National
Will Dems include marriage equality in platform?
Several voting members support adding language
Rep. Barney Frank is on the Democratic Party platform committee (Blade file photo by Michael Key)
The question of whether the Democratic Party platform will include an endorsement of same-sex marriage has reemerged after the naming of committee members who’ll write the document.
The Washington Blade solicited responses from each member of the platform drafting committee — both voting and non-voting members — to determine if they’d support including an endorsement of marriage equality in the platform with the exception of Tom Wheeler, who couldn’t be reached for comment.
Three voting members — Carlos Odio, a Latino Democratic activist, Donna Harris-Aikens, the National Education Association’s director of policy and practice, and NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan — went on the record saying they’d unequivocally back such language, as did two non-voting members — Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Democratic National Committee Secretary Alice Germond — while others had different responses and the majority had no response at all.
Last week, the Democratic National Committee announced the names of the 15 people who’ll serve on the platform drafting committee, which will create the platform defining the principles of the Democratic Party over the course of the next four years during the second term of office that President Obama is seeking.
The platform drafting committee, which will be chaired by former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, includes Democrats ranging from high-profile public officials, to scholars, to leaders of non-profit organizations. Among them is Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the longest-serving openly gay member of Congress who announced his planned retirement as a lawmaker late last year.
Other notables include Keenan, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. Serving as ex-officio members, or non-voting members, are Patrick, Germond and Wheeler.
The first publicly scheduled meeting for the group is a national hearing during the weekend of July 27 in Minneapolis, Minn., where the committee will hear public presentations. The committee will then meet to draft the platform which will ultimately be used as a working document by the full platform committee chaired by Newark Mayor Cory Booker and retired Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy, the first female to reach the rank of three-star general in the Army. Veteran political consultant Andy Grossman has been named as the DNC’s national platform director.
The full Platform Committee will convene at a meeting during the weekend of Aug. 10 in Detroit where members will discuss the draft platform and have the opportunity to submit new proposed amendments, which need approval by a majority of the committee voting and present for passage. The platform will then be delivered to convention delegates in Charlotte.
Odio, who served as deputy Latino vote director for the 2008 Obama campaign and as a liaison for Latino leaders at the White House Office of Political Affairs, said he’ll “absolutely” advocate for a marriage equality plank in the Democratic Party platform.
“I look forward to working with the other members of the committee to draft a platform that, like the president and the party, are on the right side of history on this and other important issues,” Odio said.
Odio is now director of special projects at the New Organizing Institute, an organization that facilitates for social justice through grassroots and online activism.
Miguel Gonzales, an NEA spokesperson, confirmed that Harris-Aikens would similarly support the idea of including marriage equality in the platform on behalf of NEA without providing a direct statement from her.
Similar statements came from the two non-voting members of the panel. Patrick expressed support for a marriage equality plank in a statement delivered to the Blade in April that has previously gone unpublished.
“Like the President, I believe people should come before their government as equals,” Patrick said. “In Massachusetts, that has meant that people can marry whomever they love. I am proud that marriage equality is the law of our Commonwealth and appreciate that other states are moving in that direction. While I do not believe that marriage is or ought to be the subject of federal law, I support the proposed plank as an expression of human rights for which the Democratic Party stands.”
Kevin Harris, a DNC spokesperson, said Germond is similarly in favor of the language even though she doesn’t have a vote in the platform drafting process.
“Alice supports a marriage equality plank to the platform,” Harris said. “While she does not have a vote on either the drafting or the Platform Committee, she will make her views known where appropriate.”
Keenan also sent a supportive statement to the Blade.
“I strongly support marriage equality and look forward to working with the other members of the committee on a platform that reflects President Obama’s and the party’s views on this and other important issues,” Keenan said.
Keenan added that the process for drafting the platform has just begun and will take time over the coming weeks.
“President Obama has made his support for marriage equality very clear,” Keenan said. “We are beginning the nuts and bolts part of the committee and we will manage details with this the same way we will all other issues over the course of the next few weeks.”
Spokespersons for the two members of Congress on the platform drafting committee — Frank and Lee — responded by saying they have no comment at this time on whether they’ll advocate for a marriage equality plank.
Eric Orner, a Frank spokesperson, said the lawmaker, who earlier this month wed his partner, Jim Ready, said the Massachusetts Democrat isn’t yet ready to speak about marriage equality in the platform.
“Barney has no comment on the topic right now, but asked me to tell you that he’d glad to talk at some point closer to the convention,” Orner said. “He’s still familiarizing himself with issues that may be raised in regard to the party platform.”
In an April interview with the Blade, Frank expressed lukewarm support for the idea of marriage equality in the Democratic Party platform, saying he “would like it,” but thought support for repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act would be more important for the platform.
