National
Is reconciliation possible for minority journalist convention?
After black journalist group quits coalition, and gay journalist group joins, accusations of homophobia may mar chances of true ‘unity.’
The National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association contended with much controversy in its first year participating in the quadrennial minority journalist convention, UNITY. (Photo by Matthew Mullins)
Though the largest regular gathering of journalists in the nation included LGBT members for the first time, the coalition for minority journalists known as UNITY may be heading toward demise.
As first reported by the Maynard Institute, UNITY executive director Onica Makwakwa says the conference attracted 2,000 attendees this year, far below the 7,550 journalists who saw then Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama address the Chicago gathering. According to the Maynard Institute, Unity attracted 2,385 attendees. Much of that decline can be attributed to the absence of founding organization, the National Association of Black Journalists, which pulled out of the coalition after 18 years in 2011 citing disputes over the division of finances, and held its own New Orleans conference attracting 2,386 in June.
Though NLGJA was only invited to the coalition after the NABJ departure, a ‘black vs. gay’ narrative has been explored in some of the most recent coverage of the split. After NLGJA was invited into UNITY late last year, the organization successfully lobbied the coalition to change its name from UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc. to solely UNITY Journalists, generating criticism from some NABJ members, including the organization’s president Gregory Lee, according to the Village Voice.
According to the Voice, NABJ has long been accused of opposing NLGJA’s membership in the coalition, which has been voted on several times by the UNITY board over the past decade and a half. However, Lee flatly denies the accusation of homophobia driving the split — citing his group’s LGBT task force, a first among minority journalist groups — and tells the Voice’s Steven Thrasher that after being forced to lay off staff, the coalition’s largest member — contributing more than half of the attendees in 2008 — was opposed to the financial split that saw NABJ receive a mere 35 percent return on profits.
However, Lee accuses NLGJA of lacking diversity in its leadership, which NLGJA leaders claim is a driving factor behind the organization’s desire to be part of the UNITY coalition. Attract black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American LGBT journalists to the organization, as well as share in the common experience of being part of an underrepresented community in the newsroom, can benefit all attendees of the quadrennial conference, according to NLGJA members.
“I know the perception among some folks of color is that NLGJA is an organization run by a bunch of white guys,” Michelle Johnson of Boston University, and a member of both NABJ and NLGJA told the New York Times. “There are white guys that are in the organization who have also faced discrimination in the newsroom.”
Ken Miguel — segment producer at ABC affiliate KGO-TV in San Francisco and a National Board member of NLGJA — could not speak to the Blade officially for the Board, but said personally he was disappointed with what he perceived as a missed opportunity for the National Association of Black Journalists to meet and get to know LGBT journalists at the Unity Conference.
“If they wanted to show this was not about homophobia and race then they should have made an effort to be at [the NLGJA] events, and to get face time, and to shake hands with NLGJA journalists and let us know this is not about us,” Miguel said, saying that while Lee, and many other NABJ leaders were in attendance August 1 – 4 in Las Vegas, he felt they stayed away from LGBT-related panels and events. “I was on some panels where it was absolutely fantastic where [Native American Journalist Association] and [Asian American Journalist Association] and [National Association of Hispanic Journalists] members who were not gay were asking the right questions about what should they be covering.”
In the conference’s opening session hosted by CNN Worldwide executive vice president and managing editor, Mark Whittaker, ESPN writer and NABJ, NLGJA member LZ Granderson continued to take NABJ to task regarding its reluctance to rejoin the UNITY coalition following the name change.
“Homophobia has played a role in this tension, race has certainly played a role in this tension, money has played a role in this tension,” Granderson said. “And ALL of those things need to be talked about and hashed and on the table, not just the ones that are P.C.”
“You want to talk historically is there homophobia within [NABJ]? Yes,” KGO-TV’s Miguel told the Blade. “But do you want to say NABJ was the only group that voted that way? I know people who were members of the board then who told me, when we were discussing whether or not we should join Unity, that they were not the only ones that voted that way.”
Other longstanding members of NLGJA that attended the conference were skeptical about the need for the LGBT journalist group to continue to partner with UNITY.
“In the end, it seemed like being part of the Unity convention was more about what was good for NLGJA as an organization and less about its members,” lamented former NLGJA conference co-chair Fred Kuhr, who now edits the LGBT media trade publication, Press Pass Q, and says that the lack of programming integration between the four associations was disappointing.
The UNITY board was not the only entity to face pressures over inclusion in its name at this year’s conference. During a Thursday members meeting, several NLGJA members expressed disappointment the organization’s name excludes bisexual and trans members. Outgoing board president, David Steinberg and NLGJA executive director Michael Tune both assured the members gathered that concerns would be taken seriously and that the organization would consider evaluating the problem. This reporter was one of the members present who spoke out in favor of a name change during that discussion.
During that meeting, NLGJA members were also introduced to the organization’s new board President, Washington D.C. native, Michael Triplett, who is an assistant managing editor at Bloomberg-BNA and has served long on the board. Triplett said few words as he was recovering from laryngitis, but expressed a desire for members to come to him with ideas and concerns.
Though LGBT attendees of the conference disagreed over future participation, most agreed that the conference was an overall positive experience.
“Its no secret that I was the voice of doubt [on the Board] that this was going to work,” said Miguel. “do I think that it’s been beneficial for the organization? Yes, my eyes have been opened. I hope that the other minority journalists that did attend, their eyes were opened too, and I get a sense that that was the case.”
Both NABJ’s Lee and former NABJ President and co-founder of UNITY Will Sutton expressed hope that a reconciliation could occur between the group and UNITY, a sentiment echoed throughout the weekend by leaders from NAJA, NAHJ and AAJA, the other three founding members of the coalition. However, Lee implied that a condition of rejoining would be for members to vote on NLGJA’s continued participation in UNITY, despite the organization’s full participation this year.
“Since NABJ chose to pull out of UNITY, why is it even making a stink and making statements about UNITY now?” Kuhr — who has attended all but one NLGJA national conference since 1994 — told the Blade. “If they want to work to make UNITY better, then rejoin. If not, then stop making trouble from the sidelines. This kind of political back-and-forth is not helpful to UNITY and its other member organizations. If this squabbling can’t be tamped down, then it’s one more reason for NLGJA not to remain in UNITY.”
Phil Reese is a member of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalist Association and a member of the local D.C. chapter board.
Minnesota
Tim Walz drops out of Minn. governor’s race
The longtime LGBTQ ally and Democratic party figure blames ongoing fraud investigations supported by Trump and the GOP for his withdrawal.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced Monday that he is withdrawing from the 2026 Minnesota governor’s race, citing what he described as political interference and attacks from Republican Party leaders.
Walz made the announcement on social media, where the post quickly gained traction, drawing more than 30,000 likes on Instagram and 23,000 reactions on Facebook.
In his statement, the incumbent governor directly blamed former President Donald Trump and his allies, both in Washington and in Minnesota, for fueling what he characterized as politically motivated accusations of widespread fraud tied to federal nutrition programs in the state.
According to a 2024 ABC News story, more than 70 people have been charged as part of a “wide-ranging criminal conspiracy” that allegedly exploited two federally funded nutrition programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in more than $250 million in fraudulent claims.
“I won’t mince words here,” Walz wrote. “Donald Trump and his allies — in Washington, in St. Paul, and online — want to make our state a colder, meaner place. They want to poison our people against each other by attacking our neighbors. And, ultimately, they want to take away much of what makes Minnesota the best place in America to raise a family.”
In his announcement, Walz also cited recent reports from Somali American child care center operators in Minnesota who said they have faced violent threats and vandalism after right-wing YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a video alleging fraud at their facilities. Following the video’s release, the Trump-Vance administration cut federal child care funding nationwide.
Walz also criticized the federal government’s decision to withhold child care funding from states amid the allegations.
“They’ve already begun by taking our tax dollars that were meant to help families afford child care,” he added. “And they have no intention of stopping there.”
Last week, a Department of Health and Human Services official confirmed that the Trump administration is pausing child care funding to all states following the Minnesota allegations, stating that funds will be released “only when states prove they are being spent legitimately.”
“Republicans are playing politics with the future of our state,” Walz said. “And it’s shameful.”
Walz previously served as the Democratic vice presidential nominee alongside then–Vice President Kamala Harris during her unsuccessful 2024 presidential campaign.
Meanwhile, longtime Trump ally and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell announced in December that he is running for Minnesota governor and has already received Trump’s endorsement.
Walz has been a longtime ally of the LGBTQ community, dating back to 1999, when he served as a football coach and teacher at Mankato West High School in Mankato, Minnesota, about 80 miles southwest of Minneapolis.
It is also possible that U. S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) is considering entering the race to succeed him.
National
Top 10 LGBTQ national news stories of 2025
Trump, Supreme Court mount cruel attacks against trans community
President Trump’s anti-LGBTQ agenda dominated national news in 2025, particularly his cruel attacks on trans Americans. Here are our picks for the top 10 LGBTQ news stories the Blade covered in 2025.
10. Trump grants clemency to George Santos
President Donald Trump granted clemency to disgraced former Long Island Rep. George Santos. Santos was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft and had served just 84 days of his more than seven-year sentence. He lied to both the DOJ and the House Ethics Committee, including about his work and education history, and committed campaign finance fraud.
9. U.S. Olympics bans trans women athletes
The United States Supreme Court decided in 2025 to take up two cases — Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J.— both of which concern the rights of transgender athletes to participate on sports teams. The cases challenge state laws under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which prevents states from offering separate boys’ and girls’ sports teams based on biological sex determined at birth. Both cases are set to be heard in January 2026. The developments follow a decision by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee to change eligibility rules to prohibit transgender women from competing in women’s sporting events on behalf of the United States, following Trump’s Executive Order 14201, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”
8. FDA approves new twice-yearly HIV prevention drug
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on June 18 approved a newly developed HIV/AIDS prevention drug that needs to be taken only twice a year, with one injection every six months. The new drug, lenacapavir, is being sold under the brand name Yeztugo by pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences. According to trial data, 99.9 percent of participants who received Yeztugo remained HIV negative. This emerging technology comes amid direct cuts to HIV/AIDS research measures by the Trump–Vance administration, particularly targeting international HIV efforts such as PEPFAR.
7. LGBTQ people ‘erased’ from gov’t reports
Politico reported in March that the Trump–Vance administration is slashing the State Department’s annual human rights report, cutting sections related to the rights of women, people with disabilities, the LGBTQ+ community, and more. Members of Congress objected to the removal of the subsection on “Acts of Violence, Criminalization, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity or Expression, or Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC)” from the State Department’s Annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
In a Sept. 9 letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Julie Johnson (D-Texas), and Sarah McBride (D-Del.) urged the department to restore the information or ensure it is integrated throughout each report, noting that the reports serve as key evidence for asylum seekers, attorneys, judges, and advocates assessing human rights conditions and protection claims worldwide.
6. Trump admin redefines ‘sex’ in all HHS programs
The Trump administration canceled more than $800 million in research into the health of sexual and gender minority groups. More than half of the National Institutes of Health grants scrapped through early May involved studies of cancers and viruses that disproportionately affect LGBTQ people.
The administration is also pushing to end gender-affirming care for transgender youth, according to a new proposal from the Department of Health and Human Services, NPR reported. The administration is considering blocking all Medicaid and Medicare funding for services at hospitals that provide pediatric gender-affirming care. “These rules would be a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s attack on access to transgender health care,” said Katie Keith, director of the Center for Health Policy and Law at Georgetown University.
5. FBI plans to label trans people as ‘violent extremists’
The Human Rights Campaign, Transgender Law Center, Equality Federation, GLAAD, PFLAG, and the Southern Poverty Law Center condemned reports that the FBI, in coordination with the Heritage Foundation, may be working to designate transgender people as “violent extremists.” The concerns followed a report earlier this month by independent journalist Ken Klippenstein, who cited two anonymous national security officials saying the FBI is considering treating transgender subjects as a subset of a new threat category.
