National
Kerry nomination excites int’l LGBT advocates
Frank won’t rule out accepting interim Senate appointment
Sen. John Kerry has been tapped to become the next secretary of state (photo public domain)
The nomination of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) as secretary of state has excited advocates on global LGBT issues.
On Friday, President Obama formally announced he would nominate Kerry to serve as secretary of state. Noting Kerry’s service as a Vietnam veteran and chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, Obama said, “In a sense, John’s entire life has prepared him for this role.”
“Over these many years, John has earned the respect and confidence of leaders around the world,” Obama said. “He is not going to need a lot of on-the-job training. He has earned the respect and trust of his Senate colleagues, Democrats and Republicans. I think it’s fair to say that few individuals know as many presidents and prime ministers, or grasp our foreign policies as firmly as John Kerry.”
But Kerry is also receiving praise for his work on LGBT issues as a U.S. senator. During his tenure as a senator, Kerry has been a supporter of LGBT issues and earned perfect rating of “100” on the Human Rights Campaign’s most recent congressional scorecard.
In the previous Congress, Kerry voted for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal and hate crimes protection legislation. That support goes back to 1996, when Kerry was among 14 senators to cast a vote against the Defense of Marriage Act. He’s also been a key voice in encouraging the Obama administration to take additional action to protect bi-national same-sex couples and ending the ban preventing gay and bisexual men from donating blood.
In 2004, Kerry’s LGBT support wasn’t as strong on the issue of marriage as he pursued his run as the Democratic presidential nominee. As President George W. Bush campaigned on the Federal Marriage Amendment, Kerry would uncomfortably respond that he believes marriage is one man, one woman, but didn’t cast a vote when the FMA came up for a vote that year. He also came out in support of the state constitutional amendments in Missouri and Massachusetts banning same-sex marriage.
That changed after his presidential bid as the nation became more accepting of marriage equality. Kerry voted against the amendment in 2006 and has since come out for same-sex marriage. Just this year, he called for the inclusion of marriage-equality plank in the 2012 Democratic Party platform.
Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, commended Obama’s decision to nominate Kerry in statement while recognizing the senator’s previous work on LGBT issues.
“Sen. Kerry has been a trailblazer in the fight for LGBT equality, both domestically and internationally,” Griffin said. “His leadership in repealing the HIV travel ban, as well as his steadfast support for employment non-discrimination protections and addressing the needs LGBT homeless youth demonstrate his dedication to equality and to the rights of LGBT people worldwide.”
Kerry is nominated for the role as secretary of state at a time when LGBT human rights abuses overseas has received heightened attention. Efforts in Uganda to pass an anti-gay bill that would institute a penalty of life imprisonment — and perhaps even death — have worried LGBT advocates across the globe. In Russia, the lower chamber of parliament is set to consider legislation that would impose fines on the spread of pro-LGBT information to minors.
And just last week in Cameroon, an appeals court upheld a three-year jail sentence against Jean-Claude Roger Mbede, a man found guilty of homosexual conduct after he sent a text message to another man saying, “I’m very much in love with you.”
Andre Banks, executive director of All Out, a grassroots organization for international LGBT rights, called on Kerry to continue work already being done at the State Department against LGBT human rights abuses overseas.
“All Out encourages Senator Kerry to continue the State Department’s advocacy for LGBT people around the world, both publicly and through quiet diplomacy,” Banks said. “There are 76 countries where it is a crime to be LGBT, and 10 that carry life in prison or the death penalty. The U.S. must be a strong voice for decriminalization around the world.”
Upon confirmation, Kerry’s work on LGBT issues at the State Department will have to follow the often-praised work by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Her LGBT accomplishments include providing global benefits to LGBT employees and diplomats representing the country overseas. However, she’s among a few high-profile Democrats who hasn’t publicly endorsed marriage equality.
Perhaps Clinton’s most high-profile pro-LGBT act was speaking to the United Nations in Geneva last year against LGBT human rights abuses, telling LGBT people across the globe who feel isolated in their countries, “You have an ally in the United States of America and you have millions of friends among the American people.”
