National
Sebelius violated federal law speaking at HRC event: report
White House maintains any infraction was minor and corrected
Secretary of Health & Human Services Kathleen Sebelius (Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Secretary of Health & Human Services Kathleen Sebelius violated federal law when she spoke before an LGBT audience about the need to elect Democratic officials at a Human Rights Campaign event, according to a report made public Thursday by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.
The independent agency concluded Sebelius violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits civil servants from engaging in political activity, on Feb. 25 while speaking extemporaneously before an HRC campaign gala in Charlotte, N.C., although the Obama administration maintains any violation was corrected and the infraction was minor.
Sebelius used taxpayer funds to travel to an event in her official capacity, but reportedly veered from her prepared remarks and took a partisan tone, which was found to be in violation the Hatch Act. The report, dated Aug. 23, was delivered to President Obama.
According to the report, Sebelius’ calendar identified the event as official in nature. Online invitations referred to her in her official capacity as “Secretary Kathleen Sebelius” and “Secretary of DHHS Kathleen Sebelius.” A memo given to her suggested if she was asked about her personal views, she reply, “I’m here to represent the President and the Obama Administration, not in my personal capacity.”
During her speech, Sebelius talked as part of her prepared remarks about the Obama administration’s commitment to LGBT people — hitting on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal, dropping defense of the Defense of Marriage Act in court and what the Affordable Care Act means for LGBT Americans. All of these remarks were consistent with the Hatch Act.
But Sebelius deviated from her prepared remarks, making news in the LGBT press when she called for the defeat of Amendment One in North Carolina — a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage that ultimately passed — about a month before the Obama campaign explicitly came out against the measure.
It’s these unscripted remarks that got Sebelius in trouble. She also advocated for the re-election of President Obama, saying “one of the imperatives is to make sure that we not only come together here in Charlotte to present the nomination to the president, but we make sure that in November he continues to be president for another four years.” She also called for the re-election of a Democratic governor in the state, saying, “it’s hugely important to make sure that we re-elect the president and elect a Democratic governor here in North Carolina.”
Following media inquiries about Sebelius’ speech, HHS issued a statement two days after the event saying the federal government wouldn’t pay for her trip and the department retroactively classified the event as political. HHS sought reimbursement from the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee for the costs of her travel. In testimony before OSC, Sebelius reportedly admitted her political remarks were a “mistake” and she “got a little caught up in the notion that the gains which had been made would clearly not continue without the president’s reelection.”
Still, OSC concluded Sebelius violated the law, stating, “These statements were made in Secretary Sebelius’ official capacity and therefore violated the Hatch Act’s prohibition against using official authority or influence to affect the results of an election.”
Responding to the report in a letter dated Sept. 7, Sebelius said OSC correctly notes that she acknowledged her political comments were a mistake, but said the agency should have concluded any violation of the Hatch Act was corrected. She also said she’s met with ethics attorneys for a greater understanding of what remarks are permissible in her official capacity.
“If there was a violation of the Hatch Act based on the use of my title, I believe the violation was technical and minor,” Sebelius said. “These are not the type of violations that the Hatch Act was intended to address.”
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
The investigation was initiated in March after a request by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chair of the House Government & Oversight Reform Committee.
In a statement, Issa said he appreciated OSC’s “timely and thorough” investigation and is awaiting further action from Obama.
“OSC’s report and findings underscore the importance of laws prohibiting mixing official government business with partisan political activity,” Issa said. “OSC has sent its findings to President Obama, who must now decide on appropriate action. The Committee awaits President Obama’s decision. As he decides the appropriate consequences for Secretary Sebelius, the president should consider the important leadership role of Cabinet Secretaries and the example they must set for the entire Executive Branch.”
Eric Schultz, a White House spokesperson, said the issue was corrected even before the OSC report came out and maintained the Obama administration holds officials to the highest level of integrity.
“This error was immediately acknowledged by the Secretary, promptly corrected, and no taxpayer dollars were misused,” Schultz said. “This administration holds itself to the highest ethical standards, which is why President Obama has installed the toughest ethics rules of any Administration in history — beginning on his first day in office when he signed an Executive Order instituting unprecedented reforms.”
Sebelius is no stranger to speaking to LGBT crowds to advocate for President Obama. In addition to speaking at the HRC event in Charlotte, Sebelius was at a D.C. fundraiser for LGBT people that both she and Obama attended. Sebelius also addressed members of the LGBT caucus last week at the Democratic National Convention.
The Human Rights Campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Sebelius’ apparent violation of federal campaign law at one of its events.
But Republican groups — including a gay conservative organization — took the report as an opportunity to criticize the Obama administration.
Jimmy LaSalvia, executive director of GOProud, took aim at the Obama administration over the revelations in the report. His organization has endorsed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
“It shouldn’t take congressional action to know that a speech given to a partisan political organization, like HRC, is a political speech,” LaSalvia said. “All of us taxpayers owe Chairman Issa a debt of gratitude for his vigilance in exposing Hatch Act violations by this administration.”
