| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
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| Congressional Democrats held a news conference on plans to reintroduce the Equality Act, legislation to ensure comprehensive non-discrimination protections for the LGBTQ plus community. | ||
| This is Fifty Minutes. | ||
| Good morning, everyone. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
| The sun is shining on us today. | ||
| Greetings. | ||
| Welcome to the 2025 reintroduction of the Equality Act. | ||
| We're here today to fight for equality, to fight for opportunity, to fight for freedom, because freedom is the right to participate fully in every aspect of our national life. | ||
| Freedom is the right to live as your authentic self without fear of harassment or discrimination or violence. | ||
| Freedom is the right to be treated as equal with all other Americans. | ||
| But right now, we're witnessing a contraction of freedom and opportunity. | ||
| More than 850 anti-LGBTQ plus bills have been filed in state legislatures this year. | ||
| That is a record, and we're only in April. | ||
| Since day one of this administration, our authoritarian president and his lackeys have been trying to erase and endanger LGBTQ plus Americans by greenlighting discrimination against the entire community in critical aspects of daily life from health care to housing, | ||
| with particularly vicious attacks on transgender Americans, from preventing access to identity documents that reflect their gender identity to expelling them from the military where they provide invaluable service to our national security. | ||
| No one should be discriminated against because of who they are or whom they love. | ||
| That is why we must pass the Equality Act. | ||
| The Equality Act tells our LGBTQ plus people across the country, you are not alone. | ||
| This is your country too, and you have the right to fully participate in our national life. | ||
| The Equality Act says to our LGBTQ plus youth, we will stand with you and we will fight to end the prejudice, to end the discrimination, and the bullying so that you have the full opportunity to thrive. | ||
| The Equality Act tells the world we will not tolerate discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, in employment, in education, in housing or financial contracts, in mortgages, in jury duty, in restaurants, in libraries, in public accommodations. | ||
| We will not tolerate discrimination in any part of American society. | ||
| America's future belongs to everyone equally. | ||
| All of us here today are standing shoulder to shoulder with our amazing Senate champions, Senator Baldwin, Senator Booker, Leader Schumer, our outstanding House champions, Representative Ticano, Representative Papa, Speaker Emerita Pelosi, Whip Clark, our tireless partner organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign, the Advocates for Trans Equality, and many others. | ||
| We are here today to say simply and forcefully, discrimination is wrong, equality, and opportunity are right. | ||
| And we will not stop until all LGBTQ plus Americans are treated as persons equal in dignity, equal in promise, and equal under the law. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| I'll turn the podium now over to Congressman Mark Takano, who chairs the Equality Caucus, who has been an outstanding leader in this movement and great partner in bringing this bill forward. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Well, thank you. | ||
| Thank you, Senator Merck Lee, for your long-standing advocacy of the Equality Act in the Senate as the lead in the Senate. | ||
| So I'm Congressman Mark Tikano. | ||
| I'm a proud gay man and chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus. | ||
| And I'm honored to be joined today by my fellow LGBTQ plus members of Congress, Senator Baldwin, Congressman Pappas, and actually Mike Quigley was one of our Equality Caucus members. | ||
| And also with the Stadfast allies who have stood shoulder to shoulder with us in the fight for equality, Leader Schumer, Whip Clark, Speaker Emerita Pelosi, and I've already mentioned Senator Merkley and Senator Booker. | ||
| Under the leadership of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, this bill, the Equality Act, passed twice through the House of Representatives. | ||
| And I'm expecting her shortly, but her presence with us today at this movement is bigger than any one of us. | ||
| Today we introduced the Equality Act not just as a bill, but as a declaration that freedom, dignity, and opportunity must belong to all Americans. | ||
| That is the promise of the Equality Act, full humanity under the law. | ||
| Right now, the fear in our community is deep, and it is palpable. | ||
| The waves of attacks on LGBTQ plus Americans, LGBTQI plus Americans, have swept from state legislatures into the chambers of Congress and the White House. | ||
| We are facing the most anti-LGBTQI plus presidential administration in recent history. | ||
| And for that reason, we demand that our existence be not just recognized, but protected. | ||
| We demand not just the right to survive, but to thrive. | ||
| We demand the same right as any other American to live freely in this country without being forced to justify our existence or prove our worth. | ||
| Now more than ever, LGBTQI plus Americans need our fundamental civil rights codified into law. | ||
| The Equality Act prohibits discrimination in seven key areas of everyday life and extends to the LGBTQI plus community the same civil rights that other Americans enjoy. | ||
| It strengthens the civil rights framework not just for LGBTQI plus Americans, but for all Americans, reinforcing protections for women, religious minorities, and people of color. | ||
| And it says clearly, you should not be denied a job, a home, a loan, or a seat at the table simply because of who you are. | ||
