News
U.S. House approves bill to support LGBTQ human rights overseas
Bipartisan bill now heads to Senate
The U.S. House approved legislation on Tuesday on a bipartisan basis that seeks to strengthen the commitment by the United States to the LGBTQ human rights overseas, such as by denying visas to individuals who commit human rights abuses against LGBTQ people abroad.
The Global Respect Act, which was introduced by Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), who’s gay and chair of the LGBTQ Equality Caucus, was approved in the House by a vote 227-206.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement after the vote the House “took a bold step forward in protecting the fundamental rights and dignities of the global LGBTQ community.”
“Tragically, thousands of LGBTQ individuals are subjected to attack, harassment, arrest and murder every year, suffering under state-sanctioned discrimination and an alarming surge of violence,” Pelosi said. “Yet, those responsible all too often act with impunity, never facing consequences for their crimes. The Global Respect Act will help counter that injustice, barring offenders from entering the United States, gathering new data on anti-LGBTQ human rights violations and holding perpetrators accountable, including through additional sanctions.”
The Global Respect Act would codify existing policies at the State Department in its role advocating for the human rights of LGBTQ people. The legislation would deny visas to those who commit human rights abuses against LGBTQ people abroad; codify reporting requirements on these issues in the State Department’s annual Human Rights Report; and apply to state and individual actors, per a statement from Cicilline’s office.
Cicilline said in a statement the legislation would build on existing human rights related sanctions authorities, such as authority the Global Magnitsky Act to penalize human rights abusers overseas.
“In the past few years, we have seen a dangerous trend of increasing violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people and their families. In too many places, violence against LGBTQI+ communities is pervasive, and even sanctioned or directed by government officials,” Cicilline said. “With today’s vote, the House sent a strong message around the world that every member of the LGBTQI+ community deserves to live with dignity and free from violence, unlawful detention, torture, and other forms of brutality.”
Cicilline introduced the legislation on a bipartisan with Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) as an original co-sponsor. Companion legislation in the Senate has been introduced by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio).
The legislation now heads to the Senate, where the lead sponsor of the legislation was optimistic about its prospects in a statement to the Washington Blade.
“This is a common-sense, straightforward, human rights bill and with Sens. Shaheen and Murkowski leading the charge in the Senate, I’m confident that it will receive a favorable vote from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and receive the Republican support we need to pass the bill out of the Senate,” Cicilline said. “I look forward to seeing President Biden sign the bill.”
Photos
PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards
Gay Men’s Chorus, local drag artists have featured performance at ceremony
The 41st Helen Hayes Awards were held at The Anthem on Monday, May 19. Felicia Curry and Mike Millan served as the hosts.
A performance featuring members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and local drag artists was held at the end of the first act of the program to celebrate WorldPride 2025.
The annual awards ceremony honors achievement in D.C.-area theater productions and is produced by Theatre Washington.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
District of Columbia
Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
Three LGBTQ icons to lead parade
WorldPride organizers announced Thursday that actress and trans activist Laverne Cox, powerhouse performer Reneé Rapp, and LGBTQ trailblazer Deacon Maccubbin will serve as grand marshals for this year’s WorldPride parade.
The Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing WorldPride 2025 in Washington, D.C., revealed the honorees in a press release, noting that each has made a unique contribution to the fabric of the LGBTQ community.
Cox made history in 2014 as the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category for her role in Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.” She went on to win a Daytime Emmy in 2015 for her documentary “Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word,” which followed seven young trans people as they navigated coming out.
Rapp, a singer and actress who identifies as a lesbian, rose to prominence as Regina George in the Broadway musical “Mean Girls.” She reprised the role in the 2024 film adaptation and also stars in Max’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” portraying a character coming to terms with her sexuality. Rapp has released an EP, “Everything to Everyone,” and an album, “Snow Angel.” She announced her sophomore album, “Bite Me,” on May 21 and is slated to perform at the WorldPride Music Festival at the RFK Festival Grounds.
Deacon Maccubbin, widely regarded as a cornerstone of Washington’s LGBTQ+ history, helped organize D.C.’s first Gay Pride Party in 1975. The event took place outside Lambda Rising, one of the first LGBTQ bookstores in the nation, which Maccubbin founded. For his decades of advocacy and activism, he is often referred to as “the patriarch of D.C. Pride.”
“I am so honored to serve as one of the grand marshals for WorldPride this year. This has been one of the most difficult times in recent history for queer and trans people globally,” Cox said. “But in the face of all the rhetorical, legislative and physical attacks, we continue to have the courage to embrace who we truly are, to celebrate our beauty, resilience and bravery as a community. We refuse to allow fear to keep us from ourselves and each other. We remain out loud and proud.”
“Pride is everything. It is protection, it is visibility, it is intersectional. But most importantly, it is a celebration of existence and protest,” Rapp said.
The three will march down 14th Street for the WorldPride Parade in Washington on June 7.
Congress
House passes reconciliation with gender-affirming care funding ban
‘Big Beautiful Bill’ now heads to the Senate
The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday voted 215-214 for passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” reconciliation package, which includes provisions that would prohibit the use of federal funds to support gender-affirming care.
But for an 11th hour revision of the bill late Wednesday night by conservative lawmakers, Medicaid and CHIP would have been restricted only from covering treatments and interventions administered to patients younger than 18.
The legislation would also drop requirements that some health insurers must cover gender-affirming care as an “essential health benefit” and force states that currently mandate such coverage to find it independently. Plans could still offer coverage for transgender care but without the EHB classification patients will likely pay higher out of pocket costs.
To offset the cost of extending tax cuts from 2017 that disproportionately benefited the wealthiest Americans, the reconciliation bill contains significant cuts to spending for federal programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The Human Rights Campaign criticized House Republicans in a press release and statement by the group’s president, Kelley Robinson:
“People in this country want policies and solutions that make life better and expand access to the American Dream. Instead, anti-equality lawmakers voted to give handouts to billionaires built on the backs of hardworking people — with devastating consequences for the LGBTQ+ community.
“If the cuts to programs like Medicaid and SNAP or resources like Planned Parenthood clinics weren’t devastating enough, House Republicans added a last minute provision that expands its attacks on access to best practice health care to transgender adults.
“This cruel addition shows their priorities have never been about lowering costs or expanding health care access–but in targeting people simply for who they are. These lawmakers have abandoned their constituents, and as they head back to their districts, know this: they will hear from us.”
Senate Republicans are expected to pass the bill with the budget reconciliation process, which would allow them to bypass the filibuster and clear the spending package with a simple majority vote.
Changes are expected as the bill will be reviewed and amended by committees, particularly the Finance Committee, and then brought to the floor for debate — though modifications are expected to focus on Medicaid reductions and debate over state and local tax deductions.
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Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
House passes reconciliation with gender-affirming care funding ban
PHOTOS: D.C. Trans Pride
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