National
HHS affirms trans protections in health care reform
Sex discrimination prohibition said to apply to gender identity

Discrimination against transgender people in federal health programs or health programs that receive federal funds is prohibited under the health care reform law, the Department of Health & Human Services affirmed in a letter to LGBT advocates made public on Monday.
The letter, dated July 12 and signed by Leon Rodriguez, director of the Office of Civil Rights for HHS, says the Obama administration has interpreted existing non-discrimination law — including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 — to mean that the sex-discrimination protections under the Affordable Care Act apply to transgender people, and, in some cases, individuals who are lesbian, gay and bisexual.
“We agree that Section 1577’s sex discrimination prohibition extends to claims of discrimination based on gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity and will accept such complaints for investigation,” Rodriguez writes. “Section 1557 also prohibits sexual harassment and discrimination regardless of actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity of the individuals involved.”
The letter states that the Office of Civil Rights for HHS intends to issue future guidance on this section. In the meantime, Rodriguez says HHS is “currently accepting and investigating complaints” and is making determinations on whether discrimination has happened on a case-by-case basis.
Health programs that receive federal funds include hospitals, clinics and mental health facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding. According to a National Transgender Discrimination Survey published by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, one in five transgender people have been denied care by a medical provider.
The HHS interpretation that sex discrimination statues apply to transgender people under the health care reform law follows a recent trend of reading such laws to cover transgender people. Most notably, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that existing employment non-discrimination law on sex discrimination extends to transgender people, as well as the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Glenn v. Brumby and the Department of Housing & Urban Development in federally funded housing programs.
Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said transgender people could previously file complaints if they felt they faced discrimination in health programs, but the clarification from HHS streamlines the process.
“You can always file a complaint, but now HHS is saying they interpret sex discrimination laws to cover gender identity discrimination,” Keisling said. “You don’t have to claim sex stereotyping, and then prove sex stereotyping because gender identity discrimination is sex discrimination.”
Keisling maintained that the clarification from HHS doesn’t mean that health care providers have to provide aid for gender transitioning, saying “nothing in federal law says any insurance plan — public and private — has to cover transition-related care.”
Kellan Baker, a health policy analyst for the Center for American Progress’ LGBT research and communications project, said this policy affirmed in the letter isn’t new — having already been openly discussed by Obama administration officials — and HHS’s response simply provides clarification of the issue.
“This is something that has been in the Affordable Care Act the entire time,” Baker said. “This is just a clarification that the department is aware of the fact that making sure that transgender people have access to the same services, the same health care, that non-transgender people do is an essential principle of health care reform, is an essential principle of the Affordable Care Act.”
The main addressee on the letter is Maya Rupert, federal policy director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which was among the 12 LGBT groups that co-sigend a letter to HHS requesting the information. HHS’s response carbon copies the other groups.
The advocates’ letter, dated June 5, calls for clarification on the issue, saying groups have previously submitted memoranda detailing the problem and calling for implementing regulations to prohibit discrimination in health care to LGBT individuals. Advocates make the case that recent determinations that sex discrimination protections apply to transgender people should make it easy for HHS to conclude such non-discrimination is possible in health care.
“While the need for regulations for section 1557 remain, we believe recent developments have it made it necessary for HHS to issue clarifying guidance on the application of the law in this area in advance of formal rulemaking,” the letter states.
In a statement, Rupert expressed gratitude to HHS for clarifying existing law protects transgender people from discrimination in health care, saying they “face several discrimination in healthcare settings and are often denied care completely.”
“This announcement affirms that all patients in federally funded health care settings must be treated equally and may not be denied care simply because of who they are,” Rupert said. “We are grateful to HHS for clarifying this important policy and providing transgender people with the security of knowing they are included in the administration’s commitment to the health and well-being of all Americans.”
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.