Human Rights Campaign Press Release
By Lucas Acosta
Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization announced a series of endorsements of U.S. Reps. Katherine Clark, Bill Keating, Stephen Lynch, Jim McGovern, Seth Moulton, Richard Neal, Ayanna Pressley and Lori Trahan.
In 2019, Reps. Katherine Clark, Bill Keating, Stephen Lynch, Jim McGovern, Seth Moulton, Richard Neal, Ayanna Pressley and Lori Trahan co-sponsored and voted for the Equality Act — crucial federal legislation that would finally guarantee explicit, permanent protections for LGBTQ people under our nation’s existing civil rights laws when it was considered by the U.S. House last year. All voted to lift the Trump-Pence ban on transgender military service, support marriage equality, and have supported numerous efforts to improve access and affordability of health care for people living with HIV. Each member has earned a 100 score on our Congressional Scorecard for the last Congress, should they have been elected to it, and have been among the top stand-out pro-equality members of Congress throughout their time in office.
“Last year, the Human Rights Campaign was proud to stand alongside these champions of equality and pass the Equality Act for the first time. This year, we’re here to stand alongside them again as they seek reelection,” said Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign. “While we were able to make history by passing the Equality Act, we must ensure that we retain our pro-equality majority to pass the bill again through a pro-equality Senate and under a pro-equality President. Each of these members are crucial not just to ensuring the pro-equality majority, but to crafting and effectuating a truly effective legislative agenda to improve the lives of LGBTQ people in Massachusetts and across the country.”
“LGBTQ Americans, particularly Black transgender women, face an alarming rate of deadly violence and discrimination, yet rather than help them, Trump has done everything in his power to bully and erase our LGBTQ families, friends, and neighbors,” said Rep. Katherine Clark. “Lives are at stake, and I am proud to fight alongside the Human Rights Campaign to defeat Donald Trump in November, elect a pro-equality Congress, and make equality the law of the land once and for all.”
“Over the past four years Donald Trump and his administration have put forth policy designed to bully and discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community,” said Rep. Bill Keating. “I am honored to have the support of the Human Rights Campaign and look forward to working with them in defeating Donald Trump at the ballot box this November. Love wins, equality wins, and I will never waver in my support for the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals and families.”
“Throughout my years in Congress, I have worked side by side with the Human Right Campaign on important legislative issues and I’m so proud and grateful to have their continued support” said Rep. Stephen Lynch. “HRC was instrumental in helping us to secure support for the Equality Act in the House. On every issue that impacts our LGBTQ community, HRC has been an active partner in advocating, educating and carrying the torch for equality. I look forward to working with HRC to ensure that all Americans can live with dignity and full equality under the law.”
“I’m proud to support the hard work of so many HRC members who have been fighting to elect leaders who understand that none of us are equal until all of us are equal,” said Rep. Jim McGovern. “As Chair of the Rules Committee, I used our new majority to ban workplace discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation in the United States House of Representatives for the first time ever. And now that the Supreme Court has outlawed discrimination against LGBTQ+ Americans in the workplace, we need to fight like hell to pass the Equality Act and expand these protections. Our work is just getting started — until LGBTQ+ have the same opportunities and rights as everyone else, I will continue to listen, learn, and use my voice to advocate for human rights and promote equality and justice for all.”
“I’m honored to receive this endorsement. We have a long way to go before everyone in America is truly equal, but all of us have the opportunity—and responsibility—to create change, and that’s what the Human Rights Campaign is doing every day” said Rep. Seth Moulton. “I’m fighting hard to build a Congress that supports LGBTQ+ equality and to elect a president who does too. Let’s keep going forward.”
“I’m deeply honored to have the endorsement of the Human Rights Campaign, which is the biggest changemaker in this country when it comes to LGBTQ rights and equality,” said Rep. Richard Neal. “At every turn during my time in Congress, I have been driven by a mission to level the playing field for people who need it the most, and it is this same spirit that is integral to the very founding mission of HRC. But on a personal level, and as very proud father of a gay son, I am grateful for their advocacy and dedication. I will always echo their mission and I am grateful for their support.”
“I am so proud to have earned the endorsement of HRC, and I remain deeply committed to organizing, advocating, and legislating alongside members of the LGBTQIA+ community in the continued fight against homophobia, transphobia, racism, and institutionalized oppression,” said Rep. Ayanna Pressley.
“I’m honored to have the support of the Human Rights Campaign, which has been leading the fight for full LGBTQIA+ equality for decades,” said Rep. Lori Trahan. “While we’re closer to full equality under the law than at any point in our nation’s history, three years under this Administration has shown just how far we still have to go. I look forward to continuing that fight alongside our incredible partners at HRC.”
In the 2018 midterms, HRC helped register more than 32,000 voters and recruited more than 4,200 volunteers, who worked over 8,500 shifts and clocked more than 30,000 volunteer hours. In the critical final four days of the campaign, HRC staff and volunteers in get-out-the-vote efforts alone knocked on more than 80,000 doors, and held 36,400 conversations with voters at their doors and by phone on behalf of our endorsed candidates. HRC’s unprecedented grassroots mobilization worked to recruit volunteers, mobilize constituents, register voters and grow the organization’s grassroots army in an all-out effort to pull the emergency brake on the hateful anti-LGBTQ agenda of the Trump-Pence administration and elect a Congress that would hold them accountable. In 2020, our engagement and mobilization efforts will only deepen. HRC will have at least 45 full-time staff in seven priority states (AZ, MI, NV, OH, PA, TX, and WI) and an additional 20 staff focused on a second tier of states and districts.
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