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Celebrating the life of Lilli Vincenz

U.S. senator, activists reflect on legacy of pioneering LGBTQ rights advocate

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Lilli Vincenz passed away on June 27 at age 85. She was a co-founder of the Washington Blade. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

A dozen people familiar with the accomplishments of LGBTQ rights advocate Lilli Vincenz, who died on June 27 at the age of 85, have elegantly expressed and captured the pioneering work and legacy of Vincenz as an LGBTQ rights advocate, psychotherapist, and documentary filmmaker.

Among the accomplishments of Vincenz considered most significant by those whose views are included here, including U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) and two gay historians, is her role as a documentary filmmaker capturing 1960s-era gay protests.

Among the Vincenz films considered significant, which are now available for viewing through the Vincenz papers and film collection at the Library of Congress, include her 1968 film “The Second Largest Minority” and her 1970 film “Gay and Proud.”  

The 1968 film captures what activists say appears to be the first known documentary of a 1960s-era pre-Stonewall gay and lesbian protest outside Philadelphia’s Independence Hall organized by the Mattachine Society gay rights organization with ties to D.C., Philly, and New York City.

The second film in 1970 captured the first Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade in New York City to commemorate the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York’s Greenwich Village.

The activists contributing to this tribute to Vincenz say these historic films were just one part of the enormous contributions that Vincenz has made to the LGBTQ rights movement beginning in the 1960s through the early 2000s.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.)

Discussing 1960s-era ‘gay’ documentary films made by Lilli; excerpt from interview in Mattachine Society Documentary ‘Gay and Proud: Lilli’s Legacy’:

She recorded a history that without her work would remain untold in many respects. I prize, and cherish, and respect not only those participants in activism but those who recorded it so people like me decades later could learn about them and learn about our history. Lilli Vincenz is one of those prescient individuals, courageous individuals who made that possible.

I remember coming out when I was in college. I tried to read up on the history of the LGBTQ movement. I remember at the time seeing some documentaries. It gave me a deep appreciation of some of the pioneers who did courageous things when few others were, and also the fact that some of those things were documented allowed somebody like me many years later to find a family that I didn’t know I had as a member of a larger community.

Not only did she have the foresight to come with a camera in order to record this immensely historic event, but she knew the importance of distributing it to people in other areas of the country who could perhaps gain some confidence and courage out of seeing what was happening in New York City and other cities. She made copies and sent it to gay bars and other groups who would then show the film, giving people a greater understanding of a movement that they were a part of and perhaps the courage to speak out and be more visible.

There was an understanding, particularly by Lilli, that when we were visible and vocal, we could make change. And through their courage, that began to happen.

The fact that we have a copy today and that institutions like the Library of Congress have found this to be a remarkable piece of history and is preserving it for generations to come is a real statement of their understanding and all of our understanding of how movements for change work and how much a part of our country’s history this struggle is and was.

Daniel L. Hays, president, Equality NoVa

The LGBTQ+ community lost another trailblazer, an icon with the passing of Lilli Vincenz. From her work – multi-decades work – beginning in the early 60s, to her preservation of the movement’s history in documentaries, her work was critical to us getting to where we are in the fight for equality. The heavens received an angel that surely is looking down on us all with rainbow wings.

Charles Francis, president, Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C.

The last time I saw Lilli was a special moment of personal triumph for her, an honoree invited by President Obama during PRIDE 2014 at the White House. There she stood in the East Room beside a velvet rope with one of the original, hand-lettered picket signs held high outside on the sidewalk 50 years before.

It read: End Official Persecution of Homosexuals. She was the first lesbian to join the original Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C., and picketed at the front gate along with the Mattachine led by Frank Kameny and the Daughters of Bilitis. All were scorned by the Johnson administration that viciously enforced the federal ban and investigation of homosexuals in the U.S. Civil Service Commission and the military. The Johnson folks claimed it was about the “revulsion” of fellow employees forced to work alongside “self-avowed” homosexuals.

She had already been kicked out of the Women’s Army Corp because of her homosexuality in 1963 and had nothing to lose and everything to gain for her own dignity and LGBTQ generations to come. Lilli was so beautiful, graceful and dignified both in the day and in that moment with the old picket in the East Room. (The picket sign was donated by the Kameny Papers Project in 2006 to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History that loaned it to the White House in 2014.)
 
