National
Nadler pushes DOMA repeal, despite recent court rulings
Says legislative action needed to fully fix inequities
Rep. Jerrold Nadler is calling for legislative repeal of DOMA in the wake of court rulings against the law. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)
A New York Democrat leading the charge against the Defense of Marriage Act in Congress is stressing the need for legislative action against the anti-gay law despite a string of victories in the courts.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) told the Washington Blade on Monday that legislation to repeal DOMA — the Respect for Marriage Act, which he sponsors in the U.S. House — may offer married same-sex couples greater flexibility with federal benefits as opposed to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down the statute.
“The recent series of affirmative rulings in federal court give us a clear indication of where DOMA is ultimately headed, but we don’t know if a Supreme Court decision would be enough to ensure federal recognition of same-sex marriages,” Nadler said. “We need to pass the Respect for Marriage Act because its certainty provision would enable legally married same-sex couples to receive federal recognition no matter which state they move.”
In addition to repealing DOMA, the Respect for Marriage Act, has a “certainty provision” that would allow married same-sex couples to retain federal benefits of marriage — including certain Social Security benefits, immunity from the estate tax and the ability to jointly file income taxes — even if these couples marry in one state and to move to another that doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage.
Nadler added the need to pass the Respect for Marriage Act “is one of the many reasons” why LGBT rights supporters need to work to re-elect President Obama, who’s endorsed the legislation, and put Democrats back in control of the House. The latter will be a tall order to fill because political observers expect Democrats may make some gains, but will likely fall short of the 25 seats needed for them to regain a majority.
The New York lawmaker spoke to the Washington Blade following a New York City meeting at Gay Men’s Health Crisis with LGBT advocates — including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and lesbian New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn — in which participants discussed ways to advance marriage equality and federal benefits for gay couples.
That meeting took place just days after the U.S. Second Circuit of Appeals became the second federal appellate court to rule against DOMA in the case of Windsor v. United States and the first appellate court to apply heightened scrutiny in determining the law is unconstitutional. The Windsor lawsuit — along with three others — is pending review before the U.S. Supreme Court. Justices haven’t yet made an announcement on whether they’ll take up the lawsuits, but are expected to take up at least one of the cases to make a nationwide ruling on DOMA.
Jon Davidson, legal director at Lambda Legal, concurred that passage of the Respect for Marriage Act would afford greater certainty for married same-sex couples that wouldn’t necessarily be granted after a court ruling.
“Even if the court upholds one or more of the four holdings that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional in the four DOMA cases the court already has been asked to hear, Rep. Nadler is correct that the bill would help bring certainty to many same-sex couples that it may otherwise take years to sort out,” Davidson said.
Davidson said many federal laws aside from DOMA consider a couple legally married based on the state where the couple wed, but others such as tax law generally look to the state where the couple resides.
“The Respect for Marriage Act would solve this potentially confusing situation by making clear that the federal government would treat same-sex couples who got married in a jurisdiction that allowed it to be considered married for all federal purposes,” Davidson said.
Davidson, whose organization is responsible for one of the DOMA challenges called Golinksi v. Office of Personnel Management, added the legislation is also important in case the Supreme Court reaffirms DOMA because in that event, legislative repeal of the law would be “the only recourse” for opponents of the law.
Fred Sainz, vice president of communications for the Human Rights Campaign, said a Supreme Court ruling overturning DOMA would be “historic and huge,” but Nadler is right that Congress must move forward with the Respect for Marriage Act — largely because the law originated in Congress.
“The act will ensure that the federal government cannot treat same-sex couples as second-class citizens regardless of where they live in the country,” Sainz said. “It was Congress that enacted the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, and it is Congress that should take the step to guarantee that gay and lesbian families will no longer be denied recognition by the federal government.
Mary Bonauto, civil rights attorney for Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, which is responsible for the Gill v. Office of Personnel Management case against DOMA, said via email she appreciates Nadler’s work to repeal DOMA in Congress, but litigation can afford more immediate relief.
“If we win in court, that would return us to the ordinary rules by which the federal government respects state determinations of marital status,” Bonauto said. “I would be happy to have Congress eliminate the problems it created in 1996, but in the meantime, the courts provide the most direct route to relief.”
National
213 House members ask Speaker Johnson to condemn anti-trans rhetoric
Letter cites ‘demonizing and dehumanizing’ language
The Congressional Equality Caucus has sent a letter urging Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to condemn the surge in anti-trans rhetoric coming from members of Congress.
The letter, signed by 213 members, criticizes Johnson for permitting some lawmakers to use “demonizing and dehumanizing” language directed at the transgender community.
The first signature on the letter is Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware, the only transgender member of Congress.
It also includes signatures from Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08), Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (MA-05), House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (CA-33), every member of the Congressional Equality Caucus, and members of every major House Democratic ideological caucus.
Some House Republicans have used slurs to address members of the transgender community during official business, including in committee hearings and on the House floor.
The House has strict rules governing proper language—rules the letter directly cites—while noting that no corrective action was taken by the Chair or Speaker Pro Tempore when these violations occurred.
The letter also calls out members of Congress—though none by name—for inappropriate comments, including calls to institutionalize all transgender people, references to transgender people as mentally ill, and false claims portraying them as inherently violent or as a national security threat.
Citing FBI data, the letter notes that 463 hate crime incidents were reported due to gender identity bias. It also references a 2023 Williams Institute report showing that transgender people are more than four times more likely than cisgender people to experience violent victimization, despite making up less than 2% of the U.S. population.
