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Down to the wire for Fenty, Gray

Prominent activists, disappointed in mayor, embrace Council chair

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Council Chair Vince Gray and Mayor Adrian Fenty. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

After months of sitting on the fence, many of the cityā€™s most prominent LGBT activists have come out in support of City Council Chairman Vincent Gray (D-At-Large) over Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) in the cityā€™s Tuesday Democratic primary.

Similar to reports about voter sentiment in many parts of the city, some LGBT activists say their enthusiasm for Fenty in the months following his landslide election in 2006 diminished over the past three years on both gay and non-gay issues.

Like their straight counterparts, a number of LGBT activists said Fenty seemed to show a lack of interest in speaking out on issues of importance to them, including hate crimes targeting the LGBT community.

ā€œAdrian is very bright and energetic and heā€™s well meaning,ā€ said gay and AIDS activist Michael Sainte-Andress. ā€œBut one of the things that Vince has that Adrian lacks is the maturity and the wisdom to understand that you have to be genuinely concerned about the people that youā€™re elected to represent.ā€

Gay Democratic activists Peter Rosenstein and Lane Hudson, who supported Fenty in the 2006 mayoral election, were among the early supporters this year of Grayā€™s candidacy for mayor. Citing their disappointment in Fentyā€™s handling of both gay and non-gay issues, the two agreed to add their names to a new Gray campaign website called FormerlyFenty.com, in which dozens of former Fenty supporters explain why theyā€™re now backing Gray.

Rosenstein and Hudson have said that despite Fentyā€™s support for same-sex marriage, Gray has taken a greater interest in other issues of concern to the LGBT community, especially hate crimes.

Gay Fenty supporters, including Capitol Hill Realtor and Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Neil Glick, dispute claims by Fenty critics that the mayor is uncaring, saying Fenty has improved city services that impact both gays and non-gays.

ā€œFor mayor, I donā€™t need Miss Congeniality,ā€ said Glick. ā€œAnd no one leader is 100 percent perfect. But we have to look at the bigger picture. We are light years ahead of where we were in the recent past.ā€

Gay ANC Commissioner Alex Padro, who represents the cityā€™s Shaw neighborhood, echoed Glickā€™s sentiment.

ā€œItā€™s not about personalities, itā€™s about performance,ā€ Padro said. ā€œShaw has seen major improvements under Fenty. And Iā€™m pleased to be able to say the vast majority of people in my neighborhood ā€” both LGBT and straight ā€” favor giving the mayor another term to complete his work.ā€

Veteran D.C. gay rights leader Frank Kameny, who said he has yet to decide whether to vote for Fenty or Gray, appeared to sum up the views of activists who consider both candidates friends of the community.

ā€œI would be perfectly happy to have either one of them as my mayor for the next four years,ā€ he said.

In other city races, gay Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) is the strong favorite to win his partyā€™s nomination in the primary and win re-election to another term in November.

But Democratic at-large candidate Clark Ray, who some LGBT activists hoped would become the third out gay member of the City Council, is trailing badly in his race, with just 7 percent support, according to a recent Washington Post poll.

While the same Washington Post poll shows Gray leading Fenty by a margin of 49 to 36 percent among city-wide Democratic voters, some Fenty supporters predict the LGBT vote, although appearing to be divided, could still tilt toward Fenty before the polls close on election day.

Some Gray backers, including Rosenstein, predict the LGBT vote will go to Gray by a margin of about 60 percent to 40 percent for Fenty.

Gray and Fenty each have longstanding records of support on LGBT issues, with Gray voting for and Fenty signing the cityā€™s historic same-sex marriage law last December.

The Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the cityā€™s largest LGBT political group, has endorsed Gray.

The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, a non-partisan group, gave Gray a rating score on LGBT and some-non-LGBT issues of +8.5 on a rating scale of -10 to +10. The group gave Fenty a score of +4, saying the mayor disagreed with its position on some issues, including a gay adoption bill that LGBT activists backed but Fenty initially opposed at the advice of his attorney general, Peter Nickles, on grounds that it would violateĀ federal adoption related rules.

