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Barr declares ‘zero tolerance’ for hate crimes in Pride Month statement

Barr only Trump official to recognize Pride Month .

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U.S. Attorney General William Barr declares “zero tolerance” for anti-LGBT violence within the Justice Department. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

U.S. Attorney General William Barr affirmed on Thursday his position of “zero tolerance” for hate crimes against LGBT people in a statement to Justice Department employees recognizing Pride Month.

In the statement, which was sent to Justice Department employees on Thursday and shared with the Washington Blade, Barr declares the department is “fortunate to have many talented and dedicated LGBT public servants who work hard on behalf of the American people.”

“While we recognize and celebrate these employees’ contributions to the department and the nation, it remains the fact that LGBT individuals are too often subjected to discrimination, harassment and violence,” Barr continues. “The department has zero tolerance for violence that is motivated by hatred for our fellow citizens, including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. We will vigorously prosecute such hate crimes.”

The statement echoes testimony Barr gave in his confirmation hearing when he said he’d have “zero tolerance” for hate crimes, including violence against LGBT people, and would enforce the 2009 Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

Barr also points in the statement out he updated the Justice Department equal opportunity statement statement affirming non-discrimination for LGBT employees at the Justice Department.

“All employees deserve to be treated with respect and to be judged on merit alone,” Barr says.

Barr updated the EEO statement amid complaints of discrimination against LGBT employees within the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Prisons, which were brought to his attention by DOJ Pride, the affinity group for LGBT employees within the department.

“As Pride month concludes, I want our LGBT colleagues to know that I value their dedication, integrity and the contributions they make to the pursuit of justice,” Barr writes.

A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed the accuracy of the statement, which Barr issues during the first Pride Month that has occurred since his confirmation as U.S. attorney general.

Nothing in the statement recognizes the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which the LGBT community is celebrating this year concurrent with Pride Month.

The Pride Month recognition comes just weeks after he met with LGBT attorneys and law enforcement officials within DOJ Pride for Pride Month, as exclusively reported by the Washington Blade. The statement is also issued shortly after LGBT employees at the Justice Department took part in an official ceremony recognizing Pride Month, which included a showing of the 2010 PBS documentary “Stonewall Uprising.”

Although the Pride statement recognizes anti-LGBT violence, it says nothing in particular about violence against transgender people, especially transgender people of color, who are afflicted with violence at disproportionate rates.

On the same day Barr issued his statement, news emerged that Brooklyn Lindsay, a 32-year-old trans woman, was found beaten to death in Kansas City. At least 11 black transgender women have been the victims of fatal violence in 2019, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

But the statement is far and beyond what other Trump administration Cabinet officials have done for Pride Month. The Blade is unaware of any other Cabinet-level Trump official issuing a Pride Month statement. Trump recognized Pride Month via tweet, but issued no official proclamation.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has faced criticism from LGBT groups for not issuing a Pride Month statement for 2019. Instead, Pompeo reissued to employees an old statement he issued in 2018.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department continues to maintain anti-LGBT litigation positions and defends in court the transgender military ban.

The Justice Department during the Trump administration has previously asserted LGBT people aren’t protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination on the basis of sex in the workforce.

It remains to be seen whether the Justice Department will reverse its litigation position regarding Title VII now that the issue is before the Supreme Court, but that seems unlikely.

The full statement follows:

STATEMENT FROM THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Colleagues-

During the month of June, the Federal Government and communities across the United States acknowledge the outstanding contributions and accomplishments of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans.  The Department of Justice is fortunate to have many talented and dedicated LGBT public servants who work hard on behalf of the American people. 

While we recognize and celebrate these employees’ contributions to the Department and the Nation, it remains the fact that LGBT individuals are too often subjected to discrimination, harassment, and violence.  The Department has zero tolerance for violence that is motivated by hatred for our fellow citizens, including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.  We will vigorously prosecute such hate crimes.  As Attorney General, I have also reaffirmed the Department’s commitment to keeping our workplace free from discrimination and harassment, including against LGBT employees.  All employees deserve to be treated with respect and to be judged on merit alone.

As Pride month concludes, I want our LGBT colleagues to know that I value their dedication, integrity, and the contributions they make to the pursuit of justice.  Thank you for your service.

William P. Barr

Attorney General

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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

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(Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

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.

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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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U.S. Federal Courts

Federal judge scraps trans-inclusive workplace discrimination protections

Ruling appears to contradict US Supreme Court precedent

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Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Screen capture: YouTube)

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.

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