[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 111 (Friday, June 27, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H3027-H3028]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     CELEBRATING LGBTQIA+ COMMUNITY

  (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Green 
of Texas was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority 
leader.)
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise.
  I say ``and still I rise'' because I have been censured, but I would 
like to assure people that I have not been silenced; censured but not 
silenced.
  I rise today, Mr. Speaker, proud to say that I am an ally of the 
LGBTQIA+ community, an ally. I rise as an ally, Mr. Speaker, to 
acknowledge that H. Res. 550, the original LGBTQIA+ Pride Month 
resolution of 2025, is a part of the history of the records of the 
House of Representatives.

                              {time}  1110

  Mr. Speaker, this resolution is a resolution that I am honored to 
present annually, and it speaks to the accomplishments of the 
community. It also addresses many of the things that are shortcomings 
in our society as they impact the community.
  I am proud today to rise and say that as an ally of the community, 
this resolution has 125 cosponsors. For many, that might not seem like 
a lot. I can recall a time when we had many, many persons who wanted to 
sign on. For reasons that were associated with elections and politics, 
they would not sign on.
  I think people are overcoming those concerns and those fears, and 
they are recognizing the fact that we should not discriminate against 
people because of who they are.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe that it would be beneficial for people to talk 
to people who are from the community before drawing conclusions. I 
especially say this as it relates to the trans community. There are 
many issues to be discussed about the trans community.
  Today, having talked to people from the trans community, having had 
an opportunity to have dialogue and ask questions and get answers from 
the people themselves, I acknowledge that I have come to the conclusion 
that this community exists because people literally want to be 
themselves.
  I spoke to a trans person who informed me that this person--without 
giving any hint as to who it is because the person had spoken to me in 
confidence--this person indicated that since the person could recognize 
the image in a mirror, the person realized that there was a need to 
have a different image. The person wanted to be of a different sex than 
the person was assigned at birth.
  I have talked to more than one person who has given me similar 
evidence. I think we ought to believe people when they say this. I just 
don't think that people would go out of their way to try to convince us 
that this is appropriate and would do some of the things necessary to 
identify themselves properly just to get attention.
  Nobody wants to get attention by having surgery that costs thousands 
of dollars. Nobody wants to get attention by facing a society that 
rejects, too often, people because they don't understand who they are 
and what they are all about.
  We are talking about people who just want to live their lives and be 
left alone. They are not trying to impose themselves upon other people. 
These are decent human beings who just want to be left alone and be 
allowed to be themselves.
  I cannot for the life of me understand how someone could see this as 
harmful to society in the main. I myself have been discriminated 
against. Having been born a son of the segregated South, having been 
born an African American, I have been discriminated against.
  I can remember when I had to go to the back door to get food simply 
because of how I looked. It had nothing to do with any behavior that I 
exhibited. It was just because of the color of my skin I had to go to 
back doors.
  I had to drink from a filthy colored water fountain with a pristine 
White water fountain next to it simply because of the color of my skin 
and how I looked. I had to sit in the balcony of the movie and the back 
of the bus simply because of how I looked.
  I am so grateful to God for giving me those experiences because it 
gives me some sense of appreciation for what others go through simply 
because of who they say they are.
  We cannot have the great country that we claim we are if we continue 
to discriminate against people because of who they say they are. This 
is the United States of America with liberty and justice for all. That 
has to include the trans community.

  It really does have to include it to the extent that they can walk 
the streets and not be in fear. There are still people who will harm 
members of the trans community if they can catch them at a certain 
place and at a certain time when nobody is looking just because of who 
they are.
  We talk about other people living in fear, and I think we should 
because there are others living in fear, as well. Little attention is 
given to this community and the fear that it has to live and coexist 
with simply because of who they say they are.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to present this resolution today. I plan to 
continue to introduce the LGBTQIA+ Pride Month resolution. I have been 
doing so for some time now.
  I had the honor of serving with the Honorable Barney Frank when I was 
in Congress. The Honorable Barney Frank, a Member of Congress from 1981 
to 2013, is recognized in this resolution as an honorary cosponsor of 
the resolution.

[[Page H3028]]

  This resolution tracks the history of persons having the opportunity 
to first embrace themselves with the protestations that started and to 
move on to the point where now persons can actually embrace marriage 
and live with the person and love with the person that they choose.
  As an ally of this community, I find none of this offensive. I find 
all of this to be natural for human beings who want to just simply be 
themselves.
  I am also honored to say that in Houston, Texas, not only will this 
resolution be celebrated but also there is a Pride parade that would 
rival any parade in this country. People show up in the thousands, the 
tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands. They line the 
streets, and they celebrate. To a certain extent, some commemorate 
lives who have been lost simply because they are a part of this 
community.
  This is something that I would hope we could see around the country 
to a greater extent than we see it. Houston, Texas, has embraced it. 
Many other places have.
  Until it is embraced in the small towns, in the boroughs, in places 
where people are now at some point in some places afraid to announce 
who they are, until this attitude of pride is embraced by the 
workplace--workplaces where people cannot indicate who they are because 
if they do, they are likely to lose their jobs--until that same level 
of pride, that same spirit of embracing people for who they are, 
judging them by the content of their character, not what they believe 
them to be within, I think we ought to believe people when they tell us 
who they are.
  Today, my prayer is that this LGBTQIA+ Pride Month resolution will 
inspire people to do more than simply say hello, but they will become 
an ally. I am recruiting. The Pride community needs allies.
  It needs people who are willing to stand up publicly and say: I am an 
ally of the community.
  Mr. Speaker, I assure my colleagues that when we do this, we are 
doing what is expected of people of good will who want to see people 
simply live their lives, enjoy who they are, and just simply be 
themselves, we will promote and will help to cause a good many people 
that we may never meet and greet to benefit from another person 
becoming an ally of the LGBTQIA+ community.

                              {time}  1120

  Mr. Speaker, I close with this: The LGBTQIA+ community does not exist 
in a vacuum. It exists in a country that prides itself in pledging 
liberty and justice for all. This is an opportunity for every person 
who has never had the opportunity to talk to a person from this 
community to just do so.
  I guarantee you, Mr. Speaker, if you do so, you will leave with a 
different attitude. I absolutely believe this. I also say to you, Mr. 
Speaker, don't worry about the pride community trying to impose 
anything on you. If you don't know a person from the community, you are 
not likely to be invited to a wedding, so you don't have to worry about 
some imposition. Just worry about making America all that it claims it 
is.
  I plan to do it, and I invite others to do so, as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________