National
Geithner pledges to work against LGBT abuses overseas
Secretary responds to letter from Bachus, Frank
Treasury Secretary TImothy Geithner (photo courtesy of wikimedia.org)
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has pledged to voice opposition to LGBT human rights violations overseas through U.S. participation in multilateral development institutions — such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund — and to work to restrict funds from these banks to foreign governments that allow such abuses.
In a letter dated April 8, Geithner writes to gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) that officials in the Treasury Department have been working against LGBT human rights violations as well as abuses against religious minorities. The secretary says he shares the lawmaker’s concern “about the incidents of human rights abuses, including persecutions based on religion and sexual orientation.”
“I want to assure you that we will continue to use our voice and influence in the MDBs, as well as engage with our colleagues at the State Department and other agencies, to seek improvements in the human rights situation in these countries,” Geithner continues. “The Treasury Department will continue to instruct the U.S. Executive Directors at each of the MDBs to seek to channel MDB resources away from those countries whose governments engage in a pattern of gross violations of human rights, and, more generally, to continue to advocate for upholding hunan rights in all countries in which the MDBs operate.”
Geithner adds that the Obama administration has “very consequential funding requests” before Congress for multilateral development institutions and that the level of U.S. funding for these banks “will directly determine our ability to maintain a strong and influential voice in all of these institutions in the years ahead.”
Multilateral development institutions, such as the World Bank, are charged with providing loans to developing countries to reduce poverty by facilitating capital programs. The Treasury Department doesn’t have the authority to mandate policy at these banks, but the United States has an influential role because the institutions rely in part on funds authorized by Congress.
The Geithner letter is in response to an earlier letter that Frank and House Financial Services Committee Chair Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) sent to the secretary on March 30 urging him to work against abuses toward LGBT people and religious minorities in foreign countries through U.S. involvement in multilateral development institutions. Geithner’s letter back to Frank, ranking Democrat on the committee, indicates that an identical letter was sent to Bachus.
The lawmaker’s letted drew attention to an amendment that the House Financial Services Committee approved on March 15 as part of “Views and Estimates on the Administration’s FY2012 Budget,” which outlines fiscal year 2012 priorities for issues under the panel’s jurisdiction, including recommended funds for the Treasury Department and the World Bank. The amendment urges the Treasury Department to advocate that foreign governments receiving assistance from the multilateral development banks don’t engage in gross violations of human rights, such as the denial of freedom of religion and physical persecution based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The passage of the amendment and the exchange between the lawmakers and Geithner takes place as LGBT human rights overseas continued to receive international attention, particularly in Uganda, where legislation that would institute the death penalty for homosexual acts had been pending before parliament. Additionally, David Kato, an activist who was working against the pending measure, was brutally murdered after a publication in the country identified him as gay.
In response to Geithner’s letter, Frank said he appreciates Geithner has made “a special point” of recognizing the importance of the issues raised by the amendment that was adopted by the House Financial Services Committee.
“This clearly has application to Uganda because of the severe attacks on LGBT people there that the government continues to condone and encourage,” Frank said. “I am pleased that America will now be engaged in trying to do what we can to block such practices wherever they occur.”
Harry Gural, a Frank spokesperson, said Uganda has received more than $2 billion debt relief from the World Bank and the IMF. Support for the country, Gural said, includes 23 active World Bank projects and 3 proposed projects.
Bachus’ office didn’t respond on short notice to the Washington Blade’s request to comment on the Geithner letter.
Mark Bromley, chair of the Council for Global Equality, said he hopes the letter is “the beginning of a rich dialogue” with the Treasury Department on how the United States can use its influence at multilateral development banks to promote human rights for LGBT people.
“It’s good that the discussion has started, but a lot more needs to be done to leverage the influence of the United States more effectively within these powerful institutions,” Bromley said.
Further, Bromley said the United States should work to ensure LGBT people overseas have access to the opportunities that multilateral development institutions provide.
“In addition to channeling resources away from countries that violate fundamental human rights, as Secretary Geithner appropriately suggests, the United States should also ensure that LGBT communities participate equally in the life-changing social and economic opportunities that the banks provide in developing countries,” Bromley said.
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
Congratulations to Gil Pontes III on his recent appointment to the Financial Advisory Board for the City of Wilton Manors, Fla. Upon being appointed he said, “I’m honored to join the Financial Advisory Board for the City of Wilton Manors at such an important moment for our community. In my role as Executive Director of the NextGen Chamber of Commerce, I spend much of my time focused on economic growth, fiscal sustainability, and the long-term competitiveness of emerging business leaders. I look forward to bringing that perspective to Wilton Manors — helping ensure responsible stewardship of public resources while supporting a vibrant, inclusive local economy.”
Pontes is a nonprofit executive with years of development, operations, budget, management, and strategic planning experience in 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), and political organizations. Pontes is currently executive director of NextGen, Chamber of Commerce. NextGen Chamber’s mission is to “empower emerging business leaders by generating insights, encouraging engagement, and nurturing leadership development to shape the future economy.” Prior to that he served as managing director of The Nora Project, and director of development also at The Nora Project. He has held a number of other positions including Major Gifts Officer, Thundermist Health Center, and has worked in both real estate and banking including as Business Solutions Adviser, Ironwood Financial. For three years he was a Selectman, Town of Berkley, Mass. In that role, he managed HR and general governance for town government. There were 200+ staff and 6,500 constituents. He balanced a $20,000,000 budget annually, established an Economic Development Committee, and hired the first town administrator.
