[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 173 (Thursday, November 8, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H13389]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2100
                        APOLOGIES TO DAWN DAWSON

  (Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I want to apologize to Dawn 
Dawson. Ms. Dawson is a thoughtful young woman who was engaged in a 
lawsuit involving a charge of discrimination based on sexual 
orientation. An organization in the dispute we had about the scope of 
the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, in my judgment, misquoted the 
holding in that lawsuit. In the course of refuting that, I quoted some 
passages which reflected somewhat negatively on Ms. Dawson. I should 
not have done that. There is no reason to make any negative inference 
about her. It was in a legal context which does not support factually 
any negative response.
  Ms. Dawson called me after that, came to see me. I was impressed by 
her grace, by her thoughtfulness, and by her commitment to working for 
a better America for all of us.
  So I want to express my regret that I brought this young woman into 
this dispute for no good reason. She deserves much better from me, as 
she deserves from all who are concerned about fairness in this country. 
And as I said, I apologize to Ms. Dawson. I continue to believe that 
the organization with which I was disputing misinterpreted her lawsuit, 
but that was not her fault.

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