Politics
Biden to leave office revered as most pro-LGBTQ president in history
Long record of support from marriage to trans rights

President Joe Biden will leave the White House next week after leading what advocates consider to be the most pro-LGBTQ administration in American history.
The past four years offer a wealth of evidence to support the claim, from the passage of legislation like the landmark Respect for Marriage Act to the promotion of LGBTQ rights abroad as a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy, impactful regulatory moves in areas like health equity for gay and trans communities, and the record-breaking number of gender and sexual minorities appointed to serve throughout the federal government and on the federal bench.
As demonstrated by the deeply personal reflections that he shared during an exclusive interview with the Washington Blade in September, Biden is especially proud of his legacy on LGBTQ rights and believes that his record reflects the bedrock principles of justice, equality, and fairness that were inculcated by his father’s example and have motivated him throughout his career in public life.
For instance, during a trip to New York in June, where he delivered remarks to commemorate the opening of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center, Biden explained he was deeply moved by the “physical and moral courage” of those early gay rights activists, adding that the monument honoring their sacrifices “sets an example” in the U.S. and around the world.
Likewise, Biden told the Blade he decided to publicly express his support for same-sex marriage in the midst of his reelection campaign with then-President Barack Obama in 2012 because of his experience attending an event hosted by a gay couple with their children present.
āIf you saw these two kids with their fathers, youād walk away saying, āwait a minute, theyāre good parents,āā he said. From that moment forward, Biden was unwilling to continue to demur, even if that meant preempting Obama’s “evolution” toward embracing marriage equality.
To fully appreciate Biden’s leadership ā especially during his presidency, and particularly on issues of transgender rights ā it is worth considering his record against the backdrop of the broader political landscape over the past four years.
By the time he took office in 2021, conservative activists and elected leaders had positioned the trans community at the center of a moral panic, introducing hundreds of laws targeting their rights and protections and exploiting the issue as a strategy to undermine support for Democrats.
In the face of unrelenting attacks from his Republican political adversaries, Biden set to work building an administration that “looked like America” including with the appointment of trans physician and four-star officer Dr. Rachel Levine to serve as assistant health secretary, and on day one he issued an executive order repealing his predecessor’s policy that excluded trans Americans from military service.
As the 2024 election neared, with Donald Trump’s campaign weaponizing transphobia as a wedge to score votes, Biden’s support remained vocal and sustained. In each of his four State of the Union addresses to joint sessions of Congress, for example, the president reinforced his commitment to “have the trans community’s back.”
Meanwhile, midway through his term the U.S. Supreme Court overturned abortion protections that were in place since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, with conservative statehouses across the country taking the opportunity to pass draconian restrictions.
Democrats sought to exploit the unpopular abortion bans, especially as the presidential race was in full swing, but many were concerned that Biden might be an ineffective messenger because of his personal opposition to the practice as a devout Catholic.
While he directed his administration to take measures to protect access to abortion in the U.S. and spoke publicly about the importance of reproductive autonomy and the freedom to access necessary medical care for family planning, the Associated Press reports that as of March 2024, Biden had only used the word “abortion” in prepared remarks once in four years.
The daylight between how the president has talked about transgender rights and how he has talked about abortion offers an interesting contrast, perhaps illuminating how impervious Biden can be when pressured to compromise his values for the sake of realizing his political ambitions, while also demonstrating the sincerity of his conviction that, as he put it in 2012, anti-trans discrimination is “the civil rights issue of our time.”
Biden was scheduled to deliver a farewell address to the nation on Wednesday evening.
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’āwhich the Executive Order defines broadly to encompass acknowledging the simple
existence of transgender people and gender identity.”
āWe 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 Administrationās 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 Constitutionās guarantee of equal protection under the law.ā
Politics
Trump administration sued over gender affirming care ban
Plaintiffs represented by Lambda Legal, ACLU, PFLAG National, others

