Connect with us

Politics

Michigan marriage equality supporters rally

Attendees carry signs showing support for lesbian plaintiff couple, criticizing Gov. Snyder

Published

on

Detroit, Michigan, gay marriage, same-sex marriage, marriage equality, rainbow flag, gay news, Washington Blade
Detroit, Michigan, gay marriage, same-sex marriage, marriage equality, rainbow flag, gay news, Washington Blade

Rally for same-sex marriage outside Detroit federal courthouse (Washington Blade photo by Chris Johnson).

DETROIT — Same-sex marriage supporters on Tuesday pounced on their opportunity to demonstrate their desire to see it come to Michigan as around 60 people gathered at a rally outside the Detroit federal courthouse before arguments in a marriage lawsuit.

Waiving rainbow flags and signs expressing their solidarity, supporters gathered in the parking lot before the Theodore Levin U.S. Courthouse. The lesbian plaintiff couple in the lawsuit, April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, was among those who addressed the crowd.

Rowze, who filed her lawsuit with DeBoer in late 2012, said she never envisioned she would be leading the way for marriage equality in Michigan when she was growing up on a farm in Indiana.

“If you would have told me when I was 18 years old and living in Indiana on a farm that I was going to be up here talking about gay marriage, I would have told you, you lost your mind,” Rowze said. “Also, I would have said you had lost your mind if I was living in Michigan.”

Rowze said that her loves DeBoer “with all my heart” and the three kids they are trying to adopt as part of the lawsuit “are the most important things to us, and they always will be the most important things to us.” After closing her remarks by thanking rally attendees, Rowze shouted out, “Go Tigers!” in anticipation of the Detroit Tigers game later that day.

DeBoer stood up on next on the small stool that speakers were using to address the crowd, saying as she climbed aboard in her pumps, “OK, so I might be the next one to fall off this.”

Thanking the crowd for attending, DeBoer said the couple would have liked to take their kids to their rally, but couldn’t because “they’d have taken all the camera equipment and tried to taking pictures.”

“They know that they’ve had their pictures quite a few times in the last couple of days, but they don’t know the impact of this, and they won’t for quite a few years,” DeBoer said. “I’m kind of happy that they don’t know right at this time what’s going on. I’m happy that they don’t know that they don’t have the same rights as all the other kids they’re going to school with.”

Signs held up by rally attendees demonstrated support for marriage equality and criticized those who were defending the marriage ban. One male attendee held up a sign directed toward Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, which read, “Gov. Snyder… Tear Down This Law!… Marriage Equality for MI.”

Same-sex marriage opponents were represented by one person pacing back and forth the entrance of the courthouse with a sign that read, “WARNING! GOD draws a line on GAY MARRIAGE. Read Romans 1:24-32. WOE to those who cross it!”

Dana Nessel, one the four attorneys representing the plaintiffs, took note of the protester after thanking the marriage-equality supportive attendees for coming to the rally.

“Thanks to that one random lady across the street, the protester, because what’s a gay rights rally without at  least one protester,” Nessel said, eliciting laughter from attendees.

Those gathering at the rally were hoping U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman would have ruled in favor of marriage equality from the bench immediate following oral arguments in response to the request for summary judgment in the case. Instead, Friedman decided to bring to a trial starting Feb. 25 and asked both sides to prepare a witness list of experts in 30 days time.

Prior to the hearing, DeBoer told the Washington Blade the anticipation was “nerve-wracking” as he hoped Friedman would “do the right thing” and issue a ruling in favor of marriage equality.

Even if the judge had ruled for marriage equality, Rowze said they wouldn’t have immediately wed because she wants to wait in the likely event the case is appealed to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“That means anything that’s been will be pretty much put on hold,” Rowze said. “It could be two or three years before this actually works out, that we’re recognized as legally married or not, and in the interim, our kids still aren’t protected, there’s nothing that’s going to change because they’re still going to stay you’re marriage is on hold until we figure this out.”

After DeBoer told the Blade she’d hold off on applying for a marriage license, a female bystander at rally declared, “It doesn’t matter; they’re already married.”

Following the hearing, neither DeBoer nor Rowze made an appearance to speak publicly. Representing their viewpoint was Nessel, who relayed to the media her clients feelings about the decision to go to trial.

“Obviously, we were all hoping for an immediate ruling today,” Nessel said. “I think it would have been nice for them, I think it would have been nice for all the LGBT couples in the state, but they understand it’s very a long process. It’s not as quick as some would like, it’s not as quick I would like, but we will eventually prevail in this case.”

