National
LGBT staffer group returns to Capitol Hill
‘We’re going to be building relationships’
Members of the newly re-launched LGBT Congressional Staff Association intend to focus on networking and behind-the-scenes policy work. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Openly gay staffers on Capitol Hill could find new opportunities to network and advance pro-gay legislation now that an LGBT staff association has returned following a period of dormancy.
The group, named the LGBT Congressional Staff Association, seeks to facilitate communication among LGBT staffers working for members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Scott Simpson, deputy press secretary for Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), officially took the reins of the organization Monday after dues-paying members voted him and other new board members into leadership roles.
In a Blade interview, Simpson, who’s 26 and gay, said the organization plans to take a low-profile approach to advance the needs of LGBT staffers and advance pro-LGBT policy in Congress.
“We’re uniquely positioned to work with a targeted audience and work with however many hundreds of Hill staffers we can find,” he said. “We’re not going to be out there trying to get the [Washington] Post to quote us or anything; we’re going to be building relationships.”
The group’s re-launch comes after an earlier version of the organization was founded about 15 years ago.
Simpson said the group — previously known as the Gay & Lesbian Congressional Staff Association — was founded to draw attention to the presence of LGBT staffers on the Hill.
“It was a very big deal, at least for us, on the Hill when it got started,” Simpson said. “It did a lot of good stuff for visibility at the time when there were some congressmen who outright said, ‘We would never hire a gay staffer.’”
Simpson said the LGBT Congressional Staff Association responded at the time by having press conferences to “show that there are actually LGBT people” who work on Capitol Hill.
In recent years, Simpson said the organization had the appearance of being dormant because it was continuing a commitment made when it was founded of protecting the identities of members who weren’t openly gay.
“They wanted that soft influence on policy and they wanted to protect the identities of their staffers, and that doesn’t lend itself to being the most vocal organization,” he said.
But Simpson said LGBT staffers on the Hill in recent months wanted to give new life to the organization, to make it more open and “continue on with the legacy of breaking barriers” that emerged when the association was founded.
Simpson said the group has been in the process of being reinvented for the past three to six months and, as part of its re-launch, tweaked its bylaws and took on the LGBT Congressional Staff Association name.
New goals for the organization include developing a web site and forming a women’s caucus that will have its own specific programming.
The organization’s membership varies widely depending on how it’s counted. Simpson said there are about 50 dues-paying members, but 400 are registered on the group’s e-mail list. One task the organization is considering, Simpson noted, is some type of “census” to determine how many LGBT staffers work on the Hill.
Simpson said the number of LGBT people working as Capitol Hill staffers might surprise those living outside the Beltway. He also noted that LGBT staffers “don’t line up with any particular caucus,” and can be found working with either Democratic or Republican members.
“There are a lot of LGBT staffers on the Hill and that’s a strength that we can tap into,” he said.
Some established and notable LGBT staffers comprise the LGBT Congressional Staff Association board. Diego Sanchez, who’s transgender and senior legislative adviser to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), will serve as policy director for the organization.
In a statement to the Blade, Sanchez said he’s honored to be the first openly transgender board member of the re-launched organization.
“The new bylaws and my corporate career expertise in diversity management will let me lead and work with my staffer colleagues to fortify how current laws and issues affect us and to repair any gaps to enrich the lives and careers of current and future LGBT people working on the Hill,” he said.
Group will work to influence LGBT policy
Simpson said the organization would work to influence LGBT policy matters related to bills on Capitol Hill, such as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
He said he wants to network with LGBT staffers to educate them on the issues and expand the number of co-sponsors on those bills.
“We’re going to be doing training and education on that,” he said. “We want to make sure that we are connecting and networking as many of these gay staffers in every office, in every party across geography to know what’s up.”
Simpson said one bill his organization is particularly pushing is the Domestic Partnership Benefits & Obligations Act. The legislation would make same-sex partners of federal workers eligible for the same benefits available to the spouses of straight workers, including health and pension benefits.
Repealing the Defense of Marriage Act, a move that would allow the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages, is another issue in which Simpson said his organization would be involved. With same-sex marriage now legal in D.C., he noted that many LGBT staffers are able to marry and want the federal benefits associated with marriage.
“Those directly affect our members because the federal government is prohibited from recognizing the validity of our relationships,” he said.
Additionally, Simpson said a goal of the organization is advancing the careers of LGBT staffers so they can serve in positions that give them more influence to move pro-LGBT legislation through Congress.
“If a job opens up that someone wants, we’re going to get together to use our network as a group to figure out how we can best get the person in this position, if they’re qualified for it,” he said.
But group activities won’t be all work. Simpson said networking opportunities would also include recreational events, such as happy hours.
“A lot of it is getting together and going to happy hours, just meeting and greeting, even in a non-drinking setting, believe it or not,” he said.
Elected officials have been helping re-launch the LGBT Congressional Staff Association. The openly gay members of Congress — Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.) — have sponsored the organization as an official staff group.
In a statement, Baldwin said she’s proud to sponsor the organization because LGBT staffers work in many capacities on the Hill for members of both parties.
“I’m very pleased to support this new iteration of the LGBT staff association,” she said. “In addition to serving as a networking and social group, this organization will help us advocate for more equitable policies in and out of government.”
Simpson said the out members of Congress aren’t technically eligible to become members of the organization because they aren’t staffers. Still, he noted that their sponsorship makes the group able to use the U.S. House web servers and e-mail system.
“If not for them, the organization wouldn’t exist,” he said. “If we need anything, we go to them because they’re our members.”
Simpson said he expects the LGBT Congressional Staff Association to have a collaborative relationship with the Gay, Lesbian & Allies Senate Staff Caucus, the affinity group for LGBT staffers working in the U.S. Senate.