“The only federal question is DOMA,” Frank said. “The federal government doesn’t have a rule about marriage or not, so I would want there to be a plank that says, ‘We respect the right of states to make this decision.’ I think what’s important from the federal standpoint is to go out against DOMA.”
Similarly, Julie Little Nickson, Lee’s chief of staff, said her boss has no comment on the issue — even though ThinkProgress earlier this month named her among 11 “most pro-gay” U.S. House members.
“We are not commenting on these issues for now, but Barbara will be happy to discuss with you when we get closer to the convention,” Nickson said.
A nuanced response came from full committee chair Kennedy, who noted the process for drafting the platform is very open and encourages public comment.
“Personally, I am progressive on LGBT issues,” Kennedy said. “But the specifics on the language on marriage equality — not yet teed up for the drafting committee, I don’t think.”
Kennedy didn’t respond to a follow-up email to clarify whether she personally supports the idea of a marriage equality plank in the Democratic Party platform.
LGBT advocacy groups, led by the New York-based Freedom to Marry, have been pushing for the inclusion of a plank endorsing same-sex marriage — an idea that has received support from many Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), U.S. Senate candidates Tammy Baldwin and Elizabeth Warren, four former Democratic National Committee chairs and 22 U.S. senators.
Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, pledged to work with committee members to attain the goal of a marriage-equality inclusive platform this fall and predicted the efforts would be successful.
“We are continuing to work for a freedom to marry platform plank, reflecting the support of an overwhelming majority of Democrats and substantial majority of independent voters, and fully expect that the committee members and ultimately the party will support and adopt a freeedom to marry plank,” Wolfson said. “We look forward to working closely with them and other Democratic leaders.”
A DNC staff person, speaking on condition of anonymity, similarly expected that the platform would address marriage equality in some way now that President Obama has expressed support for same-sex marriage. The staff person said he believes all 15 members of the platform drafting committee supports marriage equality.
“It goes without saying there will be some sort of marriage equality plank included in the platform,” the staffer said.
A list of those involved with the Democratic platform committee follows:
Platform Drafting Committee
Former U.S. Rep. Tony Coelho
Tino Cuellar, attorney and official in Clinton and Obama administrations
Rep. Barney Frank
Donna Harris-Aikens, National Education Association’s Education director of policy and practice
Colin Kahl, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East
Nancy Keenan, NARAL Pro-Choice America President
Heather Kendall Miller, staff attorney for Native American Rights Fund
Thea Lee, policy director and chief international economist at the AFL-CIO
Rep. Barbara Lee
Susan Ness, former member of the Federal Communications Commission
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter
Carlos Odio, Latino Democratic activist
former U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler
Christen Young, associate policy director for Health Care with the Obama campaign
Ex-Officio Platform Drafting Committee Members
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick
DNC Secretary Alice Germond
Tom Wheeler
Full Platform Committee Chairs
Newark Mayor Cory Booker
Retired Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy
National Platform Director
Andrew Grossman, veteran political consultant
National
213 House members ask Speaker Johnson to condemn anti-trans rhetoric
Letter cites ‘demonizing and dehumanizing’ language
The Congressional Equality Caucus has sent a letter urging Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to condemn the surge in anti-trans rhetoric coming from members of Congress.
The letter, signed by 213 members, criticizes Johnson for permitting some lawmakers to use “demonizing and dehumanizing” language directed at the transgender community.
The first signature on the letter is Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware, the only transgender member of Congress.
It also includes signatures from Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08), Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (MA-05), House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (CA-33), every member of the Congressional Equality Caucus, and members of every major House Democratic ideological caucus.
Some House Republicans have used slurs to address members of the transgender community during official business, including in committee hearings and on the House floor.
The House has strict rules governing proper language—rules the letter directly cites—while noting that no corrective action was taken by the Chair or Speaker Pro Tempore when these violations occurred.
The letter also calls out members of Congress—though none by name—for inappropriate comments, including calls to institutionalize all transgender people, references to transgender people as mentally ill, and false claims portraying them as inherently violent or as a national security threat.
Citing FBI data, the letter notes that 463 hate crime incidents were reported due to gender identity bias. It also references a 2023 Williams Institute report showing that transgender people are more than four times more likely than cisgender people to experience violent victimization, despite making up less than 2% of the U.S. population.
The letter ends with a renewed plea for Speaker Johnson to take appropriate measures to protect not only the trans member of Congress from harassment, but also transgender people across the country.
“We urge you to condemn the rise in dehumanizing rhetoric targeting the transgender community and to ensure members of your conference are abiding by rules of decorum and not using their platforms to demonize and scapegoat the transgender community, including by ensuring members are not using slurs to refer to the transgender community.”
