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Nonbinary Dept. of Energy official replaced after felony charges

Extreme right-wing Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) published an offensive tweet yesterday targeting their nonbinary identity

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Sam Brinton addressing Trevor Project gathering in 2018. Screenshot/YouTube The Trevor Project

WASHINGTON – The Department of Energy replaced a nonbinary senior official who had served as the agency’s deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition after they were charged with a felony over an incident at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Sept. 16.

Sam Brinton, whose departure from the Energy Department was confirmed by a spokesperson to the New York Post, did not immediately respond to the Washington Blade’s request for comment via Facebook Messenger.

Brinton, who has dual degrees from MIT and years of experience in nuclear waste management and climate change work, is also an LGBTQ activist who made history this year with their appointment as the first openly gender-fluid person to serve in a senior government post.

A 2018 column in the Los Angeles Times argued there was a cultural shift afoot towards greater acceptance of transgender and gender fluid people — using, as an introductory anecdote, Brinton’s appearance at the Academy Awards. According to the author, Brinton spoke passionately about their suicide prevention work for the Trevor Project and was embraced by Hollywood icons like Jane Fonda.

They also encountered some hateful backlash from anti-LGBTQ figures on the right, which was renewed on Monday with the news about Brinton’s dismissal pursuant to the felony charges filed against them, which conservative-leaning outlets were among the first to report.

Extreme right-wing Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) published an offensive tweet yesterday targeting Brinton and their nonbinary identity:

According to reporting in the New York Post, during an initial conversation with police, Brinton allegedly denied that they had stolen another passenger’s suitcase. Subsequently, Brinton told investigators they accidentally grabbed the wrong bag at the luggage carousel by mistake out of exhaustion.

Court filings indicate that Brinton, upon realizing they had mistakenly taken someone else’s bag, emptied its contents into dresser drawers in their hotel room, anxious about the prospect of facing accusations of property theft.

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Federal Government

EXCLUSIVE: USAID LGBTQ+ coordinator visits Uganda

Jay Gilliam met with activists, community members from Feb. 19-27

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U.S. Agency for International Development Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam (Photo courtesy of USAID)

WASHINGTON — U.S. Agency for International Development Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam last month traveled to Uganda.

Gilliam was in the country from Feb. 19-27. He visited Kampala, the Ugandan capital, and the nearby city of Jinja.

Gilliam met with LGBTQ+ activists who discussed the impact of the Anti-Homosexuality Act, a law with a death penalty provision for “aggravated homosexuality” that President Yoweri Museveni signed last May. Gilliam also sat down with USAID staffers.

Gilliam on Wednesday during an exclusive interview with the Washington Blade did not identify the specific activists and organizations with whom he met “out of protection.” 

“I really wanted to meet with community members and understand the impacts on them,” he said.

Consensual same-sex sexual relations in Uganda were already criminalized before Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act. Gilliam told the Blade he spoke with a person who said authorities arrested them at a community meeting for mental health and psychosocial support “under false pretenses of engaging in same-sex relations and caught in a video that purportedly showed him.” 

The person, according to Gilliam, said authorities outed them and drove them around the town in which they were arrested in order to humiliate them. Gilliam told the Blade that prisoners and guards beat them, subjected them to so-called anal exams and denied them access to antiretroviral drugs.

“They were told that you are not even a human being. From here on you are no longer living, just dead,” recalled Gilliam.

“I just can’t imagine how difficult it is for someone to be able to live through something like that and being released and having ongoing needs for personal security, having to be relocated and getting support for that and lots of other personal issues and trauma,” added Gilliam.

Gilliam said activists shared stories of landlords and hotel owners evicting LGBTQ+ people and advocacy groups from their properties. Gilliam told the Blade they “purport that they don’t want to run afoul of” the Anti-Homosexuality Act.

“These evictions really exacerbate the needs from the community in terms of relocation and temporary shelter and just the trauma of being kicked out of your home, being kicked out of your village and having to find a place to stay at a moment’s notice, knowing that you’re also trying to escape harm and harassment from neighbors and community members,” he said.

Gilliam also noted the Anti-Homosexuality Act has impacted community members in different ways.

Reported cases of violence and eviction, for example, are higher among gay men and Transgender women. Gilliam noted lesbian, bisexual and queer women and Trans men face intimate partner violence, are forced into marriages, endure corrective rape and lose custody of their children when they are outed. He said these community members are also unable to inherit land, cannot control their own finances and face employment discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.  

US sanctioned Ugandan officials over Anti-Homosexuality Act

The U.S imposed visa restrictions on Ugandan officials shortly after Museveni signed the law. The World Bank Group later announced the suspension of new loans to Uganda.

The Biden-Harris administration last October issued a business advisory that said the Anti-Homosexuality Act “further increases restrictions on human rights, to include restrictions on freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly and exacerbates issues regarding the respect for leases and employment contracts.” The White House has also removed Uganda from a program that allows sub-Saharan African countries to trade duty-free with the U.S. and has issued a business advisory for the country over the Anti-Homosexuality Act. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Dec. 4, 2023, announced sanctions against current and former Ugandan officials who committed human rights abuses against LGBTQ+ people and other groups. Media reports this week indicate the U.S. denied MP Sarah Achieng Opendi a visa that would have allowed her to travel to New York in order to attend the annual U.N. Commission on the Status of Women.

Museveni, for his part, has criticized the U.S. and other Western countries’ response to the Anti-Homosexuality Act. 

Gilliam noted authorities have arrested and charged Ugandans under the law. 

Two men on motorcycles on Jan. 3 stabbed Steven Kabuye, co-executive director of Coloured Voice Truth to LGBTQ+ Uganda, outside his home while he was going to work. The incident took place months after Museveni attended Uganda’s National Prayer Breakfast at which U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) spoke and defended the Anti-Homosexuality Act.

The State Department condemned the attack that Kabuye blamed on politicians and religious leaders who are stoking anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments in Uganda. Gilliam did not meet with Ugandan government officials while he was in the country.

“We in the U.S. government have already made it clear our stance with government officials on how we feel about the AHA, as well as broader human rights concerns in country,” said Gilliam. “That’s been communicated from the very highest levels.”

The Uganda’s Constitutional Court last Dec. 18 heard arguments in a lawsuit that challenges the Anti-Homosexuality Act. It is unclear when a ruling in the case will take place, but Gilliam said LGBTQ+ Ugandans with whom he met described the law “as just one moment.” 

“Obviously there is lots of work that has been done, that continues to be done to respond to this moment,” he told the Blade. “They know that there’s going to be a lot of work that needs to continue to really address a lot of the root causes and to really back humanity to the community.” 

Gilliam further noted it will “take some years to recover from the damage of 2023 and the AHA (Anti-Homosexuality Act) there.” He added activists are “already laying down the groundwork for what that work looks like” in terms of finding MPs, religious leaders, human rights activists and family members who may become allies.

“Those types of allyships are going to be key to building back the community and to continue the resiliency of the movement,” said Gilliam.

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Senate confirms Sean Patrick Maloney as next OECD ambassador

Former N.Y. congressman lost to Mike Lawler in 2022

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Former New York Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed former New York Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney to become the next American ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Maloney, the former chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee who was also former President Bill Clinton’s White House staff secretary, in 2012 became the first openly gay person elected to Congress from New York. Maloney in 2022 lost to now U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) after the state redrew its congressional districts. 

Biden last May nominated Maloney for the ambassadorship. The Senate approved it by a 63-31 vote margin.

“Thank you, all,” said Maloney in a short X post after the vote.

Michael Carpenter, the current U.S. ambassador to the OECD, is gay.

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VA expands IVF to cover same-sex couples, single veterans

About 2 million LGBTQ veterans are served by the VA, a number that is expected to “substantially increase in this decade”

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U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough (Screen capture/YouTube)

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will cover in-vitro fertilization treatments for same-sex couples and single veterans, the agency announced on Monday — a move that comes after lawsuits last year claiming that its policy of only treating legally married partners who could produce their own eggs and sperm was discriminatory.

The department said the change is expected to take effect in coming weeks, with Secretary Denis McDonough pledging to implement the new policy as soon as possible.

“Raising a family is a wonderful thing, and I’m proud that VA will soon help more veterans have that opportunity,” he said. “This expansion of care has long been a priority for us, and we are working urgently to make sure that eligible unmarried veterans, veterans in same-sex marriages and veterans who need donors will have access to IVF in every part of the country as soon as possible.”

Out in National Security, a nonprofit dedicated to serving and empowering queer national security professionals, celebrated the VA’s announcement in a press release proclaiming that “five years of ONS efforts have delivered.”

