Senator Murray yesterday cosponsored an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would end President Trump’s hateful transgender service ban
Senator Murray also submitted a statement for the Congressional Record today recognizing and celebrating the continued struggle for LGBTQIA+ equality
ICYMI: Senator Murray pushes for vote on Equality Act, which would extend LGBTQIA+ protections to include housing, education, and public accommodations – MORE HERE
ICYMI: Senator Murray introduces resolution recognizing June as LGBTQ Pride Month – MORE HERE
Senator Murray: “This Administration’s far-reaching ideological agenda seems aimed at relegating LGBTQIA+ people to second-class citizens”
(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) yesterday cosponsored an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, the country’s major defense spending authorization legislation, which would institute non-discrimination protections for all servicemembers on the basis of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and national origin. This would effectively end President Trump’s transgender service ban.
“I will always stand up to this President’s bigoted agenda, and this is an important step that will not only reverse this Administration’s cruel rule and support military readiness, but it will reaffirm to our transgender brothers and sisters that they have a place in our military and in our country,” said Senator Murray about the provision. “I’m going to do everything I can to make sure this provision is included in our annual defense authorization legislation.”
Additionally, in recognition of Pride Month, Senator Murray today submitted a statement for the Congressional Record celebrating the struggle of the LGBTQIA+ community for equality and highlighting the Trump Administrations efforts to roll back and stymie that struggle.
“…[A] half century after Stonewall, I’m reminded that while we’ve made some critical progress we’re still fighting so many of the same battles, and we still have so much, much more work to do,” Senator Murray said in her statement. “And there’s no denying President Trump and Vice President Pence have made this work far more difficult. This Administration’s far-reaching ideological agenda seems aimed at relegating LGBTQIA+ people to second-class citizens.”
In her statement, Senator Murray highlighted the contributions of Black transgender women and men to LGBTQIA+ equality, and that despite the progress made since Stonewall, Black transgender women and men continue to be the targets of violence in America. Senator Murray also highlighted President Trump and his administrations’ many attacks on the rights of LGBTQIA+ people, including working to strip protections from LGBTQIA+ people seeking access to health care, eliminating protections for federal contractor and subcontractor LGBTQIA+ workers, allowing shelters to discriminate against transgender people, and banning transgender servicemembers in our military.
These steps follow Senator Murray’s actions earlier this month to support LGBTQIA+ people and rights by calling on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to bring the Equality Act to the Senate floor for a vote. The Equality Act is groundbreaking, comprehensive legislation that would add explicit protections for LGBTQIA+ Americans to the nation’s civil rights laws, ensuring that no American is evicted from their home or is denied a service based on their LGBTQ status. The bill, which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2017, would clarify that just like religious, racial, or gender discrimination, anti-LGBTQ discrimination is illegal everywhere in the United States of America. Also this month, Senator Murray introduced a resolution officially recognizing June as LGBTQ Pride Month and highlighting the contributions LGBTQ individuals to American society.
See below Senator Murray’s full statement for the Congressional Record.
“M. President, I want to take a few minutes on the floor today to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community and their long march toward equality, as well as talk a little bit about how the actions of this President and his Administration have threatened our hard-fought progress.
“As Pride Month comes to a close—a month that has seen communities of every size, in every state, protesting against our nation’s long legacy of police brutality and systemic racism, while also navigating the impacts of a global health pandemic—I’m reminded of the Black and brown transgender women who, fifty-one years ago, stood against the bigotry and violence of the police after they raided the Stonewall Inn and then sought to suppress six days of protest.
“I’m reminded of their courage, and how their struggles mirror the intersectional challenges people are facing today, and the demands ringing out from protesters in the streets.
“I’m reminded of Tony McDade, an unarmed Black transgender man killed by police in Tallahassee in late May, and of Nina Pop, a transwoman murdered in her Missouri apartment earlier in May—a fate that meets countless Black transwomen and other transwomen of color.
“M. President, a half century after Stonewall, I’m reminded that while we’ve made some critical progress we’re still fighting so many of the same battles, and we still have so much, much more work to do.
“And there’s no denying President Trump and Vice President Pence have made this work far more difficult.
“This Administration’s far-reaching ideological agenda seems aimed at relegating LGBTQIA+ people to second-class citizens.
“M. President, back in June of 2017, I sent a letter to President Trump outlining the multitude of ways his actions in the first 100 days of his Administration had already threatened to cause harm to LGBTQIA+ people in Washington state and around the nation.
“Three years later, it is sad but safe to say that President Trump has built those threats into an all-out attack on members of the community.
“From the Administration’s efforts to strip protections from LGBTQIA+ people seeking access to health care, during a public health emergency no less, to eliminating protections for federal contractor and subcontractor LGBTQIA+ workers, to rolling back the Obama-era HUD Equal Access Rule—allowing shelters to discriminate against transgender people now, and banning transgender servicemembers in our military.
“This is all in addition to this administration’s proposed “faith-based” rules that have allowed multiple federal agencies to begin discriminating against LGTBQIA+ people seeking access to vital taxpayer services, and the parade of homophobic and transphobic judicial and executive appointments that have been jammed through with the help of Senate Republicans.
“M. President, I unfortunately could go on, because the list of offenses is long, but let me say, in closing—as a proud ally of the LGBTQIA+ community in Washington state and across the country, and as a voice for our state here in the Senate, I will never stop shining a spotlight on efforts from President Trump, or any President, to discriminate against our LGBTQIA+ loved ones, friends, neighbors, and co-workers.
“And I won’t stop fighting against hatred in our laws and standing up for what is right, as well as encouraging others to make their voices heard too, as we work to help our nation live up to its ideals of justice and equality.
“So M. President, this may not be the celebratory Pride we expected, or one like we’ve ever seen before, but it is one we should take as motivation and inspiration for the work ahead—this June and in the coming months and years.
“Happy Pride, everyone—and M. President, I yield the floor.”
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