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LGBT groups court Latinos to build ENDA, marriage support

La Raza conference features LGBT closed-door session

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A new truth has emerged about American politics in the aftermath of the election results last year and as Congress works to find a way to pass immigration reform: support from the Latino community is in high demand.

During a three-day conference of the National Council of La Raza in New Orleans, advocates for a range of causes — LGBT and otherwise — made their cases to the community, which is now the most populous minority group in the United States.

First lady Michelle Obama took the opportunity to sell her husband’s signature achievement — health care reform legislation — in addition to building grassroots support for it during the keynote address that she delivered on Tuesday.

“But let’s be clear, simply passing the Affordable Care Act was not the goal,” Michelle Obama said. “The goal is to get folks to sign up for the insurance so they have the care they need to stay healthy. And as leaders in our communities, we are going to need your help to make this happen.”

The opportunity to build support for LGBT issues in the Latino community was not lost on advocates. A closed-door LGBT session on Sunday was one of several sessions held at the conference where an estimated 2,000 attendees interested in Latino activism were present.

Representatives of LGBT groups — Freedom to Work, Lambda Legal and Freedom to Marry — met with local affiliates of the Latino organizations during the session to discuss ways to cooperate and build grassroots support for LGBT initiatives.

Jennifer Ng’andu, the National Council of La Raza’s director of health and civil rights policy projects, coordinated the session and later told the Washington Blade that about 60 organizations were there from affiliate organizations.

“What I think is important is that affiliates from all across the country, including many different states from Louisiana to Delaware, from folks in Michigan to California came to convening,” Ng’andu said.

Ng’andu said the LGBT work this year follows up on the first-ever session on LGBT issues that was held at the NCLR conference last year. Although participants said no formal agreements were made, the general sense was that Latino activists voiced interest in advancing LGBT issues.

Tico Almeida, president of Freedom to Work, said support from the Latino community will be crucial as efforts continue to lobby undecided senators on ENDA ahead of the Senate vote expected this fall.

“Since the ‘cafecito’ LGBT discussion, several NCLR affiliates in key states have already reached out to Freedom to Work to offer their help and advocacy in convincing holdout ENDA senators to vote ‘yes,'” Almeida said. “We may work on letters to the editor, constituent emails and phone calls, lobby visits in the senators’ home states, and outreach to local Spanish-language media. It would be great if Sen. Bill Nelson read in Florida’s Spanish-language newspapers that Latino voters are calling him ‘poco claro y quizas indeciso’ around his upcoming ENDA vote.”

Several states with significant Latino populations — Arizona, Nevada, Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania — are represented by senators who haven’t declared support for ENDA, but are seen as potential “yes” votes on the bill this fall.

Latino groups have been some of the most vocal advocates of workplace protections for LGBT people. In April 2012, the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund was the first non-LGBT civil rights group to call for an executive order from President Obama barring workplace discrimination against LGBT workers. After the White House announced the order won’t happen at this time, NCLR was the first non-LGBT group to call on the administration to “revisit” the idea.

According to a 2011 study from the Movement Advancement Project, 80 percent of Latinos believe gay people often face discrimination, 83 percent support housing and employment non-discrimination protections and 74 percent support marriage or marriage-like legal recognition for gay couples.

Omar Narvaez, community educator in Lambda Legal’s South Central Regional Office, said he spoke briefly about the wins on marriage equality at the Supreme Court, but also his organization’s pending marriage equality cases in Nevada, New Jersey and Illinois as well as plans for another case in Virginia.

“The mood of the room was very positive as the affiliate leaders in the room were mostly not LGBT folk and/or LGBT orgs, but strictly Latino orgs that were/are working to bring inclusive policies and work to their affiliates across the country,” Narvaez said. “The responses were very positive and many left wanting more information on specific issues facing their communities like workplace discrimination, police accountability, youth in schools, bullying and foster/adoption.”

Angela Dallara, a spokesperson for Freedom to Marry, acknowledged that her group participated in the closed-door session, but deferred to NCLR for more information.

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Congress

House passes reconciliation with gender-affirming care funding ban

‘Big Beautiful Bill’ now heads to the Senate

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U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) (Washington Blade photo by Michael. Key)

The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday voted 215-214 for passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” reconciliation package, which includes provisions that would prohibit the use of federal funds to support gender-affirming care.

But for an 11th hour revision of the bill late Wednesday night by conservative lawmakers, Medicaid and CHIP would have been restricted only from covering treatments and interventions administered to patients younger than 18.

