National
Votes lined up in Senate committee for DOMA repeal
Kohl, Klobuchar voice support for Respect for Marriage Act
New support for legislation that would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act assures that the necessary votes are in place for a favorable Senate committee vote on the measure as advocates maintain hearings should take place first before advancing the bill.
Last week, the Respect for Marriage Act, legislation sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that would repeal the 1996 anti-gay law that prohibits federal recognition of same-sex marriage, gained two additional co-sponsors: Sens. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Herb Kohl (D-Wis.).
Kohl’s support for the legislation is critical because he’s a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and would have a vote when the roll is called to move the legislation to the floor. Lynn Becker, a Kohl spokesperson, said the senator had previously considered DOMA a state issue.
Meanwhile, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), another member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has also said she’d vote for repeal of DOMA in committee, although she’s stopped short of co-sponsoring the legislation. Last month, the Minnesota Independent reported that the senator would back the Respect for Marriage Act.
In a statement provided to the Washington Blade, Klobuchar confirmed that legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act has her support.
āI would vote to repeal this law because I believe same-sex couples and their families should have access to the same basic rights, including hospital visitation and survivor benefits,” Klobuchar said.
The support from Kohl and Klobuchar means that the Respect for Marriage Act has at least 10 votes in the Senate Judiciary Committee ā enough to advance the bill to the Senate floor.
The two Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee publicly came on board in support for DOMA repeal after the Courage Campaign, a progressive California-based grassroots organizing network, pushed the lawmakers to articulate their support.
Rick Jacobs, chair of the Courage Campaign, said his organization began eyeing important votes in the committee upon introduction of the Respect for Marriage Act in March.
“It was two situations where we had this idea … to have people tell their stories locally and to make sure … that these legislators heard that they all have constituents, supporters and donors who are affected by DOMA,” Jacobs said.
In Minnesota, Jacobs said the Courage Campaign circulated an online petition to encourage Klobuchar to voice support for the Respect for Marriage Act. After the initiative, the Minnesota senator said she’d support the legislation.
“We published a blog post on our Prop 8 Trial Tracker asking about her,” Jacobs said. “That got picked up by the Minnesota Independent, and together with folks in state, there was a little pressure put on, and within about a day, as I recall, a state senator had gotten confirmation that she would repeal of DOMA.”
Similarly for Kohl, Courage Campaign launched an online campaign to encourage his support for DOMA repeal. According to the organization, more than 1,000 people wrote to Kohl urging him to back the Respect for Marriage Act.
“We contacted our members in his state — we’ve got 7,000 — and they contacted him,” Jacobs said. “They gave us some really terrific stories and, again, last week, his state director contacted the local equality organization that we’re working with to confirm, to say, ‘Yes. yes, yes, we are going to be on board.'”
Despite having the votes in the Senate Judiciary Committee, imminent plans that exist for the Respect for Marriage Act in the panel are unclear. Erica Chabot, a Senate Judiciary Committee spokesperson, said she was unable to communicate with Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) during the congressional recess about his plans.
Advocates working to advance the legislation say hearings should take place before the bill is sent to the Senate floor to follow regular order and build additional support.
Michael Cole-Schwartz, a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, said “a tremendous amount of work” is needed before the Senate is ready to pass DOMA repeal.
“We are working with Chairman Leahy and other leaders to build support for the bill and we believe a hearing is a good first step to start that education process before decisions are made on tactics for passage,” Cole-Schwartz said.
Jacobs said he would defer to Feinstein’s judgment on when the time is right to hold a committee vote on the Respect for Marriage Act.
“I would defer to Sen. Feinstein, and I say that because I really do trust her on this issue,” Jacobs said. “She looked me in the eye in February — and I’ll never forget this — and she said, ‘I want to repeal DOMA.'”
Still, Jacobs maintained supporters of DOMA repeal “don’t have to sit still for two years” and said congressional testimony would be a big step because pro-repeal hearings have never taken place in the Senate.
Brian Weiss, a Feinstein spokesperson, deferred to earlier comments the senator made during a news conference in March upon introduction of the legislation where she articulated a sentiment similar to HRC’s.
