Equality California Condemns U.S. House Vote Reinstating Federal LGBT Discrimination

Los Angeles - May 20, 2016 – In response to yesterday's narrow vote by the U.S. House of Representatives to reject an amendment that would have removed anti-LGBT provisions from a defense spending bill, Equality California Executive Director Rick Zbur issued the following statement:

"The House vote would have preserved anti-discrimination protections in place for federal contractors. Approving the amendment merely would have preserved the status quo.  Instead, in rejecting the amendment, members of Congress chose to reinstate bias in federal contracting.  We are deeply disappointed in and ashamed of the members of the California delegation who went against Californian values of tolerance and inclusion and voted down the amendment, but especially of the four – Rep. Jeff Denham, Rep. Darrell Issa, Rep. David Valadao and Rep. Mimi Walters – who initially supported the amendment but yielded to last-minute pressure to change their votes.  They are a discredit to our state."

Equality California is the nation's largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization dedicated to creating a fair and just society. Our mission is to achieve and maintain full and lasting equality, acceptance and social justice for all people in our diverse LGBT communities, inside and outside of California. Our mission includes advancing the health and well-being of LGBT Californians through direct healthcare service advocacy and education. Through electoral, advocacy, education and mobilization programs, we strive to create a broad and diverse alliance of LGBT people, educators, government officials, communities of color and faith, labor, business, and social justice communities to achieve our goals. www.eqca.org