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The President and First Lady deliver remarks at HRC National Dinner

Congressional Republicans are trying to roll back progress, the president said.

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President Joe Biden speaks at the Human Rights Campaign National Dinner on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden addressed attendees at the Human Rights Campaign National Dinner on Saturday with prepared remarks about the struggle for equality for LGBTQ people in the U.S. and around the world.

“Extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress are trying to undo virtually every bit of progress we’ve made — trying to wipe out federal funding to end the HIV epidemic, strip funding for community venters for seniors, reinstate the ban on transgender troops, ban the Department of Justice from enforcing civil rights laws, ban Pride flags from flying on public land,” the president said.

These lawmakers are trying to interfere with “the right to make your own healthcare decisions, the right to raise your own children,” he said, adding, “I’m never going to stand by and watch families terrorized, doctors and nurses criminalized, or any child targeted for who they are.”

The president relayed that a 13-year-old trans teen wrote to him, sharing how painful it was to see anti-trans legislative activity on the news. A parent wrote to him too, he said, explaining, “I despair for families like mine who have already become refugees inside our own nation” amid the spate of anti-LGBTQ laws.

The president’s remarks also touched on the 25th anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard, which came on Thursday, in an anti-gay hate crime, as well as the terrorist attacks against Israel last weekend.

“Silence is complicity,” the president said, echoing comments he made during a roundtable on anti-semitism on Thursday. Anti-semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, and transphobia “are all related,” he said, and hate never goes away — it only hides.

The president highlighted his record advancing LGBTQ rights, from the historic number of LGBTQ appointees serving in the Biden-Harris administration to signage of the Respect for Marriage Act last year to rescinding “the outdated policy of banning gay and bisexual men from donating blood — leading with science, not stigma.”

“Thank you for your courage, thank you for your hope, and thank you for your pride,” the president said. “You’re loved and you’re heard and you’re understood and you belong.”

Taking the stage before the president was First Lady Jill Biden, who told the crowd “I’m so proud that this community has made D.C. such a welcoming home to LGBTQ+ people — from where we came, when outing was used as a political weapon” to now, when “we can celebrate without fear or shame.”

However, the first lady said, “In too many other parts of our country, these rights and freedoms are under attack across the country in places like Texas and Florida and Alabama. LGBTQ individuals don’t have the freedom to be honest with their family, or race, or gender identity at work,” she said.

“So while we celebrate this beautiful community tonight, let’s also remember how lucky we are and harden our resolve to advocate for those who are not.”

President Biden and the First Lady Deliver Remarks at the 2023 Human Rights Campaign National Dinner:

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LGBTQ Non-Profit Organizations

Evan Low named next LGBTQ+ Victory Fund president

Former Calif. lawmaker to succeed Annise Parker

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Evan Low (Screen capture: YouTube)

The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund and LGBTQ+ Victory Institute have named gay former California state Rep. Evan Low to serve as its next president and CEO, the groups announced on Tuesday.

ā€œToday, we face an existential crisis,” he said. “The LGBTQ+ community, along with other historically excluded communities, are being systematically legislated out of existence.”

He added, ā€œI am committed to ensuring our voices are not just included, but impossible to ignoreā€”and represented at the highest levels of office.ā€

Low will succeed former Houston Mayor Annise Parker, who announced in February 2024 that she would step down after leading the organizations since 2017.

The Victory Fund works to increase the number of LGBTQ elected officials serving in all levels of government and “has helped thousands of LGBTQ+ candidates win local, state, and federal elections.” The Victory Institute works to ensure “the success of our LGBTQ+ elected and appointed officials at all levels of government.”

Before his election to the California State Assembly, where he served from 2014-2024, Low was the first Asian American to serve on the Campbell City Council, going on to lead the city as the country’s youngest openly LGBTQ mayor.

In the state legislature, Low “led groundbreaking efforts in marriage equality, LGBTQ+ rights, and economic opportunity,” the Victory Fund said in a press release.

“His leadership and service have been widely recognized, earning him multiple ‘Legislator of the Year’ honors and a proclamation of ‘Evan Low Day’ from then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.”

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LGBTQ Non-Profit Organizations

Blade to cover Creating Change conference in Las Vegas

National LGBTQ Task Force convenes movement leaders at a pivotal moment

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National LGBTQ Task Force staff and volunteers prepare registration bags (Photo courtesy of the National LGBTQ Task Force)

The Washington Blade will be in Las Vegas this week to cover the National LGBTQ Task Force’s flagship annual Creating Change conference, Jan. 21-26, where movement leaders will convene at a pivotal moment for LGBTQ rights.

More than 3,000 are registered to attend, nearly a third of whom identify as transgender or gender nonconforming, and more than half as people of color. A livestream of the plenary sessions is available here.

This year’s conference comes days after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, along with his administration’s issuance of executive orders targeting immigration and LGBTQ rights, together with the revocation of his predecessor’s executive actions that established and clarified rights and protections for these and other marginalized communities.

For instance, Trump on Monday signed an order to direct the federal government to recognize only two genders, based on birth sex, which will likely mean that U.S. citizens will no longer be able to select the “X” gender marker for their passports and official documents, though the U.S. State Department has not provided clarity on how that will be enforced.

In recognition of the shifting legal and regulatory landscape ā€” and the need for immigrant and trans or gender nonconforming communities to understand and prepare for changes in the coming weeks and months ā€” the Task Force this year has organized sessions like “Protecting Your Rights: Navigating Legal Systems” with attorneys from the Transgender Law Center, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Oasis Legal Services.

Along with covering breaking news from sessions during the four-day program, the Blade will be talking with experts for stories focused on the backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, the Trump administration’s expected ban on military service by trans people, insights into how major LGBTQ advocacy organizations are preparing to push back against actions by this White House and congressional Republicans, and more.

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LGBTQ Non-Profit Organizations

Gov. Tim Walz to headline HRC National Dinner

Tickets still available for event on Saturday

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Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) speaks at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Wednesday, August 21. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Minnesota governor and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz will be the keynote speaker at the Human Rights Campaign National Dinner on Saturday, the organization announced on X.

Tickets are still available for the event. HRC is also hosting an Equality Convention this week, “a destination for trailblazers in politics, culture, and business who are igniting change and driving LGBTQ+ equality forward.”

When Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic 2024 presidential nominee, announced Walz as her running mate on Aug. 6, HRC President Kelley Robinson said her pick “sends a message that a Harris-Walz Administration will be committed to advancing equality and justice for all.”

The group wrote in a press release: “Governor Walz is a career-long champion for LGBTQ+ people. In 1999, as a history teacher and football coach, Walz sponsored the schoolā€™s first gay straight alliance student group.

“He opposed efforts to ban same-sex marriage in the Minnesota Constitution. While serving in Congress, he co-sponsored legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), voted to repeal the discriminatory ‘Donā€™t Ask, Donā€™t Tell’ law, voted for the Matthew Shepard/James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and introduced legislation to protect LGBTQ+ service members from discrimination in benefits.

“As Governor, Tim Walz signed an Executive Order banning the dangerous practice of ‘conversion therapy’ in Minnesota.”

HRC in May pledged $15 million to organize in key battleground states for the Democratic ticket. Just days after President Joe Biden stepped out of the race and backed Harris as the presumptive nominee, the group raised more than $300,000 for her campaign in a virtual fundraiser.

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