Congress
Republican senators focus on trans women in sports during ‘Protecting Pride’ hearing
HRC President Kelley Robinson among committee witnesses
During the Senate Judiciary Committee’s “Protecting Pride” hearing on Wednesday morning, Republican members were largely focused on transgender women’s participation in competitive sports.
Members on the other side of the aisle, meanwhile, addressed a variety of LGBTQ topics — including the need for passage of the Equality Act, which the Democrats reintroduced with a press conference just after the hearing.
Most questions from the GOP senators were addressed to one of their witnesses, Riley Gaines, who once competed with trans swimmer Lia Thomas and rose to public attention last year for her advocacy against the inclusion of trans women in athletics.
During the hearing, Gaines claimed not to be transphobic and insisted she harbored no negative feelings toward her former teammate, but used incendiary language about trans women, including repeatedly describing Thomas’ genitals and deliberately misgendering her.
For example, Republican Committee member U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) asked for her response to Thomas’ comments that she has used, as a pretext, “the guise of feminism to sort of push transphobic beliefs,” which Gaines dismissed by saying her former teammate was “mansplaining what it means to be a feminist.”
Despite the barrage of anti-trans laws introduced and passed in statehouses across the country this year, conservative federal lawmakers so far have made progress advancing just one, a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in April that would prohibit trans girls and women from competing on women’s and girls’ sports teams. (The bill is almost certainly destined to languish in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and President Joe Biden promised he would veto the measure should it ever reach his desk.)
While Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee dedicated most of their time to consternation over competitive sports, conservative state lawmakers have clawed back the rights and freedoms of their trans residents on multiple other fronts — including, notably, by restricting or blocking their access to guideline directed medical interventions consistent with the best practices standard of care as ordained by scientific and medical societies with the requisite expertise.
And while they engaged far less with him than they did with Gaines, the GOP senators invited another witness to Wednesday’s hearing, Matt Sharp, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom.
ADF, notes the Southern Poverty Law Center, “has supported the recriminalization of sexual acts between consenting LGBTQ adults in the U.S. and criminalization abroad; has defended state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people abroad; has contended that LGBTQ people are more likely to engage in pedophilia; and claims that a ‘homosexual agenda’ will destroy Christianity and society.”
Sharp used the opportunity to advocate for his client Laurie Smith whose case before the U.S. Supreme Court, 303 Creative v. Elenis, could lead to a ruling permitting business owners to claim religious exemptions from statewide laws prohibiting anti-LGBTQ discrimination.
Most of his prepared remarks before the committee, however, concerned healthcare treatments for trans youth, which he described in misleading and inaccurate ways, such as by claiming that LGBTQ advocates are pushing “to get dangerous and potentially irreversible gender transition procedures” performed on children.
Extreme positions like these are not inconsistent with views that many of the Republicans on the committee have expressed in the past. Last year, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) headlined her state’s “Rally to End Child Genital Mutilation,” a commonly used — and inaccurate — term used by anti-trans activists to describe gender affirming care even though genital surgeries are not recommended for minor patients.
Doctor Ximena Lopez, a witness invited by the Democratic senators, followed Sharp’s remarks by swatting down healthcare related misinformation and discussing her practice as a pediatrician trained in pediatric endocrinology with experience treating minor patients with gender affirming care.
“Misinformation,” she said, “is having a chilling effect,” and “the general public should know” that guideline directed gender affirming care is “based on more than two decades of research and clinical practice [and] accepted as established medical care by every leading medical organization including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association and many others.”
Lopez said the decision to opt for one’s child to undergo treatments for gender dysphoria per the best practices standard of care and clinical practice guidelines is “highly complex” and “not easy” for “any parent from any background.”
“It takes a lot of time and effort to meet with different health providers and physicians to discuss risks, benefits, and possible alternatives,” Lopez said.
She added, “I’m here because I’m very worried for the mental health of my patients, the ones I see in my clinic who are supported by their parents and receiving gender affirming care and thriving.”
Lopez, whose practice is located in Texas, said if these patients suddenly lose access to gender affirming care, she fears for the consequences on their mental health. They are “debating whether to leave or hide,” she said, “and it’s really devastating.”
Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson, the Democrats’ third witness, dedicated a portion of her prepared remarks to the Equality Act ahead of her appearance at the press conference announcing its reintroduction.
The legislation, which would extend federal nondiscrimination protections to LGBTQ Americans, has been introduced in Congress several times over more than a decade.
Particularly now that the Congress has made major inroads toward LGBTQ rights — codifying protections for same-sex couples, for instance, and repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” — Robinson said “it’s time for Congress to catch up to where our country already is.”