Gay rights attorney Nancy Polikoff, who is considered an expert on family law issues, disputed Nicklesā€™ assessment of the federal rules. D.C. Council eventually passed the bill and Fenty signed it.

In a statement accompanying its ratings, GLAA says that in addition to his initial opposition to the gay adoption bill, Fenty lost points in his rating score for breaking a 2006 campaign promise to consult with the LGBT community on his selection of a police chief and director of the Office of Human Rights. The group noted that the mayor made the appointments without consulting the community.

The Post poll did not identify LGBT voters. The Blade conducted an unscientific straw poll during the cityā€™s June 13 Capital Pride festival, which showed Fenty leading Gray among LGBT festival goers participating in the poll by a margin of 41 percent to 34 percent.

Meanwhile, Democratic mayoral candidate Leo Alexander, who has joined same-sex marriage opponents in calling for allowing voters to decide whether to overturn the marriage law through a ballot initiative, received just 1 percent support from participants in the Post poll. GLAA gave Alexander a -3 rating.

Fenty and Gray have expressed opposition to holding a voter initiative on the marriage law and have backed a ruling by the cityā€™s election board that rejected such a ballot measure on grounds that, if approved, it would violate the cityā€™s human rights law. The human rights law, among other things, prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Two other Democratic mayoral candidates ā€“ Sulaimon Brown and Ernest Johnson ā€“ received a ā€œ0ā€ rating from GLAA for not returning the GLAA candidates questionnaire and not having a known record on LGBT issues. The Post poll showed Brown receiving just 1 percent support and Johnson receiving less than 1 percent among participants in the citywide poll.

Perennial mayoral candidate Faith, who has entered the cityā€™s mayoral race nearly every four years since the 1980s, also received a ā€œ0ā€ GLAA rating for failing to return the groupā€™s questionnaire. Faith, who is running this year in the Statehood Green Party primary, received less than 1 percent support in the Post poll.

Ward 5 City Council candidate Delano Hunter, who is challenging incumbent Council member Harry Thomas Jr. in the Democratic primary, has also expressed support for a ballot initiative to decide whether to overturn the marriage law. Most political observers believe he is trailing far behind Thomas, who supports same-sex marriage equality and opposes holding a ballot measure on the issue.

At the time Council approved the same-sex marriage law last December, at least one opponent of the bill, Rev. Anthony Evans, predicted voters would rise up to defeat each of the 11 Council members who voted for it.Ā Evans and Rev. Harry Jackson, one of the leaders of a campaign to defeat the marriage bill, vowed to recruit candidates to oppose the Council members backing the bill.

At-Large Council race

GLAA Vice President Rick Rosendall said the fact that candidates emerged to oppose Council members supporting the marriage bill in just three races and have little or no chance of winning confirms the cityā€™s longstanding reputation as a progressive, LGBT-supportive jurisdiction.

ā€œOddly enough, the only Council member supportive of the marriage bill thatā€™s in serious danger of being knocked off is Phil Mendelson, but not by an opponent of marriage equality,ā€ said Rosendall.

He was referring to Mendelson in his role as an LGBT-supportive at-large Council member who is running 17 points behind challenger Michael D. Brown, the largely unknown D.C. shadow senator, in a Washington Post poll that stunned the cityā€™s political establishment.

Political observers agree that Brownā€™s lead over Mendelson among registered Democrats is due to voter confusion over Brownā€™s name, which is the same as that of incumbent D.C. Council member Michael A. Brown (I-At-Large).

Council member Brown, who is not running for re-election this year, has endorsed Mendelson and has joined Vincent Gray in an aggressive public awareness campaign to clear up the confusion over the two Browns. Gray has also endorsed Mendelson.

Based on Mendelsonā€™s lead role in pushing through the same-sex marriage bill as well as other actions in support of LGBT legislation, GLAA gave Mendelson a perfect rating of +10.

Mendelson also received the Stein Clubā€™s endorsement over shadow senator Brown and his second primary opponent, gay former city parks and recreation department director Clark Ray. Ray is shown to have just 7 percent support among Democratic voters participating in the Post poll.

