National
First openly gay U.S. House reading clerk relishes role
Joe Novotny ‘tremendously proud’ to take prominent position
Joe Novotny, the first openly gay U.S. House reading clerk, reads bills, resolutions and messages from the president to Congress. (DC Agenda photo by Michael Key)
It’s part of making history.
That’s part of the reason Joe Novotny enjoys his role as reading clerk for the U.S. House.
Just last week, he had the distinction of reading to House members Rep. Charlie Rangel’s (D-N.Y.) message announcing his intent to resign as chair of the Ways & Means Committee. That message, issued by Novotny, went through the media to reach people across the country.
Other milestones in which Novotny may soon take part could include the passage of health care reform — or the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
“You just feel the energy when you walk out on the House floor,” Novotny told DC Agenda. “If there’s a vote, or even just a heated debate, if something’s happening — the feeling that you get from that room is probably unlike anything everywhere else that you could really describe.”
And yet, Novotny is making history simply by holding the job. The 34-year-old Chicago native is the first openly gay person to work as a reading clerk in the U.S. House. Charged with reading messages to lawmakers and having his performance broadcast across the world on C-SPAN, Novotny is one of the most visible figures in House proceedings.
“I’m tremendously proud,” he said. “I feel like it’s an opportunity to represent the community. When you think about the diversity in this House now — and the fact that we have the first woman speaker and we have the first African-American clerk of the House — this is sort of a Congress of firsts, so to be a part of that is a tremendous honor.”
As reading clerk for the House, Novotny is charged with reading messages to House members and ensuring legislative measures before the chamber are clearly articulated to lawmakers and the public. He also tracks changes to bills made on the House floor.
“As House reading clerk, you’re responsible for reading all the bills and resolutions that come up throughout the day — and so there are all these other letters that come and messages from the president, and so you are responsible essentially for reading and representing these people,” Novotny said.
Other duties for Novotny include delivering House-approved measures to the Senate and working with official reporters to transcribe remarks in case a House member wants them stricken down.
Novotny is one of two reading clerks for the House. The other reading clerk, Susan Cole, was appointed by Republican leadership. Novotny and Cole are under the jurisdiction of Lorraine Miller, the House clerk and chamber’s official record keeper.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed Novotny to his role in December, and he’s served in the position for six weeks. No newcomer to Capitol Hill, Novotny was a congressional page when he was 16. For 15 years, he was a staffer for the House Education & Labor Committee, most recently as chief clerk for the panel.
Now as someone who sits on the podium with the speaker or speaker pro-tempe as lawmakers debate bills, Novotny is one of the more visible figures in the House.
In a statement, Pelosi highlighted the importance of Novotny’s job and his qualifications for taking on the position.
“As reading clerk, Joe will be the voice of the House of Representatives and will play an integral role in the daily operations of Congress,” she said. “Joe brings his experience and professionalism from the Education & Labor Committee, and we are grateful for his service.”
Novotny said his sexual orientation hasn’t made his job any more difficult or impaired relationships with his colleagues.
“I’ve been very, very lucky that throughout my career on the Hill, I’ve always been met with people who have looked at me pretty much just at face value, and it’s never been an issue,” he said. “I’ve always been open about who I am and it’s always been met with understanding and respect.”
But one challenge Novotny has encountered in his new role is needing to recognize all 435 House members immediately.
“Basically you have to learn every single person by name and by sight,” he said. “If somebody’s coming up and you’re at the podium, you’re responsible for announcing who that member is as they’re voting at the end of the vote or announce their changes.”
Since his years at George Washington University, where he studied political communications, Novotny said he’s had an affinity for politics.
“I’ve always been fascinated by politics,” he said. “I think that people lose sight of the fact that politics is not just about policy, it’s about relationships.”
Novotny said people “use politics every day in our lives” in relationships with colleagues, loved ones and friends.
“So, I guess I’m fascinated by relationships that people have and how everybody uses politics in form or another,” he said.
It’s that fascination with politics that lead him to take a position as staffer on the House Education & Labor Committee under the supervision of Chairman George Miller. Novotny said leaving his old job to become reading clerk was “bittersweet” because Miller is “such a great boss.”
“The thing about him is that he’s a little informal, and he likes to just be called by his first name,” Novotny said. “It’s never Mr. Chairman or congressman. He likes to be called George. So when you have that kind of relationship from the get go, you can really — you establish this great relationship.”
In 2007, Novotny was working for the committee when it sent the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to the House floor. Lawmakers in that chamber later approved the bill.
“That was really a very, very proud moment for me to be a part of that, and actually, seeing that pass the House floor in the last Congress was great,” he said.
In a statement, Miller congratulated Novotny for landing his new position, recalling the former committee staffer’s years of service on the panel.
“Joe was an incredibly valuable asset to my staff for nearly 15 years,” Novotny said. “His unparalleled integrity and dedication helped our committee advance major policies that are making a difference in the lives of working families. I know Joe will bring the same level of enthusiasm, expertise and steadfast commitment of service to his new role as House reading clerk.”
U.S. Federal Courts
Federal judge scraps trans-inclusive workplace discrimination protections
Ruling appears to contradict US Supreme Court precedent
Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas has struck down guidelines by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission designed to protect against workplace harassment based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
The EEOC in April 2024 updated its guidelines to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), which determined that discrimination against transgender people constituted sex-based discrimination as proscribed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
To ensure compliance with the law, the agency recommended that employers honor their employees’ preferred pronouns while granting them access to bathrooms and allowing them to wear dress code-compliant clothing that aligns with their gender identities.
