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LGBT Asian Americans lobby Congress for immigration reform

2,700 postcards presented to House members during Hill visits

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Activists met with at least five House members, including gay Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.). (Washington Blade file photo by Damien Salas).

The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance delivered more than 2,700 postcards to members of the U.S. House of Representatives last month as part of a stepped up lobbying campaign to push for immigration reform legislation.

In meetings with at least five House members, including gay Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), a contingent of activists affiliated with the NQAPIA urged the lawmakers to push for a compromise immigration reform bill passed by the Senate in July.

“As the congressional session is nearing its close, NQAPIA is bringing voices of Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities and our allies from across the country to keep the Congress’ attention focused on the need to fix the broken immigration system,” the group said in a statement.

“As Asian Americans, we know that the ability to keep our families together from an overly aggressive deportation system and a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, over 10 percent of which are from our communities, is at stake,” said Ben de Guzman, NQAPIA’s co-director.

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Ben de Guzman, co-director of NQAPIA, speaking at the NQAPIA Awards Gala last July. (Washington Blade file photo by Blake Bergen)

“We also know as LGBT people that what constitutes a family is also at stake, and the overly narrow definition of family is something we are all too familiar with,” de Guzman said. “We also fight for a humane immigration system that allows real opportunities for asylum seekers and reform that keeps people, especially transgender immigrants, out of harm’s way in the detention system.”

The bipartisan bill passed by the Senate by a vote of 68 to 32, among other things, calls for a path to citizenship over a 13-year period for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.

While optimistic over the Senate approval of the measure, immigration reform advocates encountered a setback in the House when Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced that the GOP-controlled House would not take up the bill. Instead, he said Republicans would introduce their own far more limited bill that would not include a provision to provide citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Most national LGBT advocacy groups have expressed support for the Senate bill and have joined immigration rights organizations, including NQAPIA, in calling on the House to pass the Senate measure.

However, some LGBT activists have expressed concern that the U.S. Supreme Court decision in June overturning the main provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) might result in a decline in interest in immigration reform within the gay community. The Supreme Court ruling immediately ended the provision in DOMA that prohibited the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in states that have legalized such marriages.

With the federal government now fully recognizing same-sex marriage, immigrant partners among bi-national gay and lesbian couples who for years were unable gain access to U.S. immigration rights now have the ability to become U.S. citizens just as their heterosexual counterparts can.

The discrimination against bi-national gay and lesbian couples brought about by DOMA had long been a rallying cry for the LGBT community to join the fight for overall immigration reform.

“We have seen a little loss of steam in the movement from the collective LGBT community,” de Guzman told the Blade as a result of the DOMA decision.

But he said NQAPIA was optimistic that strong allies like Rep. Polis would “keep the momentum” of LGBT community support for immigration reform moving forward.

“We’re also learning that new parts of the community used the [Supreme Court] decision not as an excuse to let up, but as an introduction to learning about other aspects of how immigration affects the LGBT community,” he said.

NQAPIA official Pabitra Benjamin said the group plans to organize more lobbying visits to Capitol Hill within the next few months to continue its push for immigration reform legislation.

De Guzman said members and supporters of NQAPIA and representatives of allied LGBT groups would be taking part on Friday, Dec. 6, in national “Fast for Families” organized by immigration rights groups to draw attention to what they believe is the urgent need for immigration reform legislation.

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U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court to consider bans on trans athletes in school sports

27 states have passed laws limiting participation in athletics programs

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U.S. Supreme Court (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear two cases involving transgender youth challenging bans prohibiting them from participating in school sports.

In Little v. Hecox, plaintiffs represented by the ACLU, Legal Voice, and the law firm Cooley are challenging Idaho’s 2020 ban, which requires sex testing to adjudicate questions of an athlete’s eligibility.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals described the process in a 2023 decision halting the policy’s enforcement pending an outcome in the litigation. The “sex dispute verification process, whereby any individual can ‘dispute’ the sex of any female student athlete in the state of Idaho,” the court wrote, would “require her to undergo intrusive medical procedures to verify her sex, including gynecological exams.”

