National
HRC launches ‘LGBT Equality’ bus tour
Tour to focus on conservative states in Midwest, South
HRC hits the road this summer. (Photo courtesy HRC)
The Human Rights Campaign announced this week that it will launch a nationwide “LGBT Equality” bus tour in August with stops planned for 17 cities in 11 mostly conservative states in the Midwest and South over a 12-week period.
The national LGBT rights group says its aim is to draw attention to the fact that LGBT people lack legal protections in these states in employment, housing and public accommodations.
A lack of legal protection for same-sex relationships, including LGBT families with children, will also be discussed through workshops, forums and other events in the locations where the bus will stop, HRC said.
“We are in the midst of a cultural tipping point on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues and our job is to push the scale as far and as fast as we can toward fairness,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “The tour will serve as a powerful visibility tool and support the work of creating real and lasting change in these communities.”
Upon announcing the bus tour on July 25, HRC released the results of a nationwide poll it commissioned showing that a majority of Americans nationwide support legal protections for LGBT people, including the legal right to marry.
But the poll also shows that support for LGBT equality is not as strong in certain parts of the country, including the Midwest and South. For example, while the poll shows support for equal marriage rights of gays and lesbians at 51 percent nationwide, it shows that support dropping to 43 percent in the Midwest and South.
The poll was conducted by polling and political consulting firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research.
It found that 79 percent of its respondents nationwide support non-discrimination protections for LGBT people in employment, housing and public accommodations. The poll found that 79 percent of respondents nationwide believe anti-gay discrimination is a problem and 74 percent believe anti-transgender discrimination is a problem.
In a telephone press briefing on Tuesday, HRC’s director of communications, Fred Sainz, said HRC believes the polling numbers show that most Americans are ahead of their elected officials and the nation’s politicians when it comes to supporting legal protections for LGBT people.
He noted that while the poll shows that voters in the Midwest and South don’t support LGBT equality to the degree shown by voters in the Northeast and West, it shows that support for LGBT legal protections among the people who live in the Midwest and South is considerably higher than that of the politicians elected to represent them in state legislatures and the U.S. Congress.
Dave Walker, an official with Greenberg Quinlan Rosner who worked on the poll, echoed Sainz’s assessment of the polling data.
“Even in the most conservative parts of the country, where the majority of people are clearly opposed to marriage equality, there’s a lot of attitudes toward lesbian and gay people that are well ahead of where legislation is,” Walker said. “And there’s a degree of acceptance, which is growing nationally, even if it’s growing unevenly.”
Among the 11 states selected for the bus tour, none has adopted through its state legislature a non-discrimination law based on sexual orientation or gender identity. None of the states has adopted laws recognizing same-sex relationships through marriage, domestic partnerships or civil unions.
Each of the 11 states has adopted, over the past decade, laws or state constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage.
Sainz said HRC hopes to use the equality bus tour to remind otherwise supportive voters in these states that LGBT people lack legal protections that the voters believe should be in place.
A schedule released by HRC shows that the tour kicks off on Aug. 12 in Salt Lake City, Utah, where the bus and HRC participants will stay for three days.
From there, the bus will travel to Omaha and Lincoln, Neb.; Lawrence, Kan.; Kansas City, Mo.; New Orleans, La.; Austin and College Station, Texas; Little Rock, Ark.; Louisville and Lexington, Ky.; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta, Ga.; Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, Ala.; and Jacksonville and Orlando, Fla. The tour ends in Orlando on Oct. 30.
“At each tour stop, HRC will work with the local community to hold a variety of events,” according to a statement released by HRC. “The bus will be accompanied by an exhibit offering primers on everyday life topics including: your family, your health, your rights, your community, your faith, your workplace and your story,” the statement says.
“Separate from the bus, HRC will also offer a verity of workshops and educational seminars with particular emphasis on workplace and healthcare equality, schools and bullying issues and religion and faith,” the statement says.
Sainz acknowledged that some of the cities on the tour are more progressive and LGBT-supportive than the state as a whole. But he said nearly all cities on the bus tour are represented at least in part by a Republican that is not likely to be supportive of LGBT equality.
“Nonetheless, the cities were chosen because they are geographic centers with larger media markets so that we could reach as many people as possible with the message of there being a need for equality,” he said.
Sainz didn’t respond to a question asking how much the bus tour project will cost HRC.
