National
Obama earns mixed reviews on LGBT progress
Is the president our ‘fierce advocate’ or a disappointment?
Once hailed as a ‘fierce advocate’ of LGBT equality, President Obama now inspires mixed reviews from activists. (Photo by Pete Souza; courtesy of the White House)
After 18 months in office, the harsh realities of politics and compromise have caught up to President Obama. Hailed as a champion of LGBT rights during the 2008 campaign, LGBT rights advocates now give Obama mixed reviews for his performance to date.
In a statement to the Blade, Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said “there’s no doubt” that Obama has done more for LGBT people than any other U.S. president in history.
“Within the constraints of current law, he’s advanced policies that will vastly improve the lives of tens of millions,” Solmonese said. “Has change occurred quickly enough? No. The pace of change will never be quick enough for a community that is consistently denied their equality.”
Solmonese noted that LGBT people continue to face inequality on “a whole host of fronts” that could be remedied through legislative or policy change.
“But none of that obscures the fact that this president has and will continue to be our partner and advocate,” Solmonese said.
But Richard Socarides, a gay New York attorney who was an adviser to former President Clinton, has a very different view of Obama’s tenure. Socarides said there’s a “pretty strong consensus that it’s been a disappointing 18 months.”
Among Obama’s early disappointments, Socarides said, was the invitation to Rick Warren, pastor of the Saddleback Church in California and staunch opponent of same-sex marriage, to give the invocation during last year’s inauguration.
More recently, Socarides said he was unhappy that Obama approved a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal compromise that “did not include a non-discrimination rule, nor even actual repeal.”
“When Obama took office, these were our priorities: open military service, a federal statute banning workplace discrimination, and repeal of federal anti-marriage laws,” Socarides said. “You tell me how we’re doing.”
Socarides also criticized the White House for failing to install a senior official whose primary responsibility is LGBT rights, much like the role he held in the Clinton administration.
“There is no gay person in Obama’s inner circle, period,” Socarides said.
Shin Inouye, a White House spokesperson, said Obama ran on a commitment to bring change to all Americans — including LGBT people — and since taking office, the president has “taken many steps toward achieving that goal.”
Inouye noted the signing of federal hate crimes legislation as among Obama’s accomplishments for LGBT people and said the president looks forward to signing more pro-LGBT legislation.
“The president and his administration remain committed to achieving equality for all, and it’s clear that we’re moving forward,” Inouye said.
Two years ago, he issued an open letter during Pride month outlining his promises to the LGBT community.
“I’m running for president to build an America that lives up to our founding promise of equality for all — a promise that extends to our gay brothers and sisters,” Obama wrote at the time. “It’s wrong to have millions of Americans living as second‐class citizens in this nation. And I ask for your support in this election so that together we can bring about real change for all LGBT Americans.”
In the letter, Obama pledged to “place the weight” of his administration behind the enactment of hate crimes protections legislation and to pass a trans-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
Obama has sometimes been credited with having a role in the decision to advance the hate crimes legislation last year as an amendment to defense authorization legislation.
Progress on ENDA, on the other hand, has been stagnant. The bill remains pending before committees in the House and Senate and many supporters are concerned that lawmakers won’t take up the bill by year’s end.
Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, noted that Obama “exerted appropriate influence” in guiding the hate crimes legislation toward passage.
On ENDA, Keisling said the administration has been “as helpful as they can be” to this point, and she expects the president “will be a lot more helpful once it starts moving.”
At this point, Keisling said “there really hasn’t yet been much for them to do” on ENDA.
Keisling noted that for congressional hearings on ENDA last year in the House and Senate, the administration sent officials who provided “really great testimony” in favor of moving forward with the legislation.
“If the president had prioritized ENDA instead of, I don’t know, health care reform or financial reform or bank bailouts, we’d be better off, but he prioritized what he prioritized,” she said. “I’m very hopeful that when ENDA does start moving, the White House will be extremely supportive and will help get it done.”
Also in the letter, Obama promised to “use the bully pulpit” to urge states to treat same-sex couples equally in their family and adoption laws. He additionally advocated for the establishment of civil unions as the best way to advance rights for LGBT couples.
“But I also believe that the federal government should not stand in the way of states that want to decide on their own how best to pursue equality for gay and lesbian couples — whether that means a domestic partnership, a civil union, or a civil marriage,” Obama wrote.
Additionally, the presidential candidate said he supported “complete repeal” of the Defense of Marriage Act.
“Federal law should not discriminate in any way against gay and lesbian couples, which is precisely what DOMA does,” Obama wrote.
Obama has stuck to his position on same-sex marriage as several jurisdictions — such as Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire and D.C. — have advanced marriage rights for same-sex couples. The White House has either said nothing in response to those developments or reiterated that Obama prefers civil unions.
Evan Wolfson, executive director of the New York-based Freedom to Marry, said Obama has “taken some positive steps” in advocating for same-sex couples, but hasn’t “matched his actions to his words.”
Wolfson said Obama should be leading the fight to repeal DOMA legislatively through the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill pending in the U.S. House, and should stop urging judges to “rubberstamp” DOMA in Justice Department briefs defending the statute against legal challenges.
“And, most importantly, he should make the case to the American people that same-sex couples deserve fair and equal treatment under the law — using personal stories and appeals to values such as fairness, respect for commitment and the Golden Rule,” Wolfson said.
Another item that Obama mentioned in the letter is repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Late last month, Congress voted in favor of a compromise measure that would end the law after the Pentagon completes its study on the issue at the end of the year.
Alex Nicholson, executive director of Servicemembers United, said the White House’s endorsement of the compromise the week that Congress voted on it was helpful in finding the votes needed to advance the measure.
“The fact that the White House was willing to come out and publicly support a repeal plan and get the Pentagon to do the same was a critical element in getting that passed in the Senate Armed Services Committee,” Nicholson said.
Still, Nicholson said he didn’t know how involved Obama was in lobbying members of the House and Senate directly to vote in favor of repeal once the deal was reached.
Also in the letter, Obama pledged to work to address HIV/AIDS, arguing that “we do not have to choose between values and science” in working to fight the epidemic.
“While abstinence education should be part of any strategy, we also need to use common sense,” he wrote. “We should have age‐appropriate sex education that includes information about contraception.”
Carl Schmid, deputy executive director of the AIDS Institute, said he had mixed feelings about Obama’s track record on the matter.
“There have been a lot of positives, but there still needs to be greater attention in response and resources,” he said.
Schmid said Obama has followed through on his plans to confront HIV/AIDS through scientific means and has set out to eliminate “abstinence-only” sex education programs through the budget process.
But Schmid noted the abstinence-only sex education programs were reinstated by amendment in the passage of the health care reform legislation.
“It’s not in the appropriations bill, but it’s in the managerial program now, just like it was in the past,” he said.
Schmid cited the reauthorization of the Ryan White Care Act as an accomplishment regarding HIV/AIDS, as well as passage of health care reform legislation, which he called a “huge, huge, huge accomplishment.”
He said the White House was of limited help, though, in pushing to renew funding under the Ryan White Care Act.
“The administration was very slow in getting their principle and positions out on getting the Ryan White reauthorized,” he said. “They didn’t speak out and early enough. Ryan White is up for renewal in 2013 — right before all this health care reform kicks in. We’re going to need the administration’s support for the continuation of Ryan White after 2013.”
Noting a national AIDS strategy is currently being developed in the White House, Schmid said he hopes the plan will provide the discussion of homosexuality at appropriate ages in sex education programs because HIV is often transmitted through men who have sex with men.
Schmid gave Obama credit for lifting the travel ban that prevented foreign nationals with HIV from entering the country, although he noted this process began under the Bush administration with the passage of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief legislation.
Obama closed his letter by calling on people to step “outside our comfort zone” to win broader support for LGBT rights in places often considered homophobic, such as black churches.
“If we want to repeal DOMA, repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ and implement fully inclusive laws outlawing hate crimes and discrimination in the workplace, we need to bring the message of LGBT equality to skeptical audiences as well as friendly ones — and that’s what I’ve done throughout my career,” Obama wrote.
In the letter, Obama noted that he spoke out against homophobia during the presidential campaign at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga., where Martin Luther King, Jr. once preached.
Obama also spoke out against homophobia during a February speech at the National Prayer Breakfast in D.C., a gathering of Christian evangelical leaders. And late last month, Obama spoke in favor of LGBT rights during his keynote speech at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s centennial convention.
Sharon Lettman, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, said Obama has “absolutely” been faithful to his promise of speaking out in favor of LGBT rights in places that are sometimes deemed unfriendly to LGBT people.
“I’ve experienced it on a number of occasions in predominantly black or all black venues,” she said. “Even in his normal stump speech, he makes reference to his support of LGBT equality.”
Lettman said as the first black president, Obama has a special role to play in educating black Americans about the LGBT community.
“He makes a point to always be inclusive,” she said. “He doesn’t selectively leave it out — not just in black churches, but in front of civil rights leaders and civil rights venues, like the NAACP convention, and other areas.”
Lettman said Obama is “definitely trying to paint a picture of one America” in his actions and his speeches.
“In so many ways, even in the progressive agenda, people don’t always select to include our community,” she said, “and I have to give him a lot of credit for making sure that he speaks with one voice about his support for LGBT equality.”
The White House
SPJ calls for take down of Trump’s ‘media offenders’ website
White House launched online database on Monday
The Society for Professional Journalists has called out the White House for creating a website that targets individual journalists and news outlets that publish unfavorable coverage of the Trump-Vance administration.
In a letter to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday, the SPJ — the nation’s most broad-based journalism organization, which works to protect the free practice of journalism with high ethical standards — asked the White House to take down its website singling out journalists for negative coverage of the administration.
“Journalists have a constitutionally protected and societally encouraged duty to hold power to account. They are not political opponents to be tracked, cataloged or punished,” the letter signed by SPJ National President Chris Vaccaro and SPJ Ethics Committee Chair Dan Axelrod.
“By publishing reporters’ names, outlets and specific stories, the White House is naming and shaming members of the press in a highly charged political and social environment. SPJ regards this as a form of online harassment that exposes journalists to potential threats and even violence.”
The website currently lists 23 outlets as “Media Offenders of the Week,” singling out national organizations like CBS News, the Boston Globe, and the Independent. The website says these particular organizations “misrepresents and exaggerates President Trump.”
The letter goes on to explain that there are more civil ways to disagree with published stories without singling out people for doing the only constitutionally protected job in the country.
“There are well-established ways of resolving disagreements over the fairness or accuracy of stories. The White House web page attacking so-called ‘media offenders’ ignores these principles and instead denigrates and attacks reporters.”
It also highlights how Trump often attacks women journalists in particular, noting that two weeks ago he told White House correspondent Catherine Lucey from Bloomberg News to be “quiet piggy” after she asked questions related to Trump’s relationship with sex offender Jeffery Epstein on Air Force One.
“Journalists, particularly women, already face an enormous amount of online harassment, and this can convert into physical violence. As you know, women journalists have also been publicly insulted by the president in recent weeks.”
The letter also explains that attacks like this on the legitimate press can cause tensions between journalists who attempt to hold those in power responsible and the public who consumes the rhetoric.
“This page, which categorizes reporting as ‘lies,’ ‘left-wing lunacy,’ and ‘malpractice,’ has a chilling effect on coverage. It undermines the healthy democratic relationship in which journalists hold power to account.”
The letter also draws a connection to how the Russian authoritarian dictatorship references media it dislikes, saying, “The president’s new ‘media offenders’ list mirrors a 2017 initiative by the Kremlin that labeled independent journalism as ‘fake news.’ The United States should not follow that example.”
“SPJ believes civility must be restored between the media and the Administration. Removing this page would be a vital first step toward lowering the temperature and reinforcing America’s commitment to free expression.”
The SPJ’s code of ethics, widely regarded as the ethical standard for good journalism, has four main pillars: Seek Truth and Report It, Minimize Harm, Act Independently, and Be Accountable and Transparent. The code was adopted in 1926 from the American Society of Newspaper Editors and has been revised multiple times since then, including in 1984, 1987, 1996, and most recently in 2014.
NLGJA, the The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists is the journalist-led association that works within the news media to advance fair and accurate coverage of LGBTQ+ communities and issues, provided a statement to the Blade on the website and supports the SPJ’s public call for removing the website to restore faith in journalistic freedom in the U.S.
“We stand with SPJ in urging the Trump administration to remove its website targeting so-called “media offenders.” While NLGJA believes that media organizations should be held to the highest standards of accuracy and ethical reporting, this website does nothing to support a healthy press environment,” National Board President Ken Miguel told the Blade via email. “Instead, it undermines public trust in the free press, enables the harassment and targeting of journalists, and hinders their ability to cover the news fairly and accurately. Journalists must be able to do their work without fear of government retaliation.”
The White House has not responded to the Washington Blade’s request for comment on the letter.
National
Lawmakers warn of HIV crisis as federal support collapses
NMAC hosted Capitol Hill event on Wednesday
NMAC, formerly known as the National Minority AIDS Council, a nonprofit organization that works for health equity and racial justice to end the HIV epidemic, held its 6th annual Hill Champions reception on Wednesday in the Rayburn House Office Building to honor federal legislators who have worked to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and around the world.
Currently there are an estimated 40.8 million people worldwide living with HIV, with about 1.2 million people in the U.S. with the disease. While there is no cure, there are highly effective treatments that can control the virus and allow people to live long, healthy lives called antiretroviral therapy that can reduce the amount of virus in the body to an undetectable level, which also prevents the spread of HIV to others.
This year, NMAC’s reception featured a slew of current policymakers who use their national platforms to push for expanding HIV funding in Congress. This year’s honorees were three congresswomen who are active voices for HIV/AIDS on the House floor: U.S. Reps. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), and Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.).
The awards presented to the representatives are named after three congressional icons who have dedicated their lives to ensuring the voices of the most marginalized are heard, seen, and helped.
Crockett received the John Lewis Good Trouble Award, Jacobs received the Barbara Lee Courage in HIV/Advocacy Award, and Ramirez received the Elijah Cummings Award for Minority Health Equity.
NMAC CEO Harold J. Phillips, the former director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy under President Joe Biden, was one of the first to speak at the event. He congratulated the honorees, highlighted work accomplished this past year in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and outlined what lies ahead as the current president continues to slash funding for public health initiatives worldwide.
“Tonight, we gather to celebrate what’s possible when courage meets commitment, when leaders refuse to let politics stand in the way of saving lives, we’re in a critical moment. Political uncertainty threatens the very programs that have transformed HIV into a manageable condition, but a crisis creates an opportunity for collective action,” Phillips said. “For more than 40 years, the HIV movement has thrived because of bipartisan leadership, leaders who understood that public health transcends party lines. Now more than ever, we need advocates on the hill.”
He continued, spotlighting actions taken by the honorees for the HIV movement during a time when some of the highest officials in government refuse to acknowledge it.
“What unites these champions is their understanding that HIV advocacy is not political — it is moral. They show us what it looks like when leaders treat public health as a responsibility, not a bargaining chip.”
Jacobs and Ramirez attended in person, while Crockett, who was unable to be there, sent a video.
In her speech after receiving the Barbara Lee Courage in HIV/Advocacy Award, Jacobs emphasized that the policies and initiatives put forward through the HIV Caucus and public health organizations in the U.S. have global impact — particularly regarding PEPFAR. Jacobs has been a consistent champion for people living with HIV, military service rights, and protecting the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“PEPFAR has saved over 25 million lives, but cuts are already causing catastrophic setbacks,” Rep. Jacobs said, explaining that even with progress made due to PEPFAR funding, places like Malawi reaching the 95-95-95 goal (95 percent of all people with HIV knew their status, 95 percent of those diagnosed were on lifesaving antiretrovirals, and 95 percent of those on medication were unable to transmit HIV) will continue to suffer. “In Malawi, where services for LGBTQ people, sex workers, young women, and other marginalized groups have been eliminated, it’s no longer a question of if transmission rates will rise — but when. We cannot leave communities behind or allow preventable deaths because of political decisions made in Washington.”
“I know that people of color, immigrants and trans people, have all been let down by our mainstream approach to HIV prevention and everything, I see seven barriers they face in accessing health care, the stigma surrounding disease and the lack of awareness from people in power,” the San Diego congresswoman said. “I want to say to those in that community, I will not let you fall through the cracks. I will not let you become another statistic, and I will keep working to make sure your voice is heard and that you can live a full and healthy life.”
Crockett, who addressed the crowd via video, emphasized her award’s namesake, explaining that the “good trouble” she gets into on the House floor and in committees can be deemed too much even by those in her own party, but that she remains committed to making HIV treatment accessible to all, regardless of background.
“To receive an award named after John Lewis is an honor all on its own. It means being bold, speaking up when others are scared to and standing firm when the truth makes people uncomfortable. And y’all know me — I don’t mind stirring a little trouble, especially when I am stirring trouble that is good trouble — but I never do it alone. I do it with the strength of the communities I represent. I do it with the stories of the folks who feel unheard. I do it for the people who depend on someone in those halls of Congress to fight for them. So this award isn’t just mine. It belongs to every advocate pushing for access to health care, every person navigating their own health journey, every organizer who refuses to give up.”
She continued, without directly calling out the White House, making allusions to pushing back against the recent emergence of budget cuts.
“I promise to keep fighting for funding, for research, for resources ,and for every community that needs a champion, because getting into good trouble isn’t just a phrase, it’s a calling, a calling we all share in this room,” Crockett said. “Thank you again for this honor, and thank you for your leadership, your fight and your refusal to back down. Now, let’s keep getting into that good trouble.”
Ramirez, who represents a part of Chicago, was previously in the Illinois House of Representatives, where she co-sponsored legislation to allow minors to access HIV and STI testing, prevention, and treatment without parental consent. She was also a chief co-sponsor in securing $10 million in state funding for this initiative in Illinois, and was the House chief co-sponsor for the “disrupting disparities for LGBTQ+ older adults and older adults living with HIV” initiative.
“I am clear more than ever that a commitment to ending the HIV and AIDS epidemic must continue to be our priority, and we must demonstrate that priority not through words, my friends, but through action — fighting for and protecting our neighbors, living with HIV or AIDS, including our LGBTQI plus neighbors,” Ramirez said. “It means showing up, telling our stories, celebrating each other and fighting side by side for that collective liberation, which only makes me more grateful for the people in this room.”
She also used the platform to criticize how some of Trump-Vance administration’s cuts to healthcare coverage funding were directed at underserved communities within the U.S. — namely undocumented immigrants like her parents.
“I want you to know that as members of Congress, we cannot go through day to day as business as usual, today is the time to demand that our siblings living with HIV and AIDS, no matter their sexual orientation, no matter their gender expression, no matter their zip code, their background or their citizenship status, that they get everything that they deserve, every Damn thing, so that they can live a healthy and thriving life.”
While the event was intended to celebrate the accomplishments of legislators, advocates, and supporters of the fight against HIV/AIDS, the tone of the night was noticeably more charged following the Trump-Vance administration’s refusal to acknowledge World AIDS Day — and the reported directive instructing federal employees not to comment about it on any channels, including social media and traditional media.
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) made a surprise appearance, celebrating the three legislators while emphasizing the critical importance of supporting HIV/AIDS research now that the White House has refused to acknowledge it.
“It’s really important this year, because this is the first time in a very long time that we have had World AIDS Day when the president of the United States has said, we can’t really talk about it and we certainly should not observe it for two days. On Sunday and Monday in San Francisco, we did exactly that. We talked about it, and we observed it, and here we are talking about it here, because, as Congressman Crockett said, and we all know, we’re here to fight for funding. We’re fighting for research, prevention, and all of that, but we’re also here to fight against discrimination and stigma anybody wants to attach to this, and that starts with you in the White House,” Pelosi said. “We have a fight on our hands, because this isn’t over.. [to] make sure that any discussion of HIV ends up in the dust bin of history, an ancient malady when our children, grandchildren all grow up. ‘What was that?’ It was something that doesn’t exist anymore because of the goodness of others, because of the National Minority AIDS Council.”
Maxine Waters slams Trump
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) also made an appearance and delivered an unfiltered, passionate speech praising NMAC’s efforts and calling out Trump for ending funding for HIV/AIDS worldwide while simultaneously accepting donations to rebuild the White House as he sees fit.
“I want to tell you when they asked, how was I doing when I came in, really, I was thinking about the president of the United States and what’s going on now, it’s so troubling. And I find myself not sleeping as well as I normally sleep. I find myself trying to believe that what I see is happening is absolutely happening,” Waters said. “Many of our people with HIV and AIDS are homeless, and they’re not being taken care of, and they’re going to die with the cuts that are being made. Unfortunately, we just got to say it.”
She continued, calling out Trump’s lack of focus on domestic issues like HIV/AIDS that directly impact American citizens, instead prioritizing issues unrelated to the public’s welfare.
“The fact that the president of the United States is killing people in international waters in Venezuela, not knowing whether or not they’re drug dealers or not, not caring, and I think about two people, two men hanging on the side of the boat who had escaped the bomb that hit, and they said, kill him, and they shot him down and killed it’s hard to live with this. It’s hard to understand how all of this is happening. And so Trump refused to commemorate World AIDS Day, and his State Department instructed employees and grantees to refrain from publicly promoting World AIDS Day through any communication channels, including social media, media engagements, speeches or other public facing messaging let’s just be an honorary Why would he be focused on us celebrating or working with World AIDS Day and helping people to understand that HIV and AIDS is still a big problem in this country, and we have to spend money. We have to do what it takes in order to provide the medicine and the health care that they need. Why would he just be against that? He’s already cutting the funds. But just go even further and say and don’t even promote World AIDS Day. It’s bothersome. Trump halted funds for PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which was created under the leadership of former Congresswoman Barbara Lee, the co-founder of the Congressional HIV AIDS Caucus.”
“There’s a very rich man that paid attention to what was going on with HIV and AIDS, and that was Bill Gates. And I’d like to quote him and what he said. ‘We’re already seeing the tragic impact of reductions in aid, and we know the number of date deaths will continue to rise.’ Here in the United States, where Nancy and I just talked about the creation of Minority AIDS Initiative to address AIDS disparities, and where the initiative has grown from 156 million when we first started in 1999 to more than 400 million per year. Today, Donald Trump is waging an all out war on people living with HIV. Trump’s budget proposal completely eliminated HIV prevention funding at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and he slashed the funds from Ryan White AIDS care and HIV research. We cannot allow, we cannot allow these devastating cuts to be implemented, and so we’re doing everything that we possibly can to fight Donald Trump on all of these issues. I want you to know that this attack on many of our friends who happened to come from other countries is just outrageous, and what he said about Somalia today just cannot be understood or accepted. And so for all of the nice people in the room, get mad, get angry. Do a little cursing. Tell people what you think about it, because if you’re too nice, nobody believes you. You got to kick a little butt. You got to make sure that they understand we’re in this fight and we’re not going to go away. I know he’s the president of the United States, but he shouldn’t be. He’s the president of the United States with a cabinet that knows nothing and cares nothing about anybody. I dare anybody to talk about minorities and want to know whether or not we’re qualified. Hell, they have the most unqualified people that you’ve ever witnessed in your life, anytime, anyplace, anywhere. We want to get rid of all of them dealing with this public policy, doing everything that we can, educating people. Don’t forget, you got to get them to vote.”
She spoke for 17 minutes, touching on many current events but repeatedly returning to the point that the president is supposed to represent the people — not his own interests.
“I came here to talk about AIDS, but I wasn’t going to let you go without talking about some other stuff too. And I’m going to leave you with saying, not only are we concerned and we’re upset about the kind of cuts that are made, whether we’re talking about health care, we’re talking about AIDS in particular, whether we’re talking about Section Eight, whether we’re talking about food stamps, this crazy man is destroying the White House — bulldozes the East Wing. Why would he do that? And why would he spend over $300 million to do that while he’s cutting all of these programs? Well, he’ll say it’s being donated. Well, get it donated to AIDS. You know what I’m saying. Why are you getting it donated? And then, last of all, which pisses me off, you. Definitely, and I just think it’s crazy and outrageous. He wants to take the John F. Kennedy Center and name it after Melania. What the hell?”
In a moment when federal silence grows louder, the advocates in that room offered a counterpoint — a reminder that community, courage, and persistence still drive the fight to end HIV.
Maine
Maine governor opens LGBTQ+ Victory Institute’s D.C. conference
Janet Mills successfully challenged White House’s anti-trans athlete executive order
Maine Gov. Janet Mills on Thursday opened the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute’s annual International LGBTQ+ Leaders Conference in D.C.
Mills noted her February confrontation with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office over his executive order that bans transgender athletes from participating in school sports teams consistent with their gender identity.
Maine sued the Trump-Vance administration after it withheld federal funds to the state’s Department of Education. A federal judge ordered the White House to unfreeze the money.
“I speak as someone who, yeah, stood up to the president of the United States, to his face, when Donald Trump demanded that Maine violate our own laws to discriminate against transgender youth,” said Mills. “I told him I’d see him court. And guess what? We did see him in court and we won.”
Mills in October announced she is challenging incumbent U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).
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