Rep. Summer Lee, Colleagues Introduce Equality in Laws Act
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 15, 2025 — Today, Congresswoman Summer L. Lee (PA-12), Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), and Congressman Robert Garcia (CA-42) reintroduced the ‘Equality in Laws' Act, legislation that would enshrine gender equity in the US legal code by replacing gendered generics with gender neutral language. Additionally, this key change would make the U.S. Code more inclusive to members of the LGBTQIA+ community, especially gender- nonconforming, nonbinary, and intersex individuals. Similar efforts have already been successfully undertaken in several states, including Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Research shows that the use of masculine generics—the practice of using masculine nouns and pronouns (he, him, his) to refer to people of all genders—is not only reflective of sexist social structures, but can actually reinforce gender stereotypes and social discrimination. For example, a 2015 study found that men were perceived as more fitting for a high-status leadership position than women when a masculine job title was used. In a growing effort to counter such gender stereotyping and discrimination, organizations and governments are increasingly adopting gender- neutral language. Despite this, much of the U.S. Code still uses masculine generics.
“For generations, the U.S. Code has written out many marginalized folks and even to this day, equality has yet to be enshrined in our Constitution,” said Rep. Lee. “Our language must be precise, and our inclusion must be intentional. I am proud to reintroduce this bill with my colleagues. It’s long past time to make equality in our laws and our Constitution a reality.”
“Our laws should reflect our society. This bill helps ensure the equality we want as a society, including gender equality, is reflected in our nation’s laws,” said Rep. Norton. “Making these important changes throughout the U.S. Code will better reflect our nation's diversity.”
“With the Trump Administration waging a hostile, all-out assault on women, queer folks, and other marginalized communities, we must use every tool available to protect and codify the dignity, humanity, and equality of everyone—including through the language we use,” said Rep. Pressley. “Our bill would help ensure women and our LGBTQIA+ siblings are properly reflected in the U.S. Code and take a step toward addressing systemic discrimination. I’m grateful to Congresswoman Lee and Congressman García for their ongoing partnership on this necessary legislation.”
Examples of revisions:
- Rather than "he" use "the Secretary" when referring to the head of a federal agency
- Rather than "fireman" use "firefighter"
The legislation would:
- Direct the Office of Law Revision Counsel (OLRC) to make non-substantive, gender-neutral revisions to the non-positive law portions of the Code.
- Direct OLRC to prepare a draft bill that makes non-substantive, gender-neutral revisions to the positive law portions of the Code.
A copy of the bill text can be found here.
Congresswoman Summer Lee serves on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Education and the Workforce. Since taking office in January 2023, she has delivered historic levels of federal investment totaling over $2.4 Billion brought back to Western PA, including over $580 million for infrastructure, over $110 million for affordable transit, over $500 million to keep clean energy manufacturing at home in Pennsylvania, and over $55 million on clean energy efforts in and around schools to help keep our kids and communities safe. These investments will help improve Western Pennsylvania’s infrastructure and transit, ensure cleaner air and drinking water, lower housing costs, fund research institutions, fuel clean manufacturing, fund STEM innovation and entrepreneurship, boost workforce development, and create thousands of good paying union jobs. Lee and her team have also delivered casework and constituent services to over 3,000 constituents with issues ranging from helping our seniors and disabled community access Medicare and social security to helping folks secure housing and helping families with immigration support and passports.