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Romney wins big in New Hampshire

Takes lead in South Carolina polls

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MANCHESTER, N.H. — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney earned his second victory in the race for the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday by trouncing his competition in the New Hampshire primary.

Romney finished with 39.4 percent of the vote. Second place finisher, libertarian Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), had 22.8 percent. Media outlets declared Romney the winner shortly after polls closed in the evening, unlike in Iowa, where a winner wasn’t declared until the wee hours of the morning.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, Jr., came in third with 16.8 percent of the vote.

Standing before his family during a victory speech at Southern New Hampshire University, Romney accused President Obama of having run out of ideas and excuses in his leadership of the country.

“We still believe in the hope, the promise, and the dream of America,” Romney said. “We still believe in the shining ‘City on the Hill.’ We know that the future of this country is better than that 8 or 9 percent unemployment. It’s better than $15 trillion in debt. It’s better than the misguided and broken promises of the last three years, and the failed leadership of one man. The president has run out of ideas; now he’s running out of excuses.”

Romney concluded by looking to the next contest in South Carolina, saying, “Tonight, we’re asking the good people of South Carolina to join the citizens of New Hampshire and make 2012 the year he runs out of time.”

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich finished fourth with 9.4 percent of the vote; former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum was close behind in fifth place with 9.3 percent.

Santorum encountered an unfavorable reaction from some New Hampshire residents at his town hall meetings for stating his opposition to same-sex marriage. In one town hall, he said children would be better off having parents in prison rather than having parents of the same gender. Prior to his final campaign appearance in New Hampshire, Santorum was denounced as a “bigot” by Occupy protesters.

Gingrich also came under media scrutiny for incorrectly stating during a debate that the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts and D.C. “forced” the Catholic Church to close charitable services in those places. The church had volunteered to close those services.

Gay Republican presidential candidate Fred Karger at his N.H. victory party (Blade photo by Michael Key)

Gay GOP candidate Fred Karger — considered a long shot in the race — had earned 294 votes in the New Hampshire primary late Tuesday as results were still being tabulated.

Reflecting on his showing, Karger told the Washington Blade, “I’ve done this on my own. I’ve gotten no help from any organization or big donors.”

Karger said he’s setting his sights now on the Michigan primary, which will take place on Feb. 28. Karger, who touts himself as the only presidential candidate who supports full equality for LGBT people, said he’ll be one of 11 Republicans on the ballot and thinks he could be in a position take part in a debate for that primary.

Romney’s win could be significant because no other non-incumbent Republican candidate since the modern primary system was established has won the contests in Iowa and New Hampshire. According to recent polls, Romney is also polling in the lead in South Carolina, where the next primary will take place next week.

The decisive win for Romney in New Hampshire also stands in contrast to his extraordinarly narrow win in Iowa, where he claimed victory over Santorum by a margin of eight votes.

None of the candidates that Romney beat in the primary announced they would end their race on Tuesday. Despite his third place win, Huntsman vowed to continue his campaign to South Carolina, although polls have him in single digits in the more conservative state.

Gay conservatives lauded Romney for his victory and said the win helps cement Romney as the GOP nominee who’ll take on Obama in the general election.

R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, said the “definitive victory” for Romney in New Hampshire — coupled with the candidate’s win in Iowa — shows he can “unite Republicans and is a clear threat to Barack Obama in November.”

On Romney’s positions on LGBT issues, Cooper recalled remarks in recent debates in which Romney said he supports “full rights” for gay Americans.

“While he continues to support a constitutional amendment banning marriage equality — a position Log Cabin strongly opposes — he is also on record saying that such an amendment has been tried, rejected and is unlikely to ever succeed,” Cooper said. “Romney has also taken a position that the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ has been settled, and he would not seek to reinstitute the ban on open service.”

Jimmy LaSalvia, executive director of GOProud, said Romney’s win demonstrates that his message of “economic renewal for America is resonating with Republican voters across the country.”

