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Catholic adoption agency refusing to certify LGBT homes wins in court

Michigan non-profit sued after state required non-discrimination

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David Bright, Startwaune Anderson, conversion therapy, gay news, Washington Blade
A federal judge has ruled a Catholic adoption agency can refuse to certify LGBT homes.

A federal judge has in ruled in favor of a taxpayer-funded Catholic adoption agency in Michigan refusing to certify LGBT couples as qualified to take children into their homes.

U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker, a George W. Bush appointee, issued a preliminary injunction Thursday in favor of St. Vincent, a faith-based non-profit based in Lansing, Mich., concluding the state is targeting the agency for its religious beliefs.

ā€œThis case is not about whether same-sex couples can be great parents,ā€ Jonker writes. ā€œThey can. No one in the case contests that. To the contrary, St. Vincent has placed children for adoption with same-sex couples certified by the State. What this case is about is whether St. Vincent may continue to do this work and still profess and promote the traditional Catholic belief that marriage as ordained by God is for one man and one woman.ā€

The case was filed in April after a settlement was reached in a separate case filed by the American Civil Liberties Union challenging Michiganā€™s religious freedom adoption law, which allowed faith-based to turn away LGBT families seeking to adopt. Under the settlement, Michigan adoption agencies going forward were prohibited from discriminating against LGBT couples.

Shortly afterward, the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services opened an investigation into St. Vincent under allegations wasnā€™t complying with the settlementā€™s non-discrimination terms. Anticipating it would be found out of compliance, St. Vincent preemptively filed the lawsuit seeking an injunction to continue to certify families for child placement consistent with its religious beliefs.

St. Vincent made the case Michigan is violating freedom of religion and speech under the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by threatening to penalize the agency for refusing to certify LGBT families.

Jonker grants his preliminary injunction to St. Vincent on the basis that the agency has demonstrated harm imposed by the settlement and the likelihood of success in court.

ā€œSt. Vincent says it cannot in good conscience review and certify an unmarried or same-sex parental application,” Jonker writes. “St. Vincent would either have to recommend denial of all such applications, no matter how much value they could provide to foster and adoptive children; or St. Vincent would have to subordinate its religious beliefs to the state-mandated orthodoxy, even though the state is not compensating them for the review services anyway.ā€

Making the case St. Vincent isnā€™t anti-LGBT, Jonker writes St. Vincentā€™s ā€œdoes not prevent any couples, same-sex or otherwise, from fostering or adopting.ā€ The agency, Jonker writes, refers LGBT and unmarried couples seeking certify to adopt to other agencies willing to provide that endorsement.

LGBT couples, Jonker writes, can also adopt children at St. Vincent through the Michigan Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE) website, which allows all Michigan families access to all children adoption agencies (so long as they obtained certification at an agency other than St. Vincent). 

ā€œSt. Vincent has never prevented a same-sex couple from fostering or adopting a child. St. Vincent has actually placed children through the MARE system with same-sex adoptive parents,ā€ Jonker writes.  ā€œAnd St. Vincent provides parenting support groups at which same-sex parents are welcome and, in fact, attend. This is non-discriminatory conduct consistent with everything the State says it is trying to promote.ā€

Heavily cited by Jonker is the decision of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a lesbian, to no longer defend in litigation the stateā€™s religious freedom adoption signed ged by former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder.

As the law was being challenged in court during the 2018 election, Nessel campaigned on refusing to defend the law, asserting she ā€œcould not justify using the stateā€™s moneyā€ to defend ā€œa law whose only purpose is discriminatory animus.ā€ Upon winning the election, Nessel helped reached the settlement for non-discrimination in Michigan adoption agencies.

Jonker writes the record demonstrates Nessel is targeting St. Vincentā€™s for its religious beliefs, therefore strict scrutiny applies, to the state’s enforcement of the settlement.

ā€œUnder the Attorney Generalā€™s current interpretation of Michigan law and the partiesā€™ contracts, St. Vincent must choose between its traditional religious belief, and the privilege of continuing to place children with foster and adoptive parents of all types,ā€ Jonker writes.

The Washington Blade has placed a request in with the Michigan attorney generalā€™s office seeking comment on the decision.

