National
Mehlman among speakers at secret gay donor conference
OutGiving summit features Plouffe, Collins, others

Gay former Republican National Committee Chair Ken Mehlman was among the speakers at a secret LGBT donor conference that took place over the weekend in D.C. and was attended by advocates and high-ranking public officials.
According to a program schedule obtained by the Washington Blade, Mehlman, who came out as gay in 2010, spoke on at least two panels during the annual OutGiving conference hosted by the Gill Action Fund. The organization works at the state level to advance LGBT rights, and to oust lawmakers who oppose them.
A source who attended the conference, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mehlman spoke on a panel about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal with Winnie Stachelberg, vice president of external affairs at the Center for American Progress, and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who was the lead Republican in the Senate pushing for legislation to repeal the military’s gay ban.
Another source familiar with the event, who also requested anonymity, said Mehlman was among 30 or more speakers at the event and presented a session on Republican evolution on LGBT rights with Margaret Hoover, a straight LGBT-friendly conservative activist who testified last year before the Maryland Senate in favor of the same-sex marriage bill.
Mehlman worked for the White House and was later RNC chair at the same time former President George W. Bush was advocating for a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. However, the gay Republican later apologized for his involvement with campaigns exploiting marital politics and is credited with helping to lobby on behalf of the marriage equality bill in New York.
Mike Rogers, a D.C.-based gay activist known for his outing of closeted gay politicians who pursue anti-gay policies, praised Mehlman for taking part in the conference and said it helps him reverse the damage he caused as a GOP operative. Rogers didn’t attend the OutGiving conference.
“I am happy to see Ken Mehlman working to undo the years of damage that he inflicted on the American people and the LGBT community,” Rogers said. “Ken is taking the steps toward redemption and his participation in donor conferences is important in helping to secure new supporters of our movement in the corporate community. I commend him for his recent work.”
The anonymous attendee also said David Plouffe, a campaign manager for President Obama during his 2008 run and now a senior adviser at the White House, gave a speech to attendees about the work the administration has done over the course of Obama’s first term. Clo Ewing, an Obama campaign spokesperson, said his remarks weren’t available.
Also in attendance was lesbian Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), who’s pursuing a run for U.S. Senate; she delivered a speech, the source said.
The OutGiving conference is an annual gathering where leading donors and LGBT advocates converge to plan strategies and secure financial commitments for state and federal elections around the country. The conference this year took place at the Mandarin Oriental hotel, starting on the evening of April 26 through April 29. The event is secretive and individuals participate on the condition that they pledge not to speak publicly about it.
One donor who attended the event, who spoke on condition of anonymity, estimated that between 100 and 200 donors, activists and other individuals were in attendance. The donor wouldn’t reveal anything about the nature of the discussions or panels, but said programs and content haven’t “changed dramatically” from previous years and that it was “a very positive conversation.”
More information about what was said during the talks wasn’t known. Unless otherwise noted, the offices for the named individuals in this article didn’t respond to a request for comment or declined to say anything.
According to the schedule obtained by the Washington Blade, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) was another scheduled speaker at the event. She’s considered a leading LGBT advocate in the Senate and was a proponent of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal in 2010.
A number of governors were slated to participate in the event. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, who recently pushed through same-sex marriage legislation in their states, were set to speak on one panel.
On another panel, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin and Delaware Gov. Jack Markell were scheduled to speak. Sue Abbey, a Shumlin spokesperson, confirmed the governor participated in the conference, but didn’t respond to a request to comment further.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick was set to talk on the same panel. But Alex Goldstein, a Patrick campaign spokesperson, said a last minute conflict prevented the governor from attending, even though he backs the work of OutGiving in supporting “the cause of equality across the nation.”
High-profile LGBT advocates were also among the speakers scheduled to participate. Mary Bonauto, the civil rights project director at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders who recently argued before the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals against the Defense of Marriage Act, was scheduled to speak. Ted Olson, who’s litigating on behalf of the American Foundation for Equal Rights against California’s Proposition 8, was another scheduled speaker. Sean Eldridge, president of the small-business investment fund Hudson River Ventures and senior adviser at Freedom to Marry, was also set to talk.
Advocates affiliated with Gill Action were also slated to speak, including Tim Gill, the gay billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the organization in 2005, and Chris Cormier, the organization’s director of donor relations. One source familiar with the event said Kirk Fordham, the newly named executive director of the organization, had offered general remarks and the summit marked his first OutGiving. Former individuals affiliated with Gill Action — Patrick Guerriero and Bill Smith — were also on the schedule.
Others listed as participants at the event — but not as speakers — were Patrick Murphy, the former U.S. House member who led the way for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal and until was running for Pennsylvania attorney general before he lost the Democratic primary, and Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster.
Also on the schedule was lesbian political satirist Kate Clinton, whose speech was likely intended to lighten the mood at the event amid serious discussion of LGBT advocacy.
John Aravosis, who’s gay and editor of AMERICAblog, said the secretive nature of the OutGiving summit doesn’t bother him. He wasn’t in attendance.
“If you hold strategy sessions in public, then they’re press conferences and not strategy sessions,” Aravosis said. “We don’t need the religious right taking notes about what our plans are for the next year.”
CORRECTION: An initial version of this article reported that Patrick Murphy was still pursuing a run for Pennsylvania attorney general. The Blade regrets the error.
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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