Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Reauthorization Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. TED LIEU of California. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

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Mr. TED LIEU of California. I am opposed.

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Mr. TED LIEU of California. Mr. Speaker, this is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended.

My amendment would simply change the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program so that it could not discriminate against students based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Sadly, we know that LGBT kids are often victims of bullying and hate. According to a survey by the Human Rights Campaign, LGBT youth were twice as likely as their non-LGBT peers to report being verbally harassed and excluded.

Moreover, misguided anti-LGBT laws, such as those passed in North Carolina and Mississippi, continue to send a message that being LGBT is not okay, and that is wrong. As one of my Republican colleagues earlier today on the floor stated, God makes every child different. It is wrong to systematically discriminate against students because they are LGBT.

We need to send our kids a message that saying whom they love and the gender they identify with does not dictate their self-worth, and it certainly should not dictate whether or not they can get a voucher. I move that we begin to do this right now by passing my amendment to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Being LGBTQ is not a medical condition that needs to be cured. It is instead a beautiful reflection of what it means to be a human being.

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Mr. TED LIEU of California. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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