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Democrats urge bipartisan cooperation, condemn new House Speaker’s extremism

Some say House GOP members in vulnerable districts will suffer political consequences

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Following Wednesday’s election of the new Republican House Speaker, U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (La.), President Joe Biden and the top Democrats of both chambers pledged to work with him in good faith, noting the appropriations bills that must be passed before Nov. 17 to avoid a government shutdown and shore up America’s national security interests.

Meanwhile, other elected Democrats, along with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic National Committee, and advocacy groups closely tied to the party, responded by flagging Johnson’s far-right conservative record, particularly with respect to LGBTQ and reproductive rights – arguing, in many cases, that his election is proof of the Republican Party’s embrace of extremism.  

“Mike Johnson is Jim Jordan in a sports coat,” DCCC Spokesperson Viet Shelton said in a statement to the Washington Blade, comparing the lesser-known Republican leader with the outspoken, bomb-throwing hardline congressman from Ohio (who is often seen without a jacket).  

He continued, “Electing him as Speaker sends a clear signal that the so-called moderate House Republicans have completely fallen in line with his repellent, discriminatory attacks on the LGBTQ community. From introducing a federal “Don’t Say Gay” bill to propelling openly homophobic commentary before Congress, Johnson has consistently attacked the LGBTQ community with hate and ignorance.”

The LGBTQ Victory Fund, which works to elect LGBTQ candidates to public office, told the Blade that House Republicans’ choice of Johnson for speaker will jeopardize the seats of GOP members in vulnerable districts.

“Mike Johnson prides himself on discrimination and hatred for LGBTQ+ people, dedicating most of his career to opposing our basic rights. He introduced a federal “Don’t Say Gay” bill, is the current sponsor of three national abortion bans, is against marriage equality and wants to ban lifesaving gender-affirming care,” the group said in a statement.

The group’s statement continues, “By casting their ballots for Rep. Johnson, representatives like Ken Calvert, Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Mike Lawler have made their anti-LGBTQ, anti-choice views very clear. Polling shows voters favor pro-equality and pro-choice legislation – these extremist votes will undoubtedly have consequences on Election Day.”

In a post Wednesday pinned to her page on X, House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.), the chamber’s second highest-ranking Democrat, said, “House Republicans have learned nothing from their three-week civil war. Mike Johnson wants to criminalize abortion everywhere and degrade democracy for everyone. They reject reasonable bipartisanship and celebrate MAGA fealty.”

The Congressional Equality Caucus released a statement from its Chair, U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), who said “Today, the House had the opportunity to elect a Speaker of the House who could lead in a bipartisan manner to move America forward. Instead, extreme MAGA Republicans elected a Speaker who has dedicated his career to attacking LGBTQI+ people and pushing an anti-equality agenda.”

“The House has already taken more than 10 anti-equality votes this Congress,” Pocan said. “By electing Mike Johnson—a vehement opponent of LGBTQI+ equality—as Speaker, his supporters have signaled they want these attacks against our community to continue.”

Six of the Equality Caucus’s eight co-chairs, all of whom are LGBTQ, condemned Johnson’s election in separate statements or posts on X: Democratic U.S. Reps. Mark Takano (Calif.), Becca Balint (Vt.), Robert Garcia (Calif.), Sharice Davids (Kan.) Eric Sorensen (Ill.), and Ritchie Torres (N.Y.).

Stalled for weeks by House GOP’s failure to choose a speaker, leading Democrats urge bipartisanship

In a statement congratulating Johnson, Biden said that while House Republicans spent the last 22 days trying to unite around a new leader, he was working on a funding package addressing national security needs, the border, and other investments on behalf of the American people:

“Jill and I congratulate Speaker Johnson on his election.

“As I said when this process began, whoever the Speaker is, I will seek to work with them in good faith on behalf of the American people. That’s a principle I have always held to, and that I’ve acted on – delivering major bipartisan legislation on infrastructure, outcompeting China, gun reform, and veterans care.

“I restated my willingness to continue working across the aisle after Republicans won the majority in the House last year. By the same token, the American people have made clear that they expect House Republicans to work with me and with Senate Democrats to govern across the aisle – to protect our urgent national security interests and grow our economy for the middle class.

“While House Republicans spent the last 22 days determining who would lead their conference, I have worked on those pressing issues, proposing a historic supplemental funding package that advances our bipartisan national security interests in Israel and Ukraine, secures our border, and invests in the American people.  These priorities have been endorsed by leaders in both parties.

“We need to move swiftly to address our national security needs and to avoid a shutdown in 22 days. Even though we have real disagreements about important issues, there should be mutual effort to find common ground wherever we can. This is a time for all of us to act responsibly, and to put the good of the American people and the everyday priorities of American families above any partisanship.”

According to a White House pool report Wednesday from The Guardian’s Washington bureau chief David Smith, Biden called Johnson to congratulate him and “expressed that he looks forward to working together to find common ground on behalf of the American people.”

A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment addressing fears and concerns among the LGBTQ community over Johnson’s election.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) posted a clip on X from his floor speech in which he calls for bipartisan cooperation.

Likewise, in a statement on X, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) said, “I look forward to meeting with Speaker Johnson soon to discuss the path forward to avoid a shutdown. I’ll convey that bipartisanship is the only way we can deliver results. The only way to avoid a shutdown, pass critical funding, deliver common-sense investments is bipartisanship.”

LGBTQ groups highlight Johnson’s extremism

The Human Rights Campaign issued a press release headlined: “As  Extreme as It Gets: Supposed ‘Moderates’ in GOP Conference Choose as Speaker an Election Denier Who Called LGBTQ+ People a ‘Deviant Group’.

“The MAGA House majority has selected the most anti-equality Speaker in U.S. history by elevating Mike Johnson,” the organization’s President Kelley Robinson said in a statement, “a choice that will be a stain on the record of everyone who voted for him.”

“Johnson is someone who doesn’t hesitate to express his disdain for the LGTBQ+ community from the rooftops and then introduces legislation that seeks to erase us from society,” she wrote, adding, “Just like Jim Jordan, Mike Johnson is an election-denying, anti-LGBTQ+ extremist, and the lawmakers who appeared to stand on principle in opposing Jordan’s bid have revealed themselves to be just as out-of-touch as their new leader.”

After Robinson’s comments, HRC’s press release goes on to highlight Johnson’s “Appalling History of Attacking LGBTQ+ Rights.”

On X, GLAAD linked to the congressman’s GLAAD Accountability Project page, which contains details on his record, writing in the post that Johnson “has a long anti-LGBTQ history, including authoring a federal “Don’t Say LGBTQ” bill last year, working as senior attorney and spokesperson for the anti-LGBTQ group Alliance Defending Freedom.”

Brian K. Bond, president of PFLAG National, said the organization “welcomes an end to the constitutional crisis caused by the vacancy in the second in line to the presidency. To be clear, Speaker Johnson has a history of working to deny freedom to LGBTQ+ people and families in the U.S., to deny the legitimacy of the federal election, and to deny access to safe and legal abortion.”

“The role of Speaker requires that he works to preserve the rights and freedoms of all Americans, no matter their race, where they are from, their gender, or their ability,” he said, “and PFLAG is watching and willing to hold him accountable—because the lives and well-being of LGBTQ+ people and their loved ones depend on it.”

“I would be hard-pressed to think of a worse member to be elected speaker of the house, not simply for LGBTQ communities, but for the American people,” National LGBTQ Task Force Director Allen Morris said in an emailed statement.

“Many of my family members have resided in the 4th Congressional district of Louisiana for decades so I know from personal experience his track record on civil rights and minority issues is clear and stark as our community continues to find itself under attack,” he said.
 
“Americans should consider his track record on the preservation and maintenance of our very democracy as one that should concern us all,” Morris said. “This entire process of choosing a new speaker of the house has only served to expose even more how MAGA extremism continues to degrade our ability to allow Congress to reconcile the important issues impacting us.”

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McBride, other US lawmakers travel to Denmark

Trump’s demand for Greenland’s annexation overshadowed trip

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U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) is among the U.S. lawmakers who traveled to Denmark over the past weekend. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Delaware Congresswoman Sarah McBride is among the 11 members of Congress who traveled to Denmark over the past weekend amid President Donald Trump’s continued calls for the U.S. to take control of Greenland.

