[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 82 (Thursday, May 16, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H3849]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  WE CAN PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF LGBTQ INDIVIDUALS AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Utah 
(Mr. Curtis) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CURTIS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak about the Equality 
Act.
  First and foremost, I must begin by saying that I believe the LGBTQ 
community is a critical part of the fabric of our country. They are 
deserving of our unequivocal love and respect, and their contributions 
to my home State of Utah are utterly invaluable.
  As the mayor of Provo, I prioritized inclusion and love, and sought 
to ensure my administration did everything possible to recognize the 
intrinsic value of all of our citizens, including our LGBTQ community.
  I fought hard against discrimination and was grateful for my 
associations with organizations like Provo Pride, Equality Utah, 
Encircle, and others, who I was honored to stand with to ensure that 
our city motto of ``Welcome Home'' extended to everyone.
  Perhaps even more important than that, I am grateful for the 
association and relationships of my life that have helped me better 
understand the experiences of the LGBTQ community, and who have been 
patient with me, a conservative Utah boy raised in the 1960s, who took 
longer than I am proud of to gain empathy for this important issue.
  Again, I say I am incredibly grateful for the contribution of the 
LGBTQ community and will always stand with them in respect and support.
  With the Equality Act, we face a unique challenge: balancing the 
needs and protections against discrimination with the importance of 
protecting religious liberty, which is one of the fundamental rights 
enshrined at the foundation of our Nation.
  I believe this compromise is possible, because I have seen it before 
in my home State with historic legislation called the Utah Compromise 
that effectively balanced the absolute rights of both LGBTQ individuals 
as human beings and religious institutions protected by the First 
Amendment.
  The Equality Act fails to strike that balance. Instead, these two 
interests are treated as zero sum games, with no good-faith effort put 
forth for both sides to win.
  This bill would end longstanding religious liberties under the 
Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a historic bipartisan legislative 
victory fought for by the current Democratic leader in the Senate, 
Chuck Schumer; my own Utah mentor, Orrin Hatch, a Republican; and 
liberal icon, Ted Kennedy. It was also signed into law by Democrat Bill 
Clinton.
  I have introduced commonsense amendments that would help achieve this 
critical balance of protection for both maintaining the standards 
against discrimination and religious freedom, but I am frustrated that 
House Democratic leaders have decided there will not be any 
consideration or even debate of amendments to the Equality Act. 
Instead, they have established a model of legislative gas-lighting.
  In this case, they are taking issues where broad bipartisan agreement 
is possible and taking the debate right off the table on issue after 
issue, whether it be climate change, violence against women, and now 
the Equality Act.
  They disregard willing partners, such as myself, standing here hoping 
to work with them, and instead, prefer to pass party-line bills that 
won't go anywhere so they have issues to campaign on.
  If my colleagues on the other side of the aisle truly want to achieve 
progress on this issue, I hope they will recognize that they have a 
willing partner in me, but they must be willing to work together to 
legislate and make room to protect both religious liberty and the LGBTQ 
community.
  Exploiting yet another group in order to pass a campaign message bill 
along party lines is not in harmony with this body.
  I hope they will hear me today and change course before we vote on 
this bill.

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