I love my new colorful glass wind chime and how it sounds! The chimes have sounded so nice throughout the month of June when the wind blew! It might be the last day of #PrideMonth, but #LGBTQIA+ communities will continue to come together and celebrate the freedom to be ourselves all year long because we still don't have full equality.
That's right, in 2022, all citizens of the #UnitedStates are not equal and do not all have the same rights and freedoms! The #EqualityAct passed the house, but has stalled in the senate. If it passed it would mean that discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity would be illegal across the country as the bill would make gender identity and sexual orientation a protected class under Federal Civil Rights law.
This Federal bill would prohibit discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in areas including public accommodations and facilities, education, federal funding, employment, housing, credit, and the jury system. Since this bill is not law yet, state lawmakers have created multiple legislative assaults on LGBTQIA+ communities. According to the Equality Federation, an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization that closely tracks these state level attacks, almost 400 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills were introduced across the country in 2021. These bills allow states to discriminate against LGBTQIA+ people and families, and they try to erase LGBTQIA+ people from education curricula, and of course the multitude of bills everyone has heard about that discriminate against transgender individuals.
As these discriminatory state level bills continue to be introduced, the need for the Senate to pass the Equality Act is urgent. LGBTQIA+ Americans are not fully protected from discrimination in 29 states and that includes North Carolina, the state I live in!
I hear and see so many people complain about Pride month and Pride gatherings, but Pride exists because of the history of minority groups who have struggled for decades to overcome prejudice and be accepted for who they are. The one thing I always try to remind others is that it is fine that you have your beliefs, religious or not, but you must remember that you can not force your beliefs onto someone else.
As Corey Booker said, "Before you speak to me about your religion, first show it to me in how you treat other people; before you tell me how much you love your God, show me in how much you love all His children; before you preach to me of your passion for your faith, teach me about it through your compassion for your neighbors. In the end, I’m not as interested in what you have to tell or sell as I am in how you choose to live and give."
It's time for the Equality Act to become law!
