Equality Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. CRAIG. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer my support to the Equality Act, a groundbreaking piece of legislation that will grant equal protection under the law to our LGBTQ friends, family, neighbors, as well as to me and my family.

As the first openly lesbian wife and mother in Congress and the first LGBTQ Member of Congress from the great State of Minnesota, I know this legislation is the culmination of a lifetime of work for so many.

My wife, Cheryl, and I have built a beautiful life together raising four sons who we dearly love. We are fortunate to live in Minnesota, in a State where many of the Equality Act's protections have already been enshrined into law.

Right now, there are States across this country where it would be entirely legal for Cheryl and I to be discriminated against--based on our love and commitment to one another--in housing, employment, access to credit, or any other number of areas essential to just living our lives.

Now, some of my colleagues seem to believe this legislation somehow could harm our non-LGBTQ women and girls, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

The Equality Act does not undermine the achievements or aspirations of non-LGBTQ. In fact, by amending the Civil Rights Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in a broad area of life, we are fighting to ensure that all women are treated equally in all aspects of their lives.

The Equality Act is critical because when LGBTQ people have equality under the law, we all benefit and all of our communities are stronger.

Mr. Speaker, as a teenage girl growing up in rural America, I never could have imagined I would finally see this legislation come to the House floor, much less as a Member of this body to see it passed. This legislation is necessary, it is long overdue, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

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