| We cannot leave those basic rights vulnerable to a patchwork of inconsistent protections, hostile administrations, or unpredictable courts. | ||
| Now, I know the sting of discrimination. | ||
| I have lived it. | ||
| I am the child and grandchild of Americans who were stripped of their rights and incarcerated for being of Japanese descent during World War II. | ||
| As a teenager in the late 1970s, coming to terms with my own sexuality, I watched legislators in California host debates on whether gays and lesbians should be allowed to teach in public schools. | ||
| Undeterred, I would later go on to become a teacher myself. | ||
| And when I ran for Congress in 1994, I was publicly outed by my opponent and made the target of homophobic attack ads. | ||
| I lost that race, but when I won nearly two decades later, I became the first openly gay person of color to be elected to Congress. | ||
| It was deeply meaningful to me, but to be clear, I was not the first gay person of color to serve in Congress. | ||
| As a boy, I watched in awe of Congresswoman Barbara Jordan participate in the Watergate impeachment hearings. | ||
| And in her speech, Congresswoman Jordan immortalized her conviction that her faith in the Constitution was whole, complete, and total. | ||
| Though the Constitution had not originally included her, a black woman, when it was written, it had come to include her after two centuries of struggle and amendment. | ||
| And despite that, Congresswoman Jordan still had to hide from public scrutiny that she had spent 20 years in a loving relationship with a woman. | ||
| At that time, being openly LGBTQI plus would certainly have come at the cost of her career. | ||
| Today, the National Archives recognizes her as the first LGBTQI plus woman in Congress. | ||
| I share her belief that my faith in the Constitution is whole, complete, and total. | ||
| I believe that all people are entitled to the fruits of democracy, and that includes freedom, equality, and justice for all. | ||
| That the Constitution's promises were never meant to be frozen in time. | ||
| That they must be renewed by future generations. | ||
| That the idea of America, an imperfect country still full of promise, is still worth fighting for. | ||
| And right now, LGBTQI plus Americans are afraid. | ||
| There is fear that the progress we have made in the decades, in the last decades, is being lost. | ||
| Yet we must remember that we have seen and overcome darker times before. | ||
| That there was a time when being out was nearly impossible, as it was for Barbara Jordan, and our existence was universally criminalized. | ||
| We have gone from the rage of the riots at the riots of Stonewall to the joy of celebrations of marriage equality. | ||
| We have come out of the closet and survived the scourge of HIV. | ||
| And today, we fight to win full equality under the law. | ||
| We were born for this fight and forged in resistance. | ||
| The LGBTQI plus community's generational gift passed down from our ancestors is grit, persistence, and unconquerable strength. | ||
| We will continue to fight. | ||
| We will propel ourselves into a brighter, more hopeful, more just future. | ||
| And we will not stop until the Equality Act is the law of the land. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| And now I'll hand over the podium to Senator Schumer. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you, Mark. | ||
| Thank you first for the bravery of your struggle and for your leadership on this issue. | ||
| I want to thank my colleague, Senator Merkley, who's been our strong advocate for many years on the Equality Act, and of course Senator Baldwin, who's been such a leader and has experienced the same kind of political attacks just recently that you did, Mark. | ||
| But like you, she survived and prevailed. | ||
| Thank you, Tammy. | ||
| Look, let me say this, we, well, it is hard to believe in 2025 that in so many states, not New York, but my daughter and her wife, if they lived in another state, could be told, you can't rent this apartment. | ||
| you're lesbians. | ||
| A doctor could say, I don't want to treat you. | ||
| You're lesbians. | ||
| A job, an employer could say the same. | ||
| It's amazing. | ||
| 2025 in America, and people can just adversely turn people around because of who they love or how they love. | ||
| People forget how much bigotry and discrimination there is that actually takes effect in law. | ||
| Because the law allows this bigotry and discrimination. | ||
| In how many states, Jeff? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, only a 21 have potential statement. | |
| So in 29 states, if I have my math right. | ||
| The bottom line is this. | ||
| We achieved marriage. | ||
| It was a great thing. | ||
| My daughter and her wife have a beautiful baby, and one is on the way, and they're living a good, happy life, just as I was able to live. | ||
| But that's because they live in New York. | ||
| We must have a national ethos that bigotry is outlawed. | ||
| And until we've passed the Equality Act, that will not be close to true in America. | ||
| We're going to do everything we can to pass it. | ||
| We're hopeful that good people, people of LBGTQI community, and people who are not part of that community, will tell their congressmen and tell their senators, it's about time. | ||
| It's about time here in America that we have this full equality. | ||
| I'm committed to the cause personally, politically, and just morally, and will do everything I can to help get our legislation passed in the Senate. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Definitely. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| I'm going to cut Tammy and then I'll have to... | ||
|
unidentified
|
Oh. | |
| Well, what a beautiful day. | ||
| And colleagues, it is so great to join all of you to announce the reintroduction of the Equality Act. | ||
| The bill that we're here to talk about could not be more straightforward or common sense. | ||
