National
Fla. primary could yield gay milestones
State could elect gay state rep, member of Congress

Primary elections set for Tuesday could yield two milestones if Florida voters elect a gay candidate to Congress and another man to become the first openly gay member of the state’s legislature.
Scott Galvin, a North Miami City Council member, is seeking to represent Florida’s 17th congressional district in Congress. Galvin told the Blade last week he’s “feeling very excited” about his prospects.
“We had a wonderful debate last night that went very well and we had a nice article in the Miami Herald yesterday talking about our chances in being able in win,” he said. “We’re just invigorated out knocking on doors and raising money.”
Galvin is among nine Democratic candidates seeking the nomination in next week’s primary. No Republican candidate has filed to run in the general election in this Democratic-safe seat, so the winner of the primary is the presumptive U.S. House member in the district.
Galvin’s campaign achieved additional notoriety last month when vandals defaced several of his campaign signs in North Miami by spray-painting the word “fag” on them. Galvin said the incident had a mixed impact on his campaign.
“There were those who found out that I was gay for the first time and weren’t aware and there were those who obviously didn’t care and were actually motivated more by it,” Galvin said.
Galvin said his campaign has seen further acts of vandalism, where campaign materials were vandalized, but none of those acts held such a clear anti-gay bias.
Still, Galvin said he’s feeling optimistic about his campaign and noted the difference between the first-place candidate to the fifth-place candidate could be “as much as two to three percentage points.”
Meanwhile, Justin Flippen, a tourism project coordinator for the Fort Lauderdale, Fla. area, is seeking the Democratic nomination to run for a state legislative seat representing a district in South Florida.
Flippen, who’s vice mayor of the city of Wilton Manors, said he’s interested in pursuing the seat to bring more effective Democratic representation to the Florida state capital.
“We need a strong Democratic representative from District 92 in Tallahassee that represents all of the communities of the district, including the LGBT community most particularly,” Flippen said.
He’s running against incumbent Democratic legislator Gwyndolen Clarke-Reid for the party nomination, whom he said has “not at all” been faithful to Democratic principles in her seat as a state representative.
Among Clarke-Reid’s votes that Flippen criticizes are her votes for school vouchers and utility rate hikes for power companies. Flippen also took issue with Clarke-Reid’s lack of sponsorship of any state pro-LGBT legislation and her opposition to same-sex marriage, which he noted isn’t consistent with the national Democratic Party platform.
“I was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 2008,” Flippen said. “I voted on the platform. I think we said that everyone’s included in the fabric of American society, particularly the LGBT community.”
The Clarke-Reed campaign didn’t respond to the Blade’s request to comment for this article.
Flippen said Clarke-Reed’s lack of support for pro-LGBT bills isn’t representative of her district because so many LGBT people live there. He estimated that the same-sex couple households comprise about one-third of the district’s population.
“You would think that the district — with such a large proportion of GLBT same-sex households — would have a state representative that is very much in step with the GLBT community,” he said. “In fact, we do not have that. That will be changed in this election cycle.”
Noting that he would be the first openly gay person elected to the Florida state legislature, Flippen said he thinks his voice will be important when LGBT issues come before lawmakers.
“There needs to be a voice in the state legislature that stands for a community that has never had a voice before,” he said. “I will be there at every opportunity to stand up for equality and the equal rights for everyone, which we’ve not seen with great fervor in the state legislature.”
Flippen said his chances of winning the seat in November are “very good” and that he’s received important endorsements, including from Broward County Mayor Ken Keechl.
“I wouldn’t be running if I didn’t think we had a better than good chance,” he said. “I’m pleased that we have walked over 60 percent of this entire district by foot and met with more than 5,000 voters in over 2,500 households.”
U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court to consider bans on trans athletes in school sports
27 states have passed laws limiting participation in athletics programs

