Political Quotes

“I know people from all over Washington State have been celebrating Pride this month, and many are going to be heading to Seattle this weekend, and a lot of those celebrations will actually be taking place at Cal Anderson Park in Capitol Hill. For those who don't know, Cal was a friend of mine, so I want to share a little about his story and how it relates to what is happening in our country today. Cal was a Vietnam veteran and Washington's first openly gay State legislator. During my time as a State senator, we worked together to help make State government more accessible to the public. But in 1995, like so many at that time, we lost Cal too soon as a result of his AIDS diagnosis. I remember visiting him in the hospital just a month before he passed, and, of course, he wasn't focused on himself. He was telling me, newly elected to the U.S. Senate, what I needed to do to make healthcare better for other people in our country. That is still relevant today as we face down Republican attacks on Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. Cal's election back then was a huge step towards equality, and he really helped change people's opinions. I have served now on the Senate Appropriations Committee since I was first elected here and have always kept stories like Cal's close to me, fighting to invest in medical research and HIV prevention programs, year after year.”