National
Harkin promises to move ENDA this year
Action on legislation would build off Senate hearing


Senate HELP Committee Chair Tom Harkin has pledged to move ENDA this year (Blade file photo by Michael Key)
The lead Democrat on the committee responsible for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act pledged Tuesday morning that the legislation would move before the end of the year.
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said during a Center for American Progress event on pensions that he intends to move ENDA before the year’s end.
“I’ve been on ENDA for years — the Employment Non-Discrimination Act — and as chairman of the HELP Committee, I intend to move it this year,” Harkin said. “We’re going to move ENDA this year, so I just want you to know that, OK?”
A Harkin aide later clarified that his remarks meant a committee vote and the lawmaker was not making predictions about a floor vote because that would be outside of his jurisdiction in the Senate.
In June, Harkin held a hearing on ENDA in which for first time in history an openly transgender person, Kylar Broadus, testified on workplace discrimination issues before the Senate.
Tico Almeida, president of the LGBT group Freedom to Work, said he welcomes Harkin’s commitment to ENDA and expects not only a committee vote on the legislation, but a full vote on the Senate floor.
“Mr. Harkin is a champion for all American workers, and we’re confident that the Chairman and his staff will guide ENDA through a successful HELP Committee mark-up giving ENDA a clear path to the Senate floor,” Almeida said. “We urge Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to keep his promise from more than three years ago to bring ENDA to the Senate floor for a vote, and it would be helpful for the White House to proactively and publicly call for that full Senate vote on ENDA to take place in 2013.”
Adam Jentleson, a Reid spokesperson, said the Senate majority leader backs ENDA and “looks forward to working with” Harkin to set up a floor vote on the bill.
“Sen. Reid supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and looks forward to working with Sen. Harkin and others to schedule a vote on the Senate floor after the bill is reported by the committee,” Jentleson said.
Harkin makes the comments amid hopes that President Obama will call on Congress to pass ENDA during his upcoming State of the Union address or unveil a plan to issue an executive order barring anti-LGBT job bias for federal contractors.
The White House has repeatedly said it prefers a legislative approach as opposed to administrative action. However, the Washington Post reported on Sunday that Obama is thinking about reversing that decision if Congress doesn’t act.
Almeida emphasized the importance of issuing the executive order regardless of whether the Senate plans to take action.
“But today’s great news that Chairman Harkin will make a strong ENDA push in the Senate does not provide a valid excuse for delaying the president’s LGBT executive order any longer,” Almeida said. “The time is now right for the president to build on his impressive LGBT record by signing that order granting workplace protections in almost 25 percent of American jobs.”
Watch the video here (courtesy Center for American Progress)
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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