News
Trump’s day of anti-LGBT acts: A new low or par for the course?
Trans military ban undermines claim he’s an ally
President Trump‘s professed support for LGBT rights will now be a harder sell. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Once a self-proclaimed friend to the LGBT community, President Trump will find such words a harder — if not impossible — sell in the aftermath of major actions he took against LGBT rights in the past week.
In one day, President Trump announced — via tweets, no less — that transgender people won’t be allowed to serve in the U.S. military “in any capacity,” overturning an Obama-era change allowing them into the armed forces. On the same day, Trump’s Justice Department filed a friend-of-the-court brief arguing lesbian, gay and bisexual people are entitled to no protections under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
To top that off, Trump on the same day announced he’d appoint as U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, who’s undermined LGBT rights over his political career in the name of religious liberty.
Trump has taken actions before that have disappointed LGBT people, but the unilateral imposition of a transgender service ban — after Congress rejected a measure that would have restricted transition-related care for service members — and a voluntary friend-of-the-court brief undermining basic employment protections have taken things up a notch.
What gives? Over the course of his presidential campaign, Trump billed himself as a new kind of Republican candidate who unlike his predecessors or his competitors for the 2016 Republican nomination would support LGBT people.
During the Republican National Convention, Trump was the first Republican presidential nominee in history to mention LGBT people in a positive way during his acceptance speech for the nomination, citing the recent shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., that left 49 people dead and 53 wounded.
“As your president, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology,” Trump said. “Believe me.”
Trump at a later event criticized his opponent Hillary Clinton for donations the Clinton Foundation accepted from Middle Eastern countries that impose the death penalty and imprisonment for homosexuality.
“Ask the gays what they think and what they do in not only Saudi Arabia, in many of these countries with the gay community,” Trump said. “Let’s ask. Then you tell me: Who’s your friend, Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton?”
Referencing Clinton’s immigration policy and support for increased refugees in a subsequent message on Twitter, Trump said, “Thank you to the LGBT community! I will fight for you while Hillary brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs.”
Those words, of course, ignore Clinton’s detailed commitment to LGBT rights and specific policy plans on LGBT issues, including support for transgender military service and protections for gay people under civil federal law, which Trump never promised over his presidential campaign.
The Human Rights Campaign, which had never accepted Trump’s overtures to LGBT people as he campaigned against Clinton, produced a video in the aftermath of his administration’s recent anti-LGBT action proclaiming him “Liar-in-Chief.”
Critics of Trump are quick to point out he expressed solidarity with LGBT people in terms of sowing opposition to Muslims, or least raising fears about Islamic extremism.
But at the start of the administration, the White House declared Trump was “respectful and supportive” of LGBT rights without making such references in a statement declaring he’d keep intact former President Obama’s 2014 executive order against anti-LGBT workplace discrimination among federal contractors.
Gregory Angelo, president of Log Cabin Republicans, denied any kind of shift from Trump in his approach to LGBT issues despite his organization’s criticism of the transgender military ban.
“Then-candidate and now-President Trump has always pursued balancing religious liberty and LGBT equality, and I don’t think there has been any fundamental shift from that position,” Angelo said. “What I see in Trump is someone who in an often clumsy — but nonetheless admirable — way is attempting to address a Republican electorate with vastly divergent views on LGBT-related issues.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders insisted Trump had a holistic approach to his presidency when asked if he betrayed LGBT people with his recent actions.
“I think the president had made very clear he’s committed to fighting for all Americans,” Sanders said.
There’s a long list of anti-LGBT actions from Trump. Most notably, his administration rescinded Obama-era guidance to schools assuring transgender kids access to public restrooms consistent with their gender identity. The removal of LGBT questions from federal health surveys and their omission in the upcoming census also riled his LGBT critics.
The president has also refused to condemn reports of anti-gay violence in the semi-autonomous Republic of Chechnya, despite multiple entreaties from LGBT rights groups to speak out, and declined to issue a proclamation recognizing June as Pride month.
Sarah Kate Ellis, CEO of GLAAD, said recent actions from his administration are just par for the course for a president who has no intention of keeping his campaign promises.
“President Trump and his administration have shown over the last couple weeks that they are willing to be more public about their anti-LGBTQ agenda and goal to erase LGBTQ Americans from the fabric of this nation,” Ellis said. “From the ban on transgender soldiers from serving in the U.S. military, the Justice Department’s choice to exclude LGBTQ people as a protected class under the Civil Rights Act, and confirming closed-door meetings with anti-LGBTQ activists at the White House, President Trump has revealed that his campaign pledge to protect LGBTQ Americans was nothing more than a con job.”
Kansas
ACLU sues Kansas over law invalidating trans residents’ IDs
A new Kansas bill requires transgender residents to have their driver’s licenses reflect their sex assigned at birth, invalidating current licenses.
Transgender people across Kansas received letters in the mail on Wednesday demanding the immediate surrender of their driver’s licenses following passage of one of the harshest transgender bathroom bans in the nation. Now the American Civil Liberties Union is filing a lawsuit to block the ban and protect transgender residents from what advocates describe as “sweeping” and “punitive” consequences.
Independent journalist Erin Reed broke the story Wednesday after lawmakers approved House Substitute for Senate Bill 244. In her reporting, Reed included a photo of the letter sent to transgender Kansans, requiring them to obtain a driver’s license that reflects their sex assigned at birth rather than the gender with which they identify.
According to the reporting, transgender Kansans must surrender their driver’s licenses and that their current credentials — regardless of expiration date — will be considered invalid upon the law’s publication. The move effectively nullifies previously issued identification documents, creating immediate uncertainty for those impacted.
House Substitute for Senate Bill 244 also stipulates that any transgender person caught driving without a valid license could face a class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. That potential penalty adds a criminal dimension to what began as an administrative action. It also compounds the legal risks for transgender Kansans, as the state already requires county jails to house inmates according to sex assigned at birth — a policy that advocates say can place transgender detainees at heightened risk.
Beyond identification issues, SB 244 not only bans transgender people from using restrooms that match their gender identity in government buildings — including libraries, courthouses, state parks, hospitals, and interstate rest stops — with the possibility for criminal penalties, but also allows for what critics have described as a “bathroom bounty hunter” provision. The measure permits anyone who encounters a transgender person in a restroom — including potentially in private businesses — to sue them for large sums of money, dramatically expanding the scope of enforcement beyond government authorities.
The lawsuit challenging SB 244 was filed today in the District Court of Douglas County on behalf of anonymous plaintiffs Daniel Doe and Matthew Moe by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kansas, and Ballard Spahr LLP. The complaint argues that SB 244 violates the Kansas Constitution’s protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process, and freedom of speech.
Additionally, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a temporary restraining order on behalf of the anonymous plaintiffs, arguing that the order — followed by a temporary injunction — is necessary to prevent the “irreparable harm” that would result from SB 244.
State Rep. Abi Boatman, a Wichita Democrat and the only transgender member of the Kansas Legislature, told the Kansas City Star on Wednesday that “persecution is the point.”
“This legislation is a direct attack on the dignity and humanity of transgender Kansans,” said Monica Bennett, legal director of the ACLU of Kansas. “It undermines our state’s strong constitutional protections against government overreach and persecution.”
“SB 244 is a cruel and craven threat to public safety all in the name of fostering fear, division, and paranoia,” said Harper Seldin, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “The invalidation of state-issued IDs threatens to out transgender people against their will every time they apply for a job, rent an apartment, or interact with police. Taken as a whole, SB 244 is a transparent attempt to deny transgender people autonomy over their own identities and push them out of public life altogether.”
“SB 244 presents a state-sanctioned attack on transgender people aimed at silencing, dehumanizing, and alienating Kansans whose gender identity does not conform to the state legislature’s preferences,” said Heather St. Clair, a Ballard Spahr litigator working on the case. “Ballard Spahr is committed to standing with the ACLU and the plaintiffs in fighting on behalf of transgender Kansans for a remedy against the injustices presented by SB 244, and is dedicated to protecting the constitutional rights jeopardized by this new law.”
National
After layoffs at Advocate, parent company acquires ‘Them’ from Conde Nast
Top editorial staff let go last week
Former staff members at the Advocate and Out magazines revealed that parent company Equalpride laid off a number of employees late last week.
Those let go included Advocate editor-in-chief Alex Cooper, Pride.com editor-in-chief Rachel Shatto, brand partnerships manager Erin Manley, community editor Marie-Adélina de la Ferriére, and Out magazine staff writers Moises Mendez and Bernardo Sim, according to a report in Hollywood Reporter.
Cooper, who joined the company in 2021, posted to social media that, “Few people have had the privilege of leading this legendary LGBTQ+ news outlet, and I’m deeply honored to have been one of them. To my team: thank you for the last four years. You’ve been the best. For those also affected today, please let me know how I can support you.”
The Advocate’s PR firm when reached by the Blade said it no longer represents the company. Emails to the Advocate went unanswered.
Equalpride on Friday announced it acquired “Them,” a digital LGBTQ outlet founded in 2017 by Conde Nast.
“Equalpride exists to elevate, celebrate and protect LGBTQ+ storytelling at scale,” Equalpride CEO Mark Berryhill said according to Hollywood Reporter. “By combining the strengths of our brands with this respected digital platform, we’re creating a unified ecosystem that delivers even more impact for our audiences, advertisers, and community partners.”
It’s not clear if “Them” staff would take over editorial responsibilities for the Advocate and Out.
In an official statement released at the reveal event Capital Pride Alliance described its just announced 2026 Pride theme of “Exist, Resist, Have the Audacity” as a “bold declaration affirming the presence, resilience, and courage of LGBTQ+ people around the world.”
The statement adds, “Grounded in the undeniable truth that our existence is not up for debate, this year’s theme calls on the community to live loudly and proudly, stand firm against injustice and erasure, and embody the collective strength that has always defined the LGBTQ+ community.”
In a reference to the impact of the hostile political climate, the statement says, “In a time when LGBTQ+ rights and history continue to face challenges, especially in our Nation’s Capital, where policy and public discourse shape the future of our country, together, we must ensure that our voices are visible, heard, and unapologetically centered.”
The statement also quotes Capital Pride Alliance CEO and President Ryan Bos’s message at the Reveal event: “This year’s theme is both a declaration and a demand,” Bos said. “Exist, Resist, Have Audacity! reflects the resilience of our community and our responsibility to protect the progress we’ve made. As we look toward our nation’s 250th anniversary, we affirm that LGBTQ+ people have always been and always will be part of the United States’s history, and we will continue shaping its future with strength and resolve,” he concluded.
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