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Russian activists have mixed reactions to Obama meeting

U.S. ‘cannot approach relations through prism of human rights alone’

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Barack Obama, Democratic National Convention, gay news, Washington Blade, Democratic Party
President Obama speaks for the Democratic National Convention

Russian activists have mixed reactions to their meeting with President Obama.(Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key).

Russian activists who attended a meeting last week with President Obama in St. Petersburg came away with mixed feelings about the event, with one claiming Obama told them he couldn’t make human rights the lone priority in U.S.-Russia relations.

Both LGBT activists who attended the meeting with Obama on Friday spoke to the Washington Blade and said they were pleased the meeting took place, but disagreed with some of what Obama said. They were among nine civil society representatives who took part in a roundtable discussion with Obama as part of his visit to Russia forĀ the G-20 summit.

Igor Kochetkov, director of the LGBT Network in Russia, spoke with the Blade in a phone interview through a translator from Human Rights First and saidĀ Obama told activists he had to prioritize issues other than human rights.

“Obama said that his agenda is quite extensive and he cannot approach U.S.-Russia relations through the prism of human rights alone,”Ā Kochetkov said. “He said there’s economic partnerships, military/strategic cooperation, and in order to achieve consensus on those subject areas, he has to compromise and find a balance in discussions about human rights.”

Kochetkov said he disagrees with Obama on this view of human rights issues.

“I think this approach does not have a future because in Russia, racist and homophobic attitudes are proportional to the growth of anti-Americanism and anti-Western attitudes,”Ā Kochetkov said. “And the West won’t be able to get what it wants in the economic or military realm while being silenced on human rights.”

Still,Ā Kochetkov said he wouldn’t characterize himself as disappointed in Obama’s remarks and noted he wasĀ “pleased” the meeting took place.

“I think it’s very important that Obama invited human rights activists, including specifically LGBT activists from Russia,”Ā Kochetkov said. “It was a serious signal to the global community, a signal that it’s impossible to discuss human rights in today’s world without a conversation about the status of gay rights. Not everyone, especially in Russia, understands that.”

Olga Lenkova, communications director for the St. Petersburg-based LGBT group Coming Out, told the Washington Blade via email she was also satisfied with the experience.

“We did not have any particular expectations from the meeting, other than hoping for a good exchange of ideas, which has in fact taken place,” Lenkova said.

Lenkova said the focus of the meeting was on human rights in general, and the “complicated situation” for civil society leaders in Russia in addition to global challenges such as the “relative ineffectiveness” of the United Nations and global warming.

“President Obama tried to respond to all questions raised despite our obvious disagreements on Syria for example,” Lenkova said. “He mostly talked about the U.S., highlighting that there are many challenges and problems, the ones we mentioned ā€” death penalty, Guantanamo, surveillance, etc. ā€” and others that can’t be easily overcome by a president, but where the active civil society plays the key role.”

According to Lenkova, Obama concluded the session by saying, “Any state has to guard itself from protecting itself instead of its citizens. You’ve challenged me to do more and I will. And sometimes I will succeed and sometimes not.”

Which LGBT issues came up during the meeting? Kochetkov said he urged Obama to be more open and vocal in his criticism of what’s happening in Russia. He also urged Obama to build international awareness of LGBT issues.

“I also asked President Obama to consider ways of monitoring hate crime incidents through the international community,” Kochetkov said.Ā “Hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation or gender identity bias are not totally investigated or investigated at all sometimes, so we need an international mechanism to look into those cases as well.”

Amid growing international attention, the activists said they also raised concerns with Obama about a controversial anti-gay law that prohibits pro-gay propaganda to minorsĀ in Russia.

Dmitri Makarov, a member of the Russia-based International Youth Human Rights Movement who was a non-LGBT participant at the meeting, told the Blade via email the anti-gay law took up a significant part of the discussion.

“The Russian anti-gay laws were brought up and were a significant part of the discussion,” Makarov said. “There was a press briefing also at the end of the meeting by LGBT Network.”

Kochetkov said he raised the anti-propaganda law with Obama, but the president declined to comment on it.

“He made no comment, but he was there to listen to the situation in Russia,”Ā Kochetkov said.

Lenkova said the measure did come up during the discussion, but LGBT rights weren’t the main topic of the meeting.

“Regarding LGBT issues he said that he had already been quite explicit about what he thinks about discrimination against LGBT people,” Lenkova said. “He also referred to the changes that took place in the U.S. in this regard within the last 10 to 15 years, when he was saying that though problems in the U.S. are still many, the system is capable of change.”

Some LGBT activistsĀ said prior to the meetingĀ they hoped Obama would take his opposition to the anti-gay law directly to the Russian government and media during his trip to St. Petersburg.