Lillian Faderman, historian, former California State University professor and acclaimed author of many books, including ‘To Believe In Women: What Lesbians Have Done For America – A History.’ (From the documentary film “Gay and Proud: Lilli’s Legacy”)

Lilli’s story is one of such bravery. She was so ahead of her time…She was very bright, very gifted, and very beautiful too. She got kicked out of the army because she was a lesbian…She was remarkable in her willingness to step forward to be out there. It was, after all, still dangerous in the early 1960s to be known as a homosexual. And Lilli didn’t seem to give a damn.

Anyone who saw [Vincenz’s film] “Gay and Proud” realized that these huge marches were possible. It really got the ball rolling. And slowly other groups began to have marches in their cities. Until now, when millions of people march around the country.

Loraine Hutchins, longtime D.C. area Bi+ rights advocate

I’m grateful for Lilli’s work in the world and went to her early groups at her house and then later to the events at Ethical Culture Society. Will miss her a lot. Always felt support as a young and aging bi woman by Lilli.

Kris McLaughlin, former president, Equality Northern Virginia

Lesbian activist Cheryl Spector introduced me to Lilli and Nancy in the early 2000s, when I was president of the Arlington Gay & Lesbian Alliance (now called Equality Northern Virginia). I was impressed by Lilli’s disciplined approach to LGBT+ equality and understood that better after watching the film “Gay Pioneers” by Equality Forum.
She was fierce, courageous, and determined. I believe that she knew how grateful we are for her groundbreaking efforts and think it’s fitting that she left us during Pride month.

Kevin Naff, editor, Washington Blade

As one of the founders of the Washington Blade back in 1969, Lilli Vincenz’s passion and legacy live on in the work of today’s Blade journalists. We are proud to honor her memory through our mission of telling the LGBTQ community’s stories and history through our lens 54 years later.

Malcolm Lazin, founder and executive director, Equality Forum and LGBT History Month

After Barbara Gittings, the mother of the LGBTQ civil rights movement, and Del Martin and Phyllis Lyons, founders of the Daughter of Bilitis, Lilli Vincenz is arguably the most important lesbian in the founding of our civil rights movement. I had the honor of knowing her and her life partner Nancy Ruth Davis.

After receiving a master of English from Columbia University in 1960, Lilli served in the Women’s Army Corp at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. She was outed and thereafter discharged pursuant to federal policy. Not one to give in or give up, in 1963 Lilli joined the D.C. chapter of the Mattachine Society, an early gay organization. As a Mattachine member, Lilli attended the first meeting with the Civil Service Commission to challenge its discrimination policy against gays and lesbians.

In 1965, she was the only lesbian to participate in the rally in front of the White House against Fidel Castro rounding up and incarcerating Cuban gays. This was the first gay demonstration at the White House.

In 1965, Lilli was one of about 40 participants at the 1st Annual Reminder in front of Independence Hall on July 4th and thereafter at each of the five Annual Reminders. These Annual Reminders included activists from D.C., Philadelphia, and New York. Spearheaded by Frank Kameny and Barbara Gittings, they were the first time gays were out and called for overall equality. Their non-violent demands for democratic change laid the basis for the LGBTQ civil rights movement.

In 1970, the Annual Reminders were suspended. Lilli Vincenz joined Frank Kameny, Barbara Gittings, New York activist Craig Rodwell and others, who helped organize the Christopher Street Liberation Day parade to remember the Stonewall Uprising.

That activism is now known as the 1st New York Pride Parade. Vincenz filmed that parade as well as the 1968 Annual Reminder.

In 1971, Vincenz was active in Frank Kameny for Congress, the first time that an openly gay person ran in a federal election. From 1971 to 1979, Vincenz hosted a monthly Gay Women’s Open House in D.C. In 1990, Lilli earned a Ph.D. in Human Development from the University of Maryland. She had an active therapy practice.

She and her partner Nancy Ruth Davis were unofficially married in Key West well before anyone believed that same-sex marriage would be recognized. Lilli appeared in Gay Pioneers, a documentary about the start of the gay civil rights movement. Co-produced by PBS and Equality Forum. I was the documentary’s co-executive producer. At screenings, Lilli would bring her beloved fiddle and entertain audiences.

In 2005, Lilli participated at Independence Hall at the 40th Anniversary of the Annual Reminders. Lilli’s contribution to LGBTQ civil rights and memory are our blessing.
 
Eric Cervini, American historian, author of acclaimed 2020 biography of gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny, ‘Deviant’s War: The Homosexual vs. The United States of America.’ From Cervini’s interview in the documentary film “Gay and Proud: Lilli’s Legacy”:

The first ever gay pride march took place on the first anniversary of Stonewall in 1970 and Lilli Vincenz decided that she wanted to capture it and make a film titled, ‘Gay and Proud.’

Almost immediately after she was asked to leave the army, in the fall of 1963, she contacted Frank Kameny and the Mattachine Society of Washington…And only a couple of yeas after that, she became the first lesbian to march in front of the White House for gay equality.

Part of Lilli’s activism was she made documentaries about her own activism and the activism of the Mattachine Society of Washington…Lilli organized a group of six people to help her film this 1970 film, ‘Gay and Proud,’ in New York. And it was capturing the first annual Christopher Street Liberation Day march…Lilli used a 16-millimeter black and white camera. It resulted in an 11-and-a-half-minute documentary that was really the first of its kind.

My first thought on watching it is how similar it is to our parades now. And a lot of people wonder, what is the use of pride and why do we have pride parades? And I think this film reminds you that pride, in every single pride march, is an act of resistance.

In 2013, the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C. worked with Lilli to donate her materials to the Library of Congress, and so now anyone can view her films, look at her diaries, and see her history.

Nicholas F. Benton, owner/editor, Falls Church News-Press

I got to know Lilli when her partner, Nancy Davis, came to work for my newspaper in the early 2000s. Both were beyond charming and were frequent attendees at parties I held at my home, always invited to play the fiddle (Lilli) and read captivating short stories of days of Egypt or, then Yugoslavia (Nancy).

I had the honor of being host for their attendance, along with Frank Kameny, at the 2006 Human Rights Campaign National Dinner in Washington, D.C. Truly lovely, humble, and dedicated people.

Bob Witeck, president, Witeck Communications

Lilli Vincenz’ contributions and impact as a civil rights pioneer cannot be underestimated. I am proud that Lilli and her lifelong partner, Nancy Davis, also were neighbors and friends. More significant are the vital chapters in the history of our movement she led and documented with giants like Frank Kameny and Jack Nichols. All are truly revered for their impatience and courage.

I cannot forget the visit we made with Lilli and Nancy to the White House in June 2014 to celebrate Pride during the Obama administration. Remarkably, in the East Room, the president’s staff exhibited one of the original civil rights picket signs that Lilli and her fellow activists carried during their unprecedented 1960s protests outside the White House grounds.

We captured a precious image with Lilli in the East Room that day [in a photo], just moments before one of the staff quietly scolded us. It was a scolding worth savoring to honor a pioneer who taught us how crucial it is to break society’s boundaries.

Vincent Slatt, director of archiving, D.C. Rainbow History Project

Lilli Vincenz had already been active in D.C. 15 years before I was born, and nearly 50 years before I became involved in the RHP archives. I had heard of her name in passing, and met her at an event or two, but, frankly, young gay city guys and suburban lesbian seniors don’t often interact. As I’ve worked with our archives, however, I’ve gotten to know Lilli in a way that I wish other people could. Her name is threaded through so many of the great document collections, magazines and periodicals, photographs and recordings that we’ve amassed over 20 years. One doesn’t have to scrape deeply to find her involvement in our community: she has left footprints in decades of records.

Lilli’s name is not just in the collections we would expect — U.S. Gay Rights, Mattachine Society, Gay Women’s Alternative, The Ladder, Barbara Gittings, Nancy Tucker, and Eva Freund collections. Her efforts are documented in GLAA, PFLAG, Gay Liberation Front, Gay Community Center and the Sodomy Law Repeal collections.

I’ve seen her name in materials from Lambda Rising, the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, and countless other folders where I have stumbled on a letter or document and seen her name. In my earlier years I might not have noticed her or remembered seeing her; nowadays, however, I do and think, “Oh, look who it is again! I didn’t know she was involved with this!”

With the majority of gay history and gay documentation ending up in the trash cans, looking at just the fraction we have saved, I can say this about Lilli Vincenz: her work was deep, and the ripples of her impact have gone wide and are continued to be felt today. When our children and our children’s children crack open the archives and look at our history, they will be in awe of Lilli and what she accomplished. Hopefully, some of those kids will read enough of it to say “Oh, look who it is again!”

Bob Brown, Personal Home Services, Alexandria, Va.

