Pride Month

Floor Speech

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Ms. BALINT. Madam Speaker, I rise today to start with a reflection.

When I was in high school, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to go into politics. I was good in front of a room. I loved talking about policy. I wanted to make a real difference in the lives of Americans. It was so clear. I knew my path.

I also thought that was just a pipe dream because, first of all, I knew nobody in my family had ever run for office. I didn't know the first thing about doing that, but I also knew at that time in high school, I had no role models for how to serve as an openly gay leader, a politician, so I put that away.

I actually didn't run for office until I was in my forties because I didn't see a way forward. There was just so much homophobia, so much vitriol from within my community, sometimes within my own family.

I want to reflect on the fact it is incredible that I am standing here today in this Chamber, the House of Representatives, as the first woman ever to represent Vermont in Congress, as the first openly LGBTQ person to represent my State in Congress. I never imagined that I would be here. I take it very seriously that I am a leader for all Vermonters, regardless of how they identify.

Pride--which is what this month is about--is about celebrating love. It is about celebrating families of all kinds, including my own. I have a wife and two teenagers. It is about celebrating the joy that comes from living your authentic self and making genuine connections with other people.

Pride is also a reminder that we must remember the history that brought us here today, of the political struggle that secured so many of our rights, and also the path we still must walk in order to get to true equality.

Earlier today, I spoke in the Oversight Committee. I was waived onto that committee to talk about some of the really horrible rhetoric that has become all too commonplace in our committees and on the floor of the House of Representatives.

I know because I feel it, too. I know so many of us are feeling quite down about the state of the world and discouraged about the battles that we have fought. We thought we had that discrimination behind us. We thought the hateful and hurtful rhetoric was something in the past.

I get it. We, as members of marginalized communities, understand the despair. We understand why it is so exhausting to think about having to fight these battles over again, but we do not have the luxury of losing hope or giving in to cynicism. As I say often, cynicism is the voice of the status quo. Cynicism tells you nothing can change, so, therefore, why even try.

I can say that I have been shocked at the constant attacks on my community that I have experienced in the last 1\1/2\ years in Congress, with the public debate and passage of so many dangerous anti- transgender, anti-LGBTQ bills, amendments, and riders. There is this sense that somehow our words don't matter, that they don't have an impact, that it is just an amendment.

I literally had people say to me in the hallway that they don't really believe this stuff, that they don't really hate gay people. That doesn't matter if what they do in the end is vote for those hateful amendments and riders in bills. My colleagues' actions matter.

It is not enough to say to me privately, hey, I know you, know you are a good person, and you know I don't mean you. That doesn't matter if what they do in the end is vote against my rights and freedoms and, more than that, demonize me within my community and, as the Representative from Michigan just said, contribute to the mental health crisis that so many youth in my community suffer from.

We can't allow our elected officials and leaders to continue to demonize and dehumanize other Americans, other Americans who have the rights that all Americans have to live their lives free from discrimination, to go to work and not have to face discrimination at work, to serve on a jury, and to be treated with dignity and respect. That is all we are asking.

We thought that the work was behind us because we are your friends, neighbors, and family members, and we have already fought these battles. The sky didn't fall when we passed civil unions in Vermont. The sky didn't fall when we passed same-sex marriage. The sky didn't fall when we passed antidiscrimination legislation.

All the terrible things that were going to come to pass by treating people with dignity, respect, and love, and affording them the same freedoms as everyone else in this country--the sky did not fall. We are still here. We are still a strong democracy.

The consistent stream of hate is a reminder that whenever you make progress, and my colleague here knows it so well, the backlash comes. We are in the midst of a furious backlash.

We cannot allow the attacks to go unchallenged. We must go toe to toe in committee after committee, debate after debate on the floor. We cannot normalize the dehumanizing rhetoric, the fear-mongering, the hatred.

We must every day call attention to the fact that what is happening in the most powerful body in this country is that people are using their political platform to demonize and dehumanize and spread hatred and fear of other Americans who are worthy of dignity, respect, and freedom.

I hear from so many young people, both in my State and here on the Hill, people who work in this building, people who come to advocate on behalf of organizations and policies they believe in. They say: Thank you so much, Congresswoman, for being out about who you are and being open about your family because it is still really hard to live a life full of joy and promise in many pockets of this country.

We risk lives when we don't stand up clearly and loudly against discrimination against trans people, against queer people, against people who are just different. We have forgotten that everyone in our community, regardless of gender identity, regardless of background, is worthy of dignity and respect and should be afforded the same freedoms and rights as every other American.

We must be loud, and we must not give an inch. That is why we are here tonight. We are not going back. It doesn't matter how many amendments you bring up, how many riders, or how many bills that are attacking our community. We are not going back.

We are not going back into the closet. We are not going to stop being who we are. We are not going to stop showing up with courage and dignity and love, not just for ourselves, but for all the young people who are watching us, who see their leaders demonizing them, who tune in to C-SPAN and tune in to committee hearings and they say: I can't believe they are spending their time attacking our community again when all we want is to live a life of dignity and freedom. Why are they spending their time on this?

I have to say: I don't know. I don't know.

This month is about loving and living. That is what this is. This is life-affirming. Pride is about saying: We are here. We are your friends. We are your neighbors. We are your family members, and we deserve dignity and respect.

I remind my community out there: You be you. Keep being you. Keep being yourself. When we reach our full potential as humans, it does make the world a better place. It makes our communities more rich.

I tell you this because I know my 11-year-old self needed to hear that. I needed to hear that from the adults in my life and the leaders. My 11-year-old self was worried that just being me, just having my identity would limit what I would be able to do in life, which is why I didn't run for office until my forties.

I knew at 17 that I wanted to serve my community, but I felt limited because of the homophobia and because of the hatred. I worried that my family would not love me. I worried that I would never be accepted in school because those were the messages. I worried and feared that I would lose friends, and I did.

Today, we have to remember where we have come from, and we cannot allow the rhetoric to continue in this body because it isn't just about the bills that we pass or don't pass. It is about the messages that we are sending to people across this country. Are we a Nation that believes that everyone is entitled to dignity and respect and humanity, or are we going to become a Nation that continues to scapegoat those in our communities that, for some reason, we don't understand?

I am here as a Member of Congress. I am here as a parent. I am here as a former teacher. It is the honor of my life to serve my State in the U.S. House of Representatives. I could not be more proud, and I am going to use my voice to stand up for any community that is in danger of having its rights taken away from it.

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