A video report on Saturday from European television station Euronews claimed gay activists left the meeting with Obama feeling “disappointed.”Ā It based that conclusion on an interview with Kochetkov,Ā who talked through a translator.

Kochetkov responded to the report by reiterating he wasn’t disappointed in the meeting, but said he disagrees with Obama on some issues.

“It’s more nuanced,”Ā Kochetkov said. “I’m not disappointed. I said that I disagree with President Obama on certain things.”

Nonetheless, International Youth Human Rights Movement’s Makarov said he thinks the report is “quite accurate” ā€” or at least “as much as a one-minute report focusing on just one aspect can be accurate.”

“I would have liked to hear a more decisive stance, but I do understand the argument that there are other issues that the president has to care about,” Makarov said. “Yet, as a human rights defender I would push for human rights to be prioritized in relations with Russia in particular.”

The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment on the report or reactions from the activists.

According to a transcript of remarks provided by the White House after the event, Obama talked about freedom of the press and assembly with activists.

ā€œI think it is important for us to remember that in every country ā€” here in Russia, in the United States, around the globe ā€” that part of good government is making sure that weā€™re creating a space for civil society to function effectively: freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, making sure that people can join together and make common cause around the issues that they care deeply about,ā€ Obama said.

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Congress

House passes spending bill as Greene threatens to oust Johnson

51 of 52 anti-LGBTQ riders were defeated

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) speaks at a press conference on Sept. 20. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The U.S. House of Representatives averted a government shutdown on Friday with a vote of 286-134 to pass the $1.2 trillion spending bill, over the objections of hard-right members like U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).

The congresswoman subsequently filed a motion to remove House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who is himself an ultraconservative legislator. The move marked the second time in six months that the party has called for a vote to oust their own leader.

ā€œToday I filed a motion to vacate after Speaker Johnson has betrayed our conference and broken our rules,ā€ said Greene, who refused to say whether she would call up the resolution to call for a snap vote, which likely means the matter will be delayed until after the two-week recess.

Greene and Johnson are at odds over the content of the minibus appropriations package, with the congresswoman calling it a “Chuck Schumer, Democrat-controlled bill” that does not contain conservative policy demands on matters like immigration and LGBTQ issues.

The speaker, meanwhile, proclaimed, ā€œHouse Republicans achieved conservative policy wins, rejected extreme Democrat proposals, and imposed substantial cuts while significantly strengthening national defense.ā€

With respect to anti-LGBTQ riders submitted by Republican members, more than 50 were ultimately stripped from the bill, which the Human Rights Campaign celebrated as “a victory,” crediting lawmakers for their “bipartisan, bicameral negotiations.”

Of the 52 anti-LGBTQ riders, only one survived in the $1.2 trillion package passed on Friday: A ban on flying Pride flags at U.S. embassies.

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Congress

Massive defeat for anti-trans, anti-LGBTQ riders in spending bill

Proposal has only one rider that would target community

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U.S. Capitol
U.S. Capitol (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

On Thursday, Congress unveiled the much-anticipated spending bill to avert a government shutdown. The bill, which includes funding for major government departments such as Health and Human Services and Education, featured fierce negotiations over conservative ā€œpolicy riders.ā€ 

These policy riders included bans on coverage for gender-affirming care, DEI bans, sports bans and more. Despite some indications that Democrats might compromise due to the sheer number of conservative policy riders, it appears those fears did not come to fruition. Democrats held firm in negotiations, and the most impactful anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ riders were nowhere to be found.

One policy rider proposed for the Food and Drug Administration would have defunded any hospital that ā€œdistributes, sells or otherwise uses drugs that disrupt the onset of puberty or sexual development for those under 18,ā€ a measure targeting not only transgender youth but also those experiencing precocious puberty. 

Another rider sought to bar any government funding toward ā€œsurgical procedures or hormone therapy for the purposes of gender-affirming careā€ in the Department of Health and Human Services. This move would have significantly impacted private and subsidized insurance in the Healthcare Marketplace. It also aimed to bar the enforcement of President Joe Bidenā€™s executive order titled ā€œPreventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity,ā€ which broadened anti-discrimination protections for trans individuals.

Additional riders included bans on funding for any organization thatĀ ā€œpromotes transgenderism,ā€Ā Title IX protections for trans youth, bans on legal challenges against states over anti-LGBTQ+ laws, book bans, DEI bans and more.

In total, over 40 riders were proposed and negotiated in the spending bills. None of these were found in the final bill.

Ultimately, the final spending bill released contained only a single anti-LGBTQ rider: A ban on Pride flags being raised or displayed above foreign embassies. The policy, while certainly qualifying as anti-LGBTQ and a regression to Trump-era policies, notably does not bar personal displays of Pride flags by embassy workers.

In the past, some embassies have gotten around such bans by not ā€œflying a flag over the embassyā€ but rather, painting portions of the embassy in rainbow colors or draping flags on the side of buildings.

