[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 43 (Thursday, March 18, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E490]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                THE D.C. EQUALITY BEGINS AT HOME EFFORTS

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 18, 1999

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the local 
Equality Begins at Home events here in the District of Columbia that 
will take place during the week of March 21-27, 1999. I will be at the 
Bipartisan Congressional Retreat in Hershey, Pennsylvania on Sunday, 
March 21, when the District of Columbia's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and 
transgender (LGBT) residents kick off a week of lobbying and conscience 
raising at Freedom Plaza.
  These events, with an emphasis on local needs, are taking place 
throughout the United States, but no jurisdiction has experienced more 
bigotry associated with sexual orientation than the nation's capital. 
This prejudice, I am happy to say, does not come from the people of the 
District of Columbia, or their locally elected representatives, who 
have enacted the most progressive and far-reaching protections in the 
country. Residents of every background in the District feel particular 
anger when, in violation of all of the principles of self-government, 
Congress injects itself to enact measures at odds with principles of 
equality and anti-discrimination that the residents of this city hold 
especially dear.
  Each year, under congressional attack, I am forced to defend the 
District's domestic partnership law, a very modest provision designed 
to afford relatives or partners who live in the same household the 
opportunity to qualify for health benefits at no additional expense to 
the District government. Last year, I spent ten hours on the House 
floor defending the District's appropriation from anti-democratic 
attachments, more of them seeking to impose sexual orientation 
discrimination than any other type of attachment that was proposed and 
passed. We must keep these and other anti-gay provisions off this 
year's appropriation. The right to adopt children or to qualify for 
health insurance has everything to do with kids in need of homes or 
residents in need of health care, and nothing to do with the sexual 
orientation of our residents. The bigoted mischief done by Congress to 
the District in the name of homophobia has known no bounds. The city is 
now in court seeking to overturn the congressional attachment that 
prevents the release of the November ballot results determining whether 
District residents who are ill can use medically prescribed marijuana 
for medicinal purposes. Another amendment brimming with discrimination 
last year all but destroyed the District's successful needle exchange 
program, leaving this vital, life-saving program to a totally private 
group with little funding.
  I very much appreciate the efforts of our dedicated and energetic 
LGBT community to educate Members concerning the injury done to 
individuals and the insult to self-government rendered by congressional 
anti-gay attachments. With Equality Begins at Home rallied to fight 
back, we will yet make the Congress understand that it must back off--
back off bigotry against District residents whose sexual orientation 
differs from the majority, and back off the annual assault on the 
legislative prerogatives of the City Council.
  Sadly, Mr. Speaker, this bigotry is not limited to anti-democratic 
legislation aimed at the LGBT community of the District. In the past 
year, this nation has been outraged at the inexplicable cruelty of the 
murders of two gay men in Alabama and Wyoming. These hate-inspired 
murders underscore the need to pass the Hate-Crimes Prevention Act 
(HCPA) and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) immediately. 
Another session of Congress must not go by without addressing both the 
crimes and the employment discrimination that emanate from sexual 
orientation. No other response is acceptable.

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