National
Will Senate address bullying in education reform?
Franken, Casey may offer pro-LGBT amendments
Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) (Blade photo by Michael Key)
A Senate committee markup this week could present an opportunity to include LGBT anti-bullying measures as part of larger education reform legislation — although whether the panel will act remains unclear.
Starting Wednesday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee will consider amendments and vote on legislation to reauthorize the Elementary & Secondary Education Act, an extensive law that helps fund primary and secondary schools throughout the country.
President Obama has identified reauthorization of the law, which was last updated in 2001 during the Bush administration with the No Child Left Behind Act, as among his priorities for this year. At the onset of the 112th Congress, passage of education reform — and possibly LGBT-inclusive legislation — was seen as an area where where a Republican-controlled House and a Democratic-controlled Senate could come to an agreement to take action.
LGBT advocates had been pushing for the inclusion of two-LGBT bills as part of education reform — the Student Non-Discriminination Act and the Safe Schools Improvement Act.
The Student Non-Discrimination Act, or SNDA, is sponsored by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) in the Senate. It establishes sexual orientation and gender identity in schools as protected classes. The bill prohibits school activities receiving federal financial assistance from discriminating against LGBT students. Discrimination also includes harassment of a student.
The Safe Schools Improvement Act, or SSIA, is sponsored by Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) in the Senate. It would require schools receiving federal funds to adopt codes of conduct that prohibit bullying and harassment, including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The legislation would also require states to report data on bullying and harassment to the Department of Education.
Whether Franken or Casey will offer amendments based on these bills during the Senate HELP committee’s markup remains to be seen. The offices of both senators were non-committal on plans to offer them during the markup process.
Alexandra Fetissoff, a Franken spokesperson, said the senator is committed to SNDA but has yet to make a decision on the best opportunity to introduce the legislation before the Senate.
“He’s currently weighing his options — offering the bill to the committee or as an amendment when ESEA comes to the floor,” Fetissoff said. “He’s hopeful that SNDA will pass as he firmly believes it’s the right thing to do and he believes his colleagues will come to realize that.”
Should Franken offer the amendment during the committee markup process, he should have no problem getting the measure through the committee. All 12 Democrats on the panel are co-sponsors of the bill, which should give it majority support for passage. The legislation has no Republican co-sponsors.
April Mellody, a Casey spokesperson, similarly said plans aren’t yet settled on whether or not her boss will introduce SSIA as an amendment during the markup. She said Casey is “currently working with the other members regarding the amendment process.”
But Mellody said language in the chairman’s mark for the base bill already addresses bullying. Under a provision called Successful, Safe and Healthy Schools, schools receiving grants under the program must have student conduct policies that prohibit bullying and harassment, a key principle of SSIA.
Mellody said Casey is “pleased” with the provision, but would like to see language with enumerated categories that is explicitly LGBT-inclusive.
“Sen. Casey believes those policies should also include specific characteristics, including sexual orientation and gender identity, among others, as protected categories,” Mellody said.
Should Casey decide to offer SSIA as an amendment during committee, he could have more difficulty than Franken would if he offered up SNDA. Of the 12 Democrats on the panel, 10 are co-sponsors. Sens. Michael Bennett (D-Colo.) and Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) aren’t co-sponsors of the bill.
On the Republican side, Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) is an original co-sponsor of the bill, bringing the total number of co-sponsors to 11. That could be short of the 12 votes needed for passage if the bill comes up during committee.
However, given that Bingaman and Bennett are co-sponsors for SNDA and voted in favor of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal last year, their support for SSIA is likely should the measure come up in committee.
Michael Cole-Schwartz, spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, said plans remain “up in the air” over whether SNDA or SSIA will come up during the committee markup.
“We don’t know how this is going to turn out,” Cole-Schwartz said. “Certainly, we’ve been advocating on the Hill very strenuously for both of these provisions into the reauthorization, working with our allies in Sen. Casey’s office and Sen. Franken’s office.”
Cole-Schwartz said “it’s poignant” the markup would take place at the same time that the bullying of gay students who committed suicide has been in the news and around the same time as Spirit Day. On Thursday, millions of Americans are expected to wear purple as a sign of support for LGBT youth and to speak out against bullying.
“I think the Senate has a great opportunity to take advantage of this moment that we’re in and really do something to improve the lives of these young people,” Cole-Schwartz said.
If Franken and Casey were to move forward with these amendments, they would be doing so without explicit backing from the Obama administration. President Obama has yet to endorse either SNDA or SSIA.
Shin Inouye, a White House spokesperson, said the administration continues to support the goals of the bills, but stopped short of offering explicit support for them.
“We support the goals of both of these efforts,” Inouye said. “As the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is being considered, we look forward to working with Congress to ensure that all students are safe and healthy and can learn in environments free from discrimination, bullying and harassment.”
UPDATE: An LGBT rights advocate, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Senate HELP Committee Chair Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is the “obstacle” in including SNDA and SSIA in the education reform markup.
The advocate said Harkin isn’t opposed to the bills, but wants “a clean markup process” so education reform “can sail through” without opposition. Harkin co-sponsors both SSIA and SNDA.
“They want clean markup processes so that their bills can go through without opposition,” the advocate said. “So there’s kind of a dance and negotiation going on.”
The anonymous advocate said Franken and Casey are “really trying to negotiate their way” to include their bills in the committee markup, but no decision has yet made on whether they’ll offer those amendments.
ADDITIONAL UPDATE: The committee markup process has been halted after objections from Republican senators. In committee, Harkin said he expects the panel to reconvene either in the evening on Wednesday or early Thursday.
A Harkin spokesperson, also speaking anonymously, responded to the assertion that the senator is an “obstacle” in including SSIA and SNDA in the committee markup by saying Harkin has “long supported efforts to ensure that all children feel safe and secure in our schools.”
“He believes that no student should be forced to endure harassment, discrimination, violence, bullying or intimidation for any reason, including their sexual orientation or gender identity,” the spokesperson said. “Chairman Harkin is an original co-sponsor of the Student Non-Discrimination Act and is committed to working with Sen. Franken, author of SNDA, and Sen. Casey, author of the Safe Schools Improvement Act, to ensure all students are given the opportunity to succeed free from harassment or discrimination.”
Federal Government
Protesters say SAVE Act targets voters, transgender youth
Bill described as ‘Jim Crow 2.0’
Members of Congress, advocates, and people from across the country gathered outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday to protest proposed federal legislation that voting rights activists have deemed “Jim Crow 2.0.”
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require in-person proof of citizenship for anyone seeking to vote in U.S. elections.
President Donald Trump has also pushed for the proposed legislation to include a section that would ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, even with parental consent, and prohibit trans people from participating in school or professional sports consistent with their gender identity rather than their sex assigned at birth.
In addition to changing voter registration requirements, the bill would limit acceptable forms of identification to documents such as a birth certificate or passport — records that the Brennan Center for Justice estimates more than 21 million Americans do not have — effectively restricting access to the ballot. It would also ban online voter registration, DMV voter registration efforts, and mail-in voter registration.
A 2021 investigation by the Associated Press found that fewer than 475 people voted illegally or improperly, a tiny fraction of the estimated 160 million Americans who voted in the 2020 election.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) spoke at the event.
“It will kick millions of American citizens off the rolls. And they don’t even require you to be told,” the highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate told protesters and reporters outside the Capitol. “If this law passes — and it won’t — you’re gonna show up in November … and they’ll say… sorry, you’re no longer on the voting rolls.”
He, like many other speakers, emphasized the bill in the context of American history, pointing to what he described as its racist roots and its impact on Black and brown Americans.
“I have called this act, over and over again, Jim Crow 2.0 … because they know it’s the truth.”
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) was one of the lawmakers leading opposition to the legislation and spoke at the rally.
