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Cain ignites firestorm with remarks on gays

Surging in polls, pizza magnate says homosexuality a choice

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Herman Cain (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain made headlines this week, after saying that homosexuality is a choice, just as a new poll showed him moving into a tie for second place for the GOP nomination.

Cain, former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, came under fire from LGBT advocates for indicating on Tuesday he believes people can choose their sexual orientation.

During an appearance on ABC’s “The View,” when asked by host Joy Behar whether he believes being gay is a choice, Cain replied, “Yes.”

“Well, you show me the science that it’s not and I’ll be persuaded,” Cain said. “Right now it’s my opinion against the opinions of others who feel differently. That’s just a difference of opinions.”

Cain’s remarks ignited a firestorm among many LGBT groups who called on the presidential hopeful — as well as other GOP candidates — to repudiate his remarks.

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement that Cain’s remarks are “frankly, jaw-dropping and certainly unbecoming of a presidential hopeful.”

“Leading medical organizations, including the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association, all speak with a loud and clear voice — implying that someone’s sexual orientation can be chosen or changed is dangerous,” Solmonese said.

Solmonese said HRC is eager to connect Cain with medical professionals at these association to guide him through the basic science he said he seeks.

Jack Drescher, a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a member of the DSM-5 Workgroup on sexual and gender identity disorders, said he’s willing to meet with Cain to talk about the medical aspects of the issue.

“Herman Cain’s opinion that being gay is a choice has no basis in current scientific thinking,” Drescher said. “Not only is homosexuality ‘not a choice,’ as most efforts to try and change a person’s sexual orientation fail, but some attempts to change can cause harm and damage to an individual’s well-being.”

LGBT groups representing conservative and Republican interests had different takes on Cain’s remarks.

R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, also criticized Cain and said the organization would be happy to show him the science proving sexual orientation isn’t a choice.

“An individual’s orientation is no more a choice than the color of his skin or whether he is left-handed, and too many people have been hurt because of failed attempts to change the way they were born,” Cooper said.

But Chris Barron, chair of GOProud, defended Cain and said his remarks don’t reflect the candidate’s true position on LGBT issues.

“The attacks levied by the gay left and their allies at Log Cabin against Mr. Cain are despicable,” Cain said. “My partner and I have sat down with Herman Cain and talked with him about issues that are important to gay people, and I can tell you first hand that anyone or any organization that claims that Herman Cain is anti-gay is simply lying or doesn’t know the man at all.”

The attacks on Cain come as a new Washington Post/ABC News poll published Tuesday finds him gaining ground among the GOP candidates, with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney once again at the head of the pack.

Among responders who leaned Republican, Romney led the pack with 21 points and Cain was tied with Texas Gov. Rick Perry at 14 points. Among all registered voters, Romney led with 20 points while Cain and Perry both had 15 points.

Once the front-runner upon his entry into the race, Perry is now tied for second-place with Cain. The Washington Post reported Perry’s slide comes after “several uneven performances” in presidential debates and in response to renewed media emphasis on immigration policies in his state. In Texas, colleges allow the children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates.

Sean Theriault, a gay political scientist at the University of Texas, Austin, dismissed a reading of the poll as showing new strength for Romney.

Theriault noted Romney’s numbers hadn’t changed since earlier polling and the Massachusetts governor is only ahead now because of falling numbers for Perry.

“Perry is not doomed,” Theriault said. “Quite the contrary. A strong debate performance, a couple of good weeks of positive news and he’d be back on top. Romney’s numbers have been at 25 since the day he dropped out of the Republican primary in 2008. That’s a pretty strong ceiling effect.”

In related news, two high-profile Republicans who were thought to be possible entries in the presidential race officially announced they wouldn’t seek the nomination in 2012.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the GOP vice-presidential nominee in 2008, announced in a letter to supporters on Wednesday that she wouldn’t seek the nomination for the White House in 2012.

“I believe that at this time I can be more effective in a decisive role to help elect other true public servants to office from the nation’s governors to congressional seats and the presidency,” Palin said.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also announced this week that he wouldn’t join the pack of Republican candidates seeking to oust President Obama from the White House.

“Now is not my time,” said Christie at a news conference in Trenton, N.J., adding, “New Jersey, whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with me.”

Christie is reviled by many LGBT rights supporters for having pledged to veto any legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage in New Jersey.

But in January, Christie signed into law one of the nation’s strongest anti-bullying bills. The law was inspired by the death of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi, who committed suicide after his roommate secretly recorded a sexual encounter he had with another man.

 

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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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