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Activistas nicaragüenses asisten taller de Victory Institute

Protestas contra el gobierno han dejado cientos de muertos

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Un grupo de cinco activistas nicaragüenses asistieron a un taller patrocinado por el Victory Institute que se realizó cerca de la capital hondureña de Tegucigalpa el pasado fin de semana. (Foto dominio público)

SANTA LUCÍA, Honduras — Cinco activistas nicaragüenses que participan en protestas contra el gobierno de su país asistieron a un taller LGBTI regional que se realizó en Honduras el pasado fin de semana.

Los activistas que viene de la capital nicaragüense de Managua y la ciudad de Chinandega están entre las 28 personas que asistieron al taller patrocinado por el Victory Institute que se realizó fuera de la capital hondureña de Tegucigalpa el 28-29 de septiembre.

SOMOS CDC, Asociación Lambda y Caribe Afirmativo — tres grupos LGBTI de Honduras, Guatemala y Colombia respectivamente — también organizaron el taller.

El taller — uno de tres que se espera realizarse en Centroamérica durante los próximos meses — se realizó menos de seis meses después del comienzo de las protestas contra el gobierno del presidente nicaragüense Daniel Ortega y su esposa, la vice presidenta Rosario Murillo. Ira sobre el plan de reducir los beneficios de seguridad social y la respuesta del gobierno a un incendio en la Reserva Biológica Indio Maíz en la costa caribeña del país provocaron las protestas.

Los informes indican más de 500 personas han sido asesinadas desde el comienzo de las protestas el 18 de abril. Los activistas preguntaron al Washington Blade de no identificarles por nombre o de publicar sus fotos por razones de preocupaciones sobre su seguridad.

Un activista, un hombre gay de Chinandega, notó la Mesa Nacional LGBTIQ de Nicaragua era entre las primeras organizaciones que instaron al gobierno de no usar violencia contra las manifestantes. El activista señaló la Mesa Nacional LGBTIQ de Nicaragua el 15 de junio emitió otro comunicado que llamaba al gobierno de participar en un dialogo con líderes de las protestas que la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos y obispos católicos habían negociado.

El grupo también demandó “el cese a la represión en todos sus niveles y en toda Nicaragua” y “la libertad de todas las personas ilegalmente encarceladas.”

“La Mesa Nacional LGBTIQ de Nicaragua repudia enérgicamente todas las acciones violentas del régimen ortega murillo destacada hacia la población nicaragüense,” dice el comunicado.

Activista: Nicaragüenses LGBTI han sido asesinados

William Ramírez Cerda, un activista gay, y más de 200 otras personas fueron atrapados al dentro de una iglesia a la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua en julio cuando las fuerzas pro gubernamentales la rodeaban. Ramírez dijo al Blade durante una entrevista después del asedio de 15 horas que un estudiante que fue disparado en la cabeza fuera de la iglesia murió.

El activista gay de Chinandega dijo al Blade que personas LGBTI han sido asesinado en su ciudad durante protestas contra el gobierno. Una activista de Managua que se describe como una “mujer lesbiana” y “feminista organizada” dijo que actualmente hay 11 presos políticos LGBTI en Nicaragua.

Los activistas también dijeron que el gobierno ha lanzado una “campaña de desinformación” en las redes sociales para atacar a los activistas LGBTI y otros participantes en las protestas.

Una captura de pantalla que el activista gay de Chinandega mandó al Blade tiene una foto de una “terrorista” buscado descrito como “promotor de odio y violencia a través de sus redes sociales.” Otra captura de pantalla de una página de Facebook que fue grabada el 29 de agosto tiene fotos de activistas descritos como “asesinos terroristas de la derecha.”

“La campaña de desinformación va a dirigir exactamente para las y los activistas LGBT quien han estado de forma visible en la lucha,” dijo el activista gay de Chinandega.

Otros activistas que hablaron al Blade dijeron que han sido amenazados por simpatizantes del gobierno.

Un activista gay de Managua dijo que traía medicamentos y otros suministros a los estudiantes que ocuparon dos universidades. También dijo al Blade que vio miembros de la Policía Nacional de Nicaragua matan a manifestantes.

El activista dijo simpatizantes del gobierno en su barrio “me amenazan mucho.”

“A veces tengo que irme a otro lado de Managua donde visito a familiares,” dijo al Blade.

Una activista trans de Managua dijo al Blade que trata de mantener un bajo perfil porque muchos de sus vecinos apoyan el gobierno. La activista dijo que una compañera trans fue forzada de cortarse el cabello mientras ella estaba bajo custodia.

“Comenzamos pues tener más cuidado de hacer cualquier comentación en Facebook, cualquier publicación,” ella dijo al Blade. “Yo siempre dijo ante de la seguridad de mi es la de mi familia.”

Una activista de Chinandega estaba estudiando a una universidad en Managua cuando empezaron las protestas. Ella dijo la inquietud le provocó de renunciar de su trabajo y volver a Chinandega.

“Esto me afectó directamente,” dijo la activista.

El activista gay de Chinandega dijo al Blade se ha detenido por la Policía Nacional tres veces. Dijo que ahora vive con su hermana “por razones que me han dado a la policía.”

“Yo no estoy viviendo en mi casa,” el dijo al Blade.

Funcionarios nicaragüenses bajo sanciones estadounidenses

Ortega — que lideró el movimiento sandinista que se derrumbó el gobierno del entonces dictador Anastasio Somoza en 1979 — ha sido presidente de Nicaragua desde 2007. No hubo protestas visibles contra el gobierno en Managua cuando el Blade reportaba desde la ciudad al fin de febrero, aunque líderes de la oposición han dicho que Nicaragua se ha convertido en un país más autoritario bajo el régimen Ortega Murillo.

Un cartel en Managua, Nicaragua, el 27 de febrero de 2018, promueve el presidente nicaragüense Daniel Ortega y su esposa, la vicepresidenta Rosario Murillo. Protestas contra el gobierno del país centroamericano han dejado cientos de muertos. (Foto del Washington Blade por Michael K. Lavers)

Los EEUU en Julio sancionó al comisionado de la Policía Nacional Francisco Javier Díaz Madriz y dos otros altos funcionarios del gobierno bajo una ley que congela los activos de ciudadanos extranjeros que cometen abusos contra los derechos humanos y les prohíbe ingresar a los EEUU. Los activistas dijeron al Blade que apoyan más sanciones en contra el gobierno de Ortega Murillo, y no una posible intervención militar de los EEUU y/o otros países para expulsarlo del poder.

“Lo que no estamos de acuerdo desde mi punto de vista es una intervención militar,” dijo el activista gay de Chinandega.

La activista que salió de Managua y volvió a Chinandega después del comienzo de las protestas estaba en acuerdo con sus compañeros que dijeron Ortega y Murillo tienen que renunciar. La activista dijo que los partidarios del gobierno con posiciones en las instituciones del Estado nicaragüense también deben salir.

“Hay impunidad,” la activista dijo al Blade.

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Maryland

Wes Moore signs HIV decriminalization bill

Md. law named after Carlton Smith

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Maryland Gov. Wes Moore speaks at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee. A bill that he signed on May 20, 2025, will decriminalize HIV in Maryland. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on Tuesday signed a bill that decriminalizes HIV in the state.

State Dels. Kris Fair (D-Frederick County) and Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore City) are among the lawmakers who sponsored House Bill 39 or the Carlton R. Smith Act, which is named after the long-time activist known as the “mayor” of Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood who died in May 2024.

Smith was a member of the Coalition to Decriminalize HIV in Maryland that advocated for the bill. FreeState Justice, a statewide LGBTQ rights group, was also part of the coalition.

“At FreeState Justice, we are proud to stand with advocates, health experts, and lawmakers who worked diligently to advance this bill. The bipartisan support for the Carlton R. Smith Act is a testament to the power of education, research, and courageous leadership,” said FreeState Justice Executive Director Phillip Westry in a statement. “It sends a clear message: Maryland is committed to evidence-based policymaking and to ending the criminalization of people living with HIV. We honor the memory of Carlton R. Smith by continuing the work of building a more just, inclusive, and informed society.”

Maryland is the fifth state to decriminalize HIV.

North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong, a Republican, in March signed a bill that decriminalized HIV in his state.

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National

Medical groups file lawsuit over Trump deletion of health information

Crucial datasets included LGBTQ, HIV resources

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HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is named as a defendant in the lawsuit. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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.

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Congress

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s bill to criminalize gender affirming care advances

Judiciary Committee markup slated for Wednesday morning

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U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)’s “Protect Children’s Innocence Act,” which would criminalize guideline-directed gender affirming health care for minors, will advance to markup in the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday morning.

Doctors and providers who administer medical treatments for gender dysphoria to patients younger than 18, including hormones and puberty blockers, would be subject to Class 3 felony charges punishable by up to 10 years in prison if the legislation is enacted.

LGBTQ advocates warn conservative lawmakers want to go after families who travel out of state to obtain medical care for their transgender kids that is banned or restricted in the places where they reside, using legislation like Greene’s to expand federal jurisdiction over these decisions. They also point to the medically inaccurate way in which the bill characterizes evidence-based interventions delineated in standards of care for trans and gender diverse youth as “mutilation” or “chemical castration.”

Days into his second term, President Donald Trump signed “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” an executive order declaring that the U.S. would not “fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit” medical treatments and interventions intended for this purpose.

Greene, who has introduced the bill in years past, noted the president’s endorsement of her bill during his address to the joint session of Congress in March when he said “I want Congress to pass a bill permanently banning and criminalizing sex changes on children and forever ending the lie that any child is trapped in the wrong body.”

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