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LGBT caucus absent from jobs letter to Obama

Progressive caucuses seek meeting with president

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Barack Obama (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

A letter from several congressional caucuses to President Obama on the country’s high unemployment rate has a notable group absent from its list of signers: the LGBT Equality Caucus.

The caucus, which is dedicated to advancing LGBT rights, isn’t a signer of a Sept. 6 letter to Obama requesting a meeting to discuss the jobless rate in the country and possible solutions to find work for more people.

“With unemployment at 9.1 percent nationally — approaching 12 percent in the Hispanic community, 16.7 percent in the African American community and with Asian American and Pacific Islanders remaining unemployed for longer periods than any other group — we are in a national crisis,” the letter states. “We have learned throughout American history that big, bold action is required to put people back to work and promote economic growth.”

Chairs of the Congressional Asian & Pacific American Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus penned their names to the letter.

But the LGBT Equality Caucus isn’t among the signers even though LGBT workers have no federal non-discrimination protections, which threatens their job security. Firing a person based on sexual orientation is legal in 29 states, while firing someone based on gender identity is legal in 35 states.

A spokesperson for the LGBT Equality Caucus didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. It wasn’t clear whether the LGBT Equality Caucus was asked to sign the letter.

An informed source said the Congressional Black and Congressional Progressive caucuses were responsible for spearheading the initiative and circulating the letter among other groups. These groups didn’t immediately respond to a request to comment.

The letter was sent out days prior to the joint session of Congress on Thursday in which President Obama is set to unveil his plan to stimulate job creation. Some advocates had been hoping the speech would be LGBT inclusive and Obama would mention the lack of federal non-discrimation protections for LGBT workers.

Obama has expressed support for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, but the legislation has remained stalled and didn’t have a committee vote in the last Congress when Democrats controlled the U.S. House. As an interim alternative to passing ENDA, some LGBT rights supporters have been calling on Obama to issue an executive order barring the U.S. government from contracting with companies without non-discrimination protections for workers based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Paul Yandura, a gay Democratic activist, said he hopes that even though the LGBT Equality Caucus isn’t a signer of the letter, the group is still working to address to the lack of federal non-discrimination protections for LGBT workers.

“With the dismal to non-existent prospects for passage of LGBT priority legislation, I hope that, at the very least, they are doing everything they can to ensure that those in our community that are not the privileged class — which is most of the community — have strong advocates on their behalf in this stalled economy,” Yandura said.

The full text of the letter follows:

September 6, 2011
The Honorable Barack Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

As chairs of the Congressional Asian and Pacific American Caucus,
Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Congressional Progressive Caucus representing more than half of the Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives, we are requesting a meeting with you regarding your upcoming speech to the nation on job creation. With unemployment at 9.1% nationally — approaching 12% in the Hispanic community, 16.7% in the African American community and with Asian American and Pacific
Islanders remaining unemployed for longer periods than any other group— we are in a national crisis. We have learned throughout American history that big, bold action is required to put people back to work and promote economic growth.

Throughout the month of August, we heard repeatedly from our constituents
and neighbors that their primary concern is the state of the economy and
chronic unemployment. The American people want us to pass emergency jobs legislation that puts our nation back to work now. Further, Americans know we cannot cut our way to prosperity. The best, most effective way to tackle our debt problem is to put people back to work.

We can stem the tide of mass unemployment and meet our long-term national commitments by being bold now. The chairs of the CBC, CAPAC, CPC, and CHC look forward to an opportunity to talk with you about proposals we would like you to consider before you address the nation this week.

Sincerely,

EMANUEL CLEAVER, II, Congressional Black Caucus Chairman
JUDY CHU, PhD., Congressional Asian & Pacific American Caucus Chairwoman
CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman
KEITH ELLISON, Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chair
RAÚL M. GRIJALVA, Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chair

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California

Calif. governor ‘encouraged’ by new state guidelines for trans student-athletes

Gavin Newsom responded to California Interscholastic Federation announcement

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom, center, at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Governor Gavin Newsom is “encouraged” by a new policy announced Tuesday by the California Interscholastic Federation which critics say basically erases the concept that finishing first matters. 

The CIF’s “pilot entry process” will give high school girls who lost to a transgender student-athlete at last weekend’s qualifying meet an invitation to compete at the state championship next weekend.

“CIF’s proposed pilot is a reasonable, respectful way to navigate a complex issue without compromising competitive fairness,” said Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon in a statement. “The governor is encouraged by this thoughtful approach.”

The change came hours after President Donald Trump threatened to pull “large scale federal funding” from the state if officials allowed trans athletes to compete according to their gender identity. 

The CIF statement did not address Trump’s comments or whether the pilot entry process was in response to his social media post. 

KCRA quoted a source as saying the policy had been in the works for weeks. The station also reported judges will score trans athletes separately from cisgender competitors, so there will ultimately be three winners: a cisgender male winner, a cisgender female winner, and a trans student-athlete winner. 

“The CIF believes this pilot entry process achieves the participation opportunities we seek to afford our student-athletes,” the statement by CIF said.

CIF did not clarify if this pilot entry process will continue beyond this year’s championship, or how judges will determine whether an athlete is trans. A spokesperson for CIF did not immediately respond to these questions by the news media.

The trans athlete in question, AB Hernandez, 16, qualified to advance to the May 30-31 finals in Clovis, Calif., by winning regional competitions in long jump and triple jump on May 15. Now, she also will be competing against those same cisgender student-athletes she already beat. 

In an interview with the California news outlet Capital & Main earlier this month, Hernandez refuted claims that she has an unfair advantage because she was presumed to be male at birth. She finished eighth in the high jump and third in the long jump at a recent meet. 

