In a time when equality for the LGBTQ community is a distant dream, a few U.S. lawmakers are pushing legislation that aims to prove America is willing to fight not only for LGBTQ equality but also for LGBTQ lives around the world. The introduction of two new bills: The Promoting Respect for Individuals Dignity and Equality Act (PRIDE Act), which would act as a form of reparations for the financial harm unjust tax laws caused prior to marriage equality and The Greater Leadership Overseas for the Benefit of Equality Act  (GLOBE Act), which would protect LGBTQ individuals from discrimination internationally, seeking to bring the United States and the world closer to equality for LGBTQ individuals.

The American family is changing. The U.S. tax code has long given married couples tax breaks, incentive to file taxes jointly and the right to keep a little more of their hard-earned money. But with the passing of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996, the federal government legally defined marriage as “a union between one man and one woman as husband and wife,” leaving same-sex couples not only paying more in taxes every year but also concretizing in law that their unions and families were not recognized as true marriages and families.