[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 22 (Monday, February 8, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E127-E128]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               TRIBUTE TO RUTH BERMAN AND CONSTANCE KURTZ

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. PATRICK MURPHY

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, February 8, 2016

  Mr. MURPHY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I along with Representatives Ted 
Deutch and Lois Frankel rise to recognize Ruth Berman and Constance 
Kurtz on the occasion of receiving the SAGE Pioneer award this 
Saturday, February 6, 2016.
  Ruth Berman and Constance Kurtz, affectionately known to all as 
Ruthie and Connie, are fierce, unyielding advocates and activists who 
have changed hearts and minds on LGBT rights, marriage equality, and 
women's rights. Since falling in love and coming out in the 1970s, 
Ruthie and Connie have risen to national prominence, successfully 
winning domestic partner benefits for City of New York employees in 
1988. Additionally, through television appearances on The Phil Donohue 
Show, interviews with Geraldo Rivera and Bill Boggs, and their 2002 
documentary ``Connie and Ruthie: Every Room in the House,'' they have 
connected with individuals worldwide and shown the personal impact of 
changing social climates.
  That commitment to the personal impact of love and acceptance 
continues through their work as certified counselors. In that capacity, 
they founded The Answer is Loving Counseling Center, where they have 
served for over twenty years. Additionally, they founded branches of 
Parents, Friends and Family of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) in Florida and 
New York. In 2000, they began serving as co-chairs of the New York 
State National Organization for Women (NOW) Lesbian Rights Task Force.

[[Page E128]]

  I was privileged to introduce a bill this session with my colleagues 
Suzanne Bonamici and Ted Deutch to expand the Older Americans Act (OAA) 
to improve services available for older LGBT adults. This legislation 
recognizes LGBT seniors as a vulnerable population, which will open the 
door for improved health and longterm care services for elders in the 
LGBT community.
  I, along with Representatives Deutch and Frankel, have known Ruthie 
and Connie for many years. They are my constituents and my inspiration 
for the bill. For decades, their advocacy and leadership in the LGBT 
community has not wavered as they have aged, but the services available 
to them and other aging LGBT adults are profoundly unequal to those of 
other American populations. Their living message inspired the Ruthie 
and Connie LGBT Elder Americans Act of 2015 (H.R. 3793).
  For these reasons and more, it is with great please that we join SAGE 
(Services & Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, & Transgender Elders) 
to recognize Ruthie and Connie for their lifetime of love and service.

                          ____________________