Over the past two years, the Biden-Harris administration and the Democratic-run House and Senate acted to lower healthcare and drug costs; fight climate change and reduce energy costs; invest in mental health care; and invest in American manufacturing and infrastructure.
The bill’s signing comes as Democrats and LGBTQ advocates have expressed growing fear over the possibility that the landmark 2015 Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges—which legalized gay marriage nationwide—could be overturned following the Court’s decision to strike down Roe v. Wade earlier this year.
The Respect for Marriage Act does not require states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but it does require states that ban same-sex marriages to recognize these marriages as long as the marriage was valid in the state where it was performed.
As Republican lawmakers and right-wing media figures have singled out the LGBTQ community with hateful rhetoric, children’s hospitals have faced bomb threats, armed extremist groups have targeted drag-related events, and LGBTQ individuals have been assaulted and now murdered in a mass shooting that left five dead.
We spoke with a survivor, a Florida representative, and a psychologist about the needs of those who are alive to tell about that horrific night in Orlando.
After the GOP-controlled Florida House voted to ban transgender women from playing girls’ or women’s school sports, activists in the state and across the country rev up their efforts to pass the Equality Act.
"I never thought, as a newly sworn-in Congressman, that I would live through a violent assault on the US Capitol," said the first-time elected official, Rep. Ritchie Torres.