National
Secret project seeks to advance pro-LGBT policy changes
Efforts are underway to start a new advocacy project that will work behind the scenes to facilitate pro-LGBT policy changes at the federal level and get LGBT people hired to key positions in the Obama administration.
According to an undated proposal obtained by DC Agenda, the group plans to aid the New Beginnings Initiative — a project led by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force — and seeks to accelerate policy change within the administration this year while the Democrats control Congress.
The project has three main objectives: providing technical assistance for pro-LGBT policy changes in the Obama administration, ensuring LGBT people are represented in the federal government and advocating for an LGBT voice in the broader administration agenda.
A document outlining the project’s goals says the initiative “seeks no attribution for its role” and will work to provide the New Beginnings Initiative with “needed technical and strategic assistance as it works on many fronts, with many people, in a relatively short timeframe.”
The proposal emphasizes that change must come quickly while Democrats control Congress so hostile lawmakers don’t obstruct pro-LGBT changes by convening public hearings on the issues or otherwise being obstructionist.
“After November 2010 … these majorities are not guaranteed and the policy environment could become much more challenging,” says the document. “Therefore, it is essential that as much change as possible be achieved in the next 12 months.”
Organizers emphasize that “moving quickly is essential to the success of the project” for this year. Afterward, the initiative could be folded into other existing LGBT organizations, the document says.
“This project is designed to be a resource that can take on some of the functions and activities that are needed in the short-term to accomplish as much as possible in what could be a limited window of opportunity,” says the document. “In the long run, these functions, skills and experience should become part of existing LGBT organizations.”
A source familiar with the project, who spoke to DC Agenda on condition of anonymity, said the Gill Foundation and the Arcus Foundation are among donors to the new initiative.
Matt Foreman, a former head of the Task Force, is project director for the new organization, the source said. Foreman currently works as a program director for the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund. He didn’t immediately respond to DC Agenda’s request for comment on the new project.
The project’s budget is about $1.2 million for 2010, according to the documents obtained by DC Agenda. A considerable portion of the budget — about $650,000 — will be allotted for salaries for the staff, which will consist of the project director and three other staffers. Another $400,000 will be used to fund short-term consultants.
The source familiar with the new initiative called it “a done deal” and said it’s expected to launch officially around Feb. 1. Much of the initiative’s funding has already been allocated, the source said.
But the source questioned why this new initiative was necessary when other groups such as the Task Force, Human Rights Campaign and Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund already play similar roles.
“The folks at HRC — if you look at the federal advocacy piece of this — isn’t that just competition for them?” the source said. “Or if you look at the Victory Fund and them putting in [around 100 openly LGBT] people into positions in the Obama administration, and this plan has this whole thing about an appointments process — doesn’t that already exist somewhere in the community?”
The source called the new initiative “just an awful lot of duplication” and said “it seems strange” that donors would also fund this new initiative when other groups are doing similar work.
“The same foundations that fund all those really great organizations, and say really nice things about them, are now going to fund yet another organization that almost seems to compete with the organizations that currently exist,” said the source.
A Victory Fund spokesperson declined to comment on the new group. HRC and the Task Force didn’t respond to DC Agenda’s requests for comment.
The source also questioned why Foreman would be selected to lead a new initiative that is supposed to work behind the scenes. Foreman was an outspoken LGBT rights advocate while at the Task Force, particularly during the controversy over the proposed federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act in 2007. During that debate, he insisted on including gender identity language in the legislation.
“If they’re a behind-the-scenes, below-the-radar kind of project, you would think the person they would choose to run it would be kind of a quiet behind-the-scenes, low-key person — and that’s probably not Matt Foreman,” said the source.
The document outlining the new initiative details what needs to be accomplished for each of its three objectives. It says LGBT representation within federal committees, advisory councils and task forces is key to carrying out regulatory changes that would benefit LGBT people.
“Identifying and actively promoting LGBT and strong allied individuals to serve on these bodies will be a priority of this project, and our strategy will be a multi-tiered approach designed to change the culture at all levels of the federal government,” says the document.
