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Gay Hill staffer to serve as Pelosi scheduler

Merritt is vice president of LGBT Congressional Staff Association

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House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has appointed a gay Hill staffer to serve in her D.C. office as scheduler.

Timothy Merritt, who was hired to become Pelosi’s deputy director of scheduling, is set to begin his duties Monday.

Merritt most recently worked for Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas) as the lawmaker’s communications director and scheduler. Additionally, Merritt handled small business legislative issues for Green.

In a statement, Pelosi welcomed Merritt to her staff and said his past work will make him an important contributor in her efforts to improve the economic conditions of the country.

ā€œIn each of his roles with Congressman Greenā€™s office, Timothy brought incredible precision, commitment and intellect to his work,ā€ Pelosi said.Ā ā€œThose qualities will quickly make Timothy an essential member of my team as we continue our efforts to create jobs, strengthen the middle class, and reduce the deficit in a responsible way.ā€

Merritt will join other gay staffers who work for Pelosi ā€” Drew Hammill, her deputy communications director, and Kenneth DeGraff, her policy adviser for energy and technology issues ā€” in her D.C. office. Another gay staffer, Dan Bernal, serves as district director for Pelosi’s San Francisco office.

Merritt, who holds a bachelorā€™s degree in international studies and development from the University of North Texas, is also active in the LGBT Congressional Staff Association.

Kat Skiles, spokesperson for the LGBT Congressional Staff Association, said Merritt’s new job in Pelosi’s office coincides with his transition from being the group’s membership director to its vice president.

“Whether contributing his talents as the communications director to a red state Democrat or fighting for equality as a board member on the LGBT Congressional Staff Association ā€” Tim has proven that the best way to be anything is to be yourself,” Skiles said. “Poised, thoughtful and driven, Tim thrives in team oriented and collaborative efforts where his leadership invigorates team involvement and cooperation.”

Skiles added that without doubt, Merritt will be “an incredible asset” to Pelosi.

“In our longing for a world where no one feels the need to hide in the closet it is incredibly exciting to see someone who is out and proud soaring to such high heights,” she said.

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Congress

House Dems urge OPM not to implement anti-trans executive order

Authors were Dem. U.S. Reps. Mark Takano (Calif.), Jamie Raskin (Md.), and Gerald Connolly (Va.)

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Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Three House Democrats including Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Mark Takano (Calif.) issued a letter on Wednesday urging the Office of Personnel Management to not implement President Donald Trump’s anti-trans executive order, “Defending women from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth to the federal government.”

Also signing the letter were U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Rep. Gerald Connolly (Va.), ranking member of the House Oversight Committee.

The lawmakers wrote the order “unlawfully attacks the civil rights of transgender Americans” while the White House’s corresponding memo and guidance “implements unlawful discrimination by the federal government against transgender people in the civil service and the provision of federal services.”

Specifically, they call unconstitutional the directive for agencies to “end all programs, contracts, grants, positions, documents, directives, orders, regulations, materials, forms,
communications, statements, plans, and training that ‘inculcate’ or ‘promote’ ‘gender
ideology’ā€”which the Executive Order defines broadly to encompass acknowledging the simple
existence of transgender people and gender identity.”

ā€œWe are deeply alarmed by these and other actions the Trump Administration has taken in its first few weeks to eliminate all government support for the transgender community, including efforts designed to enforcing the rights and support the health of transgender individuals,” the congressmen wrote.

They added, “We are also appalled by the Administrationā€™s attempts to weaponize federal agencies to target the transgender community for discrimination and exclusion. These actions contradict federal law, Supreme Court precedent, and most importantly the Constitutionā€™s guarantee of equal protection under the law.ā€

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Politics

Trump administration sued over gender affirming care ban

Plaintiffs represented by Lambda Legal, ACLU, PFLAG National, others

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President Donald Trump (Photo via White House/X)

Lambda Legal, the ACLU, and the ACLU of Maryland, joined by the law firms Hogan Lovells and Jenner & Block, have sued the Trump-Vance administration over its issuance of an executive order banning gender affirming care nationwide for patients younger than 19.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, seeks “preliminary and permanent injunction preventing the Agency Defendants, including any subagencies of Defendant HHS, from enforcing or implementing the Denial of Care and the Gender Identity Orders.”

