The Congressional Equality Caucus has sent a letter urging Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to condemn the surge in anti-trans rhetoric coming from members of Congress.

The letter, signed by 213 members, criticizes Johnson for permitting some lawmakers to use “demonizing and dehumanizing” language directed at the transgender community.

The first signature on the letter is Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware, the only transgender member of Congress.

It also includes signatures from Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08), Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (MA-05), House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (CA-33), every member of the Congressional Equality Caucus, and members of every major House Democratic ideological caucus.

Some House Republicans have used slurs to address members of the transgender community during official business, including in committee hearings and on the House floor.

The House has strict rules governing proper language—rules the letter directly cites—while noting that no corrective action was taken by the Chair or Speaker Pro Tempore when these violations occurred.

The letter also calls out members of Congress—though none by name—for inappropriate comments, including calls to institutionalize all transgender people, references to transgender people as mentally ill, and false claims portraying them as inherently violent or as a national security threat.

Citing FBI data, the letter notes that 463 hate crime incidents were reported due to gender identity bias. It also references a 2023 Williams Institute report showing that transgender people are more than four times more likely than cisgender people to experience violent victimization, despite making up less than 2% of the U.S. population.

The letter ends with a renewed plea for Speaker Johnson to take appropriate measures to protect not only the trans member of Congress from harassment, but also transgender people across the country.

“We urge you to condemn the rise in dehumanizing rhetoric targeting the transgender community and to ensure members of your conference are abiding by rules of decorum and not using their platforms to demonize and scapegoat the transgender community, including by ensuring members are not using slurs to refer to the transgender community.”

The full letter, including the complete list of signatories, can be found at equality.house.gov. (https://equality.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/equality.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/letter-to-speaker-johnson-on-anti-transgender-rhetoric-enforcing-rules-of-decorum.pdf) 

The owners of several of D.C.’s at least 24 LGBTQ bars, some of which also operate as restaurants or cafes, say they are being negatively impacted by the same forces impacting most other D.C. bars and restaurants at this time.

Among the lead issues impacting them have been the deployment by President Donald Trump of National Guard troops on city streets, the nearly two-month long federal government shutdown that just ended, and skyrocketing prices for food and other supplies brought about by the Trump administration’s controversial tariff program.

The Trump administration’s decision to lay off thousands of federal workers shortly after Trump took office in January also appears to have resulted in a decline in the number of people going out to restaurants and bars, including  LGBTQ restaurants and bars, according to some of the owners who spoke to the Washington Blade.

Observers of LGBTQ nightlife businesses have pointed out that although nationwide the number of LGBTQ or “gay bars” has declined significantly since 1980,  the number of LGBTQ bars in D.C. has increased from just six in 1980 to at least 24 so far in 2025.

If the popular Annie’s Paramount Steak House near Dupont Circle, Mr. Henry’s restaurant, bar and Jazz music performance site on Capitol Hill, and the Red Bear Brewing Company bar, restaurant and music performance site in Northeast near Capitol Hill – each of which have a mixed but large LGBTQ clientele  — are included in the D.C. gay bar list, the total number climbs to 27. 

As if that were not enough, yet another D.C. gay bar, Rush, was scheduled to open on Nov. 21 at 2001 14^th Street, N.W. at the intersection of 14^th and U streets, near the location of 10 other LGBTQ bars in the U Street nightlife corridor. That will bring the number of LGBTQ-identified bars to 28.

Among the first of the LGBTQ bar owners to publicly disclose the economic hardships impacting their establishment was David Perruzza, who owns the gay bar and café Pitchers and its adjoining lesbian bar A League of Her Own in the city’s Adams Morgan neighborhood.

In an Oct. 10 Facebook post, Perruzza said he was facing “probably the worst economy I have seen in a while and everyone in D.C. is dealing with the Trump drama.”

He added, “I have 47 people I am responsible for, and I don’t know how to survive in this climate. If I have ever sponsored you or your organization, now is the time to show the love. Not only for me but other bars. I went out tonight and it was depressing. If you want queer bars, we all need your help.”

Asked on Nov. 10 how things were going one month after he posted his Facebook message, Perruzza told the Blade business was still bad. 

