The U.S. Supreme Court's decision Monday that employers cannot discriminate in hiring due to a candidate's sexual or gender preference was a surprising revelation for many Americans, including Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and CEO of GLAAD.
"It was groundbreaking. It was historic today," she told Cheddar.
Still, Ellis said this is just a small part of the rights challenges members of the LGBTQ community face.
"We're debating whether or not I can be fired from my job at the Supreme Court simply because I'm gay. It shouldn't even be a discussion," she said.
The historic decision came just days after the Trump administration rolled back healthcare protections for transgender people under the Affordable Care Act -- a move which Ellis said is in line with the president's broader dismissal of LGBTQ people throughout his term.
"This administration has attacked the LGBTQ community 150 times with both policy rollbacks and rhetoric since he's come into power," she said.
As demonstrators across the nation call for social justice and equality this June, Ellis said that it is important for Pride month supporters to remember where it started.
"Pride is a protest, and we need to be on the streets," she stated. "We have to go back to our roots this one. This Pride especially."
She noted that 14 members of the trans community have been violently killed so far this year.
In 2020, a year unlike any other with a pandemic canceling Pride celebrations and calls for social justice amplified throughout the nation, Ellis tasked people to come together now to force real change.
"Our community is our power. Our identity is our power," she said. "We need to be fighting for Black Lives Matter, for our trans community. We have to be standing up for each other right now, and we need to be locking arms as marginalized communities."
U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-MI) shared her concerns over the Republican tax reform bill and her excitement for the SELF DRIVE Act.The bill meant to expedite the testing of autonomous vehicles was unanimously approved by the House.
After groundbreaking results in the 2017 off-year elections, newly elected Virginia delegate Elizabeth Guzman joins Cheddar from Capitol Hill. She discusses her pride in being a one of the few Latinas taking office, what it means to represent Latino children, and why the state of Virginia responded as it did at the ballot.
The one thing issue that could impact Hawaii more than it can any other state is North Korea, Colleen Hanabusa told Cheddar. "I'm just glad [Trump] didn't start tweeting while he was in South Korea."
New Jersey's first Sikh mayor spoke to Cheddar about 2017's groundbreaking elections. Bhalla says that American citizens wanted to have their voices heard at the ballot boxes.
This congressman believes that President Donald Trump understands what it takes to prevent North Korea from expanding its nuclear weapons project. As the president continues his multi-nation trip in Asia, this is the message he hopes Trump gets across to North Korea and other countries.
Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger joins Cheddar to remind us that Russia is not our ally. He says that the administration's possible involvement with Russian interference in the U.S. elections remains unclear, but the country needs to adopt a tougher stance on the issue.
"[Putin] is actually a bad dude," Kinzinger said. He points out that prior administrations that have been optimistic about smoothing over relations with him have never succeeded.
"He's really just an old KGB agent that wants to basically tear up the old way of Eastern Europe," Kinzinger said.
As Washington debates the future of Obamacare, the former Congresswoman representing the U.S. Virgin Islands says the statute is still "the law of the land," and it will be difficult to eliminate.
While the Republican Congressman from Ohio says passing new laws on gun control won't solve the problem, he points out that current laws need to be followed and that there's no right or wrong time to talk about the issue.
The congresswoman says that President Trump tries to undermine institutions that challenge him and encourage check and balances, something deeply troubling.
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman shares her outlook on mass shootings in the U.S., a day after a gunman killed 26 in Texas and just a month removed from her own city seeing the worst rampage in U.S. history.