Representing St. Vincentā€™s in the case was the Becket for Religious Liberty, which has defended groups like Hobby Lobby and Little Sisters of the Poor.

Lori Windham, a religious liberty attorney with Becket, hailed the decision on Twitter as a ā€œmajor victory for faith-based foster care and adoption in Michigan.ā€

ā€œThanks to the ruling, St. Vincent will be able to continue serving foster children in Michigan and their selfless foster families,ā€ Windham tweeted. ā€œMore than 13,000 foster kids in Michigan need help, and we need all hands on deck.ā€

Jay Kaplan, LGBT Project staff attorney of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, criticized the decision as ā€œthe individual religious beliefs of foster care agencies ahead of the welfare of children.ā€

ā€œThis will not facilitate foster and adoptive placements for children in need,ā€ Kaplan said. ā€œInstead, it will allow agencies to turn away same-sex foster parents who are able to provide supportive and loving homes for these children.ā€

Although the ruling is focused on family certification at St. Vincent, Kaplan told the Blade the decision will have broader impact on LGBT people in Michigan.

“The realityĀ is…St. Vincent will place kids in homes of families that they work with and if they have refused to work with same-sex couples, that means the kids that they are placing will not be placed in LGBT homes,” Kaplan said. “I think this ruling could be broadly interpreted because its impact on kids and their ability to get placed with LGBT parents who are able to provide them with stable, loving homes.”

Another defendant in the case is the Department of Health & Human Services, which has under the Obama administration instituted regulations prohibiting federal contractors discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. (The Trump administration has kept the regulations ā€” for now ā€” but has granted at least one waiver to states seeking exemption for faith-based adoption agencies.)

Jonkerā€™s decision also enjoins the U.S. government from enforcing its regulations to penalize St. Vincent. A Justice Department spokesperson said the administration is “reviewing the decision.”

Also in the decision, Jonker finds other named plaintiffs in the case ā€” Chad and Melissa Buck, who have adopted four siblings through St. Vincent and work at the agency, and Shamber Flore ā€” who was placed in the agency as a child before she was adopted ā€” donā€™t have standing to continue in the case.

H/t Equality Case Files

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Federal Government

Mass HHS layoffs include HIV/AIDS prevention, policy teams

Democratic states sue over cuts

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HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Tuesday began a series of mass layoffs targeting staff, departments, and whole agencies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who reportedly plans to cut a total of 10,000 jobs.

On the chopping block, according to reports this week, is the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy. A fact sheet explaining on the restructuring says “a new Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) will consolidate the OASH, HRSA, SAMHSA, ATSDR, and NIOSH, so as to more efficiently coordinate chronic care and disease prevention programs and harmonize health resources to low-income Americans.”

The document indicates that “Divisions of AHA include Primary Care, Maternal and Child Health, Mental Health, Environmental Health, HIV/AIDS, and Workforce, with support of the U.S. Surgeon General and Policy team.”

“Today, the Trump administration eliminated the staff of several CDC HIV prevention offices, including entire offices conducting public health communication campaigns, modeling and behavioral surveillance, capacity building, and non-lab research,” said a press release Tuesday by the HIV + Hepatitis Policy Institute.

The organization also noted the “reassignments” of Jonathan Mermin, director of the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, and Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Both were moved to the Indian Health Service.

ā€œIn a matter of just a couple days, we are losing our nationā€™s ability to prevent HIV,” said HIV + Hepatitis Policy Institute Executive Director Carl Schmid. “The expertise of the staff, along with their decades of leadership, has now been destroyed and cannot be replaced. We will feel the impacts of these decisions for years to come and it will certainly, sadly, translate into an increase in new HIV infections and higher medical costs.”

The group added, “We are still learning the full extent of the staff cuts and do not know how the administrationā€™s announced reorganization of HHS will impact all HIV treatment, prevention, and research programs, including President Trumpā€™s Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative,” but “At the moment, it seems that we are in the middle of a hurricane and just waiting for the next shoe to drop.”

A group of 500 HIV advocates announced a rally planned for Wednesday morning at 8 a.m., at the U.S. Capitol lawn across from the Cannon House Office Building, which aims to urge Congress to help stop the cuts at HHS.