The Equality Act enjoys broad support, including from major companies, said Democratic Committee member U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.). She asked Robinson to confirm that it remains lawful in certain parts of the country to deny loans to LGBTQ applicants based only on bias toward their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Robinson had previously noted LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination protections are on the books in only 23 states.
She began her prepared remarks, however, by proclaiming that “LGBTQ+ people in the United States are living in a state of emergency.”
Robinson detailed the proliferation of legislative attacks against the community and described how each of the hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills introduced this year caused a spike in violent threats and dehumanizing rhetoric while putting families in the position of having to decide whether they might need to relocate to other states to protect their safety. Robinson described how the uptick in homophobia and transphobia has dramatically exacerbated the mental health crisis afflicting LGBTQ people, especially youth. She talked about the deadly shootings in LGBTQ spaces, and the murders of trans people.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) used his time to question Robinson.
Rather than addressing any of the matters she had discussed in her opening remarks, Cruz asked Robinson to state for the record whether she believes there are differences between men and women, repeatedly interrupting and haranguing her when she tried to answer.
Congress
Top Congressional Democrats reintroduce Equality Act on Trump’s 100th day in office
Legislation would codify federal LGBTQ-inclusive non-discrimination protections
In a unified display of support for LGBTQ rights on President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office, congressional Democrats, including leadership from the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, reintroduced the Equality Act on Tuesday.
The legislation, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, codifying these protections into federal law in areas from jury service to housing and employment, faces an unlikely path to passage amid Republican control of both chambers of Congress along with the White House.
Speaking at a press conference on the grass across the drive from the Senate steps were Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.), U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), who is the first out LGBTQ U.S. Senator, U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (Calif.), who is gay and chairs the Congressional Equality Caucus, U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (N.H.), who is gay and is running for the U.S. Senate, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.), and U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (Ore.).
Also in attendance were U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (Del.), who is the first transgender member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Dina Titus (Nev.), U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (Ill.), and representatives from LGBTQ advocacy groups including the Human Rights Campaign and Advocates 4 Trans Equality.
Responding to a question from the Washington Blade on the decision to reintroduce the bill as Trump marks the hundredth day of his second term, Takano said, “I don’t know that there was a conscious decision,” but “it’s a beautiful day to stand up for equality. And, you know, I think the president is clearly hitting a wall that Americans are saying, many Americans are saying, ‘we didn’t vote for this.'”
A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released Sunday showed Trump’s approval rating in decline amid signs of major opposition to his agenda.
“Many Americans never voted for this, but many Americans, I mean, it’s a great day to remind them what is in the core of what is the right side of history, a more perfect union. This is the march for a more perfect union. That’s what most Americans believe in. And it’s a great day on this 100th day to remind our administration what the right side of history is.”
Merkley, when asked about the prospect of getting enough Republicans on board with the Equality Act to pass the measure, noted that, “If you can be against discrimination in employment, you can be against discrimination in financial contracts, you can be against discrimination in mortgages, in jury duty, you can be against discrimination in public accommodations and housing, and so we’re going to continue to remind our colleagues that discrimination is wrong.”
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which was sponsored by Merkley, was passed by the Senate in 2013 but languished in the House. The bill was ultimately broadened to become the Equality Act.
“As Speaker Nancy Pelosi has always taught me,” Takano added, “public sentiment is everything. Now is the moment to bring greater understanding and greater momentum, because, really, the Congress is a reflection of the people.”
“While we’re in a different place right this minute” compared to 2019 and 2021 when the Equality Act was passed by the House, Pelosi said she believes “there is an opportunity for corporate America to weigh in” and lobby the Senate to convince members of the need to enshrine federal anti-discrimination protections into law “so that people can fully participate.”
Congress
Democratic lawmakers travel to El Salvador, demand information about gay Venezuelan asylum seeker
Congressman Robert Garcia led delegation
California Congressman Robert Garcia on Tuesday said the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador has agreed to ask the Salvadoran government about the well-being of a gay asylum seeker from Venezuela who remains incarcerated in the Central American country.
The Trump-Vance administration last month “forcibly removed” Andry Hernández Romero, a stylist who asked for asylum because of persecution he suffered because of his sexual orientation and political beliefs, and other Venezuelans from the U.S. and sent them to El Salvador.
The White House on Feb. 20 designated Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, as an “international terrorist organization.” President Donald Trump on March 15 invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which the Associated Press notes allows the U.S. to deport “noncitizens without any legal recourse.”
