National
Gay U.S. ambassador brings hope to Dominican advocates
James ‘Wally’ Brewster is ‘from our community’

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – Dominican LGBT rights advocates remain hopeful that gay U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic James “Wally” Brewster will continue to generate more visibility around their nascent movement in the Caribbean country.
“In reality the Dominican LGBT community is not a rather large community,” Cristian King of Trans Siempre Amigas told the Washington Blade on March 7 during a meeting with nearly a dozen Dominican LGBT rights advocates at the home of Deivis Ventura of the Amigos Siempre Amigos Network of Volunteers in the San Carlos neighborhood of the Dominican capital. “[Brewster] is a person from our community. It is a big impact.”
King spoke with the Blade alongside Amigos Siempre Amigos Executive Director Leonardo Sánchez, radio host Franklyn Sánchez, Edward Tavarez da Silva of the website Zona VIP, Lorena Espinosa of the Woman and Health Colective, Marinela Carvajal of Republika Libre, Anyi Fermin of the Metropolitan Community Church of Santo Domingo’s Women’s Ministry, Pedro Mercedes, Stephanía Hernández of Gente Activa y Participativa, Dominic Rincon of University Students for Diversity and Marta Arredondo of Amigos Siempre Amigos. Ventura is among the seven Latin American LGBT rights advocates who visited the U.S. earlier this year as part of the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program.
Espinosa told the Blade that Brewster “helps us a lot.” Carvajal added the gay U.S. ambassador has brought more visibility to the Dominican LGBT rights movement.
“There is more discussion of [LGBT] issues,” said Carvajal. “There has been an opportunity to highlight our issues.”
The U.S. Senate last November confirmed Brewster as ambassador to the Caribbean nation.
Brewster, who is a former member of the Human Rights Campaign board of directors, introduced his husband, Bob Satawake, in a video to the Dominican people shortly after his confirmation. The two men met with Carvajal, King and other Dominican LGBT rights advocates last month at the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo.
The State Department said Brewster was unavailable to speak with the Blade in Santo Domingo. He and Satawake gave an exclusive interview to Ritmo Social, a society magazine published by Listín Diario, a conservative Dominican newspaper, in January.
“I was chosen by President Obama to represent his government and the American people as a reflection of our country, its diversity and its mission. I am committed to serving this ideal,” said Brewster. “President Obama was aware of our understanding of the Dominican Republic and knew that we were going to work diligently to advance the extraordinary relationship between our two countries and people.”
Brewster continues to face criticism from Dominican religious figures who oppose his ambassadorship because of his sexual orientation.
Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez of the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo last June referred to Brewster as a “maricón” or “faggot” in Spanish during a press conference. Rev. Luís Rosario of the Santo Domingo Youth Ministry last month said he feels the gay ambassador is a “bad example” for Dominican society and families.
Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo, the Vatican’s envoy to the Dominican Republic, cited the country’s Constitution that defines marriage as between a man and a woman as the reason he declined to invite Satawake to a diplomatic reception with Dominican President Danilo Medina that was scheduled to take place in January. The event was cancelled after a number of ambassadors said they would not attend because Okolo did not invite Brewster’s husband.
Hernández noted to the Blade a group of Brewster’s opponents dress in black each Monday to protest “the homosexual ambassador.”
“We are defending a person who is homosexual, that is gay and has come to occupy his country’s public position in the Dominican Republic,” said Ventura. “We are defending the right that we have to occupy public positions equally as gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans people. This is why we are defending Wally.”
LGBT Dominicans becoming more visible
The activists with whom the Blade spoke in Santo Domingo insist the country has slowly become more open and accepting of LGBT people.
Parque Duarte in Santo Domingo’s Colonial City remains Santo Domingo’s de facto LGBT community center. Hundreds of LGBT people gather on weekend nights in spite of López and some neighbors’ efforts to ban them from the square that is across the street from a church.
Listín Diario, which announced on Saturday that López will have a weekly column in the newspaper, in 2010 published an article with the headline “Parque Duarte is a center of promiscuity” that outlined “homosexuals, prostitutes and drug users have invaded it.” The newspaper also ran a picture of two trans women kissing.
