Gov. Jack Markell is pushing the nation’s LGBT population to fight hard for equal rights once President-Elect Donald Trump takes office.
“You’ve got to fight. Things are not going to happen because you sit back. You’ve got to make yourself heard,” Markell said during a keynote address to the Center for American Progress in Washington DC Thursday.
He was speaking from his own experience passing anti-discrimination legislation in Delaware three years ago.
The governor spoke to the LGBT groups as they prepare for state and federal challenges to their rights once President-Elect Donald Trump takes office.
The governor said America’s LGBT population has won significant victories in recent years, and it would be a shame to see those gains rolled back.
He told the crowd they’ve also gained what some might consider an unlikely ally: Fortune 500 CEOs.
“There are so few CEO’s these days left who have the patience to say we’re going to be unwelcoming, we’re going to reject a whole group of people who could add tremendous value to our customers and our business, but they’re not going to be welcome here,” Markell said.
Markell said government, unfortunately, is way behind the business community’s thinking on anti-discrimination.
He said America may be losing its taste for discrimination, but the fight isn’t over yet.