National
‘Worldwide’ LGBT marches planned in April
Facebook organizers not connected to established LGBT organizations
A Facebook group of LGBT rights advocates that claims to have 20,000 members is organizing a series of simultaneous LGBT civil rights marches in the U.S. and abroad that are scheduled to take place April 21.
Oklahoma City gay activist Joe Knudson, who initiated what he hopes will be the world’s largest peaceful protest on behalf of LGBT equality, says organizers have so far lined up marches in 10 U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C; New York City; Chicago; Atlanta; and Hampton, Va.
He said the only location outside the U.S. confirmed for one of the marches so far is an as yet to be selected city in Pakistan. A number of participating cities in Europe are expected to be announced soon, he said.
“The Worldwide LGBT Civil Rights March in 2012 is already gathering sponsors and supporters by the thousands, as well as initial lead organizers from around the world,” organizers said in an October posting on Facebook.
“The march will be held worldwide at various locations at the same time, as well as an online news media event that will keep everyone posted on the events at all locations,” the Facebook posting says.
It adds, “This event has been created by the fastest growing LGBT Equality group, with members from around the world – Let’s Reach 1 Million People Campaign…It’s a start! LGBT Equality.”
Knudson, 56, said he started that group in the late spring or early summer of 2011 with the aim of building a grassroots LGBT advocacy campaign with an international reach. He said he and others involved with the group came up with the idea of the worldwide LGBT marches.
In his Facebook biography, Knudson says he began his career in the banking industry and came out as gay later in life, after being married to a woman and raising children. He has since founded a publishing company in Oklahoma City that he created to publish his recent book, “Living the Difference: An Enlightening Story Revealed for People of All Ages, Straight or Gay.”
Knudson said the book describes his struggles in reconciling himself as a gay man who has embraced his sexual orientation and now yearns to help others do the same and promote the cause of LGBT equality.
A Washington Blade spot survey this week of several of the nation’s largest LGBT national and state advocacy organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, found that all but one were unaware of the global marches.
Heather Cronk, a spokesperson for the national direct action group GetEqual, said GetEqual would play some role in the marches but she did not get back by press time with details about GetEqual’s involvement in the events.
Spokespersons for the other groups said no one had contacted them so far about the planned worldwide marches and they had not heard anything about the events until contacted this week by the Blade.
Among the groups unaware of the marches were HRC, Task Force, the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, the National Center for Transgender Equality, the Empire State Pride Agenda of New York, the New York City LGBT Community Center, and the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, D.C.’s largest LGBT political group. The National Black Justice Coalition, a Washington, D.C.-based LGBT group, did not respond by press time to an inquiry about whether it was aware of the marches.
Knudson said the New York City march was being coordinated by Christianne Bharath, a 16-year-old high school student on Long Island who says she serves as president of her school’s Gay-Straight Alliance group.
“It’s still in the early stages, Bharath told the Blade on Tuesday. “We’re getting the LGBT Center in with us and also the Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth Center,” of which she said she’s also involved.
Cyndi Creager, a spokesperson for the New York City LGBT Center, said no one from the march group had contacted the center as of this week. Creager said the center would consider whether to provide support for the New York march after learning more about it.
Veteran New York lesbian activist Roberta Sklar, who serves as communications director for the New York-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, said her group also had not been contacted by organizers of the marches.
IGLHRC has contacts with LGBT organizations and activists throughout the world, especially in Latin American countries.
Task Force spokesperson Inga Sorenson said no one from the Worldwide March organization has registered to participate in the Task Force’s annual Creating Change conference scheduled for later this month in Baltimore. The Creating Change conference is considered the preeminent annual gathering of the nation’s LGBT activist and movement leaders.
The designated organizer of the D.C. march, Curtis Sledge, said he lives in Richmond and doesn’t often come to D.C. He said he has changed his work hours as a manager of a McDonald’s restaurant in Richmond to enable him to come to D.C. to make arrangements for the march, including the filing of an application for parade permits with D.C. police and the National Park Service.
