The nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights group is launching an ad campaign targeting House Republicans over the impending government shutdown.
The new ad from the Human Rights Campaign, part of a six-figure buy, will air nationwide Monday morning across major national outlets, cable networks and digital streaming services, according to an announcement shared first with The Hill.
The 30-second spot calls on voters to tell their representatives in Congress “to reject the politics of hate and get back to work” to prevent a shutdown.
“You sent your representative to Washington to work on behalf of everyday Americans, like you. But House Republicans spent the summer trying to divide us and failing to pass essential spending bills,” a narrator says over images of Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
“Instead, they’re trying to limit the health care you and your family can access, ban books and flags and block enforcement of civil rights laws, all while risking the government grinding to a halt.”
Lawmakers have until Sept. 30 to reach a deal to fund the government, but House Republicans have struggled to find enough common ground to pass even one of the 12 federal spending bills for fiscal 2024.
Democrats have also taken issue with provisions embedded in the proposals, not the least of which are measures that put the nation’s LGBTQ community at risk by threatening to weaken certain anti-discrimination protections and restrict gender-affirming health care for transgender adults and minors.
At least four provisions baked into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which narrowly passed the House in July, would prevent the Department of Defense from displaying LGBTQ pride flags and funding drag shows. It would also rule out certain schoolbooks with LGBTQ themes and gender-affirming medical care for service members and their dependents.
More than 150 House Democrats last week called for the removal of the provisions. The Democrat-controlled Senate passed its version of the NDAA, without the challenged provisions, in July.
“A shutdown is the height of irresponsibility and would interrupt critical government services, hurt working families, and endanger our national security. This outcome was entirely avoidable, but House Republicans have instead hijacked the appropriations process to attack LGBTQ+ communities rather than doing their jobs,” Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a news release Monday.
“It’s past time for them to stop pushing an extremist agenda that’s a danger to us all,” she said.