Congressman James "Jim" McGovern: The Republican Party's Relentless Attack on the LGBTQI+ Community

In today's political climate, the performance of the Republican Party in the 118th Congress has generated a great deal of attention and discussion. As a founding member and Vice Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, it is important for me to share my perspective on this situation, particularly regarding the Republican attack on the LGBTQI+ community.

As we all know, the chaos within the Republican Party made the 118th Congress one of the least efficient in recent history. We barely avoided a government shutdown and a default on the national debt because of the inability of House Republicans to govern. The lack of productivity of the Republican majority is no surprise to me. As a senior member of the House Rules Committee, I have watched Republicans prioritize their attacks on the LGBTQI+ community over working to address the challenges facing all Americans.

In the past nine months, the Rules Committee has not considered a single bill for signing into law. This ineffectiveness and incompetence, under Republican control, has made for one of the worst congressional sessions in our nation's history. When the Democrats were in charge, as Chairman of the Rules Committee in the last Congress, we introduced many important bills such as the Paycheck Fairness Act, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. We also worked on legislation to protect the LGBTQI+ community, such as the Respect for Marriage Act and the Equality Act.

However, now with anti-equality Republicans in charge, we see the majority of the Rules Committee working overtime to appease MAGA extremists. These right-wing Republicans have vowed to vote down any bill that doesn't comply with their wishes and will always want to limit the rights of LGBTQI+ people. I was shocked to see over 95 anti-LGBTQI+ amendments in submissions to the Rules Committee and that Republicans have introduced over 50 anti-LGBTQI+ bills and amendments to the House.

Some of the most shocking and morally repugnant attacks by Republicans have been against the transgender community, especially transgender youth. They have passed amendments requiring schools to forcibly expel transgender students and banning transgender girls from participating in school sports teams in kindergarten. These actions reflect Republicans' relentless attack on the LGBTQI+ community.

We've also seen dozens of anti-equality amendments proposed by Republicans in government appropriations bills that not only target necessary medical care, but also encourage discrimination against the LGBTQI+ community. These actions show that Republicans are simply throwing their cruel, anti-equality gimmicks against the wall and seeing how it works.

The Congressional Equality Caucus released a report called Obsession: House Republicans' Relentless Attacks on the LGBTQI+ Community in 2023, which tracks all of the anti-equality attacks we've seen in the last year. As a founding member and Vice Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, I am fully committed to protecting the LGBTQI+ community and advancing a pro-equality agenda, and 2023 taught us that we have a lot of work ahead of us in 2024 and beyond.

Despite these attacks, know that many of us will not stand by while Republicans target the LGBTQI+ community. I'm proud to work with the largest caucus in the U.S. Congress to fight for equality because I know that in order for America to keep moving forward, we must be inclusive of the LGBTQI+ community.

Congressman James "Jim" McGovern.
Represents Massachusetts' 2nd Congressional District and is a founding member and Vice Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus.

*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of The Advocate or our parent company, equalpride.