National
Tongues wagging over gay Cabinet member
Will Obama name nation’s first gay commerce secretary?
An upcoming vacancy in the White House cabinet has tongues wagging in the LGBT community over whether President Obama will make history by appointing an openly gay commerce secretary.
Last week, Obama announced his nomination of current Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to become U.S. ambassador to China. Provided he meets the 60-vote threshold to receive Senate confirmation, the vacancy created by Locke’s departure would create the opportunity for the appointment of an openly LGBT person to his former role.
The nomination of an openly LGBT person to the position of commerce secretary would be historic because no openly LGBT person has ever been nominated for a cabinet-level position.
Justin Nelson, president of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, said the appointment of an openly LGBT commerce secretary would be fantastic and bolster the relationship that already exists between the Commerce Department and LGBT people.
“I think it would only seek to strengthen that relationship and mean a lot for not only LGBT-owned businesses, but businesses in general,” Nelson said.
Nelson noted that Locke signed a memorandum of understanding with NGLCC to collaborate on key department initiatives, which will remain in effect for five years. Among other things, the partnership helps promote contracting opportunities for LGBT-owned small businesses with the U.S. government.
Richard Socarides, president of Equality Matters (Blade photo by Michael Key)
Richard Socarides, president of Equality Matters, also said the nomination of an openly LGBT person to the role of commerce secretary would be significant for the Obama administration.
“I think it would be an important first for there to be an openly gay cabinet member, and I think President Obama, while he’s president, should definitely try to make that happen,” Socarides said.
But Socarides added the LGBT community is “a little bit beyond the politics of appointments” and said nominating an openly LGBT commerce secretary would be less significant than other actions Obama could take.
The LGBT community would be better served, Socarides said, by the appointment of an LGBT person within the president’s circle of close advisers, where he or she could have an important impact on LGBT issues.
“I would love to see a gay cabinet member, but I think it’s more important that President Obama put somebody at the White House with seniority in charge of LGBT policy issues,” Socarides said.
The Presidential Appointments Project, a Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund-led initiative, has been pushing for the appointment of openly LGBT officials within the Obama administration. The Victory Fund declined to comment for this article.
Fred Hochberg, who’s gay and director of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, has emerged at the top of the list of LGBT business experts who could fill the role of commerce secretary.
Hochberg, who has a background in business management and once served as deputy administrator of the Small Business Administration, was cited in 2009 as a contender for the position of commerce secretary when it was first open in the Obama administration.
Socarides said Hochberg is a solid contender for the position because he’s close to the president and “extremely well qualified.”
“Fred is perpetually on the list of people who would be a good commerce secretary because he’s part of the Democratic establishment, he’s served and been confirmed before and he has a stellar business background,” Socarides said. “He certainly, I’m sure, would be on anybody’s short list.”
Nelson also said Hochberg would be a fantastic choice for the position of commerce secretary because of his previous work in the administration.
“The work that he’s done at the Export-Import Bank and his commitment to helping build exports for the next five years has been a huge help to the president and the administration,” Nelson said. “Certainly, his understanding of business and commerce would serve the president well.”
Phil Cogan, an Export-Import Bank spokesperson, said Hochberg would be happy to engage in any position the president asks him to fill during the course of the Obama administration.
“He’s honored to have the job he has now, but he would serve the administration in any way that he’s asked to,” Cogan said.
Another openly gay contender for the position of commerce secretary could be Jim Kolbe, a former Republican congressman from Arizona. An expert on trade, Kolbe left Congress and now works as a fellow at the German-Marshall Fund, where he has specialized in trans-Atlantic trade issues.
Jim Kolbe (Blade photo by Michael Key)
Nelson counted Kolbe as among those who could fit the bill for commerce secretary.
“He has a firm understanding of policy,” Nelson said. “Certainly having served on the board of Export-Import Bank, having served in Congress and his work on behalf of the business and the LGBT community would make him another excellent choice.”
Kolbe endorsed Republican presidential nominee John McCain during the 2008 election, which could work against him in winning a position within the Obama administration.
Kolbe told the Blade it is highly unlikely he is under consideration for the post.