Advertisement
FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM
SIGN UP FOR E-BLAST

Congress

McBride, other US lawmakers travel to Denmark

Trump’s demand for Greenland’s annexation overshadowed trip

Published

on

U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) is among the U.S. lawmakers who traveled to Denmark over the past weekend. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Delaware Congresswoman Sarah McBride is among the 11 members of Congress who traveled to Denmark over the past weekend amid President Donald Trump’s continued calls for the U.S. to take control of Greenland.

McBride, the first openly transgender person elected to Congress, traveled to Copenhagen, the Danish capital, with U.S. Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and U.S. Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.), and Sarah Jacobs (D-Calif.). The lawmakers met with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic MP Pipaluk Lynge, among others.

“I’m grateful to Sen. Coons for his leadership in bringing together a bipartisan, bicameral delegation to reaffirm our support in Congress for our NATO ally, Denmark,” said McBride in a press release that detailed the trip. “Delaware understands that our security and prosperity depend on strong partnerships rooted in mutual respect, sovereignty, and self-determination. At a time of growing global instability, this trip could not be more poignant.”

Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark with a population of less than 60,000 people. Trump maintains the U.S. needs to control the mineral-rich island in the Arctic Ocean between Europe and North America because of national security.

The Associated Press notes thousands of people on Saturday in Nuuk, the Greenlandic capital, protested against Trump. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is among those who have criticized Trump over his suggestion the U.S. would impose tariffs against countries that do not support U.S. annexation of Greenland.  

A poll that Sermitsiaq, a Greenlandic newspaper, and Berlingske, a Danish newspaper, commissioned last January indicates 85 percent do not want Greenland to become part of the U.S. The pro-independence Demokraatit party won parliamentary elections that took place on March 12, 2025.

“At this critical juncture for our countries, our message was clear as members of Congress: we value the U.S.-Denmark partnership, the NATO alliance, and the right of Greenlanders to self-determination,” said McBride on Sunday in a Facebook post that contained pictures of her and her fellow lawmakers meeting with their Danish and Greenlandic counterparts.

Continue Reading

Congress

Van Hollen speaks at ‘ICE Out for Good’ protest in D.C.

ICE agent killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7

Published

on

U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) speaks at the 'ICE Out for Good' rally in D.C. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) is among those who spoke at an “ICE Out for Good” protest that took place outside U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s headquarters in D.C. on Tuesday.

The protest took place six days after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis.

Good left behind her wife and three children.

(Video by Michael K. Lavers)

Continue Reading

Congress

Advocates say MTG bill threatens trans youth, families, and doctors

The “Protect Children’s Innocence” Act passed in the House

Published

on

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) speaks at a press conference on Sept. 20 for her anti-trans legislation. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has a long history of targeting the transgender community as part of her political agenda. Now, after announcing her resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives, attempting to take away trans rights may be the last thing she does in her official capacity.

The proposed legislation, dubbed “Protect Children’s Innocence Act” is among the most extreme anti-trans measures to move through Congress. It would put doctors in jail for up to 10 years if they provide gender-affirming care to minors — including prescribing hormone replacement therapy to adolescents or puberty blockers to younger children. The bill also aims to halt gender-affirming surgeries for minors, though those procedures are rare.

Greene herself described the bill on X, saying if passed, “it would make it a Class C felony to trans a child under 18.”

According to KFF, a nonpartisan source for health policy research, polling, and journalism, 27 states have enacted policies limiting youth access to gender-affirming care. Roughly half of all trans youth ages 13–17 live in a state with such restrictions, and 24 states impose professional or legal penalties on health care practitioners who provide that care.

Greene has repeatedly introduced the bill since 2021, the year she entered Congress, but it failed to advance. Now, in exchange for her support for the National Defense Authorization Act, the legislation reached the House floor for the first time.

According to the 19th, U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first trans member of Congress, rebuked Republicans on the Capitol steps Wednesday for advancing anti-trans legislation while allowing Affordable Care Act tax credits to expire — a move expected to raise health care costs for millions of Americans.

“They would rather have us focus in and debate a misunderstood and vulnerable one percent of the population, instead of focusing in on the fact that they are raiding everyone’s health care,” McBride said. “They are obsessed with trans people … they are consumed with this.”

Polling suggests the public largely opposes criminalizing gender-affirming care.

A recent survey by the Human Rights Campaign and Global Strategy Group found that 73 percent of voters in U.S. House battleground districts oppose laws that would jail doctors or parents for providing transition-related care. Additionally, 77 percent oppose forcing trans people off medically recommended medication. Nearly seven in 10 Americans said politicians are not informed enough to make decisions about medical care for trans youth.

The bill passed the House and now heads to the U.S. Senate for further consideration.

According to reporting by Erin Reed of Erin In The Morning, three Democrats — U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez of Texas and Don Davis of North Carolina — crossed party lines to vote in favor of the felony ban, joining 213 Republicans. A total of 207 Democrats voted against the bill, while three lawmakers from both parties abstained.

Advocates and lawmakers warned the bill is dangerous and unprecedented during a multi-organizational press call Tuesday. Leaders from the Human Rights Campaign and the Trevor Project joined U.S. Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Dr. Kenneth Haller, and parents of trans youth to discuss the potential impact of restrictive policies like Greene’s — particularly in contrast to President Donald Trump’s leniency toward certain criminals, with more than 1,500 pardons issued this year.

“Our MAGA GOP government has pardoned drug traffickers. They’ve pardoned people who tried to overthrow the government on January 6, but now they want to put pediatricians and parents into a jail cell for caring for their kids,” said Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson. “No one asked for Marjorie Taylor Greene or Dan Crenshaw or any politician to be in their doctor’s office, and they should mind their own business.”

Balint, co-chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, questioned why medical decisions are being made by lawmakers with no clinical expertise.

“Parents and doctors already have to worry about state laws banning care for their kids, and this bill would introduce the risk of federal criminal prosecution,” Balint said. “We’re talking about jail time. We’re talking about locking people up for basic medical care, care that is evidence-based, age-appropriate and life-saving.”

“These are decisions that should be made by doctors and parents and those kids that need this gender-affirming care, not certainly by Marjorie Taylor Greene.”

Haller, an emeritus professor of pediatrics at St. Louis University School of Medicine, described the legislation as rooted in ideology rather than medicine.

“It is not science, it is just blind ideology,” Haller said.

“The doctor tells you that as parents, as well as the doctor themselves, could be convicted of a felony and be sentenced up to 10 years in prison just for pursuing a course of action that will give your child their only chance for a happy and healthy future,” he added. “It is not in the state’s best interests, and certainly not in the interests of us, the citizens of this country, to interfere with medical decisions that people make about their own bodies and their own lives.”

Haller’s sentiment is echoed by doctors across the country.

The American Medical Association, the nation’s largest organization that represents doctors across the country in various parts of medicine has a longstanding support for gender-affirming care.

“The AMA supports public and private health insurance coverage for treatment of gender dysphoria and opposes the denial of health insurance based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” their website reads.

Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, senior vice president of public engagement campaigns at the Trevor Project, agreed.

“In Marjorie Taylor Greene’s bill [it] even goes so far as to criminalize and throw a parent in jail for this,” Heng-Lehtinen said. “Medical decisions should be between patients, families, and their doctors.”

Rachel Gonzalez, a parent of a transgender teen and LGBTQ advocate, said the bill would harm families trying to act in their children’s best interests.

“No politician should be in any doctor’s office or in our living room making private health care decisions — especially not Marjorie Taylor Greene,” Gonzalez said. “My daughter and no trans youth should ever be used as a political pawn.”

Other LGBTQ rights activists also condemned the legislation.

Tyler Hack, executive director of the Christopher Street Project, called the bill “an abominable attack on the transgender community.”

“Marjorie Taylor Greene’s last-ditch effort to bring her 3-times failed bill to a vote is an abominable attack on the transgender community and further cements a Congressional career defined by hate and bigotry,” they said. “We are counting down the days until she’s off Capitol Hill — but as the bill goes to the floor this week, our leaders must stand up one last time to her BS and protect the safety of queer kids and medical providers. Full stop.”

Hack added that “healthcare is a right, not a privilege” in the U.S., and this attack on trans healthcare is an attack on queer rights altogether. 

“Marjorie Taylor Greene has no place in deciding what care is necessary,” Hack added. “This is another attempt to legislate trans and queer people out of existence while peddling an agenda rooted in pseudoscience and extremism.”

U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, also denounced the legislation.

“This bill is the most extreme anti-transgender legislation to ever pass through the House of Representatives and a direct attack on the rights of parents to work with their children and their doctors to provide them with the medical care they need,” Takano said. “This bill is beyond cruel and its passage will forever be a stain on the institution of the United States Congress.”

The bill is unlikely to advance in the Senate, where it would need 60 votes to pass.

Continue Reading

Popular