News
Will Obama speak out again on marriage lawsuits?
Many advocates would welcome continued participation
From left, lawyer David Boies , plaintiffs Jeff Zarillo, Paul Katami, Kris Perry, Sandy Stier and lawyer Ted Olson at the HRC National Dinner. Olson and Boies say they’d welcome President Obama’s participation in their lawsuit (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key).
Amid a frenzy of new marriage equality lawsuits making their way to the Supreme Court, some LGBT advocates say continued participation from the Obama administration in litigation would boost their chances for success.
One advocate eager for the administration to continue its participation in litigation seeking marriage equality is Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry.
“There are 20-some freedom to marry cases underway around the country now, including the two in Virginia, and President Obama’s and the Justice Department’s support for the freedom to marry and constitutional guarantees should absolutely be part of all of them,” Wolfson said.
Because the Obama administration isn’t a party to any of the lawsuits pending, under ordinary circumstances the administration would participate by filing a friend-of-the-court brief before the courts.
But at this stage, some legal experts who spoke to the Washington Blade are taking a more passive stance on whether the Obama administration should take part, saying they’d “welcome” help from the administration’s lawyers without issuing an overt call for action.
Ted Olson and David Boies, the legal duo that brought marriage equality to California by challenging Proposition 8, articulated this view during a conference call with reporters last week when asked by the Washington Blade if they want the administration’s support in Bostic v. Rainey, the lawsuit in Virginia they joined last week.
Boies, the Democratic half of the legal team representing the American Foundation for Equal Rights, said the administration’s participation would be welcome because “the views of the administration are important.”
“Exactly when they will get involved and how they will get involved and what stage they will get involved is something that is obviously up to the administration,” Boies said. “Whether they will decide to wait until we get to the Supreme Court or express views earlier is up to them. But whenever they come in, their support would be welcome.”
Boies’ comments during the conference call follow an endorsement of participation from the Obama administration in his lawsuit during a National Press Club event earlier in the day.
Echoing that sense was Olson, the Republican half of the legal duo that presented the case against Prop 8 during oral arguments before the Supreme Court.
“To have the president’s imprimatur on this issue is so very, very important to the court,” Olson said. “There are institutional reasons for why the Justice Department with the president gets in cases at particular times and we’ll wait till what they decide the right time is, but we very much welcome their support in this case.”
The administration has taken part in previous marriage lawsuits. When the case against Prop 8 came before the Supreme Court, the Justice Department filed a friend-of-the-court brief in favor of plaintiffs and sent U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli to take part in oral arguments before the Supreme Court.
Although the administration didn’t argue the U.S. Constitution guarantees marriage rights for gay couples nationwide, it did contend Prop 8 was unconstitutional and suggested states that offer domestic partnerships should have to afford full marriage rights to gay couples.
The administration’s participation in cases against the Defense of Marriage Act has been more extensive. After announcing it would no longer defend the law in court, the administration filed briefs against the anti-gay law and sent Justice Department lawyers to argue against it in district courts, appellate courts and the Supreme Court.
The Bostic case is but one pending marriage equality lawsuit. According to a tally provided by Lambda Legal, there are 35 marriage lawsuits before 19 states. Just last week, Lambda filed an additional federal lawsuit seeking marriage equality in West Virginia.
Suzanne Goldberg, a lesbian and co-director of Columbia University’s Center for Gender & Sexuality Law, said the involvement from the administration in the marriage lawsuits would reinforce that “the lives of all Americans are deeply affected when states discriminate actively against some of their constituents.”
“The Justice Department’s participation puts additional moral force behind the claims for equality and fairness that gay and lesbian couples make in these cases,” Goldberg continued. “In that sense, the federal government’s participation in state law challenges can be important and helpful, but even if it does not participate, it is also important and helpful that the administration is on record decrying the injustice of unequal marriage rules.”
But the sense that the Obama administration should file additional friend-of-the-court briefs in the marriage lawsuits isn’t universal.
Roberta Kaplan, a lesbian attorney at Paul & Weiss who argued against DOMA before the Supreme Court, said she’s unsure additional friend-of-the-court briefs are necessary.
Courts already know the Justice Department’s position in the aftermath of the Perry case, Kaplan said, and filing additional briefs in every marriage lawsuit out there would be “frankly, a logistical pain in the butt for them.”
