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Hill staffer placed on leave after email disparaging gay colleague

Rep. Johnson announces investigation of her chief of staff

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Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (photo public domain)

The chief of staff for a longtime Texas congresswoman has been placed on leave following Washington Blade inquiries about an email he wrote disparaging a gay staff member.

Eddie Reeves, spokesperson for the campaign of Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), said Murat Gokcigdem, the lawmaker’s chief of staff, has been placed on indefinite leave effective Monday and that Johnson would pursue an independent investigation of his actions.

The announcement follows Blade inquiries about an email from 2010 apparently written by Gokcigdem, about a gay staffer in the office, the late Christopher Crowe, who sought a position in the Treasury Department as special assistant to the undersecretary of budget and tax.

The email, titled “Chris Crowe update,” is dated June 2, 2010 and was apparently intended for Johnson but accidentally sent to Crowe. It was obtained earlier this month by the Washington Blade.

Gokcigdem wrote that he learned Crowe was among four finalists for the Treasury Department position and was seeking a letter of recommendation from the congresswoman.

The chief of staff writes that Crowe had friends within the administration and suggests that other LGBT people helped him in the hiring process because he wasn’t sufficiently qualified to have advanced that far otherwise.

“It is my personal belief that he has contacts there,” Gokcigdem writes. “And they, as a group watching and supporting each other if you know what I mean.”

The 29-year-old gay staffer became ill with meningitis and died of a staph infection that damaged his heart before he could secure the position.

Reeves said the lawmaker decided on Monday to put Gokcigdem on indefinite leave after she learned about the email as she was traveling back to Texas.

“Based on what she’s heard from different people on her staff, she decided the best course of action to do is put Murat on leave pending an investigation,” Reeves said.

Reeves said Johnson has already informed Gokcigdem that he has been placed on leave, but the path for an independent investigation hasn’t yet been determined.

Additionally, Reeves emphasized Johnson’s support for the LGBT community in the course of her work on the Hill.

“The congresswoman has been among the strongest supporters on the Hill of human rights and civil rights, including gay rights,” Reeves said. “That’s why she has a 100 percent rating on LGBT issues. She’s always had the support of Stonewall Democrats; she always had the support of the Human Rights Campaign, and quite frankly, not every member of the Congressional Black Caucus can say that.”

In the email, Gokcigdem wrote that the White House cleared Crowe for the position and expressed disbelief that Crowe had advanced so far in the hiring process.

“I can not believe the White House could pass a junior [legislative aide] to be a congressional liaison for budget and tax issues,” Gokcigdem wrote. “I don’t think he has the expertise or the vast knowledge to be like Rod Hall.”

Later in the email, Gokcigdem said he would defer to Johnson on whether he should write a letter of recommendation, saying Crowe was a satisfactory employee but added, “I had issues with him both professionally and personally.” The issues to which Gokcigdem refers are not named.

According to Legistorm, which monitors the expenses of House members, Gokcigdem took home $168,411 in income as Johnson’s chief of staff last year.

Crowe died in March 2011. Upon his death, Johnson issued a statement saying Crowe “was respected by his colleagues for his professionalism and beloved by many for his generous spirit and good humor.” Johnson was among the speakers during a memorial service for Crowe attended by Capitol Hill staffers.

Natalie Wyeth, a Treasury Department spokesperson, declined to comment on the Treasury Department position because the department does not comment on personnel matters.

Johnson, who represents Texas’ 30th congressional district, is facing two challengers in a competitive primary set for May 29: Barbara Mallory Caraway, a Texas state representative, and Taj Clayton, an attorney. Early voting for the primary began Monday.

According to the latest scorecard from the Human Rights Campaign, the 10-term Democrat has a perfect record in favor of LGBT legislation. In the 111th Congress, she voted for hate crimes legislation and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal. Under the leadership of House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Johnson voted against amendments reaffirming the Defense of Marriage Act that went to the House floor.

Johnson has also been endorsed by the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas, a local gay Democratic group in her district.

Omar Narvaéz, president of the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas, had high praise for Johnson — a former head of the Congressional Black Caucus — and her work on LGBT issues.

“Eddie Bernice Johnson has throughout her tenure been one of the strongest supporters on Capitol Hill of civil and human rights, including gay rights,” Narvaéz said. “That’s why she has consistently scored a 100 percent rating for LGBT issues and has always enjoyed the avid support of groups like Stonewall Democrats and the HRC — something not every member of Congressional Black Caucus can boast.”

In response to Gokcigdem’s email, Narvaéz said he “sees nothing wrong.”

“While she didn’t know about this email, it simply isn’t an issue,” Narvaéz said. “Not only is it true that gay groups, like every other racial, ethnic, geographic or issue group, stick together, it is a great thing that we do.”

In 2010, Johnson was criticized after the Dallas Morning News reported over the course of five years she gave out 23 scholarships to relatives — two grandchildren and two great grandchildren — and staff members’ children, which is against the rules of the scholarship.