GLAA gave Ray a +5.5 rating. The group said Ray is supportive on all LGBT-related issues but lost points by not elaborating on how he would advance those issues. GLAA said it also docked points from Ray for his decision to seek and accept an endorsement by Rev. Willie Wilson, a local minister who has denounced gays in church sermons in past years. Ray said he has persuaded Wilson, an influential Ward 8 leader, to back down from delivering such sermons and to back LGBT rights.

GLAA gave shadow senator Brown a rating of 0, in part because he failed to return a questionnaire that GLAA uses, along with candidatesā€™ past records, to assess their position on LGBT issues. Brown told the Stein Club that he supports same-sex marriage and opposes a ballot measure on the issue.

Gay Statehood-Green Party candidate Darryl Moch, an assistant pastor with D.C.ā€™s gay oriented Inner Light Ministers and executive director of a local non-profit foundation, is running against Howard University environmental science professor David Schwartzman for the at-large seat in the Statehood-Green Party primary. GLAA gave Moch a +5 rating, saying he provided ā€œstrongā€ responses to the GLAA questionnaire but has no LGBT-related record that the group is aware of.

GLAA gave Schwartzman a +6 rating, calling him ā€œa thoughtful candidate who agrees with GLAA on every issue.ā€ The group says Schwartzman has a ā€œrecord of activism on the medical marijuana initiative and or human rights issues.ā€

Council Chairmanā€™s race

In the race for the D.C. Council Chair seat, which is being vacated by Gray, Council member Kwame Brown (D-At-Large) and opponent Vincent Orange, a former Ward 5 Council member, are competing for the LGBT vote. Brown voted for the same-sex marriage bill and has been supportive on other LGBT issues. Orange drew strong opposition from LGBT activists four years ago when he ran for mayor on a platform opposing same-sex marriage. At the time, he called Fenty and other candidates backing same-sex marriage ā€œmorally unfitā€ to serve in public office.

Orange has since changed his mind on the issue, saying he supports the cityā€™s same-sex marriage law and opposes a ballot measure calling for its repeal. He expressed strong support on a wide range of other LGBT issues in his responses to the GLAA questionnaire.

The Stein Club endorsed Kwame Brown over Orange, and GLAA gave Brown a rating of +5.5 compared to a +4.5 rating for Orange. A third candidate running in the Democratic primary for Council chair, Dorothy Douglas, received a GLAA rating of +2. Statehood-Green Party candidate Ann Wilcox, who is running unopposed in her partyā€™s primary, received a 0 GLAA rating for not returning the groupā€™s questionnaire.

Ward 1

Gay Council incumbent Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), whom activists consider a champion of LGBT causes, received a +10 rating by GLAA and the Stein Club endorsement. A poll commissioned by the Graham campaign and conducted by Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, shows Graham far ahead of his two Democratic opponents, Bryan Weaver, who received a +5.5 GLAA rating, and Jeff Smith, who received a ā€œ0ā€ GLAA rating.

Gay Republican candidate Marc Morgan, who is running unopposed in the GOP primary, would be Grahamā€™s main challenger in the November general election if Graham wins the Democratic primary on Sept. 14. GLAA gave Morgan a +3 rating.

Ward 3

Incumbent Council member Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) is running unopposed in the Democratic primary. A strong supporter of LGBT rights who voted for the same-sex marriage bill, Cheh received a +7.5 rating from GLAA and the Stein Clubā€™s endorsement. She will face off against Republican candidate Dave Hedgepeth in the November election. Hedgepeth is also running unopposed in the primary. He received a ā€œ0ā€ GLAA rating for not returning the questionnaire and not having a known record on LGBT issues.

Ward 5

In the Ward 5 race, Democratic incumbent Thomas faces two other Democratic rivals in addition to Delano Hunter, the candidate favoring a ballot measure seeking to overturn the same-sex marriage law. Tracy Turner received a +2 GLAA rating and Kenyan McDuffie received a ā€œ0ā€ GLAA rating.

Gay Republican Timothy Day, who is running unopposed in the GOP primary, received a +1.5 GLAA rating.