Pontes earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.
Kansas
ACLU sues Kansas over law invalidating trans residents’ IDs
A new Kansas bill requires transgender residents to have their driver’s licenses reflect their sex assigned at birth, invalidating current licenses.
Transgender people across Kansas received letters in the mail on Wednesday demanding the immediate surrender of their driver’s licenses following passage of one of the harshest transgender bathroom bans in the nation. Now the American Civil Liberties Union is filing a lawsuit to block the ban and protect transgender residents from what advocates describe as “sweeping” and “punitive” consequences.
Independent journalist Erin Reed broke the story Wednesday after lawmakers approved House Substitute for Senate Bill 244. In her reporting, Reed included a photo of the letter sent to transgender Kansans, requiring them to obtain a driver’s license that reflects their sex assigned at birth rather than the gender with which they identify.
According to the reporting, transgender Kansans must surrender their driver’s licenses and that their current credentials — regardless of expiration date — will be considered invalid upon the law’s publication. The move effectively nullifies previously issued identification documents, creating immediate uncertainty for those impacted.
House Substitute for Senate Bill 244 also stipulates that any transgender person caught driving without a valid license could face a class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. That potential penalty adds a criminal dimension to what began as an administrative action. It also compounds the legal risks for transgender Kansans, as the state already requires county jails to house inmates according to sex assigned at birth — a policy that advocates say can place transgender detainees at heightened risk.
Beyond identification issues, SB 244 not only bans transgender people from using restrooms that match their gender identity in government buildings — including libraries, courthouses, state parks, hospitals, and interstate rest stops — with the possibility for criminal penalties, but also allows for what critics have described as a “bathroom bounty hunter” provision. The measure permits anyone who encounters a transgender person in a restroom — including potentially in private businesses — to sue them for large sums of money, dramatically expanding the scope of enforcement beyond government authorities.
The lawsuit challenging SB 244 was filed today in the District Court of Douglas County on behalf of anonymous plaintiffs Daniel Doe and Matthew Moe by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kansas, and Ballard Spahr LLP. The complaint argues that SB 244 violates the Kansas Constitution’s protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process, and freedom of speech.
Additionally, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a temporary restraining order on behalf of the anonymous plaintiffs, arguing that the order — followed by a temporary injunction — is necessary to prevent the “irreparable harm” that would result from SB 244.
State Rep. Abi Boatman, a Wichita Democrat and the only transgender member of the Kansas Legislature, told the Kansas City Star on Wednesday that “persecution is the point.”
“This legislation is a direct attack on the dignity and humanity of transgender Kansans,” said Monica Bennett, legal director of the ACLU of Kansas. “It undermines our state’s strong constitutional protections against government overreach and persecution.”
“SB 244 is a cruel and craven threat to public safety all in the name of fostering fear, division, and paranoia,” said Harper Seldin, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “The invalidation of state-issued IDs threatens to out transgender people against their will every time they apply for a job, rent an apartment, or interact with police. Taken as a whole, SB 244 is a transparent attempt to deny transgender people autonomy over their own identities and push them out of public life altogether.”
“SB 244 presents a state-sanctioned attack on transgender people aimed at silencing, dehumanizing, and alienating Kansans whose gender identity does not conform to the state legislature’s preferences,” said Heather St. Clair, a Ballard Spahr litigator working on the case. “Ballard Spahr is committed to standing with the ACLU and the plaintiffs in fighting on behalf of transgender Kansans for a remedy against the injustices presented by SB 244, and is dedicated to protecting the constitutional rights jeopardized by this new law.”
National
After layoffs at Advocate, parent company acquires ‘Them’ from Conde Nast
Top editorial staff let go last week
Former staff members at the Advocate and Out magazines revealed that parent company Equalpride laid off a number of employees late last week.
Those let go included Advocate editor-in-chief Alex Cooper, Pride.com editor-in-chief Rachel Shatto, brand partnerships manager Erin Manley, community editor Marie-Adélina de la Ferriére, and Out magazine staff writers Moises Mendez and Bernardo Sim, according to a report in Hollywood Reporter.
Cooper, who joined the company in 2021, posted to social media that, “Few people have had the privilege of leading this legendary LGBTQ+ news outlet, and I’m deeply honored to have been one of them. To my team: thank you for the last four years. You’ve been the best. For those also affected today, please let me know how I can support you.”
The Advocate’s PR firm when reached by the Blade said it no longer represents the company. Emails to the Advocate went unanswered.
Equalpride on Friday announced it acquired “Them,” a digital LGBTQ outlet founded in 2017 by Conde Nast.
“Equalpride exists to elevate, celebrate and protect LGBTQ+ storytelling at scale,” Equalpride CEO Mark Berryhill said according to Hollywood Reporter. “By combining the strengths of our brands with this respected digital platform, we’re creating a unified ecosystem that delivers even more impact for our audiences, advertisers, and community partners.”
It’s not clear if “Them” staff would take over editorial responsibilities for the Advocate and Out.
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