Rep. Al Green (D-TX 9th) gave a tremendously powerful response to Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL 17th) on the floor of the House this afternoon during the debate on the Equality Act that would establish anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people. Watch:
Rolling Stone has a partial transcript:
You used God to enslave my foreparents. You used God to segregate me in schools. You used God to put me in the back of the bus. Have you no shame? God created every person in this room. Are you saying that God made a mistake? This is not about God, it’s about men who choose to discriminate against other people because they have the power to do so. My record will not show that I voted against Mr. Cicilline having his rights. My record will show that when I had the opportunity to deliver liberty and justice for all, I voted for rights for all.
Rep. Green’s speech came after Rep. Steube said transgender people are an insult to God.
He then read from Deuteronomy 22:5 in the Bible.
"A woman must not wear men's clothing nor a man wear women's clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this," he read aloud. […]
According to Steube, the Equality Act "goes directly against what it laid out in scripture."
Thank you Rep. Green and the other House Democrats for forcibly pushing back against this discrimination and fighting for all Americans right to equal protection.