Mark Bromley, chair of the Council for Global Equality, said Kerry has been exemplary on LGBT issues as a U.S. senator and expects him to continue Clinton’s work.
“Sen. Kerry has been a strong defender of equality for LGBT citizens in this country, and a strong supporter of human rights abroad, so we certainly expect that he will continue to advance Secretary Clinton’s legacy of support for LGBT communities globally,” Bromley said.
Will Frank serve as interim U.S. senator?
But the Kerry nomination is also noteworthy for the LGBT community because it creates the opportunity for Gov. Deval Patrick to appointment as a temporary replacement a high-profile LGBT lawmaker: retiring Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.).
In a brief interview with Politico on Thursday, Frank, who’s set to retire from Congress at the end of this year, wouldn’t rule out the possibility of accepting the appointment, although he said he hasn’t received an offer from Patrick.
“The governor ought to be free to make whatever choices he makes,” Frank was quoted as saying. “In Massachusetts, you’re talking about an interim, not a permanent appointment. I certainly would not take on any long-term appointment. As for an interim thing, I think accepting offers that haven’t been made is kind of presumptuous.”
Asked to clarify, Frank reportedly said his answer was “not a ‘no’ or a ‘yes.’ Rejecting an offer that hasn’t been made is also presumptuous.”
After the Senate confirms Kerry, Patrick must appoint an interim replacement. A special election must be held in Massachusetts between 145 and 160 days later, and the winner of that election would retain the seat until 2014. Besides Frank, another name that’s been floated as possible interim choice is Vicki Kennedy, the spouse of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy.
On Friday, Patrick said during a news conference he’ll move quickly to fill the seat upon Kerry’s confirmation, but wouldn’t confirm any names that he’s considering.
Lesbian Senator-elect Tammy Baldwin is set to be sworn in on Jan. 3, It’s possible Baldwin and Frank, who’ve served together as U.S. House members, could also alongside each other in the Senate.
Denis Dison, spokesperson for the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, said the selection of Frank as an interim senator would well serve Massachusetts — provided Frank is interested in the role.
“I would say if he is offered it and he wants it, very few people would be more qualified to represent Massachusetts in the Senate,” Dison said. “Even on a temporary basis, it would be kind of neat capstone to a pretty remarkable career in public service.”
New York
Pride flag raised at Stonewall after National Park Service took it down
‘Our flag represents dignity and human rights’
A Pride flag was raised at the site of the Stonewall National Monument days after a National Park Service directive banned flying the flag at the birthplace of the LGBTQ rights movement in the U.S.
The flag-raising was led by Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal and supported by other elected officials.
“The community should rejoice. We have prevailed,” Hoylman-Sigal said shortly after the flag was hoisted. “Our flag represents dignity and human rights.”
The flag now sits in Christopher Street Park, feet away from the Stonewall Inn, where in 1969 a police raid of the gay bar sparked outrage and led to a rising of LGBTQ people pushing back on NYPD brutality and unjust treatment.
Elected officials brought a new flagpole with them, using plastic zip ties to attach it to the existing pole.
In 2016, President Barack Obama declared the site a national monument.
One day before the planned re-raising of the Pride flag, the National Park Service installed only an American flag on the flagpole, which days prior had flown a rainbow flag bearing the NPS logo.
The directive removing the flag was put forward by Trump-appointed National Park Service Acting Director Jessica Bowron.
This comes one day after more than 20 LGBTQ organizations from across the country co-signed a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and General Services Administrator Ed Forst, demanding the flag be restored to the monument.
“It is our understanding that the policy provides limited exceptions for non-agency flags that provide historical context or play a role in historic reenactments. Simply put, we urge you to grant this flag an exception and raise it once again, immediately,” the letter read. “It also serves as an important reminder to the 30+ million LGBTQ+ Americans, who continue to face disproportionate threats to our lives and our liberty, that the sites and symbols that tell our stories are worth honoring … However, given recent removals of the site’s references to transgender and bisexual people — people who irrefutably played a pivotal role in this history — it is clear that this is not about the preservation of the historical record.”
The letter finished with a message of resilience the LGBTQ community is known for: “The history and the legacy of Stonewall must live on. Our community cannot simply be erased with the removal of a flag. We will continue to stand up and fight to ensure that LGBTQ+ history should not only be protected — it should be celebrated as a milestone in American resilience and progress.”
