National
DNC 2012: Obama makes his case for second term
Multiple nods to LGBT community during acceptance speech

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — President Obama made his case to voters Thursday on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in a speech that contained references to LGBT rights.
Obama formally accepted the Democratic nomination for president and encouraged voters to give him another term, but cautioned the road ahead wouldn’t be easy.
“I’m asking you to rally around a set of goals for your country — goals in manufacturing, energy, education, national security, and the deficit; a real, achievable plan that will lead to new jobs, more opportunity, and rebuild this economy on a stronger foundation,” Obama said. “That’s what we can do in the next four years, and that’s why I’m running for a second term as president of the United States.”
Nearly 6,000 delegates waived American flags and held up blue signs reading, “Forward,” the slogan for Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign. Chants of “Fired up! Ready to go!” came before and after the speech.
At one point, Obama rapidly ticked off several national security achievements of his administration, which ended with roaring applause.
“Four years ago, I promised to end the war in Iraq,” Obama said. “We did. I promised to refocus on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11. We have. We’ve blunted the Taliban’s momentum in Afghanistan, and in 2014, our longest war will be over. A new tower rises above the New York skyline, al Qaeda is on the path to defeat, and Osama bin Laden is dead.”
Obama also criticized Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney for not articulating a clear plan for how he’d achieve economic growth, saying the GOP didn’t have much to say on how it would put the country on a better track.
“And that’s because all they have to offer is the same prescription they’ve had for the last 30 years,” Obama said. “Have a surplus? Try a tax cut. Deficit too high? Try another. Feel a cold coming on? Take two tax cuts, roll back some regulations, and call us in the morning!”
Obama unveiled ambitious policies that he pledged to work toward if elected to a second term in office. Among his goals were creating 1 million new manufacturing jobs by the end of 2016, reducing new oil imports to half their current level by 2020, cutting the growth of college tuition by half over the next 10 years and reducing the deficit by more than $4 trillion over the next decade.
Attendees gathered to see the president in the Time Warner Cable Arena, where they had gone for the previous days of the convention. The original plan was for Obama to speak at the Bank of America Stadium before a larger audience, but that was cancelled because of predictions of inclement weather. The skies ended up being clear on the night Obama delivered his address and many who hoped to see the president were turned away because of lack of capacity.
At three points during his address, Obama made references to LGBT people and struggles they face.
The first mention came when Obama praised Americans for being a people who don’t blame minority groups — including gays — for the trouble afflicting the country.
“We don’t think government can solve all our problems,” Obama said. “But we don’t think that government is the source of all our problems – any more than are welfare recipients, or corporations, or unions, or immigrants, or gays, or any other group we’re told to blame for our troubles.”
Obama also criticized “Washington politicians” who would prohibit the right of people to marry. Romney supports a Federal Marriage Amendment.
“If you give up on the idea that your voice can make a difference, then other voices will fill the void: lobbyists and special interests; the people with the $10 million checks who are trying to buy this election and those who are making it harder for you to vote; Washington politicians who want to decide who you can marry, or control health care choices that women should make for themselves,” Obama said.
Finally, Obama hit on legislative repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
“You’re the reason a young immigrant who grew up here and went to school here and pledged allegiance to our flag will no longer be deported from the only country she’s ever called home; why selfless soldiers won’t be kicked out of the military because of who they are or who they love; why thousands of families have finally been able to say to the loved ones who served us so bravely, “Welcome home,” Obama said.
Gay delegates who attended the convention said they were thrilled with Obama’s speech and it made them more committed to making sure he wins re-election this fall.
Jason Rae, a gay 25-year-old delegate and political consultant from Wisconsin, said Obama laid out “a bold vision” for what he wants to accomplish over the next four years. In 2004, Rae became the youngest person ever elected to the Democratic National Committee at age 17.
“He briefly touched on a number of issues, including LGBT issues, but spent the time he had necessarily laying out a stark contrast between an Obama presidency and a Romney presidency,” Rae said. “During the entire convention, LGBT issues — ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and marriage equality — were frequent points of his accomplishments. No where did this convention hide his unwavering support for our community.”
