'We've Heard A Lot Of Bigotry In This Room': Maxwell Frost Blasts 'Disgusting' Commentary From GOP

3 months ago

At a House Oversight Committee hearing last week, Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) spoke about discrimination in work.

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Transcript

00:00Mr. Frost from Florida.

00:01Thank you, Mr. Chair.

00:02I want to start off by saying that I find that bigotry, transphobia, and outright attacks

00:11on our LGBTQ plus community, these attacks that we've heard in this hearing today are

00:15disgusting and unacceptable.

00:19Ms. Wiley, we've heard a lot of bigotry in this room today.

00:23Highly uncomfortable to sit here as one of these witnesses used their testimony time

00:28to, I guess, complain about the fact that maybe too many black and brown people are

00:32getting jobs, is what that sounded like.

00:35Once again, Republicans are trying to stoke fear by claiming that transgender people using

00:41the correct locker room somehow endangers cisgender women, yet research shows that it's

00:46trans folks who are in danger.

00:50Trans folks are more likely, more than four times likely, as cisgender people to be the

00:54victims of violent crime, including sexual assault.

00:58And groups who support victims of sexual assault agree with this.

01:02Bipartisan, nonpartisan groups, dozens of groups, including the National Alliance to

01:06End Sexual Violence.

01:08They signed a letter supporting full and equal access to locker rooms for trans folks.

01:12So I ask unanimous consent to enter this letter into the record, as well as a study by Williams

01:17Institute that shows the high rates of victimization for transgender individuals.

01:21Without objection, so ordered.

01:24I want to turn to the EEOC's final rule on how to implement Pregnant Workers Fairness

01:29Act, which, I'll remind my colleagues, passed the United States House of Representatives

01:34with over 300 votes, with over 200 co-sponsors, a bipartisan piece of legislation that my

01:42colleagues didn't have any problems with until they found out that maybe we can use it as

01:47a wedge issue to rev up some of our bigoted voters for the election this year.

01:53This important act requires employers to accommodate workers with limitations caused by pregnancy,

02:00childbirth, or medical conditions.

02:02In its rule, the EEOC makes it clear that pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical

02:08conditions includes abortion care.

02:11Ms. Wiley, my colleagues don't seem to understand why this is so important.

02:16Could you walk us through that and explain the potential consequences of undermining

02:20this important protection?

02:22Well, I think, Congressman, you just did.

02:27I think that is a perfect explanation about the importance of the rulemaking to protect

02:34people from discrimination.

02:37And here's one of the things that I want to appreciate Attorney General Rokita for, is

02:44the acknowledgment that it is the Supreme Court of the United States of America, in

02:50fact, a Neil Gorsuch opinion, a conservative justice that found that Title VII's prohibition

02:57on sex discrimination also prohibits employers from firing an employee, quote, simply for

03:03being transgender, close quote.

03:07So what we are hearing from the EEOC is it is taking to heart the directive from the

03:14Supreme Court that the plain language of Title VII and its prohibition against sex

03:21discrimination covers people who are transgender.

03:26And by the way, and as we know with all civil rights laws, when we protect the most vulnerable,

03:34we protect everyone.

03:36The reason it is so critically important is because those protections extend to everyone.

03:43And we should remember that because it's one of the greatest lessons that we have seen

03:48and why we should absolutely refuse to allow fear-mongering about 1% of the U.S. population.

03:57The transgender community in the United States is 1% of the U.S. population.

04:05And so the idea that states and localities, 200 municipalities, 18 states that are already

04:12providing the protections against discrimination we are talking about, some of them for years

04:19have not seen the fear, the violence, any of the things that we're hearing today.

04:26And the reason we are hearing it is because there is not a fact-based disagreement but

04:31an ideological one.

04:34And what we should be dealing with is facts, because everyone is protected by our civil

04:40rights laws, everyone.

04:43And it is the facts that ensure we're protecting the most vulnerable.

04:46Thank you so much, Ms. Wiley.

04:47I don't have much time left to get to my other questions, but I just wanted to let you keep

04:50talking because I agree with everything that you just said.

04:54And it's just a shame to sit in these hearings watching my colleagues attack programs that

04:59also are designed to help veterans.

05:02So to attack these programs is to attack what I consider true patriotism, which is more

05:08than a bald eagle, beard, and flag.

05:10It's about loving the people who live in the country, no matter who they are.

05:13Thank you.

05:14I yield back.

'We've Heard A Lot Of Bigotry In This Room': Maxwell Frost Blasts 'Disgusting' Commentary From GOP

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