News
Trump vague in response to outrage over report of anti-trans memo
Before boarding Marine One on departure from the White House, Trump said in response to a reporter’s question “different concepts” are on table within his administration for transgender rights.
“We’re looking at it,” Trump said. “We have a lot of different concepts right now. They have a lot of different things happening with respect to transgender right now. You know that as well as I do and we’re looking at it very seriously.”
The New York Times reported over the weekend the Department of Health & Human Services is considering a restricted definition of “sex” under federal law to exclude transgender people, igniting a firestorm among transgender advocates.
When the reporter reminded Trump he pledged to protect LGBT people during his 2016 speech at the Republican National Convention, Trump said he wants to protect everybody.
“I’m protecting everybody,” Trump said. “You know what I’m doing? I’m protecting everybody. I want to protect our country.”
Watch Trump here (Video courtesy Think Progress):
TRUMP on his reported proposal to end federal protections for transgender people: "We're looking at it, we have a lot of different, ahhhhh…concepts right now. They have a lot of different things happening with respect to transgender right now…I want to protect our country." pic.twitter.com/Cn9BPxICD4
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 22, 2018
Federal Government
Lambda Legal praises Biden-Harris administration’s finalized Title IX regulations
New rules to take effect Aug. 1
The Biden-Harris administration’s revised Title IX policy “protects LGBTQ+ students from discrimination and other abuse,” Lambda Legal said in a statement praising the U.S. Department of Education’s issuance of the final rule on Friday.
Slated to take effect on Aug. 1, the new regulations constitute an expansion of the 1972 Title IX civil rights law, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding.
Pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the landmark 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County case, the department’s revised policy clarifies that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity constitutes sex-based discrimination as defined under the law.
āThese regulations make it crystal clear that everyone can access schools that are safe, welcoming and that respect their rights,ā Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said during a call with reporters on Thursday.
While the new rule does not provide guidance on whether schools must allow transgender students to play on sports teams corresponding with their gender identity to comply with Title IX, the question is addressed in a separate rule proposed by the agency in April.
The administration’s new policy also reverses some Trump-era Title IX rules governing how schools must respond to reports of sexual harassment and sexual assault, which were widely seen as imbalanced in favor of the accused.
Jennifer Klein, the director of the White House Gender Policy Council, said during Thursday’s call that the department sought to strike a balance with respect to these issues, “reaffirming our longstanding commitment to fundamental fairness.”
āWe applaud the Biden administration’s action to rescind the legally unsound, cruel, and dangerous sexual harassment and assault rule of the previous administration,” Lambda Legal Nonbinary and Transgender Rights Project Director Sasha Buchert said in the group’s statement on Friday.
“Todayās rule instead appropriately underscores that Title IX’s civil rights protections clearly cover LGBTQ+ students, as well as survivors and pregnant and parenting students across race and gender identity,” she said. “Schools must be places where students can learn and thrive free of harassment, discrimination, and other abuse.”
Maryland
Rockville teen charged with plotting school shooting after FBI finds āmanifestoā
Alex Ye charged with threats of mass violence
BY BRETT BARROUQUERE | A Montgomery County high school student is charged with what police describe as plans to commit a school shooting.
Andrea Ye, 18, of Rockville, whose preferred name is Alex Ye, is charged with threats of mass violence. Montgomery County Police and the FBI arrested Ye Wednesday.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
Politics
Survey finds support for Biden among LGBTQ adults persists despite misgivings
Data for Progress previewed the results exclusively with the Blade
A new survey by Data for Progress found LGBTQ adults overwhelmingly favor President Joe Biden and Democrats over his 2024 rival former President Donald Trump and Republicans, but responses to other questions may signal potential headwinds for Biden’s reelection campaign.
The organization shared the findings of its poll, which included 873 respondents from across the country including an oversample of transgender adults, exclusively with the Washington Blade on Thursday.
Despite the clear margin of support for the president, with only 22 percent of respondents reporting that they have a very favorable or somewhat favorable opinion of Trump, answers were more mixed when it came to assessments of Biden’s performance over the past four years and his party’s record of protecting queer and trans Americans.
Forty-five percent of respondents said the Biden-Harris administration has performed better than they expected, while 47 percent said the administration’s record has been worse than they anticipated. A greater margin of trans adults in the survey ā 52 vs. 37 percent ā said their expectations were not met.
Seventy precent of all LGBTQ respondents and 81 percent of those who identify as trans said the Democratic Party should be doing more for queer and trans folks, while just 24 percent of all survey participants and 17 percent of trans participants agreed the party is already doing enough.
With respect to the issues respondents care about the most when deciding between the candidates on their ballots, LGBTQ issues were second only to the economy, eclipsing other considerations like abortion and threats to democracy.
These answers may reflect heightened fear and anxiety among LGBTQ adults as a consequence of the dramatic uptick over the past few years in rhetorical, legislative, and violent bias-motivated attacks against the community, especially targeting queer and trans folks.
The survey found that while LGBTQ adults are highly motivated to vote in November, there are signs of ennui. For example, enthusiasm was substantially lower among those aged 18 to 24 and 25 to 39 compared with adults 40 and older. And a plurality of younger LGBTQ respondents said they believe that neither of the country’s two major political parties care about them.
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