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Court upholds N.J. ban on ‘ex-gay’ therapy

Judge says law signed by Christie doesn’t violate freedom of religion

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Chris Christie, New Jersey, Republican Party

A law signed by Gov. Chris Christie upholding a ban on ex-gay therapy in the state was upheld as constitutional (Photo by Bob Jagendorf via Wikimedia Commons).

A federal court in New Jersey ruled on Friday the recently signed law barring “ex-gay” sexual orientation conversion therapy for minors in the stateĀ is constitutional.

U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, upheld the law signed by Gov. Chris Christie in AugustĀ on the basis that the law restricts neither speech nor religious freedom.

In the 66-page decision, Wolfson writes the arguments presented by plaintiffs are “counter to the longstanding principle that a state generally may enact laws rationally regulating professionals, including those providing medicine and mental health services.”

Additionally, the judge granted a request by Garden State Equality, a statewide LGBT group in New Jersey, to intervene in the case to defend the law.

Wolfson issued the ruling in response to a lawsuit filed by the Liberty Counsel on behalf of practitioners in New Jersey who practice “ex-gay” therapy, which is widely discredited by mainstream psychological groups, and fringe psychological groups that have endorsed it.

LGBT advocates who worked to pass the law hailed the decision as an affirmation the law protects LGBT youth in New Jersey.

TroyĀ Stevenson, executive cirector of Garden State Equality, called the ruling “a huge victory for New Jersey youth.”

“This law will save lives by protecting young people them from these horrible and damaging practices,ā€ Stevenson said.

Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, represented Garden State Equality in the lawsuit and praised the decision.

ā€œThis law protects youth from practices that have been rejected by all leading medical and mental health professional organizations,” Minter said. “The court issued a clear and thorough decision explaining that state-licensed therapists do not have a constitutional right to engage in discredited practices that do not improve patientsā€™ health and put young people at risk of severe harm, including depression and suicide.ā€

The ruling comes in the wake of a second lawsuit that was filed against the law by an unidentified New Jersey couple who argue the law prevents them from seeking treatment for their 15-year-old son.

In August, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a similar a law in California barring “ex-gay” conversion therapy for minors signed by Gov. Jerry Brown (D-Calif.). A similar bill that would ban the practice in D.C. has been introduced byĀ Council member Mary ChehĀ (D-Ward 3).

Mat Staver, chair of the Liberty Counsel, told the Washington Blade via email on Monday that his organization “has already” filed an appeal of the decision.

“Since this is an unprecedented intrusion on counselors and clients and restricts what they can say or hear, we believe this law will be overturned on appeal,” Staver said. “If necessary we will take this case to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

CORRECTION: An initial version of this article misspelled the names of Judge Freda Wolfson and Troy Stevenson. The Blade regrets the error. The article has also been updated to include to quote from Mat Staver.

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District of Columbia

Dancing protesters denounce Trumpā€™s Kennedy Center takeover

ā€˜This is an attack, not only on free speech, but on artistsā€™

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Protesters demonstrated at the Kennedy Center on Thursday night. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Waiting in the windy cold of a 45-degree February day in Washington, Tara Hoot stood in Washington Circle wearing a canary yellow dress, heels, and a rainbow feather boa. Hoot was waiting, along with about 100 others, although most of them were wearing layers of clothes, for a protest to begin.

ā€œI am here because, well, I’m angry at the situation we find ourselves in,ā€ Hoot told the Blade amid a growing crowd of pro-drag and pro-LGBTQ protesters who gathered behind her. ā€œI’m just so annoyed that this sitting president is attacking a marginalized population. It’s a distraction for the country when everything’s falling apart. The cost of eggs is up there, and inflation is rising, and he’s here attacking a marginalized population in D.C.? It’s like, go do your job, right? It’s immoral what he’s doing, and it’s weak to attack the marginalized population. He’s just showing his own weakness.ā€

Last week President Trump promised followers that he would remove anyone that ā€œdo not share our vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture,” specifically targeting drag performers at the Kennedy Center. On Wednesday he made that goal a reality by removing the 18 Democratic members on the formerly bipartisan Kennedy Center board, replacing them with Trump loyalists. 

