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Gay D.C. Libertarian Party leader resigns as nat’l chair

Fight over control threatens to shatter organization

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Joe Bishop-Henchman (Photo via Twitter)

Gay D.C. Libertarian Party leader Joe Bishop-Henchman, who ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the D.C. Council in 2020, resigned in June as chair of the Libertarian National Committee in what observers are calling a bitter intra-party dispute that could shatter the nation’s third largest political party.

In a little-noticed development outside Libertarian Party circles, Bishop-Henchman, who had been serving as chair of the D.C. Libertarian Party since June 2018, won election last year as chair of the Libertarian National Committee, which is the governing body of the national Libertarian Party.

He announced his resignation from the national party chair position in a June 18 open letter in which he denounced national party leaders for failing to oppose a growing faction within the party centered in New Hampshire that he said has adopted a “toxic culture” that was destroying the party.

“The lies and threats leveled against myself and many good Libertarians and friends – less about my actions with regard to New Hampshire, and threats against any Libertarian who tries to defend the Party – have made clear to me that we are now firmly set down a path I cannot continue to support,” he states in his letter.

“At its root, the biggest problem I see in the Libertarian Party, at nearly all levels, is that toxic people are tolerated,” he wrote. “One or two rotten apples spoil the bunch. Toxic people exhaust or drive out good people,” he continued. “Our mechanisms for removing such individuals and addressing such bad behavior are designed to be effectively impossible.”

Bishop-Henchman didn’t specifically say in his letter who he was referring to and what it was those he was criticizing were doing. But a June 23 article in the online libertarian publication Reason, which is not affiliated with the Libertarian Party, says Bishop-Henchman appears to be referring to leaders of a party faction known as the Mises caucus, which reportedly is attempting to gain control of the national Libertarian Party after taking control of several state parties, including New Hampshire.

The article says some in the Mises faction have taken what mainline libertarians consider extremist positions, including comparing restrictions imposed by cities and states in response to the COVID-19 pandemic such as mandates for the wearing masks or shutting down indoor business operations and vaccination requirements as Nazi-like tactics comparable to concentration camps in Hitler’s Germany.

One of the statements made on Twitter by a leader of the New Hampshire Mises faction, according to the Reason article, says, “John McCain’s brain tumor saved more lives than Anthony Fauci.” Another Twitter posting by a supporter of the Mises faction, the Reason article says, reportedly stated that the party should be concerned more about lowering taxes than the murder of transgender women and that child labor should no longer be outlawed in the U.S.

Several other national party leaders followed Bishop-Henchman in resigning from their positions over what they said were irreconcilable disagreements with the Mises faction followers and leaders.

A spokesperson for the Libertarian National Committee couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on Bishop-Henchman’s criticism of the party.

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Congress

House passes reconciliation with gender-affirming care funding ban

‘Big Beautiful Bill’ now heads to the Senate

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U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) (Washington Blade photo by Michael. Key)

The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday voted 215-214 for passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” reconciliation package, which includes provisions that would prohibit the use of federal funds to support gender-affirming care.

But for an 11th hour revision of the bill late Wednesday night by conservative lawmakers, Medicaid and CHIP would have been restricted only from covering treatments and interventions administered to patients younger than 18.

The legislation would also drop requirements that some health insurers must cover gender-affirming care as an “essential health benefit” and force states that currently mandate such coverage to find it independently. Plans could still offer coverage for transgender care but without the EHB classification patients will likely pay higher out of pocket costs.

To offset the cost of extending tax cuts from 2017 that disproportionately benefited the wealthiest Americans, the reconciliation bill contains significant cuts to spending for federal programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The Human Rights Campaign criticized House Republicans in a press release and statement by the group’s president, Kelley Robinson:

“People in this country want policies and solutions that make life better and expand access to the American Dream. Instead, anti-equality lawmakers voted to give  handouts to billionaires built on the backs of hardworking people — with devastating consequences for the LGBTQ+ community.

“If the cuts to programs like Medicaid and SNAP or resources like Planned Parenthood clinics weren’t devastating enough, House Republicans added a last minute provision that expands its attacks on access to best practice health care to transgender adults.

“This cruel addition shows their priorities have never been about lowering costs or expanding health care access–but in targeting people simply for who they are. These lawmakers have abandoned their constituents, and as they head back to their districts, know this: they will hear from us.”

Senate Republicans are expected to pass the bill with the budget reconciliation process, which would allow them to bypass the filibuster and clear the spending package with a simple majority vote.

Changes are expected as the bill will be reviewed and amended by committees, particularly the Finance Committee, and then brought to the floor for debate — though modifications are expected to focus on Medicaid reductions and debate over state and local tax deductions.

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Congress

Gerry Connolly dies at 75 after battle with esophageal cancer

Va. congressman fought for LGBTQ rights

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U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) speaks at a Barack Obama rally on Oct. 19, 2012. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Democratic U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia died on Wednesday, according to a statement from his family.

The 75-year-old lawmaker, who served in Congress since 2009, announced last month that he will not seek reelection and would step down from his role as the top Democrat on the powerful U.S. House Oversight Committee because his esophageal cancer had returned.

“We were fortunate to share Gerry with Northern Virginia for nearly 40 years because that was his joy, his purpose, and his passion,” his family said in their statement. “His absence will leave a hole in our hearts, but we are proud that his life’s work will endure for future generations.”

“He looked out for the disadvantaged and voiceless. He always stood up for what is right and just,” they said.

Connolly was memorialized in statements from colleagues and friends including House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson (La.), former President Joe Biden, and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).

Several highlighted Connolly’s fierce advocacy on behalf of federal workers, who are well represented in his northern Virginia congressional district.

The congressman also supported LGBTQ rights throughout his life and career.

When running for the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 1994, he fought the removal of Washington Blade newspapers from libraries. When running in 2008 for the U.S. house seat vacated by Tom Davis, a Republican, Connolly campaigned against the amendment to Virginia’s constitution banning same-sex marriage and civil unions in the state.

In Congress, he supported the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality, the Biden-Harris administration’s rescission of the anti-trans military ban, and the designation within the State Department of a special LGBTQ rights envoy. The congressman also was an original cosponsor of the Equality Act and co-sponsored legislation to repeal parts of the Defense of Marriage Act.


 

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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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