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GOP bill calls for trans bathroom restrictions in D.C. gov’t buildings

Rep. Mace says measure would ‘protect women and girls’

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House Speaker Mike Johnson has implemented a rule blocking incoming Rep. Sarah McBride from using women’s bathrooms in the U.S. Capitol and surrounding House office buildings. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) announced on Nov. 20 that she planned to introduce a bill that would prohibit transgender people from using bathrooms and other “single sex facilities” that do not conform to their gender assigned at birth in all U.S. government buildings nationwide and all D.C. government buildings.

The broad wording of the bill appears to include D.C. public schools, which operate in D.C.-owned buildings, as well as D.C. public libraries and recreation facilities.

The proposed bill, which Mace posted on X, is called the “Protecting Woman’s Private Spaces Act.”

It defines a single-sex facility as “a space intended for the use of one biological sex (male or female), including (A) restroom; (B) locker room; or (C) changing rooms.”

It defines “federal property” as “any building, land, or other real property owned, leased, or occupied by any department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States (including the Department of Defense and the United States Postal Service), or any other instrumentality wholly owned by the United States, or by any department or agency of the District of Columbia or any territory or possession of the United States.”

An official with the House Periodical Press Gallery said the bill did not appear to have been placed in the House bill “hopper” as of Thursday, Nov. 21, and would likely be formally introduced and assigned to a committee when the House returns from its Thanksgiving recess on Dec. 3. Both the House and Senate began their holiday recess on Thursday, Nov. 21.

Congressional observers have said Democrats will almost certainly block the bill from being passed in the current Congress, where Democrats control the Senate until January, when the Republican-controlled House and Senate takes office.

But most observers familiar with Congress believe a bill such as this one is still likely to be blocked by a Senate filibuster waged by one or more LGBTQ supportive senators. Under the Senate filibuster rule, 60 votes are needed to end the filibuster and bring a bill to the Senate floor for a vote.

Mace’s bill nevertheless highlights the possibility that other bills will be introduced in 2025 by Republicans and possibly by the incoming administration of President-elect Trump to curtail or eliminate D.C.’s home rule government.

Under the city’s current home rule government created by Congress in the early 1970s through the D.C. Home Rule Act, Congress retained full authority to pass or change D.C. laws. And all laws passed by the D.C. Council and signed by the D.C. mayor must go through a 30-day congressional review period in which Congress has the authority to block or change a D.C.-passed law.

However, until recently, Congress rarely intervened in local D.C. government affairs and almost always allowed D.C. passed legislation to become law.

Mace, meanwhile, proposed her bill to restrict transgender use of restrooms and other facilities in federal and D.C. buildings shortly after she introduced a House resolution calling for banning trans women from using women’s bathrooms in the U.S. Capitol and surrounding House office buildings.

Mace confirmed that her resolution, which was approved and put in place by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), was aimed at preventing incoming Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) from using the women’s restrooms at the Capitol. McBride became the first trans person to win  election to the U.S. Congress.

A spokesperson for D.C. Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on Mace’s bill. Norton has led efforts in the past to oppose  and defeat bills calling for curtailing or ending D.C. home rule.

The Washington Post reports that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser also did not have an immediate comment on the Mace bill.

“I’m unaware of there being any problems or controversy over bathrooms in the District,” D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) said in a statement to the Washington Blade. “This legislation is an affront to Home Rule, and I don’t support it,” he said in referring to the Mace bill.

“If they are going to come up with these completely unnecessary regulations, there is no need to drag the District of Columbia into Republican culture wars,” Mendelson said. 

Activist Evan Greer, director of digital rights group Fight for the Future, was ejected from the Project Liberty “Summit on the Future of the Internet” at Georgetown University on Thursday, after confronting panelist Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.). See the video on Tik Tok here.

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New York

Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade

One of the victims remains in critical condition

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The Stonewall National Memorial in New York on June 19, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

On Sunday night, following the annual NYC Pride March, two girls were shot in Sheridan Square, feet away from the historic Stonewall Inn.

