Indeed, the Equality Act would do much to nail progress down. Biden’s executive order expanding the Bostock Title VII ruling to enforcement of Title IX, The Fair Housing Act, and other federal civil rights law is a fantastic step that swings the mass of the federal bureaucracy in favor of trans and other LGBTQ rights — for such time as a Democratic sits in the oval office.

The executive order is not likely, however, to much influence conservative judges who make up a large percentage of the federal bench right now. Civil rights lawyers I know are pretty sure judges will whittle away at the Bostock definitions of sex as best as they can over time, resisting the simple extension that seems implicit in the ruling. (As of now, no federal judge has ruled on a case where plaintiffs attempt to apply the Bostock definitions beyond Title VII.)

Without the Equality Act’s explicit guarantees, conservative federal courts are going to have legal leeway to cause trouble. No LGBTQ lawyers I know doubt they will cause as much trouble as possible.

Unfortunately, I think the Democratic Party has already lost its appetite for the Equality Act. Biden’s executive order has been positioned to the public as definitive, reducing public pressure on the Party to take more substantive action.