Mark Takano: Celebs Rumors

The House gave final passage on Thursday to legislation to ensure federal recognition of same-sex and interracial unions, clearing a final milestone in Congress before going to President Joe Biden.

On Tuesday, Democratic House members released their plan for a “Transgender Bill of Rights” in an attempt to provide federal protections for transgender and gay Americans.The bill will attempt to codify the Supreme Court’s 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County decision, which established employee protections for gay and transgender workers. If passed, the bill would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include gay and trans people.The amended Act would ban conversion therapy, protection for gender identity and sex characteristics, and expand access to gender-affirming care. In addition, the bill would require the attorney general to designate a liaison to oversee the enforcement of civil rights for transgender people while also investing in services to prevent anti-transgender violence.Washington Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Co-Chair of the Transgender Equality Task Force, was a major player in getting the bill created. “As state legislatures across the country target our trans community with hateful, bigoted, and transphobic attacks, we are standing up and saying enough is enough,” Jayapal said in a joint statement with David Cicilline (RI), Marie Newman (IL), Mark Takano (CA), and Ritchie Torres (NY).

In his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass legislation to extend comprehensive health benefits to veterans who suffered toxic exposure in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., called for the resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie and his senior staff Thursday, following an inspector general report that showed VA officials attempted to discredit a Navy officer after she said she was sexually assaulted.

                                   Dignity Health (Wikimedia photo via dailycal.org)

The US House of Representatives voted 388 to 5 on Thursday for another half-trillion dollars in federal relief, including $310 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program that offers forgivable loans to small business employers to keep workers on their payrolls  during the economic crisis COVID-19 caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic. There have been more than 26 million unemployment claims filed in the past five weeks alone.