Richard Socarides, a gay delegate from New York City and former adviser on gay issues for President Clinton, called the speech “a great finishing touch to our convention” and said Democrats have realized support for LGBT rights is good for them politically.
“It was a very strong speech and I love the embrace gay Americans are now receiving from the Democrats,” Socarides said. “We have told them equality is good policy and good politics and now I think they finally believe us.”
But the head of one gay conservative group who came to the Democratic convention was unimpressed with Obama’s remarks.
Jimmy LaSalvia, executive director of GOProud, issued a statement following the address saying Obama failed to realize economic concerns are a priority for gays and not LGBT rights. GOProud has endorsed Romney.
“For many gay Americans this election is about survival,” LaSalvia said. “It’s about finding a job, about putting food on the table, about putting gas in their car — it’s about the basics. The Democrats had three days to talk about these issues and instead they decided to focus on divisive social issues.”
Vice President Joseph Biden preceded Obama with his own speech accepting the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nomination. Biden praised Obama for accomplishments such as restoring the automotive industry and bringing bin Laden to justice, but also fulfilled his role as a presidential candidate’s attack dog by going after Romney.
“I found it fascinating last week when Gov. Romney said that as president he’d take a jobs tour,” Biden said. “Well with all his support for outsourcing, it’s going to have to be a foreign trip. Look, President Obama knows that creating jobs in America, keeping jobs in America, and bringing jobs back to America is what being president is all about.”
Biden, who publicly endorsed same-sex marriage just days ahead of Obama, didn’t explicitly mention LGBT issues during his remarks, but offered a line that may have been a veiled reference to the LGBT community, saying Obama sees a future “where no one, no one is forced to live in the shadows of intolerance.”
Following the president’s speech, the Catholic Church’s Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan performed the convocation. Dolan is known for his opposition to same-sex marriage, although no boos or objections were heard when the he went onstage.
“Show us anew that happiness is found only in respecting the laws of nature and of nature’s God,” Dolan said. “Empower us with your grace so that we might resist the temptation to replace the moral law with idols of our own making, or to remake those institutions you have given us for the nurturing of life and community.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Jason Rae was from Minnesota. The Blade regrets the error.
Federal Government
RFK Jr.’s HHS report pushes therapy, not medical interventions, for trans youth
‘Discredited junk science’ — GLAAD

A 409-page report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services challenges the ethics of medical interventions for youth experiencing gender dysphoria, the treatments that are often collectively called gender-affirming care, instead advocating for psychotherapy alone.
The document comes in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order barring the federal government from supporting gender transitions for anyone younger than 19.
“Our duty is to protect our nation’s children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. “We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.”
While the report does not constitute clinical guidance, its findings nevertheless conflict with not just the recommendations of LGBTQ advocacy groups but also those issued by organizations with relevant expertise in science and medicine.
The American Medical Association, for instance, notes that “empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression.”
Gender-affirming care for transgender youth under standards widely used in the U.S. includes supportive talk therapy along with — in some but not all cases — puberty blockers or hormone treatment.
“The suggestion that someone’s authentic self and who they are can be ‘changed’ is discredited junk science,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “This so-called guidance is grossly misleading and in direct contrast to the recommendation of every leading health authority in the world. This report amounts to nothing more than forcing the same discredited idea of conversion therapy that ripped families apart and harmed gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people for decades.”
GLAAD further notes that the “government has not released the names of those involved in consulting or authoring this report.”
Janelle Perez, executive director of LPAC, said, “For decades, every major medical association–including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics–have affirmed that medical care is the only safe and effective treatment for transgender youth experiencing gender dysphoria.
“This report is simply promoting conversion therapy by a different name – and the American people know better. We know that conversion therapy isn’t actually therapy – it isolates and harms kids, scapegoats parents, and divides families through blame and rejection. These tactics have been used against gay kids for decades, and now the same people want to use them against transgender youth and their families.
“The end result here will be a devastating denial of essential health care for transgender youth, replaced by a dangerous practice that every major U.S. medical and mental health association agree promotes anxiety, depression, and increased risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts.
