Miscellaneous
Celebrating 3 years in business
Physician’s Rejuvenation Center grateful for community support

PAID ADVERTORIAL
Eric North and husband Tom French are happy to be celebrating their third year running their wellness and longevity clinic, Physician’s Rejuvenation Center in D.C.
“We’ve had terrific support from the community,” says North. “It’s helped us to grow even faster than expected. Talking about the effects of aging isn’t always easy for people, so we make the discussion comfortable as well as informative. A lot of the time, our clients end up being our best salespeople!”
When asked the greatest challenge facing them, French commented, “There’s so much misinformation or lack of understanding about hormone replacement therapy (HRT) out there. We spend a lot of time educating people about the healthy choices they can make. North explains that optimizing hormone levels can have a very positive effect on well-being and provide a proactive integrative approach to ensuring future good health. A lot of people don’t make the connection between what they’re eating now and what that does to them over the long term. We’re putting up articles all the time on our Facebook page!”
GET MORE TIPS IN OUR SPRING SKIN SPECIAL SECTION!
They invite anyone interested to read over their website, PRCinDC.com, or give them a call at 800-881-4428 and schedule a consultation. Located off the Metro Red Line in Takoma Park, their clinic is convenient and easy to get to, by car, train or bike. Look for our revamped website in the coming months with more details on our many programs and videos on our YouTube channel.
Miscellaneous
Federal judge appears poised to strike down Trump’s anti-trans military ban
Pentagon is expected to soon issue a final policy on trans military service

A federal judge appears poised to strike down a policy expected this week from the Trump administration’s Department of Defense that would bar transgender service members from the military.
Judge Ana Reyes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia heard arguments on Tuesday challenging President Donald Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order that directed the Pentagon to update its policies “regarding trans-identifying medical standards for military service and to rescind guidance inconsistent with military readiness.”
While she held off on issuing an order pending the agency’s issuance of a final guidance in line with the EO, Reyes said the “greatest fighting force that world history has ever seen” would not be impacted “in any way by less than one percent of the soldiers using a different pronoun than others might want to call them.”
“Smarter people on the D.C. Circuit would have to tell me I’m wrong” about the effort to ban trans service members, she said, adding that the central premise supporting the ban, that only two genders exist, is not “biologically correct.”
“I could not be more honored to represent these extraordinarily accomplished and committed service members,” Jennifer Levi, senior director of transgender and queer rights for GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law), told the Washington Blade.
“I am hopeful about getting this degrading and demanding Order halted,” she said. “Today’s hearing showed how valuable transgender service members have been to the military.”
Levi added, “The government cannot justify discharging transgender troops who have honorably served our country for years.”
GLAD Law and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, together with Wardenski P.C., are representing the plaintiffs in their case, Talbott v. Trump. The two groups previously served as co-counsel in Equality California’s case challenging the first Trump administration’s 2017 anti-trans military ban, which was blocked from taking effect for nearly two years by multiple federal courts.
Reyes on Tuesday pressed Justice Department attorney Jason Lynch, who was defending the policy, on the transgender soldiers who filed the lawsuit, asking him “Are they honorable, truthful, and disciplined?”
“As far as I know, among them, they have over 60 years of military service,” she said. “And you would agree that together, the plaintiffs have made America safer?”
“I would agree, yes,” Lynch said.
“We are dealing with the president of the United States calling a group of people who have served their country, who, you have told me, have made America safer, calling them liars,” said Reyes, an appointee of former President Joe Biden.
“This is a policy of the president of the United States that is affecting thousands of people, carte blanche, without any support that has been given by anyone,” she added. “How is that anything other than showing animus?”
The hearing is expected to resume on Wednesday as Reyes considers whether to issue a preliminary injunction halting implementation of the order pending the outcome of the litigation. Another is scheduled for March 3, after the formal policy by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is due.
A second group of transgender service members represented by Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign filed a separate challenge against Trump’s EO earlier this month in a federal court in Washington State.
Miscellaneous
Stephen Miller’s legal group sues Fairfax County schools
Lawsuit challenges policies for transgender, nonbinary students

