Congress
Victory Institute urges Senate to confirm key LGBTQ Biden nominees
Letter addressed to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)

The LGBTQ Victory Institute will issue a letter on Friday urging Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to move for a vote on 11 LGBTQ nominees for key posts in the Biden administration, the group told the Washington Blade.
The letter notes that several of these appointments have languished before the Senate and its committees for more than 100 days since they were first announced by the White House, underscoring the urgency for lawmakers to take action in the waning days before the new Congress is seated in January.
Victory Institute Senior Manager for Presidential Appointments Jonathan Dromgoole told the Blade that the group will continue advocating on behalf of the candidates if Congress fails to approve them by the year’s end — in which case they must be re-nominated by President Joe Biden to begin the approvals process anew.
Dromgoole echoed the praise in the Victory Institute’s letter for the strides that Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and pro-LGBTQ legislators in the Senate have made to nominate and approve a record number of LGBTQ candidates to serve in the administration, as well as their success in passing the historic Respect for Marriage Act, which was signed into law this week.
At the same time, “we’re really urging Sen. Schumer — who has the power to do this, to bring these folks up to a vote — to take action, because they’ve truly been waiting long enough,” Dromgoole said.
Confirming these nominees is essential, not just for reasons of representation and the need to include LGBTQ people in policymaking, but also for Americans more broadly, Dromgoole said. Having qualified candidates seated and serving in these key government posts will benefit everyone, perhaps especially when those positions would otherwise remain vacant, he said.
The 11 LGBTQ nominees awaiting Senate confirmation includes six jurists who were picked to fill open judgeships in U.S. federal district courts, a candidate nominated for foreign ambassadorships, and individuals who were selected for key posts at the Departments of Energy and Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Federal Communications Commission.
If confirmed, Gigi Sohn, Biden’s pick for FCC commissioner, would provide the key votes necessary to pass rules and policies that have been held up for more than a year because of the agency’s bipartisan leadership structure, with voting commissioners from both parties serving under Democratic Chair Jessica Rosenworcel.
Sohn’s confirmation process has been embroiled in conflict, perhaps in large part because of Republican opposition to rules and policies that would pass with her tie-breaking votes.
Nevertheless, and especially with respect to the other 10 candidates, Dromgoole said partisan political disagreements should have nothing to do with the Senate’s deliberations. These nominees are qualified and ready to do the work, he said. “They are there to really look at the laws and interpret those laws in a nonpartisan way” on behalf of the American people.
More broadly, Dromgoole said, the 11 nominees “really do represent and give effect to the president’s mission, to make sure that the appointees look like America. And in this case, yes, we’re focused on LGBTQ individuals as part of the Victory Institute’s work. But a lot of these folks hold multiple identities that they’re able to bring into their jobs on day one.”
“And I think the timing is right with both President Biden and the pro LGBTQ mandate that the Senate has right now, to get these folks over the finish line in these last critical weeks. So, we’re hopeful and we’re going to continue to champion them and all of our appointees as we move forward.”
The Victory Institute’s Presidential Appointments Initiative was started during the Clinton White House, during which time Dromgoole said only about 30 LGBTQ people were working in the administration.
The group claims to have had a hand in 40 percent of the LGBTQ individuals who were selected and approved for key roles in the Biden-Harris administration — the most inclusive to-date, with 15 percent identifying as LGBTQ.
Congress
Congress passes ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ with massive cuts to health insurance coverage
Roughly 1.8 million LGBTQ Americans rely on Medicaid

The “Big, Beautiful Bill” heads to President Donald Trump’s desk following the vote by the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday, which saw two nays from GOP members and unified opposition from the entire Democratic caucus.
To partially offset the cost of tax breaks that disproportionately favor the wealthy, the bill contains massive cuts to Medicaid and social safety net programs like food assistance for the poor while adding a projected $3.3 billion to the deficit.
Policy wise, the signature legislation of Trump’s second term rolls back clean energy tax credits passed under the Biden-Harris administration while beefing up funding for defense and border security.
Roughly 13 percent of LGBTQ adults in the U.S., about 1.8 million people, rely on Medicaid as their primary health insurer, compared to seven percent of non-LGBTQ adults, according to the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute think tank on sexual orientation and gender identities.
In total, the Congressional Budget Office estimates the cuts will cause more than 10 million Americans to lose their coverage under Medicaid and anywhere from three to five million to lose their care under Affordable Care Act marketplace plans.
A number of Republicans in the House and Senate opposed the bill reasoning that they might face political consequences for taking away access to healthcare for, particularly, low-income Americans who rely on Medicaid. Poorer voters flocked to Trump in last year’s presidential election, exit polls show.
A provision that would have blocked the use of federal funds to reimburse medical care for transgender youth was blocked by the Senate Parliamentarian and ultimately struck from the legislation — reportedly after the first trans member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) and the first lesbian U.S. senator, Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), shored up unified opposition to the proposal among Congressional Democrats.
Congress
Ritchie Torres says he is unlikely to run for NY governor
One poll showed gay Democratic congressman nearly tied with Kathy Hochul