“All I thought was, I don’t think you understand that this puts your idiotic claims to trash,” Hernandez told the paper. Of her critics, who booed so loudly at a recent meet they caused a false start at one event, Hernandez said, she said she pays them no mind. 

“There’s nothing I can do about people’s actions, just focus on my own,” Hernandez told Capital & Main. “I’m still a child, you’re an adult, and for you to act like a child shows how you are as a person.”

The paper reported two of her most stringent opponents confronted the teen’s mother at a recent meet. “What a coward of a woman you are, allowing that,” said local superintendent candidate Sonja Shaw to Nereyda Hernandez. “How embarrassing!”

Shaw was at a meet with Jessica Tapia, an ex-gym teacher who was fired by Hernandez’s high school for refusing to respect trans and nonbinary students’ pronouns. They are part of the Save Girls Sports association that opposes inclusion of transgender female students in girls’ and women’s sports.

As of press time, Trump has not responded on social media to CIF’s announcement. 

Podcaster and anti-trans inclusion activist Riley Gaines, a former college swimmer who tied for fifth place with a trans athlete in a 2022 national championship meet, denounced the CIF’s new policy, claiming “boys would still be competing against girls.”

For his part, Newsom has already gone on the record against trans female athletes participating in girls’ and women’s sports, calling it an “issue of fairness.” That statement drew the ire of advocacy organizations, including Human Rights Campaign. Although Trump said he planned to speak to the governor, Newsom’s office did not say whether Newsom and the president had spoken.

As Politico reported, Republican lawmakers across California denounced the CIF’s new policy, some claiming it did not go far enough to “safeguard the interests of all female athletes.” 

A spokesperson for the Jurupa Unified School District, where the trans student attends school, noted that the athlete is competing fairly and in accordance with the law.

“Both state law and CIF policy currently require that students be permitted to participate in athletic teams and competitions consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records,” said spokesperson Jacquie Paul. 

“We remain committed to following the law as written and ensuring that all students are granted the rights afforded to them in a safe and welcoming environment.”

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Federal Government

So far, virtually no acknowledgement of Pride month by federal gov’t

Trump-Vance administration proclaimed ‘no more drag shows’ at Kennedy Center

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President Donald Trump (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Just a few days from the start of June, there has been virtually no acknowledgment of Pride month by federal government agencies this year, a striking departure from recent policy and practice under the Biden-Harris administration and even under President Donald Trump’s first term.

Some limited and more localized observances have been preserved or renewed in 2025, for example by the U.S. courts’ webpage celebrating history-making LGBTQ jurists like Judges Deborah A. Batts and J. Paul Oetken of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which notes on its website plans to actively participate in WorldPride 2025.

The paltriness of Pride this year comes pursuant to several policy changes under Trump 2.0 such as executive orders narrowing the definition of gender to exclude trans and nonbinary people and banning activities related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, which have led to agency-wide changes including the removal of LGBTQ focused website content and dissolution of “affinity groups.”

Many of these actions came to light in the first few months of Trump’s second term. For example, in January the Associated Press reported a memo from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency indicating that observances related to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Pride Month, Holocaust Days of Remembrance, and other cultural or historical annual events would be paused.

While it remains to be seen whether and to what extent the White House, federal government, and Congress will acknowledge Pride month in 2025, in 2024:

  • • At the end of May, President Joe Biden issued a proclamation declaring June LGBTQ Pride Month, as he had done for the previous three years of his administration
  • • The U.S. Senate, then under Democratic control, introduced a resolution recognizing June 2024 as LGBTQ Pride Month
  • • Federal agencies across the whole of government participated in Pride activities, and at a high level — for instance, then-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosted a Pride month convening focused on U.S. foreign policy, national security, inclusive development, and human rights
  • • Actions in June, which in many cases were coordinated via LGBTQ employee resource groups or affinity groups, included celebrations of LGBTQ individuals — for example, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration toasted those who made significant contributions to economic growth, while the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office hosted a “Proud Innovation 2024” event, highlighting the accomplishments of LGBTQ innovators, entrepreneurs, and small business owners who utilize intellectual property to grow their businesses and mentor others in their communities.
  • Agencies also provided support indirectly — for example, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission sponsored attorneys who wished to represent the FTC at LGBTQ Pride events organized by various bar associations

The Washington Post pointed to some of the challenges facing organizers of WorldPride as they plan festivities in D.C. throughout early June: “This year, the LGBTQ+ celebration is being held in the backyard of a government that has targeted transgender rights and made major cuts to HIV prevention programs. At the Kennedy Center, President Donald Trump has promised “NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA.”

On June 14, Trump is set to preside over a military parade in Washington commemorating the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, his 79th birthday, and Flag Day, in a celebration that will feature 6,600 soldiers from at least 11 corps and divisions nationwide and 150 military vehicles, including 28 M1 Abrams tanks.

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New York

Men convicted of murdering two men in NYC gay bar drugging scheme sentenced

One of the victims, John Umberger, was D.C. political consultant

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(Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

A New York judge on Wednesday sentenced three men convicted of killing a D.C. political consultant and another man who they targeted at gay bars in Manhattan.

NBC New York notes a jury in February convicted Jayqwan Hamilton, Jacob Barroso, and Robert DeMaio of murder, robbery, and conspiracy in relation to druggings and robberies that targeted gay bars in Manhattan from March 2021 to June 2022.

John Umberger, a 33-year-old political consultant from D.C., and Julio Ramirez, a 25-year-old social worker, died. Prosecutors said Hamilton, Barroso, and DeMaio targeted three other men at gay bars.

The jury convicted Hamilton and DeMaio of murdering Umberger. State Supreme Court Judge Felicia Mennin sentenced Hamilton and DeMaio to 40 years to life in prison.

Barroso, who was convicted of killing Ramirez, received a 20 years to life sentence.

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