National
Wade Davis launches youth initiative
Gay former NFL player prepares to take reins at You Can Play


Wade Davis came out in 2012; he formerly played for the Redskins. (Washington Blade file photo by Damien Salas)
When Wade Davis came out of the closet in June 2012, his story made national headlines. The former NFL athlete who played for the Washington Redskins, Seattle Seahawks and Tennessee Titans as well as two teams within NFL Europe made the rounds on the media circuit to share his story.
At the time, Davis was working at Hetrick-Martin in New York as the assistant director of job readiness, where he helped LGBT youth learn life skills. He also served as an LGBT surrogate for President Obama during the 2012 election.
Fourteen months later, Davis has launched You Belong: LGBTQA Youth Sports and Leadership Initiative with its first leadership camp recently held in Chicago focusing on basketball.
FIND MORE OF THE WASHINGTON BLADE SPORTS ISSUE HERE.
The You Belong initiative was founded by Davis and writer/activist Darnell Moore and serves to provide LBGTQA youth ages 14 to 24, access to various sports through a series of four-day comprehensive sports instruction and leadership development clinics.
The goal is to create a safe space where LGBTQA youth can become well-rounded athletes, leaders and human beings.
In addition, Davis this month was named the new executive director of the You Can Play Project.
The Blade caught up with Davis a few weeks after the completion of the first You Belong Leadership Camp held in Chicago through July 28th.
Washington Blade: Congratulations on the first leadership camp. How did it go?
Wade Davis: It was life changing. There is a lack of resources for LGBTQA youth and it was great to be able to share with these kids that they have options going forward.
Blade: Who made up your group of youths?
Davis: We had 40 in attendance that ranged in age from 14 to 22. There was a nice mix of LGBT and straight and most of them were marginally housed. There was a familiar bond as many of them were facing the same struggles.
Blade: How did the kids find out about the Leadership Camp and what were they offered over the course of the four days?
Davis: We worked with the City of Chicago, the Mayor’s Office and the Center on Halstead to find youth who might benefit from the program. The program was a series of workshops that focused on team building, anti-bullying, safe space and nutrition among other things. There was also a series of speakers that spoke to the kids over the course of the weekend.
WNBA player Tangela Smith, WNBA & NBA consultant Donnie Arey, NBA player and coach Bill Cartwright, NBA players Jarron and Jason Collins, NFL player Marques Sullivan, transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox, You Can Play founder Patrick Burke and Go! Athletes founder Anna Aegenes were all at the camp to interact with the youth.
Blade: How did you come up with that list of speakers?
Davis: Each one of them brought a different perspective that the kids will be able to use going forward. Bill Cartwright who is 7’1″ shared with them how he felt different growing up because of his height. Playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney of “Choir Boy” fame came in as the closing speaker, which was a nice way to share something with the kids outside of sports. Over the course of the four days, we ran through all the gamut of emotions. We laughed, we cried, we danced.
Blade: What are the plans for the camps going forward?
Davis: In 2014, we are planning to have three Leadership Camps and the length of them will probably be reduced to three days. I am thinking football will be the focus of one and track and field the focus of another one. We are hoping that the third one will be directed at female youth and at some point we would like to work with trans-identified youth. The scheduling is the difficult part as the camp has to be in the off-season of the targeted sport so the professional athletes can be involved.
Blade: Congratulations on the new position at You Can Play.
Davis: Yes, I was not expecting there to be this much attention. I think part of it is that I will be one of the few African-American gay men leading a national LGBT organization.
Blade: This is a full-time paid position. Are you leaving Hetrick-Martin?
Davis: My last day at Hetrick-Martin will be on Sept. 6. I will still be based in New York, so I fully intend to continue stopping in to see the kids. There is so much to learn from them.
Blade: How will your new position at You Can Play affect your work at You Belong?
Davis: Both projects will continue on their respective missions and I expect them to work together cohesively. You Can Play will offer access to professional athletes for the You Belong Leadership Camps. You Belong will offer a youth audience to further the mission of You Can Play. I think there will be great synergy.
Blade: I know from talking to you in prior conversations that you are a huge sports fan and love to compete. What are you doing to stay in shape?
Davis: I am the captain of the national travel team for the New York Gay Flag Football League and generally use my birthday at the end of July as my launching pad to be in great shape for Gay Bowl in October. I don’t want to give anyone the opportunity to say that they outplayed the former professional football player.
Blade: Tell me about the book you are writing.
Davis: It is called “Interference” and it is the story of my journey so far. It has actually evolved over the past year because of all the changes in my path. Now it will include educational tools for people who are interested in getting involved in social justice. It will be on the newsstands in late 2014.
Federal Government
RFK Jr.’s HHS report pushes therapy, not medical interventions, for trans youth
‘Discredited junk science’ — GLAAD

