Congress
House Republican misgenders Sarah McBride in transphobic attack
Comment derailed subcommittee hearing
U.S. Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) deliberately and repeatedly used the honorific “Mr.” for U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first and only transgender member of Congress, sparking a confrontation that derailed a House subcommittee hearing on Tuesday.
After Self, who leads the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Europe Subcommittee, misgendered the congresswoman from Delaware, she replied “Thank you, Madam Chair.”
The top Democrat in the room, Massachusetts Congressman Bill Keating, then spoke up to request that the chair repeat his introduction, which he did, again referring to McBride as “Mr.”
“You are out of order. Mr. Chairman,” Keating said, raising his voice. “Have you no decency? I mean, I have come to know you a little bit, but this is not decent.”
Self then started to adjourn the hearing, telling colleagues “we will continue this” before he was interrupted by the ranking member, who told him, “You will not continue it with me unless you introduce a duly elected representative the right way.”
McBride addressed the matter in a post on X Tuesday night, writing, “No matter how I’m treated by some colleagues, nothing diminishes my awe and gratitude at getting to represent Delaware in Congress. It is truly the honor and privilege of a lifetime. I simply want to serve and to try to make this world a better place.”
No matter how I'm treated by some colleagues, nothing diminishes my awe and gratitude at getting to represent Delaware in Congress. It is truly the honor and privilege of a lifetime. I simply want to serve and to try to make this world a better place.
— Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) March 12, 2025
Self doubled down again, writing on social media “it is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female,” citing President Donald Trump’s day-one executive order mandating that the federal government treat gender as a binary that cannot and does not deviate from one’s birth sex.
The policy is out of step with mainstream science and medicine, which recognizes that human biology is complex and one’s gender identity is often but not always linked to one’s sex at birth. Critics of the order have also noted that its narrow definitions for sex and gender exclude people who are born intersex, with a combination of male and female biological traits (genitals, chromosomes, hormones.)
“While there are some areas of active debate, scientists are in wide agreement that biological sex in humans as well as the rest of life on earth is much more complicated than a simple binary,” a biology professor said in a report published by the Washington Post last month.
“It’s trying to explain away people,” a health law professor told the paper, referring to the executive order. The administration, he added, wants “to try to present it as this extremely simple issue — as if it’s really just one or the other, you’re male or you’re female.”
McBride’s historic election last year came as Trump and other Republicans were running on promises to enact increasingly extreme anti-trans legislation or policies, with GOP campaigns, spending $21.5 million on anti-trans ads, with much of that spend coming at the tail end o the 2024 cycle.
Transphobic attacks against the congresswoman, including from House Republicans, began before she was even seated. U.S. Reps. Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia both misgendered her repeatedly while touting Mace’s proposal to prohibit trans women from using sex-segregated women’s bathrooms at the Capitol, publicly acknowledging that the move was intended to target McBride. More recently, U.S. Rep. Mary Miller of West Virginia misgendered her in February on the House floor.
When serving in the Delaware Senate, McBride was recognized for her successful sponsorship of a bill providing 12-week paid family and medical leave for workers, an issue that was central to her congressional campaign along with her focus on healthcare reform and is a key piece of her focus on reforming care infrastructure in Congress.
In cases where she has elected to address the cruel and bigoted attacks against her from GOP colleagues and others, McBride, has consistently tried to redirect attention towards her work on behalf of the constituents she serves, as seen in her post on Tuesday.
In January, McBride partnered with U.S. Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.) on the first bill she introduced in Washington, which aims to protect consumers from scams in the credit repair industry.
Last week, the congresswoman joined her colleagues in reintroducing the bipartisan Protecting the Right to Organize Act, and together with other Democrats introduced the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act which, per a press release, would “restore and modernize the protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and prevent states with a history of voter discrimination from erecting new barriers to the ballot box.”
Congress
Five HIV/AIDS activists arrested outside Susan Collins’s D.C. office
Protesters demanded full PEPFAR funding
U.S. Capitol Police on Tuesday arrested five HIV/AIDS activists who protested outside U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)’s office in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
A press release that Housing Works, Health GAP, and Disability Voters of Maine issued notes 30 HIV/AIDS activists “carried out an act of civil disobedience” at Collins’s D.C. office and “delivered mock ‘bodybags'” to her office in Portland, Maine.
“Activists were reacting to deadly harms caused by Collins’s unwillingness to hold Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought accountable for illegally obstructing the release of already appropriated funding for lifesaving HIV treatment and prevention,” reads the press release.
Elizabeth Koke, senior director of brand strategy for Housing Works, told the Washington Blade that Housing Works CEO Charles King is among those who were arrested in D.C. The press release notes 30 HIV/AIDS activists participated in the protest.
