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3 arrested at White House protest

Choi, Pietrangelo to be arraigned in D.C. Superior Court

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Lt. Dan Choi (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

U.S. Army Lt. Dan Choi was arrested Thursday after handcuffing himself to the White House fence in protest of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” (Photo by Joe Tresh)

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A gay Army lieutenant and two others were arrested Thursday outside the White House in an unannounced protest against the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law that bars gays from serving openly in the military.

Lt. Dan Choi, who is in the process of being discharged from the U.S. Army because he’s gay, and Jim Pietrangelo, a former Army captain who was discharged in 2004 for being gay, were charged with failing to obey a lawful order to disperse after they handcuffed themselves to the White House fence along Pennsylvania Avenue.

Uniformed officers with the U.S. Secret Service separately arrested Robin McGehee of GetEqual.org, who helped organize the protest, on the same charge. McGehee was one of the lead organizers of the October 2009 LGBT march on Washington.

A crowd of about 100 people cheered as the Park Police officers cut the handcuffs that Choi and Pietrangelo used to attach themselves to the White House fence and placed a new set of handcuffs on the men before escorting them into a police wagon.

Prior to their arrest, Choi, while handcuffed to the fence, led the crowd in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Many of the supporters in the crowd carried American flags.

A Park Police spokesperson said the men were taken to a Park Police station at Anacostia Park, where they were booked. A Secret Service spokesperson said McGehee was expected to be taken to a D.C. police facility to be booked and processed.

For reasons that could not be immediately determined, Choi and Pietrangelo were held overnight at the Central Cellblock, which is operated by D.C. police. McGhee was released after the Secret Service dropped the charge against her when she agreed to pay a $35 “post and forfeit” fine. Choi and Pietrangelo were scheduled to be arraigned Friday afternoon in D.C. Superior Court.

Choi announced plans for the White House protest about a half hour before it began during a noon rally in Freedom Plaza that the Human Rights Campaign organized in support of efforts to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Choi was not a scheduled speaker at the rally. In a statement, HRC spokesperson Trevor Thomas said that Choi first asked HRC President Joe Solmonese if the solider could have a speaking role at the event.

“Joe explained that it wasn’t his sole decision to make on the spot given that there was already an established program that included Kathy Griffin, other organizations and veterans,” Thomas said.

Choi then spoke with Griffin, Thomas said, and she agreed to bring him on stage and speak to the crowd during time allocated for her remarks.

Once on stage, Choi urged rally attendees to march with him to the White House to send a message to “repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ — not next year, not tomorrow, but now. Now is the time.”

“I am going to the White House right now,” he said. “I want you all to take out your cell phones and any recording devices and document this moment right now with me as we together make history.”

Choi then turned to Griffin and asked, “Kathy, will you go with me?” In response, Griffin said, “Of course.” Choi then asked Solmonese if he would join the march. Solmonse said nothing, but raised his arm and gave Choi a thumbs up.

“Will you all here go with me?” Choi asked, and the audience roared with applause. Choi did not tell those attending the rally that he and Pietrangelo planned to handcuff themselves to the White House fence.

After Choi left the stage, Griffin continued the rally by telling attendants what number to text on their phones to learn the names of their congressional representatives. Griffin then asked for a moment of silence, allowing the crowd to pose with miniature American flags for a photo shoot.

A crowd of about 200 then followed Choi and Pietrangelo for the four-block walk from Freedom Plaza to the White House.

Thomas said that Solmonese and Eric Alva, a gay veteran who appeared alongside Solmonese and Griffin at the rally, chose to remain at Freedom Plaza to build on the efforts underway there.

“Joe Solmonese along with Eric Alva and others felt it was important to stay and engage those at the rally in ways they can continue building the pressure needed for repeal,” Thomas said. “This does nothing to diminish the actions taken by Lt. Choi and others. This is the nature of social change and everyone has a role to play.”

Phil Attey, a gay D.C. activist who attended the HRC rally, expressed particular distaste with Choi’s march to the White House and called it “politically unsophisticated beyond belief.”

“It’s a shame that our community needs to be educated about the political process and they don’t get it,” Attey said. “They don’t understand that Congress needs to be moved on this issue and that people across the country have the power to do that. And if they’re going to get them to yell and scream at the president, we’re going to fail, we’re going to lose.”

Shortly after Choi and Pietrangelo arrived at the White House, they handcuffed themselves to the fence, an action that drew a fast response from Secret Service personnel. Some uniformed Secret Service officers and U.S. Park Police quickly pushed the crowd away from the White House fence and into the street, and others erected yellow police tape around the area. About officers agents stayed behind the tape with Choi and Pietrangelo.

It was at around this time that McGehee was arrested near the White House fence.

In the moments that followed, the crowd began to chant “keep your promise, Obama,” a reference to the president’s oft-repeated pledge to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” As the chanting continued, four D.C. police cars joined an estimated 20 Secret Service and U.S. Park Police officers at the scene.

At one point, officers directed the protestors to stand at the nearby Lafayette Square. One woman in the crowd kneeled with her hands raised, praying aloud for the souls of gay people. At least one person told the woman that she should instead pray for equality.

About one hour after the protest began, uniformed officers released Choi and Pietrangelo from the handcuffs holding them to the White House fence. Both men were then arrested and taken from the scene in a white van.

Half or more of the crowd that arrived with Choi and Pietrangelo left the scene between the time the two men handcuffed themselves to the fence and the time police arrested them.

Alex Nicholson, executive director of Servicemembers United, said Thursday’s protest demonstrated the growing unrest the White House and Congress faces on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

“The events that unfolded today should be a clear sign that people are worried that [‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’] repeal is getting derailed this year, they are angry that the ones most affected by this issue are being shut out of the process by ineffective insiders, and their patience is wearing thin with the standard ‘trust us, they have a plan’ line,” he said.

Staff writers Chris Johnson and Joshua Lynsen contributed to this article.

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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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