A number of young gender non-conforming Dominican men on a recent Saturday night were dancing at Fogoo Discotec, a gay nightclub in Santo Domingo’s Colonial City that is across the street from the gay-owned Adam Suites Hotel. Middle-class Dominicans and visitors typically frequent Esedeku and other nearby gay and lesbian bars and clubs.
Listín Diario and Ritmo Social earlier this month published pictures of Brewster and Satawake at an Elton John concert they attended at Altos de Chavón near Casa de Campo on Feb. 28. King told the Blade that Dominicans are increasingly aware of their advocacy efforts because newspapers and other media outlets reach out to them for comment on LGBT-specific issues.
“We are in the press,” he said. “With any gay problem that has to do with the community, the press reaches out to us. We are the community’s spokesperson.”
Serious problems persist for LGBT Dominicans in spite of increased visibility since Brewster assumed his post.
Espinosa and other advocates with whom the Blade spoke pointed out López and others with close ties to the Catholic Church continue to discriminate against LGBT Dominicans, Haitians and other marginalized groups in the country.
“The Catholic Church constantly rebukes us,” said Hernández. “If you are gay, you’re discriminated against. If you’re trans, you’re discriminated against. If you’re poor, you’re discriminated against.”
Hernández told the Blade that trans Dominicans continue to suffer violence from the police and a lack of access to health care. She noted staff at a clinic frequently treats her as though she is a man, even though her gender identity is female and she lives as a woman.
“They call me by the man’s name that is on my documents,” said Hernández. “I make a scene. I reclaim my rights. But there are others who do not reclaim their rights. These people that need to go to a health service. What do they do? The don’t seek the service.”
LGBT advocacy groups receive the bulk of their funds from the U.S. and Europe through HIV/AIDS prevention programs and human rights initiatives.
Hernández and others noted the Catholic Church continues to block any efforts to expand access to condoms and contraception in the country. Dominican lawmakers in 2009 approved a constitutional amendment banning abortion that then-President Leonel Fernández introduced with the church’s support.
“The Dominican government does not give one peso to any LGBT group,” Ventura told the Blade.
Ventura added wealthy gay Dominicans who own businesses in Miami and other cities have also not contributed to Dominican LGBT rights organizations. One gay man with whom the Blade spoke at Esedequ said he was not familiar with their work.
“They are not going to donate a peso to the community,” said Ventura.
New York
Men convicted of murdering two men in NYC gay bar drugging scheme sentenced
One of the victims, John Umberger, was D.C. political consultant

A New York judge on Wednesday sentenced three men convicted of killing a D.C. political consultant and another man who they targeted at gay bars in Manhattan.
NBC New York notes a jury in February convicted Jayqwan Hamilton, Jacob Barroso, and Robert DeMaio of murder, robbery, and conspiracy in relation to druggings and robberies that targeted gay bars in Manhattan from March 2021 to June 2022.
John Umberger, a 33-year-old political consultant from D.C., and Julio Ramirez, a 25-year-old social worker, died. Prosecutors said Hamilton, Barroso, and DeMaio targeted three other men at gay bars.
The jury convicted Hamilton and DeMaio of murdering Umberger. State Supreme Court Judge Felicia Mennin sentenced Hamilton and DeMaio to 40 years to life in prison.
Barroso, who was convicted of killing Ramirez, received a 20 years to life sentence.
National
Medical groups file lawsuit over Trump deletion of health information
Crucial datasets included LGBTQ, HIV resources

Nine private medical and public health advocacy organizations, including two from D.C., filed a lawsuit on May 20 in federal court in Seattle challenging what it calls the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’s illegal deletion of dozens or more of its webpages containing health related information, including HIV information.
The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, names as defendants Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and HHS itself, and several agencies operating under HHS and its directors, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration.
“This action challenges the widespread deletion of public health resources from federal agencies,” the lawsuit states. “Dozens (if not more) of taxpayer-funded webpages, databases, and other crucial resources have vanished since January 20, 2025, leaving doctors, nurses, researchers, and the public scrambling for information,” it says.
“These actions have undermined the longstanding, congressionally mandated regime; irreparably harmed Plaintiffs and others who rely on these federal resources; and put the nation’s public health infrastructure in unnecessary jeopardy,” the lawsuit continues.
It adds, “The removal of public health resources was apparently prompted by two recent executive orders – one focused on ‘gender ideology’ and the other targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (‘DEI’) programs. Defendants implemented these executive orders in a haphazard manner that resulted in the deletion (inadvertent or otherwise) of health-related websites and databases, including information related to pregnancy risks, public health datasets, information about opioid-use disorder, and many other valuable resources.”
