National
Lesbian guardsman calls on Boehner to drop DOMA defense
Cancer patient fears she may not ‘have the time to wait’

A lesbian guardsman suffering from cancer is calling on House Speaker John Boehner to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court.
She met with staff in his D.C. office on Thursday in an effort to convince the Ohio Republican to discontinue support for the anti-gay law.
Chief Warrant Officer Charlie Morgan met with Katherine Haley, a policy assistant to Boehner, to ask the speaker to drop defense of DOMA so that upon her death, her spouse, Kathy Morgan, can receive federal benefits. Morgan serves in the New Hampshire National Guard and just returned from deployment in Kuwait.
In September 2011, the guardsman was diagnosed with stage-four incurable breast cancer. After being first diagnosed in 2008 and undergoing a double mastectomy and chemotherapy, Morgan was declared cancer-free and deployed to Kuwait, but was later informed her cancer had returned and has resumed chemotherapy.
“I’m very worried about the military survivor benefits for Karen if I don’t survive this bout with cancer,” Morgan said in a Washington Blade interview. “I explained to her that I wasn’t afraid to die, but I was worried that Karen would not receive the same spousal survivor benefits as our heterosexual counterparts.”
Among the benefits that Morgan is seeking for her spouse are survivor’s benefits, Social Security benefits and health insurance coverage.
Morgan said Boehner’s staffer spoke with her for about 15 to 20 minutes and was “polite” and “empathetic,” but said Boehner would probably continue to defend DOMA in court.
“I told her that I believe in miracles, but it was important for her to relate to the speaker that I need this to happen now because I don’t have the time necessarily to wait through the legislative or judicial process,” Morgan said. “If he were to not defend DOMA, that would immediately [help] my family and benefit us.”
Michael Steele, a Boehner spokesperson, confirmed “the meeting did occur,” but declined to offer any more information about the discussion or Morgan’s call for Boehner to discontinue his defense of DOMA.
The Morgans are among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that Servicemembers Legal Defense Network filed in October on behalf of gay troops and veterans against DOMA on the basis that the anti-gay law blocks them form receiving federal benefits afforded to service members in opposite-sex marriages. Morgan attended the meeting with Boehner’s staff along with David McKean, an SLDN attorney.
During the meeting, Morgan submitted photos of herself in uniform, and with her partner and daughter as well as a letter dated Feb. 9 about her struggle with cancer, her family’s military history and how the veterans benefits her mother received upon the death of her father, who was in the Army and deployed twice to Germany, helped her keep “a roof over our heads and food on the table.”
“The military informs us that it is only as strong as the families that support it,” the letter states. “In turn, my military leadership supports my efforts to attain benefits to take care of my family. As a service member who has proven that I am willing to die for my country I am asking you not to defend DOMA for the sake of the many people whose lives it negatively impacts.”
The meeting follows a similar letter dated Dec. 23 that Morgan sent to Boehner asking him for a meeting to discuss the negative impact that DOMA has on her family.
After the Justice Department announced last year President Obama had determined DOMA was unconstitutional and would no longer defend the statute against litigation, Boehner convened the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group in the House, which voted in March along party lines to take up defense in the administration’s stead.
Congress is unlikely to repeal DOMA legislatively given its given makeup. The Senate Judiciary Committee reported out legislation to repeal the law in November, but there are no plans for a floor vote. Success on the House floor is unlikely and Boehner has indicated he won’t bring up the repeal legislation to a vote.
The Obama administration has a deadline of Feb. 28 to respond to the lawsuit in which Morgan is a plaintiff. The administration is expected to decline to take up defense of the law and for Boehner to take up defense of the law as he has with other DOMA cases.
Aubrey Sarvis, SLDN’s executive director, said in a statement Boehner should drop defense of DOMA so the courts can decide the constitutionality of the anti-gay law on their own and permit Morgan and others in same-sex relationships to receive federal benefits.
“Our message for Speaker Boehner and others today is simply this: Chief Warrant Officer Charlie Morgan can’t wait,” Sarvis said. “She and her family deserve equal treatment, and she may not have years for this process to play out in the courts or on Capitol Hill. Speaker Boehner can make a difference here, and we respectfully ask him to take a look at this case and get to know this family. We are confident that when he does, he will see that these discriminatory laws hurt our military, harm families and are indefensible.”
The meeting with Boehner’s office isn’t the only one Morgan had on Capitol Hill. The lesbian guardsman also met with her member of Congress, Rep. Frank Guinta (R-N.H.), about her desire for Boehner to discontinue defense of DOMA. SLDN’s McKean was present during this meeting as well.
Morgan said she spoke with Guinta for close to 10 minutes. She said he was also “empathetic” to her situation and said he’d “see what he can do.”
“I also explained to him that I knew that he was pro-military because he comes from New Hampshire and the congressional delegates from New Hampshire are pro-military,” Morgan said. “But I explained to him that for me it was a military issue. It wasn’t just my issue. It was an issue for all other thousands of gay and lesbian families in the same situation across the nation.”
A spokesperson for Guinta declined to comment on the meeting, saying its was a private discussion between the lawmaker and one of his constituents. Guinta isn’t a co-sponsor of the Respect for Marriage Act, legislation that would repeal DOMA.
In addition to the lawsuit, SLDN also launched an online petition at Change.org on the same day of the meeting calling on Boehner to discontinue his defense of DOMA in court. As of late afternoon on Thursday, the petition had 211 signatures.
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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