Pride Month

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Takano for all that he does in upholding human rights and civil rights for everyone in this country, regardless of what your sexual inclination might be.

When you really stop and think about it, we should be beyond judging each other based on who we love. That is why I am so happy to say happy Pride Month to all people out there because none of us are free if any of us are not free.

It heartens me this day and time, 2024, when we see a polling that shows that about 8 percent of adults in this country identify as LGBTQ. The reason why it is not more is because we have been conditioned and people are afraid to say who they are because, the older that you get, the more you have to lose by revealing who you are.

I will say it is also heartening that, in 2024, among the millennial generation, 30 percent of our millennials identify as LGBTQ. What that tells you is that, first of all, the older folks have made it such that the young people feel more comfortable in identifying as who they are. They are not steeped in how much I can lose if I come out.

They are young enough to not have anything to lose by coming out. It is actually so much healthier for them than it has been for the older people, who have tried to hide, who have felt the need to hide who they are and go through life unhappy and go through life miserable.

People should not have to live like that. We should be free. People should be free to be who they are. That is what Pride Month is all about, is people being able to come out and say that this is who I am. I love me for being me, and I love you for being you, even though you may have a different sexual inclination than I have.

When we allow license to hatred in our lives, first it starts with: I don't like the Blacks. Then it goes to: I don't like the Jews. Then I don't like people who keep their hair cut short because they look like Nazis. Then it becomes: I don't like short people. I don't like people who like dogs.

The more that you allow hate and license hate in your heart, the easier it becomes for you to hate people who are different than you.

What gives you the authority to judge someone? What gives you the authority to hate on someone and to act in that way? It is just not human. The more we become human, the more we begin to love people for who they are and to recognize that they, regardless of their differences from me, are equal to me.

Pride Month is all about people feeling good about themselves. It is all about challenging folks who have hatred in their heart to remove that hatred, and it is all about sending the message that the march for humanity will continue regardless of whether or not you keep hating or not.

I will say I am happy to stand with my LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters throughout this country and the world. I am happy to stand with you in this month, which is Pride Month. Happy Pride Month.

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