| The Equality Act simply puts into law what we all believe, that every American is created equal and should be treated equally under the law. | ||
| This is a tenet of our nation's founding and something that I know and my constituents take seriously. | ||
| But as we all know for far too many LGBTQ Americans in states across the country, equality is not the reality. | ||
| Depending on where you live in this country, you are afforded a different set of fundamental rights if you are gay, lesbian, or transgender. | ||
| And let that sink in. | ||
| It's a patchwork of rights and protections depending on who you are and who you love. | ||
| Will you be protected from being discriminated against by a bad landlord when you try to rent a house? | ||
| Depends on where you live. | ||
| Will you be protected from being discriminated against when you are trying to get a mortgage or a new credit card? | ||
| Again, it depends upon where you live. | ||
| The list of these basic rights that some people have and some people don't goes on and on. | ||
| This year alone, the ACLU is tracking over 570 bills in state legislatures across the country that aim to strip away rights from LGBTQ Americans, including 12 in my home state of Wisconsin. | ||
| If these bills become law, it will further this patchwork of rights. | ||
| If they don't, it will still make our friends, our families, and our neighbors feel less safe, less welcome in their own communities. | ||
| But look, take it from me, the first elected openly gay senator in U.S. history. | ||
| A more welcoming, more equal country is possible. | ||
| It takes hard work, but it's work that is worth doing. | ||
| Just a few years ago, we proved that. | ||
| I was proud to lead the charge to pass the Respect for Marriage Act into law in 2022. | ||
| Yep. | ||
| And that was the first time that we codified marriage rights for gay and interracial couples into law. | ||
| At that time, I got so many questions about how we were able to get so many Republicans on board. | ||
| The simple truth was that we had open and honest conversations with our colleagues about the people in their lives, their family members, their staff members, their neighbors, their fellow parishioners who were gay. | ||
| And today, that's who I ask both my Republican and Democratic colleagues to think about when considering the Equality Act. | ||
| This is simply a matter of right and wrong. | ||
| I, for one, believe that every American deserves to be treated and protected equally under the law. | ||
| The Equality Act makes simply clear that in the United States, we will not tolerate discrimination based on sexual orientation, based on gender identity, just like religion, race, or ethnicity. | ||
| Equality is not a privilege. | ||
| It is what we are owed as American citizens. | ||
| And I'm committed to making that promise a reality. | ||
| And next, I would love to welcome up to the podium Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi. | ||
| I join in applauding Tammy Duckworth and Tammy Baldwin. | ||
| Tammy Duckworth, too. | ||
| When Tammy came to the Congress, she was the first lesbian to serve in the House of Representatives. | ||
| And when she arrived, everybody knew how she became the first because of her knowledge, her wisdom, her values, in every way, her graciousness. | ||
| And we're so proud of you, and we continue to be so proud of you, Tammy. | ||
| I visited her and her district as a congresswoman can see how she related to the farmers as well as the people in the city. | ||
| Let me just say that I associate myself with everything that has been said about the need for this, and I just want to tell a little different perspective. | ||
| And Jeff Merkley, thank you for your leadership, and I'll talk about when we had our first press conference on this. | ||
| But first, I want to acknowledge Sarah McBride, our member of Congress from Delaware, and she's a pioneer in Congress as well. | ||
| And as you all know, Dina Titus has been a champion on these issues from Nevada over time. | ||
| So here's the thing. | ||
| Well, hearing Chuck speak about his daughter, I remember when Allison was born. | ||
| So to hear him talk about her with such pride in her marriage, her baby, and her baby's, another baby to come is an emotional thing for me. | ||
| But just think of how valuable that is to us in this cause. | ||
| Mark Tikano, I heard your speech as I was coming. | ||
| Oh, our great leader, the House Democratic Whip, Catherine Clark, is now with us this round. | ||
| So here's the thing. | ||
| Go back a few years and when Tammy was speaking, she was talking about how to get the votes and the mobilization involved. | ||
| But go back a few years. | ||
| We had four things we were going to do. | ||
| Four things we were going to do. | ||
| We're going to have a fully inclusive Hate Crimes Act. | ||
| We're going to have ENDA, ending discrimination in the workplace. | ||
| We're going to have marriage, and that became a court issue too. | ||
| And we had a number of things, including the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. | ||
| In the course of that, folks said, why are we doing ENDA? | ||
| Why are we doing ending discrimination in the workplace? | ||
| Let's do the whole kit and caboodle, hence, the Equality Act. | ||
| It was a challenge because it involved the Civil Rights Act and the rest and those who were very protective of it, and rightfully so because of certain things that go on around here that we didn't want to interfere with what protections were already in the law. | ||
| But John Lewis. | ||
| Remember Senator Merkel? | ||
| He stood with us, right, Mark? | ||
| He stood with us at that first press conference. | ||
| He said to the black caucus, it's all overdue. | ||
| The time is now. | ||
| We cannot wait. | ||
| This is it. | ||
| And that was such a remarkable, okay, right, Mark? | ||
| It was such a remarkable occasion. | ||