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” he said. “Again, we’re busy. The bar’s busy, but people aren’t buying drinks.” He added, “No, they’re coming in and drinking water and dancing. They’re not buying drinks.” 

Like most of the city’s bars, including LGBTQ bars, Perruzza said he provides water jugs and plastic cups for patrons to access drinking water by themselves as needed or desired.

Jo McDaniel, co-owner of As You Are, an LGBTQ bar and café in the Barracks Row section of Capitol Hill at 500 8^th Street, S.E., which has a large lesbian clientele, said she, too, was hit hard by the National Guard deployment. She said National Guard troops carrying guns began walking up and down 8^th Street in front of As You Are around the last week in August and have continued to do so.

“And then from the 7^th [of September] they went from pistols to rifles,” McDaniel said. “Nothing has happened. They’ve just been walking back and forth. But now they have big guns. It’s pretty terrifying.”

She noted that the National Guard presence and the other issues, including the federal shutdown, caused a sharp drop in business that prompted her and her partner to launch a GoFundMe appeal in August, a link to which was still on the As You Are website as of Nov. 16.

“We’re reaching out to you, our community, our allies, and those who believe in safe spaces for marginalized folks to help us get past this challenge so we can all ensure AYA’s survival and continued impact in D.C. and the community at large,” a message on the GoFundMe site says.

Freddie Lutz, owner of Freddie’s Beach Bar, the LGBTQ bar and restaurant in the Crystal City section of Arlington, Va., just outside D.C., said the federal shutdown, rising costs, and even the deployment of National Guard troops in D.C. appears to have had a negative impact on businesses across the river from D.C., including Freddie’s.

“Freddie’s is doing OK but not as good,” he said. “We’re down a little bit. Let’s  put it that way,” he added. “I just feel like with all the chaos going in this administration and everything that’s happening it’s like we just have to hang in there and everything will be alright eventually,” he told the Blade. 

“But business is down a little bit, and we can use the support of the community just like David Perruzza has been saying,” Lutz said. He said the drop in businesses for at least some of the LGBTQ bars may also be caused by the large and growing number of LGBTQ bars in D.C.

“There are a lot of new gay bars, which are also impacting the rest of us,” he said. “I’m all for it. I want to support them. But it is taking away from some of us, I think.”

Mickey Neighbors is the owner of Sinners and Saints, an LGBTQ bar at 2309 18^th Street, N.W. in Adams Morgan located a few doors away from Pitchers and A League of Her Own. He said his business has mostly rebounded from a slowdown caused by the National Guard deployment. 

“At first, everyone was kind of scared,” he said. “But then it kind of blew over and there really aren’t that many other bars where the demographic people that come to mine really go to.” He described Sinners and Saints as catering to a younger “BIPOC” crowd, a term that refers to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. 

“We had a downturn of business for a few weeks, but everything is back to normal,” he said. 

Stephen Rutgers, co-owner of the LGBTQ bar Crush located at 2007 14^th Street, N.W., a few doors down from where the new bar Rush is about to open, said Crush like most other bars was impacted by the National Guard deployment. 

“Some bars are going to be fine,” he said. “We are trying to do some creative things to keep people coming in. But overall, everyone is seeing cutbacks, and I don’t think anyone is not seeing that,” he said. 

Rutgers said Crush, which in recent weeks has had large crowds on weekends, said he was hopeful that his and other LGBTQ bars would fully rebound when the federal shutdown ends, which occurred the second week in November.

Among other things, Rutgers said a decline in the number of tourists coming to D.C. in  response to the Trump administration’s policies has impacted all bars and restaurants, including LGBTQ bars. He said this, combined with the record number of LGBTQ bars now operating in D.C., is likely to result in fewer patrons going to at least some of them.

One of the D.C. LGBTQ bars that put in place a significant change in the way it operates in response to the developments impacting all bars is Spark Social House, a bar and café  located on 14^th Street, N.W. next door to Crush. In the past week, Spark Social House announced it was ending its status as the city’s only LGBTQ bar that did not serve alcoholic beverages and instead sold a wide range of alcohol-free cocktails.

Owner Nick Tsusaju told the Blade he and his associates made the difficult assessment that under the current economic environment in D.C., which is impacting all bars and restaurants, Spark Social would need to offer both alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages

“You can imagine that if the bars that are selling alcohol are struggling, we are struggling just like other small businesses with the same issues,” he said. “And I think that introducing alcohol is not really an abdication of our values.”

