[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 110 (Thursday, June 24, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S4763]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                              PRIDE MONTH

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, as we celebrate Pride Month, I want to 
take a moment to acknowledge some of the trailblazers and pioneers in 
the LGBTQ+ community who have led the fight for equality.
  Our Nation--and the world--has come a long way since the first Pride 
parade was organized more than half a century ago. But that progress 
didn't come about on its own. It demanded sacrifice, from activists 
like Marsha P. Johnson, who led the Stonewall Uprising in New York 
City, and leaders like Harvey Milk, who gave his life to advance LGBTQ+ 
equality. And it also demanded courage, courage that we see on display 
every day.
  Just this week, a defensive lineman for the Las Vegas Raiders, Carl 
Nassib, became the first active NFL player to come out as gay. In a 
video he posted, Mr. Nassib said he hopes that ``one day videos like 
this and the whole coming-out process are just not necessary . . . but 
until then I'm going to do my best and my part to cultivate a culture 
that's accepting, that's compassionate.'' That is really what Pride 
Month is all about, joining together to embrace our friends and loved 
ones exactly as they are and cultivating a culture that is more 
accepting and compassionate.
  Carl Nassib's announcement this week is yet another reminder of how 
far the movement for LGBTQ+ equality has come, in my lifetime and even 
during my time in Congress. The year I was elected to the U.S. Senate, 
Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act, a shameful piece of 
legislation that outlawed same-sex marriage. But less than two decades 
later, the Supreme Court corrected that mistake by making marriage 
equality the law of the land. The sixth anniversary of that decision, 
Obergefell v. Hodges, is coming up this Saturday, the same day as 
Chicago's Pride in the Park festival in Grant Park. It is a remarkable 
trajectory, and it is one nobody could have predicted when I first 
entered Congress. It also begs the question: What progress will our 
Nation achieve over the next 20 years?
  Earlier this year, as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I was 
honored to gavel in the Senate's first-ever hearing on the EQUALITY 
Act. It is a crucial piece of legislation that would strengthen civil 
rights protections for LGBTQ+ Americans and would explicitly prohibit 
discrimination in education, employment, housing, and other facets of 
everyday life. The EQUALITY Act has already passed the House, but it is 
currently languishing in this Chamber. Will we allow this Senate to 
once again stand as a bulwark against the tides of progress? Or will we 
join Carl Nassib--and others before him--in acting with courage?
  This Pride Month, I hope we follow Mr. Nassib's lead, and I hope we 
do our part to cultivate a culture that embraces all of our Nation's 
children, exactly as who they are.

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