[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9276-9277]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               RESPECT AND DIGNITY FOR OUR LGBT NEIGHBORS

  (Ms. PINGREE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)

[[Page 9277]]


  Ms. PINGREE. Mr. Speaker, on a summer day in 1984, a young gay man 
named Charlie Howard was walking down the street in Bangor, Maine. A 
car full of teenagers pulled up, and they started yelling slurs at him. 
They chased him down, beat him up, and threw him in a river, where he 
drowned.
  Since then, we have made a lot of progress on LGBT rights in Maine. 
We passed civil rights protections, and we passed marriage equality. In 
Maine, as in the rest of the country, we have come far; but as the 
shooting in Orlando has reminded us, we still have a long way to go. We 
are reminded that LGBT men or women can suddenly find themselves facing 
the same fear that Charlie Howard probably felt on that bridge in 
Bangor, Maine, over 30 years ago.
  Civil rights and marriage equality are very important, but they are 
not enough. We must not rest until our LGBT neighbors enjoy the respect 
and dignity that they deserve and until they do not feel that their 
safety is at risk because of who they are.

                          ____________________