Congress
AOC’s announcement of new bill quotes a group with history of anti-LGBTQ advocacy
NCOSE still has ties to extremists

A press release issued on March 7 by the office of U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) included quoted remarks from the CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, a group with a history of anti-LGBTQ advocacy that was previously named Morality in Media.
The release concerns a bipartisan, bicameral bill that was introduced by Ocasio-Cortez to fight the proliferation of non-consensual, sexually explicit “deepfake” media — created by “software, machine learning, artificial intelligence, or any other computer-generated or technological means” — by establishing a federal civil right of action for victims.
“Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is leading a bipartisan bill to stop nonconsensual deepfake pornography that centers survivors’ civil right of action,” the congresswoman’s chief of staff, Mike Casca, said in a statement to the Washington Blade on Saturday. “Organizations from left, right, and center support it.”
Separately, in a discussion about these topics on X, Casca said, “I disagree that quoting a group in a release is an endorsement of that group, especially at a time when gop support is required to pass anything in the house & the senate, nonetheless ‘partnering’ with them.”
Remarks by NCOSE CEO Dawn Hawkins that were included in the announcement from Ocasio-Cortez’s office are inoffensive and germane to the legislation. For instance, she said “it is past time that our laws catch up and hold the perpetrators of this abuse accountable,” calling the measure “a critical step forward” in securing “justice for survivors through civil remedies.”
Primarily focused on opposing pornography, NCOSE has sought to distance itself from the avowed anti-LGBTQ positions that were held by the organization and its leadership in the past, but there is ample reason to doubt the narrative that the group underwent an ideological evolution.
Hawkins authored a statement on behalf of her organization in December 2023 that promised to fight against the sexual exploitation of LGBTQ victims and expressed “deep regret that there were moments in our organization’s history prior to our leadership change in 2011, when remarks were made that were indeed anti-LGBTQ+.”
The statement also noted that “our former namesake, Morality in Media (MIM), was associated with actions that starkly contrast with our current values,” including possible advocacy against Disney’s extension of benefits to employees’ same-sex partners and a press statement “arguing that homosexuality is connected to crime.”
Casting doubt on the sincerity of these statements, along with Hawkins’ proclamation that “we do not tolerate statements and actions by current employees that spread harmful misinformation and hate towards any particular group or individual,” are the following facts:
- NCOSE’s current general counsel Benjamin Bull previously served as chief counsel of the far-right legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated an anti-LGBTQ hate group. The attorney also served as executive director for ADF International.
- During an interview with former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, Bull praised a 2013 decision by the Supreme Court of India that re-criminalized LGBTQ sex.
- Amherst College professor Hadley Arkes, a conservative political scientist with longstanding ties to NCOSE — he was listed as a board member on the group’s 2022 990 form — supports the discredited practice of conversion therapy, which is banned in 20 U.S. states. When delivering public remarks in 2021, he said, “We’ve had many people who, with therapy and conversion, just have come out away from that life.”
- Arkes also opposes same-sex marriage. During the same event in 2021, he compared the decision by gay and lesbian couples to wed with the choice to shoot heroin. Close to the end of his two-hour lecture, the professor conceded that, “I think I’ve said enough to offend everybody tonight.”
- Hawkins organized a conference in South Africa in 2022 whose keynote address was delivered by Errol Naidoo, an anti-LGBTQ minister who has blamed abortion and the “homosexual agenda” for”a culture of death” in his country and was quoted in a Nigerian newspaper as saying “I hate gays. It runs against God’s wishes.”
- Also delivering a presentation during the conference was Sharon Slater, president of Family Watch International. The SPLC lists the organization as an anti-LGBTQ hate group, noting that Slater has claimed LGBTQ people are more prone to disease, more promiscuous, and likelier to engage in pedophilia.
- Slater has also defended the criminalization of LGBTQ conduct by African countries like Uganda and forged close relationships with proponents of these policies like Ugandan pastor Martin Ssempa, who supported the law passed last year that imposes prison sentences for homosexuality (and the death penalty, in certain cases).
Along with the bill introduced last week by Ocasio Cortez, the DEFIANCE Act, NCOSE is a major supporter of the Kids Online Safety Act — another bipartisan legislative effort to combat the sexual exploitation of minors along with other harms facilitated by Big Tech and social media companies.
