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Moderate senators back Pentagon’s ‘Don’t Ask’ review

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Several moderate senators favor plans by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to study how best to implement repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ (DC Agenda photo by Michael Key)

Some moderate members of the Senate Armed Services Committee are getting behind the Pentagon’s review of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” without explicitly expressing support for repeal.

DC Agenda asked several senators of the committee for their thoughts on last week’s hearing on the law prohibiting gays from serving openly in the U.S. military — and their positions on overturning it.

During the hearing, Defense Secretary Robert Gates unveiled plans for a Pentagon study that would examine implementation of repeal should Congress decide to overturn “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Gates said he supports President Obama’s efforts at working to repeal the law and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen said he personally believes gays should be allowed to serve openly in the U.S. military.

Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) said, “the thing that stood out” during the hearing was how top military leaders “are looking at this issue.”

“Obviously, Mullen said that it needs to be changed, or at least moved through, so I thought that was a very interesting statement by military command,” Begich said. “That’s what I’ll be looking to, to see what their policy would be and what they intend to do.”

Asked about his position on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Begich said he’s waiting for the Senate hearings to finish and the Pentagon to complete its investigation.

“I think having the military step up to the plate and acknowledging that it’s a policy of the past and that they are now moving forward and recommending — or potentially looking at it is probably a good move,” Begich said. “But I’m leaving it to the military to help us guide us through.”

Also expressing support for the review was Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who said the law needs to be re-examined in light of the changes that have occurred since “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was implemented in 1993.

“I support the review that the administration has underway in the Department of Defense,” she said. “I think ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ does need to be reconsidered in light of all the changes of the last 17 years, and I was impressed with the testimony from Adm. Mullen.”

Collins recalled that Mullen said during the hearing that other NATO countries that have lifted similar bans had encountered no problems related to combat readiness or unit cohesion.

“That was useful information to get on the record, and we’ll see where we go from here,” Collins said.

Asked whether she would support legislation at this time that would repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Collins said, “That’s not what is before us.”

“Right now, what’s before us now is to authorize the department to do a study of what the issues would be of changing the policy, and I support that, and that’s what the president has proposed, so we need to see,” she said. “I obviously think that the review is needed and that the policy needs to be reconsidered.”

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) said Mullen and Gates “came forward with a very reasoned approach” to the ban on open service.

“They were careful in terms of how they laid it out and I think it’s absolutely the right way to go,” Webb said.

Asked whether he was ready to support repeal, Webb said, “I think everybody needs to let the process work, which is the commitment that Secretary Gates and Adm. Mullen made.”

Webb said he’s planning to be engaged in the updated analysis from the RAND Corp. on gays serving in the military, which Gates ordered as part of the Pentagon review. The senator added that, “it’s very important” as part of the review “to listen to the active duty military and to evaluate what they’re saying.”

While not expressing commitment for outright repeal, both Collins and Begich were more inclined to support a moratorium on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” if it came before them.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Carl Levin (D-Mich.) told reporters following the hearing that he was considering a moratorium as legislative action on the issue this year, although he said he’s not ruling out any option.

Collins said she’d “have to see what specific recommendations the administration makes, the Pentagon makes,” but added, “putting on some sort of moratorium on cases where, for example, a third party reports — it might well make sense.”

Asked whether he would support a moratorium, Begich said, “I think, especially if they’re reviewing it, they should not take any negative actions against individuals until they review this policy and what they’re going to do and how to implement it.”

Webb reiterated his support for the Pentagon review of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” when asked if he would favor a moratorium at this time.

“My personal belief is that people over here [in Congress] need to take the lead of the Department of Defense on this,” Webb said. “They’ve been very careful in terms of laying the way they should be analyzing it.”

One senator who wouldn’t offer his thoughts on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” when questioned by DC Agenda was Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.).

Asked whether he could answer questions on the issue, Nelson declined and said he had to make it to another engagement, adding, “I don’t have anything to say on it anyway; we haven’t had our hearings.”

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Federal Government

RFK Jr.’s HHS report pushes therapy, not medical interventions, for trans youth

‘Discredited junk science’ — GLAAD

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HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

A 409-page report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services challenges the ethics of medical interventions for youth experiencing gender dysphoria, the treatments that are often collectively called gender-affirming care, instead advocating for psychotherapy alone.

The document comes in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order barring the federal government from supporting gender transitions for anyone younger than 19.

“Our duty is to protect our nation’s children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. “We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.”

While the report does not constitute clinical guidance, its findings nevertheless conflict with not just the recommendations of LGBTQ advocacy groups but also those issued by organizations with relevant expertise in science and medicine.

The American Medical Association, for instance, notes that “empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression.”

Gender-affirming care for transgender youth under standards widely used in the U.S. includes supportive talk therapy along with — in some but not all cases — puberty blockers or hormone treatment.

“The suggestion that someone’s authentic self and who they are can be ‘changed’ is discredited junk science,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “This so-called guidance is grossly misleading and in direct contrast to the recommendation of every leading health authority in the world. This report amounts to nothing more than forcing the same discredited idea of conversion therapy that ripped families apart and harmed gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people for decades.”

