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

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Bree Fram, transgender troops, gay news, Washington Blade
Lt. Col. Bree Fram was among the speakers at the annual 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.

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U.S. Federal Courts

9th Circuit upholds lower court ruling that blocked anti-trans Ariz. law

Statute bans transgender girls from sports teams that correspond with gender identity

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(Bigstock photo)

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld a lower court’s decision that blocked enforcement of an Arizona law banning transgender girls from playing on public schools’ sports team that correspond with their gender identity.

Then-Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, in 2022 signed the law.

The Associated Press reported the parents of two trans girls challenged the law in a lawsuit they filed in U.S. District Court in Tucson, Ariz., in April 2023. U.S. District Judge Jennifer Zipps on July 20, 2023, blocked the law.

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, who was named as a defendant in the lawsuit, appealed the ruling to the 9th Circuit. Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes is not defending the law.

A three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit unanimously upheld Zipps’s ruling.

“We are pleased with the 9th Circuit’s ruling today, which held that the Arizona law likely violates the Equal Protection Clause and recognizes that a student’s transgender status is not an accurate proxy for athletic ability and competitive advantage,” said Rachel Berg, a staff attorney for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, in a press release.

NCLR represents the two plaintiffs in the case.

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California

LGBTQ journalists convene in Los Angeles for largest-ever NLGJA conference

NLGJA hits Hollywood: Empowering diverse voices in media

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(Washington Blade photo by Joe Reberkenny)

This weekend, the heat wasn’t the only thing taking over Los Angeles. NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists was hosting its convention in Hollywood. This weekend was slated to be the biggest and most attended conference NLGJA has ever seen.

The NLGJA conference is hosted annually in a different city, focusing on uplifting and supporting LGBTQ journalists who have often been overlooked in newsrooms across the U.S. This year it’s in Los Angeles at the Loews Hollywood Hotel, right off the famous Hollywood Boulevard. The conference has an extensive range of events including networking meetings, panel discussions with LGBTQ media giants and workshops, all designed to aid LGBTQ journalists.

The mission of NLGJA is to “advance fair and accurate coverage of LGBTQ+ communities and issues” and “promote diverse and inclusive workplaces.” NLGJA has worked toward this mission since 1990, when Leroy F. Aarons founded the association.

Los Angeles last hosted the conference in 2003, the year discrimination protections for sexual orientation and gender identity expression became state law. It was held at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel that year and attendance included more than 500 journalists from around the nation.

The city has a vibrant gay scene — West Hollywood (often referred to as WeHo) has more than 40 percent of residents identifying within the LGBTQ community, holds the record for the earliest lesbian publication in the U.S. with Vice Versa in 1947, and hosted the first Pride parade in the U.S. (alongside New York and Chicago.)

This year has a long lineup of convention speakers touching on multiple themes. The lineup includes actors Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Zachary Quinto, who will talk about their upcoming projects; CNN national news correspondent David Culver to discuss accurate social media reporting; Los Angeles Times reporter Tracy Brown to dissect pop culture reporting; and many more.

The conference talks cover a wide variety of topics, but all center around maximizing coverage of LGBTQ communities in traditional and new age media. Other key topics include how and why outlets need to diversify newsrooms as well as how to properly cover the ongoing and nuanced fight for transgender rights in America.

Besides professional talks, the conference offers LGBTQ journalists a way to strengthen their community, much of which is achieved outside the conference halls. One way the conference does this is by hosting a “night OUT” at a local gay bar where discussions of journalist-source relations, how to navigate being the only queer person in the newsroom, and what to say to allies when they begin to encroach on unfriendly rhetoric are just some of the topics that can be heard from attendees.

In addition to talks and community building, the conference is giving out awards to LGBTQ journalists who have made significant contributions to the coverage of LGBTQ issues in the past year. Awardees include popular social media journalist Erin Reed, the Texas Newsroom’s Lauren McGaughy, “Journalist of the Year” Steven Romo and many more.

This conference is crucial for the ongoing professional development of LGBTQ journalists, providing a unique opportunity to connect with peers, share experiences and gain insights from others within their community.

For more information, visit NLGJA’s website at www.nlgja.org.

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U.S. Supreme Court

164 members of Congress urge Supreme Court to protect trans rights

GRACE files separate brief in gender affirming care case

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U.S. Supreme Court (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

A group of 164 members of Congress filed an amicus brief on Tuesday urging the U.S. Supreme Court to defend transgender Americans’ access to medically necessary healthcare as the justices prepare to hear oral arguments this fall in U.S. v. Skrmetti.

Lawmakers who issued the 27-page brief include House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.), House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (Calif.), U.S. Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Congressional Equality Caucus Chair U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), along with the caucus’s 8 co-chairs and 25 vice-chairs. Ranking members of the powerful House Judiciary and House Ways and Means Committees, U.S. Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), were also among the signatories.

The case, among the most closely watched this term, will determine whether Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors, along with a similar law passed in Kentucky, violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

In their brief, the lawmakers urge the Supreme Court to treat with skepticism “legislation banning safe and effective therapies that comport with the standard of care” and to examine the role of “animosity towards transgender people” in states’ gender affirming care bans.

“Decisions about healthcare belong to patients, their doctors, and their families—not politicians,” Pocan said. “The law at issue in this case is motivated by an animus towards the trans community and is part of a cruel, coordinated attack on trans rights by anti-equality extremists. We strongly urge the Supreme Court to uphold the constitution’s promise of equal protection under the law and strike down Tennessee’s harmful ban.”

“For years, far-right Republicans have been leading constant, relentless, and escalating attacks on transgender Americans. Their age-old, discriminatory playbook now threatens access to lifesaving, gender-affirming care for more than 100,000 transgender and nonbinary children living in states with these bans if the Supreme Court uphold laws like Tennessee’s at the heart of Skrmetti fueled by ignorance and hate,” Markey said.

“Transgender people deserve the same access to healthcare as everyone else,” said Nadler. “There is no constitutionally sound justification to strip from families with transgender children, and their doctors, the decision to seek medical care and give it to politicians sitting in the state capitol. I trust parents, not politicians, to decide what is best for their transgender children.”

Pallone warned that if Tennessee’s ban, S.B. 1, is “allowed to stand, it will establish a dangerous precedent that will open the floodgates to further discrimination against transgender Americans.”

“Unending attacks from MAGA extremists across the nation are putting trans youth at risk with hateful laws to ban gender-affirming care,” said Merkley author of the Equality Act. “Let’s get politicians—who have no expertise in making decisions for patients—out of the exam room. The Court must reject these divisive policies, and Congress must pass the Equality Act to fully realize a more equal and just union for all.”

Also filing an amicus brief on Tuesday was the Gender Research Advisory Council + Education (GRACE), a transgender-led nonprofit that wrote, in a press release, “Skrmetti  is critically important to the transgender community because approximately 40% of trans youth live in the 25 states that have enacted such bans.”

The group argued laws like Tennessee’s S.B. 1 are cruel, discriminatory, and contradict “the position of every major medical association that such treatments are safe, effective and medically necessary for adolescents suffering from gender dysphoria.”

GRACE’s brief includes 28 families “who hope to share with the Court that they are responsible, committed parents from a variety of backgrounds who have successfully navigated their adolescent’s transition.”

“These parents sought medical expertise for their children with diligence regarding the best care available and input from experienced physicians and mental health professionals and they have seen firsthand the profound benefits of providing medically appropriate care to their transgender children,” said GRACE Board Member and brief co-author Sean Madden.

Left unchecked, this may start with the transgender community, but it certainly won’t end there,” added GRACE President Alaina Kupec. “Next it could be treatments for HIV or cancer.”

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