News
Ky. guv to defend marriage ban without attorney general
District judge ordered state to recognize same-sex marriages enacted elsewhere
Gov. Steve Beshear (D-Ky.) will defend the state’s marriage ban in court without the attorney general (Photo public domain).
Gov. Steve Beshear announced he’ll hire other counsel to represent the state in the case, known as Bourke vs. Beshear, in addition to appealing the district court decision against the marriage ban the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
“General Conway has advised me that he will no longer represent the Commonwealth in Bourke vs. Beshear,” Beshear said. “The State will hire other counsel to represent it in this case, and will appeal Judge Heyburn’s decision to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and ask the court to enter a stay pending appeal.”
As Beshear notes, U.S. District Judge John Heyburn ordered the state to recognize out-of-state same-sex nuptials following his ruling last month against the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Heyburn, an appointee of President George H.W. Bush, also took on the question of whether the state can prohibit same-sex couples from marrying within its borders.
“Both of these issues, as well as similar issues being litigated in other parts of the country, will be and should be ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in order to bring finality and certainty to this matter,” Beshear said. “The people of this country need to know what the rules will be going forward. Kentucky should be a part of this process.”
Heyburn ordered the state to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages, but later issued a 21-day stay in his order, allowing Kentucky to wait to recognize until March 20.
In addition to defending the law, Beshear said he’ll seek a continued stay on that order until the U.S. Supreme Court resolves the issue.
“In every other appeal currently in process, a stay has been entered maintaining the status quo until a final decision is reached on appeal,” Beshear said. “The reason is obvious. Without a stay in place, the opportunity for legal chaos is real. Other Kentucky courts may reach different and conflicting decisions.”
Beshear announces he’ll continue defending the state’s ban on same-sex marriage after Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway announced earlier on Tuesday he’ll no longer defend the law in court.
“I have evaluated Judge Heyburn’s legal analysis, and today am informing my client and the people of Kentucky that I am not appealing the decision and will not be seeking any further stays,” Conway said.
After reviewing the judge’s order, Conway said Heyburn “got it right” with his decision against the marriage ban.
“From a constitutional perspective, Judge Heyburn got it right, and in light of other recent federal decisions, these laws will not likely survive upon appeal,” Conway said. “We cannot waste the resources of the Office of the Attorney General pursuing a case we are unlikely to win.”
Conway acknowledges that many in Kentucky will disagree with his decision, but he came to the conclusion defense of the law “would be defending discrimination.”
“The United States Constitution is designed to protect everyone’s rights, both the majority and the minority groups,” Conway said. “Judge Heyburn’s decision does not tell a minister or a congregation what they must do, but in government ‘equal justice under law’ is a different matter.”
Conway’s decision follows the announcement from U.S. Attorney Eric Holder that state officials are free to decline to defend bans on same-sex marriage against legal challenges. Other states where attorneys general who have declined their state marriage bans are Oregon, Nevada, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Much earlier, California Attorney General Kamala Harris declined to defend the ban on California’s Proposition 8 and Holder himself declined to the Defense of Marriage Act against legal challenges.
But the situation in Kentucky is unique in terms of party affiliation because Beshear, a Democrat, is defending the ban, while Conway, also a Democrat, is declining to defend the law. In Nevada, both Gov. Brian Sandoval, a Republican, and Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat, determined their state’s ban on same-sex marriage was indefensible before the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Marc Solomon, national campaign director of Freedom to Marry, heaped praised on Conway for his decision to no longer defend Kentucky’s ban on same-sex marriage in court.
“Today’s decision by Kentucky attorney general Jack Conway echoes that of state attorneys general across America who refuse to defend discrimination,” Solomon said. “Conway stands on the right side of history along with the Republican-appointed Kentucky federal judge who held that there is no legitimate justification for denying equal protection to same-sex couples.”
Brian Brown, president of the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage, on the other hand commended Beshear for continuing to defend the state’s marriage ban.
“He is doing what every elected official, on every level of government across the country should do, defend the laws of the land,” Brown said. “It is absurd that Kentucky’s Attorney General Jack Conway is not doing what he swore to do upon taking office – defending the laws and constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the judgment of the Kentucky’s citizens who voted overwhelmingly on this issue. We hope that voters hold him to account for abandoning his sworn duty.”
Photos
PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards
Gay Men’s Chorus, local drag artists have featured performance at ceremony
The 41st Helen Hayes Awards were held at The Anthem on Monday, May 19. Felicia Curry and Mike Millan served as the hosts.
A performance featuring members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and local drag artists was held at the end of the first act of the program to celebrate WorldPride 2025.
The annual awards ceremony honors achievement in D.C.-area theater productions and is produced by Theatre Washington.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
District of Columbia
Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
Three LGBTQ icons to lead parade
WorldPride organizers announced Thursday that actress and trans activist Laverne Cox, powerhouse performer Reneé Rapp, and LGBTQ trailblazer Deacon Maccubbin will serve as grand marshals for this year’s WorldPride parade.
The Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing WorldPride 2025 in Washington, D.C., revealed the honorees in a press release, noting that each has made a unique contribution to the fabric of the LGBTQ community.
Cox made history in 2014 as the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category for her role in Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.” She went on to win a Daytime Emmy in 2015 for her documentary “Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word,” which followed seven young trans people as they navigated coming out.
Rapp, a singer and actress who identifies as a lesbian, rose to prominence as Regina George in the Broadway musical “Mean Girls.” She reprised the role in the 2024 film adaptation and also stars in Max’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” portraying a character coming to terms with her sexuality. Rapp has released an EP, “Everything to Everyone,” and an album, “Snow Angel.” She announced her sophomore album, “Bite Me,” on May 21 and is slated to perform at the WorldPride Music Festival at the RFK Festival Grounds.
Deacon Maccubbin, widely regarded as a cornerstone of Washington’s LGBTQ+ history, helped organize D.C.’s first Gay Pride Party in 1975. The event took place outside Lambda Rising, one of the first LGBTQ bookstores in the nation, which Maccubbin founded. For his decades of advocacy and activism, he is often referred to as “the patriarch of D.C. Pride.”
“I am so honored to serve as one of the grand marshals for WorldPride this year. This has been one of the most difficult times in recent history for queer and trans people globally,” Cox said. “But in the face of all the rhetorical, legislative and physical attacks, we continue to have the courage to embrace who we truly are, to celebrate our beauty, resilience and bravery as a community. We refuse to allow fear to keep us from ourselves and each other. We remain out loud and proud.”
“Pride is everything. It is protection, it is visibility, it is intersectional. But most importantly, it is a celebration of existence and protest,” Rapp said.
The three will march down 14th Street for the WorldPride Parade in Washington on June 7.
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.
PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards
Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
House passes reconciliation with gender-affirming care funding ban
PHOTOS: D.C. Trans Pride
Men convicted of murdering two men in NYC gay bar drugging scheme sentenced
Looking back at 50 years of Pride in D.C
WorldPride events round-up
Pope Leo XIV: Family based on ‘stable union between a man and a woman’
Wes Moore signs HIV decriminalization bill