Earlier iterations of KOSA drew opposition from LGBTQ and civil rights groups over concerns that, for instance, the law might suppress affirming or pro-LGBTQ online content or prevent queer youth from accessing online communities.
On Feb. 15, however, a coalition of seven national LGBTQ organizations wrote a letter to U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who introduced KOSA along with Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), informing him that they would no longer oppose the bill.
Signed by GLAAD, GLSEN, the Human Rights Campaign, PFLAG National, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the National Center for Transgender Equality, and The Trevor Project, the letter thanked Blumenthal for “hearing our concerns” and “updating the legislation to address potential adverse consequences for LGBTQ+ youth.”
For years, Congress has sought to pass legislation to curb the power of market-dominant tech platform companies and hold these firms accountable for harms they have facilitated. More recently, many lawmakers have agreed on the need for a bipartisan federal privacy law and regulations targeting emerging technologies like artificial intelligence — but so far have failed to pass any.
Support among Republicans and Democrats for bills like KOSA and the DEFIANCE Act were bolstered by the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on online child sexual exploitation at the end of January, where the senators grilled the CEOs of TikTok, Discord, Snap Inc. (Snapchat), X (formerly Twitter), and Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram).
Meanwhile, the Republican-controlled U.S. House is preparing to vote on a bill that would force the divestiture of TikTok by its Chinese parent company ByteDance or ban the popular video sharing platform in the U.S.
While the measure would have to overcome opposition from Senate Democrats to pass, bipartisan support comes because of the national security risks presented by TikTok along with concerns about the harms suffered by American users — even though the evidence for some of these claims is scant, unclear, or disputed.
Congress
House Dems urge OPM not to implement anti-trans executive order
Authors were Dem. U.S. Reps. Mark Takano (Calif.), Jamie Raskin (Md.), and Gerald Connolly (Va.)

Three House Democrats including Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Mark Takano (Calif.) issued a letter on Wednesday urging the Office of Personnel Management to not implement President Donald Trump’s anti-trans executive order, “Defending women from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth to the federal government.”
Also signing the letter were U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Rep. Gerald Connolly (Va.), ranking member of the House Oversight Committee.
The lawmakers wrote the order “unlawfully attacks the civil rights of transgender Americans” while the White House’s corresponding memo and guidance “implements unlawful discrimination by the federal government against transgender people in the civil service and the provision of federal services.”
Specifically, they call unconstitutional the directive for agencies to “end all programs, contracts, grants, positions, documents, directives, orders, regulations, materials, forms,
communications, statements, plans, and training that ‘inculcate’ or ‘promote’ ‘gender
ideology’—which the Executive Order defines broadly to encompass acknowledging the simple
existence of transgender people and gender identity.”
“We are deeply alarmed by these and other actions the Trump Administration has taken in its first few weeks to eliminate all government support for the transgender community, including efforts designed to enforcing the rights and support the health of transgender individuals,” the congressmen wrote.
They added, “We are also appalled by the Administration’s attempts to weaponize federal agencies to target the transgender community for discrimination and exclusion. These actions contradict federal law, Supreme Court precedent, and most importantly the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.”
Congress
Sarah McBride named House Democratic deputy whip for policy
House Republicans escalate transphobic attacks against her

House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), the second highest-ranking Democrat in the lower chamber, has selected newly seated freshman U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) to serve as her deputy whip for policy.
The high profile role will involve “strategic, long-term planning, and coordination on policy,” according to a press release from McBride’s office announcing the appointment.
“My number one priority in Congress is helping to lower costs facing Delawareans and American families,” the congresswoman said. “We can do this by guaranteeing paid family and medical leave, lowering the cost of childcare and restoring the child tax credit.”
McBride added, “I look forward to working alongside my Democratic colleagues to prioritize common sense solutions to making it more affordable to raise a family. I’m grateful to Democratic Whip Katherine Clark for this opportunity and for her steadfast leadership and mentorship.”
In a statement on X, she said, “I’m thrilled to be named a deputy whip for Policy in the 119th Congress, advising House Democratic Leadership on policy priorities and plans for our caucus. Just as I was in the state Senate, I remain focused on lowering the cost of housing, health care, child care, and helping families make it through the inevitable challenges of life.”