The letter ends with a renewed plea for Speaker Johnson to take appropriate measures to protect not only the trans member of Congress from harassment, but also transgender people across the country.
“We urge you to condemn the rise in dehumanizing rhetoric targeting the transgender community and to ensure members of your conference are abiding by rules of decorum and not using their platforms to demonize and scapegoat the transgender community, including by ensuring members are not using slurs to refer to the transgender community.”
The full letter, including the complete list of signatories, can be found at equality.house.gov. (https://equality.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/equality.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/letter-to-speaker-johnson-on-anti-transgender-rhetoric-enforcing-rules-of-decorum.pdf)
The White House
EXCLUSIVE: Garcia, Markey reintroduce bill to require US promotes LGBTQ rights abroad
International Human Rights Defense Act also calls for permanent special envoy
Two lawmakers on Monday have reintroduced a bill that would require the State Department to promote LGBTQ rights abroad.
A press release notes the International Human Rights Defense Act that U.S. Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) introduced would “direct” the State Department “to monitor and respond to violence against LGBTQ+ people worldwide, while creating a comprehensive plan to combat discrimination, criminalization, and hate-motivated attacks against LGBTQ+ communities” and “formally establish a special envoy to coordinate LGBTQ+ policies across the State Department.”
“LGBTQ+ people here at home and around the world continue to face escalating violence, discrimination, and rollbacks of their rights, and we must act now,” said Garcia in the press release. “This bill will stand up for LGBTQ+ communities at home and abroad, and show the world that our nation can be a leader when it comes to protecting dignity and human rights once again.”
Markey, Garcia, and U.S. Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) in 2023 introduced the International Human Rights Defense Act. Markey and former California Congressman Alan Lowenthal in 2019 sponsored the same bill.
The promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights was a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris administration’s overall foreign policy.
The global LGBTQ and intersex rights movement since the Trump-Vance administration froze nearly all U.S. foreign aid has lost more than an estimated $50 million in funding.
The U.S. Agency for International Development, which funded dozens of advocacy groups around the world, officially shut down on July 1. Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this year said the State Department would administer the remaining 17 percent of USAID contracts that had not been cancelled.
Then-President Joe Biden in 2021 named Jessica Stern — the former executive director of Outright International — as his administration’s special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights.
The Trump-Vance White House has not named anyone to the position.
Stern, who co-founded the Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice after she left the government, is among those who sharply criticized the removal of LGBTQ- and intersex-specific references from the State Department’s 2024 human rights report.
“It is deliberate erasure,” said Stern in August after the State Department released the report.
The Congressional Equality Caucus in a Sept. 9 letter to Rubio urged the State Department to once again include LGBTQ and intersex people in their annual human rights reports. Garcia, U.S. Reps. Julie Johnson (D-Texas), and Sarah McBride (D-Del.), who chair the group’s International LGBTQI+ Rights Task Force, spearheaded the letter.
“We must recommit the United States to the defense of human rights and the promotion of equality and justice around the world,” said Markey in response to the International Human Rights Defense Act that he and Garcia introduced. “It is as important as ever that we stand up and protect LGBTQ+ individuals from the Trump administration’s cruel attempts to further marginalize this community. I will continue to fight alongside LGBTQ+ individuals for a world that recognizes that LGBTQ+ rights are human rights.”
National
US bishops ban gender-affirming care at Catholic hospitals
Directive adopted during meeting in Baltimore.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops this week adopted a directive that bans Catholic hospitals from offering gender-affirming care to their patients.
Since ‘creation is prior to us and must be received as a gift,’ we have a duty ‘to protect our humanity,’ which means first of all, ‘accepting it and respecting it as it was created,’” reads the directive the USCCB adopted during their meeting that is taking place this week in Baltimore.
The Washington Blade obtained a copy of it on Thursday.
“In order to respect the nature of the human person as a unity of body and soul, Catholic health care services must not provide or permit medical interventions, whether surgical, hormonal, or genetic, that aim not to restore but rather to alter the fundamental order of the human body in its form or function,” reads the directive. “This includes, for example, some forms of genetic engineering whose purpose is not medical treatment, as well as interventions that aim to transform sexual characteristics of a human body into those of the opposite sex (or to nullify sexual characteristics of a human body.)”
“In accord with the mission of Catholic health care, which includes serving those who are vulnerable, Catholic health care services and providers ‘must employ all appropriate resources to mitigate the suffering of those who experience gender incongruence or gender dysphoria’ and to provide for the full range of their health care needs, employing only those means that respect the fundamental order of the human body,” it adds.
The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2024 condemned gender-affirming surgeries and “gender theory.” The USCCB directive comes against the backdrop of the Trump-Vance administration’s continued attacks against the trans community.
The U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming medical interventions for minors.
Media reports earlier this month indicated the Trump-Vance administration will seek to prohibit Medicaid reimbursement for medical care to trans minors, and ban reimbursement through the Children’s Health Insurance Program for patients under 19. NPR also reported the White House is considering blocking all Medicaid and Medicare funding for hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to minors.
“The directives adopted by the USCCB will harm, not benefit transgender persons,” said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based LGBTQ Catholic organization, in a statement. “In a church called to synodal listening and dialogue, it is embarrassing, even shameful, that the bishops failed to consult transgender people, who have found that gender-affirming medical care has enhanced their lives and their relationship with God.”
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