GLAAD further notes that the “government has not released the names of those involved in consulting or authoring this report.”

Janelle Perez, executive director of LPAC, said, “For decades, every major medical association–including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics–have affirmed that medical care is the only safe and effective treatment for transgender youth experiencing gender dysphoria.

“This report is simply promoting conversion therapy by a different name – and the American people know better. We know that conversion therapy isn’t actually therapy – it isolates and harms kids, scapegoats parents, and divides families through blame and rejection. These tactics have been used against gay kids for decades, and now the same people want to use them against transgender youth and their families.

“The end result here will be a devastating denial of essential health care for transgender youth, replaced by a dangerous practice that every major U.S. medical and mental health association agree promotes anxiety, depression, and increased risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts.

“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice, and no amount of pressure can force someone to change who they are. We also know that 98% of people who receive transition-related health care continue to receive that health care throughout their lifetime. Trans health care is health care.”

“Today’s report seeks to erase decades of research and learning, replacing it with propaganda. The claims in today’s report would rip health care away from kids and take decision-making out of the hands of parents,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of NCLR. “It promotes the same kind of conversion therapy long used to shame LGBTQ+ people into hating themselves for being unable to change something they can’t change.”

“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice—it’s rooted in biology and genetics,” Minter said. “No amount or talk or pressure will change that.” 

Human Rights Campaign Chief of Staff Jay Brown released a statement: “Trans people are who we are. We’re born this way. And we deserve to live our best lives and have a fair shot and equal opportunity at living a good life.

“This report misrepresents the science that has led all mainstream American medical and mental health professionals to declare healthcare for transgender youth to be best practice and instead follows a script predetermined not by experts but by Sec. Kennedy and anti-equality politicians.”




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The White House

Trump nominates Mike Waltz to become next UN ambassador

Former Fla. congressman had been national security advisor

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U.N. headquarters in New York (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he will nominate Mike Waltz to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

Waltz, a former Florida congressman, had been the national security advisor.

Trump announced the nomination amid reports that Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, were going to leave the administration after Waltz in March added a journalist to a Signal chat in which he, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other officials discussed plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.

“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States ambassador to the United Nations,” said Trump in a Truth Social post that announced Waltz’s nomination. “From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role.”

Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as interim national security advisor, “while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department.”

“Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to make America, and the world, safe again,” said Trump.

Trump shortly after his election nominated U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Trump in March withdrew her nomination in order to ensure Republicans maintained their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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U.S. Federal Courts

Second federal lawsuit filed against White House passport policy

Two of seven plaintiffs live in Md.

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Lambda Legal on April 25 filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of seven transgender and nonbinary people who are challenging the Trump-Vance administration’s passport policy.

The lawsuit, which Lambda Legal filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, alleges the policy that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers “has caused and is causing grave and immediate harm to transgender people like plaintiffs, in violation of their constitutional rights to equal protection.”

Two of the seven plaintiffs — Jill Tran and Peter Poe — live in Maryland. The State Department, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the federal government are defendants.

“The discriminatory passport policy exposes transgender U.S. citizens to harassment, abuse, and discrimination, in some cases endangering them abroad or preventing them from traveling, by forcing them to use identification documents that share private information against their wishes,” said Lambda Legal in a press release.

Zander Schlacter, a New York-based textile artist and designer, is the lead plaintiff.

The lawsuit notes he legally changed his name and gender in New York.

Schlacter less than a week before President Donald Trump’s inauguration “sent an expedited application to update his legal name on his passport, using form DS-5504.”

Trump once he took office signed an executive order that banned the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers. The lawsuit notes Schlacter received his new passport in February.

“The passport has his correct legal name, but now has an incorrect sex marker of ‘F’ or ‘female,'” notes the lawsuit. “Mr. Schlacter also received a letter from the State Department notifying him that ‘the date of birth, place of birth, name, or sex was corrected on your passport application,’ with ‘sex’ circled in red. The stated reason was ‘to correct your information to show your biological sex at birth.'”

“I, like many transgender people, experience fear of harassment or violence when moving through public spaces, especially where a photo ID is required,” said Schlacter in the press release that announced the lawsuit. “My safety is further at risk because of my inaccurate passport. I am unwilling to subject myself and my family to the threat of harassment and discrimination at the hands of border officials or anyone who views my passport.”

Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June 2021 announced the State Department would begin to issue gender-neutral passports and documents for American citizens who were born overseas.

Dana Zzyym, an intersex U.S. Navy veteran who identifies as nonbinary, in 2015 filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their application for a passport with an “X” gender marker. Zzyym in October 2021 received the first gender-neutral American passport.

Lambda Legal represented Zzyym.

The State Department policy took effect on April 11, 2022.

Trump signed his executive order shortly after he took office in January. Germany, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands are among the countries that have issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U.S.

A federal judge in Boston earlier this month issued a preliminary injunction against the executive order.  The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of seven trans and nonbinary people.

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