“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice, and no amount of pressure can force someone to change who they are. We also know that 98% of people who receive transition-related health care continue to receive that health care throughout their lifetime. Trans health care is health care.”
“Today’s report seeks to erase decades of research and learning, replacing it with propaganda. The claims in today’s report would rip health care away from kids and take decision-making out of the hands of parents,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of NCLR. “It promotes the same kind of conversion therapy long used to shame LGBTQ+ people into hating themselves for being unable to change something they can’t change.”
“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice—it’s rooted in biology and genetics,” Minter said. “No amount or talk or pressure will change that.”
Human Rights Campaign Chief of Staff Jay Brown released a statement: “Trans people are who we are. We’re born this way. And we deserve to live our best lives and have a fair shot and equal opportunity at living a good life.
“This report misrepresents the science that has led all mainstream American medical and mental health professionals to declare healthcare for transgender youth to be best practice and instead follows a script predetermined not by experts but by Sec. Kennedy and anti-equality politicians.”
The White House
Trump nominates Mike Waltz to become next UN ambassador
Former Fla. congressman had been national security advisor

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he will nominate Mike Waltz to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
Waltz, a former Florida congressman, had been the national security advisor.
Trump announced the nomination amid reports that Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, were going to leave the administration after Waltz in March added a journalist to a Signal chat in which he, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other officials discussed plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.
“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States ambassador to the United Nations,” said Trump in a Truth Social post that announced Waltz’s nomination. “From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role.”
Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as interim national security advisor, “while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department.”
“Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to make America, and the world, safe again,” said Trump.
Trump shortly after his election nominated U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Trump in March withdrew her nomination in order to ensure Republicans maintained their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. Federal Courts
Second federal lawsuit filed against White House passport policy
Two of seven plaintiffs live in Md.

Lambda Legal on April 25 filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of seven transgender and nonbinary people who are challenging the Trump-Vance administration’s passport policy.
The lawsuit, which Lambda Legal filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, alleges the policy that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers “has caused and is causing grave and immediate harm to transgender people like plaintiffs, in violation of their constitutional rights to equal protection.”
Two of the seven plaintiffs — Jill Tran and Peter Poe — live in Maryland. The State Department, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the federal government are defendants.
“The discriminatory passport policy exposes transgender U.S. citizens to harassment, abuse, and discrimination, in some cases endangering them abroad or preventing them from traveling, by forcing them to use identification documents that share private information against their wishes,” said Lambda Legal in a press release.
Zander Schlacter, a New York-based textile artist and designer, is the lead plaintiff.
The lawsuit notes he legally changed his name and gender in New York.
Schlacter less than a week before President Donald Trump’s inauguration “sent an expedited application to update his legal name on his passport, using form DS-5504.”
Trump once he took office signed an executive order that banned the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers. The lawsuit notes Schlacter received his new passport in February.
“The passport has his correct legal name, but now has an incorrect sex marker of ‘F’ or ‘female,'” notes the lawsuit. “Mr. Schlacter also received a letter from the State Department notifying him that ‘the date of birth, place of birth, name, or sex was corrected on your passport application,’ with ‘sex’ circled in red. The stated reason was ‘to correct your information to show your biological sex at birth.'”
“I, like many transgender people, experience fear of harassment or violence when moving through public spaces, especially where a photo ID is required,” said Schlacter in the press release that announced the lawsuit. “My safety is further at risk because of my inaccurate passport. I am unwilling to subject myself and my family to the threat of harassment and discrimination at the hands of border officials or anyone who views my passport.”
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June 2021 announced the State Department would begin to issue gender-neutral passports and documents for American citizens who were born overseas.
Dana Zzyym, an intersex U.S. Navy veteran who identifies as nonbinary, in 2015 filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their application for a passport with an “X” gender marker. Zzyym in October 2021 received the first gender-neutral American passport.
Lambda Legal represented Zzyym.
The State Department policy took effect on April 11, 2022.
Trump signed his executive order shortly after he took office in January. Germany, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands are among the countries that have issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U.S.
A federal judge in Boston earlier this month issued a preliminary injunction against the executive order. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of seven trans and nonbinary people.
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