The legislation would also drop requirements that some health insurers must cover gender-affirming care as an “essential health benefit” and force states that currently mandate such coverage to find it independently. Plans could still offer coverage for transgender care but without the EHB classification patients will likely pay higher out of pocket costs.

To offset the cost of extending tax cuts from 2017 that disproportionately benefited the wealthiest Americans, the reconciliation bill contains significant cuts to spending for federal programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The Human Rights Campaign criticized House Republicans in a press release and statement by the group’s president, Kelley Robinson:

“People in this country want policies and solutions that make life better and expand access to the American Dream. Instead, anti-equality lawmakers voted to give  handouts to billionaires built on the backs of hardworking people — with devastating consequences for the LGBTQ+ community.

“If the cuts to programs like Medicaid and SNAP or resources like Planned Parenthood clinics weren’t devastating enough, House Republicans added a last minute provision that expands its attacks on access to best practice health care to transgender adults.

“This cruel addition shows their priorities have never been about lowering costs or expanding health care access–but in targeting people simply for who they are. These lawmakers have abandoned their constituents, and as they head back to their districts, know this: they will hear from us.”

Senate Republicans are expected to pass the bill with the budget reconciliation process, which would allow them to bypass the filibuster and clear the spending package with a simple majority vote.

Changes are expected as the bill will be reviewed and amended by committees, particularly the Finance Committee, and then brought to the floor for debate — though modifications are expected to focus on Medicaid reductions and debate over state and local tax deductions.

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Congress

Gerry Connolly dies at 75 after battle with esophageal cancer

Va. congressman fought for LGBTQ rights

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U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) speaks at a Barack Obama rally on Oct. 19, 2012. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Democratic U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia died on Wednesday, according to a statement from his family.

The 75-year-old lawmaker, who served in Congress since 2009, announced last month that he will not seek reelection and would step down from his role as the top Democrat on the powerful U.S. House Oversight Committee because his esophageal cancer had returned.

“We were fortunate to share Gerry with Northern Virginia for nearly 40 years because that was his joy, his purpose, and his passion,” his family said in their statement. “His absence will leave a hole in our hearts, but we are proud that his life’s work will endure for future generations.”

“He looked out for the disadvantaged and voiceless. He always stood up for what is right and just,” they said.

Connolly was memorialized in statements from colleagues and friends including House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson (La.), former President Joe Biden, and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).

Several highlighted Connolly’s fierce advocacy on behalf of federal workers, who are well represented in his northern Virginia congressional district.

The congressman also supported LGBTQ rights throughout his life and career.

When running for the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 1994, he fought the removal of Washington Blade newspapers from libraries. When running in 2008 for the U.S. house seat vacated by Tom Davis, a Republican, Connolly campaigned against the amendment to Virginia’s constitution banning same-sex marriage and civil unions in the state.

In Congress, he supported the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality, the Biden-Harris administration’s rescission of the anti-trans military ban, and the designation within the State Department of a special LGBTQ rights envoy. The congressman also was an original cosponsor of the Equality Act and co-sponsored legislation to repeal parts of the Defense of Marriage Act.


 

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Congress

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s bill to criminalize gender affirming care advances

Judiciary Committee markup slated for Wednesday morning

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U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)’s “Protect Children’s Innocence Act,” which would criminalize guideline-directed gender affirming health care for minors, will advance to markup in the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday morning.

Doctors and providers who administer medical treatments for gender dysphoria to patients younger than 18, including hormones and puberty blockers, would be subject to Class 3 felony charges punishable by up to 10 years in prison if the legislation is enacted.

LGBTQ advocates warn conservative lawmakers want to go after families who travel out of state to obtain medical care for their transgender kids that is banned or restricted in the places where they reside, using legislation like Greene’s to expand federal jurisdiction over these decisions. They also point to the medically inaccurate way in which the bill characterizes evidence-based interventions delineated in standards of care for trans and gender diverse youth as “mutilation” or “chemical castration.”

Days into his second term, President Donald Trump signed “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” an executive order declaring that the U.S. would not “fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit” medical treatments and interventions intended for this purpose.

Greene, who has introduced the bill in years past, noted the president’s endorsement of her bill during his address to the joint session of Congress in March when he said “I want Congress to pass a bill permanently banning and criminalizing sex changes on children and forever ending the lie that any child is trapped in the wrong body.”

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