Today, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14) released the following statement upon House passage of the bipartisan Equality Act, a bill that she cosponsored. The Equality Act passed the House in 2019 but was blocked by the GOP-led Senate. It extends civil rights protections to members of the LGBTQ community.

“All Americans deserve non-discrimination protections in the workplace, in school, in housing and in public. Yet, in Florida it is not against the law to discriminate against someone for being LGBTQ. That is wrong,” said Castor. “The Equality Act will ensure that LGBTQ individuals in Florida and across the nation enjoy the same rights and responsibilities as all other Americans. As a member of the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus, I’m proud to pass this legislation today and urge my colleagues in the Senate to take it up as quickly as possible.”

Despite the success of the LGBTQ equality movement over the years, LGBTQ Floridians still face the denial of housing, education and the right to serve on a jury. 

The Equality Act remedies such discrimination by amending existing federal civil rights laws to explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment education, housing, credit, jury service, public accommodations, and federal funding.

"The time has come for a modernized and updated federal Civil Rights Act that recognizes where discrimination still occurs today,” said Nadine Smith, Executive Director of Equality Florida. Floridians clearly support equal rights regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity and we call on our Senators to join Rep. Castor and the bipartisan support that led to passage in the House today.” 

In Florida where there is still no statewide law that prohibits discrimination, Floridians have successfully worked with local governments to ensure LGBTQ people are protected from discrimination – including anti-discrimination ordinances and prohibitions against discrimination in Tampa and Hillsborough County.

“We know this fight all too well in Tampa.  When I served on the Hillsborough County Commission, I stood up to Commissioners who moved to outlaw gay pride and promote government-sanctioned discrimination against our LGBTQ neighbors,” Castor continued.  “That was in 2005 – it’s 2021 and we are still standing up for respect and equal rights for all.”

U.S. Rep. Castor has been a long-time champion of equal rights and diversity. As a Hillsborough County Commissioner in 2005, she was the sole vote against a resolution to ban on Gay Pride observations in Hillsborough County, FL.  She continued to work for its reversal as well as during her tenure in Congress and, in 2013, the ban was finally repealed.  During her time in Congress, she joined an amicus brief to support overturning the Defense of Marriage Act, which was struck down in 2013. 

Before the Supreme Court of The United States decision of Obergefell v. Hodges, a landmark case for marriage equality nationwide, she hosted a wedding for a Tampa same-sex couple in her Capitol Hill office in Washington, D.C., providing a haven to establish a lifelong bond.  She cheered the U.S. Supreme Court on the steps of the court with hundreds of supporters at the historic moment the Obergefell decision was announced. She is a member of the LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus.