Politics
Hagel addresses LGBT service members at Pride event
Becomes first sitting defense secretary to speak at a Pentagon Pride
For the first time, a sitting defense secretary on Tuesday made a live appearance at a Pentagon event to observe June as Pride month and to thank LGBT troops for their service to the country.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel led a trio of high-ranking Obama administration officials at the event, giving opening remarks in which he called gay and lesbian service members and LGBT civilian workers “integral to America’s armed forces.”
“Our nation has always benefitted from the service of gay and lesbian soldiers, sailors, airmen, coast guardsmen and Marines,” Hagel said. “Now, they can serve openly with full honor, integrity and respect. This makes our military and our nation stronger — much stronger.”
Alluding to the now lifted policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Hagel emphasized America is a nation that has the capability to evolve.
“For more than two centuries, our democracy has shown that while it is imperfect, it can change, and it can change for the better,” Hagel said. “All of us should take pride in the role the U.S. military has played in this endeavor and continues to play. The military continues to fulfill this country’s promise. Our commitment to equality requires us to continue building a culture of respect for every member of the military, our society, and for all human beings.”
The event, which was organized by the LGBT affinity group DOD Pride, was the second-ever Pride celebration at the Pentagon and the first ever in which a sitting defense secretary participated. Last year, then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta delivered remarks by video, but didn’t appear in person.
Hagel’s participation is also noteworthy because his nomination was controversial in the LGBT community. In 1998, Hagel reportedly called then-nominee for U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg Jim Hormel “openly aggressively gay.” Hagel apologized when these remarks resurfaced during his confirmation process and Hormel eventually endorsed the nomination.
At the event, Hagel received a warm welcome from the audience. Attendees, who mostly filled the 350-seat Pentagon auditorium, gave resounding applause when he approached the podium before his remarks.

Senior adviser to the president Valerie Jarrett (Washington Blade photo by Damien Salas)
Representing the White House at the event was senior adviser to the president Valerie Jarrett, who during her keynote speech emphasized the significance of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal and President Obama’s leadership in the effort.
“As you know, change has been the defining theme of the Obama administration,” Jarrett said. “When I look back over the last four-and-a-half years since President Obama took office, nothing better exemplifies that kind of profound, meaningful and historic change than repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.'”
Recalling the start of the legislative process to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Jarrett said she heard stories of gay service members at the White House and relayed them in the Oval Office to President Obama, who assured her repeal would happen.
“He put his hand on my shoulder and he said that he was determined, no matter what, that we would find a path to the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ so that the next time these men and women came to the White House, they could do so in uniform, proudly and openly, with their heads held high and their loved ones at their side,” Jarrett said.
Jarrett also touted the announcement in February that the Pentagon would start the process for providing partner benefits to gay troops available under current law. She said the military would be able to issue these benefits “this fall.”
Additionally, Jarrett also spoke at length about efforts to stop sexual assault in the military and alluded to future plans to enhance the health of the military.
Acting Air Force Secretary Eric Fanning, the highest-ranking openly gay civilian official within the Pentagon, was third to deliver remarks and spoke about his personal experience working at the Pentagon 20 years ago as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was implemented and the path toward its repeal.
“It was hard to imagine we’d ever be where we are today, but during these 20 years, the military’s gone through the difficult process of opening itself up by providing opportunities to those for whom it was previously denied or constrained, to women, to immigrants looking to prove their loyalty to this country and earn their citizenship, to gays and lesbians,” Fanning said.

Acting Air Force Secretary Eric Fanning (Washington Blade photo by Damien Salas)
Fanning, who said he was in the same room with Obama as he signed the certification for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal, also recalled the feeling of it being a non-event within the Pentagon.
“I kept getting asked, ‘What was it like when you went back to the building after the repeal was signed? Was that what everyone was talking about? Was there a buzz in the building?'” Fanning said. “And I answered honestly — and I think disappointingly — that, no, went back to the building, and in my view, the building had already moved on past the decision and we talked about what we talk about every single day: the budget.”
In accordance with military tradition, a quintet of service members presented the colors at the start of the event by bearing the Americans flag as well as flags for each of the military services. One service member, Marine Corps Cpl. Joey Gutierrez-Alvarez, sung the national anthem.
While each of the speakers talked generally about making more progress in the country for greater equality, they didn’t explicitly address two outstanding items LGBT advocates have sought for the U.S. military: the implementation of a non-discrimination policy and openly transgender service.
Allyson Robinson, outgoing executive director of OutServe-SLDN, nonetheless told the Blade in the auditorium after the event she was encouraged by what she heard on stage.
“I think it was historic,” Robinson said. “I was especially moved, though, by the acknowledgment … that there is so much work left to be done. Absent from much of this discussion is the need to include transgender people who are willing and qualified to serve to be a part of armed forces. We’re looking forward to completing that work as well.”
In his remarks, Hagel made the effort to exclude transgender service members — referring to “gay and lesbian service members and LGBT civilians” — even though he was addressing at least one transgender veteran in the audience. Robinson herself served in the Army before she transitioned.
The event took place the day after Robinson announced that she would leave OutServe-SLDN following a tumultuous two days of media reporting that she was ousted by the group’s board. At the event, Robinson declined to elaborate on why she was leaving.
Army Capt. Valerie Palacios, a member of the interim board with DOD Pride, told the Blade after the event the mere presence of the secretary of defense was significant.
“First of all, this is somebody so high, like the secretary of defense, and a senior adviser to the president at an event like this,” Palacios said. “As service members, we had a similar event last year, but it wasn’t quite as big … So this year is very important to us, especially because Secretary Hagel is very supportive of our community.”
Also in attendance at the event was Army Brig. Gen. Tammy Smith, the first openly gay flag officer in the U.S. military and deputy chief in the Army Reserve Office of the Chief in D.C.. After the event, she spoke highly of the speakers’ remarks.
“They were inclusive, they were about diversity, but they also focused on the military, the total force, and about the importance of the military and where it plays in the strategic security of our nation,” Smith said. So, we are a piece of that, we are not a whole of that, we are not a whole of that, and we recognize that as part of that diversity, we’ll make the military better.”
Congress
McBride, other US lawmakers travel to Denmark
Trump’s demand for Greenland’s annexation overshadowed trip
Delaware Congresswoman Sarah McBride is among the 11 members of Congress who traveled to Denmark over the past weekend amid President Donald Trump’s continued calls for the U.S. to take control of Greenland.
McBride, the first openly transgender person elected to Congress, traveled to Copenhagen, the Danish capital, with U.S. Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and U.S. Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.), and Sarah Jacobs (D-Calif.). The lawmakers met with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic MP Pipaluk Lynge, among others.
“I’m grateful to Sen. Coons for his leadership in bringing together a bipartisan, bicameral delegation to reaffirm our support in Congress for our NATO ally, Denmark,” said McBride in a press release that detailed the trip. “Delaware understands that our security and prosperity depend on strong partnerships rooted in mutual respect, sovereignty, and self-determination. At a time of growing global instability, this trip could not be more poignant.”
Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark with a population of less than 60,000 people. Trump maintains the U.S. needs to control the mineral-rich island in the Arctic Ocean between Europe and North America because of national security.
The Associated Press notes thousands of people on Saturday in Nuuk, the Greenlandic capital, protested against Trump. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is among those who have criticized Trump over his suggestion the U.S. would impose tariffs against countries that do not support U.S. annexation of Greenland.
A poll that Sermitsiaq, a Greenlandic newspaper, and Berlingske, a Danish newspaper, commissioned last January indicates 85 percent do not want Greenland to become part of the U.S. The pro-independence Demokraatit party won parliamentary elections that took place on March 12, 2025.
“At this critical juncture for our countries, our message was clear as members of Congress: we value the U.S.-Denmark partnership, the NATO alliance, and the right of Greenlanders to self-determination,” said McBride on Sunday in a Facebook post that contained pictures of her and her fellow lawmakers meeting with their Danish and Greenlandic counterparts.
Congress
Van Hollen speaks at ‘ICE Out for Good’ protest in D.C.
ICE agent killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7
U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) is among those who spoke at an “ICE Out for Good” protest that took place outside U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s headquarters in D.C. on Tuesday.
The protest took place six days after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis.
Good left behind her wife and three children.
(Video by Michael K. Lavers)
Congress
Advocates say MTG bill threatens trans youth, families, and doctors
The “Protect Children’s Innocence” Act passed in the House
Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has a long history of targeting the transgender community as part of her political agenda. Now, after announcing her resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives, attempting to take away trans rights may be the last thing she does in her official capacity.
The proposed legislation, dubbed “Protect Children’s Innocence Act” is among the most extreme anti-trans measures to move through Congress. It would put doctors in jail for up to 10 years if they provide gender-affirming care to minors — including prescribing hormone replacement therapy to adolescents or puberty blockers to younger children. The bill also aims to halt gender-affirming surgeries for minors, though those procedures are rare.
Greene herself described the bill on X, saying if passed, “it would make it a Class C felony to trans a child under 18.”
According to KFF, a nonpartisan source for health policy research, polling, and journalism, 27 states have enacted policies limiting youth access to gender-affirming care. Roughly half of all trans youth ages 13–17 live in a state with such restrictions, and 24 states impose professional or legal penalties on health care practitioners who provide that care.
Greene has repeatedly introduced the bill since 2021, the year she entered Congress, but it failed to advance. Now, in exchange for her support for the National Defense Authorization Act, the legislation reached the House floor for the first time.
According to the 19th, U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first trans member of Congress, rebuked Republicans on the Capitol steps Wednesday for advancing anti-trans legislation while allowing Affordable Care Act tax credits to expire — a move expected to raise health care costs for millions of Americans.
