[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 112 (Tuesday, July 12, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H4665-H4666]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               WE NEED TO STAND UP FOR THE LGBT COMMUNITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Connecticut (Ms. Esty) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. ESTY. Mr. Speaker, today marks 1 month since the horrific attack 
on Pulse nightclub that took 49 lives. Many of us have come here to 
this floor raising our voices to demand that this House take action to 
prevent the loss of life from guns in this country.
  But one critical, tragic aspect of this crime that sometimes has 
gotten lost is exactly who was targeted in the shooting. Pulse was a 
mainstay of Orlando's LGBT community, and of the Latino community in 
particular. Now, more than ever, we need to unite against hatred, 
discrimination, and bigotry. We need to stand together in calling for 
justice, peace, and equality.
  I am, frankly, appalled to see that today, today on the 1-month 
anniversary of the shootings at the Pulse nightclub, instead of 
standing with the LGBT community, instead of passing background checks, 
today the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will be 
advancing legislation to undermine the existing and insufficient 
protections that the law provides for LGBT Americans.
  I am proud that my home State of Connecticut is one of several States 
to pass legislation protecting the LGBT community from discrimination, 
whether folks are at work, at school, at the doctor's office or, yes, 
using a public bathroom. Our residents support these laws. We support 
these protections. LGBT folks are our brothers, our sisters, our 
friends, our neighbors. They are our kids' teachers, coaches, and their 
friends. They give back to our community. They volunteer at church. 
They serve in public office.
  In Congress we should be focusing on legislation to prevent 
discrimination and prevent hatred. Our goal should be a country in 
which all Americans, in every State, can live their lives free from 
bigotry and harassment and free of the fear of being targeted with guns 
because of who people are. Quite simply, I can't imagine a worse way 
for Congress to respond to the massacre in Orlando than with 
legislation attacking LGBT Americans.
  The American people overwhelmingly believe that discrimination 
targeting the LGBT community has no place in our society, and yet a 
bill to support that discrimination is getting a full hearing today. 
Meanwhile, legislation to keep guns out of the hands of terrorists that 
has broad, bipartisan support among the public cannot get so much as a 
vote in this House.
  In the 3\1/2\ years since the Sandy Hook massacre in my State, in my 
district in Connecticut, this House has failed to take any action, any 
action whatsoever to prevent the deaths of Americans by guns. In that 
time, 100,000 Americans have died from guns, 49 of them in the largest 
mass shooting in American history 1 month ago, targeted because they 
are LGBT at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time to get our priorities straight. It is time 
for us to do what the American people sent us here to do. Let us send a 
very clear message: We stand up against hatred and discrimination; we 
stand with our LGBT

[[Page H4666]]

brothers and sisters; and we stand with the American people who are 
demanding that this House take action to keep guns out of the hands of 
dangerous people, to keep guns away from terrorists, to keep guns away 
from criminals, to keep guns away from domestic abusers, and to keep 
guns away from the dangerously mentally ill.
  We need a vote on no fly, no buy. We need a vote on comprehensive 
background checks on every commercial sale of a gun. The time to act is 
now, Mr. Speaker, and action is not increasing voting to increase 
discrimination against our LGBT brothers and sisters and to make them 
more vulnerable to the gun violence that wracks this country. We need 
to act. The time is now.

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