The lawmaker repaid $31,000 to the caucus and said she was unaware that what she did was unethical. In a subsequent interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Johnson said Gokcigdem was responsible for reviewing the scholarship applications.

CORRECTION: An initial version of this article misspelled the name of Murat Gockcigdem. The Blade regrets the error.

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Federal Government

Trump admin cancels more than $800 million in LGBTQ health grants

As of early May, half of scrapped NIH grants were LGBTQ focused

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President Donald Trump (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Trump-Vance administration has cancelled more than $800 million in research into the health of sexual and gender minority groups, according to a report Sunday in The New York Times.

The paper found more than half of the grants through the National Institutes of Health that were scrapped through early May involved the study of cancers and viruses that tend to affect LGBTQ people.

The move goes further than efforts to claw back diversity related programs and gender affirming care for transgender and gender diverse youth, implicating swaths of research by institutions like Johns Hopkins and Columbia along with public universities.

The Times notes that a $41 million cut impacting Florida State University will stall “a major effort to prevent HIV in adolescents and young adults, who experience a fifth of new infections in the United States each year.”

A surge of federal funding for LGBTQ health research began under the Obama-Biden administration and continued since. Under his first term, Trump dedicated substantial resources toward his Ending the HIV Epidemic in the United States initiative.

Cuts administered under the health secretary appointed in his second term, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have put the future of that program in question.

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Federal Government

RFK Jr.’s HHS report pushes therapy, not medical interventions, for trans youth

‘Discredited junk science’ — GLAAD

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HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

A 409-page report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services challenges the ethics of medical interventions for youth experiencing gender dysphoria, the treatments that are often collectively called gender-affirming care, instead advocating for psychotherapy alone.

The document comes in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order barring the federal government from supporting gender transitions for anyone younger than 19.

“Our duty is to protect our nation’s children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. “We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.”

While the report does not constitute clinical guidance, its findings nevertheless conflict with not just the recommendations of LGBTQ advocacy groups but also those issued by organizations with relevant expertise in science and medicine.

The American Medical Association, for instance, notes that “empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression.”

Gender-affirming care for transgender youth under standards widely used in the U.S. includes supportive talk therapy along with — in some but not all cases — puberty blockers or hormone treatment.

“The suggestion that someone’s authentic self and who they are can be ‘changed’ is discredited junk science,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “This so-called guidance is grossly misleading and in direct contrast to the recommendation of every leading health authority in the world. This report amounts to nothing more than forcing the same discredited idea of conversion therapy that ripped families apart and harmed gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people for decades.”

GLAAD further notes that the “government has not released the names of those involved in consulting or authoring this report.”

Janelle Perez, executive director of LPAC, said, “For decades, every major medical association–including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics–have affirmed that medical care is the only safe and effective treatment for transgender youth experiencing gender dysphoria.

“This report is simply promoting conversion therapy by a different name – and the American people know better. We know that conversion therapy isn’t actually therapy – it isolates and harms kids, scapegoats parents, and divides families through blame and rejection. These tactics have been used against gay kids for decades, and now the same people want to use them against transgender youth and their families.

“The end result here will be a devastating denial of essential health care for transgender youth, replaced by a dangerous practice that every major U.S. medical and mental health association agree promotes anxiety, depression, and increased risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts.

“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice, and no amount of pressure can force someone to change who they are. We also know that 98% of people who receive transition-related health care continue to receive that health care throughout their lifetime. Trans health care is health care.”

“Today’s report seeks to erase decades of research and learning, replacing it with propaganda. The claims in today’s report would rip health care away from kids and take decision-making out of the hands of parents,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of NCLR. “It promotes the same kind of conversion therapy long used to shame LGBTQ+ people into hating themselves for being unable to change something they can’t change.”

“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice—it’s rooted in biology and genetics,” Minter said. “No amount or talk or pressure will change that.” 

Human Rights Campaign Chief of Staff Jay Brown released a statement: “Trans people are who we are. We’re born this way. And we deserve to live our best lives and have a fair shot and equal opportunity at living a good life.

“This report misrepresents the science that has led all mainstream American medical and mental health professionals to declare healthcare for transgender youth to be best practice and instead follows a script predetermined not by experts but by Sec. Kennedy and anti-equality politicians.”




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The White House

Trump nominates Mike Waltz to become next UN ambassador

Former Fla. congressman had been national security advisor

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U.N. headquarters in New York (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he will nominate Mike Waltz to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

Waltz, a former Florida congressman, had been the national security advisor.

Trump announced the nomination amid reports that Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, were going to leave the administration after Waltz in March added a journalist to a Signal chat in which he, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other officials discussed plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.

“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States ambassador to the United Nations,” said Trump in a Truth Social post that announced Waltz’s nomination. “From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role.”

Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as interim national security advisor, “while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department.”

“Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to make America, and the world, safe again,” said Trump.

Trump shortly after his election nominated U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Trump in March withdrew her nomination in order to ensure Republicans maintained their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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