Political Quotes

“let me thank Congresswoman Baldwin and Congressman Barney Frank for making sure we have a chance to vote on this very important legislation today. And I just want to briefly tell you a story, if I can, very quickly. There was a young lady next to my district named Gwen Araujo. She was viciously beaten to death and buried, again, by four men, simply because she was born a male. Gwen was comfortable as herself, as a transgendered woman who had gone through most of high school as a girl and had the love and support of her family, particularly her mother, Sylvia Guerrero. Mr. Speaker, let me just say there are so many stories of countless people who are dead, countless people who get killed because of their God-given right that they were living to be themselves. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1592, and I am pleased that today, we can have a vote on the legislation that I know many of us have in this chamber. Chairman Conyers, Congresswoman Baldwin, and Congressman Frank. This legislation is long overdue. In the history of this Nation, there is a dark chapter. That chapter is full traumatic scenes of people being murdered, beaten, attacked, raped, harassed, and threatened because something about them was different from their aggressors.”