House Speaker Nancy Pelosion Wednesday celebrated the House passing the Pride Act, declaring the bill — aimed at updatingthe tax code to provide equal treatment for same-sex married couples — “long-overdue justice.”
“Discrimination has no place in our society or in our laws,” Pelosi said in a news release. “In passing the PRIDE Act, Democrats are honoring our diversity and providing long-overdue justice to countless same-sex couples across the country who have been denied critical tax refunds because of who they are and who they love.”
The bill, which will now head to the Senate, would amend the Internal Revenue Code to remove gender-specific references to marriage and allow couples to amend their filing status to married filing jointly for tax returns outside of the statute of limitations.
Pelosi praised Rep. Judy Chu of California and the members of the House Ways and Means Committee for writing the “strong legislation.”
“By eliminating gendered language that discriminates against same-sex couples and putting money directly back into the pockets of families who have earned it, this critical legislation offers commonsense fixes that modernize our tax code and honor our bedrock values,” she said.
Chu celebrated the bill passing the House Wednesday with a tweet calling the US tax code dated.
“Love is Love. That’s what the Supreme Court decided when they recognized same-sex marriage. But you wouldn’t know it by looking at our tax code,” she said.
With the bill now headed to the Republican-led Senate, Pelosi urged the chamber to “quickly pass and reaffirm that all Americans, including LGBTQ Americans are entitled to be treated equally under the law.”
“Advancing the Pride Act is a critical step in bringing our nation closer to fulfilling its Founding promise that all are created equal,” she said. “As we celebrate this important success, House Democrats will continue to drive progress for all Americans, making clear that liberty, justice and equality are America’s guiding principles — not bigotry or discrimination.”