Feinstein predicted that hearings would be held in the Senate Judiciary Committee, followed by a successful vote to report the bill to the floor.
“We use the regular order as much as we can and we can use it the entire way so that the hearings are held and no one can say we pushed anything through, so that everybody has a chance to express themselves,” Feinstein said.
Even if the bill is reported to the Senate floor, significant hurdles remain in passing the legislation. Ending a filibuster in the Senate requires 60 votes, so at least seven Republicans would have to vote in favor of ending debate on the measure. The Respect for Marriage Act as of Tuesday had no GOP support.
Further, the legislation is unlikely to see a vote in the GOP-controlled House, where U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has directed the House general counsel to litigate on behalf of DOMA in court.
To facilitate more support for DOMA repeal, Jacobs said Courage Campaign intends to have a grassroots volunteers in each state by early May and in each congressional district by the end of June pushing lawmakers to back the Respect for Marriage Act.
“We’re going to organize and organize and organize,” Jacobs said. “I assure you, we will see more senators getting on board.”
U.S. Supreme Court
Trans rights supporters, opponents rally outside Supreme Court as justices consider Tenn. law
Oral arguments in U.S. v. Skrmetti case took place Wednesday
At least 1,000 people rallied outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday as the justices considered whether a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth is unconstitutional.
Dueling rallies began early in the morning, with protesters supporting trans rights and protesters supporting Tennesseeās ban on gender-affirming care each stationed with podiums on opposite sides.
Trans rights protesters, who significantly outnumbered the other group, held signs reading āKeep hate out of healthcare,ā and āRespect family medical decisions.ā On the other side, protesters carried signs with messages like āSex change is fantasy,ā and āStop transing gay kids.ā
Ari, a trans person who grew up in Nashville and now lives in D.C., spoke to the Washington Blade about the negative effects of the Tennessee law on the well-being of trans youth.
āI grew up with kids who died because of a lack of trans healthcare, and I am scared of that getting worse,” they said. “All that this bill brings is more dead kids.ā
The Tennessee law that is being challenged in U.S. v Skrmetti took effect in 2023 and bans medical providers from prescribing medical treatments such as puberty blockers and hormone therapies to trans youth.
A number of Democratic lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), co-chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, and U.S. Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) addressed the crowd in support of trans rights.
In his speech, Merkley said Americans deserved freedom in accessing gender affirming care and criticized the law as political intervention in private medical decisions.
āAmericans should have the freedom to make medical decisions in the privacy of their doctor’s office without politicians trying to dictate to them,ā he said.
Robert Garofalo, a chief doctor in the division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at a Chicago childrenās hospital, emphasized the importance of trans youth having access to gender affirming care.
āWe [providers] are seeing patients and families every day, present with crippling fears, added stress and anxiety as they desperately try to locate care where it remains legal to do so,ā Garofalo, who is also a professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University, told the crowd. āTransgender children and adolescents deserve health care that is grounded in compassion, science and principles of public health and human rights. They must not be denied life saving medical care ā their lives depend on it.ā
Major U.S. medical associations, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, support gender affirming care.
Research has found gender affirming care improves the mental health and overall well-being of gender diverse children and adolescents. Those who are denied access to gender affirming care are at increased risk for significant mental health challenges.
An unlikely coalition came out to support Tennesseeās ban on gender affirming care. Far-right figures, such as U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Matt Walsh ā both of whom have a history of making homophobic statements ā were joined by groups such as the LGBT Courage Coalition and Gays Against Groomers.Ā
TheĀ groups questioned the quality of the research finding gender-affirming care to have a positive effect on the well-being of trans and gender nonconforming youth and argued that minors cannot consent to medical treatment. Ben Appel, a co-founder of the LGBT Courage Coalition, which he notes was āco-founded by gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans adults who oppose pediatric gender medicine, which we know to be non-evidence-based and harmful to young gay people,āĀ said gender nonconformity is often part of the lesbian, gay, and bisexual experience and should not be āmedicalized.āĀ
āI care about the adult gay detransitioners who have been harmed ā¦ by these homophobic practice,ā he said āThey should have just been told they’re gay.āĀ
Claire, a Maryland resident who attended the rally in favor of the Tennessee law and claims to have detransitioned, described being prescribed testosterone and having a mastectomy at 14, medical treatments she says she was unable to consent to at that age. She doesnāt oppose gender affirming care for adults but is opposed to āmedical experimentation on children.ā
āI think that adults should be allowed to do whatever they want with their bodies. I think that it is if someone is happy with the decision that they made that’s great,ā she said. āI was not able to make that decision. I was a child.ā
But trans activists fear that a ruling in favor of Tennessee could pave the way for states to restrict access to gender-affirming care for adults.
āThere’s also broader implications for civil rights and trans rights, more broadly, for adults in the future. There are some states that have tried to ban some healthcare for adults ā they haven’t yet ā but I think that’s something we might also see if the Supreme Court rules that way,ā Ethan Rice, a senior attorney at Lambda Legal, one of the legal organizations representing the plaintiffs in U.S. v Skrmetti, said.
In the case, three Tennessee families and a physician are challenging the Tennessee law on the grounds that it violates the Equal Protection Clause in the 14th Amendment by drawing lines based on sex and discriminating against trans people. The statute bans medications for trans children while allowing the same medications to be used when treating minors suffering from other conditions, such as early-onset puberty.
A 2020 Supreme Court decision determined sex-based discrimination includes discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. The key question in U.S. v. Skrmetti is whether this interpretation applies under the Equal Protection Clause.
āWe really hope that the Supreme Court recognizes their own precedent on sex discrimination cases and comes out the right way, saying this is sex discrimination by the state of Tennessee and thus is unconstitutional,ā Rice said.
Twenty-six states currently have laws or policies restricting minorsā access to gender-affirming care. If the court rules against Tennessee, similar bans in other states would also be unconstitutional, granting trans youth greater access to gender affirming care nationwide.
Edith Guffey, the board chair at PFLAG, expressed doubt the court will strike down the law, citing its sharp ideological turn to the right in recent years. But she said she remains hopeful.
āI hope that the court will ā¦ step outside agendas and look at the needs of people and who has the right to say what’s good for their children,ā she said.
Chase Strangio, an ACLU attorney representing the families, on Wednesday became the first openly trans lawyer to argue before the Supreme Court. He addressed the trans rights protesters after the hearing.
āWhatever happens, we are the defiance,ā Strangio said. āWe are collectively a refutation of everything they say about us. And our fight for justice did not begin today, it will not end in June ā whatever the court decides.ā
U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court hears oral arguments in pivotal gender affirming care case
U.S. v. Skrmetti could have far-reaching impacts
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in U.S. v. Skrmetti on Wednesday, the case brought by the Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Justice to challenge Tennessee’s ban on gender affirming care for minors.
At issue is whether the law, which proscribes medical, surgical, and pharmacological interventions for purposes of gender transition, abridges the right to due process and equal protection under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well as Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits sex-based discrimination.
The petitioners ā U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, who represents the federal government, and Chase Strangio, co-director of the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project ā argue the Supreme Court should apply heightened scrutiny to laws whose application is based on transgender status rather than the rational basis test that was used by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, which is more deferential to decisions by legislators.
Legal experts agree the conservative justices are unlikely to be persuaded even though, as Tennessee Solicitor General J. Matthew Rice made clear on Wednesday, under the state’s statute “If a boy wants puberty blockers, the answer is yes, if you have precocious puberty; no, if you’re doing this to transition. If a girl wants puberty blockers, the answer is yes, if you have precocious puberty; no, if you’re doing this to transition.”
Oral arguments delved into a range of related topics, beginning with conservative Justice Samuel Alito’s questions about debates within the global scientific and medical communities about the necessity of these interventions for youth experiencing gender dysphoria and the risks and benefits associated with each treatment.
“Isn’t the purpose of intermediate scrutiny to make sure that we guard against ā I’m not intending to insult ā but we all have instinctual reactions, whether it’s parents or doctors or legislatures, to things that are wrong or right,” said liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
“For decades, women couldn’t hold licenses as butchers or as lawyers because legislatures thought that we weren’t strong enough to pursue those occupations,” she said. “And some, some people rightly believe that gender dysphoria may cause may be changed by some children, in some children, but the evidence is very clear that there are some children who actually need this treatment. Isn’t there?”