Sledge said organizers haven’t decided yet on the exact route of the D.C. march, but they are leaning toward having the march travel past the Lincoln Memorial and the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial located next to the National Mall.
He said organizers are planning for a rally with speakers to take place at the end of the march but haven’t decided yet where that would be held. Lesbian comedian Wanda Sykes is among those invited to speak and perform at the event, Sledge said.
“I’m just getting started,” he said. “I will be talking to people at HRC and I will contact D.C.-area universities to get them involved.”
March organizers said they have so far confirmed marches on April 21 in these cities: D.C.; New York City; Albany, N.Y.; Atlanta; Chicago; Oklahoma City; Hampton, Va.; Dayton, Ohio; Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky region; and Portland, Ore., with Pakistan set as the only country outside the U.S. so far.
Knudson and others involved in organizing the marches acknowledge that they don’t have longstanding ties with existing LGBT organizations but hope to build those ties during the final planning stages for the marches.
D.C. gay activist Phil Attey, who has used Facebook to organize LGBT-related endeavors, said Knudson contacted him last year to seek his help with the worldwide march project. Attey said he supports the project and thinks the decision by organizers to hold marches in many cities rather than just Washington was an “excellent idea.” Attey called on march organizers to focus their attention in the U.S. on electing LGBT supportive members of Congress in the November election.
“I will be putting my energy into re-electing the president and electing members of Congress who support our civil rights,” he said. “I think that’s what they should be doing.”
State Department
Democracy Forward files FOIA request for State Department bathroom policy records
April 20 memo outlined anti-transgender rule
Democracy Forward on Tuesday filed a Freedom of Information Act request for records on the State Department’s new bathroom policy.
A memo titled “Updates Regarding Biological Sex and Intimate Spaces, Including Restrooms” that the State Department issued on April 20 notes employees can no longer use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity.
“The administration affirms that there are two sexes — male and female — and that federal facilities should operate on this objective and longstanding basis to ensure consistency, privacy, and safety in shared spaces,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Piggot told the Daily Signal, a conservative news website that first reported on the memo. “In line with President Trump’s executive order this provides clear, uniform guidance to the department by grounding policy in biological sex as determined at birth.”
President Donald Trump shortly after he took office in January 2025 issued an executive order that directed the federal government to only recognize two genders: male and female. The sweeping directive also ordered federal government agencies to “effectuate this policy by taking appropriate action to ensure that intimate spaces designated for women, girls, or females (or for men, boys, or males) are designated by sex and not identity.”
Democracy Forward’s FOIA request that the Washington Blade exclusively obtained on Tuesday is specifically seeking a copy of the memo that details the State Department’s new bathroom policy. Democracy Forward has also requested “all” memo-specific communications between the State Department’s Bureau of Global Public Affairs and the Daily Signal from April 1-21.
Federal Government
House Republicans push nationwide ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill
Measures would restrict federal funding for LGBTQ-affirming schools
Republicans have been gaining ground in reshaping education policy to be less inclusive toward LGBTQ students at the state level, and now they are turning their focus to Capitol Hill.
Some GOP lawmakers are pushing for a nationwide “Don’t Say Gay” bill, doubling down on their commitment to being the party of “traditional family values” by excluding anyone who does not identify with their sex at birth.
The largest anti-LGBTQ education legislation to reach the House chamber is House Bill 2616 — the Parental Rights Over the Education and Care of Their Kids Act, or the PROTECT Kids Act. The PROTECT Kids Act, proposed by U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), and co-sponsored by U.S. Reps. Burgess Owens (R-Utah), Mary Miller (R-Ill.), Robert Onder (R-Mo.), and Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.), would require any public elementary and middle schools that receive federal funding to require parental consent to change a child’s gender expression in school.