“It’s not just voting rights that are on the line — our democracy is on the line,” the California lawmaker said. “It’s not a voter I.D. bill. It’s a bait and switch bill.”
He added historical context, noting the significance of voting rights legislation passed more than 60 years ago. In 1965, Alabama civil rights activists marched to protest barriers to voter registration. Alabama state troopers violently attacked peaceful demonstrators at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, using tear gas, clubs, and whips against more than 500 — mostly Black — protesters.
“61 years ago — not to the day — but this week, President Lyndon Johnson came to the Capitol and addressed a joint session of Congress in the wake of Bloody Sunday and pushed Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act,” Padilla said. “61 years later, Donald Trump and this Republican majority wants to take us backwards. We’re not gonna let that happen.”
U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) also spoke, emphasizing that he views the effort as a Republican-led and Trump-backed attempt to restrict voting access, particularly among Black, brown, and predominantly Democratic communities.
“President Trump told Republicans when they were meeting behind closed doors that ‘The SAVE Act will guarantee Republicans win the midterms and ensure they do not lose an election for 50 years,’” Luján said. “The first time I think Donald Trump’s been honest … This voter suppression bill is only that. Taking away vote by mail? I hope my Republican colleagues from states that voted for Donald Trump or where vote by mail is popular have the courage and the backbone to stand up and say no to this nonsense, because their constituents are going to push back.”
U.S. Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) also spoke.
“Our Republican colleagues have already cut Medicaid, Medicare, people don’t know how they’re gonna be able to afford energy,” she said, providing context for the broader political moment. “We’re in the middle of a war that they can’t even get straight while we’re in it and don’t have a way to get out of it. And we are now faced with defending our democracy?”
She then showed the crowd something that she said has been with her throughout her political journey in Washington.
“I brought with me something that I carried on the day that I was sworn into the House of Representatives when I was elected in 2016, and I carried it with me on the day that I was sworn in as United States senator. And I also carried it with me when I was trapped up in the gallery on Jan. 6 and all I could think to do was pray … This document allowed my great great great grandfather, who had been enslaved in Georgia, to have the right to vote. We took this and turned it into a scarf. It is the returns of qualified voters and reconstruction code from 1867. This is my proof of what we’ve been through. This is also our inspiration.”
“I got to travel between the Edmund Pettus Bridge two times. And even as I thought about this moment, I recognized that while we wish we weren’t in it, while we don’t know why we’re in it, I do know we were made for it … So I came today to tell you that, um, just like the leader said, that he calls it Jim Crow 2.0. I call it Jim Crow 2.NO.”
Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ advocacy organization in the U.S., also spoke, highlighting the impact of the bill’s proposed provisions affecting trans people.
“This bill is not about saving America. This bill is about stealing an election. This bill is about suppressing voters,” Robinson said. “This bill not only tries to disenfranchise voters that deserve their right to vote, it also tries to criminalize trans kids and their families … It tries to criminalize doctors providing medically necessary care for our trans youth.”
The SAVE Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 11 but has not yet been considered in the U.S. Senate.
Idaho
Idaho advances bill to restrict bathroom access for transgender residents
HB 752 passed in state House of Representatives on Monday
The Idaho House of Representatives passed House Bill 752 on Monday, a measure that would make it a crime for a person to use a bathroom other than the one designated for their “biological sex.”
The story was first reported by the Idaho Capitol Sun after the bill cleared the House.
House Bill 752 would make it a criminal offense — either a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the number of prior offenses — for individuals who “knowingly and willfully” enter a bathroom or changing room designated for the opposite sex.
The bill would apply to public buildings, including government-owned spaces, and places of “public accommodation,” a category that includes private businesses.
According to the bill’s text, it would “prohibit a person from entering a restroom or changing room designated for the opposite sex; provide a penalty; provide exceptions; define terms; and declare an emergency and provide an effective date.”
A first offense would be a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in prison. A second or subsequent offense within five years would be a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.
The bill passed in a 54–15 vote on Monday. Six Republicans broke with their party’s majority to join nine Democrats in opposing the measure.
