Equality is the Key to Full Freedom
Photo Credit: Faith & Public Life
Inequality’s impact on LGBTQIA+ siblings prompted the Faith for Equality coalition to seize this important moment and work--again--to make the Equality Act law of the land.
Without equality, no one can fully be free.
Fellow Faith for Equality Coalition members and I, Rev. Jason Carson Wilson, Community Renewal Society Bayard Rustin Fellow and Bayard Rustin Liberation Initiative (BRLI) Founding Executive Director, presented U.S. Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) with more than 17,000 signatures on March 16 on Capitol Hill.
Coons submitted the petitions and highlighted our meeting during the committee’s hearing March 17. Community Renewal Society congregation members helped add names to those petitions. The journey toward passage will be challenging.
Even so, we must raise our voices, while mirroring a theme from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Inequality anywhere is a threat to equality everywhere.
Lived experience as a Black gay man left me facing the consequences of inequality. Fighting them rather than complaining about them is my preferred response and fuels my passion for both Black and LGBTQIA+ liberation.
In addition to the Equality Act, CRS’ LGBTQIA Issue Team is focused on moving these pieces of state legislation:
o SB0655: Criminal HIV Transmission Repeal
Amends Criminal Code of 2012.
Introduced by Sen. Robert Peters on 2/24. Had its first reading and referred to Assignments.
o HB3195: Equitable Restrooms-All Gender
Would allow multi-occupancy gender neutral bathrooms statewide.
Filed by Rep. Katie Stuart; Had First Reading; and referred to Rules Committee on 2/19. Assigned to the Human Rights Committee on 3/16.
View this video, or contact me via email to learn more about CRS’ LGBTQIA+ Faith, Race and Equity platform and to get involved.
In Solidarity,
Rev. Jason Carson Wilson