“What they said in Perry pretty much answers the question,” Kaplan said. “Frankly, a court knows what their position is because they’ve said it. It’s the same issue…There should be no mystery to anyone what their position is.”
Kaplan said if the administration would participate, chances are it would happen at the appellate or Supreme Court level.
“I’m sure at the Supreme Court, when and if one of these cases gets up there, they will be asked to participate and they will,” Kaplan said. “At the appellate courts, I think it pretty much depends on which case and whether they’re going to have a policy of putting in the same brief in 20 different cases that all say the same thing when they’ve already done it once.”
The Justice Department hasn’t responded to repeated requests for comment. The answering machine at the public affairs line says it will respond to calls in the aftermath of the government shutdown.
The administration may not be able to participate in a marriage equality case as long as the government remains closed. According to the shutdown plan on the Justice Department website, civil litigation, the category of litigation for marriage lawsuits, will be “curtailed or postponed.”
“Litigators will need to approach the courts and request that active cases, except for those in which postponement would compromise to a significant degree the safety of human life or the protection of property, be postponed until funding is available,” the website states. “If a court denies such a request and orders a case to continue, the government will comply with the court’s order, which would constitute express legal authorization for the activity to continue.”
But if the Obama administration were to file a brief in a marriage case before an appellate court, the one for which the opportunity is coming soon is in the case challenging the same-sex marriage ban in Nevada known as Sevcik v. Sandoval. The case, filed by Lambda, is pending before the U.S. Ninth Circuit of Appeals and is one of the cases that has thus far advanced the furthest. Friend-of-the-court briefs are due Oct. 25.
Lisa Hardaway, a Lambda spokesperson, said the attorney working on the case would welcome support from the administration.
“Tara Borelli, our lead attorney on the Sevcik matter, says that we would welcome a brief from the Obama administration,” Hardaway said.
Considering Lambda in the Sevcik case is arguing the ban on same-sex marriage in Nevada is unconstitutional because the state is relegating gay couples to second-class domestic partnerships, the case seems like a natural fit for an administration that has previously said all civil union states should offer marriage to gay couples.
But Kaplan said the more interesting question is whether the administration will articulate a response in the marriage lawsuits that are contending a state must recognize a same-sex marriage from another jurisdiction. Among these cases is Whitewood v. Corbett, the marriage lawsuit pending in Pennsylvania.
“I think the more interesting issues are, frankly, like when the issues come up about recognition…of marriages in states that don’t permit,” Kaplan said. “That at least presents a different question than something they’ve already put out.”
Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said “it goes without saying” that he shares Olson and Boies’ views and predicted the Obama administration would come on board based on its previous actions and stated commitment to LGBT rights.
“The administration not only stopped defending the Defense of Marriage Act, as you know, but weighed in as we all hoped they would, and encouraged them to, in the Prop 8 case, going the distance there in that case before the Supreme Court,” Griffin said. “And again, we’re just announcing this case today and it still has a distance to go, but I’m optimistic that at the right time, the administration will be there in support of this.”
World
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Marriage progress in Europe; trans travel advisories depress WorldPride attendance
The Trump-Vance administration and its policies had a significant impact on the global LGBTQ rights movement in 2025. War, anti-LGBTQ crackdowns, protests, and legal advances are among the other issues that made headlines around the world over the past year.
Here are the top international stories of 2025.
10. Australia ends ban on LGBTQ blood donors
Australia on July 14 ended its ban on sexually active LGBTQ people from donating blood.
“Lifeblood (the Australian Red Cross Blood Service) has been working to make blood and plasma donation more inclusive and accessible to as many people as possible, whilst maintaining the safety of the blood supply,” said the Australian Red Cross Blood Service in a press release that announced the new policy.
Lifeblood Chief Medical Officer Jo Pink said the new policy will allow 24,000 additional people to donate blood each year.
9. Kenyan judge rules gov’t must legally recognize trans people
A Kenyan judge on Aug. 20 ruled his country’s government must legally recognize transgender people and ensure their constitutional rights are protected.
Justice Reuben Nyakundi of the Eldoret High Court in western Kenya ruled in favor of a trans athlete who was arrested in 2019 and forced to undergo a medical examination to determine her gender. The 34-year-old plaintiff who is a board member of Jinsiangu, a trans rights organization, said authorities arrested her at a health facility after they claimed she impersonated a woman.
“This is the first time a Kenyan court has explicitly ordered the state to create legislation on transgender rights, and a first in the African continent,” noted Jinsiangu in a statement. “If implemented, it could address decades of legal invisibility and discrimination faced by transgender persons by establishing clear legal recognition of gender identity, protection against discrimination in employment, housing, healthcare, and education, and access to public services without bias or harassment.”
8. U.S. withdraws from UN LGBTI Core Group
The U.S. in 2025 withdrew from the U.N. LGBTI Core Group, a group of U.N. member states that have pledged to support LGBTQ and intersex rights.
A source told the Washington Blade the U.S. withdrew from the Core Group on Feb. 14. A State Department spokesperson later confirmed the withdrawal.
“In line with the president’s recent executive orders, we have withdrawn from the U.N. LGBTI Core Group,” said the spokesperson.
7. Wars in Gaza, Ukraine continue to make headlines
Israeli airstrikes against Iran prompted authorities in Tel Aviv to cancel the city’s annual Pride parade that was scheduled to take place on June 13.
The airstrikes prompted Iran to attack Israel with drones and missiles. One of them destroyed Mash Central, a gay bar that was located a few blocks from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. Marty Rouse, a longtime activist who lives in Maryland, was in Israel with the Jewish Federations of North America when the war began. He and his group left the country on June 15.
Bet Mishpachah, an LGBTQ synagogue in D.C., welcomed the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that took effect on Oct. 10, roughly two years after Hamas militants killed upwards of 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 200 others when they launched a surprise attack on the country.
In Ukraine, meanwhile, the war that Russia launched in 2022 drags on.
6. Int’l Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders
The International Criminal Court on July 8 issued arrest warrants for two top Taliban officials accused of targeting LGBTQ people, women, and others who defy the group’s strict gender norms.
The warrants are for Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, and Afghanistan Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani.
Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, in January announced a request for warrants against Taliban officials over their treatment of women and other groups since they regained control of Afghanistan in 2021. The request marked the first time the court specifically named LGBTQ people as victims in a gender persecution case before it.
5. Hundreds of thousands defy Budapest Pride ban
More than 100,000 people on June 28 defied the Hungarian government’s ban on public LGBTQ events and participated in the 30th annual Budapest Pride parade.
Former Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who is his country’s first openly gay head of government, and openly gay MEP Krzysztof Śmiszek, who was previously Poland’s deputy justice minister, are among those who participated in the march.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz-KDNP coalition government have faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
Hungarian lawmakers in March passed a bill that bans Pride events and allow authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify those who participate in them. MPs in April amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.
4. LGBTQ delegation travels to Vatican to meet Pope Leo after Francis dies
Pope Francis died on April 21.
The Vatican’s tone on LGBTQ and intersex issues softened under the Argentine-born pope’s papacy, even though church teachings on homosexuality and gender identity did not change.
The College of Cardinals on May 8 chose Pope Leo XVI, an American cardinal from Chicago who was bishop of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru from 2015-2023, to succeed Francis.
Leo on Sept. 1 met with the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest who founded Outreach, a ministry for LGBTQ Catholics. A gay couple from D.C. — Jim Sweeney and the Rev. Jason Carson Wilson — are among those who took part in an LGBTQ pilgrimage to the Vatican a few days later that coincided with the church’s year-long Jubilee that began last Christmas Eve when Francis opened the Holy Door.
3. EU’s top court rules states must recognize same-sex marriages
The European Union’s top court on Nov. 25 ruled member states must recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other member states.
The EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled in favor of a couple who challenged Poland’s refusal to recognize their German marriage.
The couple who lives in Poland brought their case to Polish courts. The Polish Supreme Administrative Court referred it to the EU Court of Justice.
“Today’s ruling of the Court of Justice of the EU is of key importance not only for the couple involved in the case, but also for the entire LGBT+ community in Poland,” said the Campaign Against Homophobia, a Polish LGBTQ and intersex rights group.
2. U.S. funding cuts devastate global LGBTQ community
The Trump-Vance administration’s decision to cut U.S. foreign aid spending in 2025 has had a devastating impact on the global LGBTQ rights movement.