The group noted that about 2 million LGBTQ veterans are served by the VA, a number that is expected to “substantially increase in this decade.”

Also on Monday, the Defense Department announced its expansion of IVF eligibility requirements, which will now cover assisted reproductive technology for active-duty troops and their spouses, partners, or surrogates.

DoD will allow these service members to “use donor gametes (sperm, egg, or both) and embryos when procured at their own expense.”   

“We continue to identify ways to lean forward as much as we can in support of equity of access to reproductive health care for our service members,” said Kimberly Lahm, a program director in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs for Health Services Policy and Oversight.

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HHS smoking cessation framework focused on ‘most vulnerable’

Evidence suggests LGBTQ smokers may also less likely to call tobacco quitlines, & fewer are using counseling or smoking-cessation medications

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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra at 2023 HHS Pride Summit (Screen capture/YouTube HHS)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services introduced a new 28-page Framework to Support and Accelerate Smoking Cessation on Friday, an effort to support the Biden-Harris administration’s Cancer Moonshot, which aims to cut cancer-related deaths by at least 50 percent over 25 years.

“This framework focuses on advancing equity, engaging communities, and coordinating, collaborating, and integrating evidence-based approaches across every facet of our government and society,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a press release.

“The Biden-Harris Administration will continue these efforts,” he said, “until smoking is no longer the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, and the communities that remain the most vulnerable get the help they need.”

The Department’s assistant secretary for health, Adm. Rachel Levine, said “Today’s announcement marks an important milestone reaffirming our commitment to helping people who smoke to quit by working to maximize their access to and awareness of evidence-based interventions and programs.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is a division of HHS, about 15.3 percent of lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults smoke cigarettes, a figure that is “much higher” than the 11.4 percent of heterosexual adults who do. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual middle and high school aged youth are also likelier to smoke than their straight counterparts.

Additionally, a 2017 study in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine found that 39.7 percent of transgender adults reported using cigarettes, cigars, or e-cigarette products in the last 30 days, and use of e-cigarettes is four times higher compared to use by cisgender adults.

As a result, the CDC reports that LGBTQ people “have more risk factors for cardiovascular (heart and blood vessel) disease – like high blood pressure – than straight adults.”

The agency warns that “if you are part of the LGBTQ+ community, you likely have seen tobacco ads in magazines, newspapers, and websites directed at you” because “Tobacco companies are focusing their advertising on your communities.”

Evidence suggests LGBTQ smokers may also less likely to call tobacco quitlines, and fewer are using counseling or smoking-cessation medications.

HHS’s framework document also notes the disparities cigarette smoking among LGBTQ adults, along with other populations who are likelier to smoke including Black men, blue collar or service industry workers, and adults living in rural areas.

The authors also highlight, in a list of existing HHS programs and activities for smoking cessation, the CDC’s National Networks Driving Action: Preventing Tobacco- and Cancer-Related Health Disparities by Building Equitable Communities.

The program “funds a consortium of national networks to advance the prevention of commercial tobacco use and cancer in populations experiencing tobacco- and cancer related health disparities” and lists LGBTQ people among the “focus population groups.”

According to the HHS press release, “The Framework is organized around six goals that serve as a foundation for long-standing HHS efforts to support and promote smoking cessation”:

  1. Reduce smoking- and cessation-related disparities.
  2. Increase awareness and knowledge related to smoking and cessation.
  3. Strengthen, expand, and sustain cessation services and supports.
  4. Increase access to and coverage of comprehensive, evidence-based cessation treatment.
  5. Advance, expand, and sustain surveillance and strengthen performance measurement and evaluation.
  6. Promote ongoing and innovative research to support and accelerate smoking cessation.
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FBI: Schools are the third most popular location for hate crimes

The FBI’s annual crime report from 2022 found that anti-LGBTQ hate crimes rose precipitously from the previous year

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FBI Director Christopher Wray (Screenshot/NBC News)

WASHINGTON – Statistics released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Monday reveal that schools were the third most popular spot for bias-motivated hate crimes that were reported between 2018-2022.

Primary and secondary schools and university campuses accounted for 10 percent of all hate crimes reported in 2022, while the first and second most common locations were homes and residences and highways, roads and alleyways, the FBI said in its report.

