Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak about H.R. 4100. The Federal Bar Association is the Nation's premier association for practitioners in Federal courts and, as such, should, of course, be open to all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Currently, the FBA recognizes the importance of nondiscrimination and has adopted a diversity statement that includes race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Diversity statements are valuable, but they do not carry the weight of law. The addition of a nondiscrimination provision to the FBA charter is an important action, but it is really unfortunate that my Republican colleagues have excluded gender identity as an enumerated protected characteristic in the law. I am not sure if they are pandering to the most extremes in their party or to their political base, but it is wrong. Gender identity is an individual's personal and internal identification as a man, a woman, neither, or both. For transgender people, their gender identity may not match their biological or legal sex. Despite the efforts to exclude gender identity from H.R. 4100, transgender people will be protected from discrimination under Federal law. Discrimination on the basis of gender identity is a form of sex discrimination. Laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex protect transgender people.…”