Council for Global Equality Chair Mark Bromley noted to the Blade the U.S. historically funded roughly a third of the global LGBTQ rights movement.
Groups around the world — including those that worked with people with HIV/AIDS — that received U.S. funding had to curtail programming or close altogether. LGBTQ+ Victory Institute President Elliot Imse earlier this year noted the global LGBTQ rights movement in 2025 was set to lose more than $50 million.
“It is a catastrophe,” he said.
1. Countries boycott WorldPride amid travel advisories
Canada and a number of European countries in 2025 issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who planned to visit the U.S.
The advisory the Danish government issued notes President Donald Trump’s executive order that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers. It also notes “two gender designations to choose from: male or female” when applying for an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) or visa for the U.S.
Egale Canada, one of Canada’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organizations, in February announced its members would not attend WorldPride, which took place in D.C. from May 17-June 8, or other events in the U.S. because of the Trump-Vance administration’s policies. Other advocacy groups and activists also did not travel to the U.S. for WorldPride.
InterPride, which coordinates WorldPride, also issued its own travel advisory for trans and nonbinary people.
National
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10. Trump grants clemency to George Santos
President Donald Trump granted clemency to disgraced former Long Island Rep. George Santos. Santos was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft and had served just 84 days of his more than seven-year sentence. He lied to both the DOJ and the House Ethics Committee, including about his work and education history, and committed campaign finance fraud.
9. U.S. Olympics bans trans women athletes
The United States Supreme Court decided in 2025 to take up two cases — Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J.— both of which concern the rights of transgender athletes to participate on sports teams. The cases challenge state laws under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which prevents states from offering separate boys’ and girls’ sports teams based on biological sex determined at birth. Both cases are set to be heard in January 2026. The developments follow a decision by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee to change eligibility rules to prohibit transgender women from competing in women’s sporting events on behalf of the United States, following Trump’s Executive Order 14201, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”
8. FDA approves new twice-yearly HIV prevention drug
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on June 18 approved a newly developed HIV/AIDS prevention drug that needs to be taken only twice a year, with one injection every six months. The new drug, lenacapavir, is being sold under the brand name Yeztugo by pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences. According to trial data, 99.9 percent of participants who received Yeztugo remained HIV negative. This emerging technology comes amid direct cuts to HIV/AIDS research measures by the Trump–Vance administration, particularly targeting international HIV efforts such as PEPFAR.
7. LGBTQ people ‘erased’ from gov’t reports
Politico reported in March that the Trump–Vance administration is slashing the State Department’s annual human rights report, cutting sections related to the rights of women, people with disabilities, the LGBTQ+ community, and more. Members of Congress objected to the removal of the subsection on “Acts of Violence, Criminalization, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity or Expression, or Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC)” from the State Department’s Annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
In a Sept. 9 letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Julie Johnson (D-Texas), and Sarah McBride (D-Del.) urged the department to restore the information or ensure it is integrated throughout each report, noting that the reports serve as key evidence for asylum seekers, attorneys, judges, and advocates assessing human rights conditions and protection claims worldwide.
6. Trump admin redefines ‘sex’ in all HHS programs
The Trump administration canceled more than $800 million in research into the health of sexual and gender minority groups. More than half of the National Institutes of Health grants scrapped through early May involved studies of cancers and viruses that disproportionately affect LGBTQ people.
The administration is also pushing to end gender-affirming care for transgender youth, according to a new proposal from the Department of Health and Human Services, NPR reported. The administration is considering blocking all Medicaid and Medicare funding for services at hospitals that provide pediatric gender-affirming care. “These rules would be a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s attack on access to transgender health care,” said Katie Keith, director of the Center for Health Policy and Law at Georgetown University.
5. FBI plans to label trans people as ‘violent extremists’
The Human Rights Campaign, Transgender Law Center, Equality Federation, GLAAD, PFLAG, and the Southern Poverty Law Center condemned reports that the FBI, in coordination with the Heritage Foundation, may be working to designate transgender people as “violent extremists.” The concerns followed a report earlier this month by independent journalist Ken Klippenstein, who cited two anonymous national security officials saying the FBI is considering treating transgender subjects as a subset of a new threat category.
