Local
Governor O’Malley remarks on introduction of marriage bill
Speech delivered on steps of Governor’s mansion Tuesday, Jan. 24

I want to thank all of you for being here this morning. There is a broad coalition. Many of its members are arrayed on the steps here with me. And they are all supportive of the bill that was introduced last night on civil marriage equality in the state of Maryland.
All of us want the same thing for our children. Marylanders of different religious beliefs, Marylanders of all walks of life all want the same things for our children. We want our children to live in loving, stable committed households that are protected equally under the law.
We also believe that we can protect religious freedom and rights equally under the law. Other states have found a way to do this. We can find a way to do this too. And that common ground that allows us to move forward is dignity, the human dignity of every single person.
This is a broad coalition that is supportive of this bill, including Marylanders for Marriage Equality coalition, which now includes the Baltimore NAACP, the ACLU, Human Rights Campaign, the National Black Justice Coalition, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Family Equality Council, Catholics for Equality, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, Maryland Faith for Equality, the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of Maryland, PFLAG, NOW, and Progressive Maryland and Equality Maryland and many others.
Yesterday we submitted a marriage equality bill which balances equal protection of individual rights with the important protection of religious liberty and religious freedom. This is a broad based array of Marylanders that support this bill. Just this month we also welcomed the support of the AFL-CIO and SEIU 1199, which I think is the largest healthcare union in the entire country. And the momentum is growing and thereās a lot of hard work to do. But we are going to be successful in this legislative session by recognizing the dignity in one another and recognizing the common humanity that all of us share.
In this great state that celebrates its diversity as our strength, we choose to be bound together by a common thread, and that common thread is human dignity. Itās what allows us to look in the eyes of every child in our state and say that this child is a child of God and that this child is worthy of the protection of the laws equally that all of us come together to support in order to make our state a better place, a more just place, a more caring place.
Virginia
Virginia High School League reverses policy on transgender athletes
Trans athletes previously allowed to compete on teams that corresponded with gender identity

The Virginia High School League on Monday announced it will no longer allow transgender athletes to compete on teams that correspond with their gender identity following another executive order signed by President Donald Trump targeting trans people.
The VHSL announced their policy change on their X account. It undoes a 2023 announcement that said it would not change their policy that allowed trans athletes to compete on teams that affirmed their identities.
Following a Jan. 28 executive order signed that stopped hospitals and other medical institutions from providing gender-affirming care to minors under that age of 19, Trump on Feb. 5 signed another executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”
The ban seeks āto rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls.ā The NCAA and many other educational institutions agreed to implement the ban in fear of losing federal funding.
“The VHSL is an association comprising 318 member schools with more than 177,000 students participating yearly in sports and academic activities. The VHSL is the governing body, and our member schools look to and rely on the VHSL for policy and guidance. To that end, the VHSL will comply with the executive order,” said VHSL Executive Director John W. “Billy” Haun. “The compliance will provide membership clear and consistent direction.”
The VHSL also said staff will be making changes to their handbook and policy manual in the coming days, reminiscent of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scrubbing all of the papers in its database of any now-banned language regarding LGBTQ people and attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The VHSL’s own data indicates only 29 of the student athletes it oversees have been reported as trans since 2022.
District of Columbia
Booz Allen withdraws as WorldPride corporate sponsor
Company updated programs to comply with Trump executive orders

The U.S. technology company Booz Allen Hamilton has confirmed it has withdrawn as a corporate sponsor for the international LGBTQ WorldPride events scheduled to take place in D.C. from May 17-June 8, according to a report by the Washington Business Journal.
In an exclusive story published Feb.10, the business publication reports that Booz Allen Hamilton disclosed in a statement that its decision to withdraw as a WorldPride sponsor was based on its need to comply with ārecently issued presidential executive orders.ā
Although the statement did not say so directly, it is referring to executive orders issued since Jan. 20 by President Donald Trump that, among other things, ban government agencies and companies doing business with the government through contracts from promoting or carrying out diversity, equity, and inclusion or āDEIā programs.
On its website, Booz Allen Hamilton describes itself as an āadvanced technology company delivering outcomes with speed for Americaās most critical defense, civil, and national securities priorities.ā Among the government agencies it does business with, the website statement says, are the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
āWe take this responsibility to our nation seriously,ā Washington Business Journal quoted the Booz Allen Hamilton statement regarding WorldPride as saying. āIt demands from us commitment to their best principle to flawless execution and to full compliance with all laws and regulations, including executive orders,ā Washington Business Journal quotes the statement as saying.
The Washington Business Journal article includes a photo of more than a dozen of Booz Allen Hamilton employees marching in D.C.ās Capital Pride parade in 2017.
The company did not immediately respond to a request from Washington Blade seeking comment on its WorldPride decision.
Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes most D.C. LGBTQ Pride events and is the lead organizer of WorldPride 2025, in response to a request by the Blade released a statement responding to Booz Allen Hamiltonās sponsorship withdrawal.
āBooz Allen Hamilton is the only organization that has withdrawn its committed financial support for WorldPride,ā the statement says. āCPA is proud of its many longstanding legacy sponsors, many of whom have already reaffirmed their commitments to participate in WorldPride this summer,ā the statement continues.
āJust like many American companies and LGBTQ+ organizations, we are navigating current challenges and many unknowns,ā the statement says. āWe are confident, however, that we will have the support necessary to have a successful and safe WorldPride that meets this moment,ā it says.
āThat support includes families, organizations, and businesses from across our community and corporations that truly celebrate diversity and value equity and inclusion for all,ā the statement concludes.
The Capital Pride Alliance website last year listed Booz Allen Hamilton as a corporate sponsor for the 2024 Capital Pride events in the category of a āTrue Colorsā sponsor, which it said represented a donation of $75,000. But the Capital Pride Alliance statement to the Blade this week says, āWe are not going to share theyāre previously planned commitment for 2025.ā
The statement adds, āMany in our community are extremely vulnerable right now, and standing up for them, standing with them, standing with us, in this movement is what we all need.ā
District of Columbia
Trump executive order prompts local hospitals to stop gender-affirming care for youth
Activists marched outside Children’s National on Feb. 2