The lawsuit does not mention that it was President Donald Trump who issued the two executive orders in question.
A White House spokesperson couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on the lawsuit.
While not mentioning Trump by name, the lawsuit names as defendants in addition to HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., Matthew Buzzelli, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health; Martin Makary, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration; Thomas Engels, administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration; and Charles Ezell, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management.
The 44-page lawsuit complaint includes an addendum with a chart showing the titles or descriptions of 49 “affected resource” website pages that it says were deleted because of the executive orders. The chart shows that just four of the sites were restored after initially being deleted.
Of the 49 sites, 15 addressed LGBTQ-related health issues and six others addressed HIV issues, according to the chart.
“The unannounced and unprecedented deletion of these federal webpages and datasets came as a shock to the medical and scientific communities, which had come to rely on them to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks, assist physicians and other clinicians in daily care, and inform the public about a wide range of healthcare issues,” the lawsuit states.
“Health professionals, nonprofit organizations, and state and local authorities used the websites and datasets daily in care for their patients, to provide resources to their communities, and promote public health,” it says.
Jose Zuniga, president and CEO of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC), one of the organizations that signed on as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said in a statement that the deleted information from the HHS websites “includes essential information about LGBTQ+ health, gender and reproductive rights, clinical trial data, Mpox and other vaccine guidance and HIV prevention resources.”
Zuniga added, “IAPAC champions evidence-based, data-informed HIV responses and we reject ideologically driven efforts that undermine public health and erase marginalized communities.”
Lisa Amore, a spokesperson for Whitman-Walker Health, D.C.’s largest LGBTQ supportive health services provider, also expressed concern about the potential impact of the HHS website deletions.
“As the region’s leader in HIV care and prevention, Whitman-Walker Health relies on scientific data to help us drive our resources and measure our successes,” Amore said in response to a request for comment from the Washington Blade.
“The District of Columbia has made great strides in the fight against HIV,” Amore said. “But the removal of public facing information from the HHS website makes our collective work much harder and will set HIV care and prevention backward,” she said.
The lawsuit calls on the court to issue a declaratory judgement that the “deletion of public health webpages and resources is unlawful and invalid” and to issue a preliminary or permanent injunction ordering government officials named as defendants in the lawsuit “to restore the public health webpages and resources that have been deleted and to maintain their web domains in accordance with their statutory duties.”
It also calls on the court to require defendant government officials to “file a status report with the Court within twenty-four hours of entry of a preliminary injunction, and at regular intervals, thereafter, confirming compliance with these orders.”
The health organizations that joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs include the Washington State Medical Association, Washington State Nurses Association, Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Academy Health, Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, Fast-Track Cities Institute, International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, National LGBT Cancer Network, and Vermont Medical Society.
The Fast-Track Cities Institute and International Association of Providers of AIDS Care are based in D.C.
U.S. Federal Courts
Federal judge scraps trans-inclusive workplace discrimination protections
Ruling appears to contradict US Supreme Court precedent

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas has struck down guidelines by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission designed to protect against workplace harassment based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
The EEOC in April 2024 updated its guidelines to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), which determined that discrimination against transgender people constituted sex-based discrimination as proscribed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
To ensure compliance with the law, the agency recommended that employers honor their employees’ preferred pronouns while granting them access to bathrooms and allowing them to wear dress code-compliant clothing that aligns with their gender identities.
While the the guidelines are not legally binding, Kacsmaryk ruled that their issuance created “mandatory standards” exceeding the EEOC’s statutory authority that were “inconsistent with the text, history, and tradition of Title VII and recent Supreme Court precedent.”
“Title VII does not require employers or courts to blind themselves to the biological differences between men and women,” he wrote in the opinion.
The case, which was brought by the conservative think tank behind Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation, presents the greatest setback for LGBTQ inclusive workplace protections since President Donald Trump’s issuance of an executive order on the first day of his second term directing U.S. federal agencies to recognize only two genders as determined by birth sex.
Last month, top Democrats from both chambers of Congress reintroduced the Equality Act, which would codify LGBTQ-inclusive protections against discrimination into federal law, covering employment as well as areas like housing and jury service.