“This is obviously an investment in equality that will have tremendous impact going into the future,” he said. “We are headed into areas of the country where it’s still difficult for LGBT people live their lives openly, honestly and without fear of recrimination, so we think that it’s a worthwhile investment to make.”
State Department
Rubio mum on Hungary’s Pride ban
Lawmakers on April 30 urged secretary of state to condemn anti-LGBTQ bill, constitutional amendment
More than 20 members of Congress have urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to publicly condemn a Hungarian law that bans Pride events.
California Congressman Mark Takano, a Democrat who co-chairs the Congressional Equality Caucus, and U.S. Rep. Bill Keating (D-Mass.), who is the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Europe Subcommittee, spearheaded the letter that lawmakers sent to Rubio on April 30.
Hungarian lawmakers in March passed a bill that bans Pride events and allow authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify those who participate in them. MPs last month amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.
“As a NATO ally which hosts U.S. service members, we expect the Hungarian government to abide by certain values which underpin the historic U.S.-Hungary bilateral relationship,” reads the letter. “Unfortunately, this new legislation and constitutional amendment disproportionately and arbitrarily target sexual and gender minorities.”
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government over the last decade has moved to curtail LGBTQ and intersex rights in Hungary.
A law that bans legal recognition of transgender and intersex people took effect in 2020. Hungarian MPs that year also effectively banned same-sex couples from adopting children and defined marriage in the constitution as between a man and a woman.
An anti-LGBTQ propaganda law took effect in 2021. The European Commission sued Hungary, which is a member of the European Union, over it.
MPs in 2023 approved the “snitch on your gay neighbor” bill that would have allowed Hungarians to anonymously report same-sex couples who are raising children. The Budapest Metropolitan Government Office in 2023 fined Lira Konyv, the country’s second-largest bookstore chain, 12 million forints ($33,733.67), for selling copies of British author Alice Oseman’s “Heartstopper.”
Former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman, who is gay, participated in the Budapest Pride march in 2024 and 2023. Pressman was also a vocal critic of Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
“Along with years of democratic backsliding in Hungary, it flies in the face of those values and the passage of this legislation deserves quick and decisive criticism and action in response by the Department of State,” reads the letter, referring to the Pride ban and constitutional amendment against public LGBTQ events. “Therefore, we strongly urge you to publicly condemn this legislation and constitutional change which targets the LGBTQ community and undermines the rights of Hungarians to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”
U.S. Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Sarah McBride (D-Del.), Jim Costa (D-Calif.), James McGovern (D-Mass.), Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Julie Johnson (D-Texas), Ami Bera (D-Calif.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Gabe Amo (D-R.I.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Dina Titus (D-Nev.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) signed the letter alongside Takano and Keating.
A State Department spokesperson on Wednesday declined to comment.
Federal Government
HRC memo details threats to LGBTQ community in Trump budget
‘It’s a direct attack on LGBTQ+ lives’
A memo issued Monday by the Human Rights Campaign details threats to LGBTQ people from the “skinny” budget proposal issued by President Donald Trump on May 2.
HRC estimates the total cost of “funding cuts, program eliminations, and policy changes” impacting the community will exceed approximately $2.6 billion.
Matthew Rose, the organization’s senior public policy advocate, said in a statement that “This budget is more than cuts on a page—it’s a direct attack on LGBTQ+ lives.”
“Trump is taking away life-saving healthcare, support for LGBTQ-owned businesses, protections against hate crimes, and even housing help for people living with HIV,” he said. “Stripping away more than $2 billion in support sends one clear message: we don’t matter. But we’ve fought back before, and we’ll do it again—we’re not going anywhere.”
Proposed rollbacks or changes at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will target the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, other programs related to STI prevention, viral hepatitis, and HIV, initiatives housed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and research by the National Institutes of Health and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Other agencies whose work on behalf of LGBTQ populations would be jeopardized or eliminated under Trump’s budget include the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Small Business Administration, and the U.S. Department of Education.
U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court allows Trump admin to enforce trans military ban
Litigation challenging the policy continues in the 9th Circuit
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Trump-Vance administration to enforce a ban on transgender personnel serving in the U.S. Armed Forces pending the outcome of litigation challenging the policy.
The brief order staying a March 27 preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington notes the dissents from liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
On the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump issued an executive order requiring Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to effectuate a ban against transgender individuals, going further than efforts under his first administration — which did not target those currently serving.