After Prelogar answered in the affirmative, Sotomayor continued, “Some children suffer incredibly with gender dysphoria, don’t they? Some attempt suicide. Drug addiction is very high among some of these children because of their distress. One of the petitioners in this case described going almost mute because of their inability to speak in a voice that they could live with.”
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh focused his initial questions on whether the democratic process should adjudicate questions of science and policy, asserting that both sides have presented compelling arguments for their respective positions.
There are solutions that would allow policymakers to mitigate concerns with gender affirming medical interventions for minor youth without abridging the Equal Protection clause and Section 1557 of the ACA, Prelogar said.
For instance, “West Virginia was thinking about a total ban, like this one, on care for minors,” she said, “but then the Senate Majority Leader in West Virginia, who’s a doctor, looked at the underlying studies that demonstrate sharply reduced associations with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, and the West Virginia Legislature changed course and imposed a set of guardrails that are far more precisely tailored to concerns surrounding the delivery of this care.”
She continued, “West Virginia requires that two different doctors diagnose the gender dysphoria and find that it’s severe and that the treatment is medically necessary to guard against the risk of self harm. The West Virginia law also requires mental health screening to try to rule out confounding diagnoses. It requires the parents to agree and the primary care physician to agree. And I think a law like that is going to fare much better under heightened scrutiny precisely because it would be tailored to the precise interests and not serve a more sweeping interest.”
Later, in an exchange with Rice, Sotoyamor said, “I thought that that’s why we had intermediate scrutiny when there are differences based on sex, to ensure that states were not acting on the basis of prejudice.”
She then asked whether a hypothetical law mirroring Tennessee’s that covered adults as well as minor youth would pass the rational basis test. Rice responded, “that just means it’s left to the democratic process, and that democracy is the best check on potentially misguided laws.”
“Well, Your Honor, of course, our position is there is no sex based classification. But to finish the answer, that to the extent that along with dealing with adults, would pass rational basis review, that just means it’s left to the democratic process, and that democracy is the best check on potentially misguided laws.”
“When you’re one percent of the population or less,” said Sotomayor, “it’s very hard to see how the democratic process is going to protect you. Blacks were a much larger percentage of the population and it didn’t protect them. It didn’t protect women for whole centuries.”
National
LGBTQ asylum seekers, migrants brace for second Trump administration
Incoming president has promised āmass deportationsā
Advocacy groups in the wake of President-elect Donald Trumpās election fear his administrationās proposed immigration policies will place LGBTQ migrants and asylum seekers at increased risk.
āWhat we are expecting again is that the new administration will continue weaponizing the immigration system to keep igniting resentment,ā Abdiel EchevarrĆa-CabĆ”n, an immigration lawyer who is based in Texasās Rio Grande Valley, told the Washington Blade.
Trump during the campaign pledged a āmass deportationā of undocumented immigrants.
The president-elect in 2019 implemented the Migrant Protection Protocols program ā known as the āRemain in Mexicoā policy ā that forced asylum seekers to pursue their cases in Mexico.
Advocates sharply criticized MPP, in part, because it made LGBTQ asylum seekers who were forced to live in Tijuana, Ciudad JuƔrez, Matamoros, and other Mexican border cities even more vulnerable to violence and persecution based on their gender identity and sexual orientation.
The State Department currently advises American citizens not to travel to Tamaulipas state in which Matamoros is located because of ācrime and kidnapping.ā The State Department also urges American citizens to āreconsider travelā to Baja California and Chihuahua states in which Tijuana and Ciudad JuĆ”rez are located respectively because of ācrime and kidnapping.ā
The Biden-Harris administration ended MPP in 2021.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in March 2020 implemented Title 42, which closed the Southern border to most asylum seekers and migrants because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The policy ended in May 2023.
Robert Contreras, president of Bienestar Human Services, a Los Angeles-based organization that works with Latino and LGBTQ communities, in a statement to the Blade noted Project 2025, which āoutlines the incoming administrationās agenda, proposes extensive rollbacks of rights and protections for LGBTQ+ individuals.ā
āThis includes dismantling anti-discrimination protections, restricting access to gender-affirming healthcare, and increasing immigration enforcement,ā said Contreras.
