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Trump budget assailed for ‘troubling’ cuts to LGBT civil rights

Proposal would zap agency charged with enforcing Obama LGBT order

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impeachment, gay news, Washington Blade

President Donald Trump has proposed a budget that includes cuts to civil rights agencies. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

President Trump’s commitment to upholding civil rights for LGBT people has come into renewed question in the wake of a budget proposal that makes substantial cuts to agencies enforcing non-discrimination laws and cumulative actions over the course of his administration undermining those statutes.

Trump’s $4.1 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2018 — unveiled late last month — calls for major cuts from Obama-era levels to civil rights agencies within federal departments across the board, including the Justice Department, the Department of Health & Human Services and the Education Department.

Also, the budget proposes the elimination of the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance — which is charged with enforcing President Obama’s executive order barring anti-LGBT workplace discrimination among federal contractors — and merging it with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. agency that enforces federal employment non-discrimination law.

Sharita Gruberg, associate director of LGBT research and communications for the Center for American Progress, said the proposed cuts are “really troubling” for the continued enforcement of laws barring discrimination against LGBT people.

“There are cuts across every single federal agency charged with enforcing civil rights laws and it would undo a lot of the gains that we’ve gotten over the last administration in ensuring that civil rights are robustly enforced,” Gruberg said.

A White House Office of Management & Budget official pointed to other aspects of the Trump budget the administration says demonstrates a commitment to civil rights, such as $2.7 million for the Education Department’s Civil Rights Data Collection program, which is three times more than what was planned for FY-17.

“The president’s budget proposal maintains the administration’s commitment to the enforcement of the nation’s civil rights laws,” the official said. “It straightlines funding for DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, supporting efforts to combat human trafficking; prosecute hate crimes; protect the rights of U.S. workers, service members, and veterans; safeguard the voting rights for all Americans; and promote fair housing and educational opportunities.”

For the HHS Office of Civil Rights, the Trump budget proposes a 15 percent cut — down from an estimated $53 million from FY-17 to $44 million in FY-18 — and a 10 percent staff reduction, from 177 to 161.

That office is charged with enforcing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which bars discrimination on the basis of sex in health care. The Obama administration issued a rule clarifying that provision applies to transgender people, ensuring access to transition-related care and gender reassignment surgery.

Although U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas issued an injunction barring the Obama administration from applying the Section 1557 to cases of transgender discrimination, Gruberg said the HHS Office of Civil Rights “presumably should still be investigating complaints from LGBT people of discrimination in health care” and the cuts would be harmful.

“These are complaints that would not get the resources or staffing needed to ensure that they are investigated and that LGBT people are getting the health care that they’re entitled to without discrimination,” Gruberg said.

For the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights, which is charged with enforcing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the funding is maintained between FY-17 and FY-18 at $107 million. However, with the same level of funding the proposed budget calls for a seven percent reduction in staff, from 569 employees to 523.

Courts are beginning to construe Title IX, which bars discrimination on the basis of sex, to apply to LGBT students. The Obama administration issued guidance indicating schools that bar transgender kids from the restroom consistent with their gender identity may lose funding under this law, but U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos revoked the guidance.

Even though the Trump administration rescinded the guidance, Gruberg said the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights is still charged with investigations under Title IX, citing a 75 percent increase in complaints from 2009 to 2015.

“The law is still the law and this would hurt the office’s ability to provide technical assistance about what their obligations are under the law even without the guidance in place,” Gruberg said.

For the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, the Trump budget proposes the elimination of 121 staff positions. That division is responsible for upholding civil rights laws, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars employment discrimination based on sex, and the Violence Against Women Act, which specifically bars anti-LGBT discrimination in domestic abuse relief programs.

Under former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the civil rights division filed a lawsuit against North Carolina’s anti-LGBT House Bill 2 based on the laws before the litigation was withdrawn under Trump.

“At a time when they filed the most criminal civil rights complaints and trafficking complaints ever, this staffing cut will severely diminish the ability of DOJ civil rights to file and prosecute criminal and civil rights violations,” Gruberg said.

In addition to merging OFCCP with EEOC, the budget calls for the elimination of 130 full-time staff positions from the latter agency since FY-17, although funding would be flatlined at $364 million.

Gruberg said the cuts were “shocking” and the proposed merger spells trouble because OFCCP has oversight authority to investigate federal contractors for violations unlike EEOC, which generally awaits discrimination complaints filed by employees before taking action.

“They’re able to proactively investigate the status of equal opportunity at companies receiving taxpayer funds and ensure that they are not discriminating in ways that individuals employees might not be able to really grasp, such as hiring disparities, pay disparities, some of these systemic issues that an individual employee in their position might not know what’s happening to them,” Gruberg said.

The Department of Housing & Urban Development is also charged with enforcing a non-discrimination policy for LGBT Americans, a Obama administration rule barring anti-LGBT discrimination in government-sponsored housing and homeless shelters.

But assessing the capacity to enforce the rule is hard, Gruberg said, because that task is spread out across the agency. Primarily, HUD implements the rule through the Office of Fair Housing & Equal Opportunity, but the gender identity equal access piece is primarily implemented by the Office of Community Planning & Development, she said.

In Trump’s proposed budget, staffing levels for the Office of Fair Housing & Equal Opportunity would decrease by 10 and 26 full-time equivalents would be cut from Office of Community Planning & Development.

The proposed reductions in the budget for the enforcement of civil rights law are consistent with assertions the Trump administration has undertaken actions undermining civil rights, including a travel ban, review of police consent decrees and formation of an “election integrity” task force that seems to attempt to justify voter suppression efforts. On LGBT rights, the Trump administration has made anti-LGBT appointments, omitted LGBT questions from federal surveys and declined to defend LGBT rights measures in court.

Led by the Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights, a coalition of more than 100 groups this week co-signed a letter to Trump earlier this week urging him to reverse course and defend civil rights.

“Our nation should honor equal protection for all, view its diversity as its strength, and strive to be an inclusive place where all in America can live, work, study, and participate in our democracy as free and equal people,” the letter says. “We call on you and your administration to take affirmative steps to halt the problematic policies and initiatives we have outlined, and to provide positive leadership on these issues in order to promote inclusion and respect for the basic rights and dignity of every person in America.”

The EEOC doesn’t seem fazed by the prospects of having to implement the duties of OFFCP in addition to investigations and prosecutions already underway.

Kimberly Smith-Brown, an EEOC spokesperson, said the merger wouldn’t happen until FY-19 and the agency expects a “smooth transition” into the change.

“The FY 2018 budget refers to the proposed merger which would take place in FY 2019, with 2018 being a transition year during which OFCCP and EEOC would engage in transition talks and planning,” Smith-Brown said. “There were no financial or staffing implications for EEOC in FY 2018. Should the proposal to merge OFCCP and EEOC be approved by Congress, we are committed to a smooth transfer and transition.”

The OFFCP never publicly announced any investigations, charges or victories under Obama’s 2014 executive order against LGBT discrimination. It seems unlikely there were any because the Labor Department usually announces them as they occur.

The Labor Department for a span of years under the Obama administration and Trump administration hasn’t responded to the Washington Blade’s request to comment on whether investigations under the order had taken place.

Even though the EEOC has stated it can handle the transition, Gruberg said she thinks those remarks are aspirational and the proposed changes under the Trump budget aren’t “practically feasible.”

“You’re combining two offices that play very different roles in equal opportunity enforcement,” Gruberg said. “At the same time, you’re severely cutting staffing at these offices. And so, I think the combination of these two moves are really going to hinder the ability of these agencies to secure equal opportunity in the workforce for LGBT people.”

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World Pride 2025

Pabllo Vittar to perform at WorldPride

Brazilian drag queen, singer, joined Madonna on stage in 2024 Rio concert

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Pabllo Vittar (Screen capture via Pabllo Vittar/YouTube)

A Brazilian drag queen and singer who performed with Madonna at her 2024 concert on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach will perform at WorldPride.

The Capital Pride Alliance on Thursday announced Pabllo Vittar will perform on the Main Stage of the main party that will take place on June 7 at DCBX (1235 W St., N.E.) in Northeast D.C.

Vittar and Anitta, a Brazilian pop star who is bisexual, on May 4, 2024, joined Madonna on stage at her free concert, which was the last one of her Celebration Tour. Authorities estimated 1.6 million people attended.

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Federal Government

RFK Jr.’s HHS report pushes therapy, not medical interventions, for trans youth

‘Discredited junk science’ — GLAAD

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HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

A 409-page report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services challenges the ethics of medical interventions for youth experiencing gender dysphoria, the treatments that are often collectively called gender-affirming care, instead advocating for psychotherapy alone.

The document comes in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order barring the federal government from supporting gender transitions for anyone younger than 19.

“Our duty is to protect our nation’s children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. “We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.”

While the report does not constitute clinical guidance, its findings nevertheless conflict with not just the recommendations of LGBTQ advocacy groups but also those issued by organizations with relevant expertise in science and medicine.

The American Medical Association, for instance, notes that “empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression.”

Gender-affirming care for transgender youth under standards widely used in the U.S. includes supportive talk therapy along with — in some but not all cases — puberty blockers or hormone treatment.

“The suggestion that someone’s authentic self and who they are can be ‘changed’ is discredited junk science,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “This so-called guidance is grossly misleading and in direct contrast to the recommendation of every leading health authority in the world. This report amounts to nothing more than forcing the same discredited idea of conversion therapy that ripped families apart and harmed gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people for decades.”

GLAAD further notes that the “government has not released the names of those involved in consulting or authoring this report.”

Janelle Perez, executive director of LPAC, said, “For decades, every major medical association–including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics–have affirmed that medical care is the only safe and effective treatment for transgender youth experiencing gender dysphoria.

“This report is simply promoting conversion therapy by a different name – and the American people know better. We know that conversion therapy isn’t actually therapy – it isolates and harms kids, scapegoats parents, and divides families through blame and rejection. These tactics have been used against gay kids for decades, and now the same people want to use them against transgender youth and their families.

“The end result here will be a devastating denial of essential health care for transgender youth, replaced by a dangerous practice that every major U.S. medical and mental health association agree promotes anxiety, depression, and increased risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts.

“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice, and no amount of pressure can force someone to change who they are. We also know that 98% of people who receive transition-related health care continue to receive that health care throughout their lifetime. Trans health care is health care.”

“Today’s report seeks to erase decades of research and learning, replacing it with propaganda. The claims in today’s report would rip health care away from kids and take decision-making out of the hands of parents,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of NCLR. “It promotes the same kind of conversion therapy long used to shame LGBTQ+ people into hating themselves for being unable to change something they can’t change.”

“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice—it’s rooted in biology and genetics,” Minter said. “No amount or talk or pressure will change that.” 

Human Rights Campaign Chief of Staff Jay Brown released a statement: “Trans people are who we are. We’re born this way. And we deserve to live our best lives and have a fair shot and equal opportunity at living a good life.

“This report misrepresents the science that has led all mainstream American medical and mental health professionals to declare healthcare for transgender youth to be best practice and instead follows a script predetermined not by experts but by Sec. Kennedy and anti-equality politicians.”




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The White House

Trump nominates Mike Waltz to become next UN ambassador

Former Fla. congressman had been national security advisor

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U.N. headquarters in New York (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he will nominate Mike Waltz to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

Waltz, a former Florida congressman, had been the national security advisor.

Trump announced the nomination amid reports that Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, were going to leave the administration after Waltz in March added a journalist to a Signal chat in which he, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other officials discussed plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.

“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States ambassador to the United Nations,” said Trump in a Truth Social post that announced Waltz’s nomination. “From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role.”

Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as interim national security advisor, “while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department.”

“Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to make America, and the world, safe again,” said Trump.

Trump shortly after his election nominated U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Trump in March withdrew her nomination in order to ensure Republicans maintained their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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