News
Zero Democrats lend name to GOP compromise on LGBTQ rights
All 21 original co-sponsors are Republicans


Despite signals the Fairness for All Act counterproposal from Republicans on LGBTQ rights and religious freedom would have bipartisan support upon its reintroduction on Friday, the final list of original co-sponsors has no Democrats.
Although the list of 21 co-sponsors is more than double the nine who support the first iteration of the Fairness for All in the previous Congress, theyāre entirely made up of Republicans. The absence of any Democrats dashes hopes from supporters the legislation could be a starting point for negotiations across the aisle on the Equality Act in the Senate.
Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah), the chief sponsor of the bill, nonetheless hailed the Fairness for All Act upon reintroduction as a way to bring the gap on LGBTQ rights and religious freedom.
āIt is hard to really love our neighbors when we are fighting with them over whose rights are more important,ā Stewart said. āThis country can accommodate both civil liberties for LGBT individuals & religious freedom. We have wasted enough time, energy, and money fighting over who deserves which legal protections. It is time to define the federal protections for our LGBT and religious friends and neighbors.ā
The Fairness for All Act, like the Equality Act, would amend all aspects of federal civil rights law to expand the prohibition on discrimination against LGBTQ people in employment, housing, public accommodations, federally funded programs, education, credit and jury service. A copy of the bill reviewed.by Blade revealed the Fairness for All Act doesnāt have substantive changes from its previous iteration in terms of LGBTQ issues, but other than clarity for protections based on race, color and national origin.
Stewart, in a statement to the Washington Blade, said he won’t give up on finding Democratic for the legislation.
āI am grateful to my colleagues who joined me today,” Stewart said. “We are still working with our Democratic colleagues and have high hopes that this bill will ultimately be bipartisan.ā
Stewart had signaled as of Wednesday via a spokesperson the Fairness for All Act āwill have bipartisan support by the end of the weekā and would hold off on plans to introduce the legislation until after the U.S. House voted on the Equality Act, the flagship comprehensive bill to expand anti-discrimination principles for LGBTQ people under federal civil rights law.
The House approved the Equality Act on a largely party-line vote Thursday with just a blemish of bipartisan support. Three Republicans voted for the Equality Act, compared to the eight who voted for the legislation in 2019.
Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), the sponsor of the Equality Act in the House, told the Washington Blade on Thursday amid uncertainty of the legislation in the Senate the Fairness for All Act would āvery clearly be worse than nothing.ā
āFor the first time in our history, it would actually put in federal statute provisions that permit discrimination against the LGBTQ community,ā Cicilline said, āIt would be a tremendous step backward, which is why it’s not supported by any major LGBT organization, all of the major LGBT organizations support the Equality Act. The Stewart bill is a tremendous step backward in our fight for full equality.ā
Asked if he has any issues with fellow Democrats co-sponsor the Fairness for All Act, Cicilline held firm.
āI would hope that people are committed to equality for the LGBTQ community would not support this bill because it would put in statute and authorize expressly discrimination against the LGBTQ community,ā Cicilline said.
Among the co-sponsors are Republicans who voted for the Equality Act, including Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Tom Reed (R-N.Y.). Other co-sponsors are Republicans who voted for the Equality Act in 2019, but not 2021, including Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.). One Republican who voted twice for the Equality Act, Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.), isn’t a co-sponsors of the Fairness for All Act.
Although both the Equality Act and the Fairness for All Act would expand the prohibition on anti-LGBTQ discrimination under federal law, they have key differences. For example, the Equality Act would specify the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act couldnāt be raised as a defense in court against allegations of illegal anti-LGBTQ discrimination, but the Fairness for All Act would not.
Additionally, the Fairness for All Act would provide an exemption under Title II of the Civil Rights Act to allow stores, shopping centers or online retailers to refuse service to LGBTQ people if they have 15 or fewer employees, but the Equality Act provides no such exemption. The Equality Act would clarify transgender people should have access to locker rooms and bathrooms consistent with their gender identity, while the Fairness for All Act implies that but doesnāt spell it out. The Equality Act is silent on whether its ban on sex discrimination would prohibit medical providers from refusing to perform an abortion, the Fairness for All Act specifies it would not.
