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3 advocacy groups seek to raise $3.5 million for Baldwin

Victory Fund, HRC, EMILY’s List raising money, awareness for Senate bid

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Tammy Baldwin

U.S. Senate candidate Tammy Baldwin (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

A trio of advocacy groups has launched an independent expenditure campaign with a goal of raising $3.5 million to help Rep. Tammy Baldwin in her bid to become the first openly gay member of the U.S. Senate.

The campaign — a collaboration of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, EMILY’s List and the Human Rights Campaign — is called the “WISCONSIN WOMEN VOTE!” project.

Jeff Spitko, senior vice president of external affairs at the Victory Fund, said the campaign involves raising money in addition to creating TV ads, a website and an online campaign targeting female swing voters statewide.

“The initial push is the launch of the website and … we’re starting to go out on television,” Spitko said. “We’ll continue that same thing in August and September and also appropriate those online initiatives and direct mail initiatives.”

As of last week, Spitko said the organizations have raised about $1 million, but are looking to raise $3.5 million as soon as possible over the course of Baldwin’s campaign.

“The sooner the money’s in play the more effective we’ll be in getting out the message,” Spitko said. “All three organizations are really having a fundraising push in order to make sure that the funds are there to support Tammy. All three of us have a vested interest and want to make sure that we have an authentic voice in the Senate on Election Day.”

Baldwin has no competition for the Democratic nomination to represent Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate. But it’s unclear whom she’ll face in the general election because of the crowded Republican field. Eric Novde, a hedge fund manager, is a newcomer to the race and has become a popular figure in the Republican primary. Other Republicans in the running are former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, former congressman and gubernatorial candidate Mark Neumann and State Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald.

The memo dated July 11 announcing the partnership addresses the threat that Republican challengers present to Baldwin, saying they’re beholden to conservative interests.

“In the last couple of weeks, the radical right, led by the Koch Brothers and their front groups Americans for Prosperity and American Commitment began an all-out assault on Tammy Baldwin, spending over $1 million on the air in Wisconsin to distort her record,” the memo states. “Not only that, but the two main contenders for the Republican nomination, former Governor Tommy Thompson and hedge-fund manager Eric Hovde have dumped millions on television to earn the right to take on Tammy in the fall.”

The first portion of the campaign involves running a TV attacking Hovde and Thompson as Washington insiders and praising Baldwin. Spitko said the ad started running earlier this month in Wisconsin and future ad buys are planned in Milwaukee, Green Bay and Wausau.

Neither EMILY’s List nor HRC provided a statement regarding the independent expenditure campaign for Baldwin in time for the posting of this article. The Baldwin campaign also didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The race between Baldwin and her opponents appears tight. According to data published last week from Public Policy Polling, she’s in a virtual dead heat with Novde, who leads her 45-44, and Thompson, whom she ties 45-45. Baldwin leads Neumann by 45-41 and Fitzgerald 46-42.

But the memo announcing the initiative says Baldwin can win if she receives the support she needs to put her over the edge.

“As our recent internal polling confirms, Tammy can win, as long as we can present Wisconsin voters with the real choice in this election: a DC insider who will go to Washington and work for the wealthy and corporate special interests, or a progressive fighter who’s always stood up for middle class Wisconsinites,” the memo states.

Baldwin already enjoys a fundraising lead over her potential opponents. According to a report for WTAQ in Wisconsin, Baldwin raised $2.2 million for her campaign from April through June. Meanwhile, Thompson raised $834,000, Neumann raised $733,000, Hovde raised $237,000 and Fitzgerald raised $41,000. But Hovde has spent an estimated $3 million of his own money on TV ads over the last few months to become more well-known.

Watch the ad on behalf on the campaign below:

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Federal Government

RFK Jr.’s HHS report pushes therapy, not medical interventions, for trans youth

‘Discredited junk science’ — GLAAD

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HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

A 409-page report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services challenges the ethics of medical interventions for youth experiencing gender dysphoria, the treatments that are often collectively called gender-affirming care, instead advocating for psychotherapy alone.

The document comes in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order barring the federal government from supporting gender transitions for anyone younger than 19.

“Our duty is to protect our nation’s children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. “We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.”

While the report does not constitute clinical guidance, its findings nevertheless conflict with not just the recommendations of LGBTQ advocacy groups but also those issued by organizations with relevant expertise in science and medicine.

The American Medical Association, for instance, notes that “empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression.”

Gender-affirming care for transgender youth under standards widely used in the U.S. includes supportive talk therapy along with — in some but not all cases — puberty blockers or hormone treatment.

“The suggestion that someone’s authentic self and who they are can be ‘changed’ is discredited junk science,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “This so-called guidance is grossly misleading and in direct contrast to the recommendation of every leading health authority in the world. This report amounts to nothing more than forcing the same discredited idea of conversion therapy that ripped families apart and harmed gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people for decades.”

