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

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

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.

Cowardice asked the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asked the question, 'Is it politic?' And vanity comes along and asks the question, 'Is it popular? But conscience asked the question, 'Is it right?'

Mr. Cicilline, I ask the witness be permitted to finish her answer to that last question.

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.

As we consider H.R. 5 here in the House, I can't help but think of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riot just a few weeks from now.

Equality is equality.

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

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

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.

It makes absolutely no sense.

Nazis are not a protected class. What we are trying to do here is make sure that transgender individuals and individuals who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual, are that protected class.

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

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.

This is a profoundly troubling offense to the equality norm and to our Nation's commitment to children and to our young people.

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.

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

Thank you, Chairman Nadler, for calling this hearing and for your outspoken and unwavering support of the Equality Act from the very first moment we began to discuss it nearly 5 years ago.

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

It is simply not right, and it undermines core founding values of this great country of fairness and equality.

We should all learn from that community what it means to be a member of one human family.

We have such widespread support because businesses know that their employees thrive when they are free from harassment, when they are able to visit doctors, take their children to school, and live freely.

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

As our LGBTQ brothers and sisters move around this Nation, they should never have to fear losing a job, being evicted from a house or apartment, refused service at a restaurant, denied approval for a loan, or rejected admission to a school…