National
Trans visibility, LGBTQ progress in military on display at DOD Pride event

Transgender visibility in the U.S. military was on full display on Tuesday during the Pentagon’s annual event recognizing Pride month, which this year featured two transgender speakers in prominent positions in the aftermath of the Biden administration lifting the transgender military ban.
The event — hosted in coordination with DOD Pride, the affinity group for LGBTQ employees and service members within the Defense Department — took place in the Pentagon auditorium under the theme of “All Together” and highlighted progress in stripping away barriers previously preventing LGBTQ people from serving in their roles, such as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the transgender military ban.
Lt. Col. Bree Fram, who’s transgender and deputy chief of acquisition polices and processes at U.S. Space Force, said she often feared she would no longer be able to serve in uniform based on the “whim of executive orders.” But two months ago when she disclosed to colleagues she was having surgery to treat cancer, she received overwhelming support.
“That’s the spirit of all together: Leadership was behind me because they would have been behind any member of the team going through one of the scariest moments of their life,” Fram said. “They know that each of us brings value to the team and that all of us are worthy of the support needed to be our best selves.”
Fram, co-leader of the transgender policy team within the Department of the Air Force’s LGBTQ initiative team, recounted the experience of a transgender service member whose colleagues refused to use her personal pronouns and began putting them in her email signature in defiance of military policy. Although colleagues had initially sought to ban her from the network, Fram said a supervisor stepped in to revise and allow the service members to continue using them in emails.
“So for all of you out there, I ask you to set out your symbols of pride, share your pronouns in your email, particularly if you’re a person who doesn’t think they need to,” Fram said. “Initiate difficult conversations about racial and gender barriers and share a bit of your vulnerability in a way that draws others in.”
Shawn Skelly, who’s transgender and assistant secretary of defense for readiness, also spoke and drew heavily from President Biden’s proclamation for Pride month to discuss the challenges still facing LGBTQ people after years of progress.
“America’s formative promise to itself remains today tangibly unfulfilled for too many Americans,” Skelly said. “And remarkably, for the LGBTQ+ Americans of today, we’re increasingly at specific, targeted risk, which includes those serving within this department.”
Under Secretary of the Air Force Gina Ortiz Jones, who’s a lesbian, also spoke and remarked on the progress seen in the military since she was forced to sign a document as a cadet of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” prohibiting her from participating in homosexual acts.
“I knew exactly what that meant: I knew that my opportunity to get an education. I knew that my opportunity to serve our country. I knew my opportunity to die for our country or maybe all of that would go away, just because at the time we did not have enough leaders with the courage to say anybody ready and willing to serve their country should have the opportunity to do so,” Jones said.
Jones recounted a story after she took office in the Biden administration and wanted to set up a photo shoot with other LGBTQ service members who had served under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” To her surprise on the day of the shoot, Jones said, many younger service members too young to remember the law showed up and were part of the photograph.
“But I leaned over and I said, ‘Hey, you know, what’s going on here? Some of these folks look a little too young to serve,”” Jones said. “And they said, ‘Oh no, many of these folks wanted to be part of the picture because they are serving because ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ was repealed … So it really shows you what is possible when you’re willing to do the hard work that talent in our country among those serving — the talent we are able to tap into — if we are willing to remove those barriers to ensure folks can serve to their full potential.”
The top defense official present was Kathleen Hicks, who promoted the Defense Department as having a commitment to advancing policies and programs aimed at developing “a leadership pipeline of diverse talent and create pathways for everyone at DOD to realize their potential.”
“We know that organizational climates affect our workforces’ experiences,” Hicks said. “More to the point it affects our warrior readiness. Therefore, we are directing initiatives to improve leader skill development and foster more effective inclusive team environments.”
Hicks said the Defense Department is in the final stages of developing a diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility plan, which she said will direct activities within the department and identify priorities within the coming year.
Among those in attendance at the event were British Ambassador to the United States Karen Price; Secretary of the Navy Carlos del Toro; Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calf.); Maj. Gen. Leah Lauderback, director of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for U.S. Space Force; White House Director of Presidential Personnel Gautam Raghavan; and Ruben Gonzalez, special assistant to the president for White House Domestic Agency Personnel.
Federal Government
UPenn erases Lia Thomas’s records as part of settlement with White House
University agreed to ban trans women from women’s sports teams

