House GOP to decide whether to allow LGBT votes in wake of Orlando shooting
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House Republican leaders will have to decide Tuesday whether to allow votes this week on a series of measures concerning LGBT rights after the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday.
The GOP divide on the issue of LGBT rights turned into a public spectacle on the House floor last month when Republican members were split on an amendment introduced by openly gay Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.). His proposal would have banned the federal government from making payments to contractors that discriminate on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.
Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) has since taken steps to limit Democrats’ ability to force votes on contentious proposals, but it will be difficult for House leaders to ignore the LGBT amendments two days after a gunman killed 49 people and and injured 53 others at the Orlando nightclub, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said Sunday that the fate of each amendment will be up to members of the House Rules Committee, which will decide Tuesday afternoon whether the LGBT amendments will get another vote, according to a committee aide.
Maloney has reintroduced his amendment to an upcoming spending bill, forcing Republicans to deal with the contentious issue once again.
“There are always bigoted back minded people who want to stand in the way of equality and freedom,” Maloney said in an interview.
[Paul Ryan is in another fight he doesn’t want, this time over LGBT rights]
The appropriations bills have become the venue for the LGBT fight because they are among the only must-pass bills on the congressional agenda and leaders typically allow a large number of amendment votes on them.
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WASHINGTON POST
They're crazy if they don't allow votes for us...
