National
Baldwin sees hope in 112th Congress
LGBT Equality Caucus meeting set for March 16
Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) (Blade photo by Michael Key)
Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) maintained this week that pro-LGBT legislation could see progress in the Democratic-controlled Senate during the 112th Congress as prospects of movement are unlikely in the Republican-controlled House.
In an interview with the Washington Blade, the only out lesbian in Congress said she sees room for progress on pro-LGBT bills in the Senate, where Democrats retained control following the mid-term elections.
“There’s still a prospect with a Democratically controlled Senate that bills could progress through committee and maybe even come to the floor, depending on the circumstances,” Baldwin said.
Baldwin said determining which pro-LGBT legislation would have a shot of passing the Senate is hard to say, but cited one bill that she previously sponsored that would extend health and pension benefits to partners of LGBT federal employees.
“I think the Domestic Partnerships Benefits [& Obligations Act] could be one that might advance,” Baldwin said. “Obviously, they still have their 60-vote rule for advancing certain measures to the floor. But could something come up as an amendment to a bill that’s very likely to pass? Well, that remains to be seen.”
While Baldwin said the Senate could lead the way for pro-LGBT legislation in the 112th Congress, she said lawmakers who would introduce the bills have yet to determine the schedule for doing so.
“We’re having some initial discussions about timing, but as the bills have different co-sponsors, I think that different folks have their own timeline,” she said.
Even for her own Domestic Partnership Benefits & Obligations Act, Baldwin said the timing for introduction of her bill remains uncertain as House and Senate sponsors work on hammering out identical legislation.
“We just want to make sure that we’re on the same page with the Senate sponsors and introduce the bill in the same [form],” Baldwin said.
Baldwin also commended President Obama for his recent declaration that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional and his decision to no longer defend the statute in court.
The Wisconsin lawmaker called the move a significant step toward DOMA’s “ultimate demise” and said it would bolster efforts to legislatively repeal the law. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) have announced they plan to introduce repeal legislation in the 112th Congress.
“In terms of the advancement of Congressman Nadler’s bill on repealing the Defense of Marriage Act, I expect that the president’s announcement and the administration’s decision will give it a boost and renewed attention,” Baldwin said. “Obviously, we should be working to repeal statutory measures that aren’t constitutional. I’m hoping that that will enable us to gather more co-sponsors than we’ve had in the past, and to draw attention to the topic of why it’s so necessary that we repeal this.”
Still, Baldwin expressed skepticism about the prospects of advancing DOMA repeal legislation to passage in the Republican-controlled House. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has convened a panel to direct House counsel to defend DOMA in court now that the Obama administration is no longer willing to defend it.
Despite Republican control of the House, Baldwin expressed continued optimism about the strength of the LGBT Equality Caucus, which she co-chairs along with the other three openly gay members of Congress, and said the group is only three lawmakers short of the membership it had in the 111th Congress before Democrats lost 63 seats in the chamber.
“That’s encouraging,” she said. “Even though we had these sweeping changes in House membership, we still have a very rock-solid core of people who are supporting equality.”
Baldwin said she expects the LGBT Equality Caucus to hold public events during the 112th Congress to highlight pro-LGBT legislation and discuss the members’ commitment to passing the bills.
One such meeting is already scheduled for March 16, when the caucus will host its first business meeting to honor its new chairs and vice chairs. Baldwin said the meeting will be open to the public.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) — known as perhaps the most pro-LGBT House Republican — is the only GOP member of the LGBT Equality Caucus, but Baldwin said she’s courting other Republicans to sign on to the group now that they have control of the House.
“I’ve made it a personal goal during the next Congress to try to enroll a greater number of Republicans to our ranks,” Baldwin said. “We certainly know that there are some in the Republican caucus who do not wish it to remain the party of discrimination and hope that LGBT equality can become a bipartisan issue in the future.”
Among the GOP lawmakers that Baldwin said she may solicit to join the LGBT Equality Caucus is Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), who voted for an amendment to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in May even before the Pentagon report was released.
Also on Baldwin’s list is Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.), who has cast votes for hate crimes protection legislation, a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” as well as votes against a U.S. constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
Although Baldwin said she believes the prospects for sending legislation to President Obama’s desk are slim, she said she expects all 33 bills identified as pro-LGBT legislation from the previous Congress to make an appearance again.
“I certainly anticipate that all of the pro-LGBT equality legislation that was introduced in the last Congress will be reintroduced in this Congress with a focus on those bills to educate our colleagues and to enlist larger numbers of supporters for that legislation even if we anticipate that the Republican leadership will not allow those bills to advance,” Baldwin said.
