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. And that how I wear my hair or do not wear my hair is no expression of my ability to think or to do or to accomplish or to be a part of a team or a good employee."
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.
"It is wrong that Americans – particularly those within the Black community – continue to face discrimination based on how they choose to style their natural hair," Collins said in a statement. "This is an issue of basic fairness and equality, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill and stand against discrimination in all of its forms."
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.
NPR reached out to the White House and House Speaker Mike Johnson for comment but has not received a response.
Despite this uncertainty, Watson Coleman says she hopes she and the other co-sponsors of the bill can garner enough support among Republicans for the bill to ultimately pass.
"We only need three that recognize that there is no harm in this bill. This is an extension of respect," she says. "There is no unnecessary danger or anything in this bill. It simply is an affirmation that people have a right to wear their hair the way they want to wear their hair."
While there is currently no federal legislation prohibiting hair discrimination, some states have already implemented measures on their own.
The CROWN Act across the country
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."
"Today I am wearing my hair differently than I did at the last press conference … and next month, I will proudly rock my braids. I share this not because my personal hair is the focus, but because protecting and preserving our right to embrace the beauty and sometimes the versatility of it, is. Especially when worn in ways aligned with our racial identity," Asamoah said.
There have also been legal challenges regarding hair discrimination. A civil rights commission in Akron, Ohio, in February sided with a man who said he was discriminated against because of his dreadlocks hairstyle. Some Black students have also faced disciplinary action regarding their natural hairstyles, including Darryl George, a Texas teen, who was placed in in-school suspension for the length of his locs. In February 2024, a Texas judge ruled that the state's CROWN Act did not apply to hairstyle length, a decision that Watson Coleman says is "flawed."
There is also concern that actions rolling back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives could undermine progress made in prohibiting hair discrimination.
Wisconsin Rep. Gwen Moore, a Democrat, said Tuesday she is concerned there could be a shakeup in hairstyle policies in the U.S. military, which in the past has enforced strict grooming policies against certain hairstyles. In 2018, the U.S. Navy revamped its policy to allow women to wear their hair down and incorporate different hairstyles, including locs. The Army in 2021 also expanded its guidelines to allow female soldiers to wear ponytails while in uniform.
Watson Coleman says she and her congressional colleagues will continue to advocate for the passage of the CROWN Act.
"We know what environment we are currently functioning in. We know the absurdity of some of the things that have been advanced or have been delayed to continue to delay this particular bill is one of those absurdities," she says. "I can't tell you what's going to happen, but I can tell you that we'll stand behind this bill and the reason for it until we get it passed."
Copyright 2025 NPR