He noted that beginning in December, after Spark Social obtains its liquor license, “we’re introducing a one for one menu where every cocktail comes in two options, booze and boozeless.”   

Ed Bailey, co-owner of the D.C. gay bars Trade and Number Nine located near the intersection of 14^th and P Streets, N.W., told the Blade in September his two establishments were “ramping up for a busy fall after an unusual summer” impacted by the National Guard deployment.

 His predictions of a busy fall appear to have come about at least on weekend nights, including Halloween night, where there were long lines of Trade’s mostly gay male clientele waiting to get into the bar.

Stephen Thompson, a bartender at the Fireplace, a longtime gay bar located at 2161 P Street, N.W., near Dupont Circle, said the National Guard presence and other issues impacting other bars have not negatively impacted the Fireplace. 

“We are doing fine,” he said. “The National Guard has not hurt our business. The soldiers do walk by a few times a week, but we’ve been looking pretty good the last couple of months.”

One of the at least 10 LGBTQ bars in the U Street, N.W., entertainment corridor, Shakers, at 2014 9^th Street, N.W., announced in a statement this week that it will close its doors on Nov. 23. 

“After many, many difficult discussions, we ultimately decided it is time for Shakers to close its doors,” says the statement posted by Shakers owners Justin Parker and Daniel Honeycutt. “While we are in so many ways saddened, we are also looking forward to spending a bit more time with our three-year old son,” the statement says.

It also announces that the nearby gay bar Kiki, located around the corner on U Street, will acquire use of the Shakers building and “keep the space dedicated to our LGBTQ+ community.”

In his own statement on social media, Kiki owner Keaton Fedak said, “To now have two LGBTQ+ bars at 9^th & U under the Kiki umbrella is a true full-circle moment – rooted in friendship, history, and the community that continues to grow here.”

The owners of several other D.C. LGBTQ bars couldn’t immediately be reached for comment or declined to comment for this story.

Edward Grandis, a D.C. attorney who has worked with some of the D.C. LGBTQ bars, said the COVID pandemic, which led to the temporary shutdown of all bars and restaurants, appears to have had a lasting impact on LGBTQ bars long after the pandemic subsided.

Among other things, Grandis said he has observed that happy hour sessions at most bars, including LGBTQ bars, have not returned to the level of patronage seen prior to the COVID pandemic. He notes that happy hour times, usually in late afternoon or early evening during weekdays, where bars offer reduced price drinks and some offer free drinks to attract large numbers of patrons, have not been drawing the crowds they did in past years.  

“The COVID shutdown assisted the online social meeting sites,” Grandis said. “Bars were closed so guys turned to the internet for setting up parties and this has continued even though there are more bars,” he said in referring to the D.C. gay bars. According to Grandis, the gay men in the age range of their 20s and 30s appear to be the largest group that is no longer going to gay bars in large numbers compared to older generations. 

“So, I think the trend started before what the feds are doing,” he said in referring to the National Guard presence and the federal shutdown. “And I think what we are witnessing right now is just sort of like another obstacle that people in the gay and entertainment community need to figure out how to attract the 20-year-olds and young 30s back to the bars.” 

Sanae Takaichi last month became Japan’s first female prime minister after she secured the Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership and both chambers of the Diet confirmed her.

She now leads a minority government after forming a coalition with the right-leaning Japan Innovation Party, following Komeito’s decision to end its 26-year partnership with the LDP. Her rise marks a historic break in Japanese politics, but the question remains whether she will advance the rights of Japan’s LGBTQ community?

Despite the milestone her election represents, Takaichi’s record on gender issues offers little indication of progressive change. 

She has long emphasized “equality of opportunity” over structural reforms and has opposed measures that include allowing married couples to use separate surnames, a policy many women say would ease workplace discrimination. During her leadership bid Takaichi pledged to elevate women’s representation in government to Nordic levels, yet she appointed only two women to her 19-member Cabinet. Takaichi has also resisted efforts to modernize the Imperial Household Law to permit female succession, reinforcing her reputation as a conservative on women’s rights.

Takaichi’s stance on LGBTQ rights has been similarly cautious. 

