Congress Reignites a Bipartisan Effort to Ban Hair Discrimination

A bipartisan effort to ban hair discrimination has been reintroduced in Congress as the Trump administration targets diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

The latest bill, known as the “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act of 2025” or the “CROWN Act of 2025,” was introduced in the House last month. If enacted, it would ban discrimination against individuals based on their hairstyle or hair texture due to their race. This includes styles in which hair is “tightly coiled or tightly curled, locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, and Afros.”

The bill also seeks to protect individuals from hair discrimination while participating in federally assisted programs, housing programs, public accommodations and schools.

New Jersey Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, a Democrat who is leading the measure in the House, said in an interview with NPR prior to a press conference on Tuesday about the bill that it was important to reup the initiative. She emphasized that many Black and Brown Americans, especially students, face obstacles related to their hair.

“It is an extension of racism. It’s just in a different form,” Watson Coleman said on Tuesday. “And so we need to remind people that the diversity of people is what makes this country so beautiful. {snip}”

Senators Susan Collins of Maine, a Republican, and Cory Booker of New Jersey, a Democrat, also introduced a companion bill to the version in the Senate last month.

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This latest effort follows previous attempts to pass similar legislation, which have stalled in Congress.

The bill passed in the House in 2022 but failed to gain enough Republican support in the Senate to override a filibuster by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican. At the time, Paul argued that discrimination based on one’s hair was already illegal and that the bill could potentially create unsafe conditions for workers as it might prevent them from wearing required safety equipment, such as construction helmets.

It is unlikely the new bill will pass in this Congress, as Republicans hold slim majorities in both the House and Senate. And if it does pass, there’s no guarantee of support from President Trump.

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As of July 1, 2024, 25 states have enacted legislation banning hair discrimination, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Legislation to ban hair discrimination based on race has also been introduced in Pennsylvania.

Adjoa B. Asamoah, a co-founder of the CROWN coalition has been leading efforts to enact the CROWN Act legislation since 2018. She said during the press conference outside the Capitol Tuesday that “purported race neutral grooming policies that reinforce Eurocentric standards of beauty and myopic notions of what constitutes professional hair remain problematic.”

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