(The Washington Blade is preparing a detailed chart on the differences between the Equality Act and the Fairness for All Act, as well as the situation with current law after the U.S. Supreme Courtās decision last year in Bostock v. Clayton County, which found anti-LGBTQ discrimination is an illegal form of sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, therefore not only illegal in employment, but under all laws that ban sex discrimination.)
The White House
Trump bars trans women and girls from sports
The administration reversed course on the Biden-Harris policy on Title IX

President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued another executive order taking aim at the transgender community, this time focusing on eligibility for sports participation.
In a signing ceremony for āKeeping Men Out of Womenās Sports” in the East Room of the White House, the president proclaimed “With this executive order, the war on womenās sports is over.”
Despite the insistence by Trump and Republicans that trans women and girls have a biological advantage in sports over cisgender women and girls, the research has been inconclusive, at best.
A study in the peer reviewed Sports Medicine journal found āno direct or consistent researchā pointing to this conclusion. A different review in 2023 found that post-pubertal differences are āreduced, if not erased, over time by gender affirming hormone therapy.ā
Other critics of efforts to exclude trans student athletes have pointed to the small number of people who are impacted. Charlie Baker, president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, testified last year that fewer than 10 of the NCAA’s 522,000+ student athletes identify as trans.
The Trump-Vance administration has reversed course from the Biden-Harris administration’s policy on Title IX rules barring sex-based discrimination.
āIf youāre going to have womenās sports, if youāre going to provide opportunities for women, then they have to be equally safe, equally fair, and equally private opportunities, and so that means that youāre going to preserve womenās sports for women,” a White House official said prior to the issuance of the order.
Former President Joe Biden’s Title IX rules, which went into effect last year, clarified that pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), sex-based discrimination includes that which is based on the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
The White House official indicated that the administration will consider additional guidance, regulations, and interpretations of Title IX, as well as exploring options to handle noncompliance by threatening federal funding for schools and education programs.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump ādoes expect the Olympic Committee and the NCAA to no longer allow men to compete in womenās sports.ā
One of the first legislative moves by the new Congress last month was House Republicans’ passage of the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” which would ban trans women and girls from participating in competitive athletics.
The bill is now before the U.S. Senate, where Republicans have a three-seat majority but would need 60 votes to overcome the filibuster.
Congress
House Dems urge OPM not to implement anti-trans executive order
Authors were Dem. U.S. Reps. Mark Takano (Calif.), Jamie Raskin (Md.), and Gerald Connolly (Va.)

Three House Democrats including Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Mark Takano (Calif.) issued a letter on Wednesday urging the Office of Personnel Management to not implement President Donald Trump’s anti-trans executive order, “Defending women from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth to the federal government.”
Also signing the letter were U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Rep. Gerald Connolly (Va.), ranking member of the House Oversight Committee.
The lawmakers wrote the order “unlawfully attacks the civil rights of transgender Americans” while the White House’s corresponding memo and guidance “implements unlawful discrimination by the federal government against transgender people in the civil service and the provision of federal services.”
Specifically, they call unconstitutional the directive for agencies to “end all programs, contracts, grants, positions, documents, directives, orders, regulations, materials, forms,
communications, statements, plans, and training that ‘inculcate’ or ‘promote’ ‘gender
ideology’āwhich the Executive Order defines broadly to encompass acknowledging the simple
existence of transgender people and gender identity.”
āWe are deeply alarmed by these and other actions the Trump Administration has taken in its first few weeks to eliminate all government support for the transgender community, including efforts designed to enforcing the rights and support the health of transgender individuals,” the congressmen wrote.
They added, “We are also appalled by the Administrationās attempts to weaponize federal agencies to target the transgender community for discrimination and exclusion. These actions contradict federal law, Supreme Court precedent, and most importantly the Constitutionās guarantee of equal protection under the law.ā
Africa
Suspension of US aid forces PEPFAR-funded programs in Africa to close down
Funding freeze is ‘matter of life and death’

The suspension of nearly all U.S. foreign aid has forced a number of programs that the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief funds in Africa to shut down.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Jan. 24Ā directedĀ State Department personnel to stop nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending for 90 days in response toĀ an executive orderĀ that President Donald Trump signed after his inauguration. Rubio later issued a waiver that allows PEPFAR and other ālife-saving humanitarian assistanceā programs to continue operating after bowing to pressure.