That classification—originally created under the Biden administration as “Anti-Authority and Anti-Government Violent Extremists” (AGAAVE) — was first applied to Jan. 6 rioters and other right-wing extremists. Advocates said the proposal appears to stem from the false claim that the assassination of Charlie Kirk was committed by a transgender person.
4. Pentagon targets LGBTQ service members
Acting in agreement with the growing anti-LGBTQ sentiment from the Trump administration, during a televised speech to U.S. military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico in late September, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denounced past military leadership for being too “woke,” citing DEI initiatives and LGBTQ inclusion within the Department of Defense. During the 45-minute address, Hegseth criticized inclusive policies and announced forthcoming directives, saying they would ensure combat requirements “return to the highest male standard only.”
Since 2016, a Navy replenishment oiler had borne the name of gay rights icon Harvey Milk, who served in the Navy during the Korean War and was separated from service under other than honorable conditions due to his sexuality before later becoming one of the first openly LGBTQ candidates elected to public office. In June 2025, the ship was renamed USNS Oscar V. Peterson.
The U.S. Air Force also announced that transgender service members who have served between 15 and 18 years would be denied early retirement and instead separated from the military without benefits. Transgender troops will be given the option of accepting a lump-sum payout offered to junior service members or being removed from service.
In February, the Pentagon said it would draft and submit procedures to identify transgender service members and begin discharging them from the military within 30 days.
3. Trump blames Democrats, trans people for gov’t shutdown
Republicans failed to reach an agreement with Democrats and blamed them for the government shutdown, while Democrats pointed to Republicans for cutting health care tax credits, a move they said would result in millions of people paying significantly higher monthly insurance premiums next year. In the White House press briefing room, a video of Democrats discussing past government shutdowns played on a loop as the president continued to blame the Democratic Party and “woke” issues, including transgender people.
“A lot of good can come from shutdowns. We can get rid of a lot of things. They’d be Democrat things,” Trump said the night before the shutdown. “They want open borders. Men playing in women’s sports. They want transgender for everybody.”
2. Supreme Court joins attacks on LGBTQ Americans
The U.S. Supreme Court issued multiple rulings this year affecting LGBTQ people. In Mahmoud v. Taylor (6–3), it ruled that public schools must give parents advance notice and the option to opt children out of lessons on gender or sexuality that conflict with their religious beliefs. The case arose after Montgomery County, Md., schools added LGBTQ-inclusive storybooks to the elementary curriculum.
In June, the court upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, protecting similar laws in more than 20 states. Lawmakers and advocates criticized the ruling, and a coalition of seven medical associations warned it strips families of the right to direct their own health care.
The Court also allowed the Trump administration to enforce a ban on transgender military personnel and to implement a policy blocking passports with “X” gender markers, with the federal government recognizing only male and female designations.
1. Trump inaugurated for second time
President Donald Trump became the 47th president after winning Wisconsin, securing 277 of the 270 electoral votes needed. His guidebook, Project 2025, outlined the Republican Party’s goals under his new leadership, with a particular focus on opposing transgender rights.
Trump nominated openly gay hedge fund executive Scott Bessent as U.S. Treasury Secretary, a role he eventually assumed. Bessent became the highest-ranking openly gay U.S. government official in American history.
Honorable mention: The war on rainbow crosswalks escalates around the country
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) ordered state transportation officials to remove a rainbow-colored crosswalk in Orlando next to the Pulse gay nightclub, where 49 mostly LGBTQ people were killed in a 2016 mass shooting. The move follows a July 1, 2025, announcement by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy that, with support from President Trump, the department adopted a “nationwide roadway safety initiative” that political observers say could be used to require cities and states to remove rainbow street crosswalks.
Federal Government
Holiday week brings setbacks for Trump-Vance trans agenda
Federal courts begin to deliver end-of-year responses to lawsuits involving federal transgender healthcare policy.
