National
Lawmakers press U.S. Olympic Committee over Russian LGBT rights record
39 members of Congress signed letter to Scott Blackmun
The letter to U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun, which gay California Congressman Mark Takano and U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen circulated among their Capitol Hill colleagues, notes Russiaās LGBT rights record that includes a law that bans gay propaganda to minors. It also states that signatories are āconcerned about the treatment of athletes and spectators traveling to Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics who disagree with Russiaās violation of the human rights of LGBT people.ā
āWe call on the United States Olympic Committee to ensure that any American athlete, or someone associated with an American team, is afforded the right to show solidarity with, and support of, LGBT people around the globe to be free from discrimination and harm,ā the letter reads. āWearing a pin or another outward manifestation of solidarity with LGBT athletes should not be defined as āpoliticalā if it is not intended to support any clear political party or position but is intended, instead, to highlight the spirit of the Olympic games, which celebrates the unique humanity of all athletes from every country and culture.ā
The signatories ā U.S. Reps. Ami Bera (D-Calif.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), Lois Capps (D-Calif.), Tony CĆ”rdenas (D-Calif.), Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.), David Cicilline (D-R.I.), Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), Lois Frankel (D-Fla.), RaĆŗl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.), Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.), Mike Honda (D-Calif.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), Jim Moran (D-Va.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Jared Polis (D-Colo.), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.), Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Bradley Schneider (D-Ill.), Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.), Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), Eric Slalwell (D-Calif.), Juan Vargas (D-Calif.), Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) along with Takano and Ros-Lehtinen ā also criticized the International Olympic Committee for prohibiting athletes from challenging Russiaās LGBT rights record during the Sochi games.
āWhile we agree that the Olympics are a time of friendly competition where displays of political disagreement are not appropriate, we are deeply troubled that the International Olympic Committee would find raising awareness of the abuse of an entire populationās human rights to be a political statement in violation of Rule 50,ā the letter reads.
Lawmakers wrote to Blackmun amid growing outrage over Russiaās LGBT rights record that includes calls to boycott the Sochi games.
Blackmun in August told a Russian online newspaper that American athletes should comply with the laws of the countries in which they compete. A U.S. Olympic Committee spokesperson later said the countryās gay propaganda law is āinconsistent with fundamental Olympic principlesā and the American Olympic body has āshared our view with the IOC.ā
Blackmun told reporters last week the U.S. Olympic Committee would support efforts to bolster anti-discrimination provisions within the Olympic charter. IOC President Thomas Bach earlier on Monday told All Out Executive Director Andre Banks in a letter his organization āwill do everything it can to ensureā the Sochi games and any future Olympics āwill be free of any form of discrimination.ā
Bach did not specifically say whether the Olympic Charter explicitly opposes discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression in his letter to Banks.
Ros-Lehtinen criticized the U.S. Olympic Committeeās response to Russiaās LGBT rights record during an interview with the Washington Blade after she spoke at a Council for Global Equality reception on Capitol Hill on September 30.
āThe U.S. Olympic Committee has been complicit in this act of aggression because they say we respect Russiaās right to do this,ā the Florida Republican said. āThat is not worthy of Olympic standards.ā
The U.S. Olympic Committee did not immediately respond to the Blade’s request for comment.
National
GLSEN hosts Respect Awards with Billy Porter, Peppermint
Annual event aims to āinspire a lot of people to get activeā
GLSEN will host its annual Respect Awards April 29 in New York, with guests including Miss Peppermint and Billy Porter.
Respect Awards director Michael Chavez said that the event will be moving.
āIt will inspire a lot of people to get active and take action in their own communities and see how much more work there is to do, especially with all of the harmful things happening,ā he said.
At the event, they will recognize the Student Advocate of the Year, Sophia T. Annually, GLSEN recognizes a student from around the country who is impacting their community.
āSophia is doing incredible work advocating for inclusive sex education that is LGBTQ+ affirming, working with Johns Hopkins University to implement curriculum.ā Chavez said.
Chavez calls the students that attend the Respect Awards the ābiggest celebritiesā of the evening.
āIt is really important for the adults, both the allies and the queer folks, to hear directly from these queer youth about what itās like to be in school today as a queer person,ā he said.
GLSEN is a queer youth advocacy organization that has been working for more than 30 years to protect LGBTQ youth.
āGLSEN is all hands on deck right now, because our kids are under direct attack and have been for years now,ā said actor Wilson Cruz.
Cruz is the chair of GLSENās National Board, which works to fundraise and strategize for the organization.
āI think we are fundamental to the education of LGBTQ students in school,ā he said. āWe advocate for more comprehensive support at the local, national, and federal levels so our students are supported.ā
Chavez is one of the students that was impacted by this work. He led his schoolās GSA organization and worked with GLSEN throughout his youth.
Cruz said Chavez is doing what he hopes todayās GLSEN students do in the future, which is pay the work forward.
āThereās nothing more powerful than people who have experienced the work that GLSEN does and then coming back and allowing us to expand on that work with each generation that comes forward,ā he said.
Florida
Homeless transgender woman murdered in Miami Beach
Andrea Doria Dos Passos attacked while she slept
Gregory Fitzgerald Gibert, 53, who was out on probation, is charged with the second-degree murder of 37-year-old Andrea Doria Dos Passos, a transgender Latina woman who was found deceased in front of the Miami Ballet company facility by a security guard this past week.
According to a Miami Beach Police spokesperson the security guard thought Dos Passos was sleeping in the entranceway around 6:45 a.m. on April 23 and when he went to wake her he discovered the blood and her injuries and alerted 911.
She was deceased from massive trauma to her face and head. According to Miami Beach police when video surveillance footage was reviewed, it showed Dos Passos lying down in the entranceway apparently asleep. WFOR reported: In the early morning hours, a man arrived, looked around, and spotted her. Police said the man was dressed in a black shirt, red shorts, and red shoes.
At one point, he walked away, picked up a metal pipe from the ground, and then returned. After looking around, he sat on a bench near Dos Passos. After a while, he got up and repeatedly hit her in the head and face while she was sleeping, according to police.
āThe male is then seen standing over her, striking her, and then manipulating her body. The male then walks away and places the pipe inside a nearby trash can (the pipe was found and recovered in the same trash can),ā according to the arrest report.
Police noted that in addition to trauma on her face and head, two wooden sticks were lodged in her nostrils and there was a puncture wound in her chest.
Victor Van Gilst, Dos Passosās stepfather confirmed she was transĀ and experiencing homelessness.Ā
āShe had no chance to defend herself whatsoever. I donāt know if this was a hate crime since she was transgender or if she had some sort of interaction with this person because he might have been homeless as well. The detective could not say if she was attacked because she was transgender,ā said Van Gilst.
āShe has been struggling with mental health issues for a long time, going back to when she was in her early 20s. We did everything we could to help her. My wife is devastated. For her, this is like a nightmare that turned into reality. Andrea moved around a lot and even lived in California for a while. She was sadly homeless. I feel the system let her down. She was a good person,ā he added.
The Miami Police Department arrested Gibert, collected his clothing, noting the red shorts were the same type in the video and had blood on them. Blood was also found on his shoes, according to police. He was taken into custody and charged.
āThe suspect has an extensive criminal record and reportedly was recently released from custody on probation for prior criminal charges. Police apprehended the suspect in the city of Miami and the investigation is currently ongoing. This case is further evidence that individuals need to be held accountable for prior violent crimes for the protection of the public. We offer our sincere condolences to the family and friends of the victim,ā Miami Beach Mayor Steve Meiner said in a statement.
Joe Saunders, senior political director with LGBTQ rights group Equality Florida, told the Miami Herald that āwhenever a transgender person is murdered, especially when it is with such brutality, the question should be asked about whether or not this was a hate-motivated crime.ā
Federal Government
HHS reverses Trump-era anti-LGBTQ rule
Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act now protects LGBTQ people
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights has issued a final rule on Friday under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act advancing protections against discrimination in health care prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics), in covered health programs or activities.
The updated rule does not force medical professionals to provide certain types of health care, but rather ensures nondiscrimination protections so that providers cannot turn away patients based on individual characteristics such as being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, or pregnant.
āThis rule ensures that people nationwide can access health care free from discrimination,ā said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. āStanding with communities in need is critical, particularly given increased attacks on women, trans youth, and health care providers. Health care should be a right not dependent on looks, location, love, language, or the type of care someone needs.ā
The new rule restores and clarifies important regulatory protections for LGBTQ people and other vulnerable populations under Section 1557, also known as the health care nondiscrimination law, that were previously rescinded by the Trump administration.
āHealthcare is a fundamental human right. The rule released today restores critical regulatory nondiscrimination protections for those who need them most and ensures a legally proper reading of the Affordable Care Actās healthcare nondiscrimination law,ā said Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, counsel and health care strategist for Lambda Legal.
āThe Biden administration today reversed the harmful, discriminatory, and unlawful effort by the previous administration to eliminate critical regulatory protections for LGBTQ+ people and other vulnerable populations, such as people with limited English proficiency, by carving them out from the rule and limiting the scope of entities to which the rule applied,ā Gonzalez-Pagan added. āThe rule released today has reinstated many of these important protections, as well as clarifying the broad, intended scope of the rule to cover all health programs and activities and health insurers receiving federal funds. While we evaluate the new rule in detail, it is important to highlight that this rule will help members of the LGBTQ+ community ā especially transgender people, non-English speakers, immigrants, people of color, and people living with disabilities ā to access the care they need and deserve, saving lives and making sure healthcare professionals serve patients with essential care no matter who they are.ā
In addition to rescinding critical regulatory protections for LGBTQ people, the Trump administrationās rule also limited the remedies available to people who face health disparities, limited access to health care for people with Limited English Proficiency, and dramatically reduced the number of healthcare entities and health plans subject to the rule.
Lambda Legal, along with a broad coalition of LGBTQ advocacy groups, filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration rule,Ā Whitman-Walker Clinic v. HHS, and secured a preliminary injunction preventing key aspects of the Trump rule from taking effect.
These included the elimination of regulatory protections for LGBTQ people and the unlawful expansion of religious exemptions, which the new rule corrects. The preliminary injunction in Whitman-Walker Clinic v. HHS remains in place. Any next steps in the case will be determined at a later time, after a fulsome review of the new rule.
GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis released the following statement in response to the news:
āThe Biden administrationās updates to rules regarding Section 1557 of the ACA will ensure that no one who is LGBTQI or pregnant can face discrimination in accessing essential health care. This reversal of Trump-era discriminatory rules that sought to single out Americans based on who they are and make it difficult or impossible for them to access necessary medical care will have a direct, positive impact on the day to day lives of millions of people. Todayās move marks the 334th action from the Biden-Harris White House in support of LGBTQ people. Health care is a human right that should be accessible to all Americans equally without unfair and discriminatory restrictions. LGBTQ Americans are grateful for this step forward to combat discrimination in health care so no one is barred from lifesaving treatment.ā
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