They Have Our Back… Really?

With the Republican controlled Congress I don’t expect much in the way of help coming form it.

As Trump Attacks, Members of Congress Tell Transgender People: ‘We Are With You’
The heightened advocacy on Capitol Hill comes as the Trump administration ditched protections for transgender students under Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination at schools that receive federal funding.
Rewire
By Christine Grimaldi
March 2, 2017

Members of the U.S. Congress have a message for transgender people: We have your back amid escalating state-sanctioned discrimination.

“No matter the opposition, no matter the setbacks, no matter who occupies the Oval Office, we see you, we hear you, and we are with you,” Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-MA) said during Thursday’s relaunch of the Transgender Equality Task Force, an initiative of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus.

The caucus first created the task force in 2015 as a resource for lawmakers to learn about transgender issues, caucus executive director Roddy Flynn said in a phone interview. Through the task force and another on LGBTQ aging, the caucus provides “a ready-to-go force (not only) to respond to attacks, but also to design ways to advocate and ways to get out in front of issues.”

So are there any Republicans?

Democrats compose almost the entire 103-member Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, along with two Florida Republicans, Reps. Carlos Curbelo and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Ros-Lehtinen is a vocal advocate for transgender rights, often speaking out with her transgender son.

The caucus has filed a brief for the Grimm’s Supreme Court case,

 The full Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus is spearheading a bicameral amicus brief on behalf of Grimm to the Supreme Court, said Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), the first openly gay parent in Congress. The brief included support from 156 representatives and 40 senators, according to a news release from Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), who partnered with openly gay Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) to collect signatures in the Senate.

Maybe they might be able to block any anti-LGBT bills from coming out of Congress.