Human Rights Campaign, ACLU Join 63 Other Organizations Urging Congressional Leaders to Continue to Push Back Against Anti-LGBTQ+ Poison Pills in Budget Bills

Provisions Attack Health, Safety, and Dignity of Millions of Americans and Must Be Non-Negotiable for Pro-Equality Members of Congress

WASHINGTON - January 25, 2024 - The Human Rights Campaign, the ACLU, and 63 other organizations from across the country this week issued a joint letter calling on Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) to continue to rally their pro-equality memberships in opposition to a slate of anti-LGBTQ+ riders that have been attached to annual appropriations bills.

These riders, advanced by the anti-equality majority in the House of Representatives and supported by Speaker Mike Johnson, would impose a flood of harsh new forms of discrimination on the LGBTQ+ community, further pushing into the margins an already marginalized - but growing - portion of the populace purely on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson released the following statement:

"These appropriations bills are littered with an unprecedented number of anti-LGBTQ+ provisions intended to harm LGBTQ+ people. Shame on House Republicans for attacking LGBTQ+ people to cater to their most extreme MAGA base. None of these riders can be allowed to pass into law, they will inflict real pain on everyday LGBTQ+ people without serving any legitimate purpose. We appreciate that Leader Schumer and Leader Jeffries have been strong allies against these efforts, and we urge them to continue to hold the line against them and pass clean appropriations bills."

Julie Sweet, Deputy Political Director for the ACLU's Liberty Division, released the following statement:

"The freedom of LGBTQ people across this country is at a crisis point. Political extremists in statehouses around the nation are banning books, promoting discrimination, and banning the medical care many transgender people need to live. It is of paramount importance that our representatives in Congress loudly and proudly defend these principles and pass a clean budget without hateful and dangerous political attacks."

The letter reads:

"Leader Schumer and Leader Jeffries:

"As organizations that advocate for equal rights and dignity for the LGBTQ community, we are writing regarding the announcement of a bipartisan topline appropriations agreement that was reached between Democratic and Republican leadership in each chamber. We were very heartened to hear the firm commitment from both of you against the inclusion of any poison pill policy changes in any of the twelve appropriations bills.

"As you are both aware, anti-LGBTQ members of the House have included dozens of extreme provisions targeting the LGBTQ community for discrimination in appropriations bills. These provisions have included bans on life-saving healthcare for transgender people, licenses to engage in taxpayer-funded discrimination against married same-sex couples, provisions blocking non-discrimination and DEI efforts, and provisions designed to denigrate, erase, and stigmatize LGBTQ people. None of these dangerous provisions are current federal law and we remain committed to keeping it that way.

"As negotiations now get underway between House and Senate appropriators, it is critical that final funding agreements do not include any of these extreme anti-LGBTQ poison pills. These provisions attack the health, safety, and dignity of millions of Americans and must be non-negotiable for pro-equality members of Congress.

"Thank you for your leadership in making sure that the federal government is able to meet the needs of the American people without sacrificing the fundamental rights and freedom of vulnerable and marginalized communities.

"Sincerely,

• Advocates for Youth
• American Atheists
• American Civil Liberties Union
• American Federation of Teachers
• American Humanist Association
• American Jewish World Service
• Americans United for Separation of Church and State
• Bayard Rustin Liberation Initiative
• Bend the Arc: Jewish Action
• CA LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network
• Center for Freethought Equality
• CenterLink: The Community of LGBTQ Centers
• COLAGE
• Council for Global Equality
• Equality California
• Faith in Public Life
• Faithful America
• Family Values @ Work
• FORGE, Inc.
• GLAAD
• GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality
• GLSEN
• Human Rights Campaign
• Human Rights First
• Indivisible
• Interfaith Alliance
• International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality)
• Keshet
• Lambda Legal
• Los Angeles LGBT Center
• Makom Shelanu Congregation
• MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger
• Minority Veterans of America
• MomsRising
• Movement Advancement Project
• National Center for Lesbian Rights
• National Center for Transgender Equality
• National Council of Jewish Women
• National Education Association
• National Employment Law Project
• National Health Law Program
• National LGBT Cancer Network
• National LGBTQ Task Force
• New Ways Ministry
• Parity
• PFLAG National
• Planned Parenthood Federation of America
• Pride at Work
• Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America)
• Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
• SAGE
• Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
• Silver State Equality - Nevada
• Southern Jewish Resource Network for Gender & Sexual Diversity (SOJOURN)
• The AIDS Institute
• The Shalom Center
• The Trevor Project
• True Colors United
• UFCW
• UFCW OUTreach
• Union for Reform Judaism
• Unitarian Universalist Action of NH
• United Church of Christ
• Whitman-Walker Institute
• Women of Reform Judaism

The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ+ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.