“Over 500 advocates will rally on Capitol Hill and meet with members of Congress and Hill staff to advocate for maintaining a strong HIV response and detail the potential impact of cuts to and reorganization of HIV prevention and treatment programs,” the groups wrote.

The press release continued, “HHS has stated that it is seeking to cut 10,000 employees, among them 2,400 CDC employees, many doing critical HIV work. It also seeks to merge HIV treatment programming into a new agency raising concerns about maintaining resources for and achieving the outstanding outcomes of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program.”

On Tuesday a group of Democratic governors and attorneys general from 23 states and D.C. filed a lawsuit against HHS and Kennedy seeking a temporary restraining order and injunctive relief to halt the funding cuts.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention withdrew approximately $11.4 billion in funding for state and community health departments during the COVID-19 pandemic response, along with $1 billion to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

ā€œSlashing this funding now will reverse our progress on the opioid crisis, throw our mental health systems into chaos, and leave hospitals struggling to care for patients,ā€ New York Attorney General Letitia James said.  

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State Department

Former US envoy for global LGBTQ, intersex rights slams Trump

Former President Joe Biden appointed Jessica Stern in 2021

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Jessica Stern, the former special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights abroad, center, speaks outside the U.N. Security Council on March 20, 2023 (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Jessica Stern, the former special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights, says the work that she and her colleagues did under the Biden-Harris administration is “being systematically dismantled.”

“As the person who was responsible for leading U.S. foreign policy on LGBTQI+ issues, it’s been very difficult for the past two months to see that work being systematically dismantled,” she told the Washington Blade on March 19 during a telephone interview.

Stern was the executive director of Outright International, a global LGBTQ and intersex advocacy group, when then-President Joe Biden appointed her in June 2021.

The promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights was a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris administration’s overall foreign policy. These efforts specifically included the decriminalization of consensual same-sex sexual relations and marriage equality efforts in countries where activists said they were possible through the legislative or judicial processes.

The Trump-Vance administration’s decision to freeze most U.S. foreign aid spending for at least 90 days has had a devastating impact on the global LGBTQ and intersex rights movement. President Donald Trump’s executive order that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers has prompted Germany and several other European countries to issue travel advisories for transgender and nonbinary people who are planning to visit the U.S.

Stern said the Trump-Vance administration “has studied the anti-LGBTQI strategies of other countries and basically imported the worst ideas from around the world: The most violent, the most dehumanizing, the most targeting strategies.” Stern added these policies have emboldened Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor OrbĆ”n, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Argentine President Javier Milei and other anti-LGBTQ heads of state.

“It’s one thing when a small country that has limited global reach implements anti-LGBTQI laws and policies. It’s another thing when one of the world’s superpowers does so,” Stern told the Blade. “There’s no question that the U.S.’s regression on LGBTQI rights is actually going to accelerate backlash against LGBTQI people around the world.”

“We provide political legitimacy to those ideas, but also we’re forging new alliances and coalitions, and we’re pushing these ideas on other countries,” she added. “So, it’s not a passive action. The U.S. government currently is actively funding and disseminating anti-LGBTQI hatred around the world.”

Former State Department colleagues ‘afraid every day’

The Trump-Vance administration in a Feb. 3 statement that defended its efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development noted examples of the organization’s “waste and abuse” included $2 million for “sex changes and ‘LGBT activism'” in Guatemala and $1.5 million to “advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month said 83 percent of USAID contracts have been cancelled, and the remaining will “now be administered more effectively under the State Department.”

Rubio after the Trump-Vance administration froze nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending issued a waiver that allowed the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” programs to continue to operate.

The Blade has previouslyĀ reportedĀ PEPFAR-funded programs in Kenya, South Africa, and elsewhere have suspended services and even shut down because of a lack of U.S. funding. UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima on March 24 said 6.3 million more people around the world will die of AIDS-related complications over the next four years if the U.S. does not fully restore its foreign assistance.

Stern said her former State Department colleagues are “afraid every day.”

“They never know, ‘Am I going to be fired today?’ “Am I going to be put on administrative leave?’,” she said. “I cannot even imagine what it’s like to go to work every day.”

Stern told the Blade her former colleagues tell her that “there’s not a lot of foreign policy work happening because there’s so much disruption being caused by DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency).”