Hospitals in the D.C. area are putting a prompt stop to aiding transgender youth and their families continue their transition after President Donald Trump signed an executive order that bans all gender-affirming care nationwide for minors under 19.
On Jan. 28, days after Trump took office, signed the executive order, āProtecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,ā which immediately halted the prescription and medical treatment of gender-affirming care for all minors under the age of 19 across the country. The order use of āchemical and surgical mutilationā is in reference to the various kinds of gender-affirming care that youth may receive when in the care of a medical practice.
“Today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a childās sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions.ā says the executive order. āThis dangerous trend will be a stain on our nationās history, and it must end.ā
The executive order laid out various guidelines for medical practices to follow that must be implemented within the coming months. These include āending reliance on junk science,ā in referring to following the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s guidelines for youth, and “defunding chemical and surgical mutilation,” which seeks to ban hospitals and medical schools to use federal funding for gender-affirming care.
Hospitals, medical schools, and clinics across the country have begun to abide by the executive order and drop trans and gender diverse youth as they dismantled programs that provided care of any kind that treated a childās gender dysphoria. Childrenās National Hospital in Northwest Washington is one of those institutions.
āChildrenās National is committed to providing compassionate and comprehensive care in accordance with the law,” said Children’s National in a Jan. 30 press release. “As a result, we are currently pausing all puberty blockers and hormone therapy prescriptions for transgender youth patients, per the guidelines in the executive order issued by the White House this week. Childrenās National already does not perform gender affirming surgery for minors.”
“We recognize the impact this change will have, and our commitment to creating a better future for children and families remains at the forefront of our mission,” it added. “We will do everything we can to ensure the same uninterrupted access to mental health counseling, social support, and holistic and respectful care for every patient at Children’s National. We are working directly with patients and providers to ensure every patient has access to the information and support services they need, and we appreciate their continued trust and understanding as we work through these changes.ā
The hospital did not provide the Washington Blade with additional comment.
Activists in response to the decision organized a march that took place outside Children’s Hospital. on Feb. 2. D.C. Safe Haven, a group founded to āprovide TLGBQ people in the DMV area with opportunities to transform their lives,ā helped organize the march.
Similar protests have taken place across the country.
The Gender Liberation Movement organized the “Rise Up for Trans Youth” march in New York’s Union Square on Saturday. The group was one of the organizers of a march that took place in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 4 when the justices heard oral arguments in the U.S. v. Skrmetti case, which challenges a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming care for minors under 18.
āVCU Health and Childrenās Hospital of Richmond at VCU have suspended gender-affirming medications and gender-affirming surgical procedures for patients under 19-years-old in response to an executive order issued by the White House on Jan. 28, 2025, and related state guidance received by VCU on Jan. 30, 2025,” the hospital said in a statement. “Our doors remain open to all patients and their families for screening, counseling, mental health care, and all other health care needs.ā
Equality Virginia, a queer advocacy group that works across the state, in a statement to the Blade criticized the executive order and response to it.
āExecutive orders are not legislation, they are not law, and they do not supersede state laws,” said Narissa Rahaman, the group’s executive director. “The General Assembly has taken up bills on both transgender athletes and gender-affirming care, and in both cases, the general assembly has declined to pursue bans on either. State law is clear; what is unclear is why the Youngkin administration is spending its final year cozying up to the Trump administration and repeatedly singling out transgender Virginians for discrimination.ā
āTo the transgender and nonbinary athletes and youth seeking healthcare in Virginia who are feeling scared: Equality Virginia will not stop fighting for you, no matter who occupies the Governorās Mansion or the White House,” added Rahaman.
Petitions are urging D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, Health and Human Services, and Children’s National to use D.C.’s human rights law to challenge the executive orders. Lambda Legal, along with the American Civil Liberties Union and the law firms Jenner & Block and Hogan Lovells have filed lawsuits against Trump’s mandate on behalf of families of trans youth.
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