President Joe Biden urged Congress Friday to “swiftly pass” the Equality Act, setting him squarely on a collision course with the U.S. Catholic Bishops.

“Full equality has been denied to LGBTQ+ Americans and their families for far too long,” Biden said in a statement. “Despite the extraordinary progress the LGBTQ+ community has made to secure their basic civil rights, discrimination is still rampant in many areas of our society.”

He added:

The Equality Act provides long overdue federal civil rights protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, locking in critical safeguards in our housing, education, public services, and lending systems — and codifying the courage and resilience of the LGBTQ+ movement into enduring law.

The U.S. Bishops, along with numerous other faith leaders, have expressed their consternation over the prospect of the Equality Act, urging Congress not to pass the legislation, which would be especially damaging to women and devastating to religious freedom.

In a 2019 letter to the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, the bishops and other Christian leaders said the Equality Act “hinders quality health care, endangers the privacy and safety of women and girls, regulates free speech, severely undermines religious freedom, and threatens charitable nonprofits and the people they serve.”

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