With Equality Act on the Horizon, Polls Show Growing Majority of Americans Support LGBTQ Equality

As the incoming pro-equality U.S. House sets its sights on the Equality Act — crucial federal legislation that would provide consistent and explicit non-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation or gender identity — recent polling from HRC, the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and Equality Virginia finds that a growing majority of Americans support federal non-discrimination protections and LGBTQ equality.

“Equality is a winning issue. In poll after poll, we see that more and more Americans are calling for their family, friends and neighbors to be treated with respect and dignity, and increasingly rejecting lawmakers who attack the LGBTQ community,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “No one should ever be discriminated against because of who they are or who they love. With a majority of the American people already supporting these common-sense protections, it’s time for Congress to catch up and finally pass the Equality Act.

A recent study from PRRI found that seven in 10 Americans (71 percent) support laws like the Equality Act, which protect the LGBTQ community against discrimination in employment, public accommodations and housing. More than 130 major employers, with operations in all 50 states, have also joined HRC’s Business Coalition for the Equality Act, urging Congress to pass these crucial protections.

Support for this kind of non-discrimination legislation also crosses all party affiliations. In Virginia, where the state legislature is considering legal protections in housing and public employment for LGBTQ Virginians, new polling from Equality Virginia and Mason-Dixon Research found that 55 percent and 59 percent of Republican primary voters respectively believe it should be against the law to discriminate in housing and public employment against someone who is LGBTQ.

In addition to finding overwhelming support for LGBTQ-inclusive non-discrimination protections, post-election polling from HRC found that 60 percent of voters in the 2018 midterms opposed the Trump-Pence Administration’s reported plans to define gender entirely by birth gender, thereby potentially excluding transgender people from civil rights protections. Overall, voters also identified protecting the rights of groups targeted by the Trump-Pence administration as their top reason for voting to flip the U.S. House.

During the 2018 election cycle, HRC endorsed more than 480 pro-equality candidates nationwide and deployed 150 staff to organize and mobilize voters in more than 70 congressional, targeted senate and other key statewide races across 23 states as part of HRC Rising, the largest and earliest grassroots deployment in the organization’s 39-year history.

www.hrc.org/blog/with-equality-act-on-horizon-polls-show-americans-support-lgbtq-equality?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

The Gay Valedictorian Banned From Speaking At His Covington High School Graduation Not Shocked At Video

The same Catholic Diocese that oversees Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky, home to the students that harassed Native American Nathan Phillips over the weekend, also banned openly gay valedictorian Christian Bales’ speech at the High School of the Holy Cross last May.

Bales is now a 19 year-old freshman at the University of Louisville, according to NBC News. Bales spoke to them about his own graduation and the recent viral video putting Covington back in the national spotlight. “I was not surprised at all,” Bales said. “It was only a matter of time that something this school community did would blow up to this degree, and I think they [the Catholic Diocese of Covington] need to be held accountable.”

“They have the very last say in everything about students in the diocese,” Bales said, adding that the diocese has still not provided him and the student council president with “thorough explanations” of why their speeches were canceled last year.

A visit to the Diocese website only feature a letter about the incident in Washington that says in part:

Concerning the incident in Washington, D.C., between Covington Catholic students, Elder Nathan Phillips and Black Hebrew Israelites the independent, third-party investigation is planned to begin this week. This is a very serious matter that has already permanently altered the lives of many people. It is important for us to gather the facts that will allow us to determine what corrective actions, if any, are appropriate. 

You can watch part of Bales’ Valedictorian speech below.

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The Gay Valedictorian Banned From Speaking At His Covington High School Graduation Not Shocked At Video

Gay South Bend, IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg Launches 2020 Presidential Bid: WATCH

Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has launched a presidential exploratory committee, he said in a video posted to social media Wednesday morning.

Said Buttigieg in the clip: “The reality is there’s no going back, and there’s no such thing as ‘again’ in the real world. We can’t look for greatness in the past. Right now our country needs a fresh start.”

Buttigieg, 37, who married last June, is positioning himself as a young person with a fresh perspective: “I belong to a generation that is stepping forward right now. We’re the generation that lived through school shootings, that served in the wars after 9/11, and we’re the generation that stands to be the first to make less than our parents unless we do something different. We can’t just polish off a system so broken. It is a season for boldness and a focus on the future.”

Watch below:

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Gay South Bend, IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg Launches 2020 Presidential Bid: WATCH