Activists since the Trump-Vance administration took office in January have demanded full PEPFAR funding.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio Jan. 28 issued a waiver that allowed PEPFAR and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” programs to continue to operate during the freeze on nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending. HIV/AIDS service providers around the world with whom the Blade has spoken say PEPFAR cuts and the loss of funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, which officially closed on July 1, has severely impacted their work. (The State Department last month announced PEPFAR will distribute lenacapavir, a breakthrough HIV prevention drug, in countries with high prevalence rates.)
The New York Times in August reported Vought “apportioned” only $2.9 billion of $6 billion that Congress set aside for PEPFAR for fiscal year 2025. (PEPFAR in the coming fiscal year will use funds allocated in fiscal year 2024.)
Bipartisan opposition in the U.S. Senate prompted the Trump-Vance administration in July withdraw a proposal to cut $400 million from PEPFAR’s budget. Vought on Aug. 29 said he would use a “pocket rescission” to cancel $4.9 billion in foreign aid that Congress had already approved.
The federal government has been shut down since Oct. 1.
“In July, we applauded Collins’s willingness to fight for people with HIV which resulted in a temporary reprieve from further unlawful cuts,” said Health GAP Executive Director Asia Russell. “In response, Vought has gone behind Collins’s back. Why isn’t she fighting back? We cannot allow Collins to refuse to take action now — just because Vought is violating the law doesn’t mean she can break her promise to people with HIV.”
Collins chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“Collins has said that PEPFAR funds are not reaching people in need, yet she refuses to use the full power of her position to end the political obstruction and lawlessness while people continue to die,” said Marie Follayttar of Disability Voters of Maine. “The consequences of her inaction, and of her votes, will be measured in body bags around the world.”
The protesters’ press release notes two specific demands for Collins:
• Fully restore PEPFAR programming by directing Vought to release withheld PEPFAR funding consistent with Congressional appropriations
• Include the release of withheld PEPFAR funding as part of her 6-point plan to re-open government
“Senator Collins has been the Senate champion for PEPFAR and was responsible for saving the program from $400 million in cuts just three months ago,” Blake Kernen, Collins’s press secretary, told the Blade on Wednesday. “It was difficult to understand what the protesters wanted or their message.”
“Many entered the office, sat on the ground, and used a loud noisemaker, which made it impossible to hear,” said Kernen. “A member of Sen. Collins’s staff offered to speak with the group, but they continued to shout over her and refused the offer.”
Congress
Mike Waltz confirmed as next UN ambassador
Trump nominated former national security advisor in May
The U.S. Senate on Sept. 19 confirmed former U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) as the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
The Florida Republican had been the national security advisor until President Donald Trump in May tapped him after U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) withdrew her nomination in order to ensure Republicans maintained their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Senators approved Waltz’s nomination by a 47-43 vote margin.
“Thank you President Trump and the U.S. Senate for your trust and confidence to Make the UN Great Again,” said Waltz on X.
The U.N. General Assembly is taking place this week in New York. Trump is scheduled to speak on Tuesday.
Congress
State Department urged to restore LGBTQ-specific information in human rights reports
Congressional Equality Caucus sent Secretary of State Marco Rubio a letter on Sept. 9
The Congressional Equality Caucus has called upon the State Department to once again include LGBTQ and intersex people in their annual human rights report.
U.S. Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Julie Johnson (D-Texas), and Sarah McBride (D-Del.), who co-chair the caucus’s International LGBTQI+ Rights Task Force, spearheaded a letter sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sept. 9.
The 2024 human rights report the State Department released last month did not include LGBTQ-specific references. Jessica Stern, the former special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights under the Biden-Harris administration who co-founded the Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice, described the removal of LGBTQ and intersex people and other groups from the report as “deliberate erasure.”
“We strongly oppose your decision to remove the subsection on Acts of Violence Criminalization, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity or Expression, or Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC Subsection) from the State Department’s Annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (Human Rights Reports),” reads the letter. “We urge you to restore this information, or else ensure it is integrated throughout each human rights report.”
Congress requires the State Department to release a human rights report each year.
The Congressional Equality Caucus’s letter points out the human rights reports “have been a critical source of information on human rights violations and abuses against LGBTQI+ persons around the world.” It specifically notes consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized in more than 60 countries, and the 2017 human rights report included “details on the state-sponsored and societal violence against LGBTQI+ persons in Chechnya, including extrajudicial killings.”
Immigration Equality in response to the 2024 human rights report said the reports “serve as key evidence for asylum seekers, attorneys, judges, and advocates who rely on them to assess human rights conditions and protection claims worldwide.”
“The information in these reports is critical — not just for human rights advocates — but also for Americans traveling abroad,” reads the Congressional Equality Caucus’s letter. “LGBTQI+ Americans and their families must continue to have access to comprehensive, reliable information about a country’s human rights record so they can plan travel and take appropriate precautions.”
The caucus’s full letter can be read here.
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