McBride, the first openly transgender person elected to Congress, traveled to Copenhagen, the Danish capital, with U.S. Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and U.S. Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.), and Sarah Jacobs (D-Calif.). The lawmakers met with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic MP Pipaluk Lynge, among others.

“I’m grateful to Sen. Coons for his leadership in bringing together a bipartisan, bicameral delegation to reaffirm our support in Congress for our NATO ally, Denmark,” said McBride in a press release that detailed the trip. “Delaware understands that our security and prosperity depend on strong partnerships rooted in mutual respect, sovereignty, and self-determination. At a time of growing global instability, this trip could not be more poignant.”

Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark with a population of less than 60,000 people. Trump maintains the U.S. needs to control the mineral-rich island in the Arctic Ocean between Europe and North America because of national security.

The Associated Press notes thousands of people on Saturday in Nuuk, the Greenlandic capital, protested against Trump. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is among those who have criticized Trump over his suggestion the U.S. would impose tariffs against countries that do not support U.S. annexation of Greenland.  

A poll that Sermitsiaq, a Greenlandic newspaper, and Berlingske, a Danish newspaper, commissioned last January indicates 85 percent do not want Greenland to become part of the U.S. The pro-independence Demokraatit party won parliamentary elections that took place on March 12, 2025.

“At this critical juncture for our countries, our message was clear as members of Congress: we value the U.S.-Denmark partnership, the NATO alliance, and the right of Greenlanders to self-determination,” said McBride on Sunday in a Facebook post that contained pictures of her and her fellow lawmakers meeting with their Danish and Greenlandic counterparts.

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Van Hollen speaks at ‘ICE Out for Good’ protest in D.C.

ICE agent killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7

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U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) speaks at the 'ICE Out for Good' rally in D.C. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) is among those who spoke at an “ICE Out for Good” protest that took place outside U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s headquarters in D.C. on Tuesday.

The protest took place six days after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis.

Good left behind her wife and three children.

(Video by Michael K. Lavers)

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Advocates say MTG bill threatens trans youth, families, and doctors

The “Protect Children’s Innocence” Act passed in the House

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U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) speaks at a press conference on Sept. 20 for her anti-trans legislation. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has a long history of targeting the transgender community as part of her political agenda. Now, after announcing her resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives, attempting to take away trans rights may be the last thing she does in her official capacity.

The proposed legislation, dubbed “Protect Children’s Innocence Act” is among the most extreme anti-trans measures to move through Congress. It would put doctors in jail for up to 10 years if they provide gender-affirming care to minors — including prescribing hormone replacement therapy to adolescents or puberty blockers to younger children. The bill also aims to halt gender-affirming surgeries for minors, though those procedures are rare.

Greene herself described the bill on X, saying if passed, “it would make it a Class C felony to trans a child under 18.”

According to KFF, a nonpartisan source for health policy research, polling, and journalism, 27 states have enacted policies limiting youth access to gender-affirming care. Roughly half of all trans youth ages 13–17 live in a state with such restrictions, and 24 states impose professional or legal penalties on health care practitioners who provide that care.

Greene has repeatedly introduced the bill since 2021, the year she entered Congress, but it failed to advance. Now, in exchange for her support for the National Defense Authorization Act, the legislation reached the House floor for the first time.

According to the 19th, U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first trans member of Congress, rebuked Republicans on the Capitol steps Wednesday for advancing anti-trans legislation while allowing Affordable Care Act tax credits to expire — a move expected to raise health care costs for millions of Americans.

“They would rather have us focus in and debate a misunderstood and vulnerable one percent of the population, instead of focusing in on the fact that they are raiding everyone’s health care,” McBride said. “They are obsessed with trans people … they are consumed with this.”

Polling suggests the public largely opposes criminalizing gender-affirming care.

A recent survey by the Human Rights Campaign and Global Strategy Group found that 73 percent of voters in U.S. House battleground districts oppose laws that would jail doctors or parents for providing transition-related care. Additionally, 77 percent oppose forcing trans people off medically recommended medication. Nearly seven in 10 Americans said politicians are not informed enough to make decisions about medical care for trans youth.

The bill passed the House and now heads to the U.S. Senate for further consideration.