The Republican National Committee accused the Obama administration more broadly of drawing on federal funds to pay for campaign expenses. Republicans have previously criticized President Obama for traveling on government funds to events that are ostensibly for official business, but are located in swing states in the presidential election.
“The Obama administration promised to change Washington but time and again we have seen questionable activity from the administration using taxpayer dollars,” RNC spokesperson Kirsten Kukowski said. “In fact, the questions about Secretary Sebelius pale in comparison to the White House’s blatant use of taxpayer dollars for campaign purposes.”
Pennsylvania
Malcolm Kenyatta could become the first LGBTQ statewide elected official in Pa.
State lawmaker a prominent Biden-Harris 2024 reelection campaign surrogate
Following his win in the Democratic primary contest on Wednesday, Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, who is running for auditor general, is positioned to potentially become the first openly LGBTQ elected official serving the commonwealth.
In a statement celebrating his victory, LGBTQ+ Victory Fund President Annise Parker said, “Pennsylvanians trust Malcolm Kenyatta to be their watchdog as auditor general because that’s exactly what he’s been as a legislator.”
“LGBTQ+ Victory Fund is all in for Malcolm, because we know he has the experience to win this race and carry on his fight for students, seniors and workers as Pennsylvania’s auditor general,” she said.
Parker added, “LGBTQ+ Americans are severely underrepresented in public office and the numbers are even worse for Black LGBTQ+ representation. I look forward to doing everything I can to mobilize LGBTQ+ Pennsylvanians and our allies to get out and vote for Malcolm this November so we can make history.”
In April 2023, Kenyatta was appointed by the White House to serve as director of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans.
He has been an active surrogate in the Biden-Harris 2024 reelection campaign.
The White House
White House debuts action plan targeting pollutants in drinking water
Same-sex couples face higher risk from environmental hazards
Headlining an Earth Day event in Northern Virginia’s Prince William Forest on Monday, President Joe Biden announced the disbursement of $7 billion in new grants for solar projects and warned of his Republican opponent’s plans to roll back the progress his administration has made toward addressing the harms of climate change.
The administration has led more than 500 programs geared toward communities most impacted by health and safety hazards like pollution and extreme weather events.
In a statement to the Washington Blade on Wednesday, Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said, “President Biden is leading the most ambitious climate, conservation, and environmental justice agenda in history — and that means working toward a future where all people can breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live in a healthy community.”
“This Earth Week, the Biden-Harris Administration announced $7 billion in solar energy projects for over 900,000 households in disadvantaged communities while creating hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs, which are being made more accessible by the American Climate Corps,” she said. “President Biden is delivering on his promise to help protect all communities from the impacts of climate change — including the LGBTQI+ community — and that we leave no community behind as we build an equitable and inclusive clean energy economy for all.”
Recent milestones in the administration’s climate policies include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s issuance on April 10 of legally enforceable standard for detecting and treating drinking water contaminated with polyfluoroalkyl substances.
“This rule sets health safeguards and will require public water systems to monitor and reduce the levels of PFAS in our nation’s drinking water, and notify the public of any exceedances of those levels,” according to a White House fact sheet. “The rule sets drinking water limits for five individual PFAS, including the most frequently found PFOA and PFOS.”
The move is expected to protect 100 million Americans from exposure to the “forever chemicals,” which have been linked to severe health problems including cancers, liver and heart damage, and developmental impacts in children.
An interactive dashboard from the United States Geological Survey shows the concentrations of polyfluoroalkyl substances in tapwater are highest in urban areas with dense populations, including cities like New York and Los Angeles.
During Biden’s tenure, the federal government has launched more than 500 programs that are geared toward investing in the communities most impacted by climate change, whether the harms may arise from chemical pollutants, extreme weather events, or other causes.
New research by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found that because LGBTQ Americans are likelier to live in coastal areas and densely populated cities, households with same-sex couples are likelier to experience the adverse effects of climate change.
The report notes that previous research, including a study that used “national Census data on same-sex households by census tract combined with data on hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) from the National Air Toxics Assessment” to model “the relationship between same-sex households and risk of cancer and respiratory illness” found “that higher prevalence of same-sex households is associated with higher risks for these diseases.”
“Climate change action plans at federal, state, and local levels, including disaster preparedness, response, and recovery plans, must be inclusive and address the specific needs and vulnerabilities facing LGBT people,” the Williams Institute wrote.
With respect to polyfluoroalkyl substances, the EPA’s adoption of new standards follows other federal actions undertaken during the Biden-Harris administration to protect firefighters and healthcare workers, test for and clean up pollution, and phase out or reduce use of the chemicals in fire suppressants, food packaging, and federal procurement.
Maine
Maine governor signs transgender, abortion sanctuary bill into law
Bomb threats made against lawmakers before measure’s passage
BY ERIN REED | On Tuesday, Maine Gov. Janet Mills signed LD 227, a sanctuary bill that protects transgender and abortion providers and patients from out-of-state prosecution, into law.
With this action, Maine becomes the 16th state to explicitly protect trans and abortion care in state law from prosecution. This follows several bomb threats targeting state legislators after social media attacks from far-right anti-trans influencers such as Riley Gaines and Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok.