PFLAG National and GMLA are also representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, seven families with transgender or nonbinary children.

Trump’s executive order last week prohibits health insurers run by the federal government, including Medicaid and TRICARE, from funding medical care for trans and gender diverse youth that is recommended by mainstream scientific and medical organizations like the American Medical Association.

Hospitals throughout the country subsequently suspended or shut down their gender affirming care programs. Those that have acknowledged the move publicly cited the administration’s order, which threatens federal funding and grants for noncompliance.

New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a letter on Monday, signed by a coalition of 22 state AGs, informing hundreds of recipients of federal funding, including healthcare providers, “who were informed that funding cannot be frozen or withdrawn on the basis of providing gender affirming care to minors.”

Likewise, the lawsuit filed by Lambda Legal and the ACLU argues the executive orders are ā€œunlawful and unconstitutional,ā€ first because they seek to withhold federal funds previously authorized by Congress and second because they violate anti-discrimination laws.

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Politics

Trump previews anti-trans executive orders in inaugural address

Unclear how or when they would be implemented

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President Donald Trump's inauguration, Jan. 20 2025 (Screen capture via YouTube)

President Donald Trump, during his inaugural address on Monday, previewed some anti-trans executive orders he has pledged to sign, though it was not yet fully clear how and when they would be implemented.

“This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life,” he said. “Today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government, that there are only two genders, male and female.”

The president added, “I will sign an order to stop our warriors from being subjected to radical political theories and social experiments, while on duty. It’s going to end immediately.”

After taking the oath of office inside the U.S. Capitol building, Trump was expected to sign as many as 200 executive orders.

On issues of gender identity and LGBTQ rights, the 47th president was reportedly considering a range of moves, including banning trans student athletes from competing and excluding trans people from the U.S. Armed Forces.

NBC News reported on Monday, however, that senior officials with the new administration pointed to two forthcoming executive orders ā€” the official recognition of only two genders, and “ending ‘radical and wasteful’ diversity, equity and inclusion programs inside federal agencies.”

With respect to the former, in practical terms it would mean walking back the Biden-Harris administration’s policy, beginning in 2022, of allowing U.S. citizens to select the “x” gender marker for their passports and other official documents.

“The order aims to require that the federal government use the term ‘sex’ instead of ‘gender,’ and directs the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to ‘ensure that official government documents, including passports and visas, reflect sex accurately,'” according to NBC.

Additionally, though it was unclear what exactly this would mean, the first EO would take aim at the use of taxpayer funds for gender-transition healthcare, such as in correctional facilities.

The Human Rights Campaign in a press release Monday indicated that a “fulsome review of executive actions” is forthcoming, but the group’s President Kelley Robinson said, ā€œToday, the Trump administration is expected to release a barrage of executive actions taking aim at the LGBTQ+ community instead of uniting our country and prioritizing the pressing issues the American people are facing.ā€ Ā 

ā€œBut make no mistake: these actions will not take effect immediately,” she said.

ā€œEvery person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect in all areas of their lives,” Robinson said. “No one should be subjected to ongoing discrimination, harassment and humiliation where they work, go to school, or access healthcare. But todayā€™s expected executive actions targeting the LGBTQ+ community serve no other purpose than to hurt our families and our communities.”

She continued, ā€œOur community has fought for decades to ensure that our relationships are respected at work, that our identities are accepted at school, and that our service is honored in the military. Any attack on our rights threatens the rights of any person who doesnā€™t fit into the narrow view of how they should look and act. The incoming administration is trying to divide our communities in the hope that we forget what makes us strong. But we refuse to back down or be intimidated.”

ā€œWe are not going anywhere. and we will fight back against these harmful provisions with everything weā€™ve got,” Robinson said.

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