In a settlement with the Trump-Vance administration announced on Tuesday, the University of Pennsylvania will ban transgender athletes from competing and erase swimming records set by transgender former student Lia Thomas.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found the university in violation of Title IX, the federal rights law barring sex based discrimination in educational institutions, by “permitting males to compete in women’s intercollegiate athletics and to occupy women-only intimate facilities.”
The statement issued by University of Pennsylvania President J. Larry Jameson highlighted how the law’s interpretation was changed substantially under President Donald Trump’s second term.
“The Department of Education OCR investigated the participation of one transgender athlete on the women’s swimming team three years ago, during the 2021-2022 swim season,” he wrote. “At that time, Penn was in compliance with NCAA eligibility rules and Title IX as then interpreted.”
Jameson continued, “Penn has always followed — and continues to follow — Title IX and the applicable policy of the NCAA regarding transgender athletes. NCAA eligibility rules changed in February 2025 with Executive Orders 14168 and 14201 and Penn will continue to adhere to these new rules.”
Writing that “we acknowledge that some student-athletes were disadvantaged by these rules” in place while Thomas was allowed to compete, the university president added, “We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time.”
“Today’s resolution agreement with UPenn is yet another example of the Trump effect in action,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, UPenn has agreed both to apologize for its past Title IX violations and to ensure that women’s sports are protected at the university for future generations of female athletes.”
Under former President Joe Biden, the department’s Office of Civil Rights sought to protect against anti-LGBTQ discrimination in education, bringing investigations and enforcement actions in cases where school officials might, for example, require trans students to use restrooms and facilities consistent with their birth sex or fail to respond to peer harassment over their gender identity.
Much of the legal reasoning behind the Biden-Harris administration’s positions extended from the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County, which found that sex-based discrimination includes that which is based on sexual orientation or gender identity under Title VII rules covering employment practices.
The Trump-Vance administration last week put the state of California on notice that its trans athlete policies were, or once were, in violation of Title IX, which comes amid the ongoing battle with Maine over the same issue.
New York
Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade
One of the victims remains in critical condition

On Sunday night, following the annual NYC Pride March, two girls were shot in Sheridan Square, feet away from the historic Stonewall Inn.
According to an NYPD report, the two girls, aged 16 and 17, were shot around 10:15 p.m. as Pride festivities began to wind down. The 16-year-old was struck in the head and, according to police sources, is said to be in critical condition, while the 17-year-old was said to be in stable condition.
The Washington Blade confirmed with the NYPD the details from the police reports and learned no arrests had been made as of noon Monday.
The shooting took place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, mere feet away from the most famous gay bar in the city — if not the world — the Stonewall Inn. Earlier that day, hundreds of thousands of people marched down Christopher Street to celebrate 55 years of LGBTQ people standing up for their rights.
In June 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, members of the LGBTQ community pushed back, sparking what became known as the Stonewall riots. Over the course of two days, LGBTQ New Yorkers protested the discriminatory policing of queer spaces across the city and mobilized to speak out — and throw bottles if need be — at officers attempting to suppress their existence.
The following year, LGBTQ people returned to the Stonewall Inn and marched through the same streets where queer New Yorkers had been arrested, marking the first “Gay Pride March” in history and declaring that LGBTQ people were not going anywhere.
New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, whose district includes Greenwich Village, took to social media to comment on the shooting.
“After decades of peaceful Pride celebrations — this year gun fire and two people shot near the Stonewall Inn is a reminder that gun violence is everywhere,” the lesbian lawmaker said on X. “Guns are a problem despite the NRA BS.”
New York
Zohran Mamdani participates in NYC Pride parade
Mayoral candidate has detailed LGBTQ rights platform

Zohran Mamdani, the candidate for mayor of New York City who pulled a surprise victory in the primary contest last week, walked in the city’s Pride parade on Sunday.
The Democratic Socialist and New York State Assembly member published photos on social media with New York Attorney General Letitia James, telling followers it was “a joy to march in NYC Pride with the people’s champ” and to “see so many friends on this gorgeous day.”
“Happy Pride NYC,” he wrote, adding a rainbow emoji.
Mamdani’s platform includes a detailed plan for LGBTQ people who “across the United States are facing an increasingly hostile political environment.”
His campaign website explains: “New York City must be a refuge for LGBTQIA+ people, but private institutions in our own city have already started capitulating to Trump’s assault on trans rights.
“Meanwhile, the cost of living crisis confronting working class people across the city hits the LGBTQIA+ community particularly hard, with higher rates of unemployment and homelessness than the rest of the city.”
“The Mamdani administration will protect LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers by expanding and protecting gender-affirming care citywide, making NYC an LGBTQIA+ sanctuary city, and creating the Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs.”
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