National
Trans community tries to heal after Caitlyn Jenner controversy
Laverne Cox honors Jazzmun Crayton at Eleganza Saturday night =


Jazzmun Nichcala Crayton (Photo courtesy Crayton’s Facebook page)
Meeting face to face was decidedly different from flame throwing on social media.
As about 50 people crowded into the emergency trans community meeting at St. John’s Well Child & Family Center on Friday night, anticipation was high: would sparring leaders bash each other in person or respect “Mother Karina” enough to settle down, really listen to each other, and try to heal from hurt before celebrating everyone’s shero—Jazzmun Nichcala Crayton. Trans super star Laverne Cox is presenting the actress, activist, model, and spiritual leader with the Marsha P. Johnson Trailblazer Award Saturday night at the TransNation Eleganza gala at The Cicada Club.
“Despite all the issues and obstacles Hollywood has historically presented, Jazzmun – a trailblazer herself – is grateful for the transgender talent that has come before her. Following the passings of Holly Woodlawn, Lady Chablis, and Alexis Arquette, Jazzmun honors trans pioneers and legends: ‘They opened doors and kept doors open so that the rest of us can continue to walk through them. They did their job and did it so well that it allowed people to start thinking about us, putting us on their radar. They did it so well that they brought a joy, dignity and pride to being a person of trans experience,’”
Addison Rose Vincent wrote about Jazzmun on HuffPost.
But the strife around this year’s TransNation Film Festival—a benefit for the unique and critical free transgender healthcare program at St. John’s Well Child & Family Center in South Los Angeles—was so intense, Karina Samala, a highly regarded trans activist for more than 20 years, called a community meeting to air grievances and initiate healing with riKu Matsuda, who works for the LA County Human Relations Commission, serving as facilitator.
Matsuda established rules that all agreed to abide by, including no cell phones, no recordings or video and no identified direct quotes to the press or on social media. The exception was Jim Mangia who could speak briefly and in general terms as the out CEO of St. John’s. Therefore, this story has been constructed from pre-community meeting interviews, transcripts or citation from public utterances on Facebook and background conversations with participants.
The LA transgender community is not monolithic. As with other minority communities, there is infighting prompted by political differences, intrigue, gossip, racism, classism, ageism and all the other “isms” that plague the larger society. And as the play and film “Boys in the Band” documented so well, sometimes the attacks can be vicious and soul-wounding. But unlike past battles, deep-claw fighting on social media in the era of Donald Trump can spread and generate more chaos, misunderstanding and retaliation than ever before. These cuts, often posted on Facebook in the heat of an argument, can cut to the bone and leave a festering infection.
That’s what happened after the TransNation production team selected Caitlyn Jenner for an honor alongside Jazzman. Jenner had given two checks from her foundation totaling $50,000 to St. John’s transgender program and had served as a judge for the Eleganza beauty pageant last year, without incident, though there were scattered boos when her name was announced.
Jenner came out as a Trump-supporting Republican during her Reality TV show, “I Am Cait,” but it was clear she was clueless about what Trump’s politics actually meant and was stubbornly certain she could help. It was often agonizing to watch the brilliant Jennifer Boylan and “trans diva” Chandi Moore try to educate Jenner about the real ways of the world for trans folk, when money can’t buy you love.

Caitlyn Jenner.
The heat was really on after Trump surprisingly won the election and Jenner stuck with the MAGA hat, though she continued to evolve, learn about and contribute to the LGBT community, many of whom viewed her as an unwelcome rich Trump lackey. Even after Jenner blasted Trump for his shocking ban on trans military servicemembers, many in the trans community remained upset with her for allowing the media to portray her as one of the two “biggest voices in the transgender community.” The other was Laverne Cox.
The trans community felt that made Eleganza the Caitlyn Jenner show, highlighting her rather than Jazzmun, TransLatina Coalition founder Bamby Salcedo says. “She would steal the show. We didn’t want that,” especially since the community didn’t recognize her as a voice for the community. “The media made her into that.”
Additionally, Salcedo says, the decision to honor Jenner didn’t come from the trans staff. “Their voice was not counted.”
Salcedo also pointed out another issue—classism. She needs to be a part of the community, to come down from her millionaire status and home in Malibu to meet with ordinary trans people, without a camera and entourage, which are intimidating,” Salcedo says. But that is not in line with Jenner’s politics. “She supports a party whose main purpose is to continue to demonize us and keep people like us in the margins.”