| So we went from ENDA to equality in every aspect. | ||
| And that's exactly what we should have done. | ||
| So I just wanted to put it in perspective for you. | ||
| When we were going along with ENDA, the groups outside said to us, don't do ENDA, do don't ask, don't tell. | ||
| So again, I take great pride in the fact that my last bill as Speaker the first time around was the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. | ||
| And we were so proud because of the outside mobilization. | ||
| So I want to salute our friends from the outside because this is, I know you'll be hearing from Jay Brown and Olivia Hunt, but the outside mobilization made all the difference as Tammy described in her comments. | ||
| That made all the difference in telling people's experience with their own families and just the support that grew and grew and grew. | ||
| So hopefully springing from this introduction, let me just say Senator Merkley has been such a champion, relentless, persistent, constant on all of this. | ||
| And I salute you for your leadership and always look to you for guidance on this on other issues as well. | ||
| So that's why I'm here again to say let's get it done. | ||
| I don't know what the prospects are now, but I do know that we're going to win the House. | ||
| I know we're going to win the House. | ||
| Hopefully the Senate, we're going to win. | ||
| In a short period of time, it will be clear to them, and maybe they'll be more receptive to doing what the right thing is. | ||
| Now, the next speaker that I'm going to yield to spoke on the floor for, what, 20? | ||
| Let me read together exactly right. | ||
| How long was it, Congress? | ||
| 25 hours. | ||
| I had the record in the House for over eight hours. | ||
| Of course, I had on spike heels and we can't yield, but nonetheless, 25 hours, a record that an African-American leader could replace the record thereabove. | ||
| What would you call him? | ||
| Segregationists. | ||
| Segregationists. | ||
| That's as gentle a word as we can use right here, I guess. | ||
| So I'm so glad that I'm going before him because you never know how long he's going to talk. | ||
| But thank you, Corey Booker, for your leadership, and I'm pleased to yield to you. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you, Nancy Pelosi. | ||
| Give another round of applause for one of the most incredible leaders I have ever had the privilege of serving next to. | ||
| We are here again, reintroducing a bill. | ||
| I'm proud to be an original co-sponsor, but there are trailblazers in Congress behind me. | ||
| Champions that have defied the sad truth of our America that we still live in a nation in the majority of states that you can post your wedding pictures online but still be denied. | ||
| Still be denied the ability to stay at a hotel in your community or be fired from your job without legal recourse. | ||
| We still live in a nation that has a profound injustice. | ||
| The Equality Act is on the right side of history. | ||
| And right now we stand in the cold shadow of injustice. | ||
| And so here we are again introducing this bill. | ||
| But it is not a normal time that we introduce this bill. | ||
| We introduce it in the backdrop of a president that in his very campaign singled out in opportunistic bigotry the trans community. | ||
| We stand here in the backdrop of a time that LGBTQ Americans are being targeted and singled out for heaped upon more injustice. | ||
| This is not a normal time in which we are standing up and yet again reintroducing a bill with moral urgency. | ||
| I've been thinking a lot about my own rights recently because you cannot attack the fundamental rights of anyone without threatening the rights of everyone. | ||
| I've been thinking about my own rights to walk down the street and not be disappeared by uniformed individuals and swept away. | ||
| I've been thinking about my due process. | ||
| I've been thinking about my free speech rights. | ||
| Because when free speech is attacked anywhere in this nation, it is a threat to free speech everywhere. | ||
| I've been thinking about my liberty, my ability to organize. | ||
| The very rights that have been given to us in the Constitution are still not the rights that are enjoyed by everyone in our country and certainly not the rights of the LGBT community. | ||
| And so today, I want you to know we reintroduce this bill with attitude. | ||
| We reintroduce this bill with swagger. | ||
| We introduce this bill with confidence because there are a lot of people who are hearing our voice right now that don't understand that they are implicated. | ||
| There's no bystanders in history. | ||
| When injustice is in our midst and you say nothing and you do nothing, you are part of the perpetuation of that injustice. | ||
| We call upon all Americans, not just LGBTQ Americans. | ||
| We call upon all Americans not just to be allies. | ||
| Don't be allied only. | ||
| Be implicated. | ||
| Don't just be allied only. | ||
| Remember our history, the horrors of our history. | ||
| During the Middle Passage, when one African was chained and thrown overboard, all Africans were on that boat that were chained together were pulled under. | ||
| Remember our history and the courage of men and women in the trench warfare in Europe who saw one person go down and risk their lives to run into danger to carry that person off. | ||
| Understanding that we stand together or we fall together. | ||
| This is one of those voices. | ||
| This is one of those moments that we need your voice. | ||
| And so I say in conclusion very simply this. | ||
| There are Americans today that are worried, that are afraid, that need to hear from you. | ||
| There are Americans today that are afraid to go to their grade school because they're still being bullied for who they are and how they love. | ||
| There are people today that feel so tired and so worried that this nation will not stand for what it says we should stand for. | ||