“Entire departments have been decimated,” she said, noting one of them has lost 60 people. “It’s almost inconceivable to figure out how to restructure your work when your resources have been decimated.”

Jessica Stern speaks at an LGBTQ+ Victory Institute co-organized conference in Mexico City on July 20, 2023. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Stern described herself as “an eternal optimist” when the Blade asked whether she thinks the U.S. can ever stand for LGBTQ and intersex rights abroad.

“You have to believe in human rights,” she said.

Stern said former Secretary of State Antony Blinken as “an ally on LGBTQI issues.” Stern also said many of her now former State Department colleagues thanked her and her team for their work before they left government.

“There’s so much compassion from straight and cisgendered allies, from career officials, people that are not human rights experts or specialists, people that don’t focus on the well-being of LGBTQI people, but people that care very much about the United States standing for its values, the rule of law, equality for all, and this notion that it is in our national interest to ensure that there is safety, prosperity, and well-being for people around the world,” she said.

“The situation we find ourselves in will not last forever,” added Stern. “What we have to do is figure out how to hold the line right now, and how to organize for the future.”

She stressed ways to “hold the line” include litigation, protests, letters-to-the-editor, demanding accountability from lawmakers.

“There’s so much to do,” said Stern.

Then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at a World AIDS Day event hosted by the Business Council for International Understanding on Dec. 2, 2022. (Screen capture via U.S. Department of State YouTube)

Stern is currently teaching at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and is writing about her experience as the “first-ever human rights expert to be the special U.S. envoy for LGBTQI rights.” Stern also told the Blade that she is working to launch a new organization.

“I love being an activist again,” she said. “If there was ever a time when activists are needed, it’s now.”

“I am really proud to have rejoined the resistance,” added Stern.

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National

Destination Tomorrow works to empower LGBTQ community

Sean Coleman is Black transgender man who founded group in 2009

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Destination Tomorrow CEO Sean Ebony Coleman (Photo courtesy of Hannah Weill)

Sean Ebony Coleman became the first transgender African American to own and operate an LGBTQ center with the founding of Destination Tomorrow in 2009. Subsequent centers opened up in Atlanta in 2022 and D.C. in 2024. 

Destination Tomorrow was founded on the idea that ā€œit is more helpful to empower our most vulnerable TLGBQ+ community members in a way that takes them off the path of needing emergency care.ā€

ā€œOur organization emphasizes economic, social, and mental empowerment through a variety of holistic educational, financial, support-based, housing, and health programs,ā€ Destination Tomorrow said on the organizationā€™s website.

With Transgender Day of Visibility today and WorldPride coming to D.C. this June, the Washington Blade spoke with Coleman to get some further insight into how Destination Tomorrow and other organizations are responding to the pressure the Trump-Vance administration is putting on the LGBTQ community.

BLADE: What was the overall reaction to the Trump administration and the heavy anti-LGBTQ rhetoric being pushed by the administration from Destination Tomorrow?

COLEMAN: I think the first thing was disbelief, right? You know he’s not well versed, but the embellishments about the community, particularly the trans community, were so outlandish that they became dangerous. So I think the first thing was, people actually believe this, and we have a message in problem because we’re not responding. We really missed an opportunity to message that differently. Like some of them it was so easy for us to respond and say, ā€œWe’re talking about the entire sports world when it comes to college and high schoolā€ and those kinds of things, right? We are definitely focusing on the wrong one percent.

I knew it was like collectively as a trans man, just personally, I was like ā€œokay, so how do you show up now?ā€ You’re in a position that folks expect you to at the very least have something positive to say next steps, this is what we’re gonna do, marching all this, whatever. I’m sitting with it like, no, I’m a little nervous. In the moment, most of the danger and most of the rhetoric is happening towards trans and gender nonconforming people and unfortunately, Black and brown and trans and gender nonconforming folks feel it worse when things like this happen.

BLADE: With a lot of organizations getting threats, losing funding, and everybody just being scared, has Destination Tomorrow specifically received any higher amounts of traffic to your locations, either here or other states?

COLEMAN: All three locations have seen an uptick. Funny thing a lot of them are coming in because they just want community. and we do that intake assessment. Then we say ā€œwhile we have you here, we could do all of these other things.ā€ But it’s really about them coming for community. If you know anything about us, we’re well versed in the house and ballroom community. So we put on balls. We’re planning one now. 

