Politics
HUD campaign raises housing non-discrimination awareness
Department examines comments for proposed non-discrimination rule
The Department of Housing & Urban Development is launching a new campaign that aims to inform LGBT people about services related to housing discrimination as the department works to make final a rule that, in some circumstances, could provide recourse to LGBT people who encounter bias in housing.
The campaign, titled “Live Free,” kicked off last week and will run throughout 2011. The initiative includes Facebook ads, targeted print ads, digital videos, and podcasts.Ā For example, one print ad reads āShould Gender Stereotypes Influence Where Your live? Learn More.ā
John TrasviƱa,Ā HUD’s assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity, said the campaign is intended to highlight the protections HUD offers against housing discrimination.
“We recognize that we can have all the rules we want, but unless people know about them, they’re not going to mean anything,” TrasviƱa said. “So, in addition to some of the actions that we’ve taken, what we’re trying to do through this public service campaign is to elevate our presence in the LGBT community … so people who have been discriminated against, or people who feel they have been barred from housing, will be able to know that they may have rights under federal law, and, if not, they have it under state and local law.”
The Fair Housing Act doesn’t explicitlyĀ prohibit housing discrimination based on ofĀ sexual orientation and gender identity. However, housing discrimination against someone who is LGBT may, in some cases, violate the law’s existing provisions, including its prohibition against gender discrimination. Additionally, 20 states and more than 200 local government have made LGBT-related housing discrimination illegal.
“While the person think it’s because of the LGBT status, maybe it’s because of their LGBT status and race, or they have a disability,” TrasviƱa said. “Rather than just saying, ‘We don’t cover LGBT cases,’ we’re now saying, ‘We will look into it and see whether we do have jurisdiction.'”
TrasviƱa said he couldn’t estimate the breadth of the campaign — or quantify in how many paper the ads would appear — because he said the campaign is just underway and the budget for the remainder of the fiscal year is still in question. The secretary also said he didn’t immediately have a cost estimate for the campaign.
As the “Live Free” campaign launches, HUD is in the process of implementation a proposed rule to ensure that HUDĀ housing and programs are open to all, irrespective of marital status, gender identify, and sexual orientation. The proposed rule doesn’t apply to private housing, but HUD housing and programs.
The 60-day comment period for the proposed rule, which was announced in late January, ended on March 25.Ā TrasviƱa said HUD has been examining the more than 300 comments it received during this period and said theyĀ were “overwhelming positive.”
“The rule itself is a recognition by HUD that our programs and our housing … are open to all families,” TrasviƱa said. “We want to make sure that that concept translates into the 21st century. So we want to make sure that 21st families, which LGBT members, are able to have access to HUD programs and HUD housing.”
TrasviƱa said the rule would be made final by the end of the year, but said he couldn’t give a more definite particular date.
Congress
McBride, other US lawmakers travel to Denmark
Trumpās demand for Greenlandās annexation overshadowed trip
Delaware Congresswoman Sarah McBride is among the 11 members of Congress who traveled to Denmark over the past weekend amid President Donald Trumpās continued calls for the U.S. to take control of Greenland.
McBride, the first openly transgender person elected to Congress, traveled to Copenhagen, the Danish capital, with U.S. Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and U.S. Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.), and Sarah Jacobs (D-Calif.). The lawmakers met with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic MP Pipaluk Lynge, among others.
āIām grateful to Sen. Coons for his leadership in bringing together a bipartisan, bicameral delegation to reaffirm our support in Congress for our NATO ally, Denmark,ā said McBride in a press release that detailed the trip. āDelaware understands that our security and prosperity depend on strong partnerships rooted in mutual respect, sovereignty, and self-determination. At a time of growing global instability, this trip could not be more poignant.”
Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark with a population of less than 60,000 people. Trump maintains the U.S. needs to control the mineral-rich island in the Arctic Ocean between Europe and North America because of national security.
The Associated Press notes thousands of people on Saturday in Nuuk, the Greenlandic capital, protested against Trump. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is among those who have criticized Trump over his suggestion the U.S. would impose tariffs against countries that do not support U.S. annexation of Greenland.
A poll that Sermitsiaq, a Greenlandic newspaper, and Berlingske, a Danish newspaper, commissioned last January indicates 85 percent do not want Greenland to become part of the U.S. The pro-independence Demokraatit party won parliamentary elections that took place on March 12, 2025.
āAt this critical juncture for our countries, our message was clear as members of Congress: we value the U.S.-Denmark partnership, the NATO alliance, and the right of Greenlanders to self-determination,ā said McBride on Sunday in a Facebook post that contained pictures of her and her fellow lawmakers meeting with their Danish and Greenlandic counterparts.
Congress
Van Hollen speaks at ‘ICE Out for Good’ protest in D.C.
ICE agent killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7
U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) is among those who spoke at an “ICE Out for Good” protest that took place outside U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s headquarters in D.C. on Tuesday.
The protest took place six days after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis.
Good left behind her wife and three children.
(Video by Michael K. Lavers)
Congress
Advocates say MTG bill threatens trans youth, families, and doctors
The “Protect Childrenās Innocence” Act passed in the House
Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has a long history of targeting the transgender community as part of her political agenda. Now, after announcing her resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives, attempting to take away trans rights may be the last thing she does in her official capacity.
The proposed legislation, dubbed “Protect Childrenās Innocence Act” is among the most extreme anti-trans measures to move through Congress. It would put doctors in jail for up to 10 years if they provide gender-affirming care to minors ā including prescribing hormone replacement therapy to adolescents or puberty blockers to younger children. The bill also aims to halt gender-affirming surgeries for minors, though those procedures are rare.