This raised questions of the legality of removing the board, and his seeming attempt to silence First Amendment rights. As a result, the Kennedy Center issued a statement following Trumpā€™s post. 

ā€œPer the Center’s governance established by Congress in 1958, the chair of the board of trustees is appointed by the Center’s board members,ā€ the statement read. ā€œThere is nothing in the Center’s statute that would prevent a new administration from replacing board members; however, this would be the first time such action has been taken with the Kennedy Center’s board.”

Of the newly appointed board members, all have stood behind the twice impeached president as he continues to slash the federal government. These loyalists include Richard Grenell, a gay man who served as Trumpā€™s ambassador to Germany in his first term; Usha Vance, the second lady of the United States; Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff; and Patricia Duggan, a philanthropist and top GOP donor.

The newly appointed board then elected Trump as chair. 

When asked what Hoot, a local drag icon who has performed at the Kennedy Center, would say to the current board, she was quick with an answer.

ā€œWell darling, they missed their chance!ā€ Hoot said. ā€œI was running for board president of the Kennedy Center, the people’s princess, I would say. Art is gorgeous and diverse and beautiful, and it’s a way that we all tell our stories. The board needs to keep the heart of the Kennedy Center in mind, no matter who their board chair is. They actually need to have a spine and push back when these ideas that art has to be one thing or another, the board needs to push back and keep the Kennedy Center a people’s place for art.ā€

Brooke N Hymen, a self-described ā€œprofessional crossdresserā€ and trans person explained that to them, the changes in public attitude is more than a silencing of free speech, but an erasure of trans people. 

ā€œI find that attacks on drag are not just an attack on my heart, my livelihood, but also a veiled attack on trans people,ā€ Hymen said. ā€œThey want to code trans people and what they do in their daily expression as drag as a way to ban trans people. So if we don’t stand up against these attacks on drag, trans people are the first people that will be harmed.ā€ 

Hymen went on to say there are clear and simple ways that the board could offset these actions that directly and negatively impact the LGBTQ community.

ā€œMore drag programming, more queer artists, more queer musicians, and more queer casts,ā€ they said. ā€œTara Hoot was running for board of the Kennedy Center. I don’t know how possible that is under Trump, but I think that it’s a lovely sentiment and something that we should all push for.ā€

Putting Hoot back in the Kennedy Center was also on the mind of other participants of the protest dance party. John Borstel, a former arts administrator, also said that appointing someone like Hoot to the board would be beneficialā€”if only to ensure that someone would speak out at the Kennedy Center.

ā€œGet out and let the bipartisan board back in,ā€ Borstel said. ā€œGet out and get people who know the arts back in. Let Tara Hoot in here! The drag queen who’s performed at the Kennedy Center. She’s been outspoken about this. She’s gone on record where the Biden appointed and ousted board members won’t even make a public statement about what happened. They’re afraid for themselves. We’ve got drag queens speaking out. The bureaucrats won’t speak up.ā€

His sentiment regarding the lack of response from former Kennedy Center officials was echoed in his grievances with other established members of the arts community who didnā€™t show up at the protest. It did make him proud in a unique way though. 

ā€œI have never been prouder than I am tonight, to be a gay man, to be queer, because it’s the queers who have come out to protest it ā€” but it’s affecting everybody,ā€ Borstel said. ā€œHe’s going to cut it all down. Everybody should be out here. I worked in the arts sector for over 30 years here. Where are those folks? But the queers are here. And they’re dancing!ā€ 

Bennett Shoop (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Bennett Shoop, one of the protest organizers with the Claudia Jones School for Political Education, told the crowd at Washington Circleā€”just before their march down New Hampshire Avenue to the front of the Kennedy Centerā€”that drag is deeply intertwined with Washingtonā€™s history and that ignoring it means erasing that history.