| And so I say to those people that we will speak up. | ||
| We will stand up. | ||
| That Americans will stand up. | ||
| I say to those people, remember what the good book says, that weeping will endure through the night, but joy cometh in the morning. | ||
| I remind those Americans that even the truth, when crushed to the ground after lie, after lie, after lie, that the truth will still rise again, that this is still one nation under God, that we still swear an oath of liberty and justice for all, and that we will not stop until freedom rings from every coast in this country, that freedom rings for every person and every soul, | ||
| that freedom rings for every American, no matter who you are, race, color, or creed, LGBTQ American or straight ally, that we declare that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it doesn't bend automatically. | ||
| We declare today and every day until justice is established in this land, until the Equality Act passes, we declare that we, the people, will grab hold of that arc and pull and bend it until we live up to our promise in a country and truly are free at last, free at last. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
|
unidentified
|
What do you guys say about Catherine Clark, who's coming up next? | |
| Wasn't that remarkable? | ||
| Thank you, Roy. | ||
| I want to say about Kathleen Clark that she is in a long tradition of extraordinary leaders. | ||
| She is unbought. | ||
| She is unbossed. | ||
| She is tireless, indefatigable, and she is unconquered and will continue to fight for justice. | ||
| I'm glad to pass it over. | ||
| And I want to also say of her that she was a close ally of John Lewis in the Congress, whether it was guns or LGBTQ or whatever it was. | ||
| They were partners in great things in the Congress. | ||
| As well as with David Cicillini, who was the original author in the Congress of the United States, I yield to the distinguished whip of the half-life. | ||
| Thank you so much. | ||
| Thank you, Madam Speaker. | ||
| Amen, Senator Booker. | ||
| And I am so grateful to all my colleagues that are here. | ||
| A special shout out to Senator Merkley and to our own Mark Takano, chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus. | ||
| We are so grateful for your leadership on the Equality Act over in the House. | ||
| So let me tell you, the Republicans' opposition to this bill tells you everything you need to know about their cruel calculation. | ||
| They pick a scapegoat so they can have cover for the real agenda going on. | ||
| They are vilifying a community, blaming them, and trying to erase them from our country. | ||
| So you take everything from them, and then the GOP moves on to everyone else. | ||
| taking away Medicaid, Social Security, defunding our public schools and child care, taking away control over our own bodies, and taking away the right to live as you are. | ||
| They believe that safety and opportunity are not a right, but a luxury of a few. | ||
| The Republicans have decided that some Americans are unworthy of freedom, unworthy of health care and housing, and education and a voice because of who they are, because of what they look like or who they've married or how much money they have. | ||
| But here's the truth that we know. | ||
| The basis of the Equality Act is that freedom is a birthright of every person. | ||
| And we can only defend ours if we defend everyone's. | ||
| Freedom doesn't grow in a pot. | ||
| It's not a container plant that you stick in a corner. | ||
| It only thrives in the open, unfettered. | ||
| And otherwise, it withers and dies for everyone. | ||
| And that's what this fight is about. | ||
| As Dr. King reminded us, we are tied together in the single garment of destiny. | ||
| So thank you all for coming together. | ||
| Thank you for fighting for a future, a destiny that is worthy of all, all of our children, and where the rights and dignity of the LGBTQ Americans are unquestioned, where every person can live free of discrimination in all of its forms. | ||
| So please help me welcome a colleague who's working every day to make that dream a reality. | ||
| The gentleman from New Hampshire, the co-chair of the Equality Caucus, Congressman Chris Pappas. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, thank you so much to our whip, the amazing Catherine Clark. | |
| I want to thank the other leaders who are with me today, Chair Takano of the Equality Caucus, Senator Merkley, thank you for bringing this bill to the floor once again. | ||
| And to Speaker Amerita Pelosi, thank you for helping to usher the Equality Act twice through the House of Representatives. | ||
| We're ultimately going to get this done. | ||
| It's a matter of when and not if. | ||
| We are committed to this fight, and so thank you for your persistence. | ||
| I also want to thank Congresswoman McBride, who is an inspiration to all of us. | ||
| We are so happy to have her joining our Equality Caucus in Congress. | ||
| So look, full equality under the law, nothing less and nothing more. | ||
| That's what the Equality Act is going to deliver. | ||
| That's what it means to LGBTQ plus Americans who have not enjoyed these protections under the law. | ||
| And while we know this is an uphill battle for sure, there can be no backing down from this fight, no backing down from the fight that's about freedoms and protections and the dignity that all Americans deserve. | ||
| So I come from New Hampshire. | ||
| We put live, free, or die on our license plates because we take freedom incredibly seriously there. | ||
| We were the first state to pass marriage equality legislatively where a governor signed it into law. | ||
| And in 2018, Democrats and Republicans came together to add transgender granite staters to our state's non-discrimination statutes. | ||
| So I know the people I represent want their government. | ||
| They don't want their government telling people how to live their lives. | ||
