Politics
McCain objects to Senate ‘Don’t Ask’ consideration
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Thursday objected to a motion to bring “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal up for consideration on the Senate floor — indicating support for a filibuster of the measure.
McCain spoke out against the inclusion of repeal in the fiscal year 2011 defense authorization bill in an exchange with Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Carl Levin (D-Mich.) on the Senate floor.
Levin asked for unanimous consent to bring to the floor in September the defense bill to which the Senate Armed Services Committee already attached repeal, but McCain objected and said he wouldn’t allow the Senate to proceed.
“I’m not going to allow us to move forward,” McCain said. “I will be discussing with my leaders and the 41 members of this side of the aisle as to whether we’re going to be moving forward with a bill that contains that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy repealed before, before a meaningful survey of the impact on battle effectiveness and morale of the men and women who are serving this nation in uniform.”
McCain called the inclusion of repeal in the defense legislation without the completion of this study a “disgrace.”
Levin, a proponent of repeal, responded by saying allowing the bill to come to the floor would allow the Senate to consider amendments to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” language.
“The main point is that the place to debate these policies is on the floor of the Senate,” Levin said. “The Senate will determine, if we can get this bill to the floor, whether or not we make that conditional change in the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ or whether we do a number of other things.”
Levin further noted the language in the bill makes repeal conditional on completion of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” study currently underway at the Pentagon, which is due Dec. 1, as well as certification from the president and military leaders.
In a statement, Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, accused McCain of flip-flopping on his position, noting an article in Congressional Quarterly earlier on Thursday quoting McCain as saying he wouldn’t support a filibuster.
“In less than 24 hours, Sen. McCain seems to have changed his mind on blocking a critical defense bill in order to score some political points with his base,” Solmonese said. “Our country needs the best and brightest men and women in uniform and no one should play politics when it’s time to get down to doing the people’s business.”
Continuing to rail against the inclusion of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” language, McCain recalled his discontent over the inclusion of hate crimes protections language in the previous year’s budget legislation.
“I’ve only been a member of this committee, Mr. President, since 1987,” McCain said. “I never seen what the chairman of the committee did last year by bringing a totally irrelevant and very controversial issue and put it on the defense authorization bill.”
The attachment of hate crimes legislation to the defense authorization bill happened at least twice before last year in the Senate in 2004 and 2007. Supporters of the hate crimes measure at the time said this method helped to protect the legislation against dangerous amendments.
Solmonese also addressed McCain’s remarks in opposition to inclusion of hate crimes protections in the defense bill.
“He tried his hardest to prevent Americans from being protected from hate crimes and lost,” Solmonese said. “His attempt to prevent qualified openly lesbian and gay service members from serving will be a failing effort as well.”
Following his floor speech, McCain elaborated to the Blade on his opposition to repeal language in the defense authorization bill.
“I just think that a survey needs to be conducted as to the effect on morale and battle effectiveness before the repeal is voted on, and everybody’s entitled to their own views, but to repeal it before before we get that assessment, I think, is really a serious mistake,” he said.
Asked whether he would introduce a motion to strike or a substitute amendment with regard to that langauge, McCain replied, “We don’t yet know exactly what we’re going to do.”
Congress
House passes reconciliation with gender-affirming care funding ban
‘Big Beautiful Bill’ now heads to the Senate