ā€œDrag is really important to D.C. and it’s important to D.C. history,ā€ Shoop said to the diverse and growing crowd of people listening. ā€œWilliam Dorsey Swann was the first drag queen in the United States, an enslaved person who called themselves ā€œthe queen of drag,ā€ who threw drag balls right here in this city. Drag is a D.C. institution, one that Trump has decided is going to be one of his top targets for his fascist administration. But it’s not just about drag performers at the Kennedy Center. This administration wants to remove all kinds of gender non-conformity and LGBTQ people at large from public life, just like the Nazis did at the Hirschfeld Institute when they burned all of those books.ā€ 

ā€œThis is D.C.,ā€ he continued as the crowd cheered him on. ā€œD.C. is the queerest city per capita in the United States. We may not have representation in the federal government, but we do have a fighting spiritā€¦He could pass all the executive orders and do all of the fascist takeovers that he wants, but queer and trans people will still be here. You know, we will still dance, and that dance will long outlive them.ā€

One of those members of the LGBTQ community who resisted oppression through dance and protest, Shoop explained as he concluded his speech, could be credited with sparking the modern gay rights movement.

ā€œLet us never forget that it was none other than drag king StormĆ© DeLarverie who inspired the Stonewall uprising that led to the gay liberation revolution of the ā€˜70s. Drag was a part of our revolution then, and it must be a part of our revolution now. I just want to end with a quote from the namesake of our school, Claudia Jones, who once said ā€˜that a people’s art is the genesis of their freedom.ā€™ So like our predecessors, let this be the genesis of ours.ā€

Following speeches by the other organizing groups, the group of 200 or so walked in the middle of the road toward the Kennedy Center singing and occasionally stopping to dance. Onlookers from apartments along the road opened windows waving at the group, occasionally screaming words of support from stories up.  

One of those marching in protest was Jennifer Ives of Germantown, Md. She was bundled up in a coat and hat while holding a sign, dancing along the protest route.

ā€œIā€™m here because I want to support the trans and gay communities,ā€ Ives told the Blade. ā€œI believe that soldiers should get their hormone treatment, their therapy, their pills. I believe that Trump should get out of the Kennedy Center. I believe that right now, there’s an assault on the trans community, and we just can’t stand for it. So we gotta protest, and we gotta dance.ā€

Another participant, dressed in full dragā€”from voluminous black and red hair to a sparkly, tinsel-covered suit and thick white heelsā€”emphasized that no matter what executive orders are signed or what bans pass through state legislatures, LGBTQ people have always been here and always will be.

ā€œThe main reason is to show that even though these actions have been taken, and though they want to strip us of our power, that we’re still here,ā€ said drag performer Rhiannon LLC. ā€œI think an important thing that stuck with me after the election, even though we lost, Kamala Harris, her main message was, we’re not going back. And if we let that message die, then we kind of go along with it. So to be here and to be out, it’s awesome.ā€

They continued, saying that if they had the ability to say one thing to the Kennedy Center board, it would be two words: ā€œHave integrity. Although Trump may be there for the next four years, you are there after. These actions will follow you, and your job right now is to support the arts. So support the arts.ā€

One of the last speeches of the night was delivered directly in front of the Kennedy Center, its marble walls and gold columns providing a final backdrop for the protest. Pussy Noir, another local drag legend, was handed a mic to wrap up the night. 

ā€œThis is an intense time for all of us,ā€ said Noir, who currently has a residency with the Kennedy Center REACH program and performs in drag across the city. ā€œI don’t know if you know this about me, but I’m the main drag queen that brought drag to the Kennedy Center, and with many other drag queens in this city, helped establish it as a real art form.ā€

Noir took a moment to look out at the crowd, their faces illuminated by the glow of the Kennedy Center, before finishing with a message of resilience and solidarity for all drag artists ā€” those currently protesting in front of the Kennedy Center and those performing in hole-in-the-wall gay bars across the country.

ā€œSo no matter what anyone says, If you are a drag performer, you are an artist. If you support drag, you are supporting artists. Right now this is an attack, not only on free speech, but on artists, on small business owners, and I think that’s something that everyone in this country can understand. We must be supportive of each other and kind to each other. More than anything, that is the only way that we can fight this.ā€

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Federal judge blocks Trump’s order restricting gender-affirming care for youth

Seven families with transgender, nonbinary children challenged directive

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President Donald Trump (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

A federal judge on Thursday issued a temporary restraining order that blocks President Donald Trump’s Jan. 29 executive order restricting access to gender-affirming health care for transgender people under age 19.

