Connect with us

News

Obama touts 7 million enrollees in health care reform

No data available on numbers of LGBT people who found coverage

Published

on

Barack Obama, Election 2012, gay news, Washington Blade
Barack Obama, Election 2012, gay news, Washington Blade

President Obama touted the 7 million people who reportedly enrolled in health insurance coverage before the deadline. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

President Obama celebrated the more than 7 million new enrollees into health insurance programs Tuesday on the day after deadline for enrollment, as some advocates expressed disappointment that the number of LGBT enrollees is unknown.

Speaking before supporters of the Affordable Care Act in the Rose Garden of the White House, Obama touted the estimated 7.1 million new enrollees through the federal health insurance exchange as a sign of success for a law often criticized for its implementation rollout.

“Despite several lost weeks out of the gate because of problems with the website, 7.1 million Americans have now signed up for private insurance plans through the marketplace,” Obama said.

But those numbers may be skewed. On one hand, they may be conservative estimates because they don’t count those who enrolled through state insurance exchanges, or those who received coverage through the Medicaid expansion under the health care reform law.

On the other hand, they may be inflated because they don’t count those who had to reapply after losing health insurance and don’t take into account that people need to pay their first month’s premium to enroll fully.

Obama notably did not mention Secretary of Health & Human Services Kathleen Sebelius during his remarks. She’s been criticized for allowing the faulty rollout of the federal health insurance exchange website. Obama also didn’t disclose any demographic data on the 7 million enrollees into health care reform.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said during his press briefing prior to the remarks that he doesn’t yet have the demographic information for any category, even though the administration collected it during the enrollment period.

Earlier data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid demonstrate that information was collected on the basis of gender and age. Information was also collected on the basis of race, but it was optional for enrollees to identify as they were applying for health insurance.

The federal government did not collect information from enrollees about sexual orientation or gender identity.

Laura Durso, director of the LGBT Research and Communications Project at the Center for American Progress, said “unfortunately” there’s no way to know how many of the estimated 7 million new enrollees are LGBT.

“We all need to continue to advocate for more and better data collection so that in the future we can assess enrollment numbers among LGBT communities, along with other important aspects of health and wellbeing,” Durso added.

The White House didn’t respond to a request to comment on whether it would be open to a change in policy that allows future enrollees to identify their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Gary Gates, distinguished scholar at the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles said information on LGBT enrollees would be helpful in discerning health concerns related to LGBT people.

ā€œTracking access to health insurance and healthcare use more generally by LGBT individuals may assist in better service provision for these needs,” Gates said. “Williams Institute research has shown that many LGBT individuals…and those in same-sex couples are less likely than non-LGBT individuals and those in different-sex couples to have health insurance. The availability of affordable health insurance as a result of the ACA could help to reduce this disparity.”

Although the process for collecting LGBT data on certain national health surveys is underway, Gates said the Obama administration could take another step to enhance the available findings.

“This may include administrative data collection activities like enrollment data, but should also include health-related surveys like the National Health Interview Survey (which still does not include any measurement of gender identity) and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (where sexual orientation and gender identity measures are not included on surveys in all states),” Gates said.

Obama said during his address he’s generally open to the idea of changing the Affordable Care Act to make it work better for everyone.

“There will be parts of the law that will still need to be improved,” Obama said. “And if we can stop refighting old political battles that keep us gridlocked, then we could actually make the law work even better for everybody. And weā€™re excited about the prospect of doing that. We are game to do it.”

Advertisement
FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM
SIGN UP FOR E-BLAST

India

Indian state proposes sweeping LGBTQ policy

Judge calls for one set of Tamil Nadu guidelines

Published

on

(Washington Blade photo by Ernesto Valle)

The government of Tamil Nadu in southern India has proposed a policy that is designed to improve the lives of LGBTQ and intersex people in the state.

The Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission introduced the “Draft Policy for the Welfare of LGBTQIA+ Persons” in July 2023. Key provisions include a 1 percent quota for transgender and intersex people in education and employment. Progress to implement the policy has been hindered because of the governmentā€™s fragmented approach of developing separate policies for different groups within the community.

The Madras High Court in January 2024 acknowledged Tamil Naduā€™s proposed policy and commended the stateā€™s efforts. 

