1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to join 213 of your House colleagues in condemning the alarming surge of anti-transgender rhetoric in Congress. The recent letter from the Congressional Equality Caucus to Speaker Mike Johnson highlights a disturbing trend that demands immediate attention and action. As your constituent, I am deeply concerned about the "demonizing and dehumanizing" language directed at the transgender community during official House business. This rhetoric not only violates House rules on proper language but also contributes to a climate of hostility and discrimination against an already vulnerable population. The facts speak for themselves. FBI data reveals 463 hate crime incidents due to gender identity bias in 2023 alone. Moreover, a Williams Institute report shows that transgender individuals are over four times more likely to experience violent victimization compared to cisgender people. By allowing inflammatory and false statements to go unchallenged, such as calls to institutionalize all transgender people or baseless claims portraying them as inherently violent, Congress is failing in its duty to protect all Americans. I ask you to take a stand against this dangerous rhetoric. Specifically, I urge you to: 1. Publicly condemn the use of dehumanizing language against the transgender community. 2. Advocate for strict enforcement of House decorum rules, ensuring that slurs and discriminatory language are not tolerated. 3. Support Representative Sarah McBride, the only transgender member of Congress and the first signatory of the letter, in her efforts to create a more inclusive legislative environment. Your voice carries weight. By joining this initiative, you can help prevent the escalation of hate crimes and ensure that our government institutions respect the dignity of all individuals, regardless of their gender identity. The time to act is now. The transgender community needs allies in positions of power to stand up against discrimination and promote a more just and equitable society. I look forward to hearing about your commitment to this crucial issue and the steps you will take to address it in Congress.