CONTACTAbout UsCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2025 Equal Entertainment LLC.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
We need your help
Your support makes The Advocate's original LGBTQ+ reporting possible. Become a member today to help us continue this work.
Your support makes The Advocate's original LGBTQ+ reporting possible. Become a member today to help us continue this work.
U.S. representative John Conyers (D-Mich.) filed a discharge petition in Congress on Wednesday in a last-ditch effort to force a vote on the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which would add penalties for bias crimes based on real or perceived sexual orientation, gender, or disability to current federal hate-crimes laws. A discharge petition is one of the few ways to force congressional leaders to schedule a vote on a measure. Because such petitions require 218 signatures, however, they are rarely successful. According to the Washington, D.C.-based gay rights group Human Rights Campaign, the last successful discharge petition in recent memory was on campaign finance reform, and it took three years to pass. "Historically, discharge petitions have been politically risky because of the potential to polarize legislation along party lines," said HRC political director Winnie Stachelberg, who applauded Conyers for filing the petition. "We are urging every supporter of [the hate-crimes bill], Republican and Democrat alike, to be at the forefront in the effort to sign this discharge petition."
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Watch Now: Pride Today
Latest Stories
Cole Escola, Jennifer Lawrence, and Emma Stone are making a Miss Piggy movie
November 05 2025 2:00 PM
20 hilarious & brutal memes celebrating Dems crushing MAGA in the election
November 05 2025 1:50 PM
This small Pennsylvania town just elected the state's first-ever out transgender mayor
November 05 2025 1:19 PM
Virginia farm owned by the 'Gardening Gays' was vandalized with medical waste and human feces
November 05 2025 1:19 PM
LGBTQ+ young people are politically engaged — but it's complicated
November 05 2025 12:00 PM
Spectacular Republican losses prove MAGA's transphobic playbook doesn't win elections
November 05 2025 11:38 AM
Zohran Mamdani will continue 'standing up' for transgender people as New York City mayor
November 05 2025 11:30 AM
Gay Republican John Reid loses Virginia lieutenant governor race after scandal-marred campaign
November 04 2025 10:35 PM
Here is New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's LGBTQ+ rights record
November 04 2025 9:45 PM
Zohran Mamdani, LGBTQ+ ally, wins New York City mayoral election and makes history
November 04 2025 9:41 PM
LGBTQ+ ally Abigail Spanberger trounces anti-trans Republican to win Virginia governor’s race
November 04 2025 7:55 PM
True
45 pics that prove Jonathan Bailey is 2025's perfect Sexiest Man Alive
November 04 2025 4:53 PM
































































Charlie Kirk DID say stoning gay people was the 'perfect law' — and these other heinous quotes