Sen. Elizabeth Warren, never one to shy away from calling out injustices, took a firm stand against a discriminatory bill that tried to do the unthinkable: deny LGBTQ+ students their right to free lunches based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
Let’s break this down. We’re talking about Senate Joint Resolution 42 (SJR 42), a dangerous brainchild of Republican Sen. Roger Marshall from Kansas. His goal? To dismantle a vital rule from the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, set up in 2022. This rule, which echoed a 2020 Supreme Court judgment, sought to protect LGBTQ+ folks under the powerful banner of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
So, what’s Marshall’s beef with it? Using a procedural move, the Congressional Review Act, he aimed to rewind this monumental step forward. And guess what? He almost pulled it off! The Senate vote was nail-bitingly close: 47 for and 50 against. While we’d like to say all Democrats stood strong against it, Sen. Joe Manchin chose to swim against the current, voting in favor. Thankfully, Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski sided with justice, voting against the bill.
Marshall, obviously peeved by the bill’s failure, claimed that the USDA was being “weaponized” for “transgender policies.” Seriously?
But Warren, in her fierce fashion, called it as she saw it. She passionately conveyed that this bill wasn’t really about lunches at all. Nope. Instead, it was the GOP’s not-so-subtle way of telling LGBTQ+ kids, “You don’t belong.” She emphasized the simplicity of the issue: LGBTQ+ rights are human rights. Period.
And just to emphasize the depth of the GOP’s insensitivity: Warren highlighted that LGBTQ+ kids face an alarming rate of food insecurity. With transgender kids being almost three times more likely to go hungry, SJR 42 would’ve been an absolute gut punch.
Warren’s powerful concluding remarks put it perfectly: “The last thing our kids need is adults behaving like classroom bullies and trying to justify taking away their lunches.”
It’s 2023, folks. It’s about time everyone gets a seat at the table. And a lunch on it. Thank you, Senator Warren, for being a voice of reason and compassion.
