Lauren Boebert calls Equality Act “supremacy” for “gays, lesbians, and transvestites”
Anti-LGBTQ Colorado Republican denounced the landmark LGBTQ rights legislation in an interview with Steve Bannon
Days after attacking transgender people on the floor of the U.S. House, anti-LGBTQ Republican lawmaker Lauren Boebert (R-GA) has called the Equality Act an attempt to establish “supremacy” for LGBTQ people.
The Equality Act is a landmark piece of LGBTQ rights legislation that would protect against discrimination nationwide based on a person’s sexuality or gender identity. It passed the House last week and is now awaiting a Senate vote.
Speaking to anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theorist and former Trump White House official Steven Bannon, the 34-year-old Boebert blasted the legislation, which she unsurprisingly voted against.
Boebert called the Equality Act a “play on words” and said there is “nothing about equality in that act!”
“If anything, it’s, the, umm, it’s supremacy of gays, lesbians and… and… uh… transvestites,” Boebert said, apparently having trouble finding a sufficiently derogatory way to describe transgender people. “That’s what this is about, it’s about putting them higher than anyone else, it’s not about equality.”
Boebert then said that people should look at the Constitution, because “that is where equality is kept secure and held sacred.”
“We have the Fourteenth Amendment that says that ‘all men are equal under the law,'” she said, incorrectly quoting the amendment. “So we need to hold to that supreme, rather than woke ideologies.”
Boebert failed to note that LGBTQ people are far from “equal under the law,” given a majority of states currently lack LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections.
Rep. Lauren Boebert tells Steve Bannon the Equality Act is "supremacy of gays, lesbians and transvestites" pic.twitter.com/j8T2Yx5RxT
— Justin Horowitz (@justinhorowitz_) March 3, 2021
Also, while the Supreme Court has issued landmark rulings affirming the rights of LGBTQ people — including last year determining that the Civil Rights Act protects against employment discrimination — there are still far too many instances of LGBTQ people being forced to sue after facing discrimination.
Last week, Boebert used her national platform to vilify transgender people while arguing against passing the Equality Act.
Adopting scaremongering language used by anti-LGBTQ conservatives and right-wing figures that correlates transgender people with pedophiles and sexual predators, Boebert suggested that banning LGBTQ discrimination would lead to “young girls” having to “look behind their backs as they change in their school locker rooms just to make sure there isn’t a confused man trying to catch a peek.” (Boebert’s husband, Jayson Boebert, was charged with indecent exposure in 2004 after allegedly exposing his penis to a 16-year-old girl at a bowling alley.)
Colorado’s Legislative LGBTQ Caucus issued a statement last week condemning Boebert’s speech on the House floor, calling it “hateful and dangerous.”
“Her words hurt people, propagate dangerous tropes, and cause mental distress to those she berates,” they said. “When leaders like Congresswoman Boebert use their position of power to fuel tropes about trans people, a group facing discrimination, violence, and poverty all over the globe, they exemplify why we need The Equality Act now.”
Related:
WATCH: Rep. Mark Pocan calls GOP ‘bigots’ over Equality Act opposition
House passes Equality Act, a landmark LGBTQ rights bill
Marjorie Taylor Greene calls Equality Act an “evil” attack on “God’s creation”
Read More:
American Psychological Association opposes gender identity change efforts
Alabama House passes bill to eliminate requirement that sex ed courses condemn homosexuality
Federal judge rules beauty pageant can bar trans women from competing
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