Senator Murray Cosponsors NDAA Amendment to Rollback Trump Ban on Transgender Servicemembers, Honors LGBTQIA+ Fight for Equality in Pride Month Statement

Press Release

U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) yesterday cosponsored an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, the country's major defense spending authorization legislation, which would institute non-discrimination protections for all servicemembers on the basis of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and national origin. This would effectively end President Trump's transgender service ban.

"I will always stand up to this President's bigoted agenda, and this is an important step that will not only reverse this Administration's cruel rule and support military readiness, but it will reaffirm to our transgender brothers and sisters that they have a place in our military and in our country," said Senator Murray about the provision. "I'm going to do everything I can to make sure this provision is included in our annual defense authorization legislation."

Additionally, in recognition of Pride Month, Senator Murray today submitted a statement for the Congressional Record celebrating the struggle of the LGBTQIA+ community for equality and highlighting the Trump Administrations efforts to roll back and stymie that struggle.

"…[A] half century after Stonewall, I'm reminded that while we've made some critical progress we're still fighting so many of the same battles, and we still have so much, much more work to do," Senator Murray said in her statement. "And there's no denying President Trump and Vice President Pence have made this work far more difficult. This Administration's far-reaching ideological agenda seems aimed at relegating LGBTQIA+ people to second-class citizens."

In her statement, Senator Murray highlighted the contributions of Black transgender women and men to LGBTQIA+ equality, and that despite the progress made since Stonewall, Black transgender women and men continue to be the targets of violence in America. Senator Murray also highlighted President Trump and his administrations' many attacks on the rights of LGBTQIA+ people, including working to strip protections from LGBTQIA+ people seeking access to health care, eliminating protections for federal contractor and subcontractor LGBTQIA+ workers, allowing shelters to discriminate against transgender people, and banning transgender servicemembers in our military.

These steps follow Senator Murray's actions earlier this month to support LGBTQIA+ people and rights by calling on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to bring the Equality Act to the Senate floor for a vote. The Equality Act is groundbreaking, comprehensive legislation that would add explicit protections for LGBTQIA+ Americans to the nation's civil rights laws, ensuring that no American is evicted from their home or is denied a service based on their LGBTQ status. The bill, which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2017, would clarify that just like religious, racial, or gender discrimination, anti-LGBTQ discrimination is illegal everywhere in the United States of America. Also this month, Senator Murray introduced a resolution officially recognizing June as LGBTQ Pride Month and highlighting the contributions LGBTQ individuals to American society.

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