An earlier version of the bill failed in committee after similar attacks in January. Undeterred, Democrats reconvened and added additional protections to the bill before it was passed into law.
The law is extensive. It asserts that gender-affirming care and reproductive health care are “legal rights” in Maine. It states that criminal and civil actions against providers and patients are not enforceable if the provision or access to that care occurred within Maine’s borders, asserting jurisdiction over those matters.
It bars cooperation with out-of-state subpoenas and arrest warrants for gender-affirming care and abortion that happen within the state. It even protects doctors who provide gender-affirming care and abortion from certain adverse actions by medical boards, malpractice insurance, and other regulating entities, shielding those providers from attempts to economically harm them through out-of-state legislation designed to dissuade them from providing care.
You can see the findings section of the bill here:
The bill also explicitly enshrines the World Professional Association of Transgender Health’s Standards of Care, which have been the target of right-wing disinformation campaigns, into state law for the coverage of trans healthcare:
The bill is said to be necessary due to attempts to prosecute doctors and seek information from patients across state lines. In recent months, attorneys general in other states have attempted to obtain health care data on trans patients who traveled to obtain care. According to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, attorneys general in Tennessee, Indiana, Missouri, and Texas attempted to obtain detailed medical records “to terrorize transgender teens in their states … opening the door to criminalizing women’s private reproductive health care choices.”
The most blatant of these attempts was from the attorney general of Texas, who, according to the Senate Finance Committee, “sent demands to at least two non-Texas entities.” One of these entities was Seattle Children’s Hospital, which received a letter threatening administrators with arrest unless they sent data on Texas patients traveling to Seattle to obtain gender-affirming care.
Seattle Children’s Hospital settled that case out of court this week, agreeing to withdraw its Texas business registration in return for Texas dropping its investigation. This likely will have no impact on Seattle Children’s Hospital, which has stated it did not treat any youth via telemedicine or in person in Texas; the hospital will be able to continue treating Texas youth who travel outside of Texas to obtain their care. That settlement was likely compelling due to a nearly identical law in Washington that barred out-of-state investigations on trans care obtained solely in the state of Washington.
The bill has faced a rocky road to passage. A similar bill was debated in January, but after coming under intense attack from anti-trans activists who misleadingly called it a “transgender trafficking bill,” the bill was voluntarily withdrawn by its sponsor.
When LD 227 was introduced, it faced even more attacks from Gaines and Libs of TikTok. These attacks were followed by bomb threats that forced the evacuation of the legislature, promising “death to pedophiles” and stating that a bomb would detonate within a few hours in the capitol building.
Despite these threats, legislators strengthened both the abortion and gender-affirming care provisions and pressed forward, passing the bill into law. Provisions found in the new bill include protecting people who “aid and assist” gender-affirming care and abortion, protections against court orders from other states for care obtained in Maine, and even protections against adverse actions by health insurance and malpractice insurance providers, which have been recent targets of out-of-state legislation aimed at financially discouraging doctors from providing gender-affirming care and abortion care even in states where it is legal.
See a few of the extensive health insurance and malpractice provisions here:
Speaking about the bill, Gia Drew, executive director of Equality Maine, said in a statement, “We are thrilled to see LD 227, the shield bill, be signed into law by Gov. Mills. Thanks to our pro equality and pro reproductive choice elected officials who refused to back down in the face of disinformation. This bill couldn’t come into effect at a better time, as more than 40 percent of states across the country have either banned or attempted to block access to reproductive care, which includes abortions, as well as transgender healthcare for minors. Thanks to our coalition partners who worked tirelessly to phone bank, lobby, and get this bill over the finish line to protect community health.”
Destie Hohman Sprague of the Maine Women’s Lobby celebrated the passage of the bill despite threats of violence, saying in a statement, “A gender-just Maine ensures that all Mainers have access to quality health care that supports their mental and physical wellbeing and bodily autonomy, including comprehensive reproductive and gender-affirming care. We celebrate the passage of LD 227, which helps us meet that goal. Still, the patterns of violence and disinformation ahead of the vote reflected the growing connections between misogyny, extremism, and anti-democratic threats and actions. We must continue to advocate for policies that protect bodily autonomy, and push back against extremist rhetoric that threatens our states’ rights and our citizens’ freedoms.”
The decision to pass the legislation comes as the Biden administration released updated HIPAA protections that protect “reproductive health care” from out-of-state prosecutions and investigations.
Although the definition of “reproductive health care” is broad in the new HIPAA regulations, it is uncertain whether they will include gender-affirming care. For at least 16 states, though, gender-affirming care is now explicitly protected by state law and shielded from out-of-state legislation, providing trans people and those seeking abortions with protections as the fight increasingly crosses state lines.
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Erin Reed is a transgender woman (she/her pronouns) and researcher who tracks anti-LGBTQ+ legislation around the world and helps people become better advocates for their queer family, friends, colleagues, and community. Reed also is a social media consultant and public speaker.
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The preceding article was first published at Erin In The Morning and is republished with permission.
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