National
U.S. issues new guidance for LGBT asylum claims
‘A step in the right direction, but it’s not enough’

U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services issued new guidance on Tuesday to assist officers handling asylum and refugee claims from LGBT people seeking to escape persecution by living in the United States.
The module, called “Guidance for Adjudicating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Refugee and Asylum Claims,” addresses legal issues for weighing such cases, covers factors that must be considered when interviewing LGBT applicants and details methods to assess credibility of claims. The guidance doesn’t expand the statutory definition of a refugee.
According to Immigration Equality, the guidance is the result of a two-year collaborative process between the organization and USCIS. In a statement, Victoria Nelson, Immigration’s Equality’s legal director, called the module an “important step to better protect LGBTI asylum seekers.”
“This guidance will give officers the tools they need to gather the necessary evidence for validating an asylum claim, while respecting the often sensitive issues that potential asylees must navigate based on their past persecution,” Nelson said.
Steve Ralls, a spokesperson for Immigration Equality, said his organization has an open case load of LGBT asylum seekers that ranges from 150 to 200 cases each year. He estimated there are about 250 such cases of LGBT people seeking to come to the United State to escape persecution each year.
Many of these people come from nearby countries, such as Jamaica. While incidents of anti-gay harassment, even killings, are frequently reported in the Middle East, Ralls said the distance between those countries and the United States makes it difficult for LGBT people to seek asylum here.
According to the guidance, officers must determine if applicants are being persecuted because they have one or more of the characteristics of the definition of an LGBT refugee. The guidance instructs officers to ask applicants what a persecutor may have said to them while causing them harm as well as the context of the persecution, such as if the applicant was attacked in a gay bar or while holding hands with a same-sex partner.
Examples of harm the guidance says LGBT people overseas may encounter include criminal penalties in countries where homosexuality is illegal; rape and other sexual violence; being forced into widely discredited “ex-gay” therapy aimed to alter sexual orientation; and being forced into an opposite-sex marriage.
“These incidents of harm must be assessed in their totality,” the guidance states. “They must be analyzed in light of prevailing attitudes with regard to sexual orientation and gender identity in the country of origin.”
Additionally, officers must determine whether the harm rises to the level of persecution and if the government of the country from which the applicant hails is unable to protect the individual. Applicants may be eligible for asylum even if they weren’t persecuted in the past, but have a well-rounded fear of future persecution.
The guidance also provides techniques for interviewing LGBT asylum seekers. The module notes the presence of family members during questioning may be an impediment and reminds officers to be sensitive when asking about sexual assault.
Additionally, the guidance provides possible reasons for being exempt from the one-year filing deadline for applying for asylum. Under current rules, all asylum seekers, including those seeking asylum based on their status, must apply within one year of coming to the United States.
In the case of LGBT applicants, the guidance says possible reasons for granting an exemption from this deadline include a person recently “coming out” as LGBT; having recently taken steps to undergo gender transition; or severe family opposition to an applicant’s identity.
Grace Gomez, a straight Florida-based-lawyer who aids LGBT asylum seekers in the United States, said the guidance is a “good step” because it recognizes the issue, but more work is needed to assist LGBT people seeking asylum in the country.
“It’s good that they’re recognizing it, but it’s just guidelines,” Gomez said. “It’s not putting anything into actual law, or into effect. … It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s not enough. It’s a Band-Aid on a gushing wound, if you put it that way.”
Gomez has won cases for LGBT Jamaicans seeking asylum in the United States and refuge from violence and jail sentences that LGBT people face in their home country.
New York
Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade
One of the victims remains in critical condition

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.”
New York
Zohran Mamdani participates in NYC Pride parade
Mayoral candidate has detailed LGBTQ rights platform

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.”
U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court upholds ACA rule that makes PrEP, other preventative care free
Liberal justices joined three conservatives in majority opinion

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a portion of the Affordable Care Act requiring private health insurers to cover the cost of preventative care including PrEP, which significantly reduces the risk of transmitting HIV.
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the majority opinion in the case, Kennedy v. Braidwood Management. He was joined by two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, along with the three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown-Jackson.
The court’s decision rejected the plaintiffs’ challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s reliance on the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force to “unilaterally” determine which types of care and services must be covered by payors without cost-sharing.
An independent all-volunteer panel of nationally recognized experts in prevention and primary care, the 16 task force members are selected by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to serve four-year terms.
They are responsible for evaluating the efficacy of counseling, screenings for diseases like cancer and diabetes, and preventative medicines — like Truvada for PrEP, drugs to reduce heart disease and strokes, and eye ointment for newborns to prevent infections.
Parties bringing the challenge objected especially to the mandatory coverage of PrEP, with some arguing the drugs would “encourage and facilitate homosexual behavior” against their religious beliefs.
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