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Kamala Harris emerges as LGBT favorite for 2020 — there’s just one thing

Kamala Harris’ record contains one item that may surprise many of her LGBT supporters

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U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) sought to block gender reassignment surgery for trans inmates on behalf of California. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) was likely chosen as a featured speaker at Saturday’s Human Rights Campaign National Dinner because she’s quickly becoming a favorite in the LGBT community among potential 2020 Democratic presidential contenders.

To recognize her popularity among LGBT people, just find the animated picture of Harris making the rounds on Facebook at the Senate dais brushing her hair back, clasping her hands and blinking her eyes wearily as she’s cut off during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. Also check out the widely shared video of her exchange with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions about his Russian connections, which left the Trump official muttering he felt “nervous” under questioning from the U.S. Senate’s only black female senator.

But a look at her LGBT record reveals one wrinkle on transgender rights that may surprise her followers and that has disappointed some trans people.

To be sure, Harris has a staunchly pro-LGBT record. As California attorney general, she declined to defend California’s ban on same-sex marriage Proposition 8 in court. When the U.S. Supreme Court restored marriage equality to California, she officiated at the wedding of Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, the first same-sex wedding after the ruling, and instructed clerks to marry same-sex couples seeking a license with “no exceptions.”

Also as attorney general, Harris in 2015 refused to certify a “Kill the Gays” ballot initiative proposed in California that would have (unconstitutionally) instituted the death penalty for homosexual acts. Despite a legal challenge, a federal judge agreed to relieve her of duty to prepare a title and summary for the measure before it advanced to the signature-gathering stage.

Harris also co-sponsored a bill in the California Legislature with former Assembly member Susan Bonilla to eliminate the “gay panic” defense in cases of murder or violent crime against LGBT people. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the legislation in 2014, making California, along with Illinois, one of two states in the country to ban the plea.

Upon beginning her term as a U.S. senator this year, Harris continued to advocate for LGBT rights. A co-sponsor of the Equality Act, Harris also demanded answers from the Trump administration on the decision to omit questions in the U.S. Census allowing responders to identify their sexual orientation or gender identity. The Trump administration never provided a direct response.

Harris has signed friend-of-the-court briefs arguing transgender people should be allowed to use the public restroom consistent with their gender identity. As California attorney general, she filed briefs in favor of Obama administration guidance supporting transgender students and against North Carolina’s notoriously anti-LGBT House Bill 2. As a U.S. senator, she signed a brief before the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of transgender student Gavin Grimm’s case.

Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California, said Harris’ record on LGBT rights in her capacities as attorney general and a U.S. senator are nothing short of “impeccable.”

“We’ve known her since she was the DA in San Francisco, and then of course, when she as attorney general was more engaged than any attorney general has been with us in the LGBTQ community,” Zbur said. “[She] really engaged with us and has a really strong commitment and understanding of our issues.”

On transgender issues in particular, Zbur noted Harris as attorney general appointed last year a transgender woman of color, Mariana Marroquin, to the California Racial & Identity Profiling Advisory Board.

Harris will likely tout her record on LGBT rights during her remarks at the 21st annual Human Rights Campaign National Dinner.

But one part of her record she might avoid is her role as California attorney general in 2015 in arguing on behalf of the state to withhold gender reassignment surgery from two transgender inmates who were prescribed the procedure while serving out their sentences. Advocates have made the case that transgender inmates are entitled to receive the taxpayer-funded procedure because denying them medical treatment amounts to cruel and unusual punishment — a clear violation of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

One case involved Shiloh Quine, who’s serving a term of life for first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery. The other case involved Michelle-Lael Norsworthy, who was serving time in prison in Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, Calif., for second-degree murder. Both were prescribed gender reassignment surgery, but the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation refused to provide the procedure.

The process of the Norsworthy case was quite public as it proceeded through litigation. Although U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar ordered California to grant Norsworthy gender reassignment surgery, Harris in her capacity as attorney general appealed the decision to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and fought to reverse the decision.

One 29-page brief in the case, signed by Harris, urges a stay on the court order for Norsworthy because the hormone treatment the inmate receives is sufficient — at least for the time being.

“The core of Ms. Norsworthy’s complaint is that Defendants have not provided the particular treatment she wants sex-reassignment surgery and unspecified ‘additional treatment,'” Harris writes. “But the Constitution ‘does not guarantee to a prisoner the treatment of his choice.’ The Eighth Amendment requires that an inmate be afforded ‘reasonable measures to meet a substantial risk of serious harm to her,’ not that she be given the specific care she demands. The ‘essential test is one of medical necessity and not one simply of desirability.'”

Ultimately, both the Norsworthy and Quine cases resulted in settlements. Norsworthy reached an agreement with the state in which she obtained parole. As a result, she was able to obtain surgery through Medi-Cal, a state health care system in California. In the Quine case, the state agreed to grant her gender reassignment surgery as well as clothing and items consistent with her gender identity. The California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation also agreed to review and revise its policies writ large for transgender inmates and medical treatment, including gender reassignment surgery.

But Harris’ actions in the Norsworthy case have inspired consternation in the transgender community and on Twitter, including from Chelsea Manning, who fought to receive gender reassignment surgery though litigation during her time in prison after the Army initially denied it to her. (A Washington Blade article on Harris’ brief against the court order is among the paper’s top 10 trafficked stories this year — the only story not from 2017 to hold that distinction.)

Zbur said criticism of Harris’ role in the litigation, however, is “really misplaced” because as attorney general she was compelled to represent the position of her client, which in this case was the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation.

“As a lawyer for the government, she was constrained in what she could publicly say and do and her client was making decisions, but with us she really working hard to understand the issue, providing information, and I think she was a big part of the resolution, which resulted in the really significant policy changes that were implemented by the Department of Corrections when she was attorney general,” Zbur said.

But the argument Harris was compelled to fight the court order granting gender reassignment surgery to an inmate because that was her responsibility as attorney general raises the question on how she got out of similar duties in an effort to uphold LGBT rights. If Harris could get out of defending Proposition 8 or certifying the “Kill the Gays” initiative, why couldn’t she also opt out of litigation seeking to bar transition-related care to a transgender inmate?

Zbur said the difference between the transgender inmate litigation and the other two situations was that in the former, Harris had a specific client, namely, the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation.

“When you have a client, you basically have ethical duties to represent the client’s interest,” Zbur said. “You take direction from the client. And so, she did really have constraints in terms of what she could do, but I think the bottom line is that during that period of time, she was working hand-in-hand with us on a process that resulted in changing the policies at the Department of Corrections, and that’s a really significant thing.”

At the time Harris engaged in the litigation in 2015, Jon Davidson, legal director for Lambda Legal, said the attorney general’s actions were her own choice.

“Even where the decision is made to defend an unconstitutional practice, there’s nothing that dictates the tactics of that defense, particularly once a court has found there are likely ongoing constitutional violations,” Davidson said. “The choice to appeal a preliminary court order and to seek to delay its implementation is just that — a choice. It’s also a very unfortunate one, given that what is at stake here is potentially life-saving treatment that is widely recognized as medically necessary for some people suffering from gender dysphoria.”

It seems the cases weren’t on Harris’ radar, even though her name is on each of the legal briefs, until much later in the process of litigation.

Nathan Barankin, who’s chief of staff for Harris and served as her deputy attorney general, said around 1,100 attorneys are working on cases like these and Harris wasn’t personally aware or involved in the litigation until a later time.

“She did learn about our office’s involvement in this case by reading about it in the newspaper,” Barankin said. “Her reaction to the way the case was being litigated was to work very closely with all of the parties involved to reach what we consider a successful conclusion, which was a permanent change in state prison policy on the treatment of transgender inmates.”

Two years later after the settlements were reached, Lambda Legal struck a different tone on Harris’ handling of the lawsuit.

Peter Renn, a senior attorney in the Western Regional Office of Lambda Legal who works on transgender cases, said the situation changed in the lawsuits as Harris became more involved in the litigation.

“The California AG’s office shifted its handling of these cases significantly after now-Sen. Harris took over,” Renn said. “Initially there was language in briefing for the state that glaringly misunderstood the medical necessity of transition-related medical care and was patently offensive. But then, there was a dramatic change, which seems to have gone along with important policy shifts.”

Supporters of Harris point to the settlements that were reached in the cases as evidence that her role was productive for transgender rights. After all, those agreements created precedent in the state and new policy ensuring transgender people in California prisons can receive gender reassignment surgery.

But not everyone agrees with that assessment.

Amanda Goad, a California attorney who works on transgender issues and identifies as queer, said in a personal capacity calling the settlements in the Quine case an LGBT rights achievement for Harris “does not make sense.”

“Her client CDCR could have updated its policies and made gender-confirming surgery available to incarcerated folks long before it did so under the pressure of a trial court loss in the Quine case,” Goad said. “Harris has done other things that do seem to me to belong under the banner of LGBTQ champion. … Settling a lawsuit that the state was losing — and never should have defended in the first place — just doesn’t fit the bill.”

In her capacity as staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, Goad said the policy changes the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation promised aren’t being implemented.