Gay Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres of New York is unlikely to challenge New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in the state’s next gubernatorial race, he said during an appearance Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“I’m unlikely to run for governor,” he said. ““I feel like the assault that we’ve seen on the social safety net in the Bronx is so unprecedented. It’s so overwhelming that I’m going to keep my focus on Washington, D.C.”
Torres and Hochul were nearly tied in a poll this spring of likely Democratic voters in New York City, fueling speculation that the congressman might run. A Siena College poll, however, found Hochul leading with a wider margin.
Back in D.C., the congressman and his colleagues are unified in their opposition to President Donald Trump’s signature legislation, the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which heads back to the House after passing the Senate by one vote this week.
To pay for tax cuts that disproportionately advantage the ultra-wealthy and large corporations, the president and Congressional Republicans have proposed massive cuts to Medicaid and other social programs.
A provision in the Senate version of the bill that would have blocked the use of federal funds to reimburse medical care for transgender youth was blocked by the Senate Parliamentarian and ultimately struck from the legislation, reportedly after pressure from transgender U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) and lesbian U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).
Torres on “Morning Joe” said, “The so-called Big Beautiful Bill represents a betrayal of the working people of America and nowhere more so than in the Bronx,” adding, “It’s going to destabilize every health care provider, every hospital.”
Congress
House Democrats oppose Bessent’s removal of SOGI from discrimination complaint forms
Congressional Equality Caucus sharply criticized move

A letter issued last week by a group of House Democrats objects to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s removal of sexual orientation and gender identity as bases for sex discrimination complaints in several Equal Employment Opportunity forms.
Bessent, who is gay, is the highest ranking openly LGBTQ official in American history and the second out Cabinet member next to Pete Buttigieg, who served as transportation secretary during the Biden-Harris administration.
The signatories to the letter include a few out members of Congress, Congressional Equality Caucus chair and co-chairs Mark Takano (Calif.), Ritchie Torres (N.Y.), and Becca Balint (Vt.), along with U.S. Reps. Nikema Williams (Ga.), Hank Johnson (Ga.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (Ill.), Delia Ramirez (Ill.), Joyce Beatty (Ohio), Lloyd Doggett (Texas), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.), Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), and Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas).
The letter explains the “critical role” played by the EEO given the strictures and limits on how federal employees can find recourse for unlawful workplace discrimination — namely, without the ability to file complaints directly with the Employment Opportunity Commission or otherwise engage with the agency unless the complainant “appeal[s] an agency’s decision following the agency’s investigation or request[s] a hearing before an administrative judge.”
“Your attempt to remove ‘gender identity’ and ‘sexual orientation’ as bases for sex discrimination complaints in numerous Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) forms will create unnecessary hurdles to employees filing EEO complaints and undermine enforcement of federal employee’s nondiscrimination protections,” the members wrote in their letter.
They further explain the legal basis behind LGBTQ inclusive nondiscrimination protections for federal employees in the EEOC’s decisions in Macy v. Holder (2012) and Baldwin v. Foxx (2015) and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020).
“It appears that these changes may be an attempt by the department to dissuade employees from reporting gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination,” the lawmakers wrote. “Without forms clearly enumerating gender identity and sexual orientation as forms of sex discrimination, the average employee who experiences these forms of discrimination may see these forms and not realize that the discrimination they experienced was unlawful and something that they can report and seek recourse for.”
“A more alarming view would be that the department no longer plans to fulfill its legal obligations to investigate complaints of gender identity and sexual orientation and ensure its
employees are working in an environment free from these forms of discrimination,” they added.
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