Equality Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

One of the sad things that is happening in America, Mr. Speaker, is that the truth is so often being perceived as fake news or that fake news is so often being perceived as the truth.

Mr. Speaker, I am old enough to have worked for a United States Senator during the civil rights era. And I would get a publication-- because I opened the mail; I had a hifalutin job--from what was called the Cross and the Sword, a publication that came somewhere from the South. I forget where its headquarters was.

I remember reading how the Bible told us that we should not integrate America and that if God had wanted us all to be together, then we would be the same color. I perceived that then and I perceive that now as absurd.

So I proudly rise in support of H.R. 5, the Equality Act, and congratulate Mr. Cicilline and all those who have worked on getting this bill to this point on this floor.

We passed it before, of course, and sent it to the United States Senate. They ignored it, to their discredit. The House passed this bill last Congress with bipartisan support. I hope we have bipartisan support this year because I remember, Mr. Speaker, back in the days of the early sixties and mid-sixties there were giants in the Republican Party who stood with Democrats on behalf of civil rights. I hope we can repeat that today because there is no room in America--it says here in 2021 that there should have been no room in America from 1776 on when we said: ``We hold these truths to be self-evident''--for legal discrimination.

There are moments in our history that are celebrated for generations as those in which Americans came together to perfect our Union and to protect and uphold the universal rights enshrined in our founding documents. That is what we as a nation did with the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. It is what we did with the 19th Amendment where we said: Oh, yes, I know you are a woman, but you are going to be equal, you are going to be allowed to vote.

What a radical idea that was and how long it took.

We did it as well with the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1960. We did it together with the bill that I was proud to sponsor on this floor, the Americans with Disabilities Act. We said that it is not your disability that counts; it is your ability; drop the ``dis.''

We can do it again today with Mr. Cicilline's Equality Act, affirming that equality is for everyone all the time and everywhere.

This legislation, Mr. Speaker, would ban discrimination against LGBTQ Americans in every area where it still exists and in every State that still permits it. One nation under God, indivisible. Not discrimination in the Northwest and discrimination in the Northeast or discrimination in the South or the Southwest. One nation--no discrimination--fairness and equality for all.

That includes housing, public education, personal finance and credit, employment, healthcare, jury service, and public accommodation. The practical effect of such legalized discrimination is the denial of opportunities and economic security to certain Americans because of their gender identity or sexual orientation.

The practical effect of this bill, Mr. Speaker, will be to open the doors of opportunity and economic security to those for whom they were shut for far, far too long.

I want to thank Representative Cicilline. I want to thank the gentleman in the Chair for his leadership and courage. Both of them have displayed such worth as human beings and as colleagues, not by some arbitrary definition that we give to them based upon their sexual orientation or whether any of us, because of our gender, male or female, or our color, Black or White or yellow or red, one nation under God, indivisible. This legislation tries to recognize that indivisibility of the right of all Americans.

I want to express my gratitude to the Congressional LGBTQ-Plus Equality Caucus, which has provided leadership both in shaping and improving this legislation championing its adoption.

The House will pass this legislation today, and then I hope it will not be lost in the politics of the Senate. That body has an extraordinary record over the centuries in terms of civil rights. It should uphold that record. I know that the Democratic Senate majority is eager to see it considered and passed.

As I said, when I grew up in the sixties in the civil rights movement, many Republican leaders were giants in this effort. I hope the Senate Republicans who have stood in the way of equality of opportunity for LGBTQ Americans for too long will finally come together with them in a bipartisan fashion and allow an up-or-down vote. That is all we ask, an up-or-down vote.

Frankly, that is not all we ask. We ask for 10 Republicans to join us with 50 Democrats to make this a reality. Most Americans have come to understand that ending discrimination for LGBTQ people is about the fundamental rights and dignity of their fellow Americans, and it is about who we are as a country, who we claim to be but for far too long were not.

We know we are not there yet, but this is a very significant and important step for us to take in a land of opportunity for all and a land of liberty and justice for all. So let us affirm that today in this House. And I hope the Senate, in days to come, will join in that affirmation of justice for all, and let us make this a day to remember in our history as one where we came together to perfect our Union, as John Lewis would say, one more time.

I urge a ``yes'' vote, Mr. Speaker.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source