“Recent data shows that of the many prisoners who have applied to undergo gender-confirming surgery under the new policy, zero trans women beyond Shiloh Quine herself have actually undergone surgery. (Two men have undergone top surgery.),” Goad said. “Dozens have been denied, and I get letters every week from women extremely upset about their inability to access surgical care.”

Goad also complained about the state continuing to fight transgender prisoners’ access to clothing consistent with their gender identity as well as harassment, sexual assaults and violence endured by transgender women in prison.

That mistreatment, Goad said, is something Harris could address through encouraging enforcement of the Prison Rape Elimination Act and other actions.

“She has a great platform from which to speak out about the broader issues of violence, discrimination, and harassment endured by transgender women of color both inside and outside prison and propose constructive approaches for addressing those problems and their structural causes,” Goad said.

Major transgender rights advocates said the inclusion in Harris’ LGBT record of seeking to deny gender reassignment surgery to transgender inmates was unfortunate — but also urged LGBT people to look at the bigger picture.

Jillian Weiss, executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, said Harris’ defense of the state in the litigation contrasts with her otherwise pro-LGBT record.

“Sen. Harris has a positive record as a champion of gay and lesbian rights, and that is commendable,” Weiss said. “It is unfortunate that her record also includes having argued that gender confirmation surgery was not a medical necessity for a transgender woman despite a psychological assessment to the contrary. While some public sentiment leans against providing necessary medical services for transgender people who are incarcerated, our Constitution recognizes that denying such vital health care is cruel and unusual punishment. It is our hope that Sen. Harris will learn more about transgender medicine and its importance to trans people.”

(Harris isn’t the only potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate with an unfriendly record on gender reassignment surgery for transgender inmates. In a 2012 radio interview, then-U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren said when asked about granting the procedure to an inmate in Massachusetts, “I have to say, I don’t think it’s a good use of taxpayer dollars.” Warren has never corrected that position even as litigation seeking the procedure for the inmate, Michelle Kosilek, proceeded through the courts. Ultimately, the First Circuit ruled against Kosilek, setting binding precedent in that jurisdiction.)

Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, took an even more lenient approach to Harris’ action on the lawsuit and said her organization would work with her on issues of transition-related care for transgender prisoners.

“Sen. Harris has long been a friend of LGBT people and our causes,” Keisling said. “Notwithstanding her one-time defense of an indefensible and unconstitutional state prison position on trans healthcare, she is now a senator and is very likely to continue being a vote and voice for trans people in the U.S. Senate. She has shown this recently in support of Gavin Grimm and trans service members. I am certain when I first meet her, we will discuss her position in the prison case, and she will continue to grow and continue to support us better and better.”

 

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Congress

White House finds Calif. violated Title IX by allowing trans athletes in school sports

Education Department threatens ‘imminent enforcement action’

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Trump-Vance administration announced on Wednesday that California’s Interscholastic Federation and Department of Education violated federal Title IX rules for allowing transgender girls to compete in school sports.

In a press release, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights threatened “imminent enforcement action” including “referral to the U.S. Department of Justice” and the withholding of federal education funding for the state if the parties do not “agree to change these unlawful practices within 10 days.”

The agency specified that to come into compliance; California must enforce a ban excluding transgender student athletes and reclaim any titles, records, and awards they had won.

Federal investigations of the California Interscholastic Federation and the state’s Department of Education were begun in February and April, respectively. The Justice Department sued Maine in April for allowing trans athletes to compete and refusing a similar proposal to certify compliance within 10 days.

Broadly, the Trump-Vance administration’s position is that girls who are made to compete against trans opponents or alongside trans teammates are unfairly disadvantaged, robbed of opportunities like athletics scholarships, and faced with increased risk of injury — constituting actionable claims of unlawful sex discrimination under Title IX.

This marks a major departure from how the previous administration enforced the law. For example, the Department of Education issued new Title IX guidelines in April 2024 that instructed schools and educational institutions covered by the statute to not enforce categorical bans against trans athletes, instead allowing for limited restrictions on eligibility if necessary to ensure fairness or safety at the high school or college level.

Sports aside, under former President Joe Biden the department’s Office of Civil Rights sought to protect against anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in education, bringing investigations and enforcement actions in cases where school officials might, for example, require trans students to use restrooms and facilities consistent with their birth sex or fail to respond to peer harassment over their gender identity.

Much of the legal reasoning behind the Biden-Harris administration’s positions extended from the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County, which found that sex-based discrimination includes that which is based on sexual orientation or gender identity under Title VII rules covering employment practices.

