National
Efforts to pass federal LGBTQ protections boosted with $6.5 million donation
Donations seek to duplicate success of marriage-equality movement


Efforts to pass a measure expanding the prohibition on discrimination against LGBTQ people under federal law have gotten a big boost with a nearly $6.5 million donation from a coalition of non-profits for an education campaign, the Washington Blade has learned exclusively.
The San Francisco-based Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund coordinated the grants, which seek to duplicate the success of the movement that achieved same-sex marriage nationwide to enact federal non-discrimination protections this year.
The contributions are intended “to educate the public and policymakers about the need for a federal response to anti-LGBTQ discrimination,” according to a statement.
“It’s long past time for the federal government to respond to the profound harms caused by pervasive discrimination against LGBT people,” Cathy Cha, CEO of the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund said in a statement.
The Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund for more than two decades has been at the forefront of supporting LGBTQ rights, including non-discrimination protections. It was the first foundation to embrace same-sex marriage as a priority and contributed more than $39 million to the marriage equality movement, according to a statement.
Other groups that have contributed to the $6.5 million in donations are the Gill Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Horizons Foundation, the Overbrook Foundation, the Pride Foundation and other philanthropic institutions. The contribution builds on the $1 million the Gill Foundation gave in support at the start of this year.
Scott Miller, co-chair of the Gill Foundation, said in a statement “the funders and advocates who helped win the right to marry for LGBTQ people have joined forces again and expanded our coalition in pursuit of equality for all Americans.”
“This alliance speaks to the unprecedented opportunity – and the long overdue need – to make sure everyone in this country is equal under the law,” Miller added.
The donations are announced as LGBTQ rights supporters are seeking to pass the Equality Act in Congress. The measure has cleared the House, but faces an uncertain future in the U.S. Senate, where 10 Republicans would be needed to overcome a filibuster.
The contributions, however, aren’t directed at passing the Equality Act per se because the contributors are 501(c)3 tax-exempt foundations and are unable to endorse any particular piece of legislation. The campaign is more generally geared toward supporting a solution for non-discrimination protections at the federal level.
Groups specifically seeking to pass the Equality Act, however, praised the $6.5 million as a welcome addition to the effort.
Kasey Suffredini, CEO of Freedom for All Americans, said in a statement the LGBTQ community is “closer than it has ever been to completing its nearly 50-year pursuit of nationwide nondiscrimination protections for all LGBTQ people.”
“Since the first federal non-discrimination measure was introduced in Congress in 1974, the generous contributions of foundations and major donors have powered our ability to show our fellow Americans who we are and challenges we face, opening hearts and changing minds in the process,” Suffredini said. “With a very short window to seize this once-in-a-generation opportunity, we are grateful again to these philanthropists for rising to the moment to carry our community over the finish line.”
In terms of where the money is going exactly, one-third of the Fund’s grants have been made to national organizations, including $800,000 to Freedom for All Americans Education Fund.
Additionally, money will go toward “empowering constituents to have conversations with lawmakers in more than 12 states, including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas,” according to a statement. State groups are seen as key in the effort to convince moderate senators to support an LGBTQ non-discrimination measure.
Tyler Deaton, senior adviser of the American Unity Fund, echoed the praise for the donations. In addition to supporting the Equality Act, his organization is pushing for the Fairness for All Act, the Republican compromise measure for LGBTQ rights and religious freedom.
“This is the best moment we’ve ever had to win full freedom for LGBTQ Americans, and we can win as long as we come together with allies all across the political spectrum and respectfully address everyone’s reasonable concerns,” Deaton said.
Federal Government
RFK Jr.’s HHS report pushes therapy, not medical interventions, for trans youth
‘Discredited junk science’ — GLAAD

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.”
The White House
Trump nominates Mike Waltz to become next UN ambassador
Former Fla. congressman had been national security advisor

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.
U.S. Federal Courts
Second federal lawsuit filed against White House passport policy
Two of seven plaintiffs live in Md.

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.