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National news in brief: Jan. 14

Prophet says ‘Don’t Ask,’ caused bird deaths, gay Yale employees get unpleasant tax surprise and more

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Evangelist Cindy Jacobs says pro-gay measures can have consequences in nature. (Photo courtesy of General International)

‘Prophet’ claims animal deaths due to ‘Don’t Ask’ repeal

WASHINGTON — The deaths of thousands of blackbirds in Arkansas may have been caused by the recent repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” according to a self-described “prophet” who once claimed the ability to banish “gay demons,” the Raw Story, a D.C.-based alternative news site, reported.

Evangelist Cindy Jacobs said on a video posted over the weekend that the strange phenomenon, that has now occurred in various places around the world, was an “answer” from God for violating his principles concerning homosexuality,” Raw Story reported.

“According to biblical principles, marriage is between a man and a woman, so we have to say ‘What happens when a nation makes a decision that’s against God’s principles?'” she said in the video. “Well, often what happens is that nature itself will begin to talk to us – for instance, violent storms, flooding.”

During an evangelical conference in 2008, Jacobs conducted a mass exorcism of the audience to cast out the spirits of pornography, addiction, lust, bisexuality, homosexuality and perversion.

Model charged in death of Portuguese TV star

NEW YORK — A 21-year-old man has been charged with murder for allegedly beating and choking a Portuguese journalist and television personality inside a Times Square hotel room last week, authorities said Monday according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Renato Seabra, who has been described as a male model in his native Portugal, had been taken into custody and placed under psychiatric care at Bellevue Hospital after the body of Carlos Castro, 65, was discovered beaten and sexually mutilated inside the InterContinental Hotel on Friday night, police said.

The pair had been vacationing in New York when the incident unfolded, and statements Seabra allegedly made to authorities reveal the young man was conflicted about his sexuality and his relationship with Castro, a prominent gay rights activist in Portugal, a law-enforcement official familiar with the matter said. Other media outlets reported that Seabra castrated Castro with a corkscrew.

Seabra was taken into custody at Roosevelt Hospital in Midtown, where he went after the slaying for treatment of apparently self-inflicted wounds to his wrists and face, the official said.

Seabra will be arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court once he is cleared by doctors, the official said. If he is not cleared, he will be arraigned in a bedside hearing at the hospital, the official said.

Gay White House hopeful excluded from forum

CLEVELAND — The only openly gay Republican exploring a presidential bid is fighting to be included in an upcoming candidates forum hosted by the Iowa Christian Alliance, On Top magazine, a gay news outlet in Cleveland, reported.

Fred Karger, a retired GOP consultant from California, told the Ballot Box he’s been excluded from the March 7 event because of his sexual orientation. But Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa group, said Karger wasn’t among the 15 potential candidates invited to attend because he only talks about one issue — gay rights.

“We’re inviting all potential candidates who are legitimate candidates,” Scheffler told the Ballot Box. Karger “is not a legitimate candidate.”

“That’s code for homophobia,” said Karger, who worked as a consultant on the late Ronald Reagan’s campaigns for governor and president. “I’m going to send him a letter and ask that I be included, and I’m going to look to the [Federal Election Commission] to see what the rules are.”

Payroll error gives gay Yale employees New Year’s surprise

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A group of 61 employees of Yale University in New Haven, Conn., who’d registered as having same-sex partners with their employer learned in December that a payroll error means they’ll have thousands of dollars in extra taxes taken out of their paychecks this year, the New York Times reported this week.

Because the employees are considered married by the state of Connecticut but not by the federal government, a programming error failed to withhold income for taxes owed on the value of domestic partner health coverage. The value of the benefits is taxable by the federal government but not on state income tax returns.

“Unfortunately, the payroll system inadvertently treated those benefits as nontaxable for Connecticut and federal purposes for the entire calendar year of 2010,” said a letter, dated Dec. 22, from Yale’s payroll department to employees with same-sex partners who  were affected by the error. To correct the error, the university went on to say, it would pay the tax and  deduct the amount it paid from employees’ paychecks — in equal amounts over the first three months of 2011, the Times reported.

The university, which has extended health insurance to its same-sex employees’ domestic partners since 1994, typically withholds those taxes from employees’ paychecks over the course of the year. But due to the programming error, employees will be responsible for paying the taxes for both years in 2011, the Times said.

Those costs can be significant. According to one employee who did not want to be publicly identified criticizing the university, paying the tax back over a three-month period would reduce take-home pay by 33 percent — and that doesn’t even include the taxes owed for this year.

State Department policy change a small gay rights advance

WASHINGTON — The State Department’s December decision to make passport applications more gender neutral is a small but notable gay rights advance, activists have said citing media coverage of the change in several news outlets.

The change, unveiled quietly last month but reported widely last weekend, means the forms required for first-time passport applicants younger than 16 will ask for “mother or parent one” and “father or parent two,” a more gender-neutral reference sought for same-sex parents.

Palm Springs police chief resigns over sex sting

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — Palm Springs Police Chief David Dominguez, who last year was caught on tape using an anti-gay slur and accused of entrapment when a June sex sting resulted in 19 indecent exposure arrests — has resigned, the Los Angeles Times reported this week.

