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National news in brief: March 2

Optimism after new Iowa Poll, Navratilova heads to ‘DWTS,’ and more

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Iowa Capitol Dome, gay news, gay politics DC

A Des Moines Register poll says a majority of Iowa voters would reject a constitutional amendment banning marriage rights for same-sex couples if the vote were held today.

Poll: Iowa voters oppose marriage ban

DES MOINES — If a vote were held today, 56 percent of Iowa voters would reject an amendment barring same-sex marriage in the state constitution, according to a Des Moines Register poll out this week.

Iowa became the third state to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples in 2009, after a unanimous Supreme Court decision the previous year, leading to immediate calls for a constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage. The Democratic-controlled Senate has been able to halt efforts by the Republican-controlled House to send a ballot measure to voters.

In November of 2010 Iowans voted out three of the Supreme Court justices whose ruling set marriage in motion. The voters, however, also rejected a constitutional convention that would have allowed the document to be amended to bar the nuptials.

Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and the District of Columbia also have gender-neutral marriage laws; 29 states bar same-sex marriage rights constitutionally, and 10 by statute. Maryland and Washington states are facing referendums over recent legislative acts legalizing marriage in those states.

Navratilova tapped for next ‘DWTS’

HOLLYWOOD — Lesbian tennis legend Martina Navratilova will take to the dance floor in ABC’s next installment of ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ according to the network.

Czech-born Navratilova holds the world record for most Grand Slam women’s doubles titles at 31, and the record for most Wimbledon women’s singles wins at nine. She came out publicly in 1981 at the age of 20, shortly after becoming an American citizen.

Navratilova will join Motown legend Gladys Knight, ‘View’ co-host Sherri Shepherd, ‘Little House’ actress Melissa Gilbert — older sister of lesbian ‘Roseanne’ actress Sara Gilbert — and actor Jaleel White, who played Steve Urkel on ‘Family Matters’ in the 1990s.

Plummer wins Oscar for gay role

LOS ANGELES — ‘Sound of Music’ star Christopher Plummer has taken home his first Academy Award for his portrayal of a man coming out late in life in ‘Beginners.’ He is the oldest winner ever at 82.

“You’re only two years older than me darling, where have you been all of my life?” Plummer asked the golden statuette in his hand as he delivered his acceptance speech.

Plummer took to the Oscars stage before in 1966 with the cast of ‘Sound of Music,’ when the film won Best Picture that year.

Gay, trans candidates on ballots across U.S.

ORLANDO — If Gina Duncan wins her bid for Orange County Commission in Florida this fall, she will make history as Florida’s first transgender elected official.

“I understand the significance of it,” Duncan told the Orlando Sentinel. “But I haven’t found it to be a detriment or something we’re dwelling on.”

Duncan is among dozens of LGBT candidates on the ballot in Florida hoping to join the 26 openly gay elected officials in the Sunshine State, including two that are competing in a four-way race for the same seat on the Orlando City Council. They are among hundreds competing this year nationwide.

According to Denis Dison of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, there are currently 77 Victory Fund-endorsed candidates on ballots across the country, but by November, that number could be closer to 200. Pennsylvania is fielding three openly gay state House candidates alone with Brian Simms, Christopher Dietz and Kelly McEntee.

There are more than 530 LGBT elected officials nationwide according to the Victory Fund, including eight in the Maryland Legislature, which boasts the most openly gay members of any legislature in the country.

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New York

Men convicted of murdering two men in NYC gay bar drugging scheme sentenced

One of the victims, John Umberger, was D.C. political consultant

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(Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

A New York judge on Wednesday sentenced three men convicted of killing a D.C. political consultant and another man who they targeted at gay bars in Manhattan.

NBC New York notes a jury in February convicted Jayqwan Hamilton, Jacob Barroso, and Robert DeMaio of murder, robbery, and conspiracy in relation to druggings and robberies that targeted gay bars in Manhattan from March 2021 to June 2022.

John Umberger, a 33-year-old political consultant from D.C., and Julio Ramirez, a 25-year-old social worker, died. Prosecutors said Hamilton, Barroso, and DeMaio targeted three other men at gay bars.

The jury convicted Hamilton and DeMaio of murdering Umberger. State Supreme Court Judge Felicia Mennin sentenced Hamilton and DeMaio to 40 years to life in prison.

Barroso, who was convicted of killing Ramirez, received a 20 years to life sentence.

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National

Medical groups file lawsuit over Trump deletion of health information

Crucial datasets included LGBTQ, HIV resources

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HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is named as a defendant in the lawsuit. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Nine private medical and public health advocacy organizations, including two from D.C., filed a lawsuit on May 20 in federal court in Seattle challenging what it calls the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’s illegal deletion of dozens or more of its webpages containing health related information, including HIV information.

The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, names as defendants Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and HHS itself, and several agencies operating under HHS and its directors, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration.