The proposal gives particular attention to new bodies that would be created by pending health care reform legislation. Organizers note that the House bill would create a committee that would recommend health insurance minimums and enhanced benefits standards, and say the committee should “consider the concerns and health needs of the LGBT community and have LGBT representation on it.”
“The LGBT community should be ready with the names of primary care doctors (and others) who can be nominated to serve on this committee, as well as ready with a strategy for getting these individuals appointed,” says the document. “We are currently gathering names of potential LGBT committee members so that when health care reform passes, we can move quickly.”
A number of committees within the Department of Health & Human Services are cited as bodies for which organizers of the project are particularly seeking LGBT representation. The committees include the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education & Practice, the Advisory Committee on Research on Women’s Health and the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health & Society.
The proposal says LGBT representation in HHS is particularly important because, among other reasons, it would help ensure that sexual health programs include LGBT issues, allocate resources for LGBT-specific prevention health needs and make sure LGBT seniors are supported in aging programs. Organizers are putting together a database of LGBT people who can serve on these committees and advisory groups, according to the document.
Another important objective for the new initiative is ensuring that LGBT voices are heard within the federal government as the Obama administration pursues its broader agenda.
“As the administration develops proposals to address other pressing domestic issues dealing with the economy, education, unemployment, etc., the LGBT community should be looking for opportunities to ensure that LGBT concerns in these areas are addressed and that LGBT individuals are looked to as a resource,” says the proposal.
Federal Government
Markwayne Mullin confirmed as next DHS secretary
Okla. senator to succeed Kristi Noem
The U.S. Senate confirmed Markwayne Mullin as the next secretary of Homeland Security on Monday, as the agency continues to grapple with what lawmakers have described as a “never-ending” funding standoff, with Democrats attempting to withhold funding from one of the nation’s largest and most costly agencies.
Mullin — a Republican senator from Oklahoma, former mixed martial arts fighter, and plumbing business owner — was confirmed in a 54–45 vote. Two Democrats — U.S. Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) — sided with Republicans in supporting his confirmation.
The new agency head is expected to follow the policy direction set by President Donald Trump, emphasizing stricter immigration enforcement. This includes proposals to support immigration agents at polling sites and to cut funding to so-called “sanctuary cities.”
Mullin replaces Kristi Noem, who was fired earlier this month following a widely scrutinized 2-day congressional hearing on Capitol Hill.
During the hearing, Noem faced intense questioning over her response to several crises, including the fatal shooting of two American citizens in Minneapolis by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, a $220 million border security advertising campaign that featured her on horseback near Mount Rushmore amid one of the largest federal workforce reductions in U.S. history, and the federal response to major natural disasters such as the July 2025 Texas floods and Hurricane Helene in 2024.
Noem had previously drawn criticism for a series of policy decisions in South Dakota that broadly focused on restricting the rights of LGBTQ individuals. In 2023, she signed House Bill 1080, banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. She also signed legislation and executive orders restricting trans athletes’ participation in women’s sports, as well as the state’s “Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” which critics argued enabled discrimination against LGBTQ individuals. Additionally, the state canceled contracts related to LGBTQ support services — including suicide prevention and health care navigation programs‚ and later agreed to a $300,000 settlement with trans advocacy group, The Transformation Project.
Despite her removal from DHS, Noem will remain in the Trump-Vance administration as a special envoy for the “Shield of the Americas,” an initiative aimed at promoting U.S. influence in the Western Hemisphere, including efforts to counter cartel networks, reduce Chinese influence, and manage migration.
The new head of DHS has served in Congress since 2013, in both houses of the federal legislature. While in the Senate and a member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Mullin has been a vocal critic of policies aimed at expanding LGBTQ inclusion. He led a group of lawmakers in urging the Administration for Community Living to reverse a rule requiring states to prioritize Older Americans Act services based on sexual orientation and gender identity, arguing the policy could have unintended consequences.
