National
National news in brief: September 30
The NFL adds sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policy, new standards for transgender health, and a new bill seeks to end HIV criminalization

NFL adds sexual orientation to non-bias language
NEW YORK — In its latest collective bargaining agreement with its players union, the National Football League has quietly added sexual orientation to its non-discrimination statement.
According to LGBT issues sports blogger and sports law expert, Pete Olsen in the ‘Wide Rights’ blog, the league that governs the lucrative professional football teams in the United States this week added the two words to a 2006 non-discrimination statement that previously included race, religion and national origin.
Outspoken NFL LGBT ally and a Player Association rep to the talks from the Cleveland Browns team, Scott Fujita said the lawyers are responsible for the change, rather than any representatives from the groups at the table.
“Our counsel is pretty progressive [and] on top of such issues,” Fujita told Olsen on Twitter, “so I imagine this was worked out during the ‘lawyer’ discussions when players weren’t around.”
According to blogger Olsen, Perry v. Schwarzenegger lead counsel Ted Olson and David Boies were also present on opposite sides of the contract talks, with Boies representing the team owners and Olson representing the players.
Trans org unveils standards of care recommendations
ATLANTA — The World Professional Association for Transgender Health unveiled new standards of care for transgender and transsexual individuals Sunday at the largest annual meeting of transgender health advocates in the country.
According tothe Georgia Voice, the organization released the seventh version of the standards of care, removing “gender identity disorder,” and replacing it with “gender dysphoria.” The new standards were greeted with applause from the audience.
Bill would curb criminalization of people with HIV
WASHINGTON — A new bill in the U.S. House of Representatives would bar states from creating laws that target HIV-positive individuals with harsher punishment based on their HIV status.
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) introduced the bill last week in hopes of eliminating laws that unevenly affect HIV-positive individuals, such as stricter punishments attached to disclosure laws, and punishments on behaviors that have no risk of spreading infection, as is the case with an HIV-positive Texas man given a 35-year sentence for spitting on a police officer. Thirty-four states have laws that criminalize non-disclosure of HIV.
Ind. election includes three out gay candidates
INDIANAPOLIS — For the first time in the city’s history, openly gay Democratic candidates are running in the Indianapolis City Council elections.
The City Council race, which has never seen an openly gay major party candidate, now has three openly gay candidates vying for one at-large seat and two district spots. On the ballot are Zach Adamson, who was endorsed by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund for his at-large race against three other candidates for four open seats, as well as Jackie Leigh Butler and Todd Woodmansee, who are both running against Republican incumbents.
“The historical significance of it is the fact that it doesn’t matter,” Woodmansee told the Indianapolis Star. “We can have people running regardless of what their sexual orientation is, regardless of what their race is and regardless of what their religion is.”
Retailers backing away from anti-gay ‘charity’ marketer
SEATTLE — With the aid of online petition sites like Change.org, several LGBT advocates have successfully pressured major retailers to cut ties with an Internet marketing firm that gives a portion of purchases made through its portal to anti-gay charities.
In a recent New York Times profile, Seattle activist Stuart Wilber recalled discovering that portions of purchases made through CVN.com run by the Christian Charity Give Back Group aided anti-gay groups like SPLC certified hate group the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family. The purchases could be made through retailers like Macy’s, Barney’s New York, Microsoft, Apple and Netflix. All have since left the network, leaving companies like Office Max, Office Depot and Elizabeth Arden.
“I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding, Microsoft,’” Wilber told the Times, about launching his petitions.
New York
Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade
One of the victims remains in critical condition

On Sunday night, following the annual NYC Pride March, two girls were shot in Sheridan Square, feet away from the historic Stonewall Inn.
According to an NYPD report, the two girls, aged 16 and 17, were shot around 10:15 p.m. as Pride festivities began to wind down. The 16-year-old was struck in the head and, according to police sources, is said to be in critical condition, while the 17-year-old was said to be in stable condition.
The Washington Blade confirmed with the NYPD the details from the police reports and learned no arrests had been made as of noon Monday.
The shooting took place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, mere feet away from the most famous gay bar in the city — if not the world — the Stonewall Inn. Earlier that day, hundreds of thousands of people marched down Christopher Street to celebrate 55 years of LGBTQ people standing up for their rights.
In June 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, members of the LGBTQ community pushed back, sparking what became known as the Stonewall riots. Over the course of two days, LGBTQ New Yorkers protested the discriminatory policing of queer spaces across the city and mobilized to speak out — and throw bottles if need be — at officers attempting to suppress their existence.
The following year, LGBTQ people returned to the Stonewall Inn and marched through the same streets where queer New Yorkers had been arrested, marking the first “Gay Pride March” in history and declaring that LGBTQ people were not going anywhere.
New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, whose district includes Greenwich Village, took to social media to comment on the shooting.
“After decades of peaceful Pride celebrations — this year gun fire and two people shot near the Stonewall Inn is a reminder that gun violence is everywhere,” the lesbian lawmaker said on X. “Guns are a problem despite the NRA BS.”
New York
Zohran Mamdani participates in NYC Pride parade
Mayoral candidate has detailed LGBTQ rights platform

Zohran Mamdani, the candidate for mayor of New York City who pulled a surprise victory in the primary contest last week, walked in the city’s Pride parade on Sunday.
The Democratic Socialist and New York State Assembly member published photos on social media with New York Attorney General Letitia James, telling followers it was “a joy to march in NYC Pride with the people’s champ” and to “see so many friends on this gorgeous day.”
“Happy Pride NYC,” he wrote, adding a rainbow emoji.
Mamdani’s platform includes a detailed plan for LGBTQ people who “across the United States are facing an increasingly hostile political environment.”
His campaign website explains: “New York City must be a refuge for LGBTQIA+ people, but private institutions in our own city have already started capitulating to Trump’s assault on trans rights.
“Meanwhile, the cost of living crisis confronting working class people across the city hits the LGBTQIA+ community particularly hard, with higher rates of unemployment and homelessness than the rest of the city.”
“The Mamdani administration will protect LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers by expanding and protecting gender-affirming care citywide, making NYC an LGBTQIA+ sanctuary city, and creating the Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs.”
U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court upholds ACA rule that makes PrEP, other preventative care free
Liberal justices joined three conservatives in majority opinion

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a portion of the Affordable Care Act requiring private health insurers to cover the cost of preventative care including PrEP, which significantly reduces the risk of transmitting HIV.
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the majority opinion in the case, Kennedy v. Braidwood Management. He was joined by two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, along with the three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown-Jackson.
The court’s decision rejected the plaintiffs’ challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s reliance on the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force to “unilaterally” determine which types of care and services must be covered by payors without cost-sharing.
An independent all-volunteer panel of nationally recognized experts in prevention and primary care, the 16 task force members are selected by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to serve four-year terms.
They are responsible for evaluating the efficacy of counseling, screenings for diseases like cancer and diabetes, and preventative medicines — like Truvada for PrEP, drugs to reduce heart disease and strokes, and eye ointment for newborns to prevent infections.
Parties bringing the challenge objected especially to the mandatory coverage of PrEP, with some arguing the drugs would “encourage and facilitate homosexual behavior” against their religious beliefs.
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