The bill, which was discussed during Tuesday’s House Rules Committee hearing, would specifically require any schools that get federal money from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 — which was created to minimize financial discrepancies in education for low-income students — to get parental approval before identifying any child’s gender identity as anything other than what was provided to the school initially. This includes getting approval before allowing children to use their preferred locker room or bathroom.
It reads that any school receiving this funding “shall obtain parental consent before changing a covered student’s (1) gender markers, pronouns, or preferred name on any school form; or (2) sex-based accommodations, including locker rooms or bathrooms.”
LGBTQ rights advocates have criticized both national and state efforts to require parental permission to use a child’s preferred gender identity, as it raises issues of at-home safety — especially if the home is not LGBTQ-affirming — and could lead to the outing of transgender or gender-curious students.
A follow-up bill, HB 2617, proposed by Owens, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, prevents the use of federal funding to “advance concepts related to gender ideology,” using the definition from President Donald Trump’s 2025 Executive Order 14168, making that an enshrined definition in law of sex rather than just by executive order. There is also a bill making its way through the senate with the same text— Senate Bill 2251.
Advocates have also criticized this follow-up legislation, as it would restrict school staff — including teachers and counselors — from acknowledging trans students’ identities or providing any support. They have said that this kind of isolation can worsen mental health outcomes for LGBTQ youth and allows for education to be politicized rather than being based in reality.
David Stacy, the Human Rights Campaign’s vice president of government affairs, called this legislation out for using LGBTQ children as political pawns in an ideology fight — one that could greatly harm the safety of these children if passed.
“Trans kids are not a political agenda — they are students who deserve safety and affirmation at school like anyone else,” Stacy said in a statement. “Despite the many pressing issues facing our nation, House Republicans continue their bizarre obsession with trans people. H.R. 2616 does not protect children. It targets them. This bill is cruel, and we’re prepared to fight it.”
This is similar to Florida House Bills 1557 and 1069, referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill and “Don’t Say They” bill, respectively, restricting classroom discussions on sexual orientation and gender identity, prohibiting the use of pronouns consistent with one’s gender identity, expanding book banning procedures, and censoring health curriculum.
The American Civil Liberties Union is tracking 233 bills related to restricting student and educator rights in the U.S.
National
BREAKING NEWS: Shots fired at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Shooter reportedly opened fire inside hotel
Four loud bangs were heard in the International Ballroom of the Washington Hilton during the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday.
According to the Associated Press, a shooter opened fire inside the hotel outside the ballroom.
Attendees could hear four loud bangs as people started to duck and take cover. During the chaos sounds of salad and glasses were dropped as hotel employees, and guests ducked for cover.
The head table — which included President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, first lady Melania Trump, and White House Correspondents Association President Weijia Jiang — were rushed off stage.
“The U.S. Secret Service, in coordination with the Metropolitan Police Department, is investigating a shooting incident near the main magnetometer screening area at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” the U.S. Secret Service said in a statement. “The president and the First Lady are safe along all protects. One individual is in custody. The condition of those involved is not yet known, and law enforcement is actively assessing the situation.”
Trump held a press conference at the White House after he left the hotel.
“A man charged a security checkpoint armed with multiple weapons and he was taken down by some very brave members of Secret Service,” said Trump.
Trump said the shooter is from California. He also said an officer was shot, but said his bullet proof vest “saved” him.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, interim D.C. police chief Jeffrey Carroll, U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro, and other officials held their own press conference at the hotel.
Carroll said the gunman who has been identified as Cole Tomas Allen was armed with a shotgun, handgun, and “multiple” knives when he charged a Secret Service checkpoint in a hotel lobby. Carroll also told reporters that law enforcement “exchanged gunfire with that individual.”
Both he and Bowser said the gunman appeared to act alone.
“We are so very thankful to members of law enforcement who did their jobs tonight and made sure all guests were safe,” said Bowser. “Nobody else was involved.”
The Washington Blade will update this story as details become more available.
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Calendar: April 24-30