Baldwin also said omnibus legislation that would encompass all the pro-LGBT measures from the previous Congress into one bill could be a way to highlight their importance. Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), the newest openly gay member of Congress, has said he wants to explore the possibility of introducing such legislation.
“I think that pointing out that discrimination still exists in many different arenas is a powerful and important point to keep on raising, and you can do so with legislation, you can do so with other means,” Baldwin said.
Still, Baldwin said she expects members of Congress who introduced the individual pro-LGBT bills to want to introduce them again and said omnibus legislation would work to complement those efforts.
“Any such omnibus bill would be in addition to a complement to the wonderful legislation that so many pro-equality colleagues have introduced,” Baldwin said.
Of all the pro-LGBT legislation that would be introduced in the 112th Congress, Baldwin expressed the greatest optimism about legislation that would eliminate the federal tax on employer-provided health benefits for same-sex partners. In the previous Congress, the legislation was known as the Tax Equity for Health Plan Beneficiaries Act.
Baldwin said work that gay GOP groups are doing to promote the legislation may give the bill “a slim chance.”
“I have been pleased to see both GOProud and Log Cabin Republicans make these tax equity issues a high priority,” Baldwin said. “Obviously, those organizations have some influence that we only hope increases over time. But, I think, probably if there were one legislative issue that there were rosier prospects for, that might be it.”
One possible vehicle for a measure that may see movement in the 112th Congress is reauthorization of the Elementary & Secondary Education Act. Gay rights supporters have been hoping this measure could pass with anti-bullying safeguards for LGBT students even with Republican control of the House.
Standalone legislation that would have addressed this issue was known as the Student Non-Discrimination Act and the Safe Schools Improvement Act in the 111th Congress.
Still, Baldwin expressed reservations about whether Republicans would agree to such a provision and said she has been discouraged by talk against anti-bullying efforts among her GOP colleagues.
“I have heard rhetoric from some of my Republican colleagues on the issue of anti-gay bullying that has disappointed me profoundly,” Baldwin said. “I would expect that if the Senate could include some language on anti-bullying measures, there would be some prospect to reach out to more reasonable-minded Republicans, but I certainly anticipate that there would be opposition.”
Additionally, talk in the Senate about restarting efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform have given LGBT advocates hope that such legislation might include a provision to allow gay Americans to sponsor to sponsor their foreign same-sex partners for residency.
In the previous Congress, standalone legislation that would achieve such a goal was known as the Uniting American Families Act.
But Baldwin said she hasn’t yet gotten “a good read” on the prospects of passing comprehensive immigration reform at this stage in the 112th Congress — with or without the UAFA language.
“I know when the president mentioned it in his State of the Union address, I certainly saw some of my Republican colleagues either leap to their feet or express optimism about another attempt at passing comprehensive immigration reform,” Baldwin said. “But I would say that as we started our session, things have been quite divisive and whether this is the two-year term in which we can get it done or not is a big question mark to me.”
While generally pessimistic about the chances of passing pro-LGBT legislation this Congress, Baldwin also dismissed chances that anti-gay bills could make it into law.
The lawmaker said the Democratic-controlled Senate should be able to block the passage of anti-gay bills that pass the House — such as measures to repeal same-sex marriage in D.C. or thwart “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal — from making it to the president’s desk.
“We do know that at the federal level, we still have divided government,” Baldwin said. “While it would be a sad day for the representatives of the People’s House to pass any of these specific measures, we do know that their likelihood of being considered or embraced by the U.S. Senate is slim, and we also know that the president can exercise his veto if anything were to get to his desk.”
U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court rejects Kim Davis’s effort to overturn landmark marriage ruling
Justices declined to revisit the Obergefell decision
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from Kim Davis, the former Rowan County, Ky., clerk best known for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the landmark 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
Following the Obergefell ruling, Davis stopped issuing marriage licenses altogether and has since filed multiple appeals seeking to challenge same-sex marriage protections. The court once again rejected her efforts on Monday.
In this latest appeal, Davis sought to overturn a $100,000 monetary award she was ordered to pay to David Moore and David Ermold, a same-sex couple to whom she denied a marriage license. Her petition also urged the court to use the case as a vehicle to revisit the constitutional right to same-sex marriage.
The petition, along with the couple’s brief in opposition, was submitted to the Supreme Court on Oct. 22 and considered during the justices’ private conference on Nov. 7. Davis needed at least four votes for the court to take up her case, but Monday’s order shows she fell short.
