National
Senate DOMA repeal hearing set for July 20
Witnesses to be announced at later time
Sen. Patrick Leahy (Blade file photo by Michael Key).
The Senate Judiciary Committee has announced that an anticipated hearing on legislative repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act has been set for July 20.
According to a notice, the hearing on DOMA repeal legislation, also known as the Respect for Marriage Act, will take place July 20 at 10 a.m. in Room 226 the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Witnesses who will testify at the hearing, which would be the first-ever in Congress against, DOMA will be announced in the coming days.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is co-sponsor of the legislation that would repeal DOMA, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. In the Senate, the legislation is sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), while Rep. Jerrold Nalder is the lead on House version of the legislation.
In a statement, Marc Solomon, national campaign director for Freedom to Marry, praised Leahy for holding the hearing at a time when New York recently approved a law legalizing same-sex marriage.
“Until DOMA’s enactment, the federal government had always honored marriages celebrated in the states,” Solomon said. “It’s time for Congress to end this gay exception and allow legally married same-sex couples access to the tools and security available to all other couples to build a life together and protect their families.”
Should Leahy decide to report out the DOMA repeal legislation during the hearing, he would have the votes to do so. The legislation has the necessary 10 votes in committee to move to the Senate floor.
All but one of the Democrats on the committee — Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) — are co-sponsors of the legislation. Klobuchar has said she’d support for the legislation should it come up for a vote.
Rick Jacobs, founder and chair of the Courage Campaign, said the first congressional hearing against DOMA marks a significant milestone for the LGBT community.
“In this particular calendar year and maybe since 2008, the word ‘historic’ has become cliche, but it’s true every single time,” Jacobs said. “I cannot underscore sufficiently how historic it is that the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate is holding a hearing on repealing DOMA.”
Courage Campaign has been mounting a grassroots efforts to encourage more senators to sign on in support of DOMA repeal. This week, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) announced they would sign on as co-sponsors, bringing the total number of co-sponsors to 28. Klobuchar’s support raises that number to 29.
In a statement, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), a co-sponsor of the DOMA repeal bill, also praised Leahy for his decision to hold a hearing on DOMA repeal.
“Marriage is the true foundation for strong families,” she said. “Every loving, committed couple deserves the basic human right to get married, start a family, and have access to all the same rights and privileges that my husband and I enjoy. No politician should stand in the way of this fact.”
Gillibrand continued, “If Democrats and Republicans can come together to do what’s right in New York, I know we can do the same in Congress to do what’s right for all of America. Now is the time to act on the federal level.”
Jacobs said he hopes the personal stories from witnesses at the hearing will provide greater education on what the restrictions that DOMA imposes on same-sex couples and convince more senators beyond the 29 who have already expressed support to announce they will back the repeal bill.
“We hope what comes out of the hearing is a clear understanding by the American people of what the Defense of Marriage Act is, and the harm that it causes, and it’s unique historical nature,” Jacobs said. “It’s the only piece of legislation in American history that put the federal government in a position of interfering with the right of states to define marriage.”
One additional senator that Jacobs is eyeing as a potential new co-sponsor for the bill is Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), who voted for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal and who’s facing re-election in a heavily Democratic state in 2012.
“I think that he should be looking very, very carefully at this,” Jacobs said. “He’s sitting frankly in a aberrational seat there and he’s going to run again in Massachusetts. People in Massachusetts favor equality.”
Brown’s office didn’t immediately respond to Washington Blade’s request to comment on what the senator’s position on the Respect for Marriage Act is.
National
Queen Jean is Tony’s first transgender winner
Designer/activist wins for work on ‘Cats: The Jellicle Ball’
It was a historic night at the 79th annual Tony Awards on Sunday as Queen Jean won the award for Best Costume Design of a Musical, making her the first out transgender person to win a Tony.
“This experience has been monumental. We are here for the legacy of queer people, trans people,” she said. “We are taking up space in ways we have to take up space. We have to shift the paradigm. So I just want to say, thank you all so much for this incredible honor. The world right now is deeply, deeply combating so many ailments, and we know as a society that when we come together, we can make real, permanent change.”
She won the award for her work on “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” and was also nominated for best costume design of a play for “Liberation.”
In addition to her stage work, Queen Jean is the founder of Black Trans Liberation, an organization that supports trans and gender-nonconforming people in New York City.
National
Madonna turns Times Square into massive dance floor
Pop icon celebrates Pride month with surprise performance
Pop icon Madonna celebrated Pride month with a pop-up performance in New York City’s Times Square on Thursday to the delight of 50,000 fans.
She performed for about 15 minutes high above street level, including several songs from her new album “Confessions II” due on July 3, along with a trio of songs from the first “Confessions on a Dance Floor.”
In addition to the brand new “Love Sensation,” she performed “I Feel So Free” and “Bring Your Love,” plus “Hung Up,” “Get Together” and “I Love New York.” She wished the crowd a happy Pride season; the event was shared with audiences through Grindr’s first-ever livestream.
National
Gallup finds LGBTQ support among Americans is dropping
Marriage equality support lowest since 2016
Gallup, one of the leading organizations in public opinion polling, has found that LGBTQ support among Americans is dropping.
The poll, whose data was collected using Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs survey, was conducted in May and was published on Wednesday. The data was collected through telephone interviews from a sample of more than 1,000 adults living in all 50 states and D.C. using random digit dialing.
It highlights declining attitudes surrounding LGBTQ issues in multiple areas — from support for same-sex marriage to views on gender identity and the morality of one’s sexuality.
One of the most striking findings was that support for marriage equality fell six points from its 2022-2023 high.
The survey also found that 62 percent of Americans view gay and lesbian relations as morally acceptable, the lowest level since 2016 just after same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide by the U.S. Supreme Court.
One newer question on the poll found that the perceived morality of changing one’s gender has dropped eight points since 2021, indicating the American public is less supportive of transgender people.
The data attributes much of the decline to shifting Republican views alongside the party itself. Conservative leaders have pushed back against diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that were intended to foster greater acceptance of LGBTQ people and other historically disadvantaged groups.
President Donald Trump has been a guiding force behind waves of anti-LGBTQ sentiment, particularly when it comes to trans rights. The president has enacted multiple executive orders, including Executive Order 14168, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” which mandates that gender be defined by one’s sex assigned at birth. He also signed Executive Order 14183, “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” which barred qualified trans applicants from joining the military and led to the removal of trans service members already serving in the armed forces.
Additionally, he signed Executive Order 14201, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” which prohibits trans female athletes from participating on women’s and girls’ sports teams.
In February, Gallup found that an estimated 9 percent of Americans identified as part of the LGBTQ community in some form.
The organization also found that 23 percent of adults under age 30 identify as LGBTQ, compared with 10 percent of those ages 30 to 49 and 3 percent or less among those ages 50 and older.
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