The court highlighted key recommendations, such as establishing a State Commission for Sexual and Gender Minorities and introducing quotas, while stressing the need to combat discrimination and violence. The court this month, however, raised concerns about the governmentā€™s separate policies for trans people and the broader LGBTQ community.

Justice N. Anand Venkatesh stressed the need for a single, unified policy to effectively address the challenges the LGBTQ community faces. He directed the Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Department to submit a separate proposal for trans people and a consolidated LGBTQ one by Feb. 17 that would allow stakeholder input and improvements.

The Madras High Court has been actively guiding the Tamil Nadu government towards formulating a unified and comprehensive policy for the LGBTQ community, rather than separate policies for different groups within the community.

Tamil Nadu’s proposal offers several advantages aimed at promoting inclusivity and equality. It would provide healthcare inclusion, recommending the extension of the Chief Minister’s Health Insurance Scheme to cover trans-specific medical procedures, such as gender-affirming surgeries, to ensure essential healthcare is accessible. The proposal calls for nondiscrimination policies in all government departments and public authorities that seek to protect LGBTQ people from bias and violence.

The proposal calls for educational institutions to adopt policies that raise awareness and address issues of violence, abuse, and discrimination against students with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations. It also suggests the creation of bodies like the Tamil Nadu Council for LGBTQ Persons and District Level LGBTQ Welfare and Justice Committees to coordinate efforts across government departments.

ā€œTamil Nadu is the first state in India to develop a unified policy covering sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics, based on a recent Madras High Court directive,ā€ said L. Ramakrishnan from SAATHII, an organization that works to create an inclusive healthcare system, and a member of the policy drafting committee. ā€œThis is important because critical sensitization interventions for inclusive education, healthcare and employment require understanding of sexual, sexuality, and gender diversity,ā€Ā 

ā€œAt the same time, recognizing the added vulnerabilities of trans and intersex individuals, provisions such as horizontal reservations and free land allocation are proposed only for transgender and intersex individuals,ā€ added Ramakrishnan.

The proposal, among other things, calls for gender-neutral bathrooms and hostels. It also seeks to protect LGBTQ people from family violence and from corrective rape and so-called conversion therapy that medical providers and faith healers carry out.

The proposed policy would also acknowledge and support relationships outside the traditional marriage framework. It proposes a Deed of Familial Association that would legally recognize queer relationships as the Madras High Court ruled in a case of a lesbian couple who sought protection from harassment. While the deed would offer protection from family and societal harassment, it would not extend legal status or rights associated with marriage or civil unions. 

The Indian Supreme Court on Oct. 17, 2023, ruled against marriage rights for same-sex couples.

ā€œWe have long been working and sensitizing the government for a policy,ā€ said Kalki Subramaniam, a trans activist and artist who founded the Sahodari Foundation, an organization that supports trans people in India. ā€œIt seems to be happening. We, the trans community, demand a separate policy for us because we are the most marginalized and poorest community in the entire LGBTQI spectrum.ā€ 

ā€œI insist on two different policies: One for us, trans and intersex persons, and the other for the LGB community. Practically, it is very much possible,ā€ added Subramaniam. ā€œThe state government, months ago, held public meetings with the trans community in all districts, and the communityā€™s overall demand is a separate policy. I welcome the commission and insist it should have representatives from trans women, trans men, and intersex communities.ā€

She told the Washington Blade the proposed policy is something for which the community has been waiting for years, and is happy to see it on the table. Subramaniam noted the quota, in particular, will ensure equal opportunities in jobs and education.

ā€œTamil Nadu governmentā€™s laudable efforts in building equity for the LGBTQIA+ community stands as a magnificent beacon of hope,ā€ said Harish Iyer, an Indian LGBTQ activist. ā€œIn times of absolute disregard across the world, this effort puts not just the queer community, but India in the forefront of humanitarian efforts.ā€

Continue Reading

District of Columbia

Dancing protesters denounce Trumpā€™s Kennedy Center takeover

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

Published

on

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€

Continue Reading

National

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

Seven families with transgender, nonbinary children challenged directive

Published

on

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.

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Advertisement

Sign Up for Weekly E-Blast

Follow Us @washblade

Advertisement

Popular