Trans woman in Tijuana nervously awaits response to asylum application
A Biden-Harris administration policy that took place in May 2023 says ānoncitizens who cross the Southwest land border or adjacent coastal borders without authorization after traveling through another country, and without having (1) availed themselves of an existing lawful process, (2) presented at a port of entry at a pre-scheduled time using the CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) One app, or (3) been denied asylum in a third country through which they traveled, are presumed ineligible for asylum unless they meet certain limited exceptions.ā The exceptions under the regulation include:
- They were provided authorization to travel to the United States pursuant to a DHS-approved parole process;
- They used the CBP One app to schedule a time and place to present at a port of entry, or they presented at a port of entry without using the CBP One app and established that it was not possible to access or use the CBP One app due to a language barrier, illiteracy, significant technical failure, or other ongoing and serious obstacle; or
- They applied for and were denied asylum in a third country en route to the United States.
Biden in June issued an executive order that prohibits migrants from asking for asylum in the U.S. if they āunlawfullyā cross the Southern border.
The Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration works with LGBTQ migrants and asylum seekers in Tijuana, Mexicali and other Mexican border cities.
ORAM Executive Director Steve Roth is among those who criticized Bidenās executive order. Roth told the Blade the incoming administrationās proposed policies would āleave vulnerable transgender people, gay men, lesbians, and others fleeing life-threatening violence and persecution with little to no opportunity to seek asylum in the U.S. stripped of safe pathways.ā
āMany will find themselves stranded in dangerous regions like the Mexico-U.S. border and transit countries around the world where their safety and well-being will be further jeopardized by violence, exploitation, and a lack of support,ā he said.
Jennicet GutiĆ©rrez, co-executive director of Familia: TQLM, an organization that advocates on behalf of transgender and gender non-conforming immigrants, noted to the Blade a trans woman who has asked for asylum in the U.S. āhas been patiently waiting in Tijuanaā for more than six months āfor her CBP One application response.ā
āNow she feels uncertain if she will ever get the chance to cross to the United States,ā said GutiĆ©rrez.
She added Trumpās election āis going to be devastating for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers.ā
āTransgender migrants are concerned about the future of their cases,ā said GutiĆ©rrez. āThe upcoming administration is not going to prioritize or protect our communities. Instead, they will prioritize mass deportations and incarceration.ā
TransLatin@ Coalition President Bamby Salcedo echoed GutiƩrrez.
āTrans people who are immigrants are getting the double whammy with the new administration,ā Salcedo told the Blade. āAs it is, trans people have been political targets throughout this election. Now, with the specific target against immigrants, trans immigrants will be greatly impacted.ā
‘Weāre ready to keep fighting’
Trans Queer Pueblo is a Phoenix-based organization that provides health care and other services to undocumented LGBTQ immigrants and migrants of color. The group, among other things, also advocates on behalf of those who are in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers.
āWe refuse to wait for politicians to change systems that were designed to hurt us,ā Trans Queer Pueblo told the Blade in a statement. āThe elections saw both political parties using our trans and migrant identities as political pawns.ā
Trans Queer Pueblo acknowledged concerns over the incoming administrationās immigration policies. It added, however, Arizonaās Proposition 314 is āour biggest battle.ā
Arizona voters last month approved Proposition 314, which is also known as the Secure the Border Act.
Trans Queer Pueblo notes it āmakes it a crime for undocumented people to exist anywhere, with arrests possible anywhere, including schools and hospitals.ā The group pointed out Proposition 314 also applies to asylum seekers.
āWe are building a future where LGBTQ+ migrants of color can live free, healthy, and secure, deciding our own destiny without fear,ā Trans Queer Pueblo told the Blade. āThis new administration will not change our mission ā weāre ready to keep fighting.ā
Contreras stressed Bienestar āremains committed to advocate for the rights and safety of all migrants and asylum seekers.ā GutiĆ©rrez added it is ācrucial for LGBTQ+ migrants to know that they are not alone.ā
āWe will continue to organize and mobilize,ā she said. āWe must resist unjust treatments and laws.ā