National
HRC, Sebelius unveil report on medical facilities
Evaluating LGBT-friendliness of hospitals, other providers
HRC President Chad Griffin unveils Healthcare Equality Index (Blade photo by Chris Johnson)
Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin and Secretary of Health & Human Services Kathleen Sebelius unveiled HRC’s annual report evaluating the LGBT friendliness of medical facilities throughout the country at a media appearance Tuesday.
The two appeared together at a news conference at Howard University Medical Center — a facility that received a perfect score in the new report — to talk about the findings in HRC’s 2012 Healthcare Equality Index, which is the fifth such report from the organization.
Griffin said during the news conference that medical facilities shouldn’t deny a patient the ability to see a loved one — whether it’s a same-sex or opposite-sex partner — while visiting a hospital.
“At no time are we more vulnerable than when we’re lying on an emergency room gurney or in a hospital bed,” Griffin said. “It’s a scary time; not a time to be alone, and we desperately need our loved one by our side. And of course, that’s exactly where they want to be, not sitting in a waiting room feeling scared or helpless, or even worse, in a car racing home to find legal papers that prove our relationships while critical medical decisions are being made without us.”
Sebelius noted the Obama administration’s work on improving LGBT health, mentioning accomplishments such as the hospital visitation memorandum and a move to bar insurers from discriminating on the basis of LGBT status.
“A lot of these improvement don’t get the biggest press headlines, but they reflect how every day in dozens of small ways every agency and division in our department is working to make things better for LGBT individuals and families we serve,” Sebelius said.
This year’s index includes 407 respondents that volunteered to fill out a survey on key aspects of treatment of LGBT patients and staff, including patient non-discrimination policies, visitation polices, employment non-discrimination policies and training in LGBT patient-centered care.
The report saw a 40 percent increase in participating respondents from last year. Additionally, there were 237 facilities — a 162 percent increase — in facilities that received a perfect score and were dubbed a “Leader in LGBT Healthcare Equality.”
Wayne Frederick, Howard University provost and chief academic officer, said Howard University Hospital was “delighted” to be included among the facilities that received a perfect score in the index.
“Patient-centered care is a universal standard and is expected of all health care providers and health care institutions,” Frederick said. “It is a standard that is deserved by all people regardless of race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The D.C.-based Whitman-Walker Health also received a perfect score in the index and is the only non-hospital organization in the district to receive a perfect score in the report.
Don Blanchon, Whitman-Walker’s executive director, said he’s “excited and honored” his organization’s work has been recognized by HRC.
“Whitman-Walker was founded more than 30 years ago to offer high quality and affirming health care for metropolitan D.C.’s LGBT community at a time when that was almost non-existent,” Blanchon said. “We are very proud to not only be recognized but to join the company of other health care groups around the nation who are working to ensure equal access to high quality care.”
Although more facilities than ever volunteered to fill out the survey, 18 states aren’t represented: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Vermont and Connecticut.
On the same day that HRC issued its report, the Department of Health & Human Services issued its own annual report identifying seven key LGBT accomplishments in the past year as well as goals moving forward. Among them are the National Institutes of Health issuing a report identifying LGBT health gaps and opportunities; the Centers for Disease Control issuing data on domestic violence for LGBT couples; and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services making a training video about LGBT elder Americans.
Griffin emphasized the importance of health care equity by narrating his own story about making his first visit to the doctor after coming out as gay while living in Los Angeles and wanting to correct his patient record by saying he had previously incorrectly identified as straight.
“My doctor didn’t make me feel comfortable,” Griffin said. “He didn’t sort of have the answers to the questions and I didn’t feel comfortable, which is what I expected with my doctor. So, I left and I immediately changed doctors and got a doctor that was referred by friends, and I was very comfortable with being honest with that doctor and asking every question I had as a young person struggling to come out of the closet. That was so important and so helpful.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article said Whitman-Walker was the only non-hospital organization to receive a perfect score in the Healthcare Equality Index. It’s the only non-hospital organization in D.C., not the country. The Blade regrets the error.
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
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.
National
Medical groups file lawsuit over Trump deletion of health information
Crucial datasets included LGBTQ, HIV resources
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.
U.S. Federal Courts
Federal judge scraps trans-inclusive workplace discrimination protections
Ruling appears to contradict US Supreme Court precedent
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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