National
A preview of tonight’s State of the Union
Will president again mention LGBT issues in annual speech?
UPDATE: A gay rights advocate, speaking on condition of anonymity, said LGBT-specific content in the State of the Union address is not expected. According to the source, Obama’s speech will have “maybe a mention of LGBT,” but no LGBT-specific policy initiatives will be discussed.
Leaders of state LGBT advocacy groups working to advance marriage equality legislation say President Obama can a make a big speech tonight even bigger by throwing his support behind marriage rights for gay couples.
Obama is set to deliver before a joint session of Congress his third State of the Union address at 9 p.m.
As Obama makes the finishing touches to his speech, LGBT advocates in states across the country — most notably in Washington State, Maryland and New Jersey — are preparing for legislative fights to advance marriage rights for gay couples.
Passing same-sex marriage legislation in these states has various challenges. Marriage in Washington State and Maryland could go to referendum after the governors there sign the legislation into law, while New Jersey’s governor has previously said he’d veto any such bill.
State advocacy groups working on same-sex marriage legislation say an announcement from President Obama in support of marriage equality could give them an edge in their fights. The president, who doesn’t support same-sex marriage, said his view could “evolve,” but he hasn’t yet declared support for marriage rights for gay couples.
Josh Friedes, marriage equality director for Equal Rights Washington, said personal conversation is what drives support for same-sex marriage and that a public endorsement from Obama during the State of the Union address would certainly get tongues wagging.
“If the president of the United States were to announce support for marriage equality, his words would serve as a catalyst for millions of conversations,” Friedes said. “And that’s what we need in Washington State as we contemplate the likelihood of a referendum on a marriage bill this fall. Indeed there is probably no person who can better increase the number of conversations than the president.”
The bill to legalize same-sex marriage in Washington found the needed support among lawmakers this week to reach Gov. Christine Gregoire’s (D) desk, but the possibility of the law being overturned later this year in a voter-initiated referendum still looms.
Friedes added that Obama is respected as “a family man” and his support for marriage equality “could open the hearts of many people to revaluate their own positions.”
“But mostly if the president announces support for marriage equality it’s on us to use the event as an opportunity to share our personal stories,” Friedes said.
Carrie Evans, executive director of Equality Maryland, had similar thoughts on the helpfulness of Obama declaring support for marriage equality during his speech, which is happening the day after Gov. Martin O’Malley introduced same-sex marriage legislation in that state’s legislature.
“If President Obama voices his support for marriage equality in his State of the Union address it will add even more momentum to our efforts in Maryland and help us get the bill over the finish line,” Evans said.
A national group that has been pushing for Obama to endorse same-sex marriage continues to apply pressure as the American public awaits the president’s remarks tonight.
Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, said the day Obama joins the majority of Americans — who, according to polls, now support same-sex marriage — will be “a meaningful day for families who cherish the love and commitment that make marriage matter.”
“It will also be a really a good day for the president, as he will tap into the political momentum and energy that come to candidates who do the right thing,” Wolfson added.
Whether the president will endorse marriage equality during his speech remains to be seen. As the nation continues to recover from a recession and the unemployment rate remains above 8 percent, Obama will focus his speech on improving the economy.
In a conference call with reporters on Monday, senior administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Obama would lay out a blueprint in the speech that includes four pillars to improve the economy: manufacturing, energy, skills for workers and fairness and responsibility.
“We need an American economy where everyone gets a fair shot, where everyone gets a fair shake, and where everybody does their fair share,” a senior administration official said. “And those are the kinds of things that will be reinforced in the State of the Union.”
On Friday, when asked by the Washington Blade whether Obama would announce support same-sex marriage in the speech, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said he wouldn’t rule “in or out” the possibility of the president endorsing gay nuptials during the address.
Obama has incorporated LGBT issues in his State of the Union speech in previous instances. In 2010, he pledged to work with Congress and the military to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” In 2011, Obama promised to certify repeal to lift the gay ban from the books before the end of the year — and later fulfilled that pledge.
According to Politico, the Human Rights Campaign has this year “pushed Obama to mention the LGBT community in his list of accomplishments and policy proposals.”
Fred Sainz, HRC’s vice president of communications, reportedly told Politico, “The inclusion of our community in those laundry lists in any part of the speech helps us tremendously in being thought of as a vital part of the American fabric.”
But Michael Cole-Schwartz, another HRC spokesperson, told the Blade on Monday that he doesn’t “have anything” on the inclusion of LGBT-specific language in this year’s State of the Union address.
At least one workplace rights advocate is pushing Obama to address the lack of federal non-discrimination protections for LGBT people in his speech.
Tico Almeida, president of Freedom to Work, said he hopes Obama will take the opportunity to “mention how LGBT Americans have no federal law to protect us from irrational firings and harassment on the job.”
“By delivering this message, the president can help us do some important public education, given that 90 percent of American voters mistakenly think ENDA is already the law of the land,” Almeida said.
