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Obama cheered at Pride reception

POTUS pledges to certify ‘Don’t Ask’ repeal in matter of ‘weeks, not months’

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President Obama addresses audience at White House Pride reception (Blade photo by Michael Key)

President Obama addressed on Wednesday at a White House Pride reception an adoring audience of LGBT supporters who seemed largely unaffected by discontent over his lack of support for marriage equality.

Upon Obama’s entrance in the East Room of the White House, the few hundred attendees, largely made up of U.S. government workers and grassroots organizers, greeted Obama with applause and shouts of approval.

During his eight-minute speech, Obama’s most noteworthy remark was an announcement that he expects to certify “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal “in a matter of weeks, not months.”

“A lot of people said we weren’t going to be able to get ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ done, including a bunch of people in this room,” Obama said. “It took two years through Congress — working with [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] Adm. [Mike] Mullen and [Defense] Secretary [Robert] Gates and the Pentagon. We had to hold together a fragile coalition. We had to keep up the pressure. But the bottom line is we got it done.”

Obama also said he’s kept his promises to LGBT Americans, although he added he recognizes more work remains on the LGBT political agenda and he’s relying on his audience to continue the pressure.

“So bottom line is, I’ve met my commitments to the LGBT community,” Obama said. “I have delivered on what I promised. Now, that doesn’t mean our work is done. There are going to be times where you’re still frustrated with me. I know there are going to be times where you’re still frustrated at the pace of change. I understand that. I know I can count on you to let me know. This is not a shy group.”

Among the attendees were high-ranking openly gay officials within the Obama administration, including John Berry, director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, and Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. As attendees mingled and ate hors d’oeuvres from the White House kitchen, a band played light jazz and R&B music in the background.

Despite increased pressure to endorse marriage equality, Obama made no explicit endorsement of same-sex marriage during his speech. However, he did mention the recently passed marriage law in New York — and possibly alluded to litigation and ballot initiatives related to the right to marry — while listing ways in which “progress” is happening throughout the country.

“It’s propelled not by politics but by love and friendship and a sense of mutual regard and mutual respect,” Obama said. “It’s playing out in legislatures like New York. It’s playing out in courtrooms. It’s playing out in the ballot box, as people argue and debate over how to bring about the changes where we are creating a more perfect union.”

No attendees at the White House reception shouted complaints or heckled Obama to urge him to back same-sex marriage, unlike at a LGBT fundraiser in New York City last week.

Obama’s lack of explicit support for endorsement of same-sex marriage continues to rile many activists who  say he continues to miss chances to lead on the issue. In addition to staying mum on his personal views on marriage during the Pride reception, Obama declined to endorse marriage equality during a news conference earlier in the day and during the fundraiser in New York City last week

Still, many suspect Obama backs same-sex marriage without actually saying so and is waiting until after Election 2012 to come out for gay nuptials as a political calculation.

John Aravosis, the gay editor of AMERICAblog, said Obama offered “nice remarks” during the reception, but missed another opportunity to come out in favor of same-sex marriage.

“He seems to be intentionally dragging out his decision on the issue,” Aravosis said. “I think he does us, the issue, and himself a disservice in doing that. The longer he drags the issue out, the more he’s simply going to annoy marriage advocates, ultimately stealing his own thunder when he does finally come out in favor of marriage.”

But attendees at the event weren’t bothered by the president’s lack of support for same-sex marriage and said they would continue supporting him because of all the other work he’s done for the LGBT community.

Gregory King, a gay 55-year-old who works as a spokesperson for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said he supports Obama because he’s “done more for the LGBT community than any president in history.”

Asked whether he wants Obama to support same-sex marriage, King replied, “I’m sure, in time, President Obama will do the right thing, but he has consistently shown greater support than any other politician who has ever been elected president, and I think on a day like today, it’s worth saying, ‘Thank you.'”

Caleb Laiseki, a gay 16-year-old anti-bullying activist, said he wasn’t disappointed that Obama didn’t express personal support for same-sex marriage during the reception.

“Altogether, he has been the president that has made the most progress when it comes to safe schools, LGBT youth, LGBT elderly,” Laiseki said. “He has pushed the movement more than any other president, and the administration has pushed forward the movement more than any other administration has.”

Laiseki added that he thinks Obama’s support for same-sex marriage “will come in time,” but maintained he’s not disappointed because he continues to see progress from the administration on LGBT issues.

Dan Savage (right) attended the Pride reception with his partner Terry Miller (Blade photo by Michael Key)

Straddling both sides of the issue was Dan Savage, who’s gay and founder of the “It Gets Better” Project. While attending the reception with his partner, Terry Miller, Savage wore on his shirt an “Evolve Already” button referencing an earlier remark by Obama that his views on same-sex marriage could change.

“I think the gay community needs to keep the pressure on, which is why I wore the button today, but we also need take ‘yes’ for an answer, and we need to reward progress when it appears,” Savage said. “We’ve seen progress and we should support the president, and continue to make demands on the president.”

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Federal Government

RFK Jr.’s HHS report pushes therapy, not medical interventions, for trans youth

‘Discredited junk science’ — GLAAD

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HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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.”




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The White House

Trump nominates Mike Waltz to become next UN ambassador

Former Fla. congressman had been national security advisor

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U.N. headquarters in New York (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

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.

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U.S. Federal Courts

Second federal lawsuit filed against White House passport policy

Two of seven plaintiffs live in Md.

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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.

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