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Senate panel approves LGBT-inclusive education bill

By 12-10 vote, committee reports out bill with anti-bullying protections

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HELP, Health, Education, Labor and Pension, Tom Harkin, United States Senate, Washington Blade, gay news
HELP, Health, Education, Labor and Pension, Tom Harkin, United States Senate, Washington Blade, gay news

The Senate HELP Committee under Sen. Tom Harkin approved an LGBT-inclusive education reform bill (Washington Blade photo by Damien Salas)

A Senate committee approved on Wednesday by party-line vote an education reform bill that includes language aimed to protect LGBT students against bullying and harassment.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee reported out legislation to reauthorize the Elementary & Secondary Education Act by a vote of 12-10 after a two-day period of considering amendments.

The 1,150-page education bill, known as the Strengthening America’s Schools Act, incorporates two standalone bills aimed to protect LGBT students: the Student Non-Discrimination Act, or SNDA, and the Safe Schools Improvement Act, or SSIA.

Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, said she’s “thrilled” the education reform bill is moving forward and even more encouraged that the legislation includes SNDA and SSIA.

“These provisions serve as a model for federal legislation that would create safe, supportive and healthy school environments for all students, including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender,” Byard said.

Modeled after Title IX of the Education Amendments, the SNDA-like provision in the bill establishes LGBT students as a protected class and prohibits schools from discriminating against any student based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. The discrimination includes allowing bullying against them.

The bill also contains provisions similar to SSIA that advocates for a positive school climate and requires reporting on incidents of bullying, including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

It’s up to Democratic leadership to determine when the bill will come up for a floor vote. The office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) didn’t immediately respond to a request to comment on the timing for a vote.

Following the hearing, Harkin told the Washington Blade he expects that a floor vote on the legislation will happen “probably after Labor Day.” He declined to comment on the inclusion of SSIA and SNDA as part of the larger legislation.

Lesbian Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), a member of the committee, told the Blade she’s pleased the panel reported out legislation that includes the LGBT provisions without any qualms from senators on the committee.

“I think it’s terrific that those measures are in the base bill and that during the course of the markup, certainly there were no efforts to remove that language, or question that language,” Baldwin said. “I think that’s a great step forward.”

On Tuesday, the committee rejected a substitute bill for education reform proposed by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the top Republican on the panel. That measure lacked both SNDA and SSIA.

Among the “no” votes to the LGBT-inclusive bill was Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who voted against the bill by proxy. His opposition to the larger bill is noteworthy because he’s an original co-sponsor of SSIA. Kirk’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request to comment on his “no” vote.

The party-line vote in committee raises questions about whether the measure will find bipartisan support to meet the 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster on the Senate floor. It also raises concerns about whether a similar measure could pass in the Republican-controlled House.

Nonetheless, Baldwin said she sees a path forward for the legislation on the Senate floor and the possibility of Republican support.

“I listened carefully to Sen. Alexander’s remarks at the end of this,” Baldwin said. “And he sees a path forward to reauthorizing the Elementary & Secondary Education Act, and getting it to the president’s desk. That’s less likely to happen if there’s a filibuster. So if he continues in the vein that he has, understanding that there’s differences, but that we can resolve those in a conference committee after the Senate has acted, that would be great. But, you know, it’s far from assured.”

The same committee has also jurisdiction over the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which is expected to face a panel vote this summer.

But Baldwin says she doesn’t anticipate the proceedings on the LGBT-inclusive education bill to predict what will happen with ENDA.

“Not necessarily — very different bills,” Baldwin said.

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Congress

Shaheen, Collins reintroduce bill prohibiting anti-LGBTQ discrimination in jury service

Senators note the absence of protections in federal courtrooms

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U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) reintroduced a bill on Wednesday that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity during the federal jury selection process.

The bipartisan Jury Access for Capable Citizens and Equality in Service Selection (ACCESS) Act would enshrine protections for LGBTQ Americans who are serving or who might be selected to serve on juries, alongside rules proscribing discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, and economic status that are already enforced in federal courtrooms.

Co-sponsoring the bill with Shaheen and Collins are U.S. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.)

“Serving on a jury is a civic duty that no one should be prevented from fulfilling because of who they are or who they love,” Shaheen said in a press release. “It’s preposterous that under current law there are no protections prohibiting discrimination against LGBTQ+ jurors in federal courts and Congress must take action to rectify this injustice.” 

“Serving on a jury is a fundamental right and obligation that no individual should be prohibited from fulfilling based on their sexual orientation or gender identity,” said Collins. “I have long worked to fight discrimination, and I am proud to join this effort to help eliminate bias from our judicial system.” 

Amid the absence of nationwide protections, the release notes that only 17 states “prohibit exclusion from jury service in state court based on sexual orientation” while “just 12 protect against discrimination based on gender identity.”

This spring, Democratic lawmakers from the House and the Senate, including leadership from both chambers, reintroduced the Equality Act, which would codify LGBTQ inclusive federal nondiscrimination rules in a range of contexts from employment and housing to public accommodations and education.