| They fundamentally want everyone to be equal before the law and to have the same rights and responsibilities. | ||
| Passing the Equality Act is consistent with the basic promise of America, and it has never been more urgent that we confront the politically toxic attacks on our community and that we move forward. | ||
| I think of the LGBTQ plus community members that we all talk to, people who are beyond afraid about the direction of our nation. | ||
| Think about the high school student who reached out to our office. | ||
| He couldn't attend class for a week after the last election, despite having supportive family and friends, because he felt to his core that there wasn't a place for him in the United States of America. | ||
| I think about the trans constituent who told me the other day that they've never felt less safe in their community, are always looking over their shoulder and are taking new precautions when they just go about their day-to-day business. | ||
| No one should question whether or not they have a future in the United States or can live authentically. | ||
| No one should feel unsafe in their community. | ||
| No one should be a second-class citizen in the United States of America in the year 2025. | ||
| So the Equality Act is for them. | ||
| It's for all of us because not only will it establish the legal protections that are overdue, but it will send a powerful and unmistakable message about who we are as Americans and the kind of future that we can secure together. | ||
| You know, just the act of introducing this bill again, that's enough to give people hope at a time where it is in short supply. | ||
| But we're not going to stop there. | ||
| We're going to keep fighting. | ||
| We're going to keep showing up month after month, year after year, until this bill is finally the law of the land. | ||
| You know, Jefferson referred to equality as a self-evident truth, meaning it didn't need really any further explanation or defense. | ||
| And today, Americans overwhelmingly believe the same. | ||
| They embrace the Equality Act. | ||
| Seven out of 10 Americans support passing this law. | ||
| So it's time leaders in Washington caught up to how people are living their lives and how people feel about the enduring promise of America's founding in extending the same rights and protections to the LGBTQ plus community. | ||
| We are going to get this done. | ||
| Whether it is in the next few weeks, few months, or a few years, we all have to stay committed to this fight. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So with that, I want to bring up a great partner from an organization who is a driving force behind the Equality Act, Jay Brown, who's the chief of staff to the human rights campaign. | |
| Jay. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
| Thank you, Congresswoman Clark. | ||
| Thank you, Congressman Pappas. | ||
| Thank you to our lead sponsors of the Equality Act, Senators Merkley, Baldwin, and Booker, and Congressman Takano, for incredible leadership as champions of the LGBTQ community. | ||
| And of course, we are so grateful to have leaders Schumer, Jeffries, and Speaker America Plosi, who have stood up time and again for LGBTQ plus equality. | ||
| I'm Jay Brown. | ||
| I'm proud to serve as the Chief of Staff of the Human Rights Campaign, and I'm here representing more than 3 million members and supporters across the country. | ||
| Today, as we announce the introduction of the Equality Act, I'm thinking about the journey that brought us here. | ||
| I'm thinking about the activists who marched at Stonewall, the couples who fought for the right to marry, the trans Americans who have bravely lived their truth in the face of discrimination and violence. | ||
| Their courage has paved the way for this moment. | ||
| But I'm also thinking about those who still wait for justice. | ||
| The young people in states where lawmakers have targeted them with harmful legislation. | ||
| The same-sex couples who still face discrimination when trying to adopt children or access health care. | ||
| The LGBTQ plus workers who still feel like they have to hide who they are in the workplace. | ||
| We're talking about real people here. | ||
| People like Carter Brown from Dallas, who was outed at work and eventually fired due to anti-transgender discrimination. | ||
| And Queen Hatra Johnson from Atlanta, whose landlord asked her to move out after she came out. | ||
| In 29 states across America, LGBTQ people still lack comprehensive, explicit non-discrimination protections. | ||
| This means that in more than half of our country, your ability to live, to work, to thrive can depend on whether others approve of who you are or who you love. | ||
| This isn't just wrong. | ||
| It's on American. | ||
| And it's why the Equality Act is so essential. | ||
| But this bill does more than protect LGBTQ people. | ||
| It strengthens our civil rights protections for everyone. | ||
| It expands public accommodation protections for women and for people of color. | ||
| It ensures that people of all faiths are protected from discrimination. | ||
| The Equality Act recognizes that our struggles for justice are interconnected and our progress must be shared. | ||
| At HRC, we've built the largest grassroots equality movement in history, a movement that has already made more than 30,000 calls this year to members' offices asking them to support the Equality Act. | ||
| We've mobilized millions of equality voters who make LGBTQ rights a priority at the ballot box, and we've partnered with major businesses that have adopted non-discrimination policies of their own. | ||
| We've built coalitions with allies across the political spectrum who understand that discrimination is bad for business, bad for communities, and bad for America. | ||
| So today, I'm asking all Americans to join us in this fight. | ||
| Call your representatives and tell them to support the Equality Act. | ||