A 409-page report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services challenges the ethics of medical interventions for youth experiencing gender dysphoria, the treatments that are often collectively called gender-affirming care, instead advocating for psychotherapy alone.
The document comes in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order barring the federal government from supporting gender transitions for anyone younger than 19.
“Our duty is to protect our nation’s children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. “We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.”
While the report does not constitute clinical guidance, its findings nevertheless conflict with not just the recommendations of LGBTQ advocacy groups but also those issued by organizations with relevant expertise in science and medicine.
The American Medical Association, for instance, notes that “empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression.”
Gender-affirming care for transgender youth under standards widely used in the U.S. includes supportive talk therapy along with — in some but not all cases — puberty blockers or hormone treatment.
“The suggestion that someone’s authentic self and who they are can be ‘changed’ is discredited junk science,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “This so-called guidance is grossly misleading and in direct contrast to the recommendation of every leading health authority in the world. This report amounts to nothing more than forcing the same discredited idea of conversion therapy that ripped families apart and harmed gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people for decades.”
GLAAD further notes that the “government has not released the names of those involved in consulting or authoring this report.”
Janelle Perez, executive director of LPAC, said, “For decades, every major medical association–including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics–have affirmed that medical care is the only safe and effective treatment for transgender youth experiencing gender dysphoria.
“This report is simply promoting conversion therapy by a different name – and the American people know better. We know that conversion therapy isn’t actually therapy – it isolates and harms kids, scapegoats parents, and divides families through blame and rejection. These tactics have been used against gay kids for decades, and now the same people want to use them against transgender youth and their families.
“The end result here will be a devastating denial of essential health care for transgender youth, replaced by a dangerous practice that every major U.S. medical and mental health association agree promotes anxiety, depression, and increased risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts.
“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice, and no amount of pressure can force someone to change who they are. We also know that 98% of people who receive transition-related health care continue to receive that health care throughout their lifetime. Trans health care is health care.”
“Today’s report seeks to erase decades of research and learning, replacing it with propaganda. The claims in today’s report would rip health care away from kids and take decision-making out of the hands of parents,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of NCLR. “It promotes the same kind of conversion therapy long used to shame LGBTQ+ people into hating themselves for being unable to change something they can’t change.”
“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice—it’s rooted in biology and genetics,” Minter said. “No amount or talk or pressure will change that.”
Human Rights Campaign Chief of Staff Jay Brown released a statement: “Trans people are who we are. We’re born this way. And we deserve to live our best lives and have a fair shot and equal opportunity at living a good life.
“This report misrepresents the science that has led all mainstream American medical and mental health professionals to declare healthcare for transgender youth to be best practice and instead follows a script predetermined not by experts but by Sec. Kennedy and anti-equality politicians.”
The White House
Trump nominates Mike Waltz to become next UN ambassador
Former Fla. congressman had been national security advisor

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he will nominate Mike Waltz to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
Waltz, a former Florida congressman, had been the national security advisor.
Trump announced the nomination amid reports that Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, were going to leave the administration after Waltz in March added a journalist to a Signal chat in which he, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other officials discussed plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.
“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States ambassador to the United Nations,” said Trump in a Truth Social post that announced Waltz’s nomination. “From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role.”
Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as interim national security advisor, “while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department.”
“Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to make America, and the world, safe again,” said Trump.
Trump shortly after his election nominated U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Trump in March withdrew her nomination in order to ensure Republicans maintained their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. Federal Courts
Second federal lawsuit filed against White House passport policy
Two of seven plaintiffs live in Md.

Lambda Legal on April 25 filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of seven transgender and nonbinary people who are challenging the Trump-Vance administration’s passport policy.
The lawsuit, which Lambda Legal filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, alleges the policy that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers “has caused and is causing grave and immediate harm to transgender people like plaintiffs, in violation of their constitutional rights to equal protection.”
Two of the seven plaintiffs — Jill Tran and Peter Poe — live in Maryland. The State Department, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the federal government are defendants.
“The discriminatory passport policy exposes transgender U.S. citizens to harassment, abuse, and discrimination, in some cases endangering them abroad or preventing them from traveling, by forcing them to use identification documents that share private information against their wishes,” said Lambda Legal in a press release.
Zander Schlacter, a New York-based textile artist and designer, is the lead plaintiff.
The lawsuit notes he legally changed his name and gender in New York.
Schlacter less than a week before President Donald Trump’s inauguration “sent an expedited application to update his legal name on his passport, using form DS-5504.”
Trump once he took office signed an executive order that banned the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers. The lawsuit notes Schlacter received his new passport in February.
“The passport has his correct legal name, but now has an incorrect sex marker of ‘F’ or ‘female,'” notes the lawsuit. “Mr. Schlacter also received a letter from the State Department notifying him that ‘the date of birth, place of birth, name, or sex was corrected on your passport application,’ with ‘sex’ circled in red. The stated reason was ‘to correct your information to show your biological sex at birth.'”
“I, like many transgender people, experience fear of harassment or violence when moving through public spaces, especially where a photo ID is required,” said Schlacter in the press release that announced the lawsuit. “My safety is further at risk because of my inaccurate passport. I am unwilling to subject myself and my family to the threat of harassment and discrimination at the hands of border officials or anyone who views my passport.”
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June 2021 announced the State Department would begin to issue gender-neutral passports and documents for American citizens who were born overseas.
Dana Zzyym, an intersex U.S. Navy veteran who identifies as nonbinary, in 2015 filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their application for a passport with an “X” gender marker. Zzyym in October 2021 received the first gender-neutral American passport.
Lambda Legal represented Zzyym.
The State Department policy took effect on April 11, 2022.
Trump signed his executive order shortly after he took office in January. Germany, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands are among the countries that have issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U.S.
A federal judge in Boston earlier this month issued a preliminary injunction against the executive order. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of seven trans and nonbinary people.
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