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HRC joins calls for agreement to avoid ‘fiscal cliff’

ADAP waiting lists, loss of funds for LGBT centers among issues cited

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HRC President Chad Griffin

HRC President Chad Griffin is among those calling for a plan to avert the ‘fiscal cliff.’ (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

The Human Rights Campaign is becoming active in the effort to avert the “fiscal cliff” crisis following a White House meeting President Obama convened with the LGBT organization and other civic groups.

Last week, HRC launched a campaign highlighting how the LGBT community would be negatively affected by the upcoming “fiscal cliff” — a colloquial term used for the time when various tax cuts would expire and massive budget cuts would befall U.S. government programs under the Budget Control Act.

HRC details several reasons why sequestration under the Budget Control Act — legislation signed by Obama as part of a deal to raise the nation’s debt ceiling — would be detrimental unless Congress agrees to an alternate plan.

Among the issues affecting LGBT people cited by HRC:

• nearly 10,000 low-income people will lose access to life-saving medicines under AIDS Drug Assistance Programs;

• hundreds of millions of dollars will be taken from federal programs providing treatment and housing to people with HIV/AIDS;

• cuts could interfere with the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes, including those against LGBT people;

• and funds for long-sought programs like the National LGBT Aging Resource Center and the LGBT Refugee Resource Center could be reduced — if not cut entirely.

In addition to pledging to inform its members about the consequences of the “fiscal cliff” through blog posts and social media, HRC has an online letter that supporters can sign to ask their representatives in Congress to come to an agreement.

But the “fiscal cliff” is about more than just the sequester. At the same time that these budget cuts are instituted, tax cuts signed into law by former President George W. Bush will expire as well as payroll tax cuts extended last year. President Obama campaigned on allowing the high-end tax cuts for those making more than $250,000 a year to expire as a means of generating more revenue to reduce the deficit.

The Washington Blade reported in October that doing nothing about the “fiscal cliff” could result in devastating cuts for HIV/AIDS programs and other federally funded initiatives affecting the LGBT community. According to a report from the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee, as many as 12,219 people receiving drugs from ADAP would lose access to medicine.

Chad Griffin, HRC’s president, underscored the importance of coming together around a plan — a not-so-easy task considering different parties control each chamber of Congress.

“Programs designed to serve the most vulnerable Americans, including LGBT people, are on the brink of annihilation if Congress doesn’t get its act together,” Griffin said. “Sequestration would take away vital lifelines that so many in our community rely on to get by — many even to live.”

The announcement from HRC about its new campaign came on the same day Griffin took part in a White House meeting on the “fiscal cliff” with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden as part of a group of 13 civic leaders. Others set to attend were Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; Ben Jealous, president of the NAACP; and Rev. Al Sharpton.

Fred Sainz, HRC’s vice president of communications, said LGBT issues unrelated to the “fiscal cliff” were not brought up by Griffin.

“The president convened the various heads of organizations … and during that meeting, obviously, there was a discussion by the president and folks that were there about the implications of the road ahead on the communities affected,” Sainz said.

The discussion took place after another bipartisan meeting earlier in the day with Obama, Biden and congressional leaders: House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

It’s not the first time HRC has launched a campaign for an initiative that has broader implications beyond the LGBT community. But Sainz said each position the organization takes is in some way related to LGBT issues.

For example, HRC has a pro-choice position because the right to privacy affects LGBT legal issues and it supports the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would streamline the unionization process, because it would allow for collective bargaining to ensure protections for LGBT employees.

HRC has also supported the health care reform law. Components of that measure specifically impact the LGBT community, such as non-discrimination protections in health care and allowing data collection in federal health surveys for the LGBT community.

“There is always an LGBT component when we weigh in on any initiative — though it might not be as obvious or direct as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal, etc.,” Sainz said.

Richard Grenell, a gay conservative pundit who briefly served as a spokesperson for the Mitt Romney presidential campaign, nonetheless said the “fiscal cliff” initiative demonstrates Griffin is taking HRC away from its intended mission.

“The revelation that HRC is working with some of the country’s most vocal tax and spend advocates to help the White House raise taxes is clearly a decision by Chad to move HRC from a gay civil rights organization to a broadly liberal activist one,” Grenell said. “It may be exactly what the board brought Chad in to do, but aligning gay rights with a partisan agenda relegates our issues to further partisan games.”

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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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