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A classmate recently snapped a photo of a billboard promoting Israel’s right-wing Yachad party that read: “So there won’t be a child with a father and a father!”

The Reform Jewish Movement is encouraged to see the House prioritizing issues directly impacting the lives of LGBTQ+ Americans, but the Senate has yet to consider the Equality Act or LGBTQ+ provisions in a COVID-19 response bill. That is where we, as a people committed to social justice, have a role to play. 

On Monday, Saks Fifth Avenue backtracked on its claim that they had the right to discriminate against employees for being transgender. Earlier this month, Leyth Jamal, a transgender woman who had worked at Saks Fifth Avenue, filed a lawsuit against her former employer for fostering a hostile work environment which culminated in her firing. Saks Fifth Avenue originally filed a motion to dismiss the case, claiming that trans identities are not protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits sex discrimination (not discrimination based on sexual orientation). Although Saks Fifth Avenue withdrew this motion, the discrimination that Jamal faces, as well as the continuous fight on the state level against anti-LGBT legislation, illustrate the urgent need for comprehensive LGBT non-discrimination legislation.

Last month, I wrote about the importance of ensuring that our advocacy is trans inclusive, however, trans individuals are not the only people who are commonly erased in larger conversations about LGBT rights. Often times, the ‘B’ in LGBT is also overlooked, leading to the erasure and, at times, even rejection of bisexual identities.