National
Court finds anti-gay workforce bias legal, still rules for gay plaintiff
Judges cite sex stereotyping prohibition in decision


A federal appeals court ruled for a gay plaintiff despite finding anti-gay workforce bias is lawful.
A federal appeals court ruled Monday anti-gay bias in the workplace is legal under current federal civil rights law barring discrimination based on sex, but nonetheless handed a victory to a gay plaintiff on the basis that the discrimination she faced amounted to illegal sex-stereotyping.
In a 15-page opinion, a three-judge panel on the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously found precedent bars the court from concluding the global DDB Worldwide Communications Group illegally discriminated against Matthew Christiansen for being gay under the Title VII of the Civil Rights of Act.
The per curiam opinion found a district court handling the Christiansen v. Omnicom Group erred in its conclusion sexual-orientation discrimination constitutes sex discrimination under federal civil rights law, citing the 2000 decision in Simonton v. Runyon and the 2005 decision in Dawson v. Bumble & Bumble.
“Because we are ‘bound by the decisions of prior panels until such time as they are overruled either by an en banc panel of our Court or by the Supreme Court…it [is] ordinarily…neither appropriate nor possible for [a panel] to reverse an existing Circuit precedent,'” the decision says. “We thus lack the power to reconsider Simonton and Dawson.”
However, the court concluded Christiansen, who’s openly gay and HIV positive, made a compelling case he faced discrimination based on sex-stereotyping, which the U.S. Supreme Court determined is unlawful in the 1989 decision of Price Waterhouse v. Coopers.
“Christiansen’s complaint identifies multiple instances of gender stereotyping discrimination,” the decision says. “His complaint alleges that his supervisor described him as ‘effeminate’ to others in the office…and depicted him in tights and a low‐cut shirt ‘prancing around.’ The complaint further alleges that the ‘Muscle Beach Party’ party poster, depicting Christiansen’s head attached to a bikini‐clad female body lying on the ground with her legs in the air, was seen by at least one coworker as portraying Christiansen ‘as a submissive sissy.'”
As a result, the court reverses the district court decision rejecting Christiansen’s allegations of sex-stereotyping in the workforce, remanding the decision for reconsideration.
The three-judge panel consisted of U.S. Chief Judge Robert Katzmann, a Clinton appointee; U.S. Circuit Judge Debra Ann Livingston, a George W. Bush appointee; and U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie, an Obama appointee sitting on the court by designation.
In a concurring opinion, Katzmann and Brodie examine the evolution of the understanding of sexual orientation in the legal landscape. Although the judges say precedent prevents them from determining sexual-orientation discrimination is sex discrimination, they conclude the time has come for reconsideration by the full court under “en banc” review.
“I respectfully think that in the context of an appropriate case our Court should consider reexamining the holding that sexual orientation discrimination claims are not cognizable under Title VII,” Katzmann writes. “Other federal courts are also grappling with this question, and it well may be that the Supreme Court will ultimately address it.”
A number of cases are percolating federal appeals court urging the judiciary to determine sexual-orientation discrimination is sex discrimination under current law. In a new trend, district courts and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have found Title VII bars anti-gay bias in the workforce, although no federal appeals court has reached that conclusion.
Had the 2nd Circuit ruled that sexual-orientation discrimination is unlawful under Title VII, it would have been the first federal appeals court to determine existing civil rights law extends to gay, lesbian and bisexual people in the workforce.
Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said the ruling had promise even though judges concluded the sexual-orientation discrimination isn’t unlawful under Title VII.
“I am actually encouraged by the court’s recognition that there is no principled reason to exclude sexual orientation discrimination from Title VII, and by their support for ‘en banc’ review,” Minter said. “Courts are finally taking these claims seriously, and I expect that we will see more and more positive decisions, hopefully including a positive ‘en banc’ decision from the 11th Circuit.”
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.