“This action challenges the widespread deletion of public health resources from federal agencies,” the lawsuit states. “Dozens (if not more) of taxpayer-funded webpages, databases, and other crucial resources have vanished since January 20, 2025, leaving doctors, nurses, researchers, and the public scrambling for information,” it says.

 “These actions have undermined the longstanding, congressionally mandated regime; irreparably harmed Plaintiffs and others who rely on these federal resources; and put the nation’s public health infrastructure in unnecessary jeopardy,” the lawsuit continues.

It adds, “The removal of public health resources was apparently prompted by two recent executive orders – one focused on ‘gender ideology’ and the other targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (‘DEI’) programs. Defendants implemented these executive orders in a haphazard manner that resulted in the deletion (inadvertent or otherwise) of health-related websites and databases, including information related to pregnancy risks, public health datasets, information about opioid-use disorder, and many other valuable resources.”

 The lawsuit does not mention that it was President Donald Trump who issued the two executive orders in question. 

A White House spokesperson couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on the lawsuit. 

While not mentioning Trump by name, the lawsuit names as defendants in addition to HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., Matthew Buzzelli, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health; Martin Makary, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration; Thomas Engels, administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration; and Charles Ezell, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management. 

The 44-page lawsuit complaint includes an addendum with a chart showing the titles or descriptions of 49 “affected resource” website pages that it says were deleted because of the executive orders. The chart shows that just four of the sites were restored after initially being deleted.

 Of the 49 sites, 15 addressed LGBTQ-related health issues and six others addressed HIV issues, according to the chart.   

“The unannounced and unprecedented deletion of these federal webpages and datasets came as a shock to the medical and scientific communities, which had come to rely on them to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks, assist physicians and other clinicians in daily care, and inform the public about a wide range of healthcare issues,” the lawsuit states.

 “Health professionals, nonprofit organizations, and state and local authorities used the websites and datasets daily in care for their patients, to provide resources to their communities, and promote public health,” it says. 

Jose Zuniga, president and CEO of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC), one of the organizations that signed on as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said in a statement that the deleted information from the HHS websites “includes essential information about LGBTQ+ health, gender and reproductive rights, clinical trial data, Mpox and other vaccine guidance and HIV prevention resources.”

 Zuniga added, “IAPAC champions evidence-based, data-informed HIV responses and we reject ideologically driven efforts that undermine public health and erase marginalized communities.”

Lisa Amore, a spokesperson for Whitman-Walker Health, D.C.’s largest LGBTQ supportive health services provider, also expressed concern about the potential impact of the HHS website deletions.

 “As the region’s leader in HIV care and prevention, Whitman-Walker Health relies on scientific data to help us drive our resources and measure our successes,” Amore said in response to a request for comment from  the Washington Blade. 

“The District of Columbia has made great strides in the fight against HIV,” Amore said. “But the removal of public facing information from the HHS website makes our collective work much harder and will set HIV care and prevention backward,” she said. 

The lawsuit calls on the court to issue a declaratory judgement that the “deletion of public health webpages and resources is unlawful and invalid” and to issue a preliminary or permanent injunction ordering government officials named as defendants in the lawsuit “to restore the public health webpages and resources that have been deleted and to maintain their web domains in accordance with their statutory duties.”

It also calls on the court to require defendant government officials to “file a status report with the Court within twenty-four hours of entry of a preliminary injunction, and at regular intervals, thereafter, confirming compliance with these orders.”

The health organizations that joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs include the Washington State Medical Association, Washington State Nurses Association, Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Academy Health, Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, Fast-Track Cities Institute, International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, National LGBT Cancer Network, and Vermont Medical Society. 

The Fast-Track Cities Institute and International Association of Providers of AIDS Care are based in D.C.

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U.S. Federal Courts

Federal judge scraps trans-inclusive workplace discrimination protections

Ruling appears to contradict US Supreme Court precedent

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Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Screen capture: YouTube)

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas has struck down guidelines by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission designed to protect against workplace harassment based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

The EEOC in April 2024 updated its guidelines to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), which determined that discrimination against transgender people constituted sex-based discrimination as proscribed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

To ensure compliance with the law, the agency recommended that employers honor their employees’ preferred pronouns while granting them access to bathrooms and allowing them to wear dress code-compliant clothing that aligns with their gender identities.

While the the guidelines are not legally binding, Kacsmaryk ruled that their issuance created “mandatory standards” exceeding the EEOC’s statutory authority that were “inconsistent with the text, history, and tradition of Title VII and recent Supreme Court precedent.”

“Title VII does not require employers or courts to blind themselves to the biological differences between men and women,” he wrote in the opinion.

The case, which was brought by the conservative think tank behind Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation, presents the greatest setback for LGBTQ inclusive workplace protections since President Donald Trump’s issuance of an executive order on the first day of his second term directing U.S. federal agencies to recognize only two genders as determined by birth sex.

Last month, top Democrats from both chambers of Congress reintroduced the Equality Act, which would codify LGBTQ-inclusive protections against discrimination into federal law, covering employment as well as areas like housing and jury service.

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