| Share your stories because personal stories change hearts, minds, and laws. | ||
| And remember that progress isn't always linear, but it is inevitable when we stand together. | ||
| And now I'm so honored to introduce my dear friend, Advocates for Transit Equality's Director of Federal Policy, Olivia Hunt. | ||
| Thank you, Jay. | ||
| Good morning, everyone. | ||
| It is an incredible honor to be here alongside so many people who have championed LGBTQIA plus equality for so long. | ||
| Senator Merkley, Representative Ticano, Senator Baldwin, Leader Schumer, Senator Booker, I apologize. | ||
| Representing Pride, Representative Poppas, Leader Pelosi, and of course Whip Clark. | ||
| Thank you all for everything that you've done for our community. | ||
| Now, if you're anything like me, for you, spring is a time to take stock, to pause and reflect on what's gone before. | ||
| And for me, the past couple of weeks have been loaded with a lot of memories from about five years ago. | ||
| The constant reminders of those first COVID lockdowns that we all went through together. | ||
| The memories of how uncertain we were, how uncertain the future felt, the ways all of our lives have changed forever. | ||
| But something else has struck me about those past five years, which is that over those past five years, more than 2,500 anti-LGBTQIA plus bills have been introduced in state houses around the country. | ||
| A veritable tidal wave of political bullying disguised as legislation. | ||
| And fully a thousand of those bills were introduced in just 2024 and 2025. | ||
| As we all know by now, most of those bills specifically target transgender youth and their families. | ||
| Now, thankfully, more than 90% of these bills have been defeated. | ||
| In some cases, the same bill has been defeated again and again, year after year, because our community is strong and it's resilient, and we'll always come together to do what's right and defend our most vulnerable members. | ||
| But this year is different. | ||
| This year, in addition to the attacks that we've become used to at the state level, the Trump administration has launched its own unrelenting attacks on LGBTQIA plus Americans. | ||
| And just like in the state houses, they've reserved their most vicious attacks and their most dehumanizing rhetoric for trans youth. | ||
| This is a moment that demands action. | ||
| These are not abstract policy debates. | ||
| It's a coordinated effort to erode civil rights and protections, to criminalize LGBTQIA plus existence, and to erase us from our communities. | ||
| All people deserve to live full and honest lives. | ||
| More importantly, all children deserve to grow up free of violence and harassment and discrimination just for being who they are. | ||
| And they deserve to see a future that has a place for them in it. | ||
| Trans youth deserve to be protected by their government. | ||
| They shouldn't have to be protected from their government. | ||
| It's long past time that our federal laws reflect and protect the reality and dignity of all people. | ||
| Advocates for Trans Equality is proud to support and endorse the Equality Act. | ||
| Trans people have always existed. | ||
| We've always been part of the complex tapestry that is the United States. | ||
| Across the country, we're writers, teachers, journalists, cashiers, ministers, construction workers, librarians, any other profession that you care to name. | ||
| We have always been here. | ||
| We always will be here. | ||
| And that's a truth that no amount of hostile rhetoric, policy, or legislation can ever change. | ||
| Thank you all, and I'll turn the podium back over to Senator Merkley. | ||
| Thank you so much. | ||
| And I think we can take a couple questions if folks have any. | ||
| Yes? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, Senator. | |
| I heard you mentioned there was an uphill battle with getting this legislation through. | ||
| How do you plan to talk about this with your Republican colleagues and what is the strategy to be answered? | ||
| You know, the question, if you couldn't hear, was how do we plan to talk about this with our Republican colleagues? | ||
| As Tammy Baldwin was saying, she had very explicit conversations, very open conversations. | ||
| The Republican Party at one point was founded on the notion of fairness to fight against discrimination against black Americans, to fight against slavery. | ||
| And we know when we passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in the Senate that we had partners across the aisle who said discrimination is wrong. | ||
| We passed it with more than 60 votes. | ||
| We sent it to the House and it was not brought to the floor or enda might have passed at that point. | ||
| Now we have this expanded bill. | ||
| If you can be against discrimination in employment, you can be against discrimination in financial contracts. | ||
| You can be against discrimination in mortgages, in jury duty. | ||
| You can be against discrimination in public accommodations and housing. | ||
| And so we're going to continue to remind our colleagues that discrimination is wrong. | ||
| Join us as you joined us back in 2013 when we passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. | ||
| I don't know if anyone from the House side would like to approve that. | ||
| Sure. | ||
| So Senator Baldwin talked about the conversations she had with her Senate Republican colleagues, but I can tell you in the House, when we passed the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022, there was no expectation that we would have, I forget how many it was, Nancy, like 30 or 40 Republicans vote for the bill. | ||
| We thought we were just putting forward some legislation in response to what Justice Clarence Thomas opined in one of the decisions, the courts. | ||
| He welcomed cases to revisit what he felt were wrongly held decisions. | ||
| You know, that wasn't really about conversations we had with colleagues. | ||
