The Citizens Equality Act has three major components that seek citizen-funded elections, the equal right to vote and equal representation in Congress. It’s this last component, which would end political gerrymandering and create multi-member districts, that Lessig acknowledges may have a direct impact on advancing LGBT rights.
Under the current system, members of the U.S. House are elected on a winner-take-all system, which means legislators only reflect the biggest or strongest group that voted for them while leaving others behind. This system and lack of accountability, Lessig contends, results in partisan gridlock and a lack of representation for minority groups.
This kind of gridlock was felt by the LGBT community last year. The Senate passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act on a bipartisan basis, but the Republican-controlled House never took up the legislation even though supporters of ENDA said it would pass if votes were present on the House floor. No bill became law even though a super-majority of Americans support a federal prohibition on LGBT discrimination.
The Citizens Equality Act seeks to incorporate the Ranked Choice Voting Act, which would change the system so that instead of voting for one candidate, voters would rank their choice for multi-member districts to ensure all voices and elected leaders are more accountable to the people.
“If you got a substantial portion of the public behind, if you have five representatives in the district and you’ve got ranked choice voting, you need 20 percent to be able to get the place that you’re confident you’re going to be able to win one of those representatives,” Lessig said. “The impact of communities in directing policy in that context is obviously much greater and you’ve got an opportunity for a greater diversity of Republicans and Democrats.” Lessig also predicted the Citizens Equality Act would increase LGBT representation in Congress, which is considered underrepresented. An estimated 3 percent of the population identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual, but only 6 of the 435 House members identifies as LGB — slightly more than 1 percent of the U.S. House. No openly transgender person has ever been elected to Congress. “I think it would dilute the effect of targeted bigotry here,” Lessig said. “You have as many districts where targeted bigotry is enough to guarantee somebody can’t get in. So it dilutes the effect of bigotry while it’s reinforcing the proportionality.”