Shall the Nevada Constitution be amended by adding a specific guarantee that equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by this State or any of its cities, counties, or other political subdivisions on account of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry, or national origin?

EXPLANATION—This ballot measure would add new language to the Nevada Constitution

specifically guaranteeing that equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by

the State or any of its cities, counties, or other political subdivisions based on race, color, creed,

sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry, or national origin.

A “Yes” vote would amend the Nevada Constitution to add new language specifically

guaranteeing that equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the

State or any of its cities, counties, or other political subdivisions based on race, color, creed,

sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry, or national

origin.

A “No” vote would not amend the Nevada Constitution to add new language specifically

guaranteeing that equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the

State or any of its cities, counties, or other political subdivisions based on race, color, creed,

sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry or national

origin.

DIGEST—Existing federal and state constitutional and statutory provisions prohibit

discrimination based on race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression,

age, disability, ancestry, or national origin in various manners. For example, the First Amendment

to the United States Constitution prohibits discrimination based on creed or religion. (Lee v.

Weisman, 505 U.S. 577, 590 (1992) (explaining that the government cannot violate “the central

meaning of the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment, which is that all creeds must be tolerated

and none favored.”); Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer, --- U.S. ---, 137 S. Ct.

2012, 2019-21 (2017) (explaining that the First Amendment prohibits laws that discriminate

against or impose unequal treatment on persons based on creed or religion))

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The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution also prohibits

states and local governments from denying “to any person within its jurisdiction the equal

protection of the law.” Equal protection requirements apply to the federal government through the

Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court has

interpreted the Equal Protection Clause as not requiring the government to treat every person the

same, but instead as requiring the government to treat persons who are in similar conditions or

circumstances, or “similarly situated,” in the same way. (City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Ctr.,

473 U.S. 432, 439 (1985))