Former Trump administration official Stephen Miller’s legal group on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the Fairfax County School District over its policies for transgender and nonbinary students.
America First Legal in a press release notes it filed the lawsuit against the school district on behalf of a female, “practicing Roman Catholic” student “for allowing teenage boys to use the female restrooms and for forcing a radical, government-sponsored gender indoctrination and approved-speech scheme that discriminates against students on the basis of sex and religion and violates their free speech rights under the Virginia Constitution.”
The lawsuit was filed in Fairfax County Circuit Court.
The Virginia Department of Education last July announced new guidelines for trans and nonbinary students for which Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin asked. Equality Virginia and other advocacy groups claim they, among other things, would forcibly out trans and nonbinary students.
Fairfax County schools are among the school districts that have refused to implement the guidelines.
“Fairfax County Public Schools appears to believe that its policies and regulations can override the Virginia Constitution’s protections for religious beliefs, speech and from government discrimination on the basis of sex and religious beliefs,” said America First legal Senior Advisor Ian Prior in a press release. “It is well past time for FCPS to stop sacrificing the constitutional rights of its students so that it can implement a state-sanctioned ideology that demands compliance in speech, beliefs and conduct.”
FCPS Pride, a group that represents the Fairfax County School District’s LGBTQ employees, described the lawsuit as “abhorrent.”
“We are confident that the school board and the superintendent will strongly and firmly oppose this specious suit and continue to support all students, including transgender and gender expansive students,” said the group in a press list.
Miscellaneous
More than a dozen LGBTQ candidates on the ballot in Va.
Control of the state Senate hangs in the balance

More than a dozen openly LGBTQ candidates are on the ballot in Virginia on Nov. 7.
State Del. Danica Roem (D-Manassas) is running against Republican Bill Woolf in the newly redistricted Senate District 30 that includes western Prince William County and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
Roem in 2018 became the first openly transgender person seated in a state legislature in the U.S. after she defeated then-state Del. Bob Marshall, a prominent LGBTQ rights opponent who co-wrote Virginia’s constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Roem would become Virginia’s first out trans state senator if she defeats Woolf.
Woolf supports a bill that would require school personnel to out trans students to their parents. The Republican Party of Virginia has highlighted this position in ads in support of Woolf.
“Thank you for reminding me why I won three elections in this district in Prince William County, which is the most diverse county in all of Virginia and the 10th most nationally where we welcome everyone because of who they are, not despite it, no matter what you look like, where you come from, how you worship, if you do, or who you love because you should be able to thrive here because of who you are, never despite it,” said Roem on Sept. 28 in response to a woman who heckled her during a debate with Woolf that took place at Metz Middle School in Manassas.
Gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) is running for re-election in Senate District 39. State Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax County), who is also gay, is running for re-election in House District 43.
Former state Del. Joshua Cole, who identifies as bisexual, is running against Republican Lee Peters in House District 65. State Del. Kelly Convirs-Fowler (D-Virginia Beach), who came out as bisexual last year at Hampton Roads Pride, will face Republican Mike Karslake and independent Nicholas Olenik.
State Del. Marcia “Cia” Price (D-Newport News), a Black woman who identifies as pansexual, is running for re-election in House District 85.
Adele McClure, a queer Democrat, is running to represent House District 2 that includes portions of Arlington County. Laura Jane Cohen, a bisexual woman who is a member of the Fairfax County School Board, is a House of Delegates candidate in House District 15.
Rozia Henson, a gay federal contractor who works for the Department of Homeland Security, is running in House District 19. Zach Coltrain, a gay Gen Zer, is running against state Del. Barry Knight (R-Virginia Beach) in House District 98.
LPAC has endorsed Jade Harris, a Rockbridge County Democrat who is running to represent Senate District 3. Harris’ website notes trans rights are part of their platform.
“Protecting trans rights, repealing right to work, strengthening unions and supporting our farmers are just a few of my legislative priorities,” reads the website. “I am dedicated to addressing the revitalization of our state’s infrastructure, fostering a favorable environment for job creation, and supporting our public education system.”
Republicans currently control the House by a 51-46 margin, while Democrats have a 21-19 majority in the state Senate.
Senate Democrats have successfully blocked anti-LGBTQ bills that Republicans have introduced since Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin took office in January 2022.
The Virginia Department of Education in July released new guidelines for trans and nonbinary students that activists and their supporters have sharply criticized. They fear that Republicans will curtail LGBTQ rights in the state if they regain control of both houses of the General Assembly on Nov. 7.
“Time and time again, anti-equality lawmakers and the Youngkin administration have made it clear that they will continue to disrespect and disregard the lives and lived experience of LGBTQ+ people within Virginia,” said Equality Virginia PAC Executive Director Narissa Rahaman in August when her organization and the Human Rights Campaign endorsed Roem, Ebbin and other “pro-equality champions.”
“We must elect pro-equality champions who will secure and strengthen our freedoms,” added Rahaman. “We have that chance as the eyes of the nation are on us this November.”
The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund has endorsed Fairfax County School Board Vice Chair Karl Frisch and Fairfax County School Board candidates Robyn Lady and Kyle McDaniel, who identify as lesbian and bisexual respectively.
Michael Pruitt would become the first openly bisexual man elected to the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors if he were to win on Nov. 7. Blacksburg Town Councilman Michael Sutphin and Big Stone Gay Town Councilman Tyler Hughes, who are both gay, are running for re-election.
“Tyler will be a critical voice for equality as the only out LGBTQ+ person on the Big Stone Gap Town Council,” says the Victory Fund on its website.
Cal Benn contributed to this article.
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