Mullin also makes history as the first Native American — and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation — to lead the Department of Homeland Security. He was also among the 147 Republicans who voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results despite no evidence of widespread fraud, and was present in the U.S. House of Representatives chamber on Jan. 6.
Federal Government
Protesters say SAVE Act targets voters, transgender youth
Bill described as ‘Jim Crow 2.0’
Members of Congress, advocates, and people from across the country gathered outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday to protest proposed federal legislation that voting rights activists have deemed “Jim Crow 2.0.”
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require in-person proof of citizenship for anyone seeking to vote in U.S. elections.
President Donald Trump has also pushed for the proposed legislation to include a section that would ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, even with parental consent, and prohibit trans people from participating in school or professional sports consistent with their gender identity rather than their sex assigned at birth.
In addition to changing voter registration requirements, the bill would limit acceptable forms of identification to documents such as a birth certificate or passport — records that the Brennan Center for Justice estimates more than 21 million Americans do not have — effectively restricting access to the ballot. It would also ban online voter registration, DMV voter registration efforts, and mail-in voter registration.
A 2021 investigation by the Associated Press found that fewer than 475 people voted illegally or improperly, a tiny fraction of the estimated 160 million Americans who voted in the 2020 election.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) spoke at the event.
“It will kick millions of American citizens off the rolls. And they don’t even require you to be told,” the highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate told protesters and reporters outside the Capitol. “If this law passes — and it won’t — you’re gonna show up in November … and they’ll say… sorry, you’re no longer on the voting rolls.”
He, like many other speakers, emphasized the bill in the context of American history, pointing to what he described as its racist roots and its impact on Black and brown Americans.
“I have called this act, over and over again, Jim Crow 2.0 … because they know it’s the truth.”
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) was one of the lawmakers leading opposition to the legislation and spoke at the rally.
“It’s not just voting rights that are on the line — our democracy is on the line,” the California lawmaker said. “It’s not a voter I.D. bill. It’s a bait and switch bill.”
He added historical context, noting the significance of voting rights legislation passed more than 60 years ago. In 1965, Alabama civil rights activists marched to protest barriers to voter registration. Alabama state troopers violently attacked peaceful demonstrators at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, using tear gas, clubs, and whips against more than 500 — mostly Black — protesters.
“61 years ago — not to the day — but this week, President Lyndon Johnson came to the Capitol and addressed a joint session of Congress in the wake of Bloody Sunday and pushed Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act,” Padilla said. “61 years later, Donald Trump and this Republican majority wants to take us backwards. We’re not gonna let that happen.”
U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) also spoke, emphasizing that he views the effort as a Republican-led and Trump-backed attempt to restrict voting access, particularly among Black, brown, and predominantly Democratic communities.
“President Trump told Republicans when they were meeting behind closed doors that ‘The SAVE Act will guarantee Republicans win the midterms and ensure they do not lose an election for 50 years,’” Luján said. “The first time I think Donald Trump’s been honest … This voter suppression bill is only that. Taking away vote by mail? I hope my Republican colleagues from states that voted for Donald Trump or where vote by mail is popular have the courage and the backbone to stand up and say no to this nonsense, because their constituents are going to push back.”
U.S. Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) also spoke.
“Our Republican colleagues have already cut Medicaid, Medicare, people don’t know how they’re gonna be able to afford energy,” she said, providing context for the broader political moment. “We’re in the middle of a war that they can’t even get straight while we’re in it and don’t have a way to get out of it. And we are now faced with defending our democracy?”
She then showed the crowd something that she said has been with her throughout her political journey in Washington.
“I brought with me something that I carried on the day that I was sworn into the House of Representatives when I was elected in 2016, and I carried it with me on the day that I was sworn in as United States senator. And I also carried it with me when I was trapped up in the gallery on Jan. 6 and all I could think to do was pray … This document allowed my great great great grandfather, who had been enslaved in Georgia, to have the right to vote. We took this and turned it into a scarf. It is the returns of qualified voters and reconstruction code from 1867. This is my proof of what we’ve been through. This is also our inspiration.”