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear two cases involving transgender youth challenging bans prohibiting them from participating in school sports.
In Little v. Hecox, plaintiffs represented by the ACLU, Legal Voice, and the law firm Cooley are challenging Idaho’s 2020 ban, which requires sex testing to adjudicate questions of an athlete’s eligibility.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals described the process in a 2023 decision halting the policy’s enforcement pending an outcome in the litigation. The “sex dispute verification process, whereby any individual can ‘dispute’ the sex of any female student athlete in the state of Idaho,” the court wrote, would “require her to undergo intrusive medical procedures to verify her sex, including gynecological exams.”
In West Virginia v. B.P.J., Lambda Legal, the ACLU, the ACLU of West Virginia, and Cooley are representing a trans middle school student challenging the Mountain State’s 2021 ban on trans athletes.
The plaintiff was participating in cross country when the law was passed, taking puberty blockers that would have significantly reduced the chances that she could have a physiological advantage over cisgender peers.
“Like any other educational program, school athletic programs should be accessible for everyone regardless of their sex or transgender status,” said Joshua Block, senior counsel for the ACLU’s LGBTQ and HIV Project. “Trans kids play sports for the same reasons their peers do — to learn perseverance, dedication, teamwork, and to simply have fun with their friends,” Block said.
He added, “Categorically excluding kids from school sports just because they are transgender will only make our schools less safe and more hurtful places for all youth. We believe the lower courts were right to block these discriminatory laws, and we will continue to defend the freedom of all kids to play.”
“Our client just wants to play sports with her friends and peers,” said Lambda Legal Senior Counsel Tara Borelli. “Everyone understands the value of participating in team athletics, for fitness, leadership, socialization, and myriad other benefits.”
Borelli continued, “The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit last April issued a thoughtful and thorough ruling allowing B.P.J. to continue participating in track events. That well-reasoned decision should stand the test of time, and we stand ready to defend it.”
Shortly after taking control of both legislative chambers, Republican members of Congress tried — unsuccessfully — to pass a national ban like those now enforced in 27 states since 2020.
Federal Government
UPenn erases Lia Thomas’s records as part of settlement with White House
University agreed to ban trans women from women’s sports teams

In a settlement with the Trump-Vance administration announced on Tuesday, the University of Pennsylvania will ban transgender athletes from competing and erase swimming records set by transgender former student Lia Thomas.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found the university in violation of Title IX, the federal rights law barring sex based discrimination in educational institutions, by “permitting males to compete in women’s intercollegiate athletics and to occupy women-only intimate facilities.”
The statement issued by University of Pennsylvania President J. Larry Jameson highlighted how the law’s interpretation was changed substantially under President Donald Trump’s second term.
“The Department of Education OCR investigated the participation of one transgender athlete on the women’s swimming team three years ago, during the 2021-2022 swim season,” he wrote. “At that time, Penn was in compliance with NCAA eligibility rules and Title IX as then interpreted.”
Jameson continued, “Penn has always followed — and continues to follow — Title IX and the applicable policy of the NCAA regarding transgender athletes. NCAA eligibility rules changed in February 2025 with Executive Orders 14168 and 14201 and Penn will continue to adhere to these new rules.”
Writing that “we acknowledge that some student-athletes were disadvantaged by these rules” in place while Thomas was allowed to compete, the university president added, “We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time.”
“Today’s resolution agreement with UPenn is yet another example of the Trump effect in action,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, UPenn has agreed both to apologize for its past Title IX violations and to ensure that women’s sports are protected at the university for future generations of female athletes.”
Under former President Joe Biden, the department’s Office of Civil Rights sought to protect against anti-LGBTQ discrimination in education, bringing investigations and enforcement actions in cases where school officials might, for example, require trans students to use restrooms and facilities consistent with their birth sex or fail to respond to peer harassment over their gender identity.
Much of the legal reasoning behind the Biden-Harris administration’s positions extended from the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County, which found that sex-based discrimination includes that which is based on sexual orientation or gender identity under Title VII rules covering employment practices.
The Trump-Vance administration last week put the state of California on notice that its trans athlete policies were, or once were, in violation of Title IX, which comes amid the ongoing battle with Maine over the same issue.
New York
Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade
One of the victims remains in critical condition

On Sunday night, following the annual NYC Pride March, two girls were shot in Sheridan Square, feet away from the historic Stonewall Inn.
According to an NYPD report, the two girls, aged 16 and 17, were shot around 10:15 p.m. as Pride festivities began to wind down. The 16-year-old was struck in the head and, according to police sources, is said to be in critical condition, while the 17-year-old was said to be in stable condition.
The Washington Blade confirmed with the NYPD the details from the police reports and learned no arrests had been made as of noon Monday.
The shooting took place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, mere feet away from the most famous gay bar in the city — if not the world — the Stonewall Inn. Earlier that day, hundreds of thousands of people marched down Christopher Street to celebrate 55 years of LGBTQ people standing up for their rights.
In June 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, members of the LGBTQ community pushed back, sparking what became known as the Stonewall riots. Over the course of two days, LGBTQ New Yorkers protested the discriminatory policing of queer spaces across the city and mobilized to speak out — and throw bottles if need be — at officers attempting to suppress their existence.
The following year, LGBTQ people returned to the Stonewall Inn and marched through the same streets where queer New Yorkers had been arrested, marking the first “Gay Pride March” in history and declaring that LGBTQ people were not going anywhere.
New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, whose district includes Greenwich Village, took to social media to comment on the shooting.
“After decades of peaceful Pride celebrations — this year gun fire and two people shot near the Stonewall Inn is a reminder that gun violence is everywhere,” the lesbian lawmaker said on X. “Guns are a problem despite the NRA BS.”
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