News of the defeat of the most impactful anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ riders comes after a significant push from Equality Caucus Democrats and the Biden administration against the riders. ā€œAs you negotiate government funding for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24), we write to strongly urge you to reject any attempts to include anti-LGBTQ+ provisions in any final FY24 funding agreement,ā€ said a letter signed by 163 representatives on behalf of the Congressional Equality Caucus to the Biden administration.

However, Republicans also pushed hard for their inclusion. In a shutdown threat issued Feb. 21 from the House Freedom Caucus, Republicans indicated that bans on gender affirming care and trans participation in sports were necessary to prevent a potential shutdown.

Previously, U.S. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) stated that such bans are the “hill we will die on.” In a report published by Axios, one Republican lawmaker stated, ā€œPeople are predicting a shutdown even if it’s just for a few days.ā€ Others concurred, citing gender affirming care riders as one of the potential reasons for such a shutdown.

Many anti-LGBTQ leaders in the Republican Party reacted negatively to the bill. U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)Ā expressed angerĀ at funding for the New Jersey Garden State Equality in Education Fund, calling it ā€œforce feeding the LGBT agenda in schoolsā€ and stating that it enables ā€œgender mutilation surgeries in minors,ā€ ā€œbiological menā€ in womenā€™s bathrooms and trans participation in sports.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) decried the lack of a DEI ban. U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) stated that Republicans ā€œsurrenderedā€ to Democrats on hormone therapy. The House Freedom Caucus published a lengthy list of healthcare and equality centers that the budget would fund, urging the GOP to vote ā€œnoā€ and to shut down the government.

In a press release published by House Appropriations Democrats, they stated that the bill rejected over a hundred poison-pill riders, many of which targeted LGBTQ people. For example, the Labor-HHS-Education portion of the bill blocked provisions around gender affirming care, sports bans and nondiscrimination.

See the House Appropriations Democrats statement:

Press release, House Appropriations Democrats on Labor-HHS-Education

The bill must pass by Friday evening to avert a government shutdown, though the impacts of such a shutdown would likely not be felt until Monday. If passed, the bill would keep the government funded through September, at which point all of the riders could resurface during the peak of the 2024 presidential election.

However, for the next several months, LGBTQ riders will not pose a significant threat in a year where trans and queer individuals have faced attacks at historic levels.

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Erin Reed is a transgender woman (she/her pronouns) and researcher who tracks anti-LGBTQ+ legislation around the world and helps people become better advocates for their queer family, friends, colleagues, and community. Reed also is a social media consultant and public speaker.

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The preceding article was first published at Erin In The Morning and is republished with permission.

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Congress

Padilla, FCC introduce measure to improve 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline

HHS launched effort in 2022

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U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) (Screen capture: YouTube)

U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), joined by U.S. Rep. Tony CƔrdenas (D-Calif.), Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, introduced a measure on Thursday to improve the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Calls are currently routed to mental health professionals and local public safety officials based on the caller’s area code ā€” even though, as the lawmakers and officials noted during their announcement ā€” in many cases, the area code, especially for cell phone numbers, does not match the location from which they are calling.

Under the new proposal, Padilla said, “We’re going to be in a position to be able to provide care as quickly and as safely as possible.”

“In the same way that 911 calls in the case of an emergency are routed to local providers, local first responders, so ambulances can come out and help quickly when you call 911, 988 should be tied to a caller’s location, not their area code,” he said.

Calling Padilla, Tillis, and CĆ”rdenas “great champions of mental health,” Rosenworcel noted, “that’s not our stock and trade” at the FCC.

“We are people who deal with technology and communications,” she said, “but we came to realize that we could work with Congress to make sure that everyone in this country who’s going through a crisis has someone to call and someone who can listen ā€” and that’s why in 2022, we set up 988, the easy-to-remember three digit number for anyone who is in crisis.”

A press release from Padilla’s office explains the details for how the update to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline will work:

“The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) announced today seeks to address the discrepancies and inefficiencies of the current system by proposing the adoption of a rule that would require a georouting solution to be implemented for all wireless calls to the 9-8-8 Lifeline while balancing the privacy needs of individuals in crisis. 

Georouting refers to technical solutions that enable calls to be directed based on the location of the caller without transmitting the callerā€™s precise location information.Ā These solutions would permit wireless calls to the 9-8-8 Lifeline to be directed to nearby crisis centers based on factors such as the cell tower that originated the call rather than the area code of the wireless device used to place the call.”

The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline offers LGBTQ-affirming counseling, which is accessible by pressing three.

A 2023 survey by the Trevor Project, which included more than 28,000 LGBTQ participants aged 13-24, found that 41 percent had seriously considered suicide within the past year and 56 percent wanted ā€” but were unable to get ā€” mental health care within the last year.

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