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act is legislation that has stalled in Congress and would prohibit private and public employers from discriminating against workers on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Almeida called on Obama to announce during the State of the Union address that he would issue an executive order barring federal dollars from going to contractors that don’t have non-discrimination protections for LGBT workers.
“President Obama has the power to change that by just putting pen to paper, without any need to wait for this dysfunctional Congress to do the right thing,” Almeida said. “Even if he does not announce the ENDA executive order during the State of the Union, I remain hopeful the president will take strong executive action very soon.”
Pennsylvania
Malcolm Kenyatta could become the first LGBTQ statewide elected official in Pa.
State lawmaker a prominent Biden-Harris 2024 reelection campaign surrogate
Following his win in the Democratic primary contest on Wednesday, Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, who is running for auditor general, is positioned to potentially become the first openly LGBTQ elected official serving the commonwealth.
In a statement celebrating his victory, LGBTQ+ Victory Fund President Annise Parker said, “Pennsylvanians trust Malcolm Kenyatta to be their watchdog as auditor general because that’s exactly what he’s been as a legislator.”
“LGBTQ+ Victory Fund is all in for Malcolm, because we know he has the experience to win this race and carry on his fight for students, seniors and workers as Pennsylvania’s auditor general,” she said.
Parker added, “LGBTQ+ Americans are severely underrepresented in public office and the numbers are even worse for Black LGBTQ+ representation. I look forward to doing everything I can to mobilize LGBTQ+ Pennsylvanians and our allies to get out and vote for Malcolm this November so we can make history.”
In April 2023, Kenyatta was appointed by the White House to serve as director of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans.
He has been an active surrogate in the Biden-Harris 2024 reelection campaign.
The White House
White House debuts action plan targeting pollutants in drinking water
Same-sex couples face higher risk from environmental hazards
Headlining an Earth Day event in Northern Virginia’s Prince William Forest on Monday, President Joe Biden announced the disbursement of $7 billion in new grants for solar projects and warned of his Republican opponent’s plans to roll back the progress his administration has made toward addressing the harms of climate change.
The administration has led more than 500 programs geared toward communities most impacted by health and safety hazards like pollution and extreme weather events.
In a statement to the Washington Blade on Wednesday, Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said, “President Biden is leading the most ambitious climate, conservation, and environmental justice agenda in history — and that means working toward a future where all people can breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live in a healthy community.”
“This Earth Week, the Biden-Harris Administration announced $7 billion in solar energy projects for over 900,000 households in disadvantaged communities while creating hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs, which are being made more accessible by the American Climate Corps,” she said. “President Biden is delivering on his promise to help protect all communities from the impacts of climate change — including the LGBTQI+ community — and that we leave no community behind as we build an equitable and inclusive clean energy economy for all.”
Recent milestones in the administration’s climate policies include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s issuance on April 10 of legally enforceable standard for detecting and treating drinking water contaminated with polyfluoroalkyl substances.
“This rule sets health safeguards and will require public water systems to monitor and reduce the levels of PFAS in our nation’s drinking water, and notify the public of any exceedances of those levels,” according to a White House fact sheet. “The rule sets drinking water limits for five individual PFAS, including the most frequently found PFOA and PFOS.”
The move is expected to protect 100 million Americans from exposure to the “forever chemicals,” which have been linked to severe health problems including cancers, liver and heart damage, and developmental impacts in children.
An interactive dashboard from the United States Geological Survey shows the concentrations of polyfluoroalkyl substances in tapwater are highest in urban areas with dense populations, including cities like New York and Los Angeles.
During Biden’s tenure, the federal government has launched more than 500 programs that are geared toward investing in the communities most impacted by climate change, whether the harms may arise from chemical pollutants, extreme weather events, or other causes.
New research by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found that because LGBTQ Americans are likelier to live in coastal areas and densely populated cities, households with same-sex couples are likelier to experience the adverse effects of climate change.
The report notes that previous research, including a study that used “national Census data on same-sex households by census tract combined with data on hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) from the National Air Toxics Assessment” to model “the relationship between same-sex households and risk of cancer and respiratory illness” found “that higher prevalence of same-sex households is associated with higher risks for these diseases.”
“Climate change action plans at federal, state, and local levels, including disaster preparedness, response, and recovery plans, must be inclusive and address the specific needs and vulnerabilities facing LGBT people,” the Williams Institute wrote.
With respect to polyfluoroalkyl substances, the EPA’s adoption of new standards follows other federal actions undertaken during the Biden-Harris administration to protect firefighters and healthcare workers, test for and clean up pollution, and phase out or reduce use of the chemicals in fire suppressants, food packaging, and federal procurement.
Maine
Maine governor signs transgender, abortion sanctuary bill into law
Bomb threats made against lawmakers before measure’s passage
BY ERIN REED | On Tuesday, Maine Gov. Janet Mills signed LD 227, a sanctuary bill that protects transgender and abortion providers and patients from out-of-state prosecution, into law.
With this action, Maine becomes the 16th state to explicitly protect trans and abortion care in state law from prosecution. This follows several bomb threats targeting state legislators after social media attacks from far-right anti-trans influencers such as Riley Gaines and Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok.