Lambda Legal, the ACLU, and the ACLU of Maryland, joined by the law firms Hogan Lovells and Jenner & Block, have sued the Trump-Vance administration over its issuance of an executive order banning gender affirming care nationwide for patients younger than 19.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, seeks “preliminary and permanent injunction preventing the Agency Defendants, including any subagencies of Defendant HHS, from enforcing or implementing the Denial of Care and the Gender Identity Orders.”
PFLAG National and GMLA are also representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, seven families with transgender or nonbinary children.
Trump’s executive order last week prohibits health insurers run by the federal government, including Medicaid and TRICARE, from funding medical care for trans and gender diverse youth that is recommended by mainstream scientific and medical organizations like the American Medical Association.
Hospitals throughout the country subsequently suspended or shut down their gender affirming care programs. Those that have acknowledged the move publicly cited the administration’s order, which threatens federal funding and grants for noncompliance.
New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a letter on Monday, signed by a coalition of 22 state AGs, informing hundreds of recipients of federal funding, including healthcare providers, “who were informed that funding cannot be frozen or withdrawn on the basis of providing gender affirming care to minors.”
Likewise, the lawsuit filed by Lambda Legal and the ACLU argues the executive orders are āunlawful and unconstitutional,ā first because they seek to withhold federal funds previously authorized by Congress and second because they violate anti-discrimination laws.
Politics
Trump previews anti-trans executive orders in inaugural address
Unclear how or when they would be implemented

President Donald Trump, during his inaugural address on Monday, previewed some anti-trans executive orders he has pledged to sign, though it was not yet fully clear how and when they would be implemented.
“This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life,” he said. “Today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government, that there are only two genders, male and female.”
The president added, “I will sign an order to stop our warriors from being subjected to radical political theories and social experiments, while on duty. It’s going to end immediately.”
After taking the oath of office inside the U.S. Capitol building, Trump was expected to sign as many as 200 executive orders.
On issues of gender identity and LGBTQ rights, the 47th president was reportedly considering a range of moves, including banning trans student athletes from competing and excluding trans people from the U.S. Armed Forces.
NBC News reported on Monday, however, that senior officials with the new administration pointed to two forthcoming executive orders ā the official recognition of only two genders, and “ending ‘radical and wasteful’ diversity, equity and inclusion programs inside federal agencies.”
With respect to the former, in practical terms it would mean walking back the Biden-Harris administration’s policy, beginning in 2022, of allowing U.S. citizens to select the “x” gender marker for their passports and other official documents.
“The order aims to require that the federal government use the term ‘sex’ instead of ‘gender,’ and directs the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to ‘ensure that official government documents, including passports and visas, reflect sex accurately,'” according to NBC.
Additionally, though it was unclear what exactly this would mean, the first EO would take aim at the use of taxpayer funds for gender-transition healthcare, such as in correctional facilities.
The Human Rights Campaign in a press release Monday indicated that a “fulsome review of executive actions” is forthcoming, but the group’s President Kelley Robinson said, āToday, the Trump administration is expected to release a barrage of executive actions taking aim at the LGBTQ+ community instead of uniting our country and prioritizing the pressing issues the American people are facing.ā Ā
āBut make no mistake: these actions will not take effect immediately,” she said.
āEvery person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect in all areas of their lives,” Robinson said. “No one should be subjected to ongoing discrimination, harassment and humiliation where they work, go to school, or access healthcare. But todayās expected executive actions targeting the LGBTQ+ community serve no other purpose than to hurt our families and our communities.”
She continued, āOur community has fought for decades to ensure that our relationships are respected at work, that our identities are accepted at school, and that our service is honored in the military. Any attack on our rights threatens the rights of any person who doesnāt fit into the narrow view of how they should look and act. The incoming administration is trying to divide our communities in the hope that we forget what makes us strong. But we refuse to back down or be intimidated.”
āWe are not going anywhere. and we will fight back against these harmful provisions with everything weāve got,” Robinson said.
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