U.S. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) plans to introduce a measure that would legalize the production and sale of marijuana while creating a new federal tax in jurisdictions that have made the drug legal, according to the Associated Press.
U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) is also spearheading the effort, which has seen renewed interest in recent years. Polis is one of a handful of openly gay members of Congress and hails from a state that recently passed marijuana legalization.
The proposal would allow the government to treat marijuana similarly to how it deals with alcohol.
Tuesday’s election makes Tammy Baldwin the first openly gay person to serve in the U.S. Senate and brings the tally of LGBT members of the U.S. House to at least five.
"People ... see our country and our states moving toward full equality in many respects," Baldwin told CNN the morning after the election. "When you have legislative bodies that look more like America, that happens."
Baldwin is also the first woman to represent Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate.
Legislation can be like a train: It runs on a track, makes certain stops along the way, and is often attached to other trains. But in Congress, the train doesn’t run on time.
Last September, gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would likely get a House committee vote in September and a floor vote that fall. Didn’t happen.