The White House
Biden hosts biggest-ever Pride month event at the White House
More than 1,000 guests welcomed to celebration on the South Lawn
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden on Saturday welcomed more than 1,000 guests to the largest Pride month celebration ever hosted at the White House.
“Happy Pride Month,” the president said from a stage on the South Lawn. “Happy Pride year,” he added, “happy Pride life.”
The Biden-Harris administration has more openly-LGBTQ people working at every level of government than ever before, Biden noted, and “we’re doing everything we can to advance equality for the LGBTQ community.”
“As commander-in-chief, I was proud to reverse the ban on transgender Americans serving in the United States military. I signed historic executive orders extending civil rights protections for housing, employment, health care, education and the justice system.”
“We’re combatting the dangerous and cruel practice of conversation therapy and launching a new national strategy to end the HIV epidemic by 2030, working with communities to treat and contain the mpox outbreak, and ending the disgraceful practice of banning gay and bisexual men from donating blood.”
Biden said the administration is making LGBTQ equality around the world a top priority, such as by reviewing “our engagement with Uganda following its anti-gay law, the most extreme in the world.”
“Last December, we felt such pride here on the South Lawn when I signed the historic Respect for Marriage Act, which protects the marriages of same-sex and interracial couples.”
Despite this progress, the president said, “real challenges still remain.” For instance, he said, “When a person can be married in the morning and thrown out of the restaurant for being gay in the afternoon, something is still very wrong in America. That’s why the Congress must pass and send me the Equality Act.”
“Joining us today are survivors of Club Q and Pulse,” Biden said, shootings that highlight the importance of implementing the provisions of the bipartisan gun bill passed last year. He added that work must continue with banning assault weapons.
“With families across the country facing excruciating decisions to relocate to a different state to protect their child from dangerous anti LGBTQ laws, we have to act,” Biden said. “We have to act as a nation. We need to push back against the hundreds of callous and cynical bills and laws introduced in states targeting transgender children, terrifying families and criminalizing doctors and nurses.”
“These bills and laws attack the most basic values we have as Americans that’s not hyperbole,” said the president. “It’s a fact.”
“I recognize that for a lot of folks across the country, maybe it’s not you, your kid, your family member going through whatever a transgender child and their family is going through,” Biden said.
“But I think we can all agree,” he said, “if it were you, you’d want the space to figure it out with your family and doctor.”
“So today, I want to send a message to the entire community especially to transgender children. You aren’t alone. You are heard. You are understood … your president, my entire administration has your back!”
“Two days ago, I announced a series of new initiatives we’re taking to protect the LGBTQ community,” Biden said. “First, ensuring your physical safety. Whether you’re organizing a Pride parade, running a small business or just trying to focus at school, you shouldn’t have to deal with bomb threats, harassment, and violent attacks.”
“That’s why the Department of Homeland Security with the support of the Department of Justice and Department Health and Human Services is launching a safety partnership that’s gonna provide critical training and support to the community — dedicated resources to better protect festivals, marches, community centers and businesses.”
Second, said the president. “We’re addressing how the growing threat that book bans violate civil rights law when they target LGBTQ students or students of color and create hostile classroom environments.”
“Third, we’re investing in the future of LGBTQ kids. Last year we launched a nationwide crisis hotline for LGBTQ youth who are feeling isolated and overwhelmed,” said Biden, who also noted initiatives focused on mental health and combatting homelessness among LGBTQ youth.
“You set the example for the nation and quite frankly for the world,” Biden said. “You know, we all move forward when we’re together with your joy, your pride, lighting the way.”
The White House
White House has ‘no plans’ to recognize Pride month
President Donald Trump acknowledged LGBT people in 2019 tweet
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday said that President Donald Trump has “no plans” to recognize Pride month in 2025, a departure from policy and practice under the Biden-Harris administration.
“There are no plans for a proclamation for the month of June,” she said during a press briefing at the White House, “but I can tell you this president is very proud to be a president for all Americans, regardless of race, religion or creed.”
Trump during his first term declined to acknowledge the observance apart from a tweet in 2019 in which he wrote, “As we celebrate LGBT Pride month and recognize the outstanding contributions LGBT people have made to our great nation, let us also stand in solidarity with the many LGBT people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation.”
Democratic Former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama issued Pride month proclamations, and while Trump was the first Republican president to do so, his second term has seen a whole-of-government effort to restrict the rights of LGBTQ people.
Notably, given the president’s 2019 message about his administration’s work combatting the criminalization of queer people in countries overseas, so far those efforts have been stymied and defunded across the board since his return to the White House.
Anti-LGBTQ U.S. Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) introduced a resolution on Tuesday that would establish June as “Family Month,” which she said would “reject the lie of ‘Pride’ and instead honor God’s timeless and perfect design.”
“The American family is under relentless attack from a radical leftist agenda that seeks to erase truth, redefine marriage and confuse our children,” the congresswoman told the Daily Wire.
The White House
Trump travels to Middle East countries with death penalty for homosexuality
President traveled to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates
Homosexuality remains punishable by death in two of the three Middle East countries that President Donald Trump visited last week.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar are among the handful of countries in which anyone found guilty of engaging in consensual same-sex sexual relations could face the death penalty.
Trump was in Saudi Arabia from May 13-14. He traveled to Qatar on May 14.
“The law prohibited consensual same-sex sexual conduct between men but did not explicitly prohibit same-sex sexual relations between women,” notes the State Department’s 2023 human rights report, referring specifically to Qatar’s criminalization law. “The law was not systematically enforced. A man convicted of having consensual same-sex sexual relations could receive a sentence of seven years in prison. Under sharia, homosexuality was punishable by death; there were no reports of executions for this reason.”
Trump on May 15 arrived in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
The State Department’s 2023 human rights report notes the “penalty for individuals who engaged in ‘consensual sodomy with a man'” in the country “was a minimum prison sentence of six months if the individual’s partner or guardian filed a complaint.”
“There were no known reports of arrests or prosecutions for consensual same-sex sexual conduct. LGBTQI+ identity, real or perceived, could be deemed an act against ‘decency or public morality,’ but there were no reports during the year of persons prosecuted under these provisions,” reads the report.
The report notes Emirati law also criminalizes “men who dressed as women or entered a place designated for women while ‘disguised’ as a woman.” Anyone found guilty could face up to a year in prison and a fine of up to 10,000 dirhams ($2,722.60.)
Trump returned to the U.S. on May 16.
The White House notes Trump during the trip secured more than $2 trillion “in investment agreements with Middle Eastern nations ($200 billion with the United Arab Emirates, $600 billion with Saudi Arabia, and $1.2 trillion with Qatar) for a more safe and prosperous future.”
Former President Joe Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2022.
Saudi Arabia is scheduled to host the 2034 World Cup. The 2022 World Cup took place in Qatar.
The White House
Trump nominates Mike Waltz to become next UN ambassador
Former Fla. congressman had been national security advisor
President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he will nominate Mike Waltz to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
Waltz, a former Florida congressman, had been the national security advisor.
Trump announced the nomination amid reports that Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, were going to leave the administration after Waltz in March added a journalist to a Signal chat in which he, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other officials discussed plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.
“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States ambassador to the United Nations,” said Trump in a Truth Social post that announced Waltz’s nomination. “From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role.”
Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as interim national security advisor, “while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department.”
“Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to make America, and the world, safe again,” said Trump.
Trump shortly after his election nominated U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Trump in March withdrew her nomination in order to ensure Republicans maintained their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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