Cathy Renna, the director of communications for the National LGBTQ Task Force, a non-profit organization that works towards supporting the LGBQ community through grassroots organizing told the Washington Blade:
“Today’s decision is not surprising given the longshot status of Davis’ claim, but it’s a relief that the Supreme Court will not hear it, given the current make up of the court itself. We hope that this settles the matter and marriage equality remains the law of the land for same-sex couples.”
Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson released the following statement:
“Today, love won again. When public officials take an oath to serve their communities, that promise extends to everyone — including LGBTQ+ people. The Supreme Court made clear today that refusing to respect the constitutional rights of others does not come without consequences.
Thanks to the hard work of HRC and so many, marriage equality remains the law of the land through Obergefell v. Hodges and the Respect for Marriage Act. Even so, we must remain vigilant.
It’s no secret that there are many in power right now working to undermine our freedoms — including marriage equality — and attack the dignity of our community any chance they get. Last week, voters rejected the politics of fear, division, and hate, and chose leaders who believe in fairness, freedom, and the future. In race after race, the American people rejected anti-transgender attacks and made history electing pro-equality candidates up and down the ballot.
And from California to Virginia to New Jersey to New York City, LGBTQ+ voters and Equality Voters made the winning difference. We will never relent and will not stop fighting until all of us are free.”
This story is developing and will be updated as more information becomes available.
National
I’m transgender. I’m autistic. And Trump’s SNAP chaos is frightening
Nearly 2.1 million LGBTQ adults rely on food safety net
Uncloseted Media published this article on Nov. 8.
By ASHERAH BARTON | In July 2022, when I was 18, I was forced to come out as transgender.
I remember the car ride through Oregon, back from the DMV, where my state ID had my deadname and the wrong gender marker on it. My mom started interrogating me when I mentioned offhandedly that I didn’t want to have kids.
“Are you gay? Bi?” she pressed me.
I shook my head no.
“No? Well, then what the hell are you?”
My mom kept questioning me until I told her I was trans. I didn’t want to come out to her. I knew her beliefs as an ex-Catholic, and I had already heard her misgendering her trans coworker and had even found a transphobic book, “Irreversible Damage,” on the kitchen counter.
She dismissed me. She told me it was a phase. When I started using my chosen name publicly, she told me she would never call me by it. Even now, after two years on hormones and my dual top surgery and hysterectomy in September, I’m still saved in her phone as my deadname and she doesn’t use my pronouns.
Since then, life has been hard. I moved out of my mom’s house to a suburb of Portland. I needed space to exist without constant tension.
On top of the familial estrangement, maintaining work has been tough. For a while, I had a seasonal job at a local grocery store, something stable enough to cover rent and bills but not a long-term contract. I worked hard, often taking extra shifts and covering for others, hoping to be kept on. But on Christmas Eve of last year, I got the call that my contract wouldn’t be renewed. It wasn’t about performance, they said, the store just “didn’t have room in the budget” to keep the seasonal hires. It felt like the ground had fallen out from under me.
I needed help, so I applied for SNAP in February and started receiving it the following month.
I am part of the 42 million Americans and the nearly 2.1 million LGBTQ adults in the U.S. who rely on SNAP, the federal safety net that helps low-income Americans like me afford the food they need to stay healthy and independent. I’m also one of the 10 percent of younger recipients with a physical or neurological disability, and one of the nearly 3 million 18‑24 year olds who need it to afford food.
When I was on it, SNAP helped me breathe a bit easier.
But all of that changed on Oct. 30, when I got the notification on my phone: “SNAP benefits are paused starting Nov. 1 because the federal government is closed.”
With the holidays approaching and the weather getting colder, this feels like the worst time to lose my stability. Since the Oct. 30 notification, whether I am going to receive these benefits is still so unclear. Earlier this week, Trump said half of the benefits would be issued. Then, early on Friday, it was reported that we would get them after a federal judge ordered the administration to issue full payments immediately.
While I did get my benefits on Nov 7, I saw headlines later that evening saying that the Supreme Court granted an emergency appeal by the Trump administration to temporarily block the court order for full SNAP funding during the shutdown. So, does this mean I’ll lose the benefits next month?
The past few weeks have been so stressful, uncertain and confusing. It feels like the government is playing chess with my ability to afford food.
Before I got my benefits, I had $77 from picking up bottles from gas stations and recycling containers that weren’t too sticky to clean. I have a tally on the notes app on my phone of how many I collect, but it was not enough for the food I need.
As an autistic person living in a residency with rotating caregivers, I’m grateful that some of them help with bulk trips to Costco. But they can’t cover everything. My independence, my physical and mental health and my ability to live safely in my own body all suddenly felt more fragile than ever before.