According to reporting by Erin Reed of Erin In The Morning, three Democrats — U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez of Texas and Don Davis of North Carolina — crossed party lines to vote in favor of the felony ban, joining 213 Republicans. A total of 207 Democrats voted against the bill, while three lawmakers from both parties abstained.

Advocates and lawmakers warned the bill is dangerous and unprecedented during a multi-organizational press call Tuesday. Leaders from the Human Rights Campaign and the Trevor Project joined U.S. Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Dr. Kenneth Haller, and parents of trans youth to discuss the potential impact of restrictive policies like Greene’s — particularly in contrast to President Donald Trump’s leniency toward certain criminals, with more than 1,500 pardons issued this year.

“Our MAGA GOP government has pardoned drug traffickers. They’ve pardoned people who tried to overthrow the government on January 6, but now they want to put pediatricians and parents into a jail cell for caring for their kids,” said Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson. “No one asked for Marjorie Taylor Greene or Dan Crenshaw or any politician to be in their doctor’s office, and they should mind their own business.”

Balint, co-chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, questioned why medical decisions are being made by lawmakers with no clinical expertise.

“Parents and doctors already have to worry about state laws banning care for their kids, and this bill would introduce the risk of federal criminal prosecution,” Balint said. “We’re talking about jail time. We’re talking about locking people up for basic medical care, care that is evidence-based, age-appropriate and life-saving.”

“These are decisions that should be made by doctors and parents and those kids that need this gender-affirming care, not certainly by Marjorie Taylor Greene.”

Haller, an emeritus professor of pediatrics at St. Louis University School of Medicine, described the legislation as rooted in ideology rather than medicine.

“It is not science, it is just blind ideology,” Haller said.

“The doctor tells you that as parents, as well as the doctor themselves, could be convicted of a felony and be sentenced up to 10 years in prison just for pursuing a course of action that will give your child their only chance for a happy and healthy future,” he added. “It is not in the state’s best interests, and certainly not in the interests of us, the citizens of this country, to interfere with medical decisions that people make about their own bodies and their own lives.”

Haller’s sentiment is echoed by doctors across the country.

The American Medical Association, the nation’s largest organization that represents doctors across the country in various parts of medicine has a longstanding support for gender-affirming care.

“The AMA supports public and private health insurance coverage for treatment of gender dysphoria and opposes the denial of health insurance based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” their website reads.

Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, senior vice president of public engagement campaigns at the Trevor Project, agreed.

“In Marjorie Taylor Greene’s bill [it] even goes so far as to criminalize and throw a parent in jail for this,” Heng-Lehtinen said. “Medical decisions should be between patients, families, and their doctors.”

Rachel Gonzalez, a parent of a transgender teen and LGBTQ advocate, said the bill would harm families trying to act in their children’s best interests.

“No politician should be in any doctor’s office or in our living room making private health care decisions — especially not Marjorie Taylor Greene,” Gonzalez said. “My daughter and no trans youth should ever be used as a political pawn.”

Other LGBTQ rights activists also condemned the legislation.

Tyler Hack, executive director of the Christopher Street Project, called the bill “an abominable attack on the transgender community.”

“Marjorie Taylor Greene’s last-ditch effort to bring her 3-times failed bill to a vote is an abominable attack on the transgender community and further cements a Congressional career defined by hate and bigotry,” they said. “We are counting down the days until she’s off Capitol Hill — but as the bill goes to the floor this week, our leaders must stand up one last time to her BS and protect the safety of queer kids and medical providers. Full stop.”

Hack added that “healthcare is a right, not a privilege” in the U.S., and this attack on trans healthcare is an attack on queer rights altogether. 

“Marjorie Taylor Greene has no place in deciding what care is necessary,” Hack added. “This is another attempt to legislate trans and queer people out of existence while peddling an agenda rooted in pseudoscience and extremism.”

U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, also denounced the legislation.

“This bill is the most extreme anti-transgender legislation to ever pass through the House of Representatives and a direct attack on the rights of parents to work with their children and their doctors to provide them with the medical care they need,” Takano said. “This bill is beyond cruel and its passage will forever be a stain on the institution of the United States Congress.”

The bill is unlikely to advance in the Senate, where it would need 60 votes to pass.

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