That classification—originally created under the Biden administration as “Anti-Authority and Anti-Government Violent Extremists” (AGAAVE) — was first applied to Jan. 6 rioters and other right-wing extremists. Advocates said the proposal appears to stem from the false claim that the assassination of Charlie Kirk was committed by a transgender person.
4. Pentagon targets LGBTQ service members
Acting in agreement with the growing anti-LGBTQ sentiment from the Trump administration, during a televised speech to U.S. military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico in late September, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denounced past military leadership for being too “woke,” citing DEI initiatives and LGBTQ inclusion within the Department of Defense. During the 45-minute address, Hegseth criticized inclusive policies and announced forthcoming directives, saying they would ensure combat requirements “return to the highest male standard only.”
Since 2016, a Navy replenishment oiler had borne the name of gay rights icon Harvey Milk, who served in the Navy during the Korean War and was separated from service under other than honorable conditions due to his sexuality before later becoming one of the first openly LGBTQ candidates elected to public office. In June 2025, the ship was renamed USNS Oscar V. Peterson.
The U.S. Air Force also announced that transgender service members who have served between 15 and 18 years would be denied early retirement and instead separated from the military without benefits. Transgender troops will be given the option of accepting a lump-sum payout offered to junior service members or being removed from service.
In February, the Pentagon said it would draft and submit procedures to identify transgender service members and begin discharging them from the military within 30 days.
3. Trump blames Democrats, trans people for gov’t shutdown
Republicans failed to reach an agreement with Democrats and blamed them for the government shutdown, while Democrats pointed to Republicans for cutting health care tax credits, a move they said would result in millions of people paying significantly higher monthly insurance premiums next year. In the White House press briefing room, a video of Democrats discussing past government shutdowns played on a loop as the president continued to blame the Democratic Party and “woke” issues, including transgender people.
“A lot of good can come from shutdowns. We can get rid of a lot of things. They’d be Democrat things,” Trump said the night before the shutdown. “They want open borders. Men playing in women’s sports. They want transgender for everybody.”
2. Supreme Court joins attacks on LGBTQ Americans
The U.S. Supreme Court issued multiple rulings this year affecting LGBTQ people. In Mahmoud v. Taylor (6–3), it ruled that public schools must give parents advance notice and the option to opt children out of lessons on gender or sexuality that conflict with their religious beliefs. The case arose after Montgomery County, Md., schools added LGBTQ-inclusive storybooks to the elementary curriculum.
In June, the court upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, protecting similar laws in more than 20 states. Lawmakers and advocates criticized the ruling, and a coalition of seven medical associations warned it strips families of the right to direct their own health care.
The Court also allowed the Trump administration to enforce a ban on transgender military personnel and to implement a policy blocking passports with “X” gender markers, with the federal government recognizing only male and female designations.
1. Trump inaugurated for second time
President Donald Trump became the 47th president after winning Wisconsin, securing 277 of the 270 electoral votes needed. His guidebook, Project 2025, outlined the Republican Party’s goals under his new leadership, with a particular focus on opposing transgender rights.
Trump nominated openly gay hedge fund executive Scott Bessent as U.S. Treasury Secretary, a role he eventually assumed. Bessent became the highest-ranking openly gay U.S. government official in American history.
Honorable mention: The war on rainbow crosswalks escalates around the country
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) ordered state transportation officials to remove a rainbow-colored crosswalk in Orlando next to the Pulse gay nightclub, where 49 mostly LGBTQ people were killed in a 2016 mass shooting. The move follows a July 1, 2025, announcement by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy that, with support from President Trump, the department adopted a “nationwide roadway safety initiative” that political observers say could be used to require cities and states to remove rainbow street crosswalks.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Tuesday signed a bill that will ban so-called LGBTQ propaganda in the country.
Members of Kazakhstan’s lower house of parliament last month unanimously approved the measure that would ban “‘LGBT propaganda’ online or in the media” with “fines for violators and up to 10 days in jail for repeat offenders.” The Kazakh Senate on Dec. 18 approved the bill.
Kazakhstan is a predominantly Muslim former Soviet republic in Central Asia that borders Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and China. Russia, Georgia, and Hungary are among the other countries with anti-LGBTQ propaganda laws.
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Kazakh president signs anti-LGBTQ propaganda bill