Shaheen and Collins were integral to the bill’s inclusion of protections applying to jury service.

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Congress

Torres: gay Venezuelan asylum seeker is ‘poster child’ for Trump’s ‘abuses against due process’

Congressman spoke with the Blade Thursday

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Democratic U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York told the Washington Blade during an interview Thursday that his party erred in focusing so much attention on demands for the Trump-Vance administration to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the U.S. when the wrongful deportation of Andry Hernández Romero “was much more egregious.”

Hernández is a gay Venezuelan national who was deported to El Salvador in March and imprisoned in the country’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum-security prison known by the Spanish acronym CECOT.

“In the case of Andry, the government admits that it has no evidence of gang membership, but he was deported without due process, without a notification to his attorney, without a court hearing to contest the allegations against him, without a court order authorizing his deportation,” the congressman said.

“He had not even the slightest semblance of due process,” Torres said. “And even though he had a court hearing scheduled for March 17, the Trump administration proceeded to deport him on March 15, in violation of a court order.”

“I think we as a party should have held up Andry as the poster child for the abuses against due process, because his case is much more sympathetic,” Torres said. “There’s no one who thinks that Andry is a gang member.”

“Also,” the congressman added, “he’s not a quote-unquote illegal immigrant. He was a lawful asylum seeker. He sought asylum lawfully under the statutes of the United States, but he was deported unlawfully at the hands of the Trump administration.”

Torres was among the 49 members of Congress who joined with Democratic U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff of California in writing to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday demanding information about Romero, including proof of life.

The lawmakers urged the State Department to facilitate his access to legal counsel and take steps to return him, expressing fear for his safety — concerns that Torres reiterated on Thursday.

“Jails and prisons can be dangerous places for gay men, and that is especially true of a place like CECOT,” the congressman said. “He fled Latin America to escape violent homophobia. There are a few places on earth that have as much institutionalized homophobia as jails and prisons, and so I do fear for his safety.”

“I released a video telling the story of Andry,” Torres noted, adding, “I feel like we have to do more to raise awareness and the video is only the beginning … And you know, the fact that Abrego Garcia is returning to the United States shows that the administration has the ability to bring back the migrants who were unlawfully deported.”

Torres spoke with the Blade just after Padilla was forcibly removed from a federal building in Los Angeles after attempting to question U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a press conference on immigration Thursday.

Footage of the senator being pushed out of the room, onto the floor, and handcuffed by officers wearing FBI identifying vests drew outrage from top Democrats in California and beyond.

“It’s the latest reminder that Donald Trump and his administration have no respect for anything or anyone but himself,” Torres told the Blade. “And every bit as outrageous as Donald Trump himself has been the enabling on the part of the congressional Republicans who are aiding and abetting his authoritarian abuses.”

“We have to be vigilant in resisting Donald Trump,” the congressman said. “We have to resist him on the streets through grassroots mobilization. We have to resist him in the courtrooms through litigation. We have to resist him in the halls of Congress through legislation.”

Torres added that “we have to win back the majority in 2026” and “if Republicans have no interest in holding Donald Trump accountable, then those Republicans should be fired from public office” because “we need a Congress that is able and willing to hold Donald Trump accountable, to stand up to his authoritarian assault on our democracy.”

Resisting is “a matter of free speech,” he said, noting that the president’s aim is to “create a reign of terror that intimidates people into silence,” but “we cannot remain silent. We have to unapologetically and courageously exercise our right to free speech, our right to assemble peacefully, and our right to resist an authoritarian president like Donald Trump.”

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Congress

Padilla forcibly removed from federal building for questioning DHS secretary

Prominent Democrats rushed to defend senator

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U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Democratic U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla of California was forcibly removed from a federal building in Los Angeles after attempting to ask questions of U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a press conference on immigration Thursday

The city has been rattled in recent days as protestors objecting to the Trump-Vance administration’s immigration crackdowns clashed with law enforcement and then the president deployed National Guard troops and U.S. Marines, which was seen as a dramatic escalation.

According to a video shared by his office, the senator, who serves as ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, introduced himself and said, I have questions for the secretary.” After he was pushed out of the room, officers with FBI-identifying vests told Padilla to put his hands behind his back and handcuffed him.

“Senator Padilla is currently in Los Angeles exercising his duty to perform Congressional oversight of the federal government’s operations in Los Angeles and across California,” reads a statement from his office.

“He was in the federal building to receive a briefing with General Guillot and was listening to Secretary Noem’s press conference,” the statement continued. “He tried to ask the secretary a question, and was forcibly removed by federal agents, forced to the ground and handcuffed. He is not currently detained, and we are working to get additional information.”

Democrats were furious, with many releasing strong statements online condemning the actions of law enforcement officers, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D), and the state’s other U.S. senator, Adam Schiff (D).

Human Rights Campaign Chief of Staff Jay Brown also issued a statement: “A sitting U.S. senator should be allowed to ask a Cabinet secretary a question at a press conference — in his own state, on an issue affecting his constituents — without being violently thrown to the floor and handcuffed. Everyone who cares about our country must condemn this undemocratic act. Full stop.”



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