Polis to be sworn in as third openly gay member of Congress today
As the 111th Congress is sworn in today, Victory Fund endorsee Jared Polis became the body’s third openly gay member. Polis, who will represent Colorado’s second House district, will join Reps. Barney Frank and Tammy Baldwin.
In addition, Polis announced that he secured a seat on the House Committee on Education and Labor.
A major priority of the committee will be the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, the main federal law affecting education from kindergarten through high school, Polis said.
Politico recently named Polis as one of the most noteworthy freshman members of Congress.
Detroit News columnist Deb Price recently wrote that this freshman class holds never-before-seen potential for advancement in LGBT rights.
Many of the freshmen come from states that already enjoy basic gay protections. So they’ll be asked to extend those safeguards to all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. And they’ll be asked to update federal law to respect their state laws by, for example, getting rid of the discriminatory tax treatment of gay partners’ health benefits.
