Each year, I celebrate Pride Month with the LGBTQ+ community by focusing on how far we have come and how far we have yet to go. Our community has much to be proud of: We are beautiful and diverse, and have overcome many challenges. Despite continued discrimination, LGBTQ+ people have contributed greatly to all aspects of our society, and our history is intrinsically woven into the fabric of today’s world. However, Pride Month feels a bit different this year.
Across the country, and around the world, we are witnessing anti-equality politicians put the rights, liberties, and lives of LGBTQ+ people in jeopardy each and every day. Whether it is the more than 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills sweeping state legislatures in the United States or MAGA Republicans pushing similar bills in the U.S. House of Representatives, our community is under attack from every direction.
Republicans in Congress even introduced bills earlier this year to ban Pride flags at U.S. embassies and to limit when staff at schools can use a student’s proper pronouns. Pride flags and pronouns aren’t the problem; bigotry is.
This bigotry especially targets the transgender community. Transgender people started the first Pride Festival by protesting police injustice at the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan, and now they’re the number one target of anti-equality politicians.
These politicians are restricting transgender people’s access to medically necessary care, banning them from participating on school sports teams with their friends, and calling their mere existence into question. Some supporters of these anti-equality politicians are even calling for transgender people to be eradicated.
In 2023, we should be free of bigotry. As a society, we should be beyond calling for the eradication of groups of people or the erasure of entire communities. In 2023, we should be prioritizing issues like lowering health care costs, tackling the climate crisis, supporting working families, and protecting our communities from an epidemic of gun violence.
Rather than focus on urgent social issues, anti-equality politicians and extremists are spending time targeting the rights of a marginalized community.
Rather than focusing on those crucial issues, anti-equality politicians and extremists are spending their time and energy on a batch of priorities that don’t support the American people, but rather target the rights of a marginalized community of people who are simply trying to live their lives.
We must fight back.
As chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, I am honored to lead this caucus of 194 members of the U.S. House of Representatives who are committed to ensuring equality for the entire LGBTQ+ community. All of our members are dedicated to advancing bills that create a better world for our LGBTQ+ constituents.
This includes passing the Equality Act, which would amend existing civil rights laws to explicitly prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in employment, housing, public accommodations, education, federally funded programs, credit, and jury service.
LGBTQ+ people deserve the same explicit protections from discrimination as everyone else. No matter an individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex characteristics, they should be able to enjoy a life free from discrimination.
This legislation would not cure the bigotry poisoning our country, but if passed, it would provide crucial safeguards for members of the LGBTQ+ community and the American people.
Additionally, I plan to reintroduce legislation to create a National Museum of American LGBTQ+ History and Culture. As we continue to build a prosperous future for our community, it is crucial to remember our collective past. What better way to do that than with a Smithsonian museum?
We have much to celebrate in our history already, but still more to continue fighting for. I look forward to the day when bigotry and anti-equality agendas are confined to the dustbin of history—or, perhaps, written about in a display at the National Museum of American LGBTQ+ History and Culture. Until then, we must keep fighting against hatred and bigotry, and for a better future. That’s what Pride is all about.