Politics
GOP lawyer Ted Olson latest to endorse ENDA
New poll finds 56 percent of Republicans support anti-bias measure


Former Solicitor General Ted Olson is the latest to endorse ENDA. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key).
A Republican lawyer who has gained notoriety for leading marriage equality lawsuits is lending his name to another LGBT cause: the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
Ted Olson, who argued against California’s Proposition 8 before the U.S. Supreme Court and just this week joined another lawsuit seeking marriage equality in Virginia, announced he backs ENDA during a conference call with reporters on Monday about his new lawsuit with the American Foundation for Equal Rights.
Asked by the Washington Blade whether he supports ENDA, which would prohibit employers from discriminating against LGBT workers, Olson initially replied simply, “Yes.”
“I feel very, very strongly that this country ought to stop discriminating against our citizens on the basis of their sexual orientation,” Olson continued. “It is unfair, it’s unreasonable, it’s unacceptable. It serves no purpose and it does a great deal of harm.”
Olson endorses ENDA on the day that the Americans for Workplace Opportunity, a campaign seeking to pass the legislation, made public new polling from Republican pollster Target Point Consulting. Among the findings: 68 percent of voters, including 56 percent of Republicans, support a federal law barring LGBT workplace discrimination.
Olson’s support for ENDA makes him one of those Republicans. He served as solicitor general under former President George W. Bush after representing the former president in the 2000 case Bush v. Gore, which led to Bush winning the White House.
Further, Olson helped the Romney campaign during the 2012 presidential election by impersonating Vice President Joseph Biden during debate prep with then-GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan.
Matt McTighe, campaign manager for Americans for Workplace Opportunity, said Olson’s endorsement demonstrates ENDA has significant bipartisan support.
“Ted Olson’s support amplifies the bipartisan momentum to pass ENDA,” McTighe said. “He joins the strong majority of Republicans, according to the poll we released this morning, who believe in protecting gay and transgender employees in the workplace. ENDA is both good for business and the right thing to do.”
The Target Point Consulting poll also found 8 in 10 voters incorrectly believe that it’s currently illegal under federal law to fire or refuse to hire someone for being gay or transgender. Additionally, the poll projects that ENDA enjoys majority support in all 50 states.
Olson’s endorsement also comes at a time when a Senate vote on ENDA is anticipated this fall. Amid expectations that ENDA will pass the Senate, observers anticipate a more difficult fight in the House, where Republicans have control.
Tico Almeida, president of Freedom to Work, commended Olson for coming on board in support of ENDA and said the news could move Republicans to back the legislation.
“Freedom to Work applauds Ted Olson for joining the growing number of Republicans who support national workplace protections for LGBT Americans,” Almeida said. “Mr. Olson campaigned for the McCain presidential campaign, and we hope Sen. McCain will be among the Republicans who vote in favor of ENDA this fall.”
Congress
House passes reconciliation with gender-affirming care funding ban
‘Big Beautiful Bill’ now heads to the Senate

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.
Congress
Gerry Connolly dies at 75 after battle with esophageal cancer
Va. congressman fought for LGBTQ rights

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.
Congress
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s bill to criminalize gender affirming care advances
Judiciary Committee markup slated for Wednesday morning

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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