This is a civil rights issue. This is not about individuals opportunistically trying to take advantage of particular entitlements or benefits that are accorded to women.

And today, I am proud that we have the greatest number of individuals from the LGBTQ community in the House of Representatives in U.S. history with eight openly lesbian, gay, and bisexual Members.

That riot 50 years ago in what is now Mr. Nadler's district sparked the modern LGBT rights movement that has ushered in extraordinary achievements in our fight for equality.

This bill is bipartisan and now has 240 cosponsors, including 3 Republicans.

equality means equality, and you cannot have full equality if we leave people behind.

I am a proud and outspoken ally of the LGBT community and the trans community especially.

I think it is useful to point out that the suicide rate among individuals who are transgender is 40 percent.

Many States have sexual orientation and gender identity nondiscrimination laws, and all of them still have women's sports.

Religion is no excuse for discrimination as we have long recognized when it comes to race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, and it should not be when it comes to sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Equality Act will help protect and defend that liberty for LGBT individuals, women, and others.

As my great friend and colleague Congressman John Lewis told me when we began this work on the bill, the time is now.

While we are examining the specific provisions of this legislation, the true question before us is much broader and goes to the heart of the country we want this to be.

The scaremongering about potential bathroom predators has not turned out to be true.

It is time we make clear that none of these are acceptable forms of discrimination.

This is long overdue legislation that will explicitly prohibit discrimination against LGBT and gender nonconforming Americans.

The Equality Act seeks to level the legal playing field so that all Americans have a chance to thrive.

Speaker Pelosi has been an extraordinary and great champion for our community and a bulwark of support for this bill.

We see you. We support you. And we believe in you.