Is U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) playing politics with vital civil rights legislation? Just eight months ago Senator Collins was the only Republican Senator to co-sponsor the LGBTQ Equality Act.
She was also in a desperate re-election race. On June 15 she tweeted her strong support for the bill: The following day she signed onto a letter to then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, demanding he “immediately bring the bipartisan Equality Act (H.R.
5) to the Senate floor for a vote and fully enshrine in federal law explicit protections for LGBTQIA+ people against discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity.” The bill never came to the floor, and Collins got re-elected.