Last week, McBride became the first freshman Democrat to introduce a bill, together with U.S. Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.), which targets scams by companies that take large fees from consumers in exchange for “empty promises” to improve their credit scores.
When serving in the Delaware state senate, McBride sponsored the Healthy Delaware Families Act, which was signed into law in 2022 and allows Delawareans to take a 12-week paid family or medical leave, receiving up to 80 percent of their current wages.
“Care infrastructure” will remain a major focus for the congresswoman’s work moving forward, along with policies in areas like investment in green technologies, Medicare reforms, expanding access to quality health care including reproductive care, empowering labor unions, gun violence prevention, and more.
The congresswoman worked on Beau Biden’s campaign for Delaware attorney general in 2010, and in the years since has maintained a close personal relationship with President Joe Biden and the Biden family. (Beau, the president’s eldest son, died of glioblastoma in 2015.)
House Republicans escalate their transphobic attacks against McBride
McBride is transgender, becoming the first trans speaker to address a major party convention in 2016, the trans state senator with her first election to public office in 2020, and the first trans member of Congress with her election to represent Delaware’s at-large congressional district in 2024.
While she has not shied away from acknowledging the significance of her position as the first and the only voice in Congress representing her community, McBride has repeatedly emphasized that she did not run for office to be — as a recent profile in the Washington Post put it — “a symbol, or a spokesperson, or the first anything.”
Her focus, rather, is on delivering results for her constituents in Delaware.
“I’m here to be a serious person,” she told the Post. “And if there are people here who don’t want to be serious, then they can answer to their constituents.”
McBride’s arrival in Washington comes as national Republicans have made anti-trans policy and legislation a greater priority than ever before, while transphobia and the use of transphobic hate speech by conservative elected leaders escalates into dangerous territory.
Responding to the news of McBride’s appointment to lead policy development for her party under the Democratic whip, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said, in a post on X, “Democrats just put a mentally ill congressman, who parades himself as a congresswoman to thrill his disturbing sexual fetishes, in charge of democrat policies.”
The bigoted attacks by House Republicans began before the first transgender member of Congress was even seated, from deliberate misgendering and the use of her birth name to the proposal barring trans women from women’s restrooms in the Capitol building, which was drafted by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) in direct response to McBride’s election and subsequently enacted by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
Before she was elected, McBride sought to mitigate the risk that her use of public women’s bathrooms on the Hill might draw unwanted attention or interest, privately making arrangements with Democratic leadership to instead use facilities in the Capitol suites reserved for Clark and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (R-N.Y.).
Mace introduced the bathroom ban on Nov. 19 and, in the days and weeks since, availed herself of every chance to discuss the matter with Capitol Hill reporters, on cable news programs, and on her X account — where, according to Newsweek, the congresswoman had published 326 posts or replies about the resolution within just the first 72 hours.
Last month, Mace filmed herself reading the Miranda warning with a megaphone to activists who were arrested for staging a demonstration against her bathroom rule outside Johnson’s office, later sharing the video on X mocking the protestors with an anti-trans slur.
McBride declined to comment or engage beyond saying that she would comply with the policy. In response to criticism that she ought to have pushed back more forcefully, she told NBC News, “The point of this bathroom ban was to bait me into a fight, was to diminish my capacity to be an effective member of Congress by turning me into a caricature.”
“I refuse to give them that opportunity or that response that they seek,” McBride said, adding that allowing herself to be baited would “not do the trans community any good” either. “That is what they want. There is power in not giving people what they want.”
This week, a video from 2019 in which McBride is seen reading to students in a classroom and leading a discussion about the importance of respecting their gender diverse peers was circulated on X by the anti-LGBTQ account Libs of TikTok.
Mace responded in a post that began by proclaiming “she is a he” and asserted without evidence that McBride “appears to be grooming young children” for sexual abuse, while Greene falsely accused her Democratic colleague of being a “groomer” and “child predator.”