The local gay group Log Cabin Republicans and the gay chair of the D.C. Republican Party, ā€ØRobert Kabel, criticized GLAA for giving the two gay GOP candidates a rating they said was far lower than the two deserve. GLAA officials said Morgan and Day didnā€™t provide sufficient details on their position on LGBT issues or their records of support on those issues in their questionnaire responses. GLAA said it would be willing to revise its ratings for the two candidates if they submit new questionnaire responses in time for the November election.

Ward 6

Incumbent Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), a longtime supporter of LGBT issues who voted for the same-sex marriage law, received the Stein Club endorsement and a GLAA rating of +8.5. Wellsā€™ Democratic challenger, Kelvin Robinson, who opposed the same-sex marriage law when it came before the Council, says he now supports it and ā€œwill not do anything to restrict or repeal it.ā€
GLAA gave Robinson a -1 rating for his initial opposition to the marriage bill and his failure to return the GLAA questionnaire. Robinsonā€™s campaign press spokesperson, Ian Goldstein, said GLAA and some media reports have incorrectly stated that Robinson supports a ballot measure on the marriage law and that he received campaign contributions from the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage. Goldstein noted that NOM endorsed Robinson when Robinson initially entered the race for an at-large Council seat. He said Robinson never sought the NOM endorsement and never accepted any campaign contributions from the group.

He also said Robinson never received the GLAA questionnaire, which GLAA says it sent by certified mail to the campaign post office box address listed by the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics as the Robinson campaignā€™s official address. According to Goldstein, certified mail requires someone to sign and could not be delivered to a post office box. But a spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service told the Blade that a notice of a certified letter would have been left in the P.O. Box, informing the holder of the box to pick up a letter or package at the same post office where the box is located. Goldstein said GLAA should have tried to reach Robinson or the campaign by phone.

GLAA spokesperson Rick Rosendall said GLAA followed up the mailing with an e-mail to the campaign reminding the campaign about the questionnaire. Rosendall said neither Robinson nor the campaign responded.

Republican Jim DeMartino, whoā€™s running unopposed in the GOP primary for Ward 6, received a ā€œ0ā€ GLAA rating. DeMartino did not return the GLAA questionnaire. Wells is considered the strong favorite to win the primary and the general election in November.

Delegate to U.S. House

Longtime incumbent Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) is considered a champion for LGBT issues and causes and is expected to easily win election to an 11th two-year term as the cityā€™s non-voting delegate to the House. She received the Stein Clubā€™s endorsement; GLAA does not issue ratings for the delegate race, but GLAA officials have long praised Norton as a strong ally of the LGBT community.

She is being challenged by Douglass Sloan in the Democratic primary. Republican Missy Reilly Smith is running unopposed in the GOP primary and Statehood-Green Party candidates Natale Nocola Stracuzzi and Rick Tingling-Clemmons are competing in their partyā€™s primary.

U.S. Representative (Shadow House seat)

Incumbent shadow representative Mike Panetta, who supports LGBT rights, is being challenged by Nate Bennett-Fleming in the Democratic primary. Panetta received the Stein Clubā€™s endorsement two years ago, when he first won election to the seat. But this year, the Stein Club endorsed Bennett-Fleming, a political newcomer who has aggressively sought the support of LGBT activists and organizations. Both candidates support same-sex marriage equality and a wide range of other LGBT issues. Fleming, a native Washingtonian from Ward 8, has pledged to include the LGBT community in his efforts to secure full voting rights for D.C. in Congress as a stepping stone to D.C. statehood.

The shadow House and Senate seats, which were created as advocacy positions for D.C. statehood, have no official congressional powers and come with no salary.

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Virginia

Virginia High School League reverses policy on transgender athletes

Trans athletes previously allowed to compete on teams that corresponded with gender identity

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Virginia flag flies over the state Capitol. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Virginia High School League on Monday announced it will no longer allow transgender athletes to compete on teams that correspond with their gender identity following another executive order signed by President Donald Trump targeting trans people.

The VHSL announced their policy change on their X account. It undoes a 2023 announcement that said it would not change their policy that allowed trans athletes to compete on teams that affirmed their identities.