The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday voted 215-214 for passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” reconciliation package, which includes provisions that would prohibit the use of federal funds to support gender-affirming care.
But for an 11th hour revision of the bill late Wednesday night by conservative lawmakers, Medicaid and CHIP would have been restricted only from covering treatments and interventions administered to patients younger than 18.
The legislation would also drop requirements that some health insurers must cover gender-affirming care as an “essential health benefit” and force states that currently mandate such coverage to find it independently. Plans could still offer coverage for transgender care but without the EHB classification patients will likely pay higher out of pocket costs.
To offset the cost of extending tax cuts from 2017 that disproportionately benefited the wealthiest Americans, the reconciliation bill contains significant cuts to spending for federal programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The Human Rights Campaign criticized House Republicans in a press release and statement by the group’s president, Kelley Robinson:
“People in this country want policies and solutions that make life better and expand access to the American Dream. Instead, anti-equality lawmakers voted to give handouts to billionaires built on the backs of hardworking people — with devastating consequences for the LGBTQ+ community.
“If the cuts to programs like Medicaid and SNAP or resources like Planned Parenthood clinics weren’t devastating enough, House Republicans added a last minute provision that expands its attacks on access to best practice health care to transgender adults.
“This cruel addition shows their priorities have never been about lowering costs or expanding health care access–but in targeting people simply for who they are. These lawmakers have abandoned their constituents, and as they head back to their districts, know this: they will hear from us.”
Senate Republicans are expected to pass the bill with the budget reconciliation process, which would allow them to bypass the filibuster and clear the spending package with a simple majority vote.
Changes are expected as the bill will be reviewed and amended by committees, particularly the Finance Committee, and then brought to the floor for debate — though modifications are expected to focus on Medicaid reductions and debate over state and local tax deductions.
Congress
Gerry Connolly dies at 75 after battle with esophageal cancer
Va. congressman fought for LGBTQ rights

Democratic U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia died on Wednesday, according to a statement from his family.
The 75-year-old lawmaker, who served in Congress since 2009, announced last month that he will not seek reelection and would step down from his role as the top Democrat on the powerful U.S. House Oversight Committee because his esophageal cancer had returned.
“We were fortunate to share Gerry with Northern Virginia for nearly 40 years because that was his joy, his purpose, and his passion,” his family said in their statement. “His absence will leave a hole in our hearts, but we are proud that his life’s work will endure for future generations.”
“He looked out for the disadvantaged and voiceless. He always stood up for what is right and just,” they said.
Connolly was memorialized in statements from colleagues and friends including House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson (La.), former President Joe Biden, and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).
Several highlighted Connolly’s fierce advocacy on behalf of federal workers, who are well represented in his northern Virginia congressional district.
The congressman also supported LGBTQ rights throughout his life and career.
When running for the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 1994, he fought the removal of Washington Blade newspapers from libraries. When running in 2008 for the U.S. house seat vacated by Tom Davis, a Republican, Connolly campaigned against the amendment to Virginia’s constitution banning same-sex marriage and civil unions in the state.
In Congress, he supported the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality, the Biden-Harris administration’s rescission of the anti-trans military ban, and the designation within the State Department of a special LGBTQ rights envoy. The congressman also was an original cosponsor of the Equality Act and co-sponsored legislation to repeal parts of the Defense of Marriage Act.
Congress
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s bill to criminalize gender affirming care advances
Judiciary Committee markup slated for Wednesday morning

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)’s “Protect Children’s Innocence Act,” which would criminalize guideline-directed gender affirming health care for minors, will advance to markup in the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday morning.
Doctors and providers who administer medical treatments for gender dysphoria to patients younger than 18, including hormones and puberty blockers, would be subject to Class 3 felony charges punishable by up to 10 years in prison if the legislation is enacted.
LGBTQ advocates warn conservative lawmakers want to go after families who travel out of state to obtain medical care for their transgender kids that is banned or restricted in the places where they reside, using legislation like Greene’s to expand federal jurisdiction over these decisions. They also point to the medically inaccurate way in which the bill characterizes evidence-based interventions delineated in standards of care for trans and gender diverse youth as “mutilation” or “chemical castration.”
Days into his second term, President Donald Trump signed “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” an executive order declaring that the U.S. would not “fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit” medical treatments and interventions intended for this purpose.
Greene, who has introduced the bill in years past, noted the president’s endorsement of her bill during his address to the joint session of Congress in March when he said “I want Congress to pass a bill permanently banning and criminalizing sex changes on children and forever ending the lie that any child is trapped in the wrong body.”