Garcia told the Washington Blade that he and three other lawmakers — U.S. Reps. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), and Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) — met with U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador William Duncan and embassy staffers in San Salvador, the Salvadoran capital.
“His lawyers haven’t heard from him since he was abducted during his asylum process,” said Garcia.
The gay California Democrat noted the embassy agreed to ask the Salvadoran government to “see how he (Hernández) is doing and to make sure he’s alive.”
“That’s important,” said Garcia. “They’ve agreed to that … we’re hopeful that we get some word, and that will be very comforting to his family and of course to his legal team.”
Garcia, Frost, Dexter, and Ansari traveled to El Salvador days after House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) denied their request to use committee funds for their trip.
“We went anyways,” said Garcia. “We’re not going to be intimidated by that.”
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on April 14 met with Trump at the White House. U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) three days later sat down with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who the Trump-Vance administration wrongfully deported to El Salvador on March 15.
Abrego was sent to the country’s Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum-security prison known by the Spanish acronym CECOT. The Trump-Vance administration continues to defy a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ordered it to “facilitate” Abrego’s return to the U.S.
Garcia, Frost, Dexter, and Ansari in a letter they sent a letter to Duncan and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday demanded “access to” Hernández, who they note “may be imprisoned at” CECOT. A State Department spokesperson referred the Blade to the Salvadoran government in response to questions about “detainees” in the country.
Garcia said the majority of those in CECOT who the White House deported to El Salvador do not have criminal records.
“They can say what they want, but if they’re not presenting evidence, if a judge isn’t sending people, and these people have their due process, I just don’t understand how we have a country without due process,” he told the Blade. “It’s just the bedrock of our democracy.”
Garcia said he and Frost, Dexter, and Ansari spoke with embassy staff, Salvadoran journalists and human rights activists and “anyone else who would listen” about Hernández. The California Democrat noted he and his colleagues also highlighted Abrego’s case.
“He (Hernández) was accepted for his asylum claim,” said Garcia. “He (Hernández) signed up for the asylum process on an app that we created for this very purpose, and then you get snatched up and taken to a foreign prison. It is unacceptable and inhumane and cruel and so it’s important that we elevate his story and his case.”
The Blade asked Garcia why the Trump-Vance administration is deporting people to El Salvador without due process.
“I honestly believe that he (Trump) is a master of dehumanizing people, and he wants to continue his horrendous campaign to dehumanize migrants and scare the American public and lie to the American public,” said Garcia.
The State Department spokesperson in response to the Blade’s request for comment referenced spokesperson Tammy Bruce’s comments about Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador.
“These Congressional representatives would be better off focused on their own districts,” said the spokesperson. “Instead, they are concerned about non-U.S. citizens.”
Congress
Goodlander endorses Pappas’s Senate bid
Announcement puts gay congressman on the path to securing his party’s nomination
U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.) on Thursday announced she will not run to represent her state in the U.S. Senate, endorsing gay U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas’s (D-N.H.) bid for the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, putting him on the path to secure the Democratic nomination.
“We are in the fight of our lifetimes right now, of a moment of real crisis and challenge,” she said. “I feel humbled and grateful to so many people across our state who have encouraged me to take a look at the U.S. Senate, and after a lot of thought and conversations with people I love and people I respect and people who I had never met before, who I work for in this role right now, I’ve decided that I’m running for re election in the House of Representatives.”
When asked by a reporter from the ABC affiliate station in New Hampshire whether she would endorse Pappas, Goodlander said, “Yes. Chris Pappas has been amazing partner to me in this work and for many years. And I really admire him. I have a lot of confidence in him.”
She continued, “He and I come to this work, I think with a similar set of values, we also have really similar family stories. Our families both came to New Hampshire over 100 years ago from the very same part of northern Greece. And the values that he brings to this work are ones that that I really, really admire. So I’m proud to support him, and I’m really excited to be working with him right now because we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Today in Salem @MaggieG603 tells @WMUR9 she is not running for U.S. Senate & endorses @ChrisPappasNH #NHPolitics #NHSen #NH02 #WMUR pic.twitter.com/W2CMrhRuIC
— Adam Sexton (@AdamSextonWMUR) April 17, 2025
“Maggie Goodlander has dedicated her career to service, and we can always count on her to stand up to powerful interests and put people first,” Pappas said in a post on X. “I’m so grateful to call her my friend and teammate, and I’m proud to support her re-election and stand with her in the fights ahead.”
Earlier this month, former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, announced he would not enter the Senate race, strengthening the odds that Democrats will retain control of Shaheen’s seat.
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