National
Lesbian activist awarded Presidential Citizens Medal
Langbehn receives second-highest civilian honor

A lesbian activist who helped secure hospital visitation rights for gay couples across the country on Thursday received the nation’s second-highest civilian honor.
Janice Langbehn, who was unable to visit her partner in 2007 before she died in a Florida hospital, was among 13 recipients of the 2011 Presidential Citizens Medal. During a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, President Obama conferred the medals to each of the recipients.
During his remarks, Obama paid special attention to award recipients who took action after their families endured hardship. For Langbehn, the trial was being separated from her partner of 18 years, Lisa Pond, as she lay dying in the hospital after suffering from a brian aneurysm.
“As a father and husband, I can’t begin to imagine the grief that they must have felt in that moment — their anger and their sense that the world was not fair,” Obama said. “But they refused to let that anger define them. They each became, in Janice’s words, an ‘accidental activist.’ And thanks to their work, there are parents and partners who will never have to go through what they went through.”
Obama conferred the award to Langbehn, a lesbian who hails from Lacey, Wash., after a military aide standing the near the stage read a description of her accomplishments.
“Janice Langbehn transformed her own profound loss into a resounding call for compassion and equality,” the aide said. “Determined to spare others from similar injustice, Janice spoke out and helped ensure that same-sex couples can support and comfort each other through some of life’s toughest trials. The United States honors Janice Langbehn for advancing America’s promise of equality for all.”
Since Pond’s death, Langbehn has spoken with the press and organizations about being denied the ability to visit her partner in the hospital. Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit on her behalf against the facility, Jackson Memorial Hospital, which was unsuccessful. However, the hospital later agreed to change its policy on its own accord.
Langbehn is credited with being the figure that inspired President Obama to issue a memorandum last year directing hospitals receiving of Medicare and Medicaid funds — or virtually all hospitals — to allow patients to designate whomever they choose to visit them in the hospital, including a same-sex partner.
Her story inspired a 2009 article in the New York Times that reportedly was read by then-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and shown to Obama. After reading the article, Obama directed Secretary of Health & Human Services Kathleen Sebelius to make the change on hospital visitation policy.
Among the 150 attendees at the ceremony were Langbehn’s brother Wallace “Skip” Langbehn; her sister Marilyn Langbehn, Human Rights Campaign Family Project Deputy Director Tom Sullivan; Beth Littrell, a staff attorney in the Southern Regional Office of Lambda Legal; and Cindi Creager, communications director of the LGBT Community Center in New York.
The Presidential Citizens Medal is given to Americans who perform “exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens.” This year, the 13 awardees were chosen from a pool of nearly 6,000 public nominations received by the White House.
The civilian honor is second only only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Other honorees include civil rights activists Rosa Parks and Dorothy Height.
In a statement, Langbehn called receiving the Presidential Citizens Medal “a great honor.”
“It is my hope that my family’s loss, this medal, and the attention it brings to the discrimination our families have faced during the most difficult moments, will help ease suffering and ensure that no family has to go through what my family went through,” she said.
Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, commended Langbehn in a statement for her work and said her action secure one of the most fundamental needs for gay families.
“Janice Langbehn turned her family’s healthcare horror story into action and has worked hard to make sure other LGBT Americans aren’t denied the right to be at an ailing loved one’s bedside,” Solmonese said. “Her story inspired our President to address one of our community’s most critical needs, and for that she has earned the nation’s second-highest civilian honor.”
Prior to the ceremony, Langbehn had an interview with the Washington Blade on the White House grounds. A transcript of the interview follows:
Washington Blade: Can you tell me about how you heard the news that you got this medal and what your reaction was at the time?
Janice Langbehn: It was actually found out on what would have been Lisa’s and my 20th anniversary of our holy union. And I was quite shocked because I had no idea I was even nominated for this prestigious honor. It also again reaffirms that all my speaking out over these last four-and-a-half years is important, was important and continues to be important for equality for all of us. We’re no longer second class citizens. If I can get the Presidential Citizens Medal, we all need to be first-class citizens in this country.
Blade: Now that you’re on the White House grounds, can you tell me where your thoughts are at this time?
Langbehn: I’m really nervous obviously for what’s to come. And also, I hope I’m worthy of such a high honor from the country.
Blade: Can you talk to me a little bit about what you’ve done since the death of your spouse and how it’s led to the hospital visitation rights memo?
Langbehn: It was about three months after Lisa died in ’07 that I was asked to speak at our local Pride event in Olympia, Wash. And I connected with GLAAD, who helped me figure out how to put the message together. And them, once the words came out it was so natural after that that what happened to our family was so wrong.
Lisa died completely alone. For eight hours, our children and myself were barred from her bedside for no other reason than we were gay. And so, she died completely alone, and no one should have to die alone in this country if they have family.
And I have said it since the beginning, I have felt like a failure to Lisa because our vows were in sickness and health and I wasn’t there the time she most needed me, and so speaking out was somewhat of a way to get it out the community that this happens. We need our paperwork, but this also needs to change. And that’s what President Obama, along with Secretary Sebelius was able to do, and I’m so grateful for that.
Blade: Do you think the hospital visitation rights memo that President Obama issued — did that sufficiently address the issue, or is more work needed?
Langbehn: I think it did address the issue of hospital visitation, without a doubt, and then, the follow up memo of how to implement it in hospitals that came out this last August absolutely tells hospitals, “A, B, C, D, make sure this is in your patients’ bill of rights, etc., and make sure your staff are culturally competent on LGBT issues.”
I think the one area that’s still is kind of a little grey is if the patient comes in incapacitated and the documents aren’t there ahead of time — like ours were — though it didn’t help us. So, there’s still work to do and Secretary Sebelius admits that there’s still plenty of work to do. But this is a great first step and its Lisa’s legacy.
Blade: Is there anything more you’d like to see from President Obama? What’s the next thing you’d like to see from President Obama on the issues of LGBT rights?
Langbehn: Well, he’s got to get rid of DOMA. DOMA has to go and ENDA needs to come in. I mean, I can’t say it any more bluntly than that. The more patchwork of rights that we have across the country, the more of a problem it’s going to be, so DOMA has to go, and it’s as simple as that.
Blade: Thank you so much, Ms. Langbehn. I really appreciate it.
Watch the video here:
Federal Government
RFK Jr.’s HHS report pushes therapy, not medical interventions, for trans youth
‘Discredited junk science’ — GLAAD

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.”
The White House
Trump nominates Mike Waltz to become next UN ambassador
Former Fla. congressman had been national security advisor

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.
U.S. Federal Courts
Second federal lawsuit filed against White House passport policy
Two of seven plaintiffs live in Md.

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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