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Puerto Rico governor under pressure to resign over homophobic, misogynistic comments

Ricardo Rosselló among officials in group chat made public

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Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, center, talks about bills that would have banned so-called conversion therapy and protect religious freedom in the U.S. commonwealth during a press conference at his official residence in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on April 23, 2019. Rosselló is under pressure to resign after a private group chat in which he made homophobic and misogynistic comments became public. (Photo courtesy of Adlyn Torres/La Fortaleza)

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló is under growing pressure to resign after homophobic and misogynistic comments he made in a private group chat became public.

The Center for Investigative Journalism in Puerto Rico on Saturday published 889 pages of messages that Rosselló and several members of his administration sent to each other on the messaging app Telegram.

El Nuevo Día, a Puerto Rican newspaper, reported Rosselló on Dec. 31, 2018, described Benjamín Torres Gotay, a Puerto Rican journalist, as a “cocksucker” in response to his tweet about ferries between the islands of Vieques and Culebra and mainland Puerto Rico. El Nuevo Día also reported Rosselló on Dec. 28, 2018, used the same word to describe former Puerto Rico Senate President Eduardo Bhatia.

Puerto Rico CFO Christian Sobrino in a Jan. 2 message wrote “nothing says patriarchal oppression like Ricky Martin.” Sobrino added the openly gay Puerto Rican singer “is such a male chauvinist that he fucks men because women don’t measure up.”

The chat also contain derogatory comments against San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, a vocal champion of LGBT rights who is running for governor. Rosselló also described former New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who was born in Puerto Rico, as a “whore” when she criticized Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Pérez’s support of statehood for the U.S. commonwealth.

The Orlando Sentinel reported there are also messages that mock David Begnaud, a CBS News reporter who received widespread praise for his extensive coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Maria that devastated Puerto Rico in 2017.

Begnaud came out publicly as gay in June 2018.

Rosselló on Saturday in a statement said Sobrino, who represented him on a federal control board that oversees the island’s finances, and Puerto Rico Secretary of State Luis G. Rivera Marín resigned. Rosselló also said he would ask other members of his administration who participated in the chat to step down.

Protesters over the weekend gathered outside Rosselló’s official residence in San Juan and demanded he resign.

Rosselló on Sunday in a statement said he will not step down. Begnaud reported members of the New Progressive Party, a pro-statehood party that Rosselló chairs, in the Puerto Rico House of Representatives opted not to ask the governor to resign “at the moment.”

“Despite the internal and external difficulties that we may have, the work will continue and the agenda will be completed in all areas,” said Rosselló in his statement.

The Center for Investigative Journalism published the full tranche of messages four days after federal authorities indicted former Puerto Rico Education Secretary Julia Keleher and five others on corruption charges. Rosselló returned to the U.S. commonwealth from France where he was on vacationing with his family.

“A governor or representative of a country should never talk or tweet like our governor,” Wilfred Labiosa, executive director of Waves Ahead and SAGE Puerto Rico, told the Washington Blade on Sunday. “He is a misogynist, homophobic, sexist, ageist pig who can’t accept he is not fit to be governor. He needs to resign.”

Pedro Julio Serrano, founder of Puerto Rico Para Tod@s, another Puerto Rico LGBT advocacy group, and Martin are among those who have also called for Rosselló to resign.

“It is shameful and unacceptable and cannot be resolved with an apology,” tweeted Martin on Saturday. “This is not the governor who we need,” he added. “This is not the Puerto Rico that our grandparents and parents built and much less the one that we want to leave for our children.”

Rosselló took office in 2017.

His administration in February issued guidelines designed to make Puerto Rico’s public employees more sensitive to the needs of transgender people and same-sex couples and their children.

Members of the New Progressive Party in the Puerto Rico House on March 18 blocked a vote on a bill that would have banned conversion therapy for minors on the island. Rosselló less than two weeks later signed an executive order that prohibits the widely discredited practice in the U.S. commonwealth.

Rosselló in April announced the introduction of two bills that would have banned so-called conversion therapy with exemptions for religious institutions and clergy and sought to “clarify certain religious freedom principles.” Rosselló last month asked lawmakers to withdraw them amid sharp criticism from LGBT activists who argued they would have allowed discrimination.

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U.S. Federal Courts

Federal judge blocks Trump passport executive order

State Department can no longer issue travel documents with ‘X’ gender markers

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(Bigstock photo)

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.”

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State Department

HIV/AIDS activists protest at State Department, demand full PEPFAR funding restoration

Black coffins placed in front of Harry S. Truman Building

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HIV/AIDS activists place black Styrofoam coffins in front of the State Department on April 17, 2025. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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.

Health GAP Executive Director Asia Russell, center, speaks in front of the State Department on April 17, 2025. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
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U.S. Military/Pentagon

Pentagon urged to reverse Naval Academy book ban

Hundreds of titles discussing race, gender, and sexuality pulled from library shelves

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U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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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