Activists have said the sting was absurd in the heavily — some say half the residents are gay or lesbian — gay town. Many harbor resentment toward the mayor and even the gay-majority City Council who had defended him.

During the sting, undercover officers urged men to expose themselves. An indecent exposure conviction requires defendants to register for life as sex offenders.

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Federal Government

UPenn erases Lia Thomas’s records as part of settlement with White House

University agreed to ban trans women from women’s sports teams

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U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon (Screen capture: C-SPAN)

In a settlement with the Trump-Vance administration announced on Tuesday, the University of Pennsylvania will ban transgender athletes from competing and erase swimming records set by transgender former student Lia Thomas.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found the university in violation of Title IX, the federal rights law barring sex based discrimination in educational institutions, by “permitting males to compete in women’s intercollegiate athletics and to occupy women-only intimate facilities.”

The statement issued by University of Pennsylvania President J. Larry Jameson highlighted how the law’s interpretation was changed substantially under President Donald Trump’s second term.

“The Department of Education OCR investigated the participation of one transgender athlete on the women’s swimming team three years ago, during the 2021-2022 swim season,” he wrote. “At that time, Penn was in compliance with NCAA eligibility rules and Title IX as then interpreted.”

Jameson continued, “Penn has always followed — and continues to follow — Title IX and the applicable policy of the NCAA regarding transgender athletes. NCAA eligibility rules changed in February 2025 with Executive Orders 14168 and 14201 and Penn will continue to adhere to these new rules.”

Writing that “we acknowledge that some student-athletes were disadvantaged by these rules” in place while Thomas was allowed to compete, the university president added, “We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time.”

“Today’s resolution agreement with UPenn is yet another example of the Trump effect in action,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, UPenn has agreed both to apologize for its past Title IX violations and to ensure that women’s sports are protected at the university for future generations of female athletes.”

Under former President Joe Biden, the department’s Office of Civil Rights sought to protect against anti-LGBTQ discrimination in education, bringing investigations and enforcement actions in cases where school officials might, for example, require trans students to use restrooms and facilities consistent with their birth sex or fail to respond to peer harassment over their gender identity.

Much of the legal reasoning behind the Biden-Harris administration’s positions extended from the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County, which found that sex-based discrimination includes that which is based on sexual orientation or gender identity under Title VII rules covering employment practices.

The Trump-Vance administration last week put the state of California on notice that its trans athlete policies were, or once were, in violation of Title IX, which comes amid the ongoing battle with Maine over the same issue.

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New York

Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade

One of the victims remains in critical condition

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The Stonewall National Memorial in New York on June 19, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

On Sunday night, following the annual NYC Pride March, two girls were shot in Sheridan Square, feet away from the historic Stonewall Inn.

According to an NYPD report, the two girls, aged 16 and 17, were shot around 10:15 p.m. as Pride festivities began to wind down. The 16-year-old was struck in the head and, according to police sources, is said to be in critical condition, while the 17-year-old was said to be in stable condition.

The Washington Blade confirmed with the NYPD the details from the police reports and learned no arrests had been made as of noon Monday.

The shooting took place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, mere feet away from the most famous gay bar in the city — if not the world — the Stonewall Inn. Earlier that day, hundreds of thousands of people marched down Christopher Street to celebrate 55 years of LGBTQ people standing up for their rights.

In June 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, members of the LGBTQ community pushed back, sparking what became known as the Stonewall riots. Over the course of two days, LGBTQ New Yorkers protested the discriminatory policing of queer spaces across the city and mobilized to speak out — and throw bottles if need be — at officers attempting to suppress their existence.

The following year, LGBTQ people returned to the Stonewall Inn and marched through the same streets where queer New Yorkers had been arrested, marking the first “Gay Pride March” in history and declaring that LGBTQ people were not going anywhere.

New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, whose district includes Greenwich Village, took to social media to comment on the shooting.

“After decades of peaceful Pride celebrations — this year gun fire and two people shot near the Stonewall Inn is a reminder that gun violence is everywhere,” the lesbian lawmaker said on X. “Guns are a problem despite the NRA BS.”

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New York

Zohran Mamdani participates in NYC Pride parade

Mayoral candidate has detailed LGBTQ rights platform

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NYC mayoral candidate and New York State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani (Screen capture: NBC News/YouTube)

Zohran Mamdani, the candidate for mayor of New York City who pulled a surprise victory in the primary contest last week, walked in the city’s Pride parade on Sunday.

The Democratic Socialist and New York State Assembly member published photos on social media with New York Attorney General Letitia James, telling followers it was “a joy to march in NYC Pride with the people’s champ” and to “see so many friends on this gorgeous day.”

“Happy Pride NYC,” he wrote, adding a rainbow emoji.

Mamdani’s platform includes a detailed plan for LGBTQ people who “across the United States are facing an increasingly hostile political environment.”

His campaign website explains: “New York City must be a refuge for LGBTQIA+ people, but private institutions in our own city have already started capitulating to Trump’s assault on trans rights.

“Meanwhile, the cost of living crisis confronting working class people across the city hits the LGBTQIA+ community particularly hard, with higher rates of unemployment and homelessness than the rest of the city.”

“The Mamdani administration will protect LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers by expanding and protecting gender-affirming care citywide, making NYC an LGBTQIA+ sanctuary city, and creating the Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs.”

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