A message on the U.S. Agency for International Development’s website notes “all USAID direct hire personnel will be placed on administrative leave globally, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership, and specially designated programs.” The announcement is scheduled to take place on Friday at 11:59 p.m. ET.
One of the PEPFAR-funded healthcare programs in Kenya still impacted by the funding freeze, despite Rubio’s waiver, is the Fahari ya Jamii (“joy of the community” in Swahili) initiative that began in 2022. The University of Nairobi was jointly implementing the project.
The Sh4.2 billion ($32,558,139.52) project sought to coordinate and manage high quality, cost-effective, and accessible HIV services in Nairobi, neighboring Kajiado County, and other parts of Kenya. Fahari ya Jamii was scheduled to end in May 2026, but it has closed indefinitely because of a lack of U.S. funding.
More than 700 staff, mostly healthcare workers, on Jan. 31 were placed on unpaid leave for three months, or until Washington decides whether to unfreeze funding. More than 150 Fahari ya Jamii clinics that offer HIV treatment to at least 72,000 people on antiretroviral drugs have also shut down.
The initiativeās target groups include children, adolescents, and adults living with HIV; young people, men, and women at risk of HIV; and key populations that include men who have sex with men and female sex workers. Fahari ya Jamii since 2022 has offered HIV tests to more than 257,500 people, connected 94 percent of those who tested positive to treatment, distributed condoms and lubricants, and disseminated safter sex messages to their target groups.
Faith Ndungāu, advocacy manager for Kenya’s Health NGOs’ Network (HENNET) said the Trump-Vance administration should have used a humane approach to engage with countries that benefit from U.S. funding, instead of abruptly suspending it.
āWe are feeling the magnitude of the suspension in the health sector because these are lives; these are people,” said Ndung’u. “When such an abrupt decision is made, we are talking about more than one million people living with HIV being affected.ā
HENNET is an umbrella group with 112 members from local and international NGOs, faith-based organizations, and research institutions that focus on health-related issues inĀ Kenyaās 47 local governments.
āThis is now a wakeup call for Kenya and Africa to invest in the health sector by funding it more not to be in a similar crisis when a donor pulls out or forfeits his commitment,ā Ndungāu said.
Local governments that also rely on USAID to run PEPFAR programs have suspended their U.S.-funded activities and phased out the stand-alone comprehensive HIV care centers by integrating treatment and care into general health care services. This move has forced hundreds of health care workers to go onto unpaid leave and wait for further guidance.
Pema Kenya, a Mombasa-based queer lobby group, said the decision to suspend funding means “uncertain times” for the LGBTQ community and Kenyans at large who depend upon U.S.-funded groups for their health care.
āMany queer organizations rely heavily on USAID funding for vital services such as HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, mental health support, and legal aid,ā Pema Kenya stated.
Pema Kenya noted the suspension of U.S. aid could severely cripple queer organizations and leave vulnerable people with limited access to crucial resources.
āThis would be a significant setback in the fight against HIV/AIDS and other health crises disproportionately affecting the LGBTQ+ community,ā Pema Kenya stated.
GALCK, a coalition of 16 Kenyan LGBTQ rights groups, was even more blunt.
“This isn’t just a policy decision; it’s a matter of life and death,” it said in a statement.
OUT and Engage Man’s Health ā two South African organizations that provide HIV services to MSM, transgender people, sex workers, and other vulnerable groups through PEPFAR ā have also been impacted by the U.S. funding freeze.
OUT and Engage Manās Health, which provides HIV services to MSM, announced on Jan. 27 that it will stop offering services āuntil further noticeā due to a lack of funding. The organization asked its clients to seek services from the nearest public health facilities.
āWe deeply value our clients and remain committed to safeguarding your health,” said the announcement. “We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and disruption this may cause. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide further details at this time.ā
Kenya and most other African countries have said a permanent suspension of U.S. aid will adversely impact progress made in the health sector, particularly the fight against HIV/AIDS. Botswana and some other nations on the continent that use their national budgets to purchase antiretroviral drugs, have assured their citizens the supply of these medications will not be interrupted.
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