Potential openly gay nominees would have to compete with a handful of other high-profile contenders for the position. According to Bloomberg News, those who are under consideration are former Pfizer CEO Jeffrey Kindler, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Ron Kirk, a U.S. trade representative who has undertaken a leading role in pressing the Obama administration’s trade agenda.
Shin Inouye, a White House spokesperson, wouldn’t rule out that the president would nominate an openly LGBT person as commerce secretary.
“The president will consider a range of qualified candidates, but we are at a very early stage in the process and no decisions have been made,” Inouye said.
Whatever the sexual orientation of the next commerce secretary, LGBT rights supporters maintain the new official could take action that would benefit LGBT Americans as a whole.
Socarides said an important role for the commerce secretary would be to bolster efforts for passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to protect LGBT Americans in the workplace.
“The commerce secretary should be a strong advocate for ENDA,” Socarides said. “ENDA is about basic fairness in American business and the only way we’re going to get that bill through the Congress is if business advocates for it, especially this Congress, which seems very focused on doing what’s right by and for business.”
Socarides said the commerce secretary ought to point out that an increasing number of companies on the Fortune 500 list have non-discrimination policies based on sexual orientation because it makes them more competitive in the marketplace.
Similarly, Nelson said the next commerce secretary should promote legislation in Congress that would eliminate the federal tax paid on employer-provided health coverage extended to LGBT workers with same-sex partners. In the previous Congress, the bill was known as the Tax Equity for Health Plan Beneficiaries Act.
“That’s something that should be common sense whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, whether you’re gay or straight,” Nelson said. “The fact of the matter is, for small businesses in particular, it’s a real burden to have that additional tax to offer domestic health care benefits.”
But Nelson said the next commerce secretary should fit the mold of Locke and understand generally the importance of business to the economy.
For example, Nelson said the official should support tax credits to allow small businesses to invest in infrastructure and promote international trade opportunities.
“It doesn’t matter what your ethnic background is, what your sexual orientation or gender identity is, when it comes to business, it means we’re here to help the American economy and help folks like many LGBT businesses that are a part of this small-business engine that’s getting our economy back on track,” Nelson said.
New York
Pride flag raised at Stonewall after National Park Service took it down
‘Our flag represents dignity and human rights’
A Pride flag was raised at the site of the Stonewall National Monument days after a National Park Service directive banned flying the flag at the birthplace of the LGBTQ rights movement in the U.S.
The flag-raising was led by Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal and supported by other elected officials.
“The community should rejoice. We have prevailed,” Hoylman-Sigal said shortly after the flag was hoisted. “Our flag represents dignity and human rights.”
The flag now sits in Christopher Street Park, feet away from the Stonewall Inn, where in 1969 a police raid of the gay bar sparked outrage and led to a rising of LGBTQ people pushing back on NYPD brutality and unjust treatment.
Elected officials brought a new flagpole with them, using plastic zip ties to attach it to the existing pole.
In 2016, President Barack Obama declared the site a national monument.
One day before the planned re-raising of the Pride flag, the National Park Service installed only an American flag on the flagpole, which days prior had flown a rainbow flag bearing the NPS logo.
The directive removing the flag was put forward by Trump-appointed National Park Service Acting Director Jessica Bowron.
This comes one day after more than 20 LGBTQ organizations from across the country co-signed a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and General Services Administrator Ed Forst, demanding the flag be restored to the monument.
“It is our understanding that the policy provides limited exceptions for non-agency flags that provide historical context or play a role in historic reenactments. Simply put, we urge you to grant this flag an exception and raise it once again, immediately,” the letter read. “It also serves as an important reminder to the 30+ million LGBTQ+ Americans, who continue to face disproportionate threats to our lives and our liberty, that the sites and symbols that tell our stories are worth honoring … However, given recent removals of the site’s references to transgender and bisexual people — people who irrefutably played a pivotal role in this history — it is clear that this is not about the preservation of the historical record.”
The letter finished with a message of resilience the LGBTQ community is known for: “The history and the legacy of Stonewall must live on. Our community cannot simply be erased with the removal of a flag. We will continue to stand up and fight to ensure that LGBTQ+ history should not only be protected — it should be celebrated as a milestone in American resilience and progress.”
When asked about the directive, the NPS responded with this statement:
“Current Department of the Interior policy provides that the National Park Service may only fly the U.S. flag, Department of the Interior flags, and the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action flag on flagpoles and public display points. The policy allows limited exceptions, permitting non-agency flags when they serve an official purpose. These include historical context or reenactments, current military branch flags, flags of federally recognized tribal nations affiliated with a park, flags at sites co-managed with other federal, state, or municipal partners, flags required for international park designations, and flags displayed under agreements with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for Naturalization ceremonies.”
An Interior Department spokesperson on Thursday called the move to return the flag to the monument a “political stunt.”
“Today’s political pageantry shows how utterly incompetent and misaligned the New York City officials are with the problems their city is facing,” a department spokesperson said when reached for comment.
The clash comes amid broader efforts by the Trump-Vance administration to minimize LGBTQ history and political power. The White House has spent much of President Donald Trump’s second presidency restricting transgender rights — stopping gender-affirming care for transgender youth, issuing an executive order stating the federal government will recognize only two sexes, male and female, and blocking Medicaid and Medicare from being used for gender-affirming care.
State Department
FOIA lawsuit filed against State Department for PEPFAR records
Council for Global Equality, Physicians for Human Rights seeking data, documents
The Council for Global Equality and Physicians for Human Rights have filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the State Department for PEPFAR-related data and documents.
The groups, which Democracy Forward represents, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday.
Then-President George W. Bush in 2003 signed legislation that created PEPFAR. UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima last March said PEPFAR has saved 26 million lives around the world.
The Trump-Vance administration in January 2025 froze nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending for at least 90 days. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later issued a waiver that allowed PEPFAR 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 gaps in U.S. funding. HIV/AIDS activists have also sharply criticized the Trump-Vance administration over reported plans it will not fully fund PEPFAR in the current fiscal year.
The lawsuit notes the Council for Global Equality and Physicians for Human Rights have “filed several FOIA requests” with the State Department for PEPFAR-related data and documents. The groups filed their most recent request on Jan. 30.
“On Jan. 30, 2026, plaintiffs, through counsel, sent State a letter asking it to commit to prompt production of the requested records,” reads the lawsuit. “State responded that the request was being processed but did not commit to any timeline for production.”
“Plaintiffs have received no subsequent communication from State regarding this FOIA request,” it notes.
“Transparency and inclusion have been hallmarks of PEPFAR’s success in the last decade,” said Beirne Roose-Snyder, a senior policy fellow at the Council for Global Equality, in a press release that announced the lawsuit. “This unprecedented withholding of data, and concurrent ideological misdirection of foreign assistance to exclude LGBTQI+ people and others who need inclusive programming, has potentially devastating and asymmetrical impacts on already marginalized communities.”
“This data is vital to understanding who’s getting access to care and who’s being left behind,” added Roose-Snyder.
“We filed this lawsuit to seek transparency: the administration’s PEPFAR data blackout withholds information the public, health providers, and affected communities need to track the HIV epidemic and prevent avoidable illness and death, obscuring the true human cost of these policy decisions,” said Physicians for Human Rights Research, Legal, and Advocacy Director Payal Shah.
The State Department has yet to respond to the Blade’s request for comment on the lawsuit.
New York
N.Y. lawmaker vows ‘Pride flag will fly again’ at Stonewall Monument
After a Jan. 21 policy shift, Pride flags were banned at national parks, prompting backlash from Bottcher and LGBTQ advocates.
Hours after news broke that the National Park Service would no longer allow Pride flags to fly at the Stonewall National Monument — the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ rights movement in the United States — the Washington Blade spoke with New York State Sen. Erik Bottcher, who represents the area surrounding the Stonewall Inn and the national monument.
During the interview, Bottcher, who is gay, spoke about the policy change and outlined steps he plans to take in the coming days to push for its reversal.
“This is another act of erasure,” Bottcher told the Blade. “It’s a cowardly attempt to rewrite history and to intimidate our community. This is Stonewall — it’s where we fought back, where we ignited a global movement for equality — and we refuse to go back. We’re not going to accept these acts of erasure.”
The Stonewall Inn became a flashpoint in 1969 after NYPD officers raided the bar, part of a longstanding pattern of police harassment of LGBTQ spaces. The raid sparked days of protest and resistance along Christopher Street, now widely recognized as the catalyst for the modern LGBTQ rights movement.
While the events are often referred to as the “Stonewall Riots,” many activists and historians prefer the term “Stonewall Uprising,” emphasizing that the resistance was a response to systemic oppression rather than senseless violence. LGBTQ patrons and community members fought back — shouting “Gay Power!” and “Liberate Christopher Street!” — as crowds grew and frustration with police abuse boiled over.
Since the uprising, LGBTQ people and allies have gathered annually in June to commemorate Stonewall and to celebrate Pride, honoring the movement that placed LGBTQ voices at the center of the fight for equality.
In June 2016, then President Barack Obama officially designated the space as the Stonewall National Monument, making it the United States’s first national monument designated for an LGBTQ historic site.
Now, nearly 10 years later, President Trump’s appointed NPS acting director Jessica Bowron changed policy on Jan. 21 regarding which flags are allowed to be flown in national parks. Many, including Bottcher, say this is part of a larger targeted and deliberate attempt by the administration to erase LGBTQ history.
“It’s clear they’re making a conscious decision to erase the symbols of our community from a monument to our community’s struggle,” he said. “This is a calculated and premeditated decision, and it could be — and should be — reversed.”
“Let’s be clear,” Bottcher added, “they wish we didn’t exist … But we’re not going anywhere. We refuse to go back into the shadows.”
When asked why it is critical to challenge the policy, Bottcher emphasized the importance of visibility in preserving LGBTQ history.
“This is why it’s so important that we not let this stand,” he said. “Visibility is critical. When people see us, learn about us, and get to know us, that’s how we break down prejudice and stereotypes. We cannot allow them to push us back into the shadows.”
Other LGBTQ leaders and elected officials were quick to condemn the removal of the Pride flag, which had flown since the site’s official designation as a national monument.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the decision “outrageous.”
“I am outraged by the removal of the Rainbow Pride Flag from Stonewall National Monument,” Mamdani said in a statement. “New York is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, and no act of erasure will ever change or silence that history.”
“Our city has a duty not just to honor this legacy, but to live up to it,” he added. “I will always fight for a New York City that invests in our LGBTQ+ community, defends their dignity, and protects every one of our neighbors — without exception.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also condemned the move.
“The removal of the Pride Rainbow Flag from the Stonewall National Monument is a deeply outrageous action that must be reversed immediately,” Schumer said in a statement to The Advocate. “Stonewall is a landmark because it is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ rights movement, and symbols of that legacy belong there by both history and principle.”
Cathy Renna, communications director for the National LGBTQ Task Force, said the flag’s removal will not erase the movement it represents.
“They can take down a flag, but they can’t take down our history,” Renna said. “Stonewall is sacred ground rooted in resistance, liberation, and the legacy of trans and queer trailblazers who changed the course of history.”
Human Rights Campaign National Press Secretary Brandon Wolf echoed that sentiment.
“Bad news for the Trump administration: these colors don’t run,” Wolf said. “The Stonewall Inn and Visitors Center are privately owned, their flags are still flying high, and that community is just as queer today as it was yesterday.”
Tyler Hack, executive director of the Christopher Street Project, said the removal was aimed squarely at LGBTQ visibility.
“The Pride flag was removed from Stonewall for one reason: to further erase queer and trans people from public life,” Hack said. “Stonewall marks the moment when queer and trans people fought back and demanded dignity. Our history is not theirs to erase.”
Bottcher closed with a promise to his constituents — and to the broader LGBTQ community — that the Pride flag’s removal would not be permanent.
“We will not be erased. We will not be silenced,” he said. “And the Pride flag will fly again at the birthplace of our movement.”
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