WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut’s United States senators are pushing for Congress to pass the Equality Act, a bill aimed at enshrining protections for LGBTQ+ people into federal law.
“We need to understand that it literally is a life or death situation,” said Mel Cordner, the founding executive director of Q Plus.
Earlier this month, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) declared a ‘State of Emergency’ for LGBTQ+ Americans for the first time ever.
“I wish that we were talking more about the actual life and death impact of these things because it is not about a picture on a desk, it is not about whether or not I can get a mortgage,” Cordner said. “It is about whether or not my kids are safe, like going to school.”
The HRC’s warning comes amid a spike in violence and what they call “legislative assaults,” citing more than 75 anti-LGBTQ+ bills signed into law this year alone.
“No one should be denied a job because of who they are, or who they love,” U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, (D-CT) said. “Nobody should be denied a loan, or housing, or any rights because of who they are and who they love.”
Wednesday, Democratic lawmakers reintroduced the Equality Act in Congress. The bill would expand federal civil rights law, to prohibit discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
Congressional Democrats have been pushing for this legislation since 2015 and the bill actually passed the House in both 2019 and 2021, but has never made it through the Senate.
With a slim Democratic majority this year, Murphy and Blumenthal are hopeful the Equality Act’s time is now.
“All around this country, kids are being marginalized by petty small adults who don't have anything better to do than bully gay, transgender, nonbinary kids,” added U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, (D-CT).
Friday, Murphy and Blumenthal recognized work done at the state level in Connecticut to protect LGBTQ+ people, but say it's not enough.
“We can't fully protect every single Connecticut citizen's rights without the Equality Act,” Murphy continued.
He and Blumenthal blame Senate rules requiring a 60-vote majority as the reason the Equality Act is yet to pass, but both say now they're seeing more Republican support, something advocates are hoping for.
“Kids are facing isolation and suicide because they're afraid and because the message they hear over and over again is they don't belong here,” said Cordner. “Not just here in Connecticut, but here as in the world.”
The senators say they do have more than 50 votes, but are still working on the 60-vote threshold. They hope to see a vote on the Equality Act before the end of this year.
“Gay rights are human rights, transgender rights are human rights, women's rights are human rights,” Blumenthal said. “That's what the Equality Act says to America and there could be nothing more American, nothing more American than the Equality Act.”
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