As an anti-trans/anti-LGBTQ moral panic has taken hold in the U.S. and escalated over the past few years, conservatives including several U.S. lawmakers have revived the dangerous and baseless lie that trans people and gay people are inclined toward pedophilia or child sexual abuse or “grooming,” which refers to the practice of priming a victim, usually a minor, for sexual abuse or exploitation.
Experts, including organizations like the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, say this rhetoric can put children at greater risk by stealing the focus away from efforts to identify actual cases of abuse while also diminishing the experiences of survivors.
This specific form of transphobic and homophobic hate speech was more common in the 1970s and 80s but until recently was considered out of bounds for mainstream political discourse.
McBride so far has not addressed the posts from Mace and Greene. Her office did not respond to a request for comment on the matter last week.
Congress
House bans trans students from competing on girls’ and women’s sports teams
Texas Democrats Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez voted for bill

The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday voted 218-206 to pass a bill that would ban transgender students from competing in girls’ and women’s sports in elementary school through college.
Fiery exchanges erupted on the House floor, with conservatives in many cases using anti-trans language and Democrats, including several openly LGBTQ members, arguing that the bill is harmful to children, discriminatory, and unnecessary.
The decision by House Republican leadership to bring the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act to the floor on just the second week in which the 119th Congress is in session signals the majority’s appetite for legislation targeting trans rights and the extent to which the issue will remain a major focus and priority for conservative leadership in the Capitol and, beginning next week, in the White House.
All Republicans who were present voted in favor of the bill, while all Democrats voted no — with the exception of two members representing swing districts in Texas, U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez.
Cuellar opposed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act when it was introduced in 2023, explaining in a statement that he changed his position “based on the concerns and feedback he received from constituents.”
Gonzalez did not vote on the measure in 2023, but this year issued a statement explaining his support for the bill: “I believe that there should be rules to keep our sports fair and that boys should not play in girls sports,” the congressman said, using talking points that are popular among Republicans who often refer to trans women and girls as men and boys, whether for purposes of insulting them or because they refuse to acknowledge or choose to deny the existence of gender diverse people.
“Members of Congress must have the freedom to vote in a manner representative of their district,” Gonzalez said in his statement. “As Democrats, we should not be afraid to vote our district’s values because we’re afraid of Washington.”
During the 2024 campaign, Gonzalez’s Republican opponent ran negative ads about his support for gender affirming health care for trans minors. The congressman told Spectrum News in 2023 that “I have never supported tax dollars paying for gender transition surgeries and never will.”
Despite the newly seated 53-vote GOP majority in the U.S. Senate, the bill could languish in the upper chamber as the 2023 iteration did under Democratic control.
Still, President-elect Donald Trump promised to effectuate a ban, which experts believe would likely involve directing the U.S. Department of Education to find any school in violation of federal Title IX rules, which prohibit sex-based discrimination, in cases where they allow trans women or girls to participate in competitive sports.
Trump and other conservatives argue that cisgender women and girls are biologically disadvantaged compared to trans women and girls, which yields unfair outcomes for athletes whose birth sex is female, though research on the question of physical performance is mixed.
Proponents of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, who believe trans women and girls to be unfairly advantaged by their biology, argue that excluding them from sports is necessary to ensure fair outcomes in high-stakes competitions at the elite level, such as college athletic scholarships.
At the other end of the spectrum, the legislation contains a carveout that would theoretically allow for trans women and girls to participate in sports in limited circumstances: “Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to prohibit a recipient from permitting males to train or practice with an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls so long as no female is deprived of a roster spot on a team or sport, opportunity to participate in a practice or competition, scholarship, admission to an educational institution, or any other benefit that accompanies participating in the athletic program or activity.”
As the measure was debated on Tuesday, opponents accused their GOP colleagues of exploiting a culture war issue to “divert attention from the fact they have no real solutions to help everyday Americans,” as U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) put it.
Several Democrats — who argued that in the absence of an enforcement mechanism, adults might inspect students’ genitals to determine their gender, which could facilitate child sexual abuse — began calling the legislation “the GOP Child Predator Empowerment Act.”
The House Education Committee chair, U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), responded that birth certificates should be used to settle questions about students’ gender.
Opponents of the bill like U.S. Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.), a lesbian and co-chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, contended that boundary-violating scrutiny of girls’ bodies is the “logical conclusion” of the measure.
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