I knew Lilli and her partner Nancy Davis later in life, as I became their housecleaner in 1998 after they answered my classified ad in the Washington Blade. Lilli had a home office as a therapist in Arlington where she helped her patients deal with the often harsh way the LGBTQ community was treated by government, military, police, religious society, and many families. She helped so many people over the years.

She and Nancy both enjoyed travel. Their house was filled with photos from trips they took on Olivia Travel Cruises around the world —18 cruises in total!

Lilli loved her violin and was quite talented. She would often practice in her dining room while I flitted about the house better than AirPods! She cobbled together a group of artists to play music in her airy space above her office/garage and The Ash Grove Players were formed. They played at The American Folk Life Festival, retirement homes and cafes. She loved all styles of music and attended Grammy Award-winner Mark O’Connor’s fiddle camp each summer in Tennessee in the early 2000s. Nancy would recite her poetry and short stories at night around the campfire. They had lots of fun there!

They were a loving couple, Nancy referring to her as “My darling Lilli” and singing “You Are My Sunshine” to her often. This is just a part of the other side of Lilli’s life beyond her heroic activism to push forward equality for us all.  I feel quite honored to have known her and Nancy all these years.

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District of Columbia

Gay GOP group hosts Ernst, 3 House members — all of whom oppose Equality Act

Log Cabin, congressional guest speakers mum on June 25 event

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Sen. Joni Ernst spoke to D.C.’s Log Cabin group. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and three women Republican members of the U.S. House appeared as guest speakers at the June 25 meeting of Log Cabin Republicans of D.C., the local chapter of the national LGBTQ Republican group with that same name.

The U.S. House members who joined Ernst as guest speakers at the Log Cabin meeting were Celeste Maloy (R-Utah), Kat Cammack (R-Fla.), and Julia Letlow (R-La.).

Neither D.C. Log Cabin Republicans President Andrew Minik nor spokespersons for Ernst or the three congresswomen immediately responded to a request by the Washington Blade for comment on the GOP lawmakers’ appearance at an LGBTQ GOP group’s meeting.

“Please join us for an inspiring evening as we celebrate and recognize the bold leadership and accomplishments of Republican women in Congress,” a D.C Log Cabin announcement sent to its members states.

“This month’s meeting will highlight the efforts of the Republican Women’s Caucus and explore key issues such as the Protection of Women and Girls In Sports Act and the broader fight to preserve women’s spaces in society,” the message says.

It was referring to legislation pending in Congress calling for banning transgender women from participating in women’s sports events. 

According to media reports, Ernst and the three congresswomen have expressed opposition to the Equality Act, the longstanding bill pending in Congress calling for prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the areas of employment, housing, and public accommodations. 

The Log Cabin announcement says the meeting was scheduled to take place at the Royal Sands Social Club, which is a restaurant and bar at 26 N St., S.E. in the city’s Navy Yard area.    

D.C. Log Cabin member Stuart West, who attended the meeting, confirmed that Ernst and the three congresswomen showed up and spoke at the event.

“It was a good turnout,” he said. “I would definitely say probably 30 or 40 people attended.” West added, “Four women came to talk to a group of mostly gay men. That’s something you don’t see very often.” 

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District of Columbia

D.C. police seek public’s help in July 5 murder of trans woman

Relative disputes initial decision not to list case as hate crime

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Daquane ‘Dream’ Johnson (Photo courtesy of family)

D.C. police are seeking help from the public in their investigation into the murder of a transgender woman who they say was shot to death at about 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 5, on the 2000 block of Benning Road, N.E.

But the police announcement of the fatal shooting and a police report obtained by the Washington Blade do not identify the victim, 28-year-old Daquane ‘Dream’ Johnson of Northeast D.C., as transgender. And the police report says the shooting is not currently listed as a suspected hate crime.

It was local transgender activists and one of Johnson’s family members, her aunt, who confirmed she was transgender and said information they obtained indicates the killing could have been a hate crime.

“On Saturday, July 5, at approximately 12:51 a.m., Sixth District officers were flagged down in the 2000 block of Benning Road, Northeast, for an unconscious female,” a July 5 D.C. police statement says. “Upon arrival, officers located an adult female victim suffering from gunshot wounds,” it says.

“D.C. Fire and EMS responded to the scene and transported the victim to a local hospital where after all lifesaving efforts failed and the victim was pronounced dead,” the statement says.

A separate police flyer with a photo of Johnson announces an award of $25,000 was being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murder.

