GOP Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Meets With Caitlyn Jenner; Co-Sponsors Equality Act
- By
- Carlos Santoscoy
- | September 15, 2016
Florida Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen on Thursday met with reality star and transgender activist Caitlyn Jenner.
“Met @Caitlyn_Jenner about her gender transition story + how we can help #trans Americans live as their true selves,” Ros-Lehtinen – who has a transgender son, Rodrigo – tweeted to her more than 80,000 followers.
Jenner, a Republican, posted a photo of herself and author-activist Margaret Hoover standing outside Congress. “Big day at Capitol Hill. @m_hoov and I got to chat with a few #Republican reps about #LGBT issues. It's a time for change!” she captioned the photo.
(Related: Caitlyn Jenner says coming out Republican was harder than coming out transgender.)
According to the Washington Blade, Ros-Lehtinen quietly co-sponsored the Equality Act on Friday, making her the second House Republican behind Robert Dold of Illinois to do so. Senator Mark Kirk, a Republican from Illinois, has also co-sponsored the legislation.
Introduced last year, the Equality Act seeks to prohibit anti-LGBT discrimination in seven key areas, including credit, education, employment, federal funding, housing, jury service and public accommodations, by effectively expanding the Civil Rights Act, originally approved in 1964.