Heinrich Fights to Protect Equal Rights, Highlights Legislation to Support LGBTQ+ Community

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) announced legislation he cosponsored during the month of June to reaffirm his commitment to equal rights by strengthening protections for the LGBTQ+ community in New Mexico and across the country. 

“LGBTQ+ Americans deserve to live openly and freely as their authentic selves. But right now, too many MAGA Republicans are pushing for hateful and discriminatory laws at the state and federal levels,” said Heinrich. “MAGA Republican’s efforts are fueled by intolerance, hatred, and bigotry, and I will do all that I can to fight against them. I remain committed to the unfinished fight to ensure every one of us receives equal rights under federal law.”

This month, Heinrich cosponsored a Senate resolution recognizing June as LGBTQ Pride Month. The bill also recognizes the progress that has been made with the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act, which Heinrich fought to pass, and the legal recognition of workplace protections for transgender people while acknowledging the continued attacks on the rights of LGBTQ people taking place in our legal institutions. Heinrich has cosponsored a similar resolution every year since the first-ever Senate Pride Month Resolution in 2017.

Heinrich also cosponsored the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act, which bans so-called “conversion therapy” that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity based on bunk science. The fraudulent practice has been recognized by a national community of professionals in education, social work, health, and counseling as dangerous.

Additionally, Heinrich cosponsored the Refund Equality Act, which would ensure that legally-married same-sex couples have the tax refunds they always should have been able to claim. The bill would allow these couples – who, until the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in U.S. v. Windsor, were barred from filing federal taxes jointly – to file amended tax returns back to the date of their marriage, helping them secure an estimated total of $55 million in refunds. Heinrich has cosponsored this legislation each Congress since it was originally introduced in 2017.

Last week, in his capacity as Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, Heinrich published a Pride Month Fact Sheet highlighting the need to keep up the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. Find that fact sheet here. 

Read Heinrich’s statement commemorating Pride Month here.