The flyer identifies D.C. police Homicide Detective Natasha Kennedy as being the lead investigator in the case and says anyone with information about the case should contact her at 202-380-6198.

Longtime D.C. transgender rights advocate Earline Budd told the Blade that one of the police investigators contacted her about the case and that she also spoke to Detective Kennedy. Budd said police confirmed to her that Johnson was a transgender woman.

(Photo courtesy of family)

One of Johnson’s family members, Vanna Terrell, who identified herself as Johnson’s aunt, told the Blade that Johnson used the first name of Dream and had planned to legally adopt that name instead of Daquane but had not gotten around to doing so.

Terrell said she and other family members learned more about the incident when one of two teenage high school students who knew Johnson’s brother contacted a friend and told the friend that they recognized Johnson as they witnessed the shooting. Terrell said the friend then called her to tell her what the friend learned from the two witnesses.

According to Terrell, the witnesses reportedly saw three men approach Johnson as Johnson walked along Benning Road and one of them called Johnson a derogatory name, leading Terrell to believe the men recognized Johnson as a transgender woman.

Terrell said one of the witnesses told the friend, who spoke to Terrell, that the man who shot Johnson kept shooting her until all of the bullets were fired. Budd, who said she spoke to Terrell, who also told her what the witnesses reported, said she believed the multiple shots fired by the shooter was an “overkill” that appears to have been a hate crime. Terrell said she too believes the murder was a hate crime.

In response to an inquiry from the Blade, Officer Ebony Major, a D.C. police spokesperson, stated in an email, “At this point there is nothing in the investigation that indicates the offense was motivated by hate or bias.”

Terrell said a memorial gathering to honor Johnson’s life was scheduled to be held Saturday, July 12, at River Terrace Park, which is located at 500 36th St., N.E. not far from where the shooting occurred.

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Federal Government

Treasury Department has a gay secretary but LGBTQ staff are under siege

Agency reverses course on LGBTQ inclusion under out Secretary Scott Bessent

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

A former Treasury Department employee who led the agency’s LGBTQ employee resource group says the removal of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) from its discrimination complaint forms was merely a formalization of existing policy shifts that had already taken hold following the second inauguration of President Donald Trump and his appointment of Scott Bessent — who is gay — to lead the agency. 

Christen Boas Hayes, who served on the policy team at Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) from 2020 until March of this year, told the Washington Blade during a phone interview last week that the agency had already stopped processing internal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaints on the basis of anti-LGBTQ discrimination. 

“So the way that the forms are changing is a procedural recognition of something that’s already happening,” said Hayes. “Internally, from speaking to two EEO staff members, the changes are already taking place from an EEO perspective on what kind of cases will be found to have the basis for a complaint.”

The move, they said, comes amid the deterioration of support structures for LGBTQ workers at the agency since the administration’s early rollout of anti-LGBTQ executive orders, which led to “a trickle down effect of how each agency implements those and on what timeline,” decisions “typically made by the assistant secretary of management’s office and then implemented by the appropriate offices.”

At the end of June, a group of U.S. House Democrats including several out LGBTQ members raised alarms after a Federal Register notice disclosed Treasury’s plans to revise its complaint procedures. Through the agency’s Office of Civil Rights and EEO, the agency would eliminate SOGI as protected categories on the forms used by employees to initiate claims of workplace discrimination.

But Hayes’s account reveals that the paperwork change followed months of internal practice, pursuant to a wave of layoffs targeting DEI personnel and a chilling effect on LGBTQ organizing, including through ERGs. 

Hayes joined Treasury’s FinCEN in 2020 as the agency transitioned into the Biden-Harris administration, working primarily on cryptocurrency regulation and emerging technologies until they accepted a “deferred resignation” offer, which was extended to civil servants this year amid drastic staffing cuts. 

“It was two things,” Hayes said. “One was the fact that the policy work that I was very excited about doing was going to change in nature significantly. The second part was that the environment for LGBTQ staff members was increasingly negative after the release of the executive orders,” especially for trans and nonbinary or gender diverse employees. 

“At the same time,” Hayes added, “having been on the job for four years, I also knew this year was the year that I would leave Treasury. I was a good candidate for [deferred resignation], because I was already planning on leaving, but the pressures that emerged following the change in administration really pushed me to accelerate that timeline.”

Some ERGs die by formal edict, others by a thousand cuts 

Hayes became involved with the Treasury LGBTQ ERG shortly after joining the agency in 2020, when they reached out to the group’s then-president — “who also recently took the deferred resignation.”