According to an NYPD report, the two girls, aged 16 and 17, were shot around 10:15 p.m. as Pride festivities began to wind down. The 16-year-old was struck in the head and, according to police sources, is said to be in critical condition, while the 17-year-old was said to be in stable condition.

The Washington Blade confirmed with the NYPD the details from the police reports and learned no arrests had been made as of noon Monday.

The shooting took place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, mere feet away from the most famous gay bar in the city — if not the world — the Stonewall Inn. Earlier that day, hundreds of thousands of people marched down Christopher Street to celebrate 55 years of LGBTQ people standing up for their rights.

In June 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, members of the LGBTQ community pushed back, sparking what became known as the Stonewall riots. Over the course of two days, LGBTQ New Yorkers protested the discriminatory policing of queer spaces across the city and mobilized to speak out — and throw bottles if need be — at officers attempting to suppress their existence.

The following year, LGBTQ people returned to the Stonewall Inn and marched through the same streets where queer New Yorkers had been arrested, marking the first “Gay Pride March” in history and declaring that LGBTQ people were not going anywhere.

New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, whose district includes Greenwich Village, took to social media to comment on the shooting.

“After decades of peaceful Pride celebrations — this year gun fire and two people shot near the Stonewall Inn is a reminder that gun violence is everywhere,” the lesbian lawmaker said on X. “Guns are a problem despite the NRA BS.”

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New York

Zohran Mamdani participates in NYC Pride parade

Mayoral candidate has detailed LGBTQ rights platform

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NYC mayoral candidate and New York State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani (Screen capture: NBC News/YouTube)

Zohran Mamdani, the candidate for mayor of New York City who pulled a surprise victory in the primary contest last week, walked in the city’s Pride parade on Sunday.

The Democratic Socialist and New York State Assembly member published photos on social media with New York Attorney General Letitia James, telling followers it was “a joy to march in NYC Pride with the people’s champ” and to “see so many friends on this gorgeous day.”

“Happy Pride NYC,” he wrote, adding a rainbow emoji.

Mamdani’s platform includes a detailed plan for LGBTQ people who “across the United States are facing an increasingly hostile political environment.”

His campaign website explains: “New York City must be a refuge for LGBTQIA+ people, but private institutions in our own city have already started capitulating to Trump’s assault on trans rights.

“Meanwhile, the cost of living crisis confronting working class people across the city hits the LGBTQIA+ community particularly hard, with higher rates of unemployment and homelessness than the rest of the city.”

“The Mamdani administration will protect LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers by expanding and protecting gender-affirming care citywide, making NYC an LGBTQIA+ sanctuary city, and creating the Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs.”

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U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court upholds ACA rule that makes PrEP, other preventative care free

Liberal justices joined three conservatives in majority opinion

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The U.S. Supreme Court as composed June 30, 2022, to present. Front row, left to right: Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., and Associate Justice Elena Kagan. Back row, left to right: Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Photo Credit: Fred Schilling, the U.S. Supreme Court)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a portion of the Affordable Care Act requiring private health insurers to cover the cost of preventative care including PrEP, which significantly reduces the risk of transmitting HIV.

Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the majority opinion in the case, Kennedy v. Braidwood Management. He was joined by two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, along with the three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown-Jackson.

The court’s decision rejected the plaintiffs’ challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s reliance on the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force to “unilaterally” determine which types of care and services must be covered by payors without cost-sharing.

An independent all-volunteer panel of nationally recognized experts in prevention and primary care, the 16 task force members are selected by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to serve four-year terms.

They are responsible for evaluating the efficacy of counseling, screenings for diseases like cancer and diabetes, and preventative medicines — like Truvada for PrEP, drugs to reduce heart disease and strokes, and eye ointment for newborns to prevent infections.

Parties bringing the challenge objected especially to the mandatory coverage of PrEP, with some arguing the drugs would “encourage and facilitate homosexual behavior” against their religious beliefs.

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