Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, before she leaves, another good idea from Senator Stabenow--pass the Equality Act today. Too logical, I guess, but it is another good idea, and I thank my colleague for it.

I also want to commend my partner from Oregon, Senator Merkley, who has been leading this fight for years now. Wisconsin often partners with Oregon, going all the way back to our shared ownership of Wayne Morris. I just want to thank my colleagues for the great work they have been doing and just take a couple of minutes to talk about my pride in standing with them to fight for the passage of the Equality Act.

We have come together during the middle of Pride Month. In 2020, with the pandemic continuing to spread, Pride Month looks a little different than it has in the past--no parades, smaller celebrations--but it still has been a historic month when it comes to LGBTQ rights, perhaps more so than any other since marriage equality became the law of the land in June 2015.

A few days ago, the Supreme Court ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects LGBTQ Americans against discrimination in the workplace. The majority said an employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law.

Now, this ruling was a little bit of a surprise. I mean, it was absolutely correct in that it recognized that the law offered equal protection for LGBTQ Americans--a fact that should never have been in doubt.

I also want to say on the floor today we are going to have to continue to be on guard that this administration's judges will use the approach underpinning this ruling as cover to strip equal protection from other people in future rulings.

When you get the wrong approach resulting in the correct ruling, we have to be vigilant--vigilant, vigilant, and more vigilant in fighting for the correct results again and again and again.

The ruling came just a few days after the Trump administration tried to take America in exactly a different direction, announcing that it was green-lighting healthcare discrimination against transgender Americans--an ugly, shameful action to take. How cruel that the administration actually said: We are going to announce this during Pride Month. We are actually going to use Pride Month to be cruel.

It was a reminder to a lot of people that the fight for LGBTQ rights didn't end with the victory on marriage equality. For every landmark ruling that moves the cause forward, there is somebody like Donald Trump, who is always looking to see if they can drag the Nation back to the days when discrimination was business as usual.

Until Monday's ruling, employers in more than half the States were allowed to fire employees for their sexual orientation or their gender identity. That was in more than half the States, but that injustice is now a thing of the past.

We can't count on this week's Supreme Court ruling against workplace discrimination to bring on the end of discrimination in other parts of life in our country. The Senate can't wait for any other court cases to move forward before we take real action on this floor. That is why my colleagues and I are here today. We want to call for the immediate passage of the Equality Act. If discrimination against LGBTQ Americans is illegal in the workplace, then it is illegal in housing; it is illegal in education; it is illegal in public services and more. That is what the Equality Act is all about. It is about recognizing the dignity and the humanity of LGBTQ Americans, and, most importantly, enshrining it into the law. It is the next step that will move the cause forward, and there is bipartisan legislation that reflects the will of an overwhelming majority of the American people. The Senate ought to come together and pass it now.

Justice Kennedy wrote--and I will close with this because it sums up what is in my heart today, ``The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach.''

There is much to be done on delivering on that promise outlined by Justice Kennedy. So we are going to be back here on the floor of the Senate, fighting for the passage of the Equality Act. Senator Stabenow was spot on. We ought to have done it today, and we are just going to be back here again and again and again in the weeks and months ahead until we have that promise of equality in every corner of the land.

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