Vanity Fair: Passage of Bipartisan Bill is Major Victory for the MeToo Movement

The U.S. Senate voted on Thursday to send the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Harassment Act to President Joe Biden’s desk. 

In 2017, as the #MeToo movement was gaining steam in the United States, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Representative Cheri Bustos put forth legislation to end the forced arbitration rules that prevented many who had experienced sexual misconduct in the workplace—like the former Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson—from taking their claims to court. More than four years later, that bill is now poised to become law.

The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Harassment Act—introduced by Bustos in the House and by Gillibrand and Lindsey Graham in the Senate—overwhelmingly passed in the lower chamber earlier this week and on Thursday did the same in the Senate, which voted to send the legislation to President Joe Biden’s desk for signature. The legislation represents a major workplace reform, a significant legislative victory for survivors of workplace sexual misconduct, and a rare instance of bipartisanship in bitterly divided Washington. “This is a historic day — not only for workers, but for our country,” Carlson, who championed the legislation, said in a news conference following the bill’s passage by voice vote in the Senate Thursday morning. “The stakes couldn’t be higher. Marching in the streets can inspire us. Editorials can open our minds. Hashtags can galvanize. But legislation is the only thing that lasts.”