Greene herself described the bill on X, saying if passed, āit would make it a Class C felony to trans a child under 18.ā
According to KFF, a nonpartisan source for health policy research, polling, and journalism, 27 states have enacted policies limiting youth access to gender-affirming care. Roughly half of all trans youth ages 13ā17 live in a state with such restrictions, and 24 states impose professional or legal penalties on health care practitioners who provide that care.
Greene has repeatedly introduced the bill since 2021, the year she entered Congress, but it failed to advance. Now, in exchange for her support for the National Defense Authorization Act, the legislation reached the House floor for the first time.
According to the 19th, U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first trans member of Congress, rebuked Republicans on the Capitol steps Wednesday for advancing anti-trans legislation while allowing Affordable Care Act tax credits to expire ā a move expected to raise health care costs for millions of Americans.
āThey would rather have us focus in and debate a misunderstood and vulnerable one percent of the population, instead of focusing in on the fact that they are raiding everyoneās health care,ā McBride said. āThey are obsessed with trans people ⦠they are consumed with this.ā
Polling suggests the public largely opposes criminalizing gender-affirming care.
A recent survey by the Human Rights Campaign and Global Strategy Group found that 73 percent of voters in U.S. House battleground districts oppose laws that would jail doctors or parents for providing transition-related care. Additionally, 77 percent oppose forcing trans people off medically recommended medication. Nearly seven in 10 Americans said politicians are not informed enough to make decisions about medical care for trans youth.
The bill passed the House and now heads to the U.S. Senate for further consideration.
According to reporting by Erin Reed of Erin In The Morning, three Democrats ā U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez of Texas and Don Davis of North Carolina ā crossed party lines to vote in favor of the felony ban, joining 213 Republicans. A total of 207 Democrats voted against the bill, while three lawmakers from both parties abstained.
Advocates and lawmakers warned the bill is dangerous and unprecedented during a multi-organizational press call Tuesday. Leaders from the Human Rights Campaign and the Trevor Project joined U.S. Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Dr. Kenneth Haller, and parents of trans youth to discuss the potential impact of restrictive policies like Greeneās ā particularly in contrast to President Donald Trumpās leniency toward certain criminals, with more than 1,500 pardons issued this year.
āOur MAGA GOP government has pardoned drug traffickers. Theyāve pardoned people who tried to overthrow the government on January 6, but now they want to put pediatricians and parents into a jail cell for caring for their kids,ā said Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson. āNo one asked for Marjorie Taylor Greene or Dan Crenshaw or any politician to be in their doctorās office, and they should mind their own business.ā
Balint, co-chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, questioned why medical decisions are being made by lawmakers with no clinical expertise.
āParents and doctors already have to worry about state laws banning care for their kids, and this bill would introduce the risk of federal criminal prosecution,ā Balint said. āWeāre talking about jail time. Weāre talking about locking people up for basic medical care, care that is evidence-based, age-appropriate and life-saving.ā
āThese are decisions that should be made by doctors and parents and those kids that need this gender-affirming care, not certainly by Marjorie Taylor Greene.ā
Haller, an emeritus professor of pediatrics at St. Louis University School of Medicine, described the legislation as rooted in ideology rather than medicine.
āIt is not science, it is just blind ideology,ā Haller said.
āThe doctor tells you that as parents, as well as the doctor themselves, could be convicted of a felony and be sentenced up to 10 years in prison just for pursuing a course of action that will give your child their only chance for a happy and healthy future,ā he added. āIt is not in the stateās best interests, and certainly not in the interests of us, the citizens of this country, to interfere with medical decisions that people make about their own bodies and their own lives.ā
Haller’s sentiment is echoed by doctors across the country.
The American Medical Association, the nation’s largest organization that represents doctors across the country in various parts of medicine has a longstanding support for gender-affirming care.
“The AMA supports public and private health insurance coverage for treatment of gender dysphoria and opposes the denial of health insurance based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” their website reads.
Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, senior vice president of public engagement campaigns at the Trevor Project, agreed.
āIn Marjorie Taylor Greeneās bill [it] even goes so far as to criminalize and throw a parent in jail for this,ā Heng-Lehtinen said. āMedical decisions should be between patients, families, and their doctors.ā
Rachel Gonzalez, a parent of a transgender teen and LGBTQ advocate, said the bill would harm families trying to act in their childrenās best interests.
āNo politician should be in any doctorās office or in our living room making private health care decisions ā especially not Marjorie Taylor Greene,ā Gonzalez said. āMy daughter and no trans youth should ever be used as a political pawn.ā
Other LGBTQ rights activists also condemned the legislation.
Tyler Hack, executive director of the Christopher Street Project, called the bill āan abominable attack on the transgender community.ā
āMarjorie Taylor Greeneās last-ditch effort to bring her 3-times failed bill to a vote is an abominable attack on the transgender community and further cements a Congressional career defined by hate and bigotry,ā they said. āWe are counting down the days until sheās off Capitol Hill ā but as the bill goes to the floor this week, our leaders must stand up one last time to her BS and protect the safety of queer kids and medical providers. Full stop.ā
Hack added that āhealthcare is a right, not a privilegeā in the U.S., and this attack on trans healthcare is an attack on queer rights altogether.
āMarjorie Taylor Greene has no place in deciding what care is necessary,ā Hack added. āThis is another attempt to legislate trans and queer people out of existence while peddling an agenda rooted in pseudoscience and extremism.ā
U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, also denounced the legislation.
āThis bill is the most extreme anti-transgender legislation to ever pass through the House of Representatives and a direct attack on the rights of parents to work with their children and their doctors to provide them with the medical care they need,ā Takano said. āThis bill is beyond cruel and its passage will forever be a stain on the institution of the United States Congress.ā
The bill is unlikely to advance in the Senate, where it would need 60 votes to pass.
