Political Quotes

“I appreciate the gentlewoman's courtesy and her careful, thoughtful explanation of what we are doing. I strongly support the Equality Act, extending civil rights protections to all citizens. I have been honored to be a part of this process throughout my political career, dating back as a child legislator in the 1970s in county government, in city government in Oregon, and for the last 25 years here in Congress. The arguments that we are hearing have been heard before. The same sort of hysterical concerns have proven not to be the case. Wild claims have been proven wrong; and especially I think of marriage equality as the most compelling. Each reform, each step of the way, has been for progress, and equality was positive, and ultimately supported by the public, as is the Equality Act. The wild claims have been proven groundless. At the end of the day, one of the reasons is that Americans are biased in favor of fairness and equality. Another important reason, as alluded to by my friend from Pennsylvania, is personal experience. There was fear and misapprehension, but as people became experienced with a family member who married, a transgender child, when you deal with the reality of real people, what we find is that they are people like everybody else, and we do not want their lives to be turned upside down.…”