The order by Judge Brendan Hurson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, came in response to a request from the plaintiffs in a lawsuit, filed on Feb. 4, against Trump’s directive.

The plaintiffs are seven families with trans or nonbinary children. They are represented by PFLAG National, GMLA, Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Maryland, and the law firms Hogan Lovells and Jenner & Block.

Hurson’s temporary restraining order will halt enforcement of Trump’s order for 14 days, but it can be extended. This means health care providers and medical institutions can provide gender-affirming care to minor patients without the risk of losing federal funding.

Families in the lawsuit say their appointments were cancelled shortly after the executive order was issued. Hospitals in Colorado, Virginia, and D.C. stopped providing prescriptions for puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and other interventions for trans patients as they evaluated Trump’s directive.

The harms associated with suddenly withholding access to medical care for these patients were a major focus of Thursday’s hearing on the plaintiffs’ request for the temporary restraining order.

The president’s ā€œorder seems to deny that this population even exists, or deserves to exist,ā€ Hurson said, noting the elevated risk of suicide, poverty, addiction, and other hardships among trans people.

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Trumpā€™s trans erasure arrives at National Park Service

Fate of major 2016 LGBTQ Theme Study unclear

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NYC Pride participants in front of the Stonewall Inn in 2019. (File photo by Andrew Nasonov)

President Trumpā€™s efforts at erasing trans identity intensified this week as employees at the National Park Service were instructed to remove the ā€œTā€ and ā€œQā€ from ā€œLGBTQā€ from all internal and external communications.

The change was first noticed on the website of the Stonewall National Monument; trans people of color were integral to the events at Stonewall, which is widely viewed as the kickoff of the modern LGBTQ rights movement. The Stonewall National Monument is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history.

Reaction to that move was swift. New York City Council member Erik Bottcher wrote, ā€œThe Trump administration has erased transgender people from the Stonewall National Monument website. We will not allow them to erase the very existence of our siblings. We are one community!!ā€

But what most didnā€™t realize is that the removal of the ā€œTā€ and ā€œQā€ (for transgender and queer) extends to all National Park Service and Interior Department communications, raising concerns that the move could jeopardize future LGBTQ monuments and project work.

The Blade reached out to the National Park Service for comment on the trans erasure and received a curt response that the agency is implementing Trumpā€™s executive order ā€œDefending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Governmentā€ as well as agency directives to end all DEI initiatives.

The question being debated internally now, according to a knowledgable source, is what to do with a massive LGBTQ Theme Study, which as of Feb. 14 was still available on the NPS website. In 2014, the Gill Foundation recognized an omission of historic LGBTQ sites in the nationā€™s records, and the organization made a grant to the National Park Service to commission a first-of-its-kind LGBTQ Theme Study, which was published in 2016. It was a landmark project that represented major progress for the LGBTQ community in having our contributions included in the broader American story, something that is becoming increasingly difficult given efforts like ā€œDonā€™t Say Gayā€ laws that ban the teaching of LGBTQ topics in schools.

A source told the Blade that National Park Service communications staff suggested that removing chapters of the 2016 Theme Study that pertain to transgender people might placate anti-trans political appointees. But one employee pushed back on that, suggesting instead that the entire Theme Study be removed. Editing the document to remove one communityā€™s contributions and perspective violates the academic intent of the project, according to the source. A final decision on how to proceed is expected soon. 

Meanwhile, a protest is planned for Friday, Feb. 14 at noon at Christopher Park in New York City (7th Ave. S. and Christopher Street). The protest is being planned by staff at the Stonewall Inn. 

ā€œThe Stonewall Inn and The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative are outraged and appalled by the recent removal of the word ā€˜transgenderā€™ from the Stonewall National Monument page on the National Park Service website,ā€ the groups said in a statement. ā€œLet us be clear: Stonewall is transgender history. Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and countless other trans and gender-nonconforming individuals fought bravely, and often at great personal risk, to push back against oppressive systems. Their courage, sacrifice, and leadership were central to the resistance we now celebrate as the foundation of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.ā€

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