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Latin American LGBT activists visit the U.S. on State Department-sponsored trip

Nine Central and South American LGBT activists will remain in the country through Sept. 22

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Laura Bronzino of Argentina and Jaime Parada in Chile in D.C. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Nine Latin American activists continue to tour the United States on a State Department-organized trip that is part of its ongoing efforts to promote human rights for LGBT people around the world.

Jaime Parada of the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation in Chile; Laura Bronzino, president of the Misiones LGBT Association in Argentina; Henry Peralta, general director of the LGBT Equality Foundation in Bolivia; Marcela Sánchez, executive director of Colombia Diversa; Brazilian Congressman Jean de Matos; Francisco Madrigal of the Center for the Investigation and Promotion of Human Rights in Central America in Costa Rica; Efraín Soria, president of the Equity Foundation in Ecuador; José Lopéz, vice president of Comunidad Cultural de Tijuana LGBTI in México and Panamanian activist Augustín Rodríguez  began their trip in D.C. on Sept. 4. They met with Human Rights Campaign staffers, former HRC President Elizabeth Birch, Council for Global Equality President Mark Bromley, transgender activist Dr. Dana Beyer and gay Maryland state Del. Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore City,) representatives from the Justice Department, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and other federal agencies, human rights groups and non-governmental organizations while in the nation’s capital. The group also discussed the repeal of the military’s ban on openly gay and lesbian servicemembers at the Pentagon.

The activists met with staffers and representatives from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Harvey Milk High School, the American Civil Liberties Union, the New York City Anti-Violence Project and Gay Men’s Health Crisis while in the Big Apple from Sept. 8-12.

The group is scheduled to meet with representatives of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, Equality California, the Transgender Law Center, the Gay-Straight Alliance Network and COLAGE while in the Bay Area from Sept. 12-16. Activists are also slated to meet with the University of Louisville’s Office of LGBT Services staffers and PFLAG members while in Kentucky from Sept. 16-19. And they are scheduled to meet with members of the Unity Coalition and Walker Burttschell, a former Marine infantryman who was discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in 2003, in Miami before they leave the country on Sept. 22.

“I am tremendously happy for this experience that I will live,” said Parada in a press release his organization released before he arrived in the United States on Sept. 1. “It will be a big help in amplifying and perfecting my fight for the human rights of [Chile’s] sexual diversity. Without a doubt, the experiences and knowledge that I will gain will benefit sexual minorities.”

 

Latin American countries expand rights to LGBT citizens

The trip comes nearly a year after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton proclaimed in a Geneva speech that “gay rights are human rights.” President Obama on the same day directed government agencies to consider a country’s LGBT rights record in the allocation of foreign aid.

Central and South American countries have also begun to expand rights to their LGBT citizens.

Same-sex couples in Mexico City have been able to marry and adopt children since 2010 — the Mexican Supreme Court ruled the same year that the country’s 31 other states must recognize them. Gays and lesbians have been able to enter into civil unions in the Mexican state of Coahuila since 2007.

Ecuador and Uruguay also allow civil unions for same-sex couples. Colombia also recognizes these relationships, but gays and lesbians will automatically receive full marriage rights in June 2013 if the country’s lawmakers do not act upon a court ruling that orders them to legislate the matter.

Argentine President Cristina Fernández signed her country’s same-sex marriage law in 2010, while neighboring Uruguay is widely expected to become the next Latin American country to allow gays and lesbians to tie the knot. São Paolo and several other Brazilian cities and states have recognized hundreds of same-sex civil unions in response to a 2011 ruling from the country’s Supreme Court.

Chilean President Sebastián Piñera pledged ahead of the country’s 2010 presidential election that he supports civil unions for same-sex couples. He introduced a civil unions measure last year, but it has stalled in the Chilean Congress.

“Marriage is uncertain,” Parada told the Blade. “It will undoubtedly be one of the most important points in the next presidential election, but it is very uncertain what will happen in that regard.”

 

Lawmakers pass transgender rights, anti-hate crimes bills

In addition to marriage, attitudes towards anti-LGBT discrimination and other issues in Latin America continue to change.

Piñera in July signed an LGBT-inclusive hate crimes and anti-discrimination bill that had languished for seven years. Chilean lawmakers passed the measure in response to four self-described neo-Nazis who allegedly beat Daniel Zamudio to death in a park in Santiago, the country’s capital, because he was gay.

Parada noted to the Blade that Santiaguïnos marched in the streets nearly every day to show their solidarity with Zamudio in the days and weeks after the brutal attack that left him in a coma. He ultimately succumbed to his injuries, but Parada noted the media coverage that surrounded Zamudio’s death highlighted efforts to combat anti-LGBT discrimination and violence in the country.

“It started a small ‘click’ in the people’s minds,” he said. “This case was an earthquake of a loss of a human life, but it was a point of inflection.”

In neighboring Argentina, Fernández in May signed a law that allows people who have not undergone sex-reassignment surgery to legally change their gender without a doctor or judge’s approval. It further mandates public and private health insurance plans to cover SRS, hormone therapy and other trans-specific treatments without additional premiums.

Bronzino, who is from northeastern Argentina near Iguazu Falls, acknowledged the same-sex marriage and gender identification laws to the Blade. She stressed that anti-LGBT police violence and discrimination remain problems.

Bronzino further noted that a lot of people have yet to benefit from these new legal protections.

“Equality has taken root in this country and the LGBT gender change,” she said. “But in Misiones they are not relevant. Only 15 equal marriages and 13 LGBT gender changes [have taken place.] That is not a large number of people.”

 

Activists: Trip proves Clinton’s commitment to global LGBT rights

The State Department did not return the Blade’s request for comment on the trip, but those who met with the activists applauded their efforts.

“They’re a great group of people who are all very active in their countries,” said Mónica Trasandes, GLAAD’s director of Spanish language media. “There is so much going on in Latin America now — Mexico and Central and Latin America. It’s wonderful and exciting to see that.”

“It was a pleasure to support the work of the State Department and all of the committed activists visiting the U.S. hoping to take lessons learned from our movement and apply them for positive change in their home countries,” added HRC spokesperson Michael Cole-Schwartz.

Beyer, who met with the activists in Annapolis after she returned from the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, further described the trip as proof what she said is the former First Lady’s ongoing commitment to LGBT rights.

“Secretary Clinton came out and said LGBT rights are human rights and human rights are LGBT rights,” she told the Blade. “She wasn’t just talking. She’s made it real. This is an implementation of that policy of treating LGBT rights as human rights.”

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Federal Government

RFK Jr.’s HHS report pushes therapy, not medical interventions, for trans youth

‘Discredited junk science’ — GLAAD

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HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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.”




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The White House

Trump nominates Mike Waltz to become next UN ambassador

Former Fla. congressman had been national security advisor

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U.N. headquarters in New York (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

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.

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U.S. Federal Courts

Second federal lawsuit filed against White House passport policy

Two of seven plaintiffs live in Md.

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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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