The DoD’s Feb. 26 ban argued that “the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms with, gender dysphoria are incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service.”
The case challenging the Pentagon’s policy is currently on appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The lead plaintiff is U.S. Navy Commander Emily Shilling, who is joined in the litigation by other current transgender members of the armed forces, one transgender person who would like to join, and a nonprofit whose members either are transgender troops or would like to be.
Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, both representing the plaintiffs, issued a statement Tuesday in response to the Supreme Court’s decision:
“Today’s Supreme Court ruling is a devastating blow to transgender servicemembers who have demonstrated their capabilities and commitment to our nation’s defense.
“By allowing this discriminatory ban to take effect while our challenge continues, the Court has temporarily sanctioned a policy that has nothing to do with military readiness and everything to do with prejudice.
“Transgender individuals meet the same standards and demonstrate the same values as all who serve. We remain steadfast in our belief that this ban violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection and will ultimately be struck down.”
U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer noted that courts must show “substantial deference” to DoD decision making on military issues.
“The Supreme Court’s decision to allow the military ban to go into effect is devastating for the thousands of qualified transgender servicemembers who have met the standards and are serving honorably, putting their lives on the line for their country every single day,” said GLAD Law Senior Director of Transgender and Queer Rights Jennifer Levi. “Today’s decision only adds to the chaos and destruction caused by this administration. It’s not the end of the case, but the havoc it will wreak is devastating and irreparable. History will confirm the weight of the injustice done today.”
“The Court has upended the lives of thousands of servicemembers without even the decency of explaining why,” said NCLR Legal Director Shannon Minter. “As a result of this decision, reached without benefit of full briefing or argument, brave troops who have dedicated their lives to the service of our country will be targeted and forced into harsh administrative separation process usually reserved for misconduct. They have proven themselves time and time again and met the same standards as every other soldier, deploying in critical positions around the globe. This is a deeply sad day for our country.”
Levi and Minter are the lead attorneys in the first two transgender military ban cases to be heard in federal court, Talbott v. Trump and Ireland v. Hegseth.
U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) issued a statement on behalf of the Congressional Equality Caucus, where he serves as chair.
“By lifting the lower court’s preliminary injunction and allowing Trump to enforce his trans troop ban as litigation continues, the Supreme Court is causing real harm to brave Americans who simply want to serve their nation in uniform.
“The difference between Donald Trump, a draft dodger, and the countless brave Americans serving their country who just happen to be trans couldn’t be starker. Let me be clear: Trump’s ban isn’t going to make our country safer—it will needlessly create gaps in critical chains of military command and actively undermine our national security.
“The Supreme Court was absolutely wrong to allow this ban to take effect. I hope that lower courts move swiftly so this ban can ultimately be struck down.”
SPARTA Pride also issued a statement:
“The Roberts Court’s decision staying the preliminary injunction will allow the Trump purge of transgender service members from the military to proceed.
“Transgender Americans have served openly, honorably, and effectively in the U.S. Armed Forces for nearly a decade. Thousands of transgender troops are currently serving, and are fully qualified for the positions in which they serve.
“Every court up to now has found that this order is unconstitutional. Nevertheless, the Roberts Court – without hearing any evidence or argument – decided to allow it to go forward. So while the case continues to be argued, thousands of trans troops will be purged from the Armed Forces.
“They will lose their jobs. They will lose their commands, their promotions, their training, pay and benefits, and time. Their units will lose key players; the mission will be disrupted. This is the very definition of irreparable harm.”
Imara Jones, CEO of TransLash Media, issued the following statement:
“The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Trump’s ban on transgender soldiers in the military, even as the judicial process works its way through the overall question of service, signals that open discrimination against trans people is fair game across American society.
“It will allow the Trump Administration to further advance its larger goal of pushing trans people from mainstream society by discharging transgender military members who are currently serving their country, even at a time when the military has struggled recently to meet its recruiting goals.
“But even more than this, all of my reporting tells me that this is a further slide down the mountain towards authoritarianism. The hard truth is that governments with authoritarian ambitions have to separate citizens between who is worthy of protection and who’s not. Trans people are clearly in the later category. And this separation justifies the authoritarian quest for more and more power. This appears to be what we are witnessing here and targeting trans people in the military is just a means to an end.”
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