61 Members of Congress urge Sec. Rubio to restore LGBTQIA+ Data to Human Rights Report

In recent news, a coalition of 61 Members of Congress spearheaded by Rep. Sarah McBride (DE-AL), Rep. Robert Garcia (CA-42), and Rep. Julie Johnson (TX-32) came together to urge Secretary of State Marco Rubio to restore LGBTQIA+-specific data to the 2024 Country Report on Human Rights. This comes amidst extreme and frankly ghoulish attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community across the country, particularly transgender people. The Co-Chairs of the Congressional Equality Caucus’s International LGBTQI+ Rights Task Force, as they are known, say that this information is vital to LGBTQIA+ Americans travelling abroad, as many parts of the world are very unsafe to travel to for these people. They also cite Secretary Rubio’s speaking out against LGBTQIA+ discrimination in the past, when he was a senator.

As stated before, the current administration has been on a tirade of rolling back LGBTQIA+ and particularly transgender rights, which is why we need action now more than ever. This letter is nothing more than an empty gesture that perfectly represents how the Democratic Party feels about the LGBTQIA+ community, which means that they’ll say they support us, and then not do anything at all to do so. This is part of a larger trend of apathy among the establishment Dems, and it’s becoming very frustrating to see the people meant to be our protectors leave us in the dark once more. I’m especially disappointed, but not surprised, with Rep. McBride, whose politics I can only describe as immensely confusing, as even though she is a trans woman, she has not done anything meaningful to help LGBTQIA+ rights in this country.

Signing off,

Lily


Citations: 

“Garcia, Johnson, Mcbride Lead 61 Members of Congress Calling on State Department to Restore LGBTQI+ Human Rights Data.” Congressional Equality Caucus, 15 Sept. 2025, equality.house.gov/HRR-letter-pr-sep2025.


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