of the Left, under penalty of law.” In fact, he adds, “This is not about equality, and all is most certainly not equal.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy also decried the bill, saying, “The Democrats’ latest piece of legislation is another mirage, packaged with a deceiving title, that ultimately chips away at our religious freedoms, would jeopardize Title IX sports programs, and puts our children at risk by eliminating parental consent in life-altering medical procedures.”

What does the Equality Act do? It updates the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the list of protected characteristics. But McCarthy is exactly right about its effects.

Religious liberty would suffer greatly. The Heritage Foundation’s Ryan Anderson lists several ways this would happen. For example, “The Equality Act would force employers to pay for sex ‘reassignment’ procedures in their health insurance plans, and require medical professionals to perform them.” That goes for the military, too. Anderson adds that it would “force all schools and businesses to open their women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, showers, and sports teams to boys who ‘identify as’ girls and to men who ‘identify as’ women.” Faith-based adoption agencies would be forced to place children in homes they deem unfit. The alternative will be to shut down entirely.

As for women’s sports programs, they’re already in jeopardy because of the participation of biological males. And we’ve documented numerous tragic cases of child abuse over supposed gender dysphoria. Instead of getting help, these children are being subjected to life-altering hormone manipulation and even physical mutilation — and then given “reality” TV shows, to boot. The Equality Act could end up taking away the rights of parents who want to stop this insanity. Think that won’t happen? Look to Canada.

On a final note, amidst the nationwide fight over state abortion laws, the Equality Act would aim to trump them all. It does this by adding “pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition” to the aforementioned list of protected characteristics. Thus, the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins warns, “The Equality Act doesn’t just torch religious freedom and the First Amendment, it guts every pro-life protection ever passed into law.”

The good news is that the Equality Act won’t get a vote in the Senate and President Donald Trump has indicated he would veto it in any case. The bad news is that Democrats will campaign on it for years to come in their ongoing bid to dupe more women voters with appeals to emotion.

(Updated with passage of the bill.)