I rise today in support of the 21st Century President Act, a bipartisan bill which I am glad to have authored and introduced.
Federal law hasn’t caught up to where progress in this country is, specifically when it comes to who a future president can be.
This bill would change federal law that refers to a president’s spouse. Sections that currently refer to a president’s “wife” or “widow” would be changed to “spouse” in recognition of the fact that in the 21st Century the president could be either a woman or a person from the LGBTQ community.
Without this change to the U.S. Code, for example, the law that makes it a crime to threaten, kill, kidnap, or inflict bodily harm upon the president or the president’s family would fail to include a future female or gay president and their potential spouse.
This change is long overdue.
Someday, there could be a President…