Data comes from the agency’s Uniform Crime Reporting program. The FBI’s annual crime report from 2022, which was released in October, found that anti-LGBTQ hate crimes rose precipitously from the previous year.

Specifically, there with a 13.8 percent increase in crimes motivated by the victim’s sexual orientation and a 32.9 percent increase in crimes motivated by the victim’s gender identity.

In the five years covered in the FBI’s report on Monday, anti-LGBTQ crimes were the third most common, behind those perpetrated against Black or African American victims and those targeting those from certain religious groups, most often Jewish people.

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HHS wins praise for rescinding parts of Trump-era ‘conscience rule’

The final rule released on Tuesday by HHS reverses provisions of the previous policy under which federal funding would be stripped

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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra at 2023 HHS Pride Summit (Screen capture/YouTube HHS)

WASHINGTON – The National Center for Lesbian Rights on Tuesday issued a statement praising the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for rescinding “the the most harmful aspects” of the Trump-era “conscience rule.”

The policy, which passed in 2019, was blocked by three federal courts and never implemented. It would have allowed healthcare providers to deny care based on religious objections.

“The revised rule,” NCLR Federal Policy Director Julianna Gonen said, “is premised on the recognition that a proper balance must be struck between respecting conscience and ensuring that people get the health care they need.”

Gonen noted the persistence of discrimination against LGBTQ patients, adding “this new rule is a welcome development that will help protect our community.”

The final rule released on Tuesday by HHS reverses provisions of the previous policy under which federal funding would be stripped from facilities that required providers to administer care over which they had religious-based objections.

Namely, this largely meant abortions, contraception, and gender-affirming treatments.

“Some doctors, nurses, and hospitals, for example, object for religious or moral reasons to providing or referring for abortions or assisted suicide, among other procedures,” the agency wrote. “Respecting such objections honors liberty and human dignity.”

Likewise, HHS said, “patients also have rights and health needs, sometimes urgent ones.”

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HHS Secretary meets with LGBTQ leaders and organizations

The discussion concerned efforts to “increase access to health care- increase access to behavioral health for the LGBTQI+ community”

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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Hubert Humphrey Building. (Photo Credit: GSA)

WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra hosted LGBTQ leaders and organizations for a meeting on Monday featuring senior staff at the agency, “to build on the progress made in advancing health and human services equity for the community,” according to a press release.

Specifically, HHS said, the discussion concerned efforts to “increase access to health care, secure non-discrimination protections, and increase access to behavioral health for the LGBTQI+ community.”

Becerra highlighted actions including measures to improve Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) data collection to better identify disparities; investments in research to address health disparities; support for youth, including through issuance of the new ASPE brief with best practices for “the needs and well-being of LGBTQI+ young people in their programs and communities”; and regulations intended to protect against anti-LGBTQ discrimination.

In attendance on Monday according to HHS were:

  • Secretary Xavier Becerra, HHS
  • ADM Rachel Levine, Assistant Secretary for Health
  • Dr. Melanie Egorin, Assistant Secretary for Legislation
  • Melanie Fontes Rainer, Director, HHS Office for Civil Rights
  • Jess Smith, Acting Director, HHS Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs
  • Michael Adams, CEO, SAGE USA
  • Carl Baloney Vice President for Public Affairs & Chief Policy Officer, AIDS United
  • Brian Bond, Executive Director, PFLAG
  • Kahlib Barton-Garcon, Chief Program Officer, True Colors United
  • Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, Executive Director, GLSEN
  • Casey Pick, Director of Law and Policy, The Trevor Project
  • Alex Sheldon, Interim Executive Director, GLMA
  • Kelley Robinson, President, Human Rights Campaign (HRC)
  • JoDee Winterhof, Senior Vice-President, Policy and Political Affairs, Human Rights Campaign
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HHS Adm. Levine says anti-LGBTQ hate is ‘a public health threat’

Victims are often made vulnerable by their sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV status, & targeted not just with physical violence

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(L-R) Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, President of the American Medical Association; PFLAG National CEO Brian K. Bond; Admiral Rachel L. Levine, MD, the 17th Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and Charlotte Clymer, writer, transgender activist, and military veteran attending 2023 PFLAG National Convention (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for PFLAG National)

WASHINGTON – Admiral Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, told the Washington Blade in a statement: “We know that hate — whether fueled by homophobia, transphobia, or racism — is a public health threat.”