The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Cornel Rasor, a Republican from Sagle near the Washington-Idaho border, told House lawmakers that the legislation is intended to protect women and girls.
“It prevents discomfort and voyeurism escalation and assaults, while preserving single-user options and narrow exceptions so no one is denied access for emergency aid,” Rasor said.
State Rep. Chris Mathias, a Democrat from Boise, disagreed, arguing that the legislation would unfairly target transgender Idahoans.
“The truth of the matter is — and I know a lot of people don’t want to say it — but forcing people who don’t look like the sex they were assigned at birth, or transgender folks, to use other people’s bathrooms is going to put a lot of people in danger,” Mathias said.
The Idaho American Civil Liberties Union made a statement about the bill following its passage.
“Idaho lawmakers continue pushing these harmful, invasive bathroom laws, yet cannot present credible evidence that transgender people using gender-aligned bathrooms threaten public safety,” the Idaho ACLU said. “The bill does nothing to address real criminal acts, such as sexual assault or voyeurism, and disregards concerns from law enforcement about the burden enforcement would place on local resources.”
In addition to human rights advocates, who have spoken out against similar bills advancing in state legislatures across the country, Idaho law enforcement groups have also opposed the measure. They argue that the way the legislation is written would “pose significant practical enforcement challenges,” noting that officers are tasked with maintaining public safety — not conducting gender checks or policing bathroom access.
During a committee hearing last week, law enforcement representatives and several trans Idahoans testified that the bill would make many residents less safe.
“Officers responding to a complaint would be placed in the difficult position of determining an individual’s biological sex in order to enforce the statute,” Idaho Fraternal Order of Police President Bryan Lovell wrote. “In many circumstances, there is no clear or reasonable way for officers to make that determination without engaging in questioning or investigative actions that could be viewed as invasive and inappropriate.”
The Idaho Sheriffs’ Association requested that lawmakers amend the bill to require that individuals be given an opportunity to leave a bathroom immediately before facing potential prosecution.
The bill now heads to the Idaho Senate for consideration. To become law, it must pass both chambers and avoid a veto from the governor.
A separate bathroom bill, House Bill 607, which would be enforced through civil lawsuits, passed the House last month but has not yet received a committee hearing in the Senate.
State Department
Report: US to withhold HIV aid to Zambia unless mineral access expanded
New York Times obtained Secretary of State Marco Rubio memo
The State Department is reportedly considering withholding assistance for Zambians with HIV unless the country’s government allows the U.S. to access more of its minerals.
The New York Times on Monday reported Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a memo to State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs staffers wrote the U.S. “will only secure our priorities by demonstrating willingness to publicly take support away from Zambia on a massive scale.” The newspaper said it obtained a copy of the letter.
Zambia is a country in southern Africa that borders Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Times notes upwards of 1.3 million Zambians receive daily HIV medications through PEPFAR. The newspaper reported Rubio in his memo said the Trump-Vance administration could “significantly cut assistance” as soon as May.
“Reports of (the) State Department withholding lifesaving HIV treatment in return for mining concessions in Zambia does not make us safer, stronger, or more prosperous,” said U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Tuesday. “Monetizing innocent people’s lives further undermines U.S. global leadership and is just plain wrong.”
The Washington Blade has reached out to the State Department for comment.
Zambia received breakthrough HIV prevention drug through PEPFAR
Rubio on Jan. 28, 2025, issued a waiver that allowed PEPFAR and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” programs to continue to operate during a 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, 2025, has severely impacted their work.
The State Department last September announced PEPFAR will distribute lenacapavir in countries with high prevalence rates. Zambia two months later received the first doses of the breakthrough HIV prevention drug.
Kenya and Uganda are among the African countries have signed health agreements with the U.S. since the Trump-Vance administration took office.
The Times notes the countries that signed these agreements pledged to increase health spending. The Blade last month reported LGBTQ rights groups have questioned whether these agreements will lead to further exclusion and government-sanctioned discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
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