National
Tipper Gore attends GetEqual event
Gay action group launches plan for state protests
Tipper Gore, wife of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, was among about 100 people who turned out Sunday night for a first year anniversary celebration and fundraiser in D.C. for the LGBT direct action group GetEqual.
The group attracted national headlines last year when it organized non-violent “civil disobedience” protests against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in which participants got arrested for handcuffing themselves to the White House fence.
“I’m honored that people were willing to show up and happy to talk about our full equality agenda,” said Robin McGehee, co-founder and executive director of GetEqual.
The event took place at the Mitchell Gold-Bob Williams furniture store showroom on 14th Street, N.W., where co-owner Mitchell Gold, a GetEqual supporter, served as host.
McGehee has said GetEqual was formed to organize the type of non-violent civil disobedience demonstrations used by the African-American civil rights movement in the 1960s, where lunch counter sit-ins and other actions drew attention to segregation laws and other forms of racial discrimination.
She told the gathering Sunday night that similar to the 1960s-era civil rights movement groups, GetEqual believes it’s necessary to stage protests against political leaders supportive of LGBT rights, such as President Obama and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, whom the group felt were not doing enough to advance equality for LGBT people.
The group staged sit-in demonstrations at Pelosi’s offices in Washington and San Francisco last year.
She said the group hopes to work in harmony with other national and state LGBT organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign, Service Members Legal Defense Network, and National Gay & Lesbian Task Force.
Gore did not speak at the event. GetEqual public relations representative Brad Luna said she made a $100 contribution to the group. Luna said her friend, gay activist Philip DuFour, a former aide to the Gores during the Clinton administration, was among the organizers of the GetEqual event.
“GetEqual is not going to survive if we don’t have the community investing in helping it survive,” McGehee said. “So we’re hoping that people will emerge that are willing to help support the organization, to host house parties or fundraisers.”
The group this year is launching a new program called Organizing for Equality to “highlight state based actions to eliminate the injustice of discrimination and compliment it with national actions,” she said. “So for example, on Valentine’s Day we had 37 actions in 13 different states.”
Another round of actions and protests across the country are planned for “tax day” on April 15, McGehee said, to highlight how LGBT people are taxed but continue to face discrimination and are not protected by non-discrimination laws in most states.
Among those attending Sunday’s event in D.C. were participants who were arrested for handcuffing themselves to the White House fence in a GetEqual protest last November, including former U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Miriam Ben-Shalom, former Marine Corps Sgt. Justin Elzie, and former ROTC Cadet Mara Boyd. The three were discharged from the military in years prior to the White House protests because of their sexual orientation.
Also speaking were veteran D.C. gay activist Frank Kameny and Jon Reinish, special assistant to U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who said Gillibrand is strongly committed to LGBT civil rights.
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.”
New York
Zohran Mamdani participates in NYC Pride parade
Mayoral candidate has detailed LGBTQ rights platform

Zohran Mamdani, the candidate for mayor of New York City who pulled a surprise victory in the primary contest last week, walked in the city’s Pride parade on Sunday.
The Democratic Socialist and New York State Assembly member published photos on social media with New York Attorney General Letitia James, telling followers it was “a joy to march in NYC Pride with the people’s champ” and to “see so many friends on this gorgeous day.”
“Happy Pride NYC,” he wrote, adding a rainbow emoji.
Mamdani’s platform includes a detailed plan for LGBTQ people who “across the United States are facing an increasingly hostile political environment.”
His campaign website explains: “New York City must be a refuge for LGBTQIA+ people, but private institutions in our own city have already started capitulating to Trump’s assault on trans rights.
“Meanwhile, the cost of living crisis confronting working class people across the city hits the LGBTQIA+ community particularly hard, with higher rates of unemployment and homelessness than the rest of the city.”
“The Mamdani administration will protect LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers by expanding and protecting gender-affirming care citywide, making NYC an LGBTQIA+ sanctuary city, and creating the Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs.”
U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court upholds ACA rule that makes PrEP, other preventative care free
Liberal justices joined three conservatives in majority opinion

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a portion of the Affordable Care Act requiring private health insurers to cover the cost of preventative care including PrEP, which significantly reduces the risk of transmitting HIV.
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the majority opinion in the case, Kennedy v. Braidwood Management. He was joined by two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, along with the three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown-Jackson.
The court’s decision rejected the plaintiffs’ challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s reliance on the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force to “unilaterally” determine which types of care and services must be covered by payors without cost-sharing.
An independent all-volunteer panel of nationally recognized experts in prevention and primary care, the 16 task force members are selected by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to serve four-year terms.
They are responsible for evaluating the efficacy of counseling, screenings for diseases like cancer and diabetes, and preventative medicines — like Truvada for PrEP, drugs to reduce heart disease and strokes, and eye ointment for newborns to prevent infections.
Parties bringing the challenge objected especially to the mandatory coverage of PrEP, with some arguing the drugs would “encourage and facilitate homosexual behavior” against their religious beliefs.
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