“I look forward to a day in the future where hate-fueled violence, is an unwelcome memory of the past and no longer incites fear amongst LGBTQI+ people, and all people who live in America,” she said, adding, “We all deserve to live in communities safe from violence.”

A pediatrician and four-star officer who serves as the highest-ranking openly transgender official in U.S. history, Levine’s statement came in response to an inquiry about her meeting on Thursday with New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP) Executive Director Beverly Tillery.

Also in attendance were the assistant secretary’s senior adviser on LGBTQI+ health equity, Adrian Shanker, and Lynn Rosenthal, director of Sexual and Gender-based Violence at the agency.

“We talked about some of the recommendations we have developed specifically for HHS,” Tillery told the Blade during a phone interview on Friday.

These focused on three areas, she said: “more work that will approach hate violence as a public health issue”; incorporating this approach and addressing “the needs of safe spaces on the ground” when implementing the White House LGBTQI+ Community Safety Partnership; and exploring “opportunities for funding and technical assistance for safe spaces.”

Tillery said that “it was a real honor to be able to have a conversation directly with” Levine, adding that during their meeting, the assistant secretary explained she had made a point of visiting LGBTQ spaces in person.

HHS understands that these groups provide and administer the services it funds, like legal aid and referrals to affirming healthcare providers, she said.

The agency “prioritizes those spaces,” with the knowledge that “we’re talking about a really critical infrastructure in our community,” a network of organizations that “holds our community together in terms of physical and mental health,” Tillery said.

Noting the escalation of violence encountered by LGBTQ individuals and spaces, the White House in June announced plans to create an LGBTQI+ Community Safety Partnership led by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice and HHS.

“We are now looking to the beginning of next year, kind of having a plan in place for what we think needs to be happening for next Pride season, really early, and also thinking about the election,” Tillery said. “This is a really critical time where we need to make sure that we get as much information and resources and boots on the ground so they can be actively thinking about safety in a bunch of different ways.”

The White House explained the Partnership will “Provide dedicated safety trainings for LGBTQI+ community organizations and increase federal threat briefings for LGBTQI+ organizations,” “protect health care providers who serve the LGBTQI+ community,” and “support LGBTQI+ communities to report hate crimes and build cross-community partnerships to address hate-fueled violence” — all while working “to build trust between LGBTQI+ organizations and federal law enforcement agencies.”

So far, Tillery said, “the bulk of the work right now that has been done rests in” the Department of Homeland Security, but “I do feel like, right now, they’re ramping up and figuring out [questions like] ‘who is going to be responsible for this thing and what is it going to look like?’”

She added that during Thursday’s meeting, “One of the things that we asked HHS to think about and help us think about is, ‘could there be some very public, regular cadence of meetings between organizations and the agencies specifically about this Partnership’” such that the public might be kept apprised of its progress?

“We are really hoping,” Tillery said, “to make sure that there’s a process for AVP and other organizations to be in regular communication with [the agencies] involved in the White House Community Safety Partnership.”

Tillery said she also talked with Levine and the other officials about ways that HHS, which unlike DHS and DOJ does not represent law enforcement, can contribute — such as by “having them play a role in data collection,” especially provided how the agency is already “paying attention to” data on sexual orientation and gender identity “across the board” and is well positioned to identify gaps.

The full spectrum of hate incidents targeting all types and sizes of LGBTQ spaces

For the past few months, Tillery has met with the White House, HHS, and members of Congress to discuss the first of its kind survey conducted by AVP and its corresponding report published in July, “Under Attack: 2022 LGBTQ+ Safe Spaces National Needs Assessment.”

The document contains feedback from LGBTQ groups of all types and sizes from all 50 states on the hate incidents they have experienced and “the critical needs they have for future safety.”

AVP discovered that nearly nine in 10 LGBTQ community centers experienced hate incidents in person or over the phone. The findings are consistent with the increase, from 2021 to 2022, in hate crimes motivated by bias against the victim’s sexual orientation and, especially, gender identity that were reported by the FBI on Oct. 16.

What distinguishes AVP’s report, Tillery told the Blade during a previous interview on Sept. 13, is that “nobody had really looked at this issue of what’s exactly happening with [LGBTQ] spaces across the country.”

She noted the importance of broadening the focus on anti-LGBTQ hate incidents to include not just acts of violence like last year’s the mass shooting at Club Q, but the full range of ways in which LGBTQ people are targeted or made to feel unsafe, and in all types of community spaces from book stores to bars and beyond.

When discussing the report and its findings in meetings on Capitol Hill, Tillery said “people are surprised” to learn the extent of anti-LGBTQ violence as well as “the range of different kinds of incidents that are happening across the country” and “the way these attacks are happening.”

About half of the surveyed LGBTQ groups said they did not report hate incidents to the police, with many respondents explaining that when their spaces were targeted with anti-LGBTQ protests led by white nationalist groups like the Proud Boys, they felt local law enforcement was more closely allied with or sympathetic to the extremists, Tillery said.

She noted the “overlay of gun violence with this as well,” especially in communities that do not have strong gun safety laws; places where, in many cases, anti-LGBTQ protesters showed up heavily armed.

New York City Anti Violence Project Executive Director Beverly Tillery (Screenshot: CBS New York/YouTube)

What distinguishes AVP’s report, Tillery told the Blade during a previous interview on September 13, is that “nobody had really looked at this issue of what’s exactly happening with [LGBTQ] spaces across the country.”

She noted the importance of broadening the focus on anti-LGBTQ hate incidents to include not just acts of violence like last year’s the mass shooting at Club Q, but the full range of ways in which LGBTQ people are targeted or made to feel unsafe, and in all types of community spaces from book stores to bars and beyond.

When discussing the report and its findings in meetings on Capitol Hill, Tillery said “people are surprised” to learn the extent of anti-LGBTQ violence as well as “the range of different kinds of incidents that are happening across the country” and “the way these attacks are happening.”

About half of the surveyed LGBTQ groups said they did not report hate incidents to the police, with many respondents explaining that when their spaces were targeted with anti-LGBTQ protests led by white nationalist groups like the Proud Boys, they felt local law enforcement was more closely allied with or sympathetic to the extremists, Tillery said.

She noted the “overlay of gun violence with this as well,” especially in communities that do not have strong gun safety laws; places where, in many cases, anti-LGBTQ protestors showed up heavily armed.

Understanding intimate partner violence within the LGBTQ community

Tillery said she was encouraged by how much of her conversation with Levine, Shanker, and Rosenthal concerned issues of intimate partner violence within the LGBTQ community within the context of anti-LGBTQ violence more broadly.

She explained that victims are often made vulnerable by their sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV status, and targeted not just with physical violence but also other forms of intimate partner abuse such as forced “outing,” blocking access to medication, or isolation from community and support networks.

The problem was exacerbated by the Covid pandemic, Tillery said, which caused many people to be “stuck at home with people who might be causing them harm.” Likewise, she said, LGBTQ youth who do not live in affirming, supportive homes in many cases “had to relive some of the homophobia and transphobia while they were in isolation with family members.”

The conversation about intimate partner violence dovetailed into other matters Tillery discussed with HHS, such as areas in which there is a deficit in data collection, she said.

For example, she pointed to the results of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey that were published in April, which had “great data” about experiences with intimate partner violence among gay and bisexual men and women but very little with respect to transgender and gender nonconforming respondents, Tillery said.

Tillery added that strong data is crucial for the Partnership’s work and beyond, carrying implications “down the road for funding and resources and congressional action.”

Looking ahead to prepare for next year’s Pride and election seasons

Another topic addressed on Thursday, Tillery said, was how best to “get out in front” with the work that must be done on matters of community safety and securing LGBTQ spaces ahead of not just the next Pride season but also the 2024 elections.

She said AVP will continue working with the Biden-Harris administration and other partners on implementing measures to protect the various groups, activists, organizers, and volunteers who will be running voter registration programs, participating in “get out the vote” efforts, and campaigning on behalf of candidates.

“We are now looking to the beginning of next year, kind of having a plan in place for what we think needs to be happening for next Pride season, really early, and also thinking about the election,” Tillery said.

“This is a really critical time where we need to make sure that we get as much information and resources and boots on the ground so they can be actively thinking about safety in a bunch of different ways,” she said.

Tillery added, “Hopefully we can get out in front of it, so that we can provide some groups with some resources and tools before they start doing a lot of those activities as the election season heats up,” she said.

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Sharp increase in anti-LGBTQ hate crimes, FBI finds

HRC declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ people citing, among other factors, the “wave of harmful and discriminatory legislation”

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FBI Director Christopher Wray (Screen capture/NBC News)

WASHINGTON – Compared to 2021 estimates, hate crimes last year that were motivated by bias against the victims’ sexual orientation rose 13.8 percent while those motivated by bias against the victims’ gender identity rose 32.9 percent, according to data from the FBI.

The agency’s numbers come from the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, largely through the National Incident-Based Reporting System and the Summary Reporting System, which the FBI says collectively accounts for 93.5 percent of the U.S. population.

Data shows the increases in anti-LGBTQ hate crimes came despite a decrease, by 6.1 percent, of estimated murder and non-negligent manslaughter cases during this same period.

“The rise in hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community is both shocking and heartbreaking, yet sadly, not unexpected,” Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement responding to the FBI’s report.

“The constant stream of hostile rhetoric from fringe anti-equality figures, alongside the relentless passage of discriminatory bills, particularly those targeting transgender individuals, in state legislatures, created an environment where it was sadly foreseeable that individuals with violent tendencies might respond to this rhetoric,” she said.

“The FBI’s data serves as another alarming indicator of the state of emergency our community finds itself in,” Robinson said, adding, “We also know that this data is incomplete, that too many cities and states are reporting incomplete data, or even no data at all, on hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community. If we’re going to bring a stop to that violence, we need a full accounting of just how many hate crimes are taking place – and that requires every jurisdiction stepping up.”

HRC reports that more than 20 percent of reported hate crimes are are now motivated by anti-LGBTQ bias, amid a “horrifying wave” of fatal violence against, particularly, Black transgender women.

The group in June declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ people in the U.S., citing, among other factors, the “wave of harmful and discriminatory legislation — some of which was engineered and championed by extremist GOP candidates running for president and their allies — and the concurrent spike in anti-transgender rhetoric and violence.”

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Anti-LGBTQ Libs of TikTok targets Dept. of Interior spokesperson

Raichik has led an online harassment campaign against Out queer Tyler Cherry, deputy comms director for the U.S. Department of the Interior

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Libs of TikTok owner Chaya Raichik with former President Donald Trump during a visit to Mar-A-Lago. (Photo Credit: Libs Of TikTok X/Twitter)

WASHINGTON – A group of anti-LGBTQ right-wing pundits led by Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik have led an online harassment campaign against Out queer Tyler Cherry, principal deputy communications director and senior spokesperson for the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The attacks began on Thursday afternoon, when Raichik shared a post on X featuring a photo of Cherry — which looks like an official headshot — writing, “This is the Communications Director for the Secretary of Interior”.

Conservative news outlet The Blaze followed suit with a nearly identical post.

Hours later, Libs of TikTok shared more photos of Cherry in a post proclaiming, “Meet Tyler Cherry. The queer spokesperson for the @Interior.” The group also highlighted some of their past social media posts and previous employment with a progressive nonprofit.

Raychik has come under fire for promulgating, by proxy, bomb threats against schools and educators that came after they were targeted by her on the Libs of TikTok social media accounts.

Cherry, who held high profile roles for major Democratic consulting firm SKDK and also within the Biden-Harris administration prior to his appointment at Interior, was honored among the Forbes “30 Under 30” list for media professionals.

Cherry did not respond to a request for comment. The FBI, which investigates and prosecutes threats against government officials, also did not immediately return a request for comment.

Human Rights Campaign National Press Secretary Brandon Wolf condemned the harassment of Cherry in a statement to the Washington Blade:

“Last week, Congresswoman Lauren Boebert hurled a transphobic tirade at US Asst. Secretary of Defense for Readiness Shawn Skelly; this week, it’s Libs Of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik targeting Dept. of Interior Spokesperson Tyler Cherry. Simply for being who they are.”

Wolf continued, “This vile harassment is more of the extremist agenda to demonize the LGBTQ+ community and divide the country — and it’s exactly the kind of hateful rhetoric that has led to spiking violence and discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, mounting threats of violence against schools and children’s hospitals, and plunged the community into a state of emergency.”

He added, “Shame on those who peddle hate for clicks and cheap political points. We are grateful for the work of these talented public servants and the inspiration they bring to so many.”

In a statement to The Advocate on Friday, a White House spokesperson said “No one should be targeted simply for being themselves. It is cruel and unacceptable. This is an administration that believes to our core in the principle that out of many we are one — and we are proud that the people who serve in it reflect those values as well.”

The statement continued, “Tyler is an invaluable member of our