In a 2023 Diet budget committee session, she said there should be “no prejudice against sexual orientation or gender identity,” yet described extending marriage rights to same-sex couples as an “extremely difficult issue.” 

Her earlier record is consistent.

In 2021, she opposed an LGBTQ-inclusive anti-discrimination bill that members of her own party, arguing its wording was too vague. 

Even after becoming LDP leader in October 2025, she reiterated her opposition to marriage equality and emphasized traditional family values. Takaichi highlighted that Article 24 defines marriage as being based on “the mutual consent of both sexes” and frames the institution around “the equal rights of husband and wife,” language she argues leaves no constitutional room for extending marriage rights to same-sex couples.

While her rhetoric avoids overt hostility, her record suggests limited appetite for the structural reforms sought by Japan’s LGBTQ community.

A series of landmark court rulings has built escalating pressure for national reform. 

On March 17, 2021, the Sapporo District Court ruled that denying same-sex couples the legal benefits of marriage violated the constitution’s equality clause. In May 2023, the Nagoya District Court similarly declared the ban unconstitutional, with a subsequent decision from the Fukuoka District Court reaffirming Japan’s current legal framework clashes with constitutional equality principles. 

The momentum peaked on Oct. 30, 2024, when the Tokyo High Court found the marriage ban incompatible with guarantees of equality and individual dignity. 

Japan remains the only G7 country without legal recognition of same-sex couples.

Akira Nishiyama, a spokesperson for the Japan Alliance for LGBT Legislation, noted to the Washington Blade that in leadership surveys the group conducted within the LDP in 2021 and again in 2025, Takaichi offered only a cautious position on reforming Japan’s legal gender recognition law. When asked whether she supported easing the requirements under the Act on Special Cases in Handling Gender Status for Persons with Gender Identity Disorder, she responded that “multifaceted and careful discussion is necessary,” avoiding any commitment to substantive change.

Nishiyama added the legal landscape has already shifted. 

In October 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that the law’s sterilization requirement for legal gender recognition is unconstitutional, and several family courts have since struck down the appearance requirement on similar grounds. She urged the Takaichi administration to act quickly by amending the statute to remove these provisions, along with other elements long criticized as human rights violations.

“[Prime Minister] Takaichi has stated that ‘careful discussion is necessary’ regarding amendments to ‘Act on Special Cases in Handling Gender Status for Persons with Gender Identity Disorder’ and the enactment of anti-discrimination laws based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI),” noted Nishiyama. “However, as indicated in Candidate (at that time) Takaichi’s responses to our survey, if she considers issues related to SOGI to be human rights issues, then she has to work hard to advance legal frameworks to address these issues.” 

“For example, regarding the government’s announcement that they will consider whether same-sex couples could be included or not in the 130 laws concerning common-law marriages couples, [Prime Minister] Takaichi responded to our survey that ‘the government should continue to advance its consideration,’” she added. “As per this response, the Takaichi Cabinet should continue deliberating on this matter and ensure that same-sex couples are included in each relevant law.”

Takeharu Kato, an advocate for marriage equality who spoke to the Blade in a personal capacity, urged observers not to view Takaichi’s appointment solely through a negative lens. 

He acknowledged she holds deeply conservative views within the LDP and has openly opposed marriage equality, but noted several aspects of her background could leave room for movement. 

“She is Japan’s first female prime minister in history. Furthermore, she does not come from a political family background but rather from an ordinary household,” said Kato. “She also has an unusual career path, having graduated from a local university and worked as a television news anchor before entering politics.” 

“Additionally, while her husband is a member of the Diet, he became partially paralyzed due to a cerebral infarction, and she has been caring for him,” he further noted. “She possesses several minority attributes like these, and depending on our future efforts, there is a possibility she could change her stance on same-sex marriage. It could also be said that, as a woman navigating the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, she has deliberately emphasized conservative attitudes to appeal to her base of right-wing supporters.” 

Kato stressed that “having reached the pinnacle as prime minister, it cannot be said she (Takaichi) has no potential to change.”

“We need not alter the strategy we have pursued thus far,” Kato told the Blade. “However, we believe some fine-tuning is necessary, such as refining our messaging to resonate with those holding more conservative values.”