And people wonder where someone gets the idea that it's okay to open fire on a room full of LGBT people. Perhaps it's got something to do with the actions of people like Rep. Rick Allen of Georgia who, prior to a House vote on an LGBT nondiscrimination measure, read the Bible verse Romans 1:18-32 to his colleagues. The sponsor of that pro-LGBT amendment, gay Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, linked Allen's reading back to Orlando in an interview last week with LGBT journalist and radio host Michelangelo Signorile.
“When the guy stood up in their Republican caucus meeting, the morning prayer that they hold, he read Scripture — he read a passage suggesting that gays are worthy of death,” Maloney explained in an interview with me on SiriusXM Progress on Friday, discussing Allen. [...] “That’s what was going on in the days before this tragedy in Orlando,” Maloney continued. “And I guess a lot of of us would have liked to think that after this tragedy had occurred, people of good faith would have rethought those positions, and we would have been able to move on this and send a signal to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning Americans that this is something we don’t have any tolerance for in federal law. We shouldn’t discriminate in federal law. But I’m sorry to say, I was once again blocked from protecting the president’s executive order this week.”
That executive order extended workplace protections to LGBT individuals who are employed by federal contractors. Maloney also slammed Speaker Paul Ryan for being all talk on LGBT issues after Ryan altered the House rules so Maloney's amendment wouldn't make it to the floor for another vote.
Maloney said that’s because Ryan knows, especially in light of the horrific events in Orlando, that the votes are there.
“I want people to know that Paul Ryan talks a good game,” he explained, pointing to Ryan’s holding a moment of silence on the floor of the House last Monday to honor the Orlando victims — which prompted many Democrats to shout out “Where’s the bill?” before walking out of the House chamber. “But he has been rationalizing discrimination against LGBT people in federal law at the same time that he endorsed Donald Trump and rationalized racism. It’s just wrong. They’ve sort of stopped standing for anything.”
Again, people wonder where someone gets the idea that it's okay to open fire on a room full of LGBT people. Republicans won't even let an LGBT workplace nondiscrimination measure get a floor vote—for fear that it will pass.