A number of high profile Democrats, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, have recently questioned or challenged the party’s position on transgender athletes, as noted in a statement by Education Secretary Linda McMahon included in Wednesday’s announcement.

“Although Gov. Gavin Newsom admitted months ago it was ‘deeply unfair’ to allow men to compete in women’s sports, both the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation continued as recently as a few weeks ago to allow men to steal female athletes’ well-deserved accolades and to subject them to the indignity of unfair and unsafe competitions.”

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Congress

Garcia elected top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee

Gay Calif. lawmaker vows to hold Trump-Vance administration accountable

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U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) on Tuesday was elected top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee in a vote that signaled the conference’s overwhelming support for a newer voice on Capitol Hill who will play a key role taking on President Donald Trump.

With a margin of 150-63, the 47-year-old openly gay congressman defeated U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), alongside U.S. Reps. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) and Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.) who exited the race after the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee backed Garcia.

Serving only since 2023, the congressman has had a remarkably quick ascent leading up to his election this week as ranking member of one of the most powerful House committees, awarded a leadership position serving under House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.) and selected as a co-chair of former Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign.

Democratic members began jockeying for the top seat on the oversight committee this spring after the late-U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia stepped away amid news that his esophageal cancer had returned. He died in May.

Connolly last year fended off a challenge from one of the most well known House Democrats, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), though with a narrower margin that signaled intra-party tensions over whether leadership roles should still be awarded based on seniority.

Garcia positioned himself as a bridge between the two camps — a consensus candidate with executive managerial experience as the former mayor of Long Beach. At the same time, particularly since the start of Trump’s second term, the congressman has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of the new Republican regime.

In a statement on X Tuesday, Garcia thanked his colleagues and promised to “hold Donald Trump and his administration accountable.”

If Democrats win control of the House next year, the oversight committee will be able to exercise powers that are now available only to Republicans under the chair, U.S. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), which include the authority to investigate virtually any matter across the federal government, to issue subpoenas, and to compel testimony.

In the meantime, Garcia on Monday promised that Democrats on the committee would “vigorously fight” Republican Speaker Mike Johnson’s (La.) plans “to dismantle the Government Accountability Office.”

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Congress

Padilla forcibly removed from federal building for questioning DHS secretary

Prominent Democrats rushed to defend senator

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U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Democratic U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla of California was forcibly removed from a federal building in Los Angeles after attempting to ask questions of U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a press conference on immigration Thursday

The city has been rattled in recent days as protestors objecting to the Trump-Vance administration’s immigration crackdowns clashed with law enforcement and then the president deployed National Guard troops and U.S. Marines, which was seen as a dramatic escalation.

According to a video shared by his office, the senator, who serves as ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, introduced himself and said, I have questions for the secretary.” After he was pushed out of the room, officers with FBI-identifying vests told Padilla to put his hands behind his back and handcuffed him.

“Senator Padilla is currently in Los Angeles exercising his duty to perform Congressional oversight of the federal government’s operations in Los Angeles and across California,” reads a statement from his office.

“He was in the federal building to receive a briefing with General Guillot and was listening to Secretary Noem’s press conference,” the statement continued. “He tried to ask the secretary a question, and was forcibly removed by federal agents, forced to the ground and handcuffed. He is not currently detained, and we are working to get additional information.”

Democrats were furious, with many releasing strong statements online condemning the actions of law enforcement officers, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D), and the state’s other U.S. senator, Adam Schiff (D).

Human Rights Campaign Chief of Staff Jay Brown also issued a statement: “A sitting U.S. senator should be allowed to ask a Cabinet secretary a question at a press conference — in his own state, on an issue affecting his constituents — without being violently thrown to the floor and handcuffed. Everyone who cares about our country must condemn this undemocratic act. Full stop.”



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Congress

51 lawmakers sign letter to Rubio about Andry Hernández Romero

U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) spoke about gay Venezuelan asylum seeker

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Andry Hernández Romero (Photo courtesy of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center)

Forty nine members of Congress and two U.S. senators, all Democrats, signed a letter Monday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding information about Andry Hernández Romero, a gay Venezuelan national who was deported to El Salvador and imprisoned in the country’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum-security prison known by the Spanish acronym CECOT

“We are deeply concerned about the health and wellbeing of Mr. Hernández Romero, who left Venezuela after experiencing discriminatory treatment because of his sexual orientation and opposition to Venezuela’s authoritarian government,” the lawmakers wrote. They urged the State Department to facilitate his access to legal counsel and take steps to return him.

After passing a credible fear interview and while awaiting a court hearing in March, agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reportedly transported Hernández out of the U.S. without due process or providing evidence that he had committed any crime.

In the months since, pressure has been mounting. This past WorldPride weekend in Washington was kicked off with a rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court and a fundraiser, both supporting Hernández and attended by high profile figures including members of Congress, like U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.)

U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) was among the four members who wrote to Rubio about Hernández in April. On Friday, he spoke with the Los Angeles Blade before he and his colleagues, many more of them this time, sent the second letter to Rubio.

“There’s a lot of obviously horrible things that are happening with the asylum process and visas and international students and just the whole of our value system as it relates to immigration,” he said, which “obviously, is under attack.”

“Andry’s case, I think, is very unique and different,” the congressman continued. “There is, right now, public support that is building. I think he has captured people’s attention. And it’s growing — this is a movement that is not slowing down. He’s going to be a focal point for Pride this year. I mean, I think people around the world are interested in the story.”

Garcia said he hopes the momentum will translate to progress on requests for proof of life, adding that he was optimistic after meeting with Hernández’s legal team earlier on Friday.

“I mean, the president, Kristi Noem, Marco Rubio — any of these folks could could ask to see if just he’s alive,” the congressman said, referring to the secretary of Homeland Security, whom he grilled during a hearing last month. ICE is housed under the DHS.

“People need to remember, the most important part of this that people need to remember, this isn’t just an immigration issue,” Garcia noted. “This is a due process issue. This is an asylum case. We gave him this appointment. The United States government told him to come to his appointment, and then we sent him to another country, not his own, and locked him up with no due process. That’s the issue.”

Garcia said that so far neither he nor his colleagues nor Hernández’s legal team were able to get “any answers from the administration, which is why we’re continuing to advocate, which is why we’re continuing to reach out to Secretary Rubio.”

“A lot more Democrats are now engaged on this issue,” he said. U.S. Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, both from California, joined Monday’s letter. “The more that we can get folks to understand how critical this is, the better. The momentum matters here. And I think Pride does provide an opportunity to share his story.”

Asked what the next steps might be, Garcia said “we’re letting his legal team really take the lead on strategy,” noting that Hernández’s attorneys have “already engaged with the ACLU” and adding, “It’s very possible that the Supreme Court could take this on.”

In the meantime, the congressman said “part of our job is to make sure that that people don’t forget Andry and that there is awareness about him, and I think there’s a responsibility, particularly during WorldPride, and during Pride, all throughout the month — like, this is a story that people should know. People should know his name and and people should be aware of what’s going on.”

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Breaking News

Controversy brews in the City of Glendale over support of Pride event

Republican Mayor Ara Najarian pushes back on funding family-friendly Pride event

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GlendaleOUT poses for a photo. (Photo courtesy of glendaleOUT)

Over the last three weeks, glendaleOUT — a local LGBTQ group based in Glendale, California and city leadership have been at odds over securing financial support of a family-friendly Pride event set to happen on Saturday, June 7. As of Tuesday, Glendale’s city council voted 3-2 in favor of funding the event, ending a weeks-long argument over securing the funds.

The controversy began when the group highlighted how neighboring cities have visibly demonstrated support for Pride Month celebrations across the county, while the City of Glendale has yet to sponsor events with banners, city logos and financial sponsorship. 

Councilmember Dan Brotman proposed $5,000 in sponsorship funds, noting that the city has funded other cultural events with much larger amounts. 

Local leaders, but specifically Mayor Ara Najarian — who was just re-elected for a fifth term — are pushing back and opposing the proposal for funding. According to sources, Mayor Najarian openly opposed the proposal, stating a distant conflict of interest as the reason for the opposition. 

LGBTQ advocates have been quoted as saying this is a “bad-faith political tactic, not grounded in any real conflict of interest.” 

The next potential vote is expected to happen today at a city council meeting. Organizers say that the Pride event will happen regardless, but that they still hope to shed light on the patterns of sexual orientation-based discrimination in the city council. 

For more information about the free community Pride event, visit glendaleOUT’s website.

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California

LA County officially kicks off Pride Month with blessing from The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

‘This needs to be done, because once again, our county and our nation houses people who want us gone, who wish us harm’

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The LA County Board of Supervisors and the LA County LGBTQ+ Committee gathered on Tuesday, June 3, to officially kick off Pride Month across the county with a blessing from The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who purified the space with their sacred chicken, then led everyone in blessing the Progress Pride flag before raising it at the Kenneth Hall of Administration. 

“By raising this flag, the emblem of our souls and of our souls, of our love, of our survival, and of the gifts we offer to every Angeleno in this county — you all declare and you declare to everyone both here and abroad, that we are your people and you affirm that this is our home too,” said Sister Unity. “This needs to be done, because once again, our county and our nation houses people who want us gone, who wish us harm.” 

LA County Supervisors and other community leaders gathered on Tuesday at the Kenneth Hall of Administration to raise the Progress Pride flag in honor of Pride Month. (Photo credit to Diandra Jay)

Supervisors Janice Hanh, Holly J. Mitchell, Lindsey P. Hovarth and Hilda L. Solis spoke on the importance of representation in the face of discrimination, homophobia and transphobia. 

Supervisor Hahn mentioned in her speech that her father, Kenneth Frederick Hahn designed the LA County flag and it was clear to her that he believed that a flag was more than just a piece of fabric. 

“My dad, the original Supervisor Hanh, designed the LA County flag and he understood that a flag is not just fabric. A flag is a symbol. It’s a visual representation of who we are, what we value and what we stand for.” 

Two years ago, Supervisor Hahn started the tradition to raise the flag alongside the one her father designed and then it was Supervisor Horvath who suggested that the Pride flag be flown on all county facilities across Los Angeles. 

“Now, in every corner of our vast county — from our lifeguard stations on our beaches, to every library, fire station — and may I add: all eight county buildings in the city of Downey. Wherever there is a county facility, the Progress Pride flag will send a clear, powerful message to our LGBTQ residents: ‘your county government unequivocally and unapologetically has your back.’”

The comment about the city of Downey is in regards to a controversial Pride flag ban that was enacted last year. 

Supervisor Hahn then introduced LA County Assessor Jeff Prang, one of the longest-serving, out, elected officials in the state of California. Due to his long history in government and as a member of the LGBTQ community, Assessor Prang helped launch the LA County LGBTQ Elected Officials Association with over 50 active members from all levels of government. 

“We are in a moment of crisis in the nation. Across the country, an extremist movement is working to dismantle LGBTQ rights — from banning books to criminalizing gender-affirming care, to silencing drag performers, to targeting our youth and families with cruelty disguised as policy,” said Assessor Prang. “These are not isolated incidents, this is a campaign of fear and repression.” 

Héctor Trinidad-Plascencia, the Chair of LGBTQ+ Commission, encouraged attendees who are not from the queer and trans communities, to remove the blockages that keep them from being in solidarity with queer and trans people. 

“With your solidarity, we are creating a different world together starting in our county home and for the nation to follow,” they said.

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White House

DOJ launches investigation into Calif. trans student-athlete policy

State AG vows to defend Golden State laws

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Justice Department (Bigstock photo)

One day after President Donald Trump threatened to strip California of “large scale federal funding” over its policy on transgender student-athletes, his Justice Department announced it is investigating the state for potentially violating Title IX.

“The investigation is to determine whether California, its senior legal, educational, and athletic organizations, and the school district are engaging in a pattern or practice of discrimination on the basis of sex,” the DOJ said in a statement. 

The DOJ said it notified State Attorney General Rob Bonta, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, the Jurupa Unified School District, and the California Interscholastic Federation of its investigation. 

AB Hernandez, 16, is an out trans female student-athlete at Jurupa Valley High School who qualified for this weekend’s state track and field championship. As the Los Angeles Blade reported earlier this week, the CIF announced a change in the rules at the finals to accommodate girls who were displaced by Hernandez, including giving medals to cisgender competitors who earn a podium spot should Hernandez place ahead of them.

“We remain committed to defending and upholding California laws and all additional laws which ensure the rights of students, including transgender students, to be free from discrimination and harassment,” said Bonta in a statement. “We will continue to closely monitor the Trump administration’s actions in this space.”

As KTLA reported, California is one of 22 states that allow trans student-athletes to participate in sports consistent with their gender identity. Former Gov. Jerry Brown signed that policy into law in 2013.

The DOJ announced it is also now supporting a federal lawsuit targeting Bonta and the state Department of Education, claiming that California law and CIF policy discriminate against cisgender girls by allowing trans female athletes to compete according to their gender identity. 

The lawsuit was filed by a conservative law group, Advocates for Faith and Freedom, representing the families of two girls at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside. Their suit claims the school’s cross-country team dropped one athlete from her varsity spot in favor of a trans athlete and that school administrators compared their “Save Girls Sports” T-shirts to swastikas.

Officials in Washington also weighed-in, referring to trans girls and women as “males.” 

“Title IX exists to protect women and girls in education,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet K. Dhillon. “It is perverse to allow males to compete against girls, invade their private spaces, and take their trophies.”

“The law is clear: Discrimination on the basis of sex is illegal and immoral,” said U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. “My office and the rest of the Department of Justice will work tirelessly to protect girls’ sports and stop anyone — public officials included — from violating women’s civil rights.”

According to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, out of the 5.8 million students in California’s K-12 public school system, the number of active trans student-athletes is estimated to be in the single digits.

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Congress

Garcia confronts Noem over gay asylum seeker ‘forcibly removed’ to El Salvador

Andry Hernández Romero is makeup artist from Venezuela

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Andry Hernández Romero (photo credit: Immigrant Defenders Law Center)

California Congressman Robert Garcia on Wednesday asked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about the well-being of a gay asylum seeker from Venezuela who the U.S. “forcibly removed” to El Salvador.

The gay Democrat during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing asked Noem whether Andry Hernández Romero is “alive” and whether “we can check and do a wellness check on him.”

“This individual is in El Salvador, and the appeal would be best made to the president and to the government of El Salvador,” Noem told Garcia.

The Trump-Vance administration in March “forcibly removed” Hernández, who asked for asylum because of persecution he suffered due to his sexual orientation and political beliefs, and other Venezuelans from the U.S. and sent them to El Salvador.

The White House on Feb. 20 designated Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, as an “international terrorist organization.” President Donald Trump on March 15 invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which the Associated Press notes allows the U.S. to deport “noncitizens without any legal recourse.”

Alvaro M. Huerta, director of litigation and advocacy for the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, a Los Angeles-based organization that represents Hernández, said officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection claimed their client is a Tren de Aragua member because of his tattoos.

The Washington Blade on April 17 reported Hernández was sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum-security prison known by the Spanish acronym CECOT.

Garcia, along with U.S. Reps. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), and Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) last month met with U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador William Duncan and embassy staffers in San Salvador, the Salvadoran capital. The lawmakers did not visit CECOT, but Garcia told the Blade that the embassy agreed to ask the Salvadoran government to “see how (Hernández) is doing and to make sure he’s alive.”

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California Politics

Zbur continues fight for LGBTQ rights amid Trump attacks

He continues to cement a pro-equality legacy in state legislature

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Lindsay Melanie

Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-51), 68, grew up in a rural farming community
surrounded by animals and land in Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico — ultimately becoming the first person in his rural community to attend an Ivy League university. 

Since then, he has continued to build his reputation as an advocate and as a
political leader in environmental justice and LGBTQ rights. 

Most recently, Zbur introduced Assembly Bill 309, which would support
California’s strategy to prevent the spread of HIV and viral hepatitis by preserving existing laws that increase access to sterile syringes at no added cost to the state. 

“Extensive research and data collection has repeatedly proven that increased access to sterile syringes significantly lowers rates of transmission and saves lives
without increasing rates of drug use,” said Zbur when presenting AB 309. 

He added that the average estimated cost for lifetime medical costs related to HIV treatment for one person is $326,500. “Syringe access not only saves lives, but it also saves individuals and the state from the steep cost of treatment,” he continued. 

As a gay man in the peak of the AIDS crisis, Zbur saw some of his own close friends become ill, motivating him to become an AIDS activist at a time when the federal government was failing to provide resources to the community that needed them the most. 

“Since I’ve been in the Assembly, I’ve always had a number of bills every year that focus on uplifting the LGBTQ community, as well as getting to zero, in terms of HIV — zero transmissions, zero deaths, zero stigma.”

Prior to this bill and a few others, Zbur also introduced AB 5, which he says was a culmination of eight years worth of work, from the time he started working for Equality California (EQCA), the state’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated toward advocating for LGBTQ civil rights.

AB 5, which was passed and is now known as the Safe and Supportive Schools
Act, is meant to improve the conditions for LGBTQ students in schools. 

“I think this bill has the most impact for LGBTQ youth and it’s the one I’m proudest of because it requires that every teacher in California schools has LGBTQ cultural competency training, to make sure that our schools are safe and supportive.”  Zbur, a longtime advocate for the LGBTQ community, has a long history of activism. 

In the early 1980s, Zbur campaigned for the fight against HIV/AIDS, helped found the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation and alongside the Los Angeles LGBT Center, organized fundraisers for Bill Clinton while he was governor of Arkansas, and Barbara Boxer, who was then running for U.S. Senate. 

“I think part of me coming out more publicly was due to the HIV epidemic and
the fact that I had friends that were getting sick,” he said. “I had a long-term boyfriend
back then and we started to get politically active, really trying to make sure that the
government was doing something about the HIV epidemic.”

He says that this is when he decided he was going to get Barbara Boxer elected, because she was the only Senate candidate during that time who was even mentioning the LGBTQ community. 

In 1996, Zbur ran for the United States House of Representatives in California’s 38th congressional district against Republican incumbent Steve Horn. He became the first openly gay non-incumbent congressional primary candidate to win an election when he won the Democratic primary election on March 26, 1996. 

During many years following that win, Zbur jumped into another pool of justice
fighting for environmental issues and then in 2014, joined Equality California as
executive director. Under his leadership, EQCA quadrupled in size, passed groundbreaking legislation to advance LGBTQ equality measures and sued the Trump-Pence administration twice, blocking attacks against the transgender community of California. 

In 2022, Zbur was elected to the California State Assembly to represent the 51st
Assembly District, a position he currently serves. He was appointed in July 2023 by
Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas to serve as the Democratic Caucus Chair of the California Assembly, one of the Speaker’s key leadership positions. During that time, he also led the advancement in civil rights and social justice for the many other marginalized communities within the LGBTQ umbrella, such as communities of color, communities of faith, immigrants women and people living with HIV. 

Zbur says that his work is never over. 

“We’re facing greater risks that are greater than I think we’ve faced in recent
years coming out of the [first] Trump administration. The targeting of transgender and
gender non-conforming people is an even greater part of his hostility toward our
community,” he said. “It’s very real, and we see that it’s not just rhetoric. He’s taking real
steps to try to shut down the healthcare that LGBTQ people and transgender people
need.”

Zbur says that he and the other members of the LGBTQ Caucus in Sacramento
are constantly thinking of those decisions and their repercussions. 

“I have another bill that is focused on helping transgender people get the
government documents they need, so they can protect themselves from the Trump
administration and so that they can travel easily to get medical care.” 

Zbur says that his own coming out story was positive, but he grew up in a time
where he did not know anyone who was out about their identity. He went through many
trials and tribulations to end up in a space where he was finally accepted. 

“For me, coming to terms with the fact that I was LGBTQ, was something that
took a number of years,” said Zbur. “The world was just a very different place back then
and the risks were high, coming out.” 

When he started his career as a lawyer, he became a partner in a law firm called
Latham and Walkins, where there was not a single person who was out. 

“I eventually came out when I was a fourth or fifth year associate and I became
the first out lawyer in the firm’s history, though there were other gay lawyers at the firm.”
Now, at 68, Zbur says that his only regret is that he lived in the closet for too long.

“When I look back at the things I regret, it’s that I lived in the closet for as long as
I did,” he said. “That is a very limiting thing that I think doesn’t allow your soul or your
spirit to flourish.”

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California Politics

Governor Newsom supports bill to put LGBTQ helpline number on student ID’s

AB 727 would put the number for The Trevor Project on the back of students ID cards

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Gov. Gavin Newsom expressed support for LGBTQ suicide hotline measures for K-12 students in direct response to recent reports that Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s., plans to cut funding for the national nonprofit that provides the resource to LGBTQ people.

“Cutting off kids’ access to help is indefensible. While the Trump administration walks away from its responsibility, California will continue to expand access to life-saving resources, because the life of every child — straight, gay, trans — is worth fighting for,” said Gov. Newsom. 

Assembly Bill 727, introduced by Assemblymember Mark González, would aim to facilitate pupil and student safety by requiring schools and institutions to have the telephone number and text line for a specified LGBTQ suicide hotline provided by The Trevor Project, that is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. 

Existing law that will be enforced July 1, 2025, requires a public or private school that serves pupils in any of grades 7 to 12, inclusive, and that issues pupil identification cards to have printed on the identification cards the number for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. 

This bill would additionally require the list of K-12 public schools and institutions to provide support to youth and their families who have been subjected to school-based discrimination, harassment, intimidation or bullying on the basis of gender identity, sexual orientation or gender expression. 

Conservative organizations like the California Family Council are pushing back on this bill, stating that this bill is “forcing LGBTQ advocacy on every student ID — no exemptions for religious schools,” and saying it “undermines families.” 

A national 2024 survey by The Trevor Project on mental health of LGBTQ young people, reports that 1 in 10 young LGBTQ-indetifying people in the United States attempted suicide in 2023. Over a third of LGBTQ young people seriously considered suicide within the past year and that figure was even higher for trans and nonbinary-identifying youth, with that figure being  46%. 

The survey also found that half of LGBTQ youth who wanted mental health resources and care could not get them. Over 50% of survey respondents answered “a lot” when asked about how often recent politics negatively impact their well-being. 

The Trevor Project is one of the nonprofit organizations that is currently at high-risk for losing their funding under Trump’s budget cuts. 

The phone number to call for help is 1-866-488-7386 and the number to text for help is 678-678, or you can send them a message at the site link.

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