Queen Victoria Ortega and Diana Oliva (Photo by Karen Ocamb)
Diana Feliz Oliva, the Transgender Health Program Manager, explained that she was away at the US Conference on AIDS in Washington DC that early September when the TransNation Planning Committee apparently thought it was a good idea to honor Jenner’s foundation. Program staff member Queen Victoria Ortega, a longtime community activist, was also not involved in the decision-making because she was at the clinic. So Olivia relied on feedback from the meetings, after which she brought it to her trans staff of eight.
“As you can imagine, I was a little bit shocked,” Olivia says of finding out about the decision made in her absence. She says she was also confused since they had already agreed upon Jazzmun for trailblazing advocacy in the community. And they wanted to keep the event small so people could socialize and dance. But since it was the only foundation supporting the program and the decision had been made, she spoke up but didn’t protest.
Jenner had previously visited the clinic with the Arcus Foundation and met the staff, who told her how the program was saving and improving lives. Jenner couldn’t believe more people didn’t know about the work and on the spot contributed a check for $25,000. The staff concluded she was nice but a “baby trans” who could be educated.
“They were all about forgiveness and solidarity,” especially for someone who had never experienced being an outcast,” says Olivia “They believe in redemption and forgiveness.”
Indeed, the trans program has been an oasis in the hostile desert of persistent transphobia. The program started after Karina Samala suggested to Masen Davis, then executive director of the Transgender Law Center, that he meet with Jim Mangia, who Samala has known through many years serving on the Imperial Court. The Transgender Law Center had a statewide grant to provide training for staff at Federally Qualified Health Centers but no one wanted to participate. Mangia did. With help from a transgender advisory council, he hired and integrated trans staff in all departments, educated all employees and clients, including producing and hanging placards on office walls saying “Welcome our transgender clients.” In 2014, he started a specific comprehensive medical, dental and pharmacy transgender health program—including free hormone shots, advocacy, referrals for gender confirming surgeries, and support programs.
In 2015, Mangia recruited Oliva from Fresno to run the program. Oliva says she accepted because Mangia ran St John’s with a social justice framework. Using her Masters in Social Work from Columbia University, Oliva professionalized the program and over two and a half years, expanded the client base from 300 to 2,000. “That is not a feat you do alone,” she says, applauding Queen Victoria Ortega, with 20 years of experience, as her “rock” and right hand, as well as her staff.
Some community members were outraged to learn that Jenner was being honored. They were already unhappy with the selection of the new David France documentary on the life of Marsha P. Johnson for the TransNation Film Festival. Transgender activist, filmmaker and writer Reina Gossett had accused France in Teen Vogue of stealing her work, her years of research on Johnson for a film that debuted on Netflix while she was “borrowing money to pay rent.” They didn’t buy France’s explanation on Facebook that “Nothing in the film’s concept, research or execution came from anyone outside of this process or our immediate team.”
Trans media activist Ashlee Marie Preston, who had already publicly challenged Jenner, calling her a humanitarian “fraud,” took the lead, posting a petition on Change.org. “The LGBTQ community has given Caitlyn Jenner SEVERAL attempts to right her wrongs, but her cognitive dissonance and stubborn arrogance have prevented her from formally apologizing to us and vowing to do better,” the petition said. “Therefore; we (Trans Liberation Now) ask that St. John’s Well Child & Family Center rescind their award/honor on 10/21/17. Failure to meet that demand will result in a demonstration at the Eleganza Gala.
Preston collected more than 2,000 signatures on the petition. The St. John’s staff met with Jenner, after which Jenner said she declined the honor in the “spirit of unity and love.” She added: “Trans people understand what it’s like to be judged for who we are, and defined by a world that doesn’t understand us, so let’s present a united front in support of St. John’s Trans Health Program. I am with you, and I am here to help.”
The staff issued a statement acknowledging their mistake.
“For us, it has always been about the patients who we serve. We have managed to focus on the human impact over politics. But, in today’s political climate, we realize that it is increasingly difficult to separate the two– especially because transgender lives are at risk every day under this new administration. This reality has renewed our commitment to work to create positive change and bring members of our community together to heal. That begins with listening to our brothers and sisters,” the statement reads in part.
But in the meantime, Preston went on a tear on her Facebook page, not only ripping Jenner and St John’s for honoring her—but calling out issues in the LGB and trans community, as well.
“If we’re ever going to make progress, it’s important that we learn how to sit in the inconvenience of uncomfortabilty. What we’re recognizing is that although we’re having difficult conversations, they’re conversations that need to be had because we can’t heal what we don’t reveal,” she said on Oct. 16.
“Here’s what my problem is: while we’re trying to pick up the pieces to all of this mayhem, the decisions are being made by people outside of our community, typically – some of the management and typical cis-gender white people in organizations that aren’t really aware of the consequences and ramifications for the decisions that they make,” she said.
“I deeply, deeply, deeply implore that Jim and management at St. Johns really be intentional about how they’re serving people of color and the trans community at large. Because one of the things many of us know in the community but people don’t want to say is that St. John’s was supposed to be that knight in shining armor coming in on a white horse. That was supposed to be the antithesis to some of the things, to be honest, the Gay and Lesbian Center had become. There were many community members that felt that communities of color and trans people and gender non-conforming people and the elderly—that there were people that were being overlooked because the Center does so much amazing work, but there is just not enough manpower at times. And so St. John’s was going to be somewhat of the antithesis of that – that was going to prioritize us and put us first and that was going to consider the disproportionate realities that many of us live and take a closer look and examine some of those disparities that we face.”
And then Preston shifts. “I feel like many of us who’ve been doing the work for years, we’re getting a little tired. And we’re getting a little weary. And we’re getting a little complacent,” she said. “And we’re taking short cuts that are ultimately undoing the work that all of our ancestors did before us. Because it’s a lot easier to just submit to the crack of the whip and do what massa says for those funding dollars than it is to be intentional and firm and very compliant with our mission…. (W)e continue as trans people to sometimes kind of bite our tongues because many of us who work in the non-profit industry are only one paycheck away from being in the same position as the demographic that we serve.”
Increasingly, Preston steps over the understood boundaries of protest.

Ashlee Marie Preston on Facebook (screen grab)
On Oct. 18, having secured the withdrawal of the honor for Jenner, Preston shocks the community with her reaction to the call for a community meeting to air out grieves, heal and move on.
“Now, make sure your wigs are fashioned bitch. I’m about to go all the way in,” Preston says with a smug smile. “I love Karina Samala. She’s done a lot of amazing work for the community throughout the years. She’s been really instrumental in raising funds through the Imperial Court, her pageant system that she’s created before. She’s served on several boards. I mean she’s really done a lot. However, I think it’s very disrespectful that Jim and anyone else at St. John’s upper management who are typically white cis people who are not really interested in the voice and the dialogue coming from the community as much as they are trying to hush us and silence us and censor us just like what happened when TransNation Film Festival took the comments section off of the page because community started to bring forward backlash. And so other people like their sponsors like HBO and all these other people didn’t see it. They just completely took it off.
“I think there’s a lot of us in the community that are complicit as fuck. Complicit, complicit, complicit, complicit, complicit. And I know that Mother Karina, as I call her and many of us call her – I know she means well – but stop letting massa send you out to the field to give us messages. If massa wants us to work harder, or do whatever, make massa bring his motha-fuckin’ ass out into the field and tell us his self. There is no reason why Jim continues to send house slaves out to the field to give us messages and try to reconstruct our thoughts and how we feel and what we think and to get us to inevitably do what he wants us to do. It’s very simple and we made it very clear for St. John’s Well Child and Family Center. You either rescind or we descend. Period. Point blank.”
Queen Victoria Ortega explains that the trans community is a microcosm of what’s happening in America today with the outside world tearing itself apart. It’s important to push leaders forward, to evolve,” she says, especially in terms of valuing an individual’s worth based on experience rather than a degree. “But at some point, we have to figure out how to work together. We have to develop rules of engagement…and at the end of the day, we have to have the intention to help other trans folks. How do we proceed forward,” when trans folks don’t have the leverage to make systematic change?
She says the trans community also must deal with its own issues of intersectionality and suggests the fight between Preston and the trans Latina leadership at St. John’s may be akin to the fight between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr when they presented two different ways of approaching black civil rights and liberation. “It’s upon us. We are accountable to the larger expectations of our community.”
And that’s perhaps why the roughly 50 people stayed in the trans community meeting trying to work things out. It was raw. Hurt feelings were expressed, some soothed. Preston both apologized for and justified her “massa” remarks. Mangia stayed for the entire four hours, apologizing again, explaining his weight of responsibility for the $75 million organization that provides free or low cost healthcare to uninsured, undocumented and 100,000 who live below the poverty level. Additionally, St. Johns has sued the Trump administration three times over their killing of Obamacare.
But while Mangia expressed his commitment to the trans community, he didn’t share why that commitment comes from his soul. Marsha P. Johnson was not only a friend, but essentially saved him at a critical time in his life.
When Mangia came out in the 1980s, his family was upset and he left. “Marsha P. Johnson gave me place to stay while got on my feet,” he says. Additionally, they marched together in every Gay Pride march and or years the drag queens and trans folk marched in front. But one year, they forced the drag queens to go to the back. Mangia was going to protest but Johnson told him to get round up the 300 or so people from the gay and lesbian caucus he headed and they all went to the back. But as the last contingent, Johnson, fabulous in her gold lame dress and hat, invited all the parade watchers on the sidewalk to join them. By the time they reached Christopher Street, the crowd has swelled to 10,000.
“You should have seen the faces of those white boys! It was more people than they’d ever seen before,” says Mangia. “I will always be grateful to her. She taught me how to be gay and gave me shelter and solace when I came out.”
For his official quote, Mangia says: “I was so honored to be a part of this dialogue which was the first step in healing the hurt and divisions which recently occurred in the trans community. I sincerely apologized and continue to, for any part I or St. John’s played in that controversy. I am so proud of our trans staff and our transgender health program and in the fact that St. John’s built this program. And we will eagerly and aggressively continue to participate in this dialogue. We are in this space because of our love for the trans community. And we look forward to coming together tonight at Eleganza, along with Laverne Cox and so many trans leaders, to honor a true trans hero, Jazzmun Clayton, and celebrate the power and passion of the transgender community.”
Karina Samala says she intends to hold more trans community meetings at St. John’s in the future. And they are open to the public.
Jim Mangia at Eleganza, 2016:
National
Military families challenge Trump ban on trans healthcare
Three military families are suing over Trump’s directive cutting transgender healthcare from military coverage

Three military families sued the Department of Defense on Monday after President Trump’s anti-transgender policies barred their transgender adolescent and adult children from accessing essential gender-affirming medical care.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, challenges the legality of the Trump administration’s decision to ban coverage of any transgender-related medical care under Department of Defense health insurance plans.
Under the new directive, military clinics and hospitals are prohibited from providing continuing care to transgender adolescent and adult children. It also prevents TRICARE, the military’s health insurance program, from covering the costs of gender-affirming care for both transgender youth and young adults, regardless of where that care is received.
A press release from the families’ attorney explained that the plaintiffs are proceeding under pseudonyms to protect their safety and privacy. They are represented by GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law), the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP, and Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP.
“This is a sweeping reversal of military health policy and a betrayal of military families who have sacrificed for our country,” said Sarah Austin, Staff Attorney at GLAD Law. “When a servicemember is deployed and focused on the mission they deserve to know their family is taken care of. This Administration has backtracked on that core promise and put servicemembers at risk of losing access to health care their children desperately need.”
“President Trump has illegally overstepped his authority by abruptly cutting off necessary medical care for military families,” said Shannon Minter, Legal Director at NCLR. “This lawless directive is part of a dangerous pattern of this administration ignoring legal requirements and abandoning our servicemembers.”
“President Trump’s Executive Order blocks military hospitals from giving transgender youth the care their doctors deem necessary and their parents have approved,” said Sharif Jacob, partner at Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP. “Today we filed a lawsuit to put an end to his order, and the agency guidance implementing it.”
“This administration is unlawfully targeting military families by denying essential care to their transgender children,” said Liam Brown, an associate with Keker, Van Nest & Peters. “We will not stand by while those who serve are stripped of the ability to care for their families.”
National
Supreme Court sides with transgender boy in bathroom access fight
Plaintiff challenging SC law

On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a transgender boy may use the boy’s bathroom in a South Carolina public high school while pursuing a challenge to a state law that requires students to use the bathrooms corresponding to their sex assigned at birth.
The order, which was unsigned by any of the justices, did not provide reasons for the court’s decision, but made clear that it applied only to the one student in this case. The order specifically stated that it was “not a ruling on the merits of the legal issues presented in the litigation” and was instead “based on the standards applicable for obtaining emergency relief.”
It should be noted that Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr., and Neil M. Gorsuch filed dissents to the order, though they did not provide any explanation for their opposition.
This is not the first time the highest court in the nation has addressed trans rights in the country.
In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County that federal law prohibits anti-trans discrimination in employment. Despite this significant victory for trans rights, in June the court upheld a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming medical care for trans minors in U.S. v. Skrmetti. That ruling, which suggested the court could be used to remove protections for trans people, has contributed to increased scrutiny and the reconsideration of previous rulings favorable to trans rights, placing broader LGBTQ protections at risk.
The recent order comes as the Supreme Court prepares to hear two cases involving trans athletes and their rights to participate in sports under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in educational programs and activities that receive federal funding. Advocates for trans rights have expressed concern that these upcoming cases could further challenge the legal landscape surrounding gender identity in schools and other public institutions.
National
Trump to honor Charlie Kirk with Medal of Freedom
Anti-LGBTQ political activist assassinated in Utah on Wednesday

At a Sept. 11 remembrance ceremony at the Pentagon on Thursday, President Donald Trump announced that he will award right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Kirk was assassinated less than 24 hours earlier at Utah Valley University while speaking on conservative talking points to a crowd.
The 31-year-old conservative commentator is best known for founding Turning Point USA, a nonprofit that sought to build a robust conservative youth movement. He earned notoriety for his unwavering loyalty to Trump, his advocacy of expansive Second Amendment rights, and his opposition to LGBTQ rights. Conservatives and far-right supporters have quickly elevated Kirk to martyr status since his death.
“Before we begin, let me express the horror and grief so many Americans feel at the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk,” Trump said. “Charlie was a giant of his generation, a champion of liberty, and an inspiration to millions and millions of people.”
As of now, there is no indication when the award ceremony will take place, although Trump said “I can only guarantee you one thing, that we will have a very big crowd.”
Many credit Kirk with helping Trump return to the White House in 2024 by mobilizing young voters — particularly young men — on behalf of the twice-impeached president.
Kirk’s stance against LGBTQ rights was a central part of his political brand.
A staunch opponent of Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark Supreme Court ruling requiring states to recognize same-sex marriage, Kirk often used incendiary rhetoric, at times calling for the erosion of LGBTQ rights altogether.
As host of “The Charlie Kirk Show” on the Salem Radio Network, he frequently denounced transgender participation in sports, referring to trans people and their supporters as “sick.” He also suggested they should be “taken care of like how things in the 1950s and 60s” were — an allusion many critics interpreted as a reference to lobotomies, shock therapy, and forced institutionalization.
Kirk often framed his views through the lens of “Christian values.”
On his YouTube channel, he invoked biblical passages, at one point citing Leviticus 20:13 to claim that the Bible’s call for the stoning of gay men reflected “God’s perfect law.”
The Washington Blade contacted several LGBTQ advocacy organizations for comment on Trump’s decision to posthumously honor Kirk, a man widely criticized for his hostility toward the LGBTQ community. Many focused instead on condemning the violence that ended his life.
“Political violence is unacceptable and has no place in this country,” said Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, in an emailed statement. “We cannot ever accept this epidemic of gun violence as normal. We cannot keep living like this.”
Kristen Browde, president of the Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus, which has 21 chapters across the state, making it one of the largest LGBTQ caucuses in the nation, echoed those sentiments while pointing to the consequences of Kirk’s rhetoric.
“Political violence, for any reason, is wrong. Gun violence, for any reason, is wrong. Spending your life, inciting violence, demonizing political opponents? Attacking those who are different? Every bit as wrong. And when violence follows such actions? One can’t be shocked. All you can do is recommit yourself to fight against it.”
According to videos — and witnesses at Utah Valley University, Kirk was shot seconds after beginning to answer a question about how many”transgender” people were responsible for “mass shootings,” where he answered “too many.”
As of Thursday evening, Kirk’s killer remained at large. The FBI has identified a person of interest in its investigation and is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
Utah
Charlie Kirk shot to death at Utah university
Anti-LGBTQ figure asked about trans shooters moments earlier

Charlie Kirk, a right-wing political activist, outspoken anti-LGBTQ figure, and founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative nonprofit, was shot and killed at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah on Wednesday.
The 31-year-old was visiting the university’s Turning Point USA chapter and speaking to a large outdoor audience when he was struck in the neck by a single bullet fired from about 200 yards away. NBC reported that no suspect is in custody, despite university police previously indicating otherwise. President Trump announced Kirk’s death on social media.
Just moments before the shooting, an audience member asked Kirk, “How many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?”
“Too many,” Kirk replied—seconds before being shot. Videos of the graphic incident have since gone viral online.
Kirk had long opposed LGBTQ rights and publicly opposed same-sex marriage. He frequently cited his “Christian values” as the basis for his positions, often quoting Leviticus 20:13 (“men lying with men… abomination”) as “God’s perfect law” on sexual matters.
He was also a prominent national voice in efforts to ban transgender healthcare, saying, “Donald Trump needs to run on this issue.” Kirk further proclaimed, “Pride is a sin,” and dismissed “gay corporations that hate America.”
On his YouTube show, he declared there are “only two genders” and described “transgenderism and gender ‘fluidity’ … lies that hurt people and abuse kids.” He also warned that LGBTQ efforts would not stop at marriage equality but instead aimed to “corrupt your children,” according to Media Matters for America.
Utah Valley University, established in 1941 as Central Utah Vocational School, is the state’s largest public university, with more than 46,000 students. It is located about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City.
National
Concerns for future emerge at U.S. Conference on HIV/AIDS
‘I’m done being treated like shit in the country I grew up in’

More than 2,400 people, including public health experts, scientists, physicians, local government officials, and community activists, turned out for the 29th annual United States Conference on HIV/AIDS, which took place Sept. 4-7 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in D.C.
Organized by the D.C.-based group NMAC, formerly known as the National Minority AIDS Council, the conference is considered the nation’s largest and most comprehensive gathering of experts involved in addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the U.S.
NMAC spokesperson Pavni Guharoy said NMAC officials will be completing a final count of the conference participants based on registration numbers later this week, but she said the current estimated attendance was at least 2,500.
The conference included more than 100 workshop sessions that focused on a wide range of issues related to the status of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the U.S., with a focus on the large and growing number of people living with HIV who are 50 years of age or older.
Information released at the conference shows that as of 2022, of the nearly 1.1 million people living with HIV in the U.S., approximately 54 percent were 50 years of age or older.
Many of the sessions addressed the needs, concerns and sometimes stigma faced by diverse communities of people living with HIV and those at risk for HIV, including African American, Latinx, and LGBTQ communities, both those who are aging as well as young adults.
The conference also included four plenary sessions in which all conference attendees listened to two-dozen prominent keynote speakers. Among them was former U.S. National Institutes of Health official Dr. Anthony Fauci, who pointed out that continuing advances in HIV research have led to effective medical intervention that changed AIDS from a once fatal illness to a condition in which people with HIV can live “a normal life span.”
Other keynote speakers included Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson, the acclaimed basketball player who became an advocate for people with HIV after testing positive for HIV 33 years ago, and Dr. Rachel Levine, who made history by becoming the first out transgender person to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2021as an appointee by then-President Joe Biden as a U.S. Assistant Secretary of Health.
Also speaking was Jeanne White-Ginder, the mother of Ryan White, who was diagnosed with AIDS in 1984 at the age of 13 from a blood transfusion. White-Ginder told conference attendees how Ryan faced discrimination when he was initially barred from going to his school in Indiana out of fear that he could transmit the virus to others at school.

In a moving presentation, she told how Ryan became one of the nation’s early advocates for people with HIV/AIDS up until the time of his death in 1990, one month before his high school graduation. She said then-U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) invited her to come to Washington to help lobby for a bill Kennedy introduced and which Congress passed in her son’s honor called the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act in August 1990.
“Now, today, thanks to your hard work and dedication, Ryan’s bill and your bill, too, provides treatment and support to more than half a million Americans in big cities, small towns and rural communities across the country,” she said. “It has dramatically reduced suffering. It has enabled people to live with HIV, to live long and healthy lives.”
But White-Ginder joined the many conference speakers, including Magic Johnson, in calling on attendees and the public to urge Congress to reject the dramatic cuts in funding for federal AIDS programs, including the Ryan White program, proposed by President Donald Trump and Republican congressional leaders for the Fiscal Year 2026 federal budget.
Among those calling on the AIDS community and allies to speak out against the proposed budget cuts were Paul Kawata, NMAC’s outgoing executive director and CEO, who is retiring Oct. 7, and Harold Phillips, the former director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy during the Biden administration and current NMAC Deputy Director for Programs who was chosen to succeed Kawata as NMAC CEO.
NMAC officials, led by members of its board of directors, praised Kawata for his 36 years of service as NMAC’s leader and his dedication to the cause of service and support for people with HIV and AIDS.
Kawata reflected on his work at NMAC and his concerns over the current political climate in Washington in a sometimes-emotional farewell address at one of the conference’s plenary sessions on Sept. 5.
“I’ll be honest with you. After 36 years the thought of leaving all of you is much more difficult than I thought it was going to be,” he told the gathering. “You are my family. You are the people that I love,” he said.
“You taught me how to be a better version of me. And I am so extraordinarily grateful for everything that you have given me,” he continued. “And you will always be a part of my heart.”
Pointing to members of the NMAC staff, both current and former members in the audience, Kawata said, “NMAC is NMAC because of what you do every single day with your life. You fight to make a difference in the world. And I am honored and privileged to call you my friends.”
Without mentioning the Trump administration by name, Kawata had harsh words for what he said was happening now in the United States and its impact on people living with HIV.
“I’m not going to lie to you,” he said. “I’m done being treated like shit in the country that I grew up in. I’m done being told that I’m a second-class citizen because of who I love,” he continued. “It’s not my America anymore. And I’m worried for our future.”
He added, “We always talk about the pendulum of justice, about the arc of justice. And I really want you to know in this moment, as difficult and as awful and how hellacious it is, we are on the right side of history. We are the ones who will change the world.”

In his remarks at the conference’s closing Sept. 7 plenary session, Fauci said, “We’re in very difficult times. You don’t need me to tell you that. But we’ve got to continue to put the pressure on what we did in the ‘80s with the activist groups, to make sure we do end the epidemic.”
He noted that he was at his job as director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases in the early 1980s, when the AIDS epidemic first surfaced and the AIDS patients he and his colleagues cared for, had little chance of survival.
“Fast forward now, 44 years, extraordinary things have happened,” Fauci said. “We now have drugs that you are all very aware of that can have an individual living with HIV live essentially a normal life span in putting under the care and the availability of drugs,” he continued.
“We know what U equals U – something that we didn’t imagine some years ago. That undetectable equals untransmissible,” he said, referring to the current HIV medication that suppresses the HIV virus to an undetectable level that prevents an infected person from transmitting it to someone else.
“And right now, with these drugs that we have for the prevention of HIV we have what we actually hoped for years ago – and that is to end the HIV epidemic,” he said.
Dr. Rachel Levine, who during the Biden administration served in the dual role as Assistant Secretary of Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and as director of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, also spoke at the closing session of the conference.
She noted that she began her career as a pediatric physician in 1983 in New York City, at the time of the early stages of the AIDS epidemic. From that time through her years as Assistant Secretary of Health, Levine said she observed first-hand the skills and dedication of doctors, nurses, and others who cared for people with HIV/AIDS who she described as the HIV care workforce.

“The HIV care workforce since that time has been incredibly dedicated, with many people working for decades,” she said. “And working to end the HIV epidemic in the United States and around the world. We applaud you. You are in this room. We applaud you arduously for your dedication and for your passion.”
Levine also noted that the cuts in funding and large-scale federal worker layoffs brought about by the Trump administration have had a direct impact on the HIV care workforce.
“Many dedicated public health leaders, including most of the HIV and infectious disease team who I worked with in my office at HHS have had their positions eliminated,” she said. “These hard-working civil servants went to work every single day to support the health and wellbeing of all Americans, including those living with HIV.”
She added, “And we know that there are shortages in HIV care. And it is so critical at this challenging time that we support you, the HIV care workforce.”
Many conference attendees said Magic Johnson played a leading role in boosting morale and spirit at the 2025 U.S. Conference on HIV/AIDS by his inspirational speech at the Sept. 5 plenary session.
Upon receiving a prolonged, standing ovation after being introduced as the next speaker, Johnson said, “When I think about 33 years living with HIV in a moment that changed my life forever. And what a blessing to be here 33 years later to tell that story at a time when there was only one drug.”
Johnson added, “Wow, and they said it probably is a death sentence for myself, and I had to wrap my arms around making the toughest decision I probably had to make in my life, which was to retire from the NBA.”
Among other things, Johnson said his doctors told him that while he was physically capable of continuing to play basketball, the stress of an 80-game season could impact his immune system and lower his T-cell count.

With the support of family, friends, and his community, Johnson said he miraculously survived the early days without a known fully effective HIV drug. And at the request of community activists, he agreed to speak out as a well-known figure and a person with HIV to inform “my community,” especially people of color, he said, about how to live with HIV and how uninfected people can lower their risk.
“But what I do, I adhere to my doctor. I take my meds. I work out, and then I love life and myself,” he said.
In response to the challenge facing people with HIV under the current political situation, Johnson said, “We got to pull ourselves together and continue this fight, because it’s important and we got to keep this at the forefront. Now, HIV and AIDS kind of slipped back. We got to bring it back up.”
Among other things, he said the nonprofit foundation he helped to form has “given away over $15 million” in grants to HIV/AIDS organizations. “And we will continue to do that because of the work you are doing.”
He received another thunderous applause and standing ovation upon the completion of his speech.
Phillips, who will succeed Kawata as NMAC’s CEO on Oct. 7, told the Washington Blade he believes this year’s U.S. Conference on HIV/AIDS was “extraordinary” under difficult circumstances.

“I think so, because this year we did this without a lot of federal support,” he said. “And many of the attendees – the federal government, HRSA, the Ryan White program told them they couldn’t use their grant funds to attend the conference, which was a shame.”
Phillips added, “But I think with a crowd of over 2,400, some people found a way to be here regardless and thought that it was important, and the topic was important enough. And I think our listening sessions, our workshops, our plenaries hopefully gave them what they needed to continue to be activated to serve people living with HIV. “
“And also gave them a sense of hope, especially in these dark times that we can continue to work to end the HIV epidemic,” he said.
National
House GOP seeks to cut all U.S. HIV prevention programs in 2026
‘A disastrous bill that will reignite HIV in the United States’

The Republican-controlled Appropriations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives has released its Fiscal Year 2026 funding bill that calls for cutting funds for domestic HIV prevention, treatment, and care programs by at least $1.7 billion, which is an amount significantly greater than the AIDS budget cuts proposed by President Donald Trump.
Among other things, the bill, if passed by the full Congress, would eliminate federal funding for all HIV prevention programs in the U.S. as well as eliminate the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative program that Trump persuaded Congress to pass during his first term as president.
“This is not a bill for making America healthy again, but a disastrous bill that will reignite HIV in the United States,” said Carl Schmidt, executive director of the D.C. based HIV + Hepatitis Policy Institute, in a Sept. 1 statement.
“We urge Congress to reject these reckless cuts,” Schmidt says in the statement. “Eliminating all HIV prevention means the end of state and local testing and surveillance programs, educational programs, and linkage to lifesaving care and treatment, along with PrEP,” the statement continues. “It will translate into an increased number of new HIV infections, which will be costlier to treat in the long run.”
It adds, “At a time when we have the tools to prevent HIV, including new long-acting forms of PrEP, we must not abandon the bipartisan progress our nation has made in combating HIV.”
The proposed bill by the House Appropriations Committee, which has not yet taken a full committee vote on the bill, would also cut the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment Program by $525 million or 20 percent.
The bill would eliminate the entire $1 billion in prevention funding at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including $220 million allocated to President Trump’s Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiative.
Schmidt points out that nearly 90 percent of this funding “flows to state and local health departments, including those in the South that do not have dedicated state funding and carry over half of HIV cases in the country.”
The House committee proposal supports the president’s budget proposal to eliminate $43 million in dedicated funding for hepatitis prevention at the CDC and instead proposes a $353 million block grant to states that would also include STD and tuberculosis prevention. This is $53 million more than the president proposed but still represents a combined cut of $24 million, Schmidt says in his statement.
“Instead of decreasing and diluting funding for hepatitis, if the country is serious about addressing chronic health conditions,” added Schmid, “we should be increasing funding so that people with hepatitis can be identified through testing and linked to treatment, and in the case of hepatitis C, a cure.”
The proposal by the House Appropriations Committees follows the U.S. Senate’s release earlier this year of a bipartisan FY 2026 budget bill that would maintain current funding for domestic HIV programs. If the House committee passes its proposed budget bill the budget provisions would have to be reconciled with the Senate version, and a reconciled version must then be passed by the full Congress.
National
Doctor who led mpox response resigns from CDC, slams administration
‘Unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end’

Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, resigned from his position on Wednesday in a scathing social media post.
“I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health.” Daskalakis wrote in a resignation letter he posted to X. “Having worked in local and national public health for years, I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people.”
Daskalakis, who’s gay, was among three senior officials to resign following President Trump’s firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez. She is fighting her dismissal.
In 2022, Daskalakis drew praise from the LGBTQ community while serving as White House National Monkeypox Response Deputy Coordinator. Daskalakis previously served as medical director for the New York-headquartered Mount Sinai Health System and then was made deputy commissioner for the Division of Disease Control at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. In late 2020, as the U.S. saw thousands of new covid fatalities each day, Daskalakis joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.
In an exclusive interview with the Blade during the mpox crisis in 2022, he warned of the dangers of homophobic stigma.
“Stigma is stigma, and homophobia is homophobia,” Daskalakis said, and while these problems are older, more intractable, and broader in scope than public health messaging around MPV, it is important to not “attach an infection to an identity.”
“Stigmatizing a disease and creating stigma really creates rabbit holes that take people away from [figuring out] how to respond to an infectious disease — and the way that you respond to infectious diseases, the focus on community, the focus on knowledge, and the focus on data, which should act as a guidance” in getting messages to people, whether through online social platforms or other channels, he said.
Dr. Monarez, who only served in her job for one month, said she refused “to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives” and accused HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of “weaponizing public health.”
Dr. Monarez reportedly clashed with Kennedy over vaccines. The government announced earlier this week that healthy adults would not be eligible for a new COVID booster and instead only those 65 and older, children, and those with underlying medical conditions would be eligible for the new vaccine.
National
CVS Health withholds coverage for new HIV prevention drug
AIDS activists criticize delay for acclaimed twice-yearly PrEP medication

CVS Health, one of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit manager companies that play a lead role in deciding which drugs are covered by health insurance plans, has initially decided not to approve coverage for the new HIV prevention drug Yeztugo
Developed and manufactured by the pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, Yeztugo was approved for use in June of this year by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as an HIV prevention or PrEP medication that needs to be taken just twice a year by injection.
HIV prevention advocates hailed the new drug as a major breakthrough in the years long effort to curtail and end the HIV/AIDS epidemic by enabling far more people at risk for HIV infection to adhere to a prevention drug regimen that needed to be taken once every six months rather than daily pills or through bi-monthly injections.
But the same advocates warned that the benefits of Yeztugo, which tests showed is greater than 99 percent effective in preventing HIV infection, could not be realized if the cost of the drug is not covered by health insurance plans or other coverage programs.
At the time the FDA approved its drug, Gilead Sciences announced that the yearly retail price for Yeztugo without insurance coverage would be $26,218.
According to reports by Reuters and Bloomberg news publications, a CVS Health spokesperson disclosed on Aug. 21 that the company “for now” would not add Yeztugo to its commercial coverage plans.
“As is typical with new-to-market products, we undergo a careful review of clinical, financial, and regulatory considerations,” Bloomberg News quoted CVS spokesperson David Whitrap as saying. Bloomberg reports that Whitman added that Yeztugo hasn’t been added to CVS Caremark’s commercial drug plans or U.S. Affordable Care Act plans.
“The entire world is excited by this drug and its potential contribution to preventing and eventually ending HIV,” said Carl Schmid, executive director of the D.C.-based HIV + Hepatitis Policy Institute. “However, a drug will only work if people can access it and right now CVS Health, which owns the largest pharmacy benefit manager in the country, is shamefully blocking people from taking it, unlike other payers,” Schmid said in a statement.
“We urge CVS, which has been committed to ending HIV in the past, to reconsider their decision immediately,” Schmid said. “Additionally, we call on federal and state regulators to ensure that plans are in compliance with the federal government’s PrEP coverage guidance and the many state laws that require coverage of all PrEP drugs.”
Gilead Sciences, meanwhile, has said it is “extremely pleased” with the progress it is making with other health insurance companies and “payers” to arrange for coverage of Yeztugo, according to Reuters. “[T]he company said it is on track to secure 75 percent of U.S. insurer coverage of Yeztugo by year-end, and 90 percent coverage by June 2026,” Reuters reports.
National
After targeting youth, state lawmakers now going after the rights of LGBTQ adults
Legislators are also teeing up challenges to same-sex marriage

The proliferation of anti-LGBTQ bills proposed by state legislatures across the country, which ticked up dramatically in 2021 and has since increased year-over-year, looks different in 2025.
Efforts that once focused on school sports and pediatric gender care have now broadened, as many advocates warned they would, to target adult life and the legal scaffolding of hard-won freedoms like same-sex marriage.
LGBTQ issues remain fraught political battlegrounds, but the fight has shifted to driver’s licenses, hospital policies, state-worker speech rules, and even marriage licenses — exposing these communities to greater risk of civil-rights violations.
This shift comes at a moment when legal avenues for challenging discrimination by state governments or the Trump-Vance administration have narrowed significantly, even as rhetorical and political attacks intensify.
The new types of bills
By the numbers, this year is shaping up to be the worst in recent memory. The ACLU tracked 520 anti-LGBTQ bills in 2023, 533 in 2024, and by February the organization had already logged 339, an accelerated pace for 2025.
Predictably, these legislative efforts are clustered in conservative places like Texas, where state lawmakers teed up 32 anti-trans bills on the first day of pre-filing for 2025, as GLAAD noted.
At the same time, however, the group reports that the year kicked off with similar activity in far bluer statehouses located in places like Massachusetts, Colorado, and New York.
The new crop of bills share some distinguishing features. For instance, Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, and Illinois are considering (or have enacted, in Alabama’s case) proposals to adopt restrictive definitions of sex and gender.
Not only does the establishment of a legal definition for gender based on a fixed binary that must be determined by one’s sex at birth exclude the recognition of people who are trans or have other gender diverse identities, but it also carries significant downstream impacts.
President Donald Trump has already demonstrated how this can work. Issued on the first day of his second term, his Executive Order 14168 recast “sex” across all federal policy as a fixed category that is limited to “male” or “female,” defined at “conception,” and unchangeable.
Pursuant to the order, the administration mandated that agencies replace all mention of “gender” with “sex,” strip gender self-identification options from passports, and halt funding for anything deemed “gender ideology,” including gender‑affirming care.
With respect to restrictions on gender markers on passports and official documents, the consequences for Americans who are not cisgender are far-reaching, touching areas of their lives from housing to employment and travel.
Georgia, meanwhile, previewed how conservative lawmakers can restrict guideline-directed best practices medical interventions for not just transgender youth, but adults as well, with a bill introduced this year that would bar coverage by state employees’ health benefits plans.
Georgia has also enacted a law prohibiting all gender-affirming care (hormones, surgeries, and even personal funding of such care) for incarcerated individuals in state prisons, which came after Trump’s executive order requiring the Bureau of Prisons to halt funding for these treatments and move trans women inmates into men’s facilities.
Broadened healthcare restrictions did not necessarily start this year, however. Florida passed a law in 2023, for example, that requires trans adults to receive in-person, state-approved informed consent for gender-affirming care, while banning nurse practitioners and telehealth delivery of such treatments, thereby limiting access for patients.
Following years of conservative activism focused on censoring pro-LGBTQ speech from schools — banning books and other materials with gay or trans characters or themes; restricting classroom instruction on matters of sexual orientation and gender identity — some states have taken a new tack in 2025: protecting anti-LGBTQ speech.
Once again, the scope of these efforts now extends beyond educational institutions and their focus is broadened from youth to youth and adults.
Montana’s Free to Speak Act, enacted in May, protects students and public employees from being disciplined for refusing to use a person’s preferred name or pronouns, establishing a private right of action allowing affected individuals to sue for injunctive relief, monetary damages, and attorney fees.
Lawmakers in Florida are going even further with a proposal that would bar public employers from requiring the use of trans individuals’ preferred pronouns, remove “nonbinary” as an option on state job applications, and make LGBTQ+ cultural competence training optional rather than mandatory.
Marriage equality under fire
On Monday, news outlets around the world reported on the return of Kim Davis. The thrice divorced former Kentucky county clerk has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her case, which seeks to overturn the High Court’s precedent setting ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that established marriage equality as the law of the land in 2015.
Some legal experts believe the gambit is a long shot. Others are less confident, pointing to the establishment of a 6-3 conservative supermajority in October 2020 and Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurring statement in the 2022 decision overturning abortion rights, where he expressed interest in revisiting the marriage decision.
In what may be a harbinger of another battle over same-sex marriage, or a sign that the matter was never settled in the first place, five states this year have considered non-binding resolutions asking the justices to overturn Obergefell: South Dakota, North Dakota, Idaho, Michigan, and Montana.
Other measures have been more concrete. In Tennessee and several other states, lawmakers introduced “covenant marriage” bills defining marriage as a union between “one male and one female” with heightened divorce restrictions — a move that would effectively exclude same-sex couples from that marital track. While none have yet been passed or enacted, they illustrate how legislatures can reshape marriage law without directly challenging Obergefell.
Such bills raise a potential clash with the Respect for Marriage Act, legislation passed during the Biden-Harris administration that requires states to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere but does not require them to issue licenses.
District of Columbia
Trump’s federal takeover of D.C. police sparks outrage among LGBTQ leaders
Move threatens marginalized communities and undermines city’s autonomy

As President Donald Trump pushes forward with his takeover of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department using federal agents, local LGBTQ leaders are sounding the alarm.
Trump on Monday invoked Section 740 of the D.C. Home Rule Act to “declare a crime emergency” in the District and began sending 800 National Guard troops to patrol the nation’s capital.
Multiple leaders in the District have criticized Trump for using misleading statistics to justify this power grab, one that will disproportionately impact Black, brown, and LGBTQ residents.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser initially tried to reframe Trump’s takeover as something that could benefit the District, saying to “make the most of the additional officer support that we have” during a Tuesday meeting with Attorney General Pam Bondi. She later began to backtrack on that statement.
“This is a time where community needs to jump in and we all need to, to do what we can in our space, in our lane, to protect our city and to protect our autonomy, to protect our Home Rule, and get to the other side of this guy, and make sure we elect a Democratic House so that we have a backstop to this authoritarian push,” Bowser said in a virtual meeting with local leaders later that day.
One of those local leaders, Ward 5 Council member Zachary Parker, called the Trump administration’s claims of “bloodthirsty criminals” and “roving mobs of wild youth” unsubstantiated and a distraction from “the bigger game in motion.”
In two separate Instagram posts, Parker — the District’s only openly LGBTQ Council member — called the move more about Trump “flexing” his power over a Democratic stronghold than fixing any issues of crime.
“The suggestion that crime is out of control is not supported by data,” Parker wrote Tuesday on his personal account, citing Department of Justice data from earlier this year showing the president’s claims are unsubstantiated. “Violent crime hit a 30-year low in 2024,” he continued, citing Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) data showing a 26% decrease in violent crime in the past year alone.
In another post, Parker called the tactic by the Trump administration a stark move that echoes the dictatorial takeovers of history.
“The raids today from those in power are derivatives of the instruments of power that have policed neighborhoods since the ’70s,” his second post said. “The ploy to seize capitals and collapse power traces back to colonial times and, more recently, Hungary and Turkey.”
The D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition, comprised of multiple organizations and advocates that fight for resources supporting LGBTQ residents — including trans people of color, low-income individuals, those with disabilities, and migrants — called this an “attack on D.C. autonomy.”
“This is a blatant violation of D.C.’s right to self-govern and a dangerous escalation rooted in political theater, not public safety,” the coalition’s official statement read. “We stand with local community leaders and other advocates fighting for D.C. to be free (including our evergreen fight for statehood), and all who reject this federal overreach… This move is not about safety, but about control and fear.”
The statement also echoed Council member Parker’s point that both federal and local data show a decline in violent crime despite massive budget cuts to the city prompted by Trump.
“Crime is down — the data is clear. And any attempts to combat the District’s issues were directly thwarted during the federal budget battles that forced our government to cut $1 billion from the local budget.”
The letter, sent to coalition members and supporters, explicitly called these actions anti-LGBTQ and anti-people of color.
“This kind of horrific federal overreach will inevitably cause the most irrevocable harm to our Black, brown, immigrant, and LGBTQ+ siblings — communities who already bear the brunt of systemic violence, over-policing, and underinvestment,” the email said.
“As LGBTQ+ advocates working to ensure equitable investment in our communities, we know that safety comes from housing, healthcare, and justice — and we will not demonize those most vulnerable in this city.”
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