“They would rather have us focus in and debate a misunderstood and vulnerable one percent of the population, instead of focusing in on the fact that they are raiding everyone’s health care,” McBride said. “They are obsessed with trans people … they are consumed with this.”
Polling suggests the public largely opposes criminalizing gender-affirming care.
A recent survey by the Human Rights Campaign and Global Strategy Group found that 73 percent of voters in U.S. House battleground districts oppose laws that would jail doctors or parents for providing transition-related care. Additionally, 77 percent oppose forcing trans people off medically recommended medication. Nearly seven in 10 Americans said politicians are not informed enough to make decisions about medical care for trans youth.
The bill passed the House and now heads to the U.S. Senate for further consideration.
According to reporting by Erin Reed of Erin In The Morning, three Democrats — U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez of Texas and Don Davis of North Carolina — crossed party lines to vote in favor of the felony ban, joining 213 Republicans. A total of 207 Democrats voted against the bill, while three lawmakers from both parties abstained.
Advocates and lawmakers warned the bill is dangerous and unprecedented during a multi-organizational press call Tuesday. Leaders from the Human Rights Campaign and the Trevor Project joined U.S. Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Dr. Kenneth Haller, and parents of trans youth to discuss the potential impact of restrictive policies like Greene’s — particularly in contrast to President Donald Trump’s leniency toward certain criminals, with more than 1,500 pardons issued this year.
“Our MAGA GOP government has pardoned drug traffickers. They’ve pardoned people who tried to overthrow the government on January 6, but now they want to put pediatricians and parents into a jail cell for caring for their kids,” said Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson. “No one asked for Marjorie Taylor Greene or Dan Crenshaw or any politician to be in their doctor’s office, and they should mind their own business.”
Balint, co-chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, questioned why medical decisions are being made by lawmakers with no clinical expertise.
“Parents and doctors already have to worry about state laws banning care for their kids, and this bill would introduce the risk of federal criminal prosecution,” Balint said. “We’re talking about jail time. We’re talking about locking people up for basic medical care, care that is evidence-based, age-appropriate and life-saving.”
“These are decisions that should be made by doctors and parents and those kids that need this gender-affirming care, not certainly by Marjorie Taylor Greene.”
Haller, an emeritus professor of pediatrics at St. Louis University School of Medicine, described the legislation as rooted in ideology rather than medicine.
“It is not science, it is just blind ideology,” Haller said.
“The doctor tells you that as parents, as well as the doctor themselves, could be convicted of a felony and be sentenced up to 10 years in prison just for pursuing a course of action that will give your child their only chance for a happy and healthy future,” he added. “It is not in the state’s best interests, and certainly not in the interests of us, the citizens of this country, to interfere with medical decisions that people make about their own bodies and their own lives.”
Haller’s sentiment is echoed by doctors across the country.
The American Medical Association, the nation’s largest organization that represents doctors across the country in various parts of medicine has a longstanding support for gender-affirming care.
“The AMA supports public and private health insurance coverage for treatment of gender dysphoria and opposes the denial of health insurance based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” their website reads.
Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, senior vice president of public engagement campaigns at the Trevor Project, agreed.
“In Marjorie Taylor Greene’s bill [it] even goes so far as to criminalize and throw a parent in jail for this,” Heng-Lehtinen said. “Medical decisions should be between patients, families, and their doctors.”
Rachel Gonzalez, a parent of a transgender teen and LGBTQ advocate, said the bill would harm families trying to act in their children’s best interests.
“No politician should be in any doctor’s office or in our living room making private health care decisions — especially not Marjorie Taylor Greene,” Gonzalez said. “My daughter and no trans youth should ever be used as a political pawn.”
Other LGBTQ rights activists also condemned the legislation.
Tyler Hack, executive director of the Christopher Street Project, called the bill “an abominable attack on the transgender community.”
“Marjorie Taylor Greene’s last-ditch effort to bring her 3-times failed bill to a vote is an abominable attack on the transgender community and further cements a Congressional career defined by hate and bigotry,” they said. “We are counting down the days until she’s off Capitol Hill — but as the bill goes to the floor this week, our leaders must stand up one last time to her BS and protect the safety of queer kids and medical providers. Full stop.”
Hack added that “healthcare is a right, not a privilege” in the U.S., and this attack on trans healthcare is an attack on queer rights altogether.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene has no place in deciding what care is necessary,” Hack added. “This is another attempt to legislate trans and queer people out of existence while peddling an agenda rooted in pseudoscience and extremism.”
U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, also denounced the legislation.
“This bill is the most extreme anti-transgender legislation to ever pass through the House of Representatives and a direct attack on the rights of parents to work with their children and their doctors to provide them with the medical care they need,” Takano said. “This bill is beyond cruel and its passage will forever be a stain on the institution of the United States Congress.”
The bill is unlikely to advance in the Senate, where it would need 60 votes to pass.
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