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UPDATE: Baldwin expects to campaign with Obama

Senate hopeful optimistic about employment protections, marriage equality

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U.S. Senate candidate Tammy Baldwin speaks before the LGBT caucus at the Democratic National Convention (Blade photo by Michael Key)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — U.S. Senate candidate Tammy Baldwin expects to campaign with President Obama in Wisconsin between now and November as her bid to become the nation’s first openly gay Senator heats up.

The Washington Blade asked Baldwin during a press conference following remarks she delivered at the LGBT Caucus meeting at the Democratic National Convention about whether there were any plans for her to campaign jointly with the president.

Baldwin said those talks are “absolutely” happening but declined to make any specific announcements. A spokesperson for her campaign later told the Blade that Baldwin fully expects to campaign with the president.

“I just came from last week campaigning with the first lady in Milwaukee, on Sunday, campaigning with Vice President Biden in Green Bay, and I have every expectation that it is going to be a battleground contest in Wisconsin for both the U.S. Senate and the president,” Baldwin said. “So, I look forward to the opportunity to work with the president in any matter I can.”

She noted that she and Obama campaigned together during the 2008 election.

“I joined him onstage at the University of Madison campus,” Baldwin said. “I think there were 30,000 folks who came to that rally. It was very exciting. I trust we’ll have more like that, but I don’t know what the schedule is going forward, so, we’ll see it as it comes.”

Baldwin, who’s running against Republican Tommy Thompson for the open U.S. Senate seat in Wisconsin, faces a tough fight, as polls show Thompson with a significant lead.

Campaigning with Obama could boost Baldwin’s numbers in addition to benefiting Obama because the state could be a battleground in the Republican presidential election with Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan on the Republican ticket as vice presidential nominee. Last month, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said he had “no campaign announcements” when asked if the president would campaign with Baldwin. The Obama campaign on Tuesday didn’t immediately respond to the Blade’s request for comment.

Asked to respond to the approval of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in North Carolina and whether that gave her pause about holding the convention in the state, Baldwin recounted the passage of a similar ballot measure in Wisconsin during the 2006 election and predicted views would change — just as President Obama evolved and come out in support of marriage equality.

“I do know in terms of the issue and how we’re moving — just like we’ve seen the president evolve — we heard him talk about what it took to change his heart and move him,” Baldwin said. “We are seeing that across this country. They estimate — and I don’t know where they get these numbers — that two percent of Americans changed their views on marriage equality. We know that had the amendment come up in Wisconsin this year, or next election cycle, it would have had a different outcome. And I think that’s also going to happen in North Carolina and elsewhere in the country. We’ve got to keep working. We’ve got to keep educating.”

In response to a question on whether she’d speak out to call on President Obama to issue an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT employees, Baldwin said LGBT advocates should continue efforts going forward to achieve progress. Baldwin was among the 72 House members who signed a letter calling on President Obama to take such action — before the White House said it wouldn’t issue the order at this time.

“I certainly supported the effort that was launched earlier this year to raise awareness and to push for that, but we can’t let up,” Baldwin said. “There’s going to be ample opportunities beyond the election to push both Congress to pass the law and make it permanent, but also encourage the president to expand what he can using his power of executive order. He’s done that to the advantage of the LGBT community extensively, more than any other previous president that I’ve seen.”

When asked a more light-hearted question — whether the LGBT caucus at the convention is “the happiest” of them all — Baldwin said, “Well, I haven’t compared yet, but the laughter and the applause coming out of that hall was pretty impressive.”

Questioned further on agenda items the LGBT caucus should push for, Baldwin identified a litany of LGBT rights measures that still have yet to be achieved.”Well, there are still challenges,” Baldwin said. “We live in a fairer America, but we’re not there, and true equal opportunity is not yet recognized throughout this country, so we have a lot of work to do. At the federal level, the Congress has yet to tackle the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and until the Defense of Marriage Act is repealed, you have to look at equity for federal employees and other government workers and jurisdictions.”
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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

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(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.

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National

Medical groups file lawsuit over Trump deletion of health information

Crucial datasets included LGBTQ, HIV resources

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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.

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U.S. Federal Courts

Federal judge scraps trans-inclusive workplace discrimination protections

Ruling appears to contradict US Supreme Court precedent

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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.

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