“Governor Romney’s win tonight is good news for all Americans – both gay and straight – struggling to make ends meet in this failed Obama economy and bad news for the president’s re-election prospects,” LaSalvia said.

LaSalvia endorsed Romney in an op-ed piece published last week in the Daily Caller, citing economic and tax policy as reasons to support the candidate. The endorsement was a personal one, and not on behalf on GOProud.

Cooper also praised Paul, saying his second-place showing “underscores New Hampshire’s commitment to the libertarian principles he has consistently championed,” and Huntsman for having “frequently talked about the need for Americans to do more for gay rights.”

But Jerame Davis, executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats, said political observers shouldn’t anoint Romney as the Republican presidential nominee.

“Romney’s prospects are looking up, but he hasn’t clinched the nomination by any means,” Davis said. “Keep in mind, this is only the second contest of many and more than 60 percent of the GOP vote went to someone other than Romney.”

Davis said Romney’s failure to win a majority of the vote demonstrates that the GOP is unable to get behind the candidate.

“Republicans just can’t get excited about him even if they ultimately accept him as their nominee, but can you blame them?” Davis said. “He’ll say anything to get elected. Just look at the way he’s pandered to LGBT voters and then disavowed having ever done so and you get a taste of his lack of conviction.”

Davis was referring to a 2002 Pride flier from Romney’s gubernatorial campaign promising equal rights that was disavowed by his presidential campaign after the candidate said during a debate Saturday he supports full rights for gay people.

The anti-gay National Organization for Marriage also praised Romney.

Brian Brown, NOM’s president, called Romney’s win “an impressive victory” and said the candidate’s opposition to same-sex marriage makes him an ideal candidate.

“We commend Mitt Romney on his impressive victory tonight in New Hampshire, adding to his delegate total following his victory in Iowa,” Brown said. “Mr. Romney has signed NOM’s pledge to take specific actions as president to defend traditional marriage. He has also called for the repeal of same-sex marriage in New Hampshire. Voters rewarded him and we congratulate Mr. Romney on his well-earned victory.”

Romney is among the Republican presidential candidates who’s signed NOM’s pledge to oppose same-sex marriage if elected president. Among other things, signing the document commits the candidate to back a Federal Marriage Amendment and to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court.

NOM makes no mention in its statement of Paul’s second place showing. The organization had undertaken a $50,000 ad campaign to alert voters to the candidate’s opposition to the Federal Marriage Amendment and belief that government should get out of marriage. NOM had criticized Paul for his third place showing in Iowa after earlier polls showed him doing better there.

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Federal Government

Treasury Department has a gay secretary but LGBTQ staff are under siege

Agency reverses course on LGBTQ inclusion under out Secretary Scott Bessent

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

A former Treasury Department employee who led the agency’s LGBTQ employee resource group says the removal of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) from its discrimination complaint forms was merely a formalization of existing policy shifts that had already taken hold following the second inauguration of President Donald Trump and his appointment of Scott Bessent — who is gay — to lead the agency. 

Christen Boas Hayes, who served on the policy team at Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) from 2020 until March of this year, told the Washington Blade during a phone interview last week that the agency had already stopped processing internal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaints on the basis of anti-LGBTQ discrimination. 

“So the way that the forms are changing is a procedural recognition of something that’s already happening,” said Hayes. “Internally, from speaking to two EEO staff members, the changes are already taking place from an EEO perspective on what kind of cases will be found to have the basis for a complaint.”

The move, they said, comes amid the deterioration of support structures for LGBTQ workers at the agency since the administration’s early rollout of anti-LGBTQ executive orders, which led to “a trickle down effect of how each agency implements those and on what timeline,” decisions “typically made by the assistant secretary of management’s office and then implemented by the appropriate offices.”

At the end of June, a group of U.S. House Democrats including several out LGBTQ members raised alarms after a Federal Register notice disclosed Treasury’s plans to revise its complaint procedures. Through the agency’s Office of Civil Rights and EEO, the agency would eliminate SOGI as protected categories on the forms used by employees to initiate claims of workplace discrimination.