Every month without those benefits means $187 less for me to spend on groceries. It means giving up my favorite protein bars and starting to buy in bulk to save money.
I thought about reaching out to my parents for help, but I suspected they will use their financial assistance to reopen the conversation about my trans identity, which they could use as a form of debt if I decide to sever ties with them.
For me, SNAP benefits are more than being able to afford food. They allow me to buy meals that keep me healthy and don’t trigger my eating disorder. I’ve struggled with Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder from a very young age, which makes it hard to eat anything unfamiliar or unsafe.
Without receiving SNAP, I wouldn’t be able to buy the foods that help me live. Just $187 a month may not sound like much, but for LGBTQ young adults like myself — many of whom are estranged from family members and/or living with disabilities — it is a key element to our survival.
For the millions of people on benefits, the uncertainty the Trump administration has brought us is the last thing we need. For the hungry children, for the parents struggling to put food on the table, and for those like me who are searching tirelessly for a job and working hard, we need clear and consistent support. Not a chaotic and confusing back and forth.
I’m not lazy, I’m not doing this for my own benefit, nor to cheat the system. Being an autistic, transgender, and low-income young adult means navigating a triple whammy.
As many as 85 percent of college-educated autistic adults are unemployed or underemployed. At the same time, transgender workers experience unemployment at twice the national rate and are frequently passed over for promotions or fired through no fault of their own.
This week, I was terrified of what the uncertainty meant. Is the eating disorder that I’ve lived with since early childhood going to get worse again now that I have to go to food banks to get meals that I may not be comfortable eating? Will I have benefits over the holidays? What will Trump do next?
For those reading this who don’t have to think about where their next meal will come from and when, I would like you to know that these funding cuts are not merely abstract numbers. For myself, for other young LGBTQ adults, and for disabled people of any age, they are empty fridges. They are anxious thoughts before every meal. They are fears of what will come next. November is now here, and I feel more scared. I am worried not just for myself, but for the millions of LGBTQ and disabled people like me who rely on this lifeline to eat and survive in a world that often feels unsafe.
Uncloseted Media reached out to Asherah’s mom for comment but she did not respond.
Sam Donndelinger assisted with the writing and reporting in this story.
Erica Deuso will become the first openly transgender mayor in Pennsylvania.
Voters in Downingtown elected Deuso on Tuesday with 64 percent of the vote, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The Democrat ran against Republican Richard Bryant.
Deuso, 45, currently works at Johnson & Johnson and has lived in Downingtown since 2007. The mayor-elect is originally from Vermont and graduated from Drexel University.
Deuso released a statement following her election, noting that “history was made.”
“Voters chose hope, decency, and a vision of community where every neighbor matters,” Deuso stated. “I am deeply honored to be elected as Pennsylvania’s first openly transgender mayor, and I don’t take that responsibility lightly.”
According to a LGBTQ+ Victory Institute report released in June, the U.S. has seen a 12.5 percent increase in trans elected officials from 2024 to 2025. Still, Deuso’s campaign did not heavily focus on LGBTQ policy or her identity. She instead prioritized public safety, environmental resilience, and town infrastructure, according to Deuso’s campaign website.
Deuso has served on the boards of the Pennsylvania Equality Project, PFLAG West Chester/Chester County, and Emerge Pennsylvania, according to the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund. She is also an executive member of the Chester County Democratic Committee.
“This victory isn’t about one person, it’s about what happens when people come together to choose progress over fear. It’s about showing that leadership can be compassionate, practical, and focused on results. Now the real work begins, building a Downingtown that is safe, sustainable, and strong for everyone who calls it home,” Deuso said.
Downingtown has a population of more than 8,000 people and is a suburb of Philadelphia. The town’s current mayor, Democrat Phil Dague, did not seek a second term.
Janelle Perez, the executive director of LPAC, celebrated Deuso’s victory. The super PAC endorses LGBTQ women and nonbinary candidates with a commitment to women’s equality and social justice, including Deuso.
“Downingtown voters delivered a resounding message today, affirming that Erica represents the inclusive, forward-looking leadership their community deserves, while rejecting the transphobic rhetoric that has become far too common across the country,” Perez said. “Throughout her campaign, Erica demonstrated an unwavering commitment to her future constituents and the issues that matter most to them. LPAC is proud to have supported her from the beginning of this historic campaign, and we look forward to the positive impact she will have as mayor of Downingtown.”
Deuso will be sworn in as mayor on Jan. 7.
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