An earlier version of the bill failed in committee after similar attacks in January. Undeterred, Democrats reconvened and added additional protections to the bill before it was passed into law.
The law is extensive. It asserts that gender-affirming care and reproductive health care are “legal rights” in Maine. It states that criminal and civil actions against providers and patients are not enforceable if the provision or access to that care occurred within Maine’s borders, asserting jurisdiction over those matters.
It bars cooperation with out-of-state subpoenas and arrest warrants for gender-affirming care and abortion that happen within the state. It even protects doctors who provide gender-affirming care and abortion from certain adverse actions by medical boards, malpractice insurance, and other regulating entities, shielding those providers from attempts to economically harm them through out-of-state legislation designed to dissuade them from providing care.
You can see the findings section of the bill here:
The bill also explicitly enshrines the World Professional Association of Transgender Health’s Standards of Care, which have been the target of right-wing disinformation campaigns, into state law for the coverage of trans healthcare:
The bill is said to be necessary due to attempts to prosecute doctors and seek information from patients across state lines. In recent months, attorneys general in other states have attempted to obtain health care data on trans patients who traveled to obtain care. According to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, attorneys general in Tennessee, Indiana, Missouri, and Texas attempted to obtain detailed medical records “to terrorize transgender teens in their states … opening the door to criminalizing women’s private reproductive health care choices.”
The most blatant of these attempts was from the attorney general of Texas, who, according to the Senate Finance Committee, “sent demands to at least two non-Texas entities.” One of these entities was Seattle Children’s Hospital, which received a letter threatening administrators with arrest unless they sent data on Texas patients traveling to Seattle to obtain gender-affirming care.
Seattle Children’s Hospital settled that case out of court this week, agreeing to withdraw its Texas business registration in return for Texas dropping its investigation. This likely will have no impact on Seattle Children’s Hospital, which has stated it did not treat any youth via telemedicine or in person in Texas; the hospital will be able to continue treating Texas youth who travel outside of Texas to obtain their care. That settlement was likely compelling due to a nearly identical law in Washington that barred out-of-state investigations on trans care obtained solely in the state of Washington.
The bill has faced a rocky road to passage. A similar bill was debated in January, but after coming under intense attack from anti-trans activists who misleadingly called it a “transgender trafficking bill,” the bill was voluntarily withdrawn by its sponsor.
When LD 227 was introduced, it faced even more attacks from Gaines and Libs of TikTok. These attacks were followed by bomb threats that forced the evacuation of the legislature, promising “death to pedophiles” and stating that a bomb would detonate within a few hours in the capitol building.
Despite these threats, legislators strengthened both the abortion and gender-affirming care provisions and pressed forward, passing the bill into law. Provisions found in the new bill include protecting people who “aid and assist” gender-affirming care and abortion, protections against court orders from other states for care obtained in Maine, and even protections against adverse actions by health insurance and malpractice insurance providers, which have been recent targets of out-of-state legislation aimed at financially discouraging doctors from providing gender-affirming care and abortion care even in states where it is legal.
See a few of the extensive health insurance and malpractice provisions here:
Speaking about the bill, Gia Drew, executive director of Equality Maine, said in a statement, “We are thrilled to see LD 227, the shield bill, be signed into law by Gov. Mills. Thanks to our pro equality and pro reproductive choice elected officials who refused to back down in the face of disinformation. This bill couldn’t come into effect at a better time, as more than 40 percent of states across the country have either banned or attempted to block access to reproductive care, which includes abortions, as well as transgender healthcare for minors. Thanks to our coalition partners who worked tirelessly to phone bank, lobby, and get this bill over the finish line to protect community health.”
Destie Hohman Sprague of the Maine Women’s Lobby celebrated the passage of the bill despite threats of violence, saying in a statement, “A gender-just Maine ensures that all Mainers have access to quality health care that supports their mental and physical wellbeing and bodily autonomy, including comprehensive reproductive and gender-affirming care. We celebrate the passage of LD 227, which helps us meet that goal. Still, the patterns of violence and disinformation ahead of the vote reflected the growing connections between misogyny, extremism, and anti-democratic threats and actions. We must continue to advocate for policies that protect bodily autonomy, and push back against extremist rhetoric that threatens our states’ rights and our citizens’ freedoms.”
The decision to pass the legislation comes as the Biden administration released updated HIPAA protections that protect “reproductive health care” from out-of-state prosecutions and investigations.
Although the definition of “reproductive health care” is broad in the new HIPAA regulations, it is uncertain whether they will include gender-affirming care. For at least 16 states, though, gender-affirming care is now explicitly protected by state law and shielded from out-of-state legislation, providing trans people and those seeking abortions with protections as the fight increasingly crosses state lines.
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Erin Reed is a transgender woman (she/her pronouns) and researcher who tracks anti-LGBTQ+ legislation around the world and helps people become better advocates for their queer family, friends, colleagues, and community. Reed also is a social media consultant and public speaker.
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The preceding article was first published at Erin In The Morning and is republished with permission.
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