[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 108 (Tuesday, June 22, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E676]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    COMMEMORATING LGBTQ PRIDE MONTH

                                 ______
                                 

                      HON. SANFORD D. BISHOP, JR.

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 22, 2021

  Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Madam Speaker, this June, we celebrate Pride 
Month in solidarity with our fellow Americans, and world citizens, who 
identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer, also known 
as the LGBTQ community. We celebrate the courage it takes for LGBTQ 
people to openly and freely be their true selves, and we celebrate to 
show them compassion and understanding, even if they have not yet made 
the decision to affirm their identity publicly.
  The struggle to attain full equality for LGBTQ Americans is far from 
over, but we can take solace in recent triumphs: the repeal of ``Don't 
Ask, Don't Tell,'' Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex 
marriage in the United States, Bostock v. Clayton County, GA, which 
prohibited employment discrimination based on sex or sexual 
orientation, and President Biden's lifting of the ban on Transgender 
people from serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.
  But also, during this Pride Month, we must not forget the struggles 
that lie ahead for the LGBTQ community--most notably, attaining the 
right to live freely, with equal protection of the laws and without 
fear of violence or persecution. For many LGBTQ people, especially 
those of color, this dream is not yet within reach. I implore those 
Americans that face adversity for their sex or sexual orientation not 
to despair; as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. paraphrased the words of the 
abolitionist Theodore Parker, `the arc of the moral universe is long, 
but it bends toward justice.'
  It is incumbent upon each and every one of us living in this country 
to extend the kindness and respect to our neighbor that we, in turn, 
would wish to receive. LGBTQ Americans live and work in every city and 
county in our nation. They live in communities that are rural, urban, 
suburban and everything in between. They are a diverse community that 
spans all races, ethnicities, nations, and creeds, but they all have 
one thing in common--they were created by God and in his image.

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