“I got to travel between the Edmund Pettus Bridge two times. And even as I thought about this moment, I recognized that while we wish we weren’t in it, while we don’t know why we’re in it, I do know we were made for it … So I came today to tell you that, um, just like the leader said, that he calls it Jim Crow 2.0. I call it Jim Crow 2.NO.”
Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ advocacy organization in the U.S., also spoke, highlighting the impact of the bill’s proposed provisions affecting trans people.
“This bill is not about saving America. This bill is about stealing an election. This bill is about suppressing voters,” Robinson said. “This bill not only tries to disenfranchise voters that deserve their right to vote, it also tries to criminalize trans kids and their families … It tries to criminalize doctors providing medically necessary care for our trans youth.”
The SAVE Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 11 but has not yet been considered in the U.S. Senate.
Idaho
Idaho advances bill to restrict bathroom access for transgender residents
HB 752 passed in state House of Representatives on Monday
The Idaho House of Representatives passed House Bill 752 on Monday, a measure that would make it a crime for a person to use a bathroom other than the one designated for their “biological sex.”
The story was first reported by the Idaho Capitol Sun after the bill cleared the House.
House Bill 752 would make it a criminal offense — either a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the number of prior offenses — for individuals who “knowingly and willfully” enter a bathroom or changing room designated for the opposite sex.
The bill would apply to public buildings, including government-owned spaces, and places of “public accommodation,” a category that includes private businesses.
According to the bill’s text, it would “prohibit a person from entering a restroom or changing room designated for the opposite sex; provide a penalty; provide exceptions; define terms; and declare an emergency and provide an effective date.”
A first offense would be a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in prison. A second or subsequent offense within five years would be a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.
The bill passed in a 54–15 vote on Monday. Six Republicans broke with their party’s majority to join nine Democrats in opposing the measure.
The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Cornel Rasor, a Republican from Sagle near the Washington-Idaho border, told House lawmakers that the legislation is intended to protect women and girls.
“It prevents discomfort and voyeurism escalation and assaults, while preserving single-user options and narrow exceptions so no one is denied access for emergency aid,” Rasor said.
State Rep. Chris Mathias, a Democrat from Boise, disagreed, arguing that the legislation would unfairly target transgender Idahoans.
“The truth of the matter is — and I know a lot of people don’t want to say it — but forcing people who don’t look like the sex they were assigned at birth, or transgender folks, to use other people’s bathrooms is going to put a lot of people in danger,” Mathias said.
The Idaho American Civil Liberties Union made a statement about the bill following its passage.
“Idaho lawmakers continue pushing these harmful, invasive bathroom laws, yet cannot present credible evidence that transgender people using gender-aligned bathrooms threaten public safety,” the Idaho ACLU said. “The bill does nothing to address real criminal acts, such as sexual assault or voyeurism, and disregards concerns from law enforcement about the burden enforcement would place on local resources.”
In addition to human rights advocates, who have spoken out against similar bills advancing in state legislatures across the country, Idaho law enforcement groups have also opposed the measure. They argue that the way the legislation is written would “pose significant practical enforcement challenges,” noting that officers are tasked with maintaining public safety — not conducting gender checks or policing bathroom access.
During a committee hearing last week, law enforcement representatives and several trans Idahoans testified that the bill would make many residents less safe.
“Officers responding to a complaint would be placed in the difficult position of determining an individual’s biological sex in order to enforce the statute,” Idaho Fraternal Order of Police President Bryan Lovell wrote. “In many circumstances, there is no clear or reasonable way for officers to make that determination without engaging in questioning or investigative actions that could be viewed as invasive and inappropriate.”
The Idaho Sheriffs’ Association requested that lawmakers amend the bill to require that individuals be given an opportunity to leave a bathroom immediately before facing potential prosecution.
The bill now heads to the Idaho Senate for consideration. To become law, it must pass both chambers and avoid a veto from the governor.
A separate bathroom bill, House Bill 607, which would be enforced through civil lawsuits, passed the House last month but has not yet received a committee hearing in the Senate.
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