But Hayes’s account reveals that the paperwork change followed months of internal practice, pursuant to a wave of layoffs targeting DEI personnel and a chilling effect on LGBTQ organizing, including through ERGs. 

Hayes joined Treasury’s FinCEN in 2020 as the agency transitioned into the Biden-Harris administration, working primarily on cryptocurrency regulation and emerging technologies until they accepted a “deferred resignation” offer, which was extended to civil servants this year amid drastic staffing cuts. 

“It was two things,” Hayes said. “One was the fact that the policy work that I was very excited about doing was going to change in nature significantly. The second part was that the environment for LGBTQ staff members was increasingly negative after the release of the executive orders,” especially for trans and nonbinary or gender diverse employees. 

“At the same time,” Hayes added, “having been on the job for four years, I also knew this year was the year that I would leave Treasury. I was a good candidate for [deferred resignation], because I was already planning on leaving, but the pressures that emerged following the change in administration really pushed me to accelerate that timeline.”

Some ERGs die by formal edict, others by a thousand cuts 

Hayes became involved with the Treasury LGBTQ ERG shortly after joining the agency in 2020, when they reached out to the group’s then-president — “who also recently took the deferred resignation.”

“She said that because of the pressure that ERGs had faced under the first Trump administration, the group was rebuilding, and I became the president of the group pretty quickly,” Hayes said. “Those pressures have increased in the second Trump administration.”

One of the previous ERG board members had left the agency after encountering what Hayes described as “explicitly transphobic” treatment from supervisors during his gender transition. “His supervisors denied him a promotion,” and, “importantly, he did not have faith in the EEO complaint process” to see the issues with discrimination resolved, Hayes said. “And so he decided to just leave, which was, of course, such a loss for Treasury and our Employee Resource Group and all of our employees at Treasury.”

The umbrella LGBTQ ERG that Hayes led included hundreds of members across the agency, they said, and was complemented by smaller ERGs at sub-agencies like the IRS and FinCEN — several of which, Hayes said, were explicitly told to cease operations under the new administration.

Hayes did not receive any formal directive to shutter Treasury’s ERG, but described an “implicit” messaging campaign meant to shut down the group’s activities without issuing anything in writing.

“The suggestion was to stop emailing about anything related to the employee resource group, to have meetings outside of work hours, to meet off of Treasury’s campus, and things like that,” they said. “So obviously that contributes to essentially not existing functionally. Because whereas we could have previously emailed our members comfortably to announce a happy hour or a training or something like that, now they have to text each other personally to gather, which essentially makes it a defunct group.”

Internal directories scrubbed, gender-neutral restrooms removed

Hayes said the dismantling of DEI staff began almost immediately after the executive orders. Employees whose position descriptions included the terms “diversity, equity, and inclusion” were “on the chopping block,” they said. “That may differ from more statutorily mandated positions in the OMWI office or the EEO office.”

With those staff gone, so went the infrastructure that enabled ERG programming and community-building. “The people that made our employee resource group events possible were DEI staff that were fired. And so, it created an immediate chilling effect on our employee resource group, and it also, of course, put fear into a lot of our members’ hearts over whether or not we would be able to continue gathering as a community or supporting employees in a more practical way going forward. And it was just, really — it was really sad.”

Hayes described efforts to erase the ERGs from internal communication channels and databases. “They also took our information off internal websites so nobody could find us as lawyers went through the agency’s internal systems to scrub DEI language and programs,” they said.

Within a week, Hayes said, the administration had removed gender-neutral restrooms from Main Treasury, removed third-gender markers from internal databases and forms, and made it more difficult for employees with nonbinary IDs to access government buildings.

“[They] made it challenging for people with X gender markers on identification documents to access Treasury or the White House by not recognizing their gender marker on the TWAVES and WAVES forms.”

