Ron celebrates Pride Month in Portland

Ron celebrated Pride Month in Portland last weekend by walking in the Pride Parade and holding a roundtable at the Q Center to hear about the threats to the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans from Donald Trump’s “administration of discrimination.”

At the roundtable with LGBTQ+ Oregonians and advocacy groups such as Basic Rights Oregon, the Queer Resource Center at Portland State University and PFLAG, Ron and Sen. Jeff Merkley spoke about their work to protect LGBTQ+ civil rights in Oregon and nationwide.

That work encompasses housing, college campuses, immigration, the military and more.

“I hope the Trump administration takes note of the fact that on Sunday we’ll be walking forward in this parade instead of backwards,” Ron said Friday at the Q Center. “Because when it comes to “LGBTQ-plus rights,” this administration is in full retreat with its own “parade of horrors” that would march America backwards.

“And I will not stand silent while Donald Trump and his “administration of discrimination” try to force LGBTQ-plus Americans back into the shadows,” he said.

A clear message from the roundtable participants is the importance of the Senate taking up the Equality Act, which has passed the House.  

“One huge step forward in this battle is for Congress to pass the Equality Act,” Ron said. “Unfortunately, Mitch McConnell has left the Equality Act to die in his Senate legislative graveyard."