While the the guidelines are not legally binding, Kacsmaryk ruled that their issuance created “mandatory standards” exceeding the EEOC’s statutory authority that were “inconsistent with the text, history, and tradition of Title VII and recent Supreme Court precedent.”
“Title VII does not require employers or courts to blind themselves to the biological differences between men and women,” he wrote in the opinion.
The case, which was brought by the conservative think tank behind Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation, presents the greatest setback for LGBTQ inclusive workplace protections since President Donald Trump’s issuance of an executive order on the first day of his second term directing U.S. federal agencies to recognize only two genders as determined by birth sex.
Last month, top Democrats from both chambers of Congress reintroduced the Equality Act, which would codify LGBTQ-inclusive protections against discrimination into federal law, covering employment as well as areas like housing and jury service.
The White House
Trump travels to Middle East countries with death penalty for homosexuality
President traveled to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates
Homosexuality remains punishable by death in two of the three Middle East countries that President Donald Trump visited last week.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar are among the handful of countries in which anyone found guilty of engaging in consensual same-sex sexual relations could face the death penalty.
Trump was in Saudi Arabia from May 13-14. He traveled to Qatar on May 14.
“The law prohibited consensual same-sex sexual conduct between men but did not explicitly prohibit same-sex sexual relations between women,” notes the State Department’s 2023 human rights report, referring specifically to Qatar’s criminalization law. “The law was not systematically enforced. A man convicted of having consensual same-sex sexual relations could receive a sentence of seven years in prison. Under sharia, homosexuality was punishable by death; there were no reports of executions for this reason.”
Trump on May 15 arrived in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
The State Department’s 2023 human rights report notes the “penalty for individuals who engaged in ‘consensual sodomy with a man'” in the country “was a minimum prison sentence of six months if the individual’s partner or guardian filed a complaint.”
“There were no known reports of arrests or prosecutions for consensual same-sex sexual conduct. LGBTQI+ identity, real or perceived, could be deemed an act against ‘decency or public morality,’ but there were no reports during the year of persons prosecuted under these provisions,” reads the report.
The report notes Emirati law also criminalizes “men who dressed as women or entered a place designated for women while ‘disguised’ as a woman.” Anyone found guilty could face up to a year in prison and a fine of up to 10,000 dirhams ($2,722.60.)
Trump returned to the U.S. on May 16.
The White House notes Trump during the trip secured more than $2 trillion “in investment agreements with Middle Eastern nations ($200 billion with the United Arab Emirates, $600 billion with Saudi Arabia, and $1.2 trillion with Qatar) for a more safe and prosperous future.”
Former President Joe Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2022.
Saudi Arabia is scheduled to host the 2034 World Cup. The 2022 World Cup took place in Qatar.
State Department
Rubio mum on Hungary’s Pride ban
Lawmakers on April 30 urged secretary of state to condemn anti-LGBTQ bill, constitutional amendment
More than 20 members of Congress have urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to publicly condemn a Hungarian law that bans Pride events.
California Congressman Mark Takano, a Democrat who co-chairs the Congressional Equality Caucus, and U.S. Rep. Bill Keating (D-Mass.), who is the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Europe Subcommittee, spearheaded the letter that lawmakers sent to Rubio on April 30.
Hungarian lawmakers in March passed a bill that bans Pride events and allow authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify those who participate in them. MPs last month amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.
“As a NATO ally which hosts U.S. service members, we expect the Hungarian government to abide by certain values which underpin the historic U.S.-Hungary bilateral relationship,” reads the letter. “Unfortunately, this new legislation and constitutional amendment disproportionately and arbitrarily target sexual and gender minorities.”
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government over the last decade has moved to curtail LGBTQ and intersex rights in Hungary.
A law that bans legal recognition of transgender and intersex people took effect in 2020. Hungarian MPs that year also effectively banned same-sex couples from adopting children and defined marriage in the constitution as between a man and a woman.
An anti-LGBTQ propaganda law took effect in 2021. The European Commission sued Hungary, which is a member of the European Union, over it.
MPs in 2023 approved the “snitch on your gay neighbor” bill that would have allowed Hungarians to anonymously report same-sex couples who are raising children. The Budapest Metropolitan Government Office in 2023 fined Lira Konyv, the country’s second-largest bookstore chain, 12 million forints ($33,733.67), for selling copies of British author Alice Oseman’s “Heartstopper.”
Former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman, who is gay, participated in the Budapest Pride march in 2024 and 2023. Pressman was also a vocal critic of Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
“Along with years of democratic backsliding in Hungary, it flies in the face of those values and the passage of this legislation deserves quick and decisive criticism and action in response by the Department of State,” reads the letter, referring to the Pride ban and constitutional amendment against public LGBTQ events. “Therefore, we strongly urge you to publicly condemn this legislation and constitutional change which targets the LGBTQ community and undermines the rights of Hungarians to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”
U.S. Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Sarah McBride (D-Del.), Jim Costa (D-Calif.), James McGovern (D-Mass.), Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Julie Johnson (D-Texas), Ami Bera (D-Calif.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Gabe Amo (D-R.I.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Dina Titus (D-Nev.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) signed the letter alongside Takano and Keating.
A State Department spokesperson on Wednesday declined to comment.
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s bill to criminalize gender affirming care advances
Delaware considers enshrining same-sex marriage into state Constitution
Returning to Alcatraz: Memory through a queer lens
PHOTOS: Equality Prince William Pride
Chilean lawmakers back report that calls for suspension of program for trans children
Ashley Biden to speak at Blade’s Summer Kickoff Party in Rehoboth Beach
Pete Buttigieg, eyeing a presidential run, holds Iowa town hall
Calendar: May 16-22
Documentary about Blade reporter to premiere this month
