[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 9]
[EXTE]
[Pages 12262-12263]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            HONORING THE 34TH ANNUAL CAPITAL PRIDE FESTIVAL

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 12, 2009

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the 34th Annual 
Capital Pride Festival, a celebration of the National Capital Area's 
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender, GLBT, communities, their 
families, and friends.
  The Capital Pride Festival has grown from a small block party in 1975 
to the current ten-day-long celebration. This year Capital Pride 
Festival culminates with what Washington's City Paper has declared 
D.C.'s Best Parade for two years running, the Pride Parade on June 13th 
and ``The Main Event,'' a street fair on Pennsylvania Avenue in the 
shadow of the Capitol, June 14th.
  This year, the Festival's new organizers, the Capital Pride Alliance, 
Inc., anticipates an attendance of 250,000, making Capital Pride one of 
the largest GLBT festivals in the United States.
  2009 marks the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which, in the 
early hours of June 28, 1969, New York City's GLBT community 
spontaneously and publicly asserted its rights in defiance of 
government oppression. The Capital Pride commemorates this event with 
the theme ``Generations of Pride: Celebrate and Remember.''
  I have marched in the Pride parades since coming to Congress to 
emphasize the universality of human rights and the importance of 
enacting federal legislation to secure those

[[Page 12263]]

rights for the GLBT community and the District of Columbia. Congress 
has much work to do. We must pass The Family Leave Insurance Act of 
2009, Employment Non-Discrimination Act, The Local Law Enforcement Hate 
Crimes Prevention Act/Matthew Shepard Act, Safe Schools Improvement 
Act, The Military Readiness Enhancement Act, The Domestic Partnership 
Benefits and Obligations Act, Tax Equity for Health Plan Beneficiaries 
Act, The Family and Medical Leave Inclusion Act, Uniting American 
Families Act, Responsible Education About Life Act, and the Early 
Treatment for HIV Act.
  This year, as Iowa, Maine, and New Hampshire have extended full 
rights to their GLBT residents. Our city of 600,000 residents, 10 
percent more residents than the entire State of Wyoming, who pay more 
taxes per capita than 49 of the 50 states, remains the only 
jurisdiction in the United States where all its citizens are denied 
their basic rights by being subjected to Taxation Without 
Representation.
  The residents of our Nation's Capital are entitled all their rights 
as citizens. I support and, I will defend, D.C. Council's action to 
extend full faith and credit to all marriages contracted in the United 
States as necessary to stabilize and protect all D.C. Families.
  I ask the House to join me in welcoming the celebrants attending the 
34th Annual Capital Pride Festival in Washington, DC, and I take this 
opportunity to remind the celebrants that U.S. citizens who reside in 
Washington, DC are taxed without full voting representation in 
Congress.

                          ____________________