When asked about the directive, the NPS responded with this statement:
“Current Department of the Interior policy provides that the National Park Service may only fly the U.S. flag, Department of the Interior flags, and the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action flag on flagpoles and public display points. The policy allows limited exceptions, permitting non-agency flags when they serve an official purpose. These include historical context or reenactments, current military branch flags, flags of federally recognized tribal nations affiliated with a park, flags at sites co-managed with other federal, state, or municipal partners, flags required for international park designations, and flags displayed under agreements with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for Naturalization ceremonies.”
An Interior Department spokesperson on Thursday called the move to return the flag to the monument a “political stunt.”
“Today’s political pageantry shows how utterly incompetent and misaligned the New York City officials are with the problems their city is facing,” a department spokesperson said when reached for comment.
The clash comes amid broader efforts by the Trump-Vance administration to minimize LGBTQ history and political power. The White House has spent much of President Donald Trump’s second presidency restricting transgender rights — stopping gender-affirming care for transgender youth, issuing an executive order stating the federal government will recognize only two sexes, male and female, and blocking Medicaid and Medicare from being used for gender-affirming care.
State Department
FOIA lawsuit filed against State Department for PEPFAR records
Council for Global Equality, Physicians for Human Rights seeking data, documents
The Council for Global Equality and Physicians for Human Rights have filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the State Department for PEPFAR-related data and documents.
The groups, which Democracy Forward represents, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday.
Then-President George W. Bush in 2003 signed legislation that created PEPFAR. UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima last March said PEPFAR has saved 26 million lives around the world.
The Trump-Vance administration in January 2025 froze nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending for at least 90 days. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later issued a waiver that allowed PEPFAR and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” programs to continue to operate during the freeze.
The Washington Blade has previously reported PEPFAR-funded programs in Kenya and other African countries have been forced to suspend services and even shut down because of gaps in U.S. funding. HIV/AIDS activists have also sharply criticized the Trump-Vance administration over reported plans it will not fully fund PEPFAR in the current fiscal year.
The lawsuit notes the Council for Global Equality and Physicians for Human Rights have “filed several FOIA requests” with the State Department for PEPFAR-related data and documents. The groups filed their most recent request on Jan. 30.
“On Jan. 30, 2026, plaintiffs, through counsel, sent State a letter asking it to commit to prompt production of the requested records,” reads the lawsuit. “State responded that the request was being processed but did not commit to any timeline for production.”
“Plaintiffs have received no subsequent communication from State regarding this FOIA request,” it notes.
“Transparency and inclusion have been hallmarks of PEPFAR’s success in the last decade,” said Beirne Roose-Snyder, a senior policy fellow at the Council for Global Equality, in a press release that announced the lawsuit. “This unprecedented withholding of data, and concurrent ideological misdirection of foreign assistance to exclude LGBTQI+ people and others who need inclusive programming, has potentially devastating and asymmetrical impacts on already marginalized communities.”
“This data is vital to understanding who’s getting access to care and who’s being left behind,” added Roose-Snyder.
“We filed this lawsuit to seek transparency: the administration’s PEPFAR data blackout withholds information the public, health providers, and affected communities need to track the HIV epidemic and prevent avoidable illness and death, obscuring the true human cost of these policy decisions,” said Physicians for Human Rights Research, Legal, and Advocacy Director Payal Shah.
The State Department has yet to respond to the Blade’s request for comment on the lawsuit.
New York
N.Y. lawmaker vows ‘Pride flag will fly again’ at Stonewall Monument
After a Jan. 21 policy shift, Pride flags were banned at national parks, prompting backlash from Bottcher and LGBTQ advocates.
Hours after news broke that the National Park Service would no longer allow Pride flags to fly at the Stonewall National Monument — the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ rights movement in the United States — the Washington Blade spoke with New York State Sen. Erik Bottcher, who represents the area surrounding the Stonewall Inn and the national monument.
During the interview, Bottcher, who is gay, spoke about the policy change and outlined steps he plans to take in the coming days to push for its reversal.
“This is another act of erasure,” Bottcher told the Blade. “It’s a cowardly attempt to rewrite history and to intimidate our community. This is Stonewall — it’s where we fought back, where we ignited a global movement for equality — and we refuse to go back. We’re not going to accept these acts of erasure.”
The Stonewall Inn became a flashpoint in 1969 after NYPD officers raided the bar, part of a longstanding pattern of police harassment of LGBTQ spaces. The raid sparked days of protest and resistance along Christopher Street, now widely recognized as the catalyst for the modern LGBTQ rights movement.
While the events are often referred to as the “Stonewall Riots,” many activists and historians prefer the term “Stonewall Uprising,” emphasizing that the resistance was a response to systemic oppression rather than senseless violence. LGBTQ patrons and community members fought back — shouting “Gay Power!” and “Liberate Christopher Street!” — as crowds grew and frustration with police abuse boiled over.
Since the uprising, LGBTQ people and allies have gathered annually in June to commemorate Stonewall and to celebrate Pride, honoring the movement that placed LGBTQ voices at the center of the fight for equality.
In June 2016, then President Barack Obama officially designated the space as the Stonewall National Monument, making it the United States’s first national monument designated for an LGBTQ historic site.
Now, nearly 10 years later, President Trump’s appointed NPS acting director Jessica Bowron changed policy on Jan. 21 regarding which flags are allowed to be flown in national parks. Many, including Bottcher, say this is part of a larger targeted and deliberate attempt by the administration to erase LGBTQ history.
“It’s clear they’re making a conscious decision to erase the symbols of our community from a monument to our community’s struggle,” he said. “This is a calculated and premeditated decision, and it could be — and should be — reversed.”
“Let’s be clear,” Bottcher added, “they wish we didn’t exist … But we’re not going anywhere. We refuse to go back into the shadows.”
When asked why it is critical to challenge the policy, Bottcher emphasized the importance of visibility in preserving LGBTQ history.
“This is why it’s so important that we not let this stand,” he said. “Visibility is critical. When people see us, learn about us, and get to know us, that’s how we break down prejudice and stereotypes. We cannot allow them to push us back into the shadows.”
Other LGBTQ leaders and elected officials were quick to condemn the removal of the Pride flag, which had flown since the site’s official designation as a national monument.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the decision “outrageous.”
“I am outraged by the removal of the Rainbow Pride Flag from Stonewall National Monument,” Mamdani said in a statement. “New York is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, and no act of erasure will ever change or silence that history.”
“Our city has a duty not just to honor this legacy, but to live up to it,” he added. “I will always fight for a New York City that invests in our LGBTQ+ community, defends their dignity, and protects every one of our neighbors — without exception.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also condemned the move.
“The removal of the Pride Rainbow Flag from the Stonewall National Monument is a deeply outrageous action that must be reversed immediately,” Schumer said in a statement to The Advocate. “Stonewall is a landmark because it is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ rights movement, and symbols of that legacy belong there by both history and principle.”
Cathy Renna, communications director for the National LGBTQ Task Force, said the flag’s removal will not erase the movement it represents.
“They can take down a flag, but they can’t take down our history,” Renna said. “Stonewall is sacred ground rooted in resistance, liberation, and the legacy of trans and queer trailblazers who changed the course of history.”
Human Rights Campaign National Press Secretary Brandon Wolf echoed that sentiment.
“Bad news for the Trump administration: these colors don’t run,” Wolf said. “The Stonewall Inn and Visitors Center are privately owned, their flags are still flying high, and that community is just as queer today as it was yesterday.”
Tyler Hack, executive director of the Christopher Street Project, said the removal was aimed squarely at LGBTQ visibility.
“The Pride flag was removed from Stonewall for one reason: to further erase queer and trans people from public life,” Hack said. “Stonewall marks the moment when queer and trans people fought back and demanded dignity. Our history is not theirs to erase.”
Bottcher closed with a promise to his constituents — and to the broader LGBTQ community — that the Pride flag’s removal would not be permanent.
“We will not be erased. We will not be silenced,” he said. “And the Pride flag will fly again at the birthplace of our movement.”
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