Connect with us

National

Freedom to Marry launches campaign to bolster same-sex marriage support among conservatives

Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) attended campaign kick-off event

Published

on

Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) (Official U.S. Congressional Portrait)

Freedom to Marry on Tuesday formally launched a new campaign designed to bolster support of nuptials for same-sex couples among conservatives.

Members of Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry will work to pass state laws that allow same-sex marriage and lobby lawmakers on Capitol Hill to support a bill that would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. The campaign also seeks to highlight conservatives who can effectively discuss marriage rights for gays and lesbians in the media.

“I am a conservative and as a conservative I believe in limited government and limited government isn’t something that takes rights away from our friends and family,” said Craig Stowell, Republican co-chair of Standing Up for New Hampshire Families, at the campaign’s kick-off event at the Capitol Hill Club in Southeast Washington. “The government shouldn’t be managing the personal lives of any decent law abiding citizen in any state.”

Tyler Deaton of the New Hampshire Young Republicans and New Hampshire Republicans for Freedom and Equality; Nicole Neily, vice president of Dezenhall Resources, former Republican National Convention staffer Madeline Koch, Sarah Longwell of the D.C. communications firm Berman and Company, Torrey Shearer and Will Rinehart were the members of the Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry Leadership Committee also attended the D.C. event. CNN commentator Margaret Hoover is also a member of the campaign’s leadership committee.

Stowell, a former Marine, became emotional as he discussed the struggles he said his gay brother Calvin experienced growing up.

“There were nights that I worried that he wouldn’t be around when I woke up in the morning, but you know what, he pulled through it and he has always been there for me,” he said. “When I got married, he was my best man. And when I had a daughter, he stepped up to be the godfather. And I want to be able to be there for him in those moments in life.”

Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who is the only GOP sponsor of the DOMA repeal bill — the Respect for Marriage Act — also spoke.

“This is more than just about sexual orientation, it’s about the fundamental rights that we all share as Americans,” she said. “It’s bad enough we have to deal with the over-regulation of our economy. No one should have to deal with the government red tape when it comes to committing themselves to those whom they love. So with your help, our country will indeed continue on its path towards that most perfect union for each and every one of us.”

An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll in March showed that support for marriage rights for same-sex couples among Republicans has grown by 41 percent since 2009. A survey that ABC News and the Washington Post conducted shortly after President Obama publicly backed nuptials for gays and lesbians in May indicated that 46 percent of self-identified Republicans between 18-44 support same-sex marriage.

Stowell and others pointed to the 119 Republicans in the New Hampshire House who voted against a bill in March that would have struck down the state’s same-sex marriage law as further proof that support for this issue continues to grow. “We worked hard to preach our values of the state that freedom means freedom for everyone and that 2,000 loving and committed gay and lesbian couples that married in our state only makes it stronger,” Stowell told the Blade. “We made the case strongly. Our opponents invested millions of dollars, but you know what, we beat them overwhelmingly in a Republican super-majority by a 2-1 margin. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

Ros-Lehtinen, who has a transgender son, told the Blade that she remains optimistic that Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry and other efforts will spur more of her GOP colleagues to support the repeal of DOMA and back relationship recognition for same-sex couples.

“It’s a whole new image for Republicans and we’ve got to win the hearts and minds of the next generation,” she stressed. “The Republicans can’t be the party of middle age and beyond.”

R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, shared a similar view.

“There’s now compelling data to prove that this is an issue that we’re going to win on,” he said, referring to polls that continue to indicate support for marriage rights for same-sex couples among younger Republicans in particular continues to grow. “If we don’t move forward on this particular issue within the conservative ranks within the Republican Party, it will have a diminishing effect on the party.”

Robert Kabel, chair of the D.C. Republican Committee, and Robert Turner, II, president of the D.C. Chapter of Log Cabin Republicans, were also among those who attended the campaign kick-off event.

Advertisement
FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM
SIGN UP FOR E-BLAST

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

Published

on

(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.

Continue Reading

National

Medical groups file lawsuit over Trump deletion of health information

Crucial datasets included LGBTQ, HIV resources

Published

on

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.

Continue Reading

U.S. Federal Courts

Federal judge scraps trans-inclusive workplace discrimination protections

Ruling appears to contradict US Supreme Court precedent

Published

on

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.

Continue Reading

Popular