U.S. senator Kirsten Gillibrand received a warm welcome and enthusiastic applause for her speech at New York's Congregation Beit Simchat Torah’s Pride Shabbat last week.
Beit Simchat Torah board member Jonathan Sheffer introduced Gillibrand, explaining how she came to be the speaker: “[She is] with us tonight for one very simple reason, and that reason is that I asked her and she said yes. She didn’t hesitate.” He concluded his introduction by extolling her work for LGBT rights and stating, “The champion we have waited for has finally arrived.” Gillibrand thanked him for his introduction, saying she was grateful to be able to count Sheffer and his partner, who were celebrating their 15-year anniversary, as her “friends and guides and advisers.”
The senator said she felt “quite at home” in the synagogue. Throughout her address, she used the story of Moses, calling the activists and advocates for LGBT rights “the Joshua generation.” She went on to explain that just as Joshua was chosen to escort the Jews from Moses’ care into the holy land, the current generation of activists “have to take the march for full equality for gay Americans the next step further.”
She finished the speech by laying out her plan for the upcoming five years, beginning with repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” followed by the passage of a fully LGBT-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act. She emphasized, “You can’t leave off the T. It’s not the same if you leave off the T.” Subsequent goals for the five-year plan include comprehensive immigration reform that includes same-sex partner sponsorship, repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, and amending the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include LGBT Americans.
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