National
HUD secretary speaks to gay Realtors
First-ever study of housing bias against gay couples to be released in June


‘HUD and this administration have taken historic steps in the area of housing to ensure that we fulfill our nation’s commitment to equality,’ said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan told members of a gay Realtors group on May 15 that HUD will release next month a first-of-its-kind study of housing discrimination against same-sex couples.
In remarks before a meeting in Washington of the National Association of Gay & Lesbian Real Estate Professionals, Donovan said the upcoming release of the study comes after HUD has adopted during the Obama administration a series of policies and rules that seek to ban housing-related discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in federal housing programs.
“HUD and this administration have taken historic steps in the area of housing to ensure that we fulfill our nation’s commitment to equality,” Donovan said.
He praised the NAGLREP for its successful effort to persuade the National Association of Realtors, the nation’s largest trade association, to amend its code of ethics in 2010 to oppose discrimination in the real estate profession based on sexual orientation.
Boca Raton, Fla., gay Realtor Jeff Berger, founder and chair of NAGLREP, said that at the group’s request, the NAR’s Professional Standards Committee and board of directors last year approved a proposal to further amend its code of ethics by adding gender identity as a protected class. The NAR’s membership is expected to vote on the gender identity proposal at the NAR’s national meeting later this year in San Francisco.
Donovan said the HUD study of housing discrimination against same-sex couples is based on 6,833 email responses from participants of a survey conducted in 50 metropolitan markets across the country from June through October 2011.
“I know it will be an important study both for what it tells us and for the increase in light that it shines on this problem,” he said.
Earlier this year HUD reached what Donovan called an historic legal settlement with Bank of America over an allegation that the bank’s lending division refused to approve a mortgage for a lesbian couple based on the couple’s sexual orientation and marital status.
According to Donovan, the couple provided all of the necessary loan application documents. He said Bank of America initially had no problem with the applicant listing her partner’s mother as a co-applicant on the loan.
“Then one business day prior to closing B&A denied the mortgage because it did not consider the loan applicant and the co-applicant directly related because the state didn’t recognize same-sex marriage,” Donovan said.
He said after HUD opened an investigation into loan denial, Bank of America agreed to a settlement in which it would pay the maximum possible penalty. It also agreed to “notify its residential mortgage loan originators, processors and underwriters of this agreement with HUD,” said Donovan.
“The agreement is the first enforcement action taken against a lender under this new rule and sends a strong signal to the lending industry that we will not tolerate discrimination in HUD programs on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status,” he said.
Berger said NAGLREP provides a national referral service for helping members of the LGBT community and others find LGBT or LGBT-friendly real estate agents. He said the organization has real estate agents and professionals in the real estate industry throughout the country, including in the D.C. area. Information about the referral service is available at naglrep.com.
New York
Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade
One of the victims remains in critical condition

On Sunday night, following the annual NYC Pride March, two girls were shot in Sheridan Square, feet away from the historic Stonewall Inn.
According to an NYPD report, the two girls, aged 16 and 17, were shot around 10:15 p.m. as Pride festivities began to wind down. The 16-year-old was struck in the head and, according to police sources, is said to be in critical condition, while the 17-year-old was said to be in stable condition.
The Washington Blade confirmed with the NYPD the details from the police reports and learned no arrests had been made as of noon Monday.
The shooting took place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, mere feet away from the most famous gay bar in the city — if not the world — the Stonewall Inn. Earlier that day, hundreds of thousands of people marched down Christopher Street to celebrate 55 years of LGBTQ people standing up for their rights.
In June 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, members of the LGBTQ community pushed back, sparking what became known as the Stonewall riots. Over the course of two days, LGBTQ New Yorkers protested the discriminatory policing of queer spaces across the city and mobilized to speak out — and throw bottles if need be — at officers attempting to suppress their existence.
The following year, LGBTQ people returned to the Stonewall Inn and marched through the same streets where queer New Yorkers had been arrested, marking the first “Gay Pride March” in history and declaring that LGBTQ people were not going anywhere.
New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, whose district includes Greenwich Village, took to social media to comment on the shooting.
“After decades of peaceful Pride celebrations — this year gun fire and two people shot near the Stonewall Inn is a reminder that gun violence is everywhere,” the lesbian lawmaker said on X. “Guns are a problem despite the NRA BS.”
New York
Zohran Mamdani participates in NYC Pride parade
Mayoral candidate has detailed LGBTQ rights platform

Zohran Mamdani, the candidate for mayor of New York City who pulled a surprise victory in the primary contest last week, walked in the city’s Pride parade on Sunday.
The Democratic Socialist and New York State Assembly member published photos on social media with New York Attorney General Letitia James, telling followers it was “a joy to march in NYC Pride with the people’s champ” and to “see so many friends on this gorgeous day.”
“Happy Pride NYC,” he wrote, adding a rainbow emoji.
Mamdani’s platform includes a detailed plan for LGBTQ people who “across the United States are facing an increasingly hostile political environment.”
His campaign website explains: “New York City must be a refuge for LGBTQIA+ people, but private institutions in our own city have already started capitulating to Trump’s assault on trans rights.
“Meanwhile, the cost of living crisis confronting working class people across the city hits the LGBTQIA+ community particularly hard, with higher rates of unemployment and homelessness than the rest of the city.”
“The Mamdani administration will protect LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers by expanding and protecting gender-affirming care citywide, making NYC an LGBTQIA+ sanctuary city, and creating the Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs.”
U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court upholds ACA rule that makes PrEP, other preventative care free
Liberal justices joined three conservatives in majority opinion

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a portion of the Affordable Care Act requiring private health insurers to cover the cost of preventative care including PrEP, which significantly reduces the risk of transmitting HIV.
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the majority opinion in the case, Kennedy v. Braidwood Management. He was joined by two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, along with the three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown-Jackson.
The court’s decision rejected the plaintiffs’ challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s reliance on the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force to “unilaterally” determine which types of care and services must be covered by payors without cost-sharing.
An independent all-volunteer panel of nationally recognized experts in prevention and primary care, the 16 task force members are selected by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to serve four-year terms.
They are responsible for evaluating the efficacy of counseling, screenings for diseases like cancer and diabetes, and preventative medicines — like Truvada for PrEP, drugs to reduce heart disease and strokes, and eye ointment for newborns to prevent infections.
Parties bringing the challenge objected especially to the mandatory coverage of PrEP, with some arguing the drugs would “encourage and facilitate homosexual behavior” against their religious beliefs.
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