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Gay Facebook co-founder criticized for failing to give to N.C. fight

Hughes discouraged by marriage polls in his home state

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Chris Hughes (photo by USV via wikimedia)

The gay co-founder of Facebook hasn’t contributed financially to the campaign opposing a measure that would ban same-sex marriage in North Carolina — even though the battle to thwart the amendment is taking place in his home state.

Chris Hughes, who co-founded Facebook along with his Harvard roommate Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 and served as the site’s spokesperson, has made no donations to the campaign against Amendment One since the campaign began last year through 5:30 p.m. on Monday, according to data from the Campaign to Protect All NC Families. According to a Forbes Magazine article published in March, Hughes’ stake in Facebook is worth at least $600 million.

In a statement provided Monday to the Washington Blade, Hughes said he opposes the measure, which will come before voters May 8, because of the negative impact it would have on LGBT families in North Carolina.

“As a native North Carolinian myself, I have opposed this amendment from the start,” Hughes said. “It would write discrimination into the state constitution and hurt gay and lesbian North Carolinians who work hard, contribute to society, and want to protect their families like everyone else.”

Hughes added that he and his fiancé Sean Eldridge, president of the small business investment fund Hudson River Ventures and a senior adviser at Freedom to Marry, have contributed “time and resources” to the fight against Amendment One.

“My fiancé Sean and I have contributed our time and resources to oppose this discriminatory amendment, and we hope that it is defeated next week,” Hughes said. “Along with Freedom to Marry and Equality NC, we helped fund last year’s campaign to keep the amendment off of the ballot and are supportive of the ongoing efforts in the state to win on May 8. Winning the freedom to marry nationwide is a top priority for Sean and myself, and from New York to North Carolina, we’re proud of our work to help make that a reality.”

Same-sex marriage is already barred by statute in North Carolina. Opponents say the measure would also prohibit civil unions and interfere with domestic partner benefits offered by municipalities as well as threaten contractual arrangements between same-sex partners.

Given that Hughes made no contribution to the Campaign to Protect All NC Families, his reference to helping the campaign to keep Amendment One off the ballot could be a reference to contributions made to an effort to stop the state legislature from passing the measure and sending it to voters, which state lawmakers did on Sept. 13.

Hughes did engage in efforts to stop the marriage amendment for coming to the ballot. In a Sept. 9 letter, Hughes wrote an open letter to the General Assembly saying the measure would be “bad for business, bad for the perception of my home state on the national stage and a far cry from job-creating legislation that North Carolina lawmakers should be focused on.” Hughes also pledged to donate $10 for each person who likes Equality North Carolina’s page on Facebook up to a total donation of $10,000.

Born in 1983 in Hickory, N.C., Hughes took on other initiatives after co-founding Facebook. In 2008, he was coordinator of online organizing for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign on My.BarackObama.com, the campaign’s social networking site. Other projects include joining on as entrepreneur in residence at General Catalyst Partners, a Cambridge, Mass.-based venture capital firm, and launching Jumo, a social networking service and website aimed at allowing potential donors to evaluate charities.

In March 2012, Hughes bought a majority share of The New Republic magazine, becoming its owner, editor-in-chief and publisher. The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Prior to issuing his statement, Hughes had a brief exchange about Amendment One with the Blade in D.C. at National Public Radio’s “Friday Night Spin” party on April 29. Hughes and Eldridge said they were discouraged from donating by polling data. Some early polls showed the anti-gay side with a double-digit lead in the state. The couple said they instead favored contributing to fights over state ballot measures with better prospects for the pro-gay side, such as in Washington State or Maine.

But recent polls show momentum turning against Amendment One. Data published last week by Public Policy Polling found only 54 percent of voters in the state plan to vote for it, while 40 percent are opposed to the measure. That’s the lowest level of support for the measure that PPP has found in polling since last October.

Adam Bink, director of online programs for the Courage Campaign and an organizer for grassroots efforts against Amendment One, criticized Hughes for failing to donate money to efforts opposing the amendment.

“The question is, will Chris give or won’t he,” Bink said. “It’s disappointing that he’s given up when, with polls the closest in history and an outpouring of support today online from people who work hard to make ends meet, he couldn’t be bothered to give.”

Jeremy Kennedy, campaign manager for the Coalition to Protect All NC Families, responded to Hughes’ lack of contributions by more broadly calling on major donors to give to the campaign.

“With only days until the election, I am overwhelmed by the over 9,500 donors who have contributed over $2 million,” Kennedy said. “We are very close to having a fully funded campaign that can close the gap, and pull an upset by defeating Amendment One. I am hopeful that the major donors across the  country who have yet to give will understand that their resources can make a difference and will help us get to the finish line.”

Hughes isn’t the only noteworthy gay entrepreneur who hasn’t donated money to the campaign against Amendment One. Mitchell Gold, co-founder of the furniture manufacturer Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, also hasn’t made a contribution; his company is based in Taylorsville, N.C. Gold declined to comment.

Major donations to the campaign against Amendment One include $200,000 from Jon Stryker, president and founder of Arcus Foundation. Dan Savage, a Seattle-based gay political pundit and sex advice columnist, gave $1,000.

According to the campaign, just under 10,000 donors in total have given so far. The average gift is less than $100 and donations have ranged from $5 to $250,000.

NOTE: This post has been updated.

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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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