National
HRC joins calls for agreement to avoid ‘fiscal cliff’
ADAP waiting lists, loss of funds for LGBT centers among issues cited
HRC President Chad Griffin is among those calling for a plan to avert the ‘fiscal cliff.’ (Blade file photo by Michael Key)
The Human Rights Campaign is becoming active in the effort to avert the “fiscal cliff” crisis following a White House meeting President Obama convened with the LGBT organization and other civic groups.
Last week, HRC launched a campaign highlighting how the LGBT community would be negatively affected by the upcoming “fiscal cliff” — a colloquial term used for the time when various tax cuts would expire and massive budget cuts would befall U.S. government programs under the Budget Control Act.
HRC details several reasons why sequestration under the Budget Control Act — legislation signed by Obama as part of a deal to raise the nation’s debt ceiling — would be detrimental unless Congress agrees to an alternate plan.
Among the issues affecting LGBT people cited by HRC:
• nearly 10,000 low-income people will lose access to life-saving medicines under AIDS Drug Assistance Programs;
• hundreds of millions of dollars will be taken from federal programs providing treatment and housing to people with HIV/AIDS;
• cuts could interfere with the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes, including those against LGBT people;
• and funds for long-sought programs like the National LGBT Aging Resource Center and the LGBT Refugee Resource Center could be reduced — if not cut entirely.
In addition to pledging to inform its members about the consequences of the “fiscal cliff” through blog posts and social media, HRC has an online letter that supporters can sign to ask their representatives in Congress to come to an agreement.
But the “fiscal cliff” is about more than just the sequester. At the same time that these budget cuts are instituted, tax cuts signed into law by former President George W. Bush will expire as well as payroll tax cuts extended last year. President Obama campaigned on allowing the high-end tax cuts for those making more than $250,000 a year to expire as a means of generating more revenue to reduce the deficit.
The Washington Blade reported in October that doing nothing about the “fiscal cliff” could result in devastating cuts for HIV/AIDS programs and other federally funded initiatives affecting the LGBT community. According to a report from the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee, as many as 12,219 people receiving drugs from ADAP would lose access to medicine.
Chad Griffin, HRC’s president, underscored the importance of coming together around a plan — a not-so-easy task considering different parties control each chamber of Congress.
“Programs designed to serve the most vulnerable Americans, including LGBT people, are on the brink of annihilation if Congress doesn’t get its act together,” Griffin said. “Sequestration would take away vital lifelines that so many in our community rely on to get by — many even to live.”
The announcement from HRC about its new campaign came on the same day Griffin took part in a White House meeting on the “fiscal cliff” with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden as part of a group of 13 civic leaders. Others set to attend were Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; Ben Jealous, president of the NAACP; and Rev. Al Sharpton.
Fred Sainz, HRC’s vice president of communications, said LGBT issues unrelated to the “fiscal cliff” were not brought up by Griffin.
“The president convened the various heads of organizations … and during that meeting, obviously, there was a discussion by the president and folks that were there about the implications of the road ahead on the communities affected,” Sainz said.
The discussion took place after another bipartisan meeting earlier in the day with Obama, Biden and congressional leaders: House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
It’s not the first time HRC has launched a campaign for an initiative that has broader implications beyond the LGBT community. But Sainz said each position the organization takes is in some way related to LGBT issues.
For example, HRC has a pro-choice position because the right to privacy affects LGBT legal issues and it supports the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would streamline the unionization process, because it would allow for collective bargaining to ensure protections for LGBT employees.
HRC has also supported the health care reform law. Components of that measure specifically impact the LGBT community, such as non-discrimination protections in health care and allowing data collection in federal health surveys for the LGBT community.
“There is always an LGBT component when we weigh in on any initiative — though it might not be as obvious or direct as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal, etc.,” Sainz said.
Richard Grenell, a gay conservative pundit who briefly served as a spokesperson for the Mitt Romney presidential campaign, nonetheless said the “fiscal cliff” initiative demonstrates Griffin is taking HRC away from its intended mission.
“The revelation that HRC is working with some of the country’s most vocal tax and spend advocates to help the White House raise taxes is clearly a decision by Chad to move HRC from a gay civil rights organization to a broadly liberal activist one,” Grenell said. “It may be exactly what the board brought Chad in to do, but aligning gay rights with a partisan agenda relegates our issues to further partisan games.”
U.S. Federal Courts
Federal judge blocks Trump passport executive order
State Department can no longer issue travel documents with ‘X’ gender markers
A federal judge on Friday ruled in favor of a group of transgender and nonbinary people who have filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s executive order that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers.
The Associated Press notes U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick in Boston issued a preliminary injunction against the directive. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the plaintiffs, in a press release notes Kobick concluded Trump’s executive order “is likely unconstitutional and in violation of the law.”
“The preliminary injunction requires the State Department to allow six transgender and nonbinary people to obtain passports with sex designations consistent with their gender identity while the lawsuit proceeds,” notes the ACLU. “Though today’s court order applies only to six of the plaintiffs in the case, the plaintiffs plan to quickly file a motion asking the court to certify a class of people affected by the State Department policy and to extend the preliminary injunction to that entire class.”
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June 2021 announced the State Department would begin to issue gender-neutral passports and documents for American citizens who were born overseas.
Dana Zzyym, an intersex U.S. Navy veteran who identifies as nonbinary, in 2015 filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their application for a passport with an “X” gender marker. Zzyym in October 2021 received the first gender-neutral American passport.
The State Department policy took effect on April 11, 2022. Trump signed his executive order shortly after he took office in January.
Germany, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands are among the countries that have issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U.S.
“This ruling affirms the inherent dignity of our clients, acknowledging the immediate and profound negative impact that the Trump administration’s passport policy would have on their ability to travel for work, school, and family,” said ACLU of Massachusetts Legal Director Jessie Rossman after Kobick issued her ruling.
“By forcing people to carry documents that directly contradict their identities, the Trump administration is attacking the very foundations of our right to privacy and the freedom to be ourselves,” added Rossman. “We will continue to fight to rescind this unlawful policy for everyone so that no one is placed in this untenable and unsafe position.”
State Department
HIV/AIDS activists protest at State Department, demand full PEPFAR funding restoration
Black coffins placed in front of Harry S. Truman Building
Dozens of HIV/AIDS activists on Thursday gathered in front of the State Department and demanded the Trump-Vance administration fully restore President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief funding.
Housing Works CEO Charles King, Health GAP Executive Director Asia Russell, Human Rights Campaign Senior Public Policy Advocate Matthew Rose, and others placed 206 black Styrofoam coffins in front of the State Department before the protest began.
King said more than an estimated 100,000 people with HIV/AIDS will die this year if PEPFAR funding is not fully restored.
“If we continue to not provide the PEPFAR funding to people living in low-income countries who are living with HIV or at risk, we are going to see millions and millions of deaths as well as millions of new infections,” added King.
Then-President George W. Bush in 2003 signed legislation that created PEPFAR.
The Trump-Vance administration in January froze nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending for at least 90 days. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later issued a waiver that allows the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS relief 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 a lack of U.S. funding. Two South African organizations — OUT LGBT Well-being and Access Chapter 2 — that received PEPFAR funding through the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in recent weeks closed down HIV-prevention programs and other services to men who have sex with men.
Rubio last month said 83 percent of USAID contracts have been cancelled. He noted the State Department will administer those that remain in place “more effectively.”
“PEPFAR represents the best of us, the dignity of our country, of our people, of our shared humanity,” said Rose.
Russell described Rubio as “ignorant and incompetent” and said “he should be fired.”
“What secretary of state in 90 days could dismantle what the brilliance of AIDS activism created side-by-side with George W. Bush? What kind of fool could do that? I’ll tell you who, the boss who sits in the Harry S. Truman Building, Marco Rubio,” said Russell.
U.S. Military/Pentagon
Pentagon urged to reverse Naval Academy book ban
Hundreds of titles discussing race, gender, and sexuality pulled from library shelves
Lambda Legal and the Legal Defense Fund issued a letter on Tuesday urging U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to reverse course on a policy that led to the removal of 381 books from the Nimitz Library of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
Pursuant to President Donald Trump’s executive order 14190, “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” the institution screened 900 titles to identify works promoting “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” removing those that concerned or touched upon “topics pertaining to the experiences of people of color, especially Black people, and/or LGBTQ people,” according to a press release from the civil rights organizations.
These included “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou, “Stone Fruit” by Lee Lai, “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas, “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong” by James W. Loewen, “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe, and “Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul” by Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.
The groups further noted that “the collection retained other books with messages and themes that privilege certain races and religions over others, including ‘The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan’ by Thomas Dixon, Jr., ‘Mein Kampf’ by Adolf Hitler, and ‘Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad.
In their letter, Lambda Legal and LDF argued the books must be returned to circulation to preserve the “constitutional rights” of cadets at the institution, warning of the “danger” that comes with “censoring materials based on viewpoints disfavored by the current administration.”
“Such censorship is especially dangerous in an educational setting, where critical inquiry, intellectual diversity, and exposure to a wide array of perspectives are necessary to educate future citizen-leaders,” Lambda Legal Chief Legal Officer Jennifer C. Pizer and LDF Director of Strategic Initiatives Jin Hee Lee said in the press release.
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