Rep. Sherrill Supports Five Bills to Advance LGBTQ Equality

Washington, DC – In honor of Pride Month, Representative Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11) announced her co-sponsorship of five bills that advance legal equality and improve the lives of LGBTQ Americans.

• Restore Honor to Service Members Act (H.R.3517), ensures that members of the armed forces who served honorably but were discharged and given a punitive discharge classification solely because of their sexual orientation, have their records corrected to reflect their honorable service. 

• Resolution Commemorating LGBTQ Equality Day (H. Res. 135), marks LGBTQ Equality Day on June 26, celebrating a day where the Supreme Court issued three landmark rulings that helped eliminate discrimination and affirm the dignity of LGBTQ people. 

• Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act, aims to prevent so-called “conversion therapy.” This bill rightfully establishes under the law that practices which falsely claim to change sexual orientation or gender identity are fraud. 

• LGBT Data Inclusion Act (H.R.3509), improves Federal population surveys by requiring the collection of voluntary, self-disclosed information on sexual orientation and gender identity in surveys that include demographic data. This will provide federal agencies with vital information to better serve the LGBTQ community.  

• The PrEP Assistance Program Act (H.R.1643), led by Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), directs the Department of Health and Human Services to create a grant program that would fund existing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) Assistance Programs or support the creation of new programs.

“Pride Month gives us all the opportunity to celebrate the incredible advances and contributions of the LGBTQ community, and it has been wonderful to see so many towns in our community commemorate Pride,” said Representative Sherrill. “But it is also a critical reminder that more work still needs to be done to achieve true equality for LGBTQ Americans under the law. I am pleased to take concrete legislative actions that will help advance the rights and health care needs of LGBTQ Americans in New Jersey and across the nation.”

On May 17, 2019, the House of Representatives passed and Representative Sherrill voted in favor of H.R. 5, the Equality Act. This bill will extend the anti-discrimination protections under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to LGBTQ Americans in housing, education, employment, credit, public accommodation, federal funding, and federal jury service. Representative Sherrill is an original co-sponsor of H.R. 5 and a member of the Congressional LGBTQ Equality Caucus.