In West Virginia v. B.P.J., Lambda Legal, the ACLU, the ACLU of West Virginia, and Cooley are representing a trans middle school student challenging the Mountain State’s 2021 ban on trans athletes.

The plaintiff was participating in cross country when the law was passed, taking puberty blockers that would have significantly reduced the chances that she could have a physiological advantage over cisgender peers.

“Like any other educational program, school athletic programs should be accessible for everyone regardless of their sex or transgender status,” said Joshua Block, senior counsel for the ACLU’s LGBTQ and HIV Project. “Trans kids play sports for the same reasons their peers do — to learn perseverance, dedication, teamwork, and to simply have fun with their friends,” Block said.

He added, “Categorically excluding kids from school sports just because they are transgender will only make our schools less safe and more hurtful places for all youth. We believe the lower courts were right to block these discriminatory laws, and we will continue to defend the freedom of all kids to play.”

“Our client just wants to play sports with her friends and peers,” said Lambda Legal Senior Counsel Tara Borelli. “Everyone understands the value of participating in team athletics, for fitness, leadership, socialization, and myriad other benefits.”

Borelli continued, “The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit last April issued a thoughtful and thorough ruling allowing B.P.J. to continue participating in track events. That well-reasoned decision should stand the test of time, and we stand ready to defend it.”

Shortly after taking control of both legislative chambers, Republican members of Congress tried — unsuccessfully — to pass a national ban like those now enforced in 27 states since 2020.

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Federal Government

UPenn erases Lia Thomas’s records as part of settlement with White House

University agreed to ban trans women from women’s sports teams

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U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon (Screen capture: C-SPAN)

In a settlement with the Trump-Vance administration announced on Tuesday, the University of Pennsylvania will ban transgender athletes from competing and erase swimming records set by transgender former student Lia Thomas.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found the university in violation of Title IX, the federal rights law barring sex based discrimination in educational institutions, by “permitting males to compete in women’s intercollegiate athletics and to occupy women-only intimate facilities.”

The statement issued by University of Pennsylvania President J. Larry Jameson highlighted how the law’s interpretation was changed substantially under President Donald Trump’s second term.

“The Department of Education OCR investigated the participation of one transgender athlete on the women’s swimming team three years ago, during the 2021-2022 swim season,” he wrote. “At that time, Penn was in compliance with NCAA eligibility rules and Title IX as then interpreted.”

Jameson continued, “Penn has always followed — and continues to follow — Title IX and the applicable policy of the NCAA regarding transgender athletes. NCAA eligibility rules changed in February 2025 with Executive Orders 14168 and 14201 and Penn will continue to adhere to these new rules.”

Writing that “we acknowledge that some student-athletes were disadvantaged by these rules” in place while Thomas was allowed to compete, the university president added, “We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time.”

“Today’s resolution agreement with UPenn is yet another example of the Trump effect in action,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, UPenn has agreed both to apologize for its past Title IX violations and to ensure that women’s sports are protected at the university for future generations of female athletes.”

Under former President Joe Biden, the department’s Office of Civil Rights sought to protect against anti-LGBTQ discrimination in education, bringing investigations and enforcement actions in cases where school officials might, for example, require trans students to use restrooms and facilities consistent with their birth sex or fail to respond to peer harassment over their gender identity.

Much of the legal reasoning behind the Biden-Harris administration’s positions extended from the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County, which found that sex-based discrimination includes that which is based on sexual orientation or gender identity under Title VII rules covering employment practices.

The Trump-Vance administration last week put the state of California on notice that its trans athlete policies were, or once were, in violation of Title IX, which comes amid the ongoing battle with Maine over the same issue.

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New York

Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade

One of the victims remains in critical condition

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The Stonewall National Memorial in New York on June 19, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

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.”

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