Following a Jan. 28 executive order signed that stopped hospitals and other medical institutions from providing gender-affirming care to minors under that age of 19, Trump on Feb. 5 signed another executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”

The ban seeks ā€œto rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls.ā€ The NCAA and many other educational institutions agreed to implement the ban in fear of losing federal funding.

“The VHSL is an association comprising 318 member schools with more than 177,000 students participating yearly in sports and academic activities. The VHSL is the governing body, and our member schools look to and rely on the VHSL for policy and guidance. To that end, the VHSL will comply with the executive order,” said VHSL Executive Director John W. “Billy” Haun. “The compliance will provide membership clear and consistent direction.”

The VHSL also said staff will be making changes to their handbook and policy manual in the coming days, reminiscent of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scrubbing all of the papers in its database of any now-banned language regarding LGBTQ people and attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The VHSL’s own data indicates only 29 of the student athletes it oversees have been reported as trans since 2022.

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District of Columbia

Booz Allen withdraws as WorldPride corporate sponsor

Company updated programs to comply with Trump executive orders

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(Screenshot courtesy of WorldPride's website)

The U.S. technology company Booz Allen Hamilton has confirmed it has withdrawn as a corporate sponsor for the international LGBTQ WorldPride events scheduled to take place in D.C. from May 17-June 8, according to a report by the Washington Business Journal.

In an exclusive story published Feb.10, the business publication reports that Booz Allen Hamilton disclosed in a statement that its decision to withdraw as a WorldPride sponsor was based on its need to comply with ā€œrecently issued presidential executive orders.ā€

Although the statement did not say so directly, it is referring to executive orders issued since Jan. 20 by President Donald Trump that, among other things, ban government agencies and companies doing business with the government through contracts from promoting or carrying out diversity, equity, and inclusion or ā€œDEIā€ programs.

On its website, Booz Allen Hamilton describes itself as an ā€œadvanced technology company delivering outcomes with speed for Americaā€™s most critical defense, civil, and national securities priorities.ā€ Among the government agencies it does business with, the website statement says, are the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

ā€œWe take this responsibility to our nation seriously,ā€ Washington Business Journal quoted the Booz Allen Hamilton statement regarding WorldPride as saying. ā€œIt demands from us commitment to their best principle to flawless execution and to full compliance with all laws and regulations, including executive orders,ā€ Washington Business Journal quotes the statement as saying.

The Washington Business Journal article includes a photo of more than a dozen of Booz Allen Hamilton employees marching in D.C.ā€™s Capital Pride parade in 2017.

The company did not immediately respond to a request from Washington Blade seeking comment on its WorldPride decision.

Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes most D.C. LGBTQ Pride events and is the lead organizer of WorldPride 2025, in response to a request by the Blade released a statement responding to Booz Allen Hamiltonā€™s sponsorship withdrawal.

ā€œBooz Allen Hamilton is the only organization that has withdrawn its committed financial support for WorldPride,ā€ the statement says. ā€œCPA is proud of its many longstanding legacy sponsors, many of whom have already reaffirmed their commitments to participate in WorldPride this summer,ā€ the statement continues.

ā€œJust like many American companies and LGBTQ+ organizations, we are navigating current challenges and many unknowns,ā€ the statement says. ā€œWe are confident, however, that we will have the support necessary to have a successful and safe WorldPride that meets this moment,ā€ it says.

ā€œThat support includes families, organizations, and businesses from across our community and corporations that truly celebrate diversity and value equity and inclusion for all,ā€ the statement concludes.

The Capital Pride Alliance website last year listed Booz Allen Hamilton as a corporate sponsor for the 2024 Capital Pride events in the category of a ā€œTrue Colorsā€ sponsor, which it said represented a donation of $75,000. But the Capital Pride Alliance statement to the Blade this week says, ā€œWe are not going to share theyā€™re previously planned commitment for 2025.ā€

The statement adds, ā€œMany in our community are extremely vulnerable right now, and standing up for them, standing with them, standing with us, in this movement is what we all need.ā€

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District of Columbia

Trump executive order prompts local hospitals to stop gender-affirming care for youth

Activists marched outside Children’s National on Feb. 2

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A protester stands outside Children's National Hospital in Northwest D.C. on Feb. 2, 2025. (Washington Blade photo by Linus Berggren)

Hospitals in the D.C. area are putting a prompt stop to aiding transgender youth and their families continue their transition after President Donald Trump signed an executive order that bans all gender-affirming care nationwide for minors under 19.