| That was about a change that had happened in our country. | ||
| Those 30 or 40 Republicans that voted with the Democrats in a surprising way, which gave it momentum in the Senate, was Republicans reflecting a change of heart in their districts. | ||
| And so I say that the work that we need to do is to also, as Speaker Amerita has always taught me, that public sentiment is everything. | ||
| And that now is the moment to bring greater understanding and greater momentum because really the Congress is a reflection of the people. | ||
| Speaker Amerita, would you like to comment on this? | ||
| Well, I'd like to because we passed it twice in the House and we were optimistic that there would be something that could be done in the Senate. | ||
| In keeping with what Senator Merkley said and what the distinguished chairman Takano said about this, we thought corporate America, because they said they were supportive of this, would weigh in on the Senate, respectful of their own employees, high-ranking employees in their corporations. | ||
| We said when we were overseas, when we were in Singapore, we said to the people, the businesses that were there, if you want the best, you better be for legislation like this, so that people can freely participate openly. | ||
| So I do think there's still an opportunity. | ||
| Well, they're in a little different place right this minute, but there is an opportunity for corporate America to weigh in for their own employees if they want the very best. | ||
| They will be helpful with the Equality Act. | ||
| And that is what we anticipated in the House, that they might be true to some of the things that we're telling us and act upon those beliefs. | ||
| Corporate America. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| And I would say, you know, corporate America is part of that public sentiment we're talking about. | ||
| And I was with the Speaker Merito when we spoke to the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore on that trip to Taiwan. | ||
| And by the way, Taiwan is the leading nation in Asia for LGBTQI rights, very proudly so. | ||
| But again, I agree with her. | ||
| Corporate America is a huge voice in the advancement. | ||
| So much has changed within corporate America, the vice presidents, the executives, and the very workforce is demanding equality as well. | ||
| I might say when we were in Singapore, when we went there, one of our tasks given to us by Mr. Ticano was that we would advocate to change the law there because to have a same-sex relationship was not, well, it was illegal. | ||
| Unspoken, but not legal in Singapore. | ||
| A week after we left, they changed the law. | ||
| They changed the law. | ||
| Because corporate America wanted the very best, even in Singapore. | ||
| Any other questions that we might have? | ||
| Yes? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you so much. | |
| I wonder if anyone can speak to the decisions to do this today on the President's 100th day in office. | ||
| You know, sometimes I don't know there was a conscious decision, but I mean, look at this beautiful day. | ||
| It's a beautiful day to stand up for equality. | ||
| And, you know, I think the president's clearly hitting a wall that Americans are saying, many Americans are saying, we didn't vote for this. | ||
| Many Americans never voted for this, but to meet Americans, I mean, it's a great day to remind them that, you know, what is in the core of what is the right side of history, a more perfect union, this is the march toward a more perfect union. | ||
| That's what most Americans believe in. | ||
| And it's a great day on this 100th day to remind our administration what the right side of history is. | ||
| Yes, go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The balance of power and capital knows shift a lot, such as the Merit Equality Act. | |
| Do you still believe there's a capital Red Equality Act in the current balance of power? | ||
| The question was whether there's still a path forward in this particular Congress at this moment. | ||
| Well, the path forward is in the conversation with communities across this nation. | ||
| My Republican colleagues in the Senate are not planning to put the Equality Act on the floor as the blunt truth. | ||
| But we're going to continue advancing that conversation. | ||
| And I think about my daughter, who said to me when I talked to her first about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and then about the Equality Act, and she said, but dad, discrimination is already illegal. | ||
| I don't understand. | ||
| And I think much of America already believes that we put discrimination in our past. | ||
| We are reminding them that that is not the case. | ||
| As we heard from the advocates, discrimination is alive and well. | ||
| Discrimination is being encouraged by some of the leaders in the Republican Party. | ||
| But we're here to say that that is wrong. | ||
| And we're going to keep amplifying this conversation inside the halls of Congress with our advocates and communities all across this nation until we pass this bill. | ||
| And look, on the 100th day of this administration, it's not just about what we're against and what we're opposed. | ||
| This is what we're for, and this is what most Americans are for, and it's an important marker in the ground, and we need to make sure that all Americans know that we're fighting for what they believe in. | ||
| I want to thank you all very much and close by saying our advocates back here: can you hold those signs high? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, that's great. | |
| Let's pass the Equality Act and restore and end discrimination and restore fairness in America. | ||
| Thank you all very much. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you, Senator. | ||
|
unidentified
|
A little hot there. | |
| Thank you. Thank you so much. | ||
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