While many Americans took the week of Christmas to rest and relax, LGBTQ politics in the U.S. continued to shift. This week’s short recap of federal updates highlights two major blows to the Trump-Vance administration’s efforts to restrict gender-affirming care for minors.
19 states sue RFK Jr. to end gender-affirming care ban
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Tuesday that the NYAG’s office, along with 18 other states (and the District of Columbia), filed a lawsuit to stop U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from restricting gender-affirming care for minors.
In the press release, Attorney General James stressed that the push by the Trump-Vance administration’s crusade against the transgender community — specifically transgender youth — is a “clear overreach by the federal government” and relies on conservative and medically unvalidated practices to “punish providers who adhere to well-established, evidence-based care” that support gender-affirming care.
“At the core of this so-called declaration are real people: young people who need care, parents trying to support their children, and doctors who are simply following the best medical evidence available,” said Attorney General James. “Secretary Kennedy cannot unilaterally change medical standards by posting a document online, and no one should lose access to medically necessary health care because their federal government tried to interfere in decisions that belong in doctors’ offices. My office will always stand up for New Yorkers’ health, dignity, and right to make medical decisions free from intimidation.”
The lawsuit is a direct response to HHS’ Dec. 18 announcement that it will pursue regulatory changes that would make gender-affirming health care for transgender children more difficult, if not impossible, to access. It would also restrict federal funding for any hospital that does not comply with the directive. KFF, an independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism, found that in 2023 federal funding covered nearly 45% of total spending on hospital care in the U.S.
The HHS directive stems directly from President Donald Trump’s Jan. 28 Executive Order, Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation, which formally establishes U.S. opposition to gender-affirming care and pledges to end federal funding for such treatments.
The American Medical Association, the nation’s largest and most influential physician organization, has repeatedly opposed measures like the one pushed by President Trump’s administration that restrict access to trans health care.
“The AMA supports public and private health insurance coverage for treatment of gender dysphoria and opposes the denial of health insurance based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” a statement on the AMA’s website reads. “Improving access to gender-affirming care is an important means of improving health outcomes for the transgender population.”
The lawsuit also names Oregon, Washington, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin as having joined New York in the push against restricting gender-affirming care.
At the HHS news conference last Thursday, Jim O’Neill, deputy secretary of the department, asserted, “Men are men. Men can never become women. Women are women. Women can never become men.”
DOJ stopped from gaining health care records of trans youth
U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon blocked an attempt by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to gain “personally identifiable information about those minor transgender patients” from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), saying the DOJ’s efforts “fly in the face of the Supreme Court.”
Journalist Chris Geidner originally reported the news on Dec. 25, highlighting that the Western District of Pennsylvania judge’s decision is a major blow to the Trump-Vance administration’s agenda to curtail transgender rights.
“[T]his Court joins the others in finding that the government’s demand for deeply private and personal patient information carries more than a whiff of ill intent,” Bissoon wrote in her ruling. “This is apparent from its rhetoric.”
Bissoon cited the DOJ’s “incendiary characterization” of trans youth care on the DOJ website as proof, which calls the practice politically motivated rather than medically sound and seeks to “…mutilate children in the service of a warped ideology.” This is despite the fact that a majority of gender-affirming care has nothing to do with surgery.
In United States v. Skrmetti, the Supreme Court ruled along party lines that states — namely Tennessee — have the right to pass legislation that can prohibit certain medical treatments for transgender minors, saying the law is not subject to heightened scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because it does not involve suspect categories like race, national origin, alienage, and religion, which would require the government to show the law serves a compelling interest and is narrowly tailored, sending decision-making power back to the states.
“The government cannot pick and choose the aspects of Skrmetti to honor, and which to ignore,” Judge Bissoon added.
The government argued unsuccessfully that the parents of the children whose records would have been made available to the DOJ “lacked standing” because the subpoena was directed at UPMC and that they did not respond in a timely manner. Bissoon rejected the timeliness argument in particular as “disingenuous.”
Bissoon, who was nominated to the bench by then-President Obama, is at least the fourth judge to reject the DOJ’s attempted intrusion into the health care of trans youth according to Geidner.
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