The full letter, including the complete list of signatories, can be found at equality.house.gov. (https://equality.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/equality.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/letter-to-speaker-johnson-on-anti-transgender-rhetoric-enforcing-rules-of-decorum.pdf)
The White House
EXCLUSIVE: Garcia, Markey reintroduce bill to require US promotes LGBTQ rights abroad
International Human Rights Defense Act also calls for permanent special envoy
Two lawmakers on Monday have reintroduced a bill that would require the State Department to promote LGBTQ rights abroad.
A press release notes the International Human Rights Defense Act that U.S. Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) introduced would “direct” the State Department “to monitor and respond to violence against LGBTQ+ people worldwide, while creating a comprehensive plan to combat discrimination, criminalization, and hate-motivated attacks against LGBTQ+ communities” and “formally establish a special envoy to coordinate LGBTQ+ policies across the State Department.”
“LGBTQ+ people here at home and around the world continue to face escalating violence, discrimination, and rollbacks of their rights, and we must act now,” said Garcia in the press release. “This bill will stand up for LGBTQ+ communities at home and abroad, and show the world that our nation can be a leader when it comes to protecting dignity and human rights once again.”
Markey, Garcia, and U.S. Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) in 2023 introduced the International Human Rights Defense Act. Markey and former California Congressman Alan Lowenthal in 2019 sponsored the same bill.
The promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights was a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris administration’s overall foreign policy.
The global LGBTQ and intersex rights movement since the Trump-Vance administration froze nearly all U.S. foreign aid has lost more than an estimated $50 million in funding.
The U.S. Agency for International Development, which funded dozens of advocacy groups around the world, officially shut down on July 1. Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this year said the State Department would administer the remaining 17 percent of USAID contracts that had not been cancelled.
Then-President Joe Biden in 2021 named Jessica Stern — the former executive director of Outright International — as his administration’s special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights.
The Trump-Vance White House has not named anyone to the position.
Stern, who co-founded the Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice after she left the government, is among those who sharply criticized the removal of LGBTQ- and intersex-specific references from the State Department’s 2024 human rights report.
“It is deliberate erasure,” said Stern in August after the State Department released the report.
The Congressional Equality Caucus in a Sept. 9 letter to Rubio urged the State Department to once again include LGBTQ and intersex people in their annual human rights reports. Garcia, U.S. Reps. Julie Johnson (D-Texas), and Sarah McBride (D-Del.), who chair the group’s International LGBTQI+ Rights Task Force, spearheaded the letter.
“We must recommit the United States to the defense of human rights and the promotion of equality and justice around the world,” said Markey in response to the International Human Rights Defense Act that he and Garcia introduced. “It is as important as ever that we stand up and protect LGBTQ+ individuals from the Trump administration’s cruel attempts to further marginalize this community. I will continue to fight alongside LGBTQ+ individuals for a world that recognizes that LGBTQ+ rights are human rights.”
National
US bishops ban gender-affirming care at Catholic hospitals
Directive adopted during meeting in Baltimore.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops this week adopted a directive that bans Catholic hospitals from offering gender-affirming care to their patients.
Since ‘creation is prior to us and must be received as a gift,’ we have a duty ‘to protect our humanity,’ which means first of all, ‘accepting it and respecting it as it was created,’” reads the directive the USCCB adopted during their meeting that is taking place this week in Baltimore.
The Washington Blade obtained a copy of it on Thursday.
“In order to respect the nature of the human person as a unity of body and soul, Catholic health care services must not provide or permit medical interventions, whether surgical, hormonal, or genetic, that aim not to restore but rather to alter the fundamental order of the human body in its form or function,” reads the directive. “This includes, for example, some forms of genetic engineering whose purpose is not medical treatment, as well as interventions that aim to transform sexual characteristics of a human body into those of the opposite sex (or to nullify sexual characteristics of a human body.)”
“In accord with the mission of Catholic health care, which includes serving those who are vulnerable, Catholic health care services and providers ‘must employ all appropriate resources to mitigate the suffering of those who experience gender incongruence or gender dysphoria’ and to provide for the full range of their health care needs, employing only those means that respect the fundamental order of the human body,” it adds.
The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2024 condemned gender-affirming surgeries and “gender theory.” The USCCB directive comes against the backdrop of the Trump-Vance administration’s continued attacks against the trans community.
The U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming medical interventions for minors.
Media reports earlier this month indicated the Trump-Vance administration will seek to prohibit Medicaid reimbursement for medical care to trans minors, and ban reimbursement through the Children’s Health Insurance Program for patients under 19. NPR also reported the White House is considering blocking all Medicaid and Medicare funding for hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to minors.
“The directives adopted by the USCCB will harm, not benefit transgender persons,” said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based LGBTQ Catholic organization, in a statement. “In a church called to synodal listening and dialogue, it is embarrassing, even shameful, that the bishops failed to consult transgender people, who have found that gender-affirming medical care has enhanced their lives and their relationship with God.”
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