Among the events in which both groups would plan joint participation are social and educational activities as well as marching in the same contingent next month during the Capital Pride parade.
“I’ve been talking with them,” Simpson said. “They’ve been helping us organize this newer reinvention for a while, so we’ve been very close.”
Alex Levy, co-chair of GLASS and legislative aide to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), said his organization is “thrilled” to have the opportunity to collaborate with another LGBT group.
“They have lots of energy and it looks to be a dynamic leadership team, and we intend to work collaboratively with them to work for the interests of LGBT Hill staffers,” Levy said.
New York
Men convicted of murdering two men in NYC gay bar drugging scheme sentenced
One of the victims, John Umberger, was D.C. political consultant
A New York judge on Wednesday sentenced three men convicted of killing a D.C. political consultant and another man who they targeted at gay bars in Manhattan.
NBC New York notes a jury in February convicted Jayqwan Hamilton, Jacob Barroso, and Robert DeMaio of murder, robbery, and conspiracy in relation to druggings and robberies that targeted gay bars in Manhattan from March 2021 to June 2022.
John Umberger, a 33-year-old political consultant from D.C., and Julio Ramirez, a 25-year-old social worker, died. Prosecutors said Hamilton, Barroso, and DeMaio targeted three other men at gay bars.
The jury convicted Hamilton and DeMaio of murdering Umberger. State Supreme Court Judge Felicia Mennin sentenced Hamilton and DeMaio to 40 years to life in prison.
Barroso, who was convicted of killing Ramirez, received a 20 years to life sentence.
National
Medical groups file lawsuit over Trump deletion of health information
Crucial datasets included LGBTQ, HIV resources
Nine private medical and public health advocacy organizations, including two from D.C., filed a lawsuit on May 20 in federal court in Seattle challenging what it calls the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’s illegal deletion of dozens or more of its webpages containing health related information, including HIV information.
The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, names as defendants Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and HHS itself, and several agencies operating under HHS and its directors, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration.
“This action challenges the widespread deletion of public health resources from federal agencies,” the lawsuit states. “Dozens (if not more) of taxpayer-funded webpages, databases, and other crucial resources have vanished since January 20, 2025, leaving doctors, nurses, researchers, and the public scrambling for information,” it says.
“These actions have undermined the longstanding, congressionally mandated regime; irreparably harmed Plaintiffs and others who rely on these federal resources; and put the nation’s public health infrastructure in unnecessary jeopardy,” the lawsuit continues.
It adds, “The removal of public health resources was apparently prompted by two recent executive orders – one focused on ‘gender ideology’ and the other targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (‘DEI’) programs. Defendants implemented these executive orders in a haphazard manner that resulted in the deletion (inadvertent or otherwise) of health-related websites and databases, including information related to pregnancy risks, public health datasets, information about opioid-use disorder, and many other valuable resources.”
The lawsuit does not mention that it was President Donald Trump who issued the two executive orders in question.
A White House spokesperson couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on the lawsuit.
While not mentioning Trump by name, the lawsuit names as defendants in addition to HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., Matthew Buzzelli, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health; Martin Makary, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration; Thomas Engels, administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration; and Charles Ezell, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management.
The 44-page lawsuit complaint includes an addendum with a chart showing the titles or descriptions of 49 “affected resource” website pages that it says were deleted because of the executive orders. The chart shows that just four of the sites were restored after initially being deleted.
Of the 49 sites, 15 addressed LGBTQ-related health issues and six others addressed HIV issues, according to the chart.
“The unannounced and unprecedented deletion of these federal webpages and datasets came as a shock to the medical and scientific communities, which had come to rely on them to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks, assist physicians and other clinicians in daily care, and inform the public about a wide range of healthcare issues,” the lawsuit states.
“Health professionals, nonprofit organizations, and state and local authorities used the websites and datasets daily in care for their patients, to provide resources to their communities, and promote public health,” it says.
Jose Zuniga, president and CEO of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC), one of the organizations that signed on as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said in a statement that the deleted information from the HHS websites “includes essential information about LGBTQ+ health, gender and reproductive rights, clinical trial data, Mpox and other vaccine guidance and HIV prevention resources.”
Zuniga added, “IAPAC champions evidence-based, data-informed HIV responses and we reject ideologically driven efforts that undermine public health and erase marginalized communities.”
Lisa Amore, a spokesperson for Whitman-Walker Health, D.C.’s largest LGBTQ supportive health services provider, also expressed concern about the potential impact of the HHS website deletions.
“As the region’s leader in HIV care and prevention, Whitman-Walker Health relies on scientific data to help us drive our resources and measure our successes,” Amore said in response to a request for comment from the Washington Blade.
“The District of Columbia has made great strides in the fight against HIV,” Amore said. “But the removal of public facing information from the HHS website makes our collective work much harder and will set HIV care and prevention backward,” she said.
The lawsuit calls on the court to issue a declaratory judgement that the “deletion of public health webpages and resources is unlawful and invalid” and to issue a preliminary or permanent injunction ordering government officials named as defendants in the lawsuit “to restore the public health webpages and resources that have been deleted and to maintain their web domains in accordance with their statutory duties.”
It also calls on the court to require defendant government officials to “file a status report with the Court within twenty-four hours of entry of a preliminary injunction, and at regular intervals, thereafter, confirming compliance with these orders.”
The health organizations that joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs include the Washington State Medical Association, Washington State Nurses Association, Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Academy Health, Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, Fast-Track Cities Institute, International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, National LGBT Cancer Network, and Vermont Medical Society.
The Fast-Track Cities Institute and International Association of Providers of AIDS Care are based in D.C.
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.
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