On the recordJune 15, 2016
The overwhelming grief that America now feels warrants this body to continue to offer our sympathies and concern to those families now in the most dire of conditions; that is, those families whose loved ones are no more, who died on what was to be a joyous occasion, socializing, as we do as Americans, and those families who are hovering over sickbeds for those who are injured. I rise this morning to again give them my sympathy and my respect. What the American people want to see from this body is action. I rise as well to pay tribute to the LGBTQ community all over the Nation. In my hometown of Houston, Texas, over these last tragic days, we have come together with them and the Muslim community. The Muslim community is making a very strong stand that they stand with those fallen and killed, those who were part of the LGBTQ community. The Muslims were strong. They were Americans. They were prayerful. They were imams, and they were civilians. We prayed. We heard from a Catholic deacon. We heard from a Christian Presbyterian minister in a press conference when we came together on Sunday in the midst of the unbelievable. We came together in Houston and advocated for unity and respect. We quoted scriptures that said to love one another. We joined President Barack Obama in taking the moment not to politicize but to speak that we must come together. Calling names and defining what a radical religion is or not will not answer any question.…