LGBTQ staff lack support and work amid a climate of isolation 

The changes have left many LGBTQ staff feeling vulnerable — not only because of diminished workplace inclusion, but due to concerns about job security amid the administration’s reductions in force (RIFs).

“Plenty of people are feeling very stressed, not only about retaining their jobs because of the layoffs and pending questions around RIFs, but then also wondering if they will be included in RIF lists because they’re being penalized somehow for being out at work,” Hayes said. “People wonder if their name will be given, not because they’re in a tranche of billets being laid off, but because of their gender identity or sexual orientation.”

In the absence of functional ERGs, Hayes said, LGBTQ employees have been cut off from even informal networks of support.

“Employees [are] feeling like it’s harder to find members of their own community because there’s no email anymore to ask when the next event is or to ask about navigating healthcare or other questions,” they said. “If there is no ERG to go to to ask for support for their specific issue, that contributes to isolation, which contributes to a worse work environment.”

Hayes said they had not interacted directly with Secretary Bessent, but they and others observed a shift from the previous administration. “It is stark to see that our first ‘out’ secretary did not host a Pride event this year,” they said. “For the last three years we’ve flown the rainbow Pride flag above Treasury during Pride. And it was such a celebration among staff and Secretary Yellen and the executive secretary’s office were super supportive.”

“Employees notice changes like that,” they added. “Things like the fact that the Secretary’s official bio says ‘spouse’ instead of ‘husband.’ It makes employees wonder if they too should be fearful of being their full selves at work.”

The Blade contacted the Treasury Department with a request for comment outlining Hayes’s allegations, including the removal of inclusive infrastructure, the discouragement of ERG activity, the pre-formalization of EEO policy changes, and the targeting of DEI personnel. As of publication, the agency has not responded.

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U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court to consider bans on trans athletes in school sports

27 states have passed laws limiting participation in athletics programs

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U.S. Supreme Court (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear two cases involving transgender youth challenging bans prohibiting them from participating in school sports.

In Little v. Hecox, plaintiffs represented by the ACLU, Legal Voice, and the law firm Cooley are challenging Idaho’s 2020 ban, which requires sex testing to adjudicate questions of an athlete’s eligibility.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals described the process in a 2023 decision halting the policy’s enforcement pending an outcome in the litigation. The “sex dispute verification process, whereby any individual can ‘dispute’ the sex of any female student athlete in the state of Idaho,” the court wrote, would “require her to undergo intrusive medical procedures to verify her sex, including gynecological exams.”

In West Virginia v. B.P.J., Lambda Legal, the ACLU, the ACLU of West Virginia, and Cooley are representing a trans middle school student challenging the Mountain State’s 2021 ban on trans athletes.

The plaintiff was participating in cross country when the law was passed, taking puberty blockers that would have significantly reduced the chances that she could have a physiological advantage over cisgender peers.

“Like any other educational program, school athletic programs should be accessible for everyone regardless of their sex or transgender status,” said Joshua Block, senior counsel for the ACLU’s LGBTQ and HIV Project. “Trans kids play sports for the same reasons their peers do — to learn perseverance, dedication, teamwork, and to simply have fun with their friends,” Block said.

He added, “Categorically excluding kids from school sports just because they are transgender will only make our schools less safe and more hurtful places for all youth. We believe the lower courts were right to block these discriminatory laws, and we will continue to defend the freedom of all kids to play.”

“Our client just wants to play sports with her friends and peers,” said Lambda Legal Senior Counsel Tara Borelli. “Everyone understands the value of participating in team athletics, for fitness, leadership, socialization, and myriad other benefits.”

Borelli continued, “The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit last April issued a thoughtful and thorough ruling allowing B.P.J. to continue participating in track events. That well-reasoned decision should stand the test of time, and we stand ready to defend it.”

Shortly after taking control of both legislative chambers, Republican members of Congress tried — unsuccessfully — to pass a national ban like those now enforced in 27 states since 2020.

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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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