Cicilline to sponsor LGBT civil rights bill; would trump state RFRA laws

Rhode Island Congressman David Cicilline is drafting a bill with Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon that would extend civil rights protections to LGBT people, he explained in an interview with RI Future.

The bill, long in the works, he said, would prevent states like Indiana from using so-called “religious liberty” laws to sanction discrimination based on sexual orientation.

“Many of us started to feel that the time had come to approach LGBT equality in a different way,” Cicilline said. “Why aren’t we putting together a comprehensive bill that prohibits discrimination against the LGBT community, period? We looked at a variety of federal protections that exist in the civil rights area based on race, and gender, and ethnic origin and religious tradition … why don’t we just add sexual orientation and gender identity to those existing categories that are protected from discrimination.”

Cicilline is co-chair of the LGBT Equality Caucus and, according to a press release, “one of six openly gay Members of the U.S. House of Representatives.” When asked about Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), he said: “The law permits discrimination, which it should not. It should be repealed.”

When I asked Cicilline about Indiana Gov. Mike Pence’s attempt to “clarify” the new law, Cicilline said, “It’s very hard to enact a law that discriminates against people or permits discrimination based on sexual orientation and then try to clarify that away.”

I also asked Cicilline if he’s ever been the victim of discrimination based on his sexual orientation. Listen to the full interview to find out what he said: