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GLSEN ‘Day of Silence’ to culminate in virtual rally

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The 25th annual Day of Silence will end with a virtual rally on Friday, April 24 (Image courtesy of GLSEN)

With the COVID-19 pandemic preventing public gatherings and events, LGBTQ activist organizations have been forced to rethink their traditional strategies for raising public awareness about the many other important issues impacting the community.

One such organization, GLSEN, is planning a new approach to an event that has been an annual touchstone for LGBTQ young people for 25 years. On April 24th,

GLSEN, the nation’s leading organization on LGBTQ issues in K-12 education, will be hosting the 25th annual Day of Silence on Friday, April 24. A student-led protest of the silencing and erasure of LGBTQ people, last year’s Day of Silence engaged nearly 8,000 GSA clubs across the country.

This year, Day of Silence faces the challenge of school closures due to the COVID shutdown, which leaves many young LGBTQ people particularly vulnerable. With GLSEN unable to work within the school setting, protest organizers are instead doubling down on the use of social media campaigns, virtual meetings, artwork, videos and resource guides to connect and empower these at-risk individuals, and they expect the virtual rally, which will close out Friday’s day of protest, to be the largest-ever online gathering of LGBTQ youth.

“For 25 years, the Day of Silence has helped thousands of students connect to their community, but with the COVID-19 pandemic isolating many LGBTQ youth from their support networks, this year’s Day of Silence is more important than ever,” saidGLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard. “It’s time for LGBTQ youth to live free of harassment and discrimination, and to feel empowered to break the silence, today, and every day.”

Image courtesy of GLSEN

According to GLSEN, four out of five LGBTQ students don’t see positive LGBTQ representation in their curriculum, eight in 10 experience anti-LGBTQ verbal harassment, and over a third miss school for feeling unsafe or uncomfortable. Exacerbating the issue, many of the most vulnerable LGBTQ students are unable to connect to their school communities due to lack of access to appropriate technology.

One of the main talking points of this year’s protest, GLSEN insists, is that “plans to rebuild and reopen schools” after the current crisis “must address these inequities and make our schools safer and more affirming for LGBTQ students.”

Chris Staley, a high school student on GLSEN’s National Student Council, says, “By participating in the Day of Silence, LGBTQ students like me are advocating for our community and building a more inclusive future for all young people. This year, we’re using social media, creating artwork, hosting virtual rallies and encouraging our family and friends to join us as we fight for our rights and representation.”

The online day of protest will culminate in a national virtual rally to break the silence, featuring celebrity and activist speakers. Last year, celebrities including Laverne Cox, Ellen DeGeneres, Julia Roberts, Kerry Washington and many more voiced their support for Day of Silence.

Jessica Chiriboga, a high school senior from Glendora who is a 2nd year member of the Council, lays out the strategy for Day of Silence by professing her own plans for the day:

“As an individual, I will change my profile picture to a Day of Silence graphic on Wednesday, and physically stay silent from 12 am on Friday to 2:30 pm. At 2:30 pm., I’ll be tuning in to the GLSEN Facebook Live to break my vow of silence virtually!

“As Vice President of Glendora High’s GSA (Gender-Sexuality Alliance), I will send out ways to participate (like sharing Day of Silence graphics, challenging friends to join) by the hour. What I’m most excited for is that we are planning to have an Open Mic Creative share for our GSA members followed by a screening of a LGBTQ+ movie!

“Through these virtual events, I plan on encouraging members to register to vote, as students can do that at 16 in California. Using our voices and our votes are important in breaking the silence around the bullying and harassment of LGBTQ+ youth, and seeing each others’ faces will help our members feel a little more normalcy.

This year’s Day of Silence theme is “Shaping Our Future” and GLSEN’s virtual rally will kick off a campaign to register and pre-register LGBTQ students to vote. Information about the campaign, running until the fall, can be found at https://www.glsen.org/break-silence-your-vote-your-voice

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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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U.S. Federal Courts

Second federal lawsuit filed against White House passport policy

Two of seven plaintiffs live in Md.

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Lambda Legal on April 25 filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of seven transgender and nonbinary people who are challenging the Trump-Vance administration’s passport policy.

The lawsuit, which Lambda Legal filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, alleges the policy that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers “has caused and is causing grave and immediate harm to transgender people like plaintiffs, in violation of their constitutional rights to equal protection.”

Two of the seven plaintiffs — Jill Tran and Peter Poe — live in Maryland. The State Department, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the federal government are defendants.

“The discriminatory passport policy exposes transgender U.S. citizens to harassment, abuse, and discrimination, in some cases endangering them abroad or preventing them from traveling, by forcing them to use identification documents that share private information against their wishes,” said Lambda Legal in a press release.

Zander Schlacter, a New York-based textile artist and designer, is the lead plaintiff.

The lawsuit notes he legally changed his name and gender in New York.

Schlacter less than a week before President Donald Trump’s inauguration “sent an expedited application to update his legal name on his passport, using form DS-5504.”

Trump once he took office signed an executive order that banned the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers. The lawsuit notes Schlacter received his new passport in February.

“The passport has his correct legal name, but now has an incorrect sex marker of ‘F’ or ‘female,'” notes the lawsuit. “Mr. Schlacter also received a letter from the State Department notifying him that ‘the date of birth, place of birth, name, or sex was corrected on your passport application,’ with ‘sex’ circled in red. The stated reason was ‘to correct your information to show your biological sex at birth.'”

“I, like many transgender people, experience fear of harassment or violence when moving through public spaces, especially where a photo ID is required,” said Schlacter in the press release that announced the lawsuit. “My safety is further at risk because of my inaccurate passport. I am unwilling to subject myself and my family to the threat of harassment and discrimination at the hands of border officials or anyone who views my passport.”

Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June 2021 announced the State Department would begin to issue gender-neutral passports and documents for American citizens who were born overseas.

Dana Zzyym, an intersex U.S. Navy veteran who identifies as nonbinary, in 2015 filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their application for a passport with an “X” gender marker. Zzyym in October 2021 received the first gender-neutral American passport.

Lambda Legal represented Zzyym.

The State Department policy took effect on April 11, 2022.

Trump signed his executive order shortly after he took office in January. Germany, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands are among the countries that have issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U.S.

A federal judge in Boston earlier this month issued a preliminary injunction against the executive order.  The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of seven trans and nonbinary people.

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