And the young people, particularly young trans people, are also coming in for the ball, but they also want to know. Mr. Coleman, what can we do now? What is it? They want a call to action, want to be motivated and I think we have to figure out again this one message of where weā€™re going to go. Whether it is New York, Atlanta, and D.C., Destination Tomorrow is then going through all of the other trans into the nonconforming organizations. Speaking in one voice and figuring out what movement building looks like for us in this moment and we think that young people should drive it.

Particularly in New York and D.C. will receive some additional resources because we want to be able to address those folks that are going to come in. We want to make sure (to have enough) staff, (increase) our hours. We increase our security and our security presence because that was something that we were concerned about, even if it’s just an in person meeting that we’ve been doing for the last five years, because how do we keep those meetings and that meeting space and our identity safe?

BLADE: Do you feel like given the recent federal government layoffs and this whole Trump takeover of Washington, like, do you think D.C. is prepared or safe enough to start implementing those things that you want to try and get done?

COLEMAN: Yes. I think once weā€™ve taken a moment to step back and assess the situation, we will be able to come out stronger with the initiative that is going to be most important and most impactful for our community, but I think it is going to take some collaborative effort. I don’t think one agency is gonna be able to do it. I think this is a time for collaboration and allies. um, and not in that order. Right? But D.C. is definitely a safe place for LGBT community members worldwide.

It’s gonna be an amazing time. We’re gonna get an opportunity to show how resilient our community is, how much love we still receive. If you look at some things on social media, it’ll seem like everyone’s demonizing the trans and general nonconforming community and that’s not necessarily the case, right? ā€©I think we get sucked into this vacuum with social media and I think once you log off and you actually go outside, you recognize exactly how much support you have from your community. And I think that ties back into our messages. Weā€™re not going to stand around sad and defeated. Weā€™re going to show up, have a good time with WorldPride.

I also see it as an excellent opportunity to strategically put some plans in place. While we have you here, and we’re celebrating, we’re partying, but here is what our next steps will be. We have at least two or three next steps that collectively, you can go back down and all of us a picture goes saying two or three things. Say the same things, stay on message and I think World Pride will be an excellent opportunity to do so.

Along with the comments on TDOV and WorldPride, Coleman also spoke about the current state of LGBTQ politics.

ā€œWhat’s so unfortunate for me is that we lean into our allies, right? Now is the time for our allies to take a look around the room and say ā€œOh wait. This person is missing [in the conversation], we should not be speaking on behalf of Black and brown people,ā€ he told the Blade. ā€œI specifically say Black and brown trans people. [Allies] shouldnā€™t be speaking on behalf of them because I know a few that can actually come here and speak on their own behalf and unfortunately it doesn’t happen. I think it’s because it’s tied into the losing funding across the board. So those LGB organizations are gonna feel that loss. And at some point they may feel like they have to step in and fill a void that they don’t necessarily have to because we’re here.ā€

Specifically in New York, Coleman has been looking toward the local government to help Destination Tomorrow and other organizations stay protected and operational during times like these. 

ā€œTrans, gender nonconforming and LGB issues go across different issues. Whether we’re talking about housing, criminal justice reform, or reproductive rights. We should be included in those discussions, and we should be included in those funding opportunities,ā€ said Coleman. ā€œAnd I think this gives us an opportunity to show that Destination Tomorrow has a program called Pride at Work. to the workforce development program, where we’re pitching it in D.C. and we’re actually in our third year of doing it in New York City. That’s an example of how workforce development should be for all of us, right?ā€

ā€œSo a lot of the work we’ve done in the last couple of months is really meeting with all our elected officials and saying, ‘This is the message that weā€™d like you to push. This is what we want to say, this is how we feel. Because you are not saying it, it feels like you left us behind. This is where you are missing the mark and it is up to you to fix it,ā€™ā€ he added.

A discussion for New York mayoral candidates took place later that evening. One of the things that Coleman wanted to heavily iterate to the candidates was that ā€œat the end of the day, weā€™re paying attention now. We may not have been as politically engaged as we should have been, but we are now.ā€

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