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Trump reiterates anti-LGBTQ themes in presidential campaign announcement

Advocacy groups condemned the former president

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Former President Donald Trump (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Announcing his plans to run again for president in 2024, former President Donald Trump’s speech on Tuesday night from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida recycled themes of economic populism, international trade, and fear mongering over immigration from Latin American countries that were central to his 2016 campaign.

Trump did touch on more current subjects, however, first by downplaying the defeat suffered by Republican candidates in last week’s midterm elections, as well as those who have blamed him for the party’s weaker-than-expected showing at the ballot box.

He then recited popular recent Republican talking points about President Joe Biden’s age, inflation, energy prices, election integrity, and instability overseas, blaming the current administration for America’s dicey withdrawal from Afghanistan and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Next, the former president expressed admiration for China and Singapore’s ruthless prosecution of drug dealers, suggesting that American leaders emulate their example, before turning his attention to matters concerning transgender youth in schools and in the military.

Schools engaged in “radical civics and gender insanity” will lose federal funding, Trump promised.

“We will not let men, as an example, participate in women’s sports. No men! My people tell me ‘Sir, that’s politically incorrect to say.’ I say, ‘that’s okay, I’ll say it anyway,’” he said. “As commander-in-chief, I will get Biden’s radical left ideology out of our military.”

Trump appeared to reference Biden’s reversal, with an executive order, of the Trump administration’s ban on trans Americans from serving in the armed forces.

As the former president delivered his speech, LGBTQ groups published statements condemning Trump’s planned 2024 run.

GLAAD’s statement read:

“GLAAD documented more than 200 attacks against LGBTQ people throughout the Trump-Pence administration.  It was an administration defined by anti-LGBTQ actions and rhetoric and policy that empowered white supremacists and fueled racism, xenophobia, antisemitism and misogyny. The unmistakable message from the 2022 midterms is that Americans value freedom, support the democratic process, and reject the divisive policies of the recent past. GLAAD urges the media to include former President Trump’s record against LGBTQ equality in their campaign reporting.”

A statement from LGBTQ Victory Fund President Annise Parker read in part:

“Another Donald Trump presidency presents a serious threat to our nation’s LGBTQ community which continues to face rampant homophobia and transphobia fueled by his divisiveness. Donald Trump and those who wish to follow in his footsteps continue to use our community — and LGBTQ kids in particular — as political pawns in their quest for power.”

The Human Rights Campaign issued a press release documenting “Trump’s timeline of hate.” Joni Madison, the group’s interim president, condemned the former president’s reelection bid, writing in part that:

“Even as Republican voters have become increasingly supportive of LGBTQ+ people — registering majority approval of nondiscrimination projections and marriage equality — [Trump] and his extremist MAGA supporters have worked tirelessly to try to slander and demonize us, our relationships, and our families. His time in office saw a relentless onslaught of unconscionable executive orders that made it harder to live as an LGBTQ+ person in this country.”

Among the songs that played before Trump took the stage was “Do You Hear the People Sing?” from Victor Hugo’s “Les Misérables,” a tune whose next refrain is “singing the song of angry men.”

Trump’s decision to run again for the presidency, and to announce his candidacy so early is widely believed to be — at least in part — a means of dodging the many investigations by state and federal law enforcement agencies in which the former president has become enmeshed.

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New York

Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade

One of the victims remains in critical condition

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The Stonewall National Memorial in New York on June 19, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

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.”

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New York

Zohran Mamdani participates in NYC Pride parade

Mayoral candidate has detailed LGBTQ rights platform

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NYC mayoral candidate and New York State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani (Screen capture: NBC News/YouTube)

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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U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court upholds ACA rule that makes PrEP, other preventative care free

Liberal justices joined three conservatives in majority opinion

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The U.S. Supreme Court as composed June 30, 2022, to present. Front row, left to right: Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., and Associate Justice Elena Kagan. Back row, left to right: Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Photo Credit: Fred Schilling, the U.S. Supreme Court)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a portion of the Affordable Care Act requiring private health insurers to cover the cost of preventative care including PrEP, which significantly reduces the risk of transmitting HIV.

Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the majority opinion in the case, Kennedy v. Braidwood Management. He was joined by two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, along with the three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown-Jackson.

The court’s decision rejected the plaintiffs’ challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s reliance on the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force to “unilaterally” determine which types of care and services must be covered by payors without cost-sharing.

An independent all-volunteer panel of nationally recognized experts in prevention and primary care, the 16 task force members are selected by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to serve four-year terms.

They are responsible for evaluating the efficacy of counseling, screenings for diseases like cancer and diabetes, and preventative medicines — like Truvada for PrEP, drugs to reduce heart disease and strokes, and eye ointment for newborns to prevent infections.

Parties bringing the challenge objected especially to the mandatory coverage of PrEP, with some arguing the drugs would “encourage and facilitate homosexual behavior” against their religious beliefs.

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