National
Gates working to implement ‘Don’t Ask’ repeal
No timeline, but ‘this is high on his agenda’
Senior Defense Department officials are already working toward implementing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal, according to the Pentagon.
“This is high on [Defense Secretary Robert Gates’] agenda, and his senior staff is focused on it this week,” said Eileen Lainez, a Pentagon spokesperson, via e-mail to the Blade.
On Dec. 22, President Obama signed legislation allowing for repeal of the 17-year-old law banning open gays from serving in the U.S. military.
But repeal won’t take effect until the president, the defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff issue certification that the armed forces are ready for an end to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” There is no set time for when this certification would take place, and the Obama administration hasn’t issued a timetable for when it might happen.
Additionally, after certification is issued, a 60-day waiting period for congressional review must take place before gays can serve openly in the U.S. military without fear of discharge.
Lainez said Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Clifford Stanley is working with the military service branches, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the combatant commands throughout the process for repeal.
“Planning for successful repeal includes reviewing and revising policies and directives, establishing education and training materials, developing integrated communication plans and obtaining feedback throughout the process,” Lainez said.
Capt. John Kirby, spokesperson for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, said the Pentagon is working through issues of implementation and certification. He said no final decisions have been made and he couldn’t offer further comment about Mullen’s plan for issuing certification.
A White House spokesperson deferred comment to the Defense Department on questions for when the president would issue certification. In an interview last month with the Advocate, President Obama predicted that certification for repeal would happen in “a matter of months.”
Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center, said implementation of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal shouldn’t be a long process because the Pentagon already established a policy to allow gays to serve openly in the military when a California federal court in October issued an injunction that temporarily enjoined enforcement of the law.
“Although they haven’t acknowledged this in public, the replacement regulations have already been written, and so the Pentagon could easily repeal the ban today if there was the political will,” Belkin said.
Belkin said lessons learned from foreign countries that have lifted their bans on gays in the military show two things are necessary for repeal: strong leadership and a set of rules that apply to everyone without mentioning sexual orientation.
“The commander-in-chief has said the policy hurts the military and research has also shown that there’s no advantage to the policy and that it’s easy to change,” Belkin said.
Michael Cole-Schwartz, a Human Rights Campaign spokesperson, said his organization foresees a similarly expeditious path for implementing repeal.
“President Obama, in his public statement and in his commitments to us, has said that he does not want this to be a drawn out process,” Cole-Schwartz said. “Our advocacy for the Pentagon and the White House is going to be for them to keep that commitment.”
Belkin said he suspects opposition to repeal from some military service chiefs — Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz — could slow the process for certification. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead has said he supports repeal.
“Casey in particular is leaving soon and doesn’t want to be known as the Army chief of staff who let gays in on his watch,” Belkin said. “The foot-dragging is not about some sincere or legitimate sense that the troops need to be trained on how to deal with gays; it’s because they don’t want to be around when the policy happens.”
One lingering question about certification is whether Gates would remain in his role as defense secretary when certification takes place. The defense secretary has said he intends to retire sometime this year, although the specific date hasn’t yet been announced.
Belkin said he doesn’t think Gates would retire as defense secretary before he certifies repeal as “a matter of personal, professional pride for him to get this done on his watch.”
“It’s hard for me to believe that he will walk away from the process without finishing it,” Belkin said. “That’s not because I know anything from the inside, but just kind of triangulating the little pieces of insight here and there.”
Gates has said he wouldn’t certify repeal until training for open service has been implemented and he feels the service chiefs are comfortable moving forward.
Federal Government
RFK Jr.’s HHS report pushes therapy, not medical interventions, for trans youth
‘Discredited junk science’ — GLAAD
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.”
The White House
Trump nominates Mike Waltz to become next UN ambassador
Former Fla. congressman had been national security advisor
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.
U.S. Federal Courts
Second federal lawsuit filed against White House passport policy
Two of seven plaintiffs live in Md.
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.
I make more money than my partner and getting resentful
D.C. liquor board extends drinking hours for WorldPride
PHOTOS: Victory Fund National Champagne Brunch
Executive director of LGBTQ Catholic group to travel to Rome for conclave
Tom Goss returns with ‘Bear Friends Furever Tour’
TRAITOR: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has blood on his hands
Potential Pope Francis successor views homosexuality as an ‘abomination’
Jacob Elordi rides high in ‘On Swift Horses’
Liberal Party wins Canadian election