GLAAD further notes that the “government has not released the names of those involved in consulting or authoring this report.”

Janelle Perez, executive director of LPAC, said, “For decades, every major medical association–including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics–have affirmed that medical care is the only safe and effective treatment for transgender youth experiencing gender dysphoria.

“This report is simply promoting conversion therapy by a different name – and the American people know better. We know that conversion therapy isn’t actually therapy – it isolates and harms kids, scapegoats parents, and divides families through blame and rejection. These tactics have been used against gay kids for decades, and now the same people want to use them against transgender youth and their families.

“The end result here will be a devastating denial of essential health care for transgender youth, replaced by a dangerous practice that every major U.S. medical and mental health association agree promotes anxiety, depression, and increased risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts.

“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice, and no amount of pressure can force someone to change who they are. We also know that 98% of people who receive transition-related health care continue to receive that health care throughout their lifetime. Trans health care is health care.”

“Today’s report seeks to erase decades of research and learning, replacing it with propaganda. The claims in today’s report would rip health care away from kids and take decision-making out of the hands of parents,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of NCLR. “It promotes the same kind of conversion therapy long used to shame LGBTQ+ people into hating themselves for being unable to change something they can’t change.”

“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice—it’s rooted in biology and genetics,” Minter said. “No amount or talk or pressure will change that.” 

Human Rights Campaign Chief of Staff Jay Brown released a statement: “Trans people are who we are. We’re born this way. And we deserve to live our best lives and have a fair shot and equal opportunity at living a good life.

“This report misrepresents the science that has led all mainstream American medical and mental health professionals to declare healthcare for transgender youth to be best practice and instead follows a script predetermined not by experts but by Sec. Kennedy and anti-equality politicians.”




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The White House

Trump nominates Mike Waltz to become next UN ambassador

Former Fla. congressman had been national security advisor

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U.N. headquarters in New York (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he will nominate Mike Waltz to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

Waltz, a former Florida congressman, had been the national security advisor.

Trump announced the nomination amid reports that Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, were going to leave the administration after Waltz in March added a journalist to a Signal chat in which he, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other officials discussed plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.

“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States ambassador to the United Nations,” said Trump in a Truth Social post that announced Waltz’s nomination. “From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role.”

Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as interim national security advisor, “while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department.”

“Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to make America, and the world, safe again,” said Trump.

Trump shortly after his election nominated U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Trump in March withdrew her nomination in order to ensure Republicans maintained their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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U.S. Federal Courts

Second federal lawsuit filed against White House passport policy

Two of seven plaintiffs live in Md.

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Lambda Legal on April 25 filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of seven transgender and nonbinary people who are challenging the Trump-Vance administration’s passport policy.

The lawsuit, which Lambda Legal filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, alleges the policy that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers “has caused and is causing grave and immediate harm to transgender people like plaintiffs, in violation of their constitutional rights to equal protection.”

Two of the seven plaintiffs — Jill Tran and Peter Poe — live in Maryland. The State Department, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the federal government are defendants.

“The discriminatory passport policy exposes transgender U.S. citizens to harassment, abuse, and discrimination, in some cases endangering them abroad or preventing them from traveling, by forcing them to use identification documents that share private information against their wishes,” said Lambda Legal in a press release.

Zander Schlacter, a New York-based textile artist and designer, is the lead plaintiff.

The lawsuit notes he legally changed his name and gender in New York.

Schlacter less than a week before President Donald Trump’s inauguration “sent an expedited application to update his legal name on his passport, using form DS-5504.”

Trump once he took office signed an executive order that banned the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers. The lawsuit notes Schlacter received his new passport in February.

“The passport has his correct legal name, but now has an incorrect sex marker of ‘F’ or ‘female,'” notes the lawsuit. “Mr. Schlacter also received a letter from the State Department notifying him that ‘the date of birth, place of birth, name, or sex was corrected on your passport application,’ with ‘sex’ circled in red. The stated reason was ‘to correct your information to show your biological sex at birth.'”

“I, like many transgender people, experience fear of harassment or violence when moving through public spaces, especially where a photo ID is required,” said Schlacter in the press release that announced the lawsuit. “My safety is further at risk because of my inaccurate passport. I am unwilling to subject myself and my family to the threat of harassment and discrimination at the hands of border officials or anyone who views my passport.”

Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June 2021 announced the State Department would begin to issue gender-neutral passports and documents for American citizens who were born overseas.

Dana Zzyym, an intersex U.S. Navy veteran who identifies as nonbinary, in 2015 filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their application for a passport with an “X” gender marker. Zzyym in October 2021 received the first gender-neutral American passport.

Lambda Legal represented Zzyym.

The State Department policy took effect on April 11, 2022.

Trump signed his executive order shortly after he took office in January. Germany, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands are among the countries that have issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U.S.

A federal judge in Boston earlier this month issued a preliminary injunction against the executive order.  The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of seven trans and nonbinary people.

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