Issue Position: Equal Rights

Issue Position

One of my opponents in this race has said that he won't champion equality and civil rights because he thinks government should stay out of "divisive social issues." What if those who fought for woman's suffrage has shared this attitude? Or if Martin Luther King, Jr. had said the same in the 1960s?

Social issues are who gets invited to a birthday party! Equal protection and freedom for all are not social issues, but matters of basic civil and human rights. We owe it to America to stand up and speak out for what's right. I always have, and always will.

Women's Rights

I arrived in Congress at a time when the Republican Leadership was setting a new standard for policies attacking women. Time and again, Tea Partiers on the far-right have forced votes hoping to take away the right of women to make their own health care decisions, or even to simply have access to safe health care.

Unbelievably, in Congress we are still fighting battles over reproductive choice and access to contraception. Those wars were fought and won 30-40 years ago. I strongly favor reproductive freedom and a woman's right to choose, and my wife and I have a long history of supporting Planned Parenthood. I'm the only candidate with a history of standing up for the right of women to make their own health care decisions and the only pro-choice candidate in this race backed by Planned Parenthood.

It is embarrassing and shameful that when so many families are hurting or are facing uncertainty about their jobs, children's education, parents' long-term care -- when there are so many pressing issues for our nation and Congress -- we are having a national discussion about who should have access to contraception. In Congress I have vehemently protected women's access to contraception and a woman's right to choose, and I will continue to do so as long as these battles persist.

Unfortunately, the attacks have gone further. I helped re-authorize the Violence Against Women Act with bipartisan support despite resistance from extremists, and I believe it's wrong that women still continue to make less than men. I am fighting to make it easier for women and their families to get ahead in this economy, and I support the Paycheck Fairness Act to guarantee that women are paid fairly and earn the same pay as men for the same work.

These are basic principles, but they are the issues that the current Congressional leadership has chosen. I'm the only candidate in this race who has been willing to defend these rights, and I'm proud to continue defending women against these targeted efforts to roll back decades of progress.

LGBT Rights

I have always been a champion of full equality for everyone, including full marriage equality. In 2008, I wrote an amicus brief in opposition to California's anti-equality Proposition 8, and served for years on the board of San Diego's LGBT Community Center. In recent years, we've made great strides as a nation towards eventual equality, but there's still a great deal of work to be done.

It's still legal in 29 states to fire someone because of their sexual orientation, and in 33 states it's legal to fire someone because they are transgender. This is completely unacceptable, and that's why I'm proud to be a cosponsor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which would finally make this sort of discrimination illegal.

We must also insist on our schools being safe for every student. I've supported several measures to protect students from bullying at school and am an original cosponsor of the Student Non-Discrimination Act, which would establish a comprehensive federal prohibition of discrimination in public schools based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

Voting Rights

Central to all of these rights is real and fair access to voting. That's why I have worked to restore provisions of the Voting Rights Act designed to protect historically targeted communities from efforts to reduce access and participation in our elections after they were struck down by the Supreme Court. The bipartisan effort is important to ensuring that everyone who is eligible to vote is given the chance to do so, a principle that's critical to our democracy.

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