“She said that because of the pressure that ERGs had faced under the first Trump administration, the group was rebuilding, and I became the president of the group pretty quickly,” Hayes said. “Those pressures have increased in the second Trump administration.”

One of the previous ERG board members had left the agency after encountering what Hayes described as “explicitly transphobic” treatment from supervisors during his gender transition. “His supervisors denied him a promotion,” and, “importantly, he did not have faith in the EEO complaint process” to see the issues with discrimination resolved, Hayes said. “And so he decided to just leave, which was, of course, such a loss for Treasury and our Employee Resource Group and all of our employees at Treasury.”

The umbrella LGBTQ ERG that Hayes led included hundreds of members across the agency, they said, and was complemented by smaller ERGs at sub-agencies like the IRS and FinCEN — several of which, Hayes said, were explicitly told to cease operations under the new administration.

Hayes did not receive any formal directive to shutter Treasury’s ERG, but described an “implicit” messaging campaign meant to shut down the group’s activities without issuing anything in writing.

“The suggestion was to stop emailing about anything related to the employee resource group, to have meetings outside of work hours, to meet off of Treasury’s campus, and things like that,” they said. “So obviously that contributes to essentially not existing functionally. Because whereas we could have previously emailed our members comfortably to announce a happy hour or a training or something like that, now they have to text each other personally to gather, which essentially makes it a defunct group.”

Internal directories scrubbed, gender-neutral restrooms removed

Hayes said the dismantling of DEI staff began almost immediately after the executive orders. Employees whose position descriptions included the terms “diversity, equity, and inclusion” were “on the chopping block,” they said. “That may differ from more statutorily mandated positions in the OMWI office or the EEO office.”

With those staff gone, so went the infrastructure that enabled ERG programming and community-building. “The people that made our employee resource group events possible were DEI staff that were fired. And so, it created an immediate chilling effect on our employee resource group, and it also, of course, put fear into a lot of our members’ hearts over whether or not we would be able to continue gathering as a community or supporting employees in a more practical way going forward. And it was just, really — it was really sad.”

Hayes described efforts to erase the ERGs from internal communication channels and databases. “They also took our information off internal websites so nobody could find us as lawyers went through the agency’s internal systems to scrub DEI language and programs,” they said.

Within a week, Hayes said, the administration had removed gender-neutral restrooms from Main Treasury, removed third-gender markers from internal databases and forms, and made it more difficult for employees with nonbinary IDs to access government buildings.

“[They] made it challenging for people with X gender markers on identification documents to access Treasury or the White House by not recognizing their gender marker on the TWAVES and WAVES forms.”

LGBTQ staff lack support and work amid a climate of isolation 

The changes have left many LGBTQ staff feeling vulnerable — not only because of diminished workplace inclusion, but due to concerns about job security amid the administration’s reductions in force (RIFs).

“Plenty of people are feeling very stressed, not only about retaining their jobs because of the layoffs and pending questions around RIFs, but then also wondering if they will be included in RIF lists because they’re being penalized somehow for being out at work,” Hayes said. “People wonder if their name will be given, not because they’re in a tranche of billets being laid off, but because of their gender identity or sexual orientation.”

In the absence of functional ERGs, Hayes said, LGBTQ employees have been cut off from even informal networks of support.

“Employees [are] feeling like it’s harder to find members of their own community because there’s no email anymore to ask when the next event is or to ask about navigating healthcare or other questions,” they said. “If there is no ERG to go to to ask for support for their specific issue, that contributes to isolation, which contributes to a worse work environment.”

Hayes said they had not interacted directly with Secretary Bessent, but they and others observed a shift from the previous administration. “It is stark to see that our first ‘out’ secretary did not host a Pride event this year,” they said. “For the last three years we’ve flown the rainbow Pride flag above Treasury during Pride. And it was such a celebration among staff and Secretary Yellen and the executive secretary’s office were super supportive.”

“Employees notice changes like that,” they added. “Things like the fact that the Secretary’s official bio says ‘spouse’ instead of ‘husband.’ It makes employees wonder if they too should be fearful of being their full selves at work.”

The Blade contacted the Treasury Department with a request for comment outlining Hayes’s allegations, including the removal of inclusive infrastructure, the discouragement of ERG activity, the pre-formalization of EEO policy changes, and the targeting of DEI personnel. As of publication, the agency has not responded.

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