Calling Mitch McConnell "The Grim Reaper," Rep. David Cicilline stood by the bill passed by the House banning discrimination against LGBTQ citizens, even though it's likely to die in the Senate.
May 17, 2019

The House of Representatives passed the Equality Act, which outlaws discrimination against people based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The legislation amends the Civil Rights Act to include LGBTQ, because 30 of our 50 states still have no laws that ban this type of discrimination. As Rep. Jerry Nadler stated, "We cannot accept the situation where anyone in this country can get married on Sunday and legally fired on Monday because of who they love." From The Washington Post:

Rep. David N. Cicilline (D-R.I.) was chief sponsor of the measure to amend the 1964 law, calling it “a life-saving bill that addresses some of the fundamental inequality.”

As Democrats applauded, the bill passed 236-to-173, with eight Republicans breaking ranks and joining all Democrats in backing the measure. It is unlikely to get a vote in the Republican-led Senate, and the White House has signaled that President Trump would veto the measure if it ever reached his desk.

In the above clip, Rep. Cicilline recognizes the bill will likely not see the light of day in the Senate, but said he'll demand Mitch McTurtle not be the "grim reaper" and allow the Senate to consider the legislation. Gooooood luck. And even if it passed the Senate, Trumpy Bear already promised to veto it.

Stephanie Ruhle noted that more Republicans than expected (8) voted for this bill in the House, but Ali Velshi wanted to know who was actively lobbying against it and why.

ALEX THOMAS: Yeah. We've seen a lot of religious groups lobbying against this. I've seen a lot of letters that members have been getting. I saw a letter yesterday from the Church of Latter Day Saints was lobbying against it. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was lobbying against it. And their argument is that this is going to impede on religious freedoms. That's an argument that we've seen on this sort of bill a lot. It reminds you a little bit of the bill that mike pence signed into law when he was governor that protected religious freedoms but ended up working to discriminate against the LGBT community.

Even more laughable, though, is the Republican argument that it's unfair to women HAHAHAhAhhaAAHahaAHahA*twitch*HAha Sorry. They are afraid men might be able to compete against girls, or take their spots on teams. Again, from The Washington Post: this nugget of brilliance:

“It is bad for freedom to force small business owners all across this country to provide services or products to the public that may violate their deeply held faith-based convictions,” said Rep. Ross Spano (R-Fla). “Again, allowing the state to essentially impose from above top down its own moral codes and rules in place of those of the individual.”

DID you HeAr ThaT?!?

The Republicans do not want the state to impose its own moral codes in ways that might be unfair to women ohmygod I am going to rock in a corner now someone wake me up in 30 years

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon