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Hate once again rears its ugly head in D.C.

Combating the troubling signs of anti-Semitism

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elections, gay news, Washington Blade
Collaborative Reproduction Amendment Act, elections, gay news, Washington Blade

(Washington Blade file photo by Aram Vartian)

Too often in the District of Columbia today we are seeing hate rear its ugly head. I am not sure if what is happening here and around the nation can all be laid at the feet of Donald Trump. There clearly is more to it.

In D.C. it was reported ā€œhate crimes motivated by hatred of a religion increased last year, withĀ a rise in the number ofĀ crimes targeting Jews and Muslims. Of the incidents spurred by hatred of a particular religion, anti-Semitism was again the leading cause, motivating about 55 percent of those episodes, followed by anti-Muslim sentiment, which spurred about 25 percent. The number of hate crimes targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people also went up last year.ā€

I have lived in the District for 40 years having moved here from New York City. It was evident to me then the District was more segregated than I had been used to in New York. I was born in Harlem and my grandparents owned a hardware/housewares store there. I taught school in Harlem and grew up in a home where diversity was valued. My parents who immigrated to the United States to escape the Nazis wanted me to understand different races, cultures and religions. We moved to Washington Heights when I was five but my parents had me travel to a non-denominational nursery school at the Riverside Church.

When I came to the District it seemed to be very segregated and communities came together less than they did in New York. It was all about east and west of the Anacostia River. I was smart enough to understand racism existed then and still does today and is unhealthy for everyone. We continue to have structural racism in the District and we must work every day to change that. We must fight it and speak out against it. We can never let racist comments go unchallenged and must stand up to hate.

As a Jew and a gay man I still benefit from what we understand to be ā€˜white privilege.ā€™ Nevertheless, I would expect everyone to also speak out and fight anti-Semitism and homophobia whenever they occur. Today that seems not to be happening as often as it should in D.C.

The District now has a population of 700,000 and we have not abolished hate.
We must find a way to live together and respect each other if we are to become the great city we all want us to be. We need to provide a great education for all our children and job opportunities for all our residents. We need to fight for real equality and that includes economic equality.

So this recent incident of anti-Semitism takes us away from moving toward the better city we want for all. When Council member Trayon White first made his comments about ā€˜the Rothschilds controlling the weatherā€™ I was offended but passed it off as a lack of education and was willing to see him educated about how what he said impacted Jewish people. I heard him make an apology and was willing to accept it. I was even willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when he gave $500 to Farrakhanā€™s Saviors Day, though not a pass that he gave it from his constituent service fund, that he may not have realized how anti-Semitic Farrakhan is.

But then I read comments from Jonetta Rose Barras, a well-known reporter and writer, make an excuse for Whiteā€™s anti-Semitism and conflate the Jewish people with the policies of the State of Israel (something thatā€™s happening all too often these days). Then Josh Lopez trying to lead what he called a ā€˜unity rally,ā€™ not sure why he thought he is the person to do this and what impact he thought he could have, and allow Abdul Khadir Muhammad, a mid-Atlantic representative for Farrakhan to have his megaphone to spew his hateful anti-Semitism and not take back the megaphone and immediately speak out against it publicly. Why were the other speakers silent on this? Why did it take a reprimand from the mayor to get Lopez to apologize? Why has Trayon White yet to speak out and separate himself from the comments of Muhammad?

All of this is both frightening and a blot on the reputation of the District. Clearly we need to educate our children in every part of the city on why hate is wrong. We need to teach that racism, sexism, homophobia and anti-Semitism are wrong and destructive. The question is how we move forward from here. How do we move beyond the attacks on a Jewish member of the Council?

One way is for the Council of the District of Columbia to pass a sense of the Council resolution against anti-Semitism. They could include in that sense of the Council that we will also not accept racism, sexism and homophobia in our city. The mayor should ask the Council to do that and endorse the resolution once it is passed. It would also behoove Josh Lopez to resign from his public post on the Housing Authority as a way to demonstrate he has a real understanding of the situation he exacerbated even if his initial intent was to do some good. There are always repercussions for our actions.

Then in an effort to move beyond this I would hope some of our religious leaders across the District would join together and speak out on these issues. We must find a way to move on and a big part of that is the recognition we must educate our residents and especially our children that as our mayor has said, ā€œHate is wrong and wonā€™t be tolerated in the District of Columbia.ā€

 

Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBT rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.

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Cory Bookerā€™s missed moral moment

Imagine if trans stories had been part of historic speech

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Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) shakes the hand of HRC President Kelley Robinson before a hearing of the United States Senate Judicial Committee on June 21, 2023. Harleigh Walker, seated the center of the photograph, testifies in the hearing. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker sounded joyous, energetic, and heartfelt during his historic 25-hour, five-minute Senate floor speech.  

Like millions of others watching the April 1 conclusion of his marathon homily for everyday people, I spontaneously burst into applause when he crossed the threshold and broke segregationist Strom Thurmondā€™s racist filibuster record against the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Booker called Thurmondā€™s 68-year record a ā€œstrange shadowā€ hanging over the Senate.

Bookerā€™s surprise anti-Trump fest, perhaps a predicate for another presidential bid, was a Democratic demonstration of ā€œdoing somethingā€ in homage to his late mentor, civil rights hero John Lewisā€™s call to create ā€œgood trouble.ā€

ā€œI rise tonight with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able,ā€ Booker said in his opening remarks. ā€œThese are not normal times in our nation. And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate. The threats to the American people and American democracy are grave and urgent and we all must do more to stand against them.ā€

Unlike others who offer up the usual stale talking points, Booker said, ā€œI rise tonight because to be silent at this moment of national crisis would be a betrayal, and because at stake in this moment is nothing less than everything that makes us who we are,ā€ including ā€œthat everyoneā€™s rights will be equally protected and everyone will be held equally accountable under the law.ā€

Bookerā€™s message was clear: ā€œThis is a moral moment in America. What are we going to do?ā€

Itā€™s a question poking at the conscience of people who believe in fairness. For instance, podcaster Joe Rogan questioned the deportation of a gay hairdresser to a prison camp in El Salvador.  

ā€œThe thing is, like, you got to get scared that people who are not criminals are getting, like, lassoed up and deported and sent to, like, El Salvador prisons,ā€ Rogan said on Saturday. ā€œThis is kind of crazy that that could be possible. Thatā€™s horrific. And thatā€™s, again, thatā€™s bad for the cause. The cause is: Letā€™s get the gang members out. Everybody agrees. But letā€™s not, innocent gay hairdressers, get lumped up with the gangs.ā€

In Wisconsin, voters were so angry at unelected DOGE head billionaire Elon Musk blatantly handing out money to generate interest in a state Supreme Court race, they elected liberal Dane County Judge Susan Crawford over Trump-endorsed Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel in the $100 million contest, the most expensive court race in U.S. history.

ā€œAs a little girl growing up in Chippewa Falls, I never imagined Iā€™d be taking on the richest man in the world for justice in Wisconsin ā€” and we won,ā€ Crawford told supporters after her 55 percent to 45 percent victory early Wednesday.

Crawford won despite a last minute anti-trans attack ad. ā€œLet transitioning male teachers use my girls’ bathrooms at school? Allow boys to compete against them in sports? Giving puberty-blocking drugs to children without parents’ consent?,ā€ a woman says in the ad. ā€œThat’s who Susan Crawford sides with, and I’m not OK with any of it.ā€

Apparently Trumpā€™s endorsement and Muskā€™s millions were not enough to push Schimel to victory; they needed to play the anti-trans card. Crawfordā€™s campaign responded with her own hard-hitting ad that ends with: ā€œIā€™m Judge Susan Crawford, and Iā€™ll always follow the law and use common sense to decide whatā€™s right.ā€

Was the last minute play with identity politics helpful or a moot distraction? Many old Democratic politicos want to get rid of identity politics and focus on the issues ā€“ as if the two arenā€™t intertwined.  

Indeed, Cory Bookerā€™s symbolism-caked epic discourse illustrated how identity is the beating heart of politics for anyone whoā€™s not a white straight Christian man.    

ā€œWe have to redeem the dream,ā€ Booker said. ā€œWe have to excite people again. He, in the highest office of our land, wants to divide us against ourselves, wants to make us afraid, wants to make us fear so much that weā€™re willing to violate peopleā€™s fundamental rights.ā€

And yet, other than a quick reference to Stonewall, Booker forgot us during his 25 hours telling stories of regular people. He forgot Harleigh Walker who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about being a trans 16-year-old needing gender-affirming care in Auburn, Ala.

At the June 21, 2023 hearing Protecting Pride: Defending the Civil Rights of LGBTQ+ Americans, Booker talked about being a leader on the Equality Act with John Lewis leading in the House.  

Lewis, a ā€œChristian, Southern, Black, elder man,ā€ would say that ā€œthese [discrimination] issues are so similar to what he was dealing with…Is there a line that goes through about the basic right to be an American and have equal rights?ā€ Booker asked Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson.

ā€œA lot of Americans don’t understand how widespread the bullying and the threats and the violence are,ā€ Booker said. ā€œSomething’s happened in the last decade, of this rise of threats and bullying and violence and murder of LGBTQ Americans at levels that are frightening to me.ā€

Addressing Harleigh Walker, Booker said: ā€œI don’t think most Americans understand what it’s like to try to just live your truth for the average American that is LGBTQ or trans. Could you just tellā€¦how it feels just to be a teenager, living your life as you do?ā€

ā€œIt definitely is a struggle, day to day,ā€ Walker said. ā€œGrowing up in a conservative state where there is a lot of misinformation spread about what trans people are, what we do, and how we’re just like everybody else, it’s definitely been hard for me. Like I said in my testimony, I was severely bullied in middle school to the point where I had to drop out of public school because there was so much hate every day in the hallways, being misgendered, being deadnamed, and it got to physical violence at a certain point. And so I had to drop out of public school for that year, and the school wasn’t doing anything about it.ā€

Booker closed with: ā€œIf this is about protecting our children, the stories of Ms. Walker and other trans children ā€” it just needs to be heard about what you’re enduring.ā€

Imagine if trans stories had been heard as part of Bookerā€™s incredible ā€œMoral Momentā€ speech. Maybe millions more would have awakened to the idea of fairness and equality for ALL.


Karen Ocamb is the former news editor for the Los Angeles Blade and Frontiers. She is currently working on a new LGBTQ+ Freedom Fighters project.

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Trump natā€™l security team auditions to be next Marx Brothers

Signal scandal is just the beginning

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From left, Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Hegseth (Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

We know Trumpā€™s Cabinet members have no real experience in the jobs for which they have been confirmed. But we couldnā€™t have anticipated the royal fuck-up that occurred when the national security team put our national security, and our troops, in danger with their very casual chat, basically public, about classified plans to bomb Yemen. They could be the new Marx Brothers. For those who donā€™t know, the Marx Brothers, were a slapstick comedy act of Chico, Harpo, and Groucho. Their most famous movies are Duck Soup and Night at the Opera. Ā 

Instead of using a sanctioned high-level email for classified material, they used Signal, a public messaging app. While known for its security and privacy, it has also been known to have been hacked. To top that off, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz inadvertently added a journalist to the chat. To make things more bizarre, it now appears one of the people on the chat, Steve Witkoff, a Trump negotiator, was in the Kremlin when he took the call, and Tulsi Gabbard, the DNI, was also out of the country, and apparently took the call on her private phone. Again, the Marx Brothers on steroids. 

I can imagine Trumpā€™s bosom buddy, Vladimir Putin, calling him and saying; ā€œDonald, my good friend, сŠæŠ°ŃŠøĢŠ±Š¾ (thank you), for making my job so easy. I can now just listen in on your national security calls without any problem at all, again thanks!ā€ Our idiot Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth talked about the classified plans giving dates, times, aircraft, etc. These clowns are guilty of a massive breach of national security. Even if they didnā€™t do it on purpose, to help Putin, they are guilty of being morons of the first degree. All of them once castigated Hillary saying, ā€œbut her emails!ā€

Unless Trump and Musk are stopped, this will happen again, until we totally lose our democracy, unless the courts step in, and Republicans in the Senate take their lips off of Trumpā€™s ass long enough to stand up for the Constitution. Knowing some, like Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is permanently on his knees before Trump, I wonā€™t hold my breath for the Senate as a whole, but in reality, we only need four of them to join with Democrats to stop some of what Trump and his Nazi sympathizing co-president are doing. 

Now Trump wants to take over the post office to control mailing of ballots, and has signed an Executive Order to make voting harder for millions of Americans. One bill in Congress, introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), theĀ Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE Act, could disenfranchise millions of women who have taken their husbandā€™s name after marriage and their birth certificates wonā€™t match the name they are using to vote. This is unconstitutional, but we will see if the courts, all the way to the Supreme Court, will stop this outrage. Then, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.), says he can eliminate the federal courts he doesnā€™t like, by simply defunding them. We are truly in uncharted territory.Ā 

While this is both crazy and frightening, I still have some faith things in the long run will work out. That our democracy, which survived a civil war, will survive. Clearly it will take time to rebuild our credibility around the world, and our allies may never again have the same trust in us. I havenā€™t been to Europe since Trump began his rampage and created havoc in the world, but will be going in June. I may just wear a T-shirt saying ā€œDonā€™t blame me, I hate him as much as you do.ā€ I will tell people half of our population thinks as they do, Trump has to go. It isnā€™t like he has the support of a majority of Americans, but had just enough support, from people who believed his bluster and lies, to get elected. The rest of us will continue to try to stop him, and try to reclaim our country. 

Even if we do, it will take time to rebuild the government, the trust of our allies, and even longer to rebuild our culture. To reclaim our belief in equality. Back to a time when white nationalists couldnā€™t stand in the town square proclaiming their hate, and a Nazi sympathizer couldnā€™t stand openly at the arm of our president. A time when racism, homophobia, and misogyny couldnā€™t be spouted openly in the public square. They have always existed, but once again we will not let people speak hate, without recrimination. Some think this is a pipe dream. But we have to try. I still believe if those of us who care act together, we will prevail.


Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist.

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On this Transgender Day of Visibility, we canā€™t allow this administration to erase us

All people deserve to have our experiences included in the story of this country

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The transgender Pride flag drawn near the entrance to the Stonewall National Monument in New York on March 13, 2025. The National Park Service has removed transgender-specific references from the Stonewall National Monument's website. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

By KELLAN BAKER | Since 2009, the world has observed Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) each March 31. The importance of ā€˜visibilityā€™ feels especially significant this year, not only as a trans person but for me as a researcher whose career has been centered on equity and inclusion for transgender people. My work over the past 16 years, which has focused on advancing fairness, access, and transparency in health care for gender diverse populations, could not have prepared me for the speed and cruelty at which the Trump administration has worked to literally erase transgender people from public life. Ā 

From banning transgender people from serving openly in the military, blocking access to best practice medical care, and making it all but impossible for us to obtain accurate identification documents that match our gender, the impact of these attacks will be felt for years to come. As a scientist dedicated to fostering the health and wellbeing of diverse communities, I am particularly devastated by the intentional destruction of the federal research infrastructure and statistical systems that are intended to ensure the accurate and comprehensive collection of data on the full diversity of the U.S. population.   

The importance of data cannot be understated. This makes the efforts by the federal government to remove survey questions, erase variables from key data sets, and stifle research even more alarming. By simultaneously removing access to existing datasets, removing gender (and other key measures, such as sexual orientation, race, and disability) from key surveys, terminating federal funding for research projects that include trans people, and censoring research projects at federal data centers, this administrationā€™s goal is to erase the lived experiences of trans people ā€“ with the idea that if we donā€™t exist in data and in research, the federal government can claim that we donā€™t exist at all.  

Just in the past two months, weā€™ve seen a rapid decimation of the inclusion of transgender people in federal research and their visibility in the federal statistical system.  

Data sets that included gender measures have disappeared from federal websites. Critical data sets used by federal and state policymakers, public health staff, and researchers, such as the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), were removed from the CDC website in response to a Trump executive order that made it the policy of the administration to recognize only two sexes, male and female. Although some datasets have been put back up, gender variables have been removed.  

Surveys that had asked about gender identity no longer do. Claiming that the removal of gender identity measures from key national surveys such as the American Housing Survey, Household Pulse Survey, and National Health Interview Survey were ā€œnon-substantial,ā€ the Trump administration has essentially skipped the extensive notice and public comment process that is required to make these types of changesā€”the same process that were used to add gender identity (and sexual orientation) measures.  

In addition, attempts to exclude trans people and other communities facing disparities from surveys will result in a lack of large enough sample sizes to conduct quality data analysis, while reducing any chance of analyzing racial and ethnic differences among trans people. 

Hundreds of grants supporting inclusive research have been terminated. The unprecedented move of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to terminate research grants that include transgender people is just one example of this administrationā€™s rush to eliminate funding from active scientific projects. In many cases, similar agencies are also now required to remove gender identity measures from federally supported surveys. Prominent trans health researchers have watched as their research portfolios are halted, work stopped, staff laid off, and participants left without care. 

At the Institute for Health Research & Policy at Whitman-Walker, for example, we have already had seven studies terminated, with a financial impact that exceeds $3 million. One of these cancelled grants was a multi-year, longitudinal study in partnership with the George Washington University to explore the impact of structural racism and anti-LGBTQ bias on HIV risk among young queer and trans people of color nationwide. The notices of termination for this and other awards clearly spell out the administrationā€™s disdain for groundbreaking research that seeks to understand and address health disparities related to LGBTQ populations, particularly trans people. 

Censoring research. As seen with recent changes implemented by the CDC, the censorship of gender-related terms on federal websites and scientific publications is intended to further the erasure of evidence detailing the disparities faced by LGBTQ people. 

On a day dedicated to honoring the lives and contributions of trans people, the impact that these egregious actions will ultimately have on the health and wellbeing of trans and nonbinary people is chilling. Without access to this knowledge, researchers will not be able to examine the repercussions of the harmful policies put forth by this administration and many states across the country, including bans and restrictions that negatively impact trans peopleā€™s physical and mental health, economic security, and educational outcomes. 

Although there has been an effort by non-government entities to collect and store previously collected data prior to the Trump administrationā€™s purges, state surveys, private research firms, and academics cannot fill the void left by the federal governmentā€™s decision to halt data inclusion. Ensuring that public entities and researchers can continue to use these datasets is only one piece of the puzzle being taken on by groups such as the Data Rescue Project and repositories like Data Lumos. Work also continues thanks to the efforts of the U.S. Trans Survey, the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), and the important research and analysis of both Gallup and The Pew Research Center. Yet, gaps still exist due to threats of federal funding cuts to organizations committed to safeguarding inclusive data assets in the wake of the administrationā€™s continued assault on trans rights.   

This administration suggests that removing one of the only tools available for identifying an entire population of people is a ā€œnon-substantialā€ action. This not only questions the intelligence of the American people but is a direct insult to trans folks everywhere. All people deserve to be counted and to have our experiences included in the story of this country. Transgender people have always been a part of this country, and even if our nationā€™s surveys choose to exclude us, we continue to existā€”authentically, unapologetically, and forever visible.    

Kellan Baker, Ph.D., M.P.H, M.A., is executive director of the Institute for Health Research & Policy at Whitman-Walker.

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