MSNBC

MSNBC Live with Hallie Jackson

10:49 AM ET

HALLIE JACKSON: This morning the fate of a sweeping and potentially historic piece of legislation is now in the hands of the Senate after the house approved the Equality Act. It's a massive bill that would extend federal anti-discrimination protections to the LGBTQ community by making it illegal to discriminate against somebody based on their gender identity and sexual orientation. This is a bill Congress has tried to pass in some form for nearly half a century. It's an idea so old that the two lawmakers who originally introduced it have died since then. The House most recently passed it in May of 2019 but Republicans who controlled the Senate then never brought it up for a vote. It's all happening as more American adults, 5.6%, identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or not heterosexual and the number is higher for Gen Z, people born between 1997 and of 2002, about one in six of those Americans consider themselves LGBTQ. It's also happening at more anti-trans rhetoric makes headlines. CPAC, which we talked about earlier has, for example, has on their agenda this weekend a meeting to discuss quote “protecting women's sports from transgender athletes.” Bills are being introduced and advanced at the state level about transgender youth, too. In 16 states there are bills to limit health care access for trans people under the age of 18 and some state legislatures are also targeting sports. At least 24 states are considering bills to stop certain transgender students from being a part of their high school and college athletics programs. Joining me now two athletes who are transgender at the center of different ongoing legal battles represented by the ACLU who connected us with both you, so welcome Lindsay Hecox and Andraya Yearwood. Good morning to you.

LINDSAY HECOX: Hello. Thank you for having us on.

ANDRAYA YEARWOOD: Hello.

JACKSON: Thanks for being on. Andrea, let me start with you. I want to talk about what is at stake here, because if passed, many of the states would ban trans women athletes from being able to compete. You were able to compete all through high school. What did it mean to run your high school career with women?

YEARWOOD: I think it meant everything to me to be able to run as the gender which I identified and to run as who I know I am. I think it made all the difference. Again, I was able to be myself in a space with which I felt comfortable and with which I just felt that I could succeed in my most authentic self.

JACKSON: Let's keep the conversation up about the stakes, because Lindsay in Idaho, this is the law. What did it feel like when the law passed banning you from ever being on a women's cross-country team?

LINDSAY HECOX: Yeah. I was pretty frustrated and annoyed, but honestly, ever since I heard about it, introduced a bill, I was a little expecting of this result. Nonetheless, I'm still going to fight this as hard as I can, but I'm honestly not as upset as you might think maybe just because I've gotten used to this kind of discrimination.