On Jan. 28, days after Trump took office, signed the executive order, ā€œProtecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,ā€ which immediately halted the prescription and medical treatment of gender-affirming care for all minors under the age of 19 across the country. The order use of ā€œchemical and surgical mutilationā€ is in reference to the various kinds of gender-affirming care that youth may receive when in the care of a medical practice.

“Today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a childā€™s sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions.ā€ says the executive order. ā€œThis dangerous trend will be a stain on our nationā€™s history, and it must end.ā€

The executive order laid out various guidelines for medical practices to follow that must be implemented within the coming months. These include ā€œending reliance on junk science,ā€ in referring to following the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s guidelines for youth, and “defunding chemical and surgical mutilation,” which seeks to ban hospitals and medical schools to use federal funding for gender-affirming care.

Hospitals, medical schools, and clinics across the country have begun to abide by the executive order and drop trans and gender diverse youth as they dismantled programs that provided care of any kind that treated a childā€™s gender dysphoria. Childrenā€™s National Hospital in Northwest Washington is one of those institutions.

ā€œChildrenā€™s National is committed to providing compassionate and comprehensive care in accordance with the law,” said Children’s National in a Jan. 30 press release. “As a result, we are currently pausing all puberty blockers and hormone therapy prescriptions for transgender youth patients, per the guidelines in the executive order issued by the White House this week. Childrenā€™s National already does not perform gender affirming surgery for minors.”

“We recognize the impact this change will have, and our commitment to creating a better future for children and families remains at the forefront of our mission,” it added. “We will do everything we can to ensure the same uninterrupted access to mental health counseling, social support, and holistic and respectful care for every patient at Children’s National. We are working directly with patients and providers to ensure every patient has access to the information and support services they need, and we appreciate their continued trust and understanding as we work through these changes.ā€

The hospital did not provide the Washington Blade with additional comment.

Activists in response to the decision organized a march that took place outside Children’s Hospital. on Feb. 2. D.C. Safe Haven, a group founded to ā€œprovide TLGBQ people in the DMV area with opportunities to transform their lives,ā€ helped organize the march.

Similar protests have taken place across the country.

The Gender Liberation Movement organized the “Rise Up for Trans Youth” march in New York’s Union Square on Saturday. The group was one of the organizers of a march that took place in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 4 when the justices heard oral arguments in the U.S. v. Skrmetti case, which challenges a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming care for minors under 18.

ā€œVCU Health and Childrenā€™s Hospital of Richmond at VCU have suspended gender-affirming medications and gender-affirming surgical procedures for patients under 19-years-old in response to an executive order issued by the White House on Jan. 28, 2025, and related state guidance received by VCU on Jan. 30, 2025,” the hospital said in a statement. “Our doors remain open to all patients and their families for screening, counseling, mental health care, and all other health care needs.ā€

Equality Virginia, a queer advocacy group that works across the state, in a statement to the Blade criticized the executive order and response to it.

ā€œExecutive orders are not legislation, they are not law, and they do not supersede state laws,” said Narissa Rahaman, the group’s executive director. “The General Assembly has taken up bills on both transgender athletes and gender-affirming care, and in both cases, the general assembly has declined to pursue bans on either. State law is clear; what is unclear is why the Youngkin administration is spending its final year cozying up to the Trump administration and repeatedly singling out transgender Virginians for discrimination.ā€

ā€œTo the transgender and nonbinary athletes and youth seeking healthcare in Virginia who are feeling scared: Equality Virginia will not stop fighting for you, no matter who occupies the Governorā€™s Mansion or the White House,” added Rahaman.

Petitions are urging D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, Health and Human Services, and Children’s National to use D.C.’s human rights law to challenge the executive orders. Lambda Legal, along with the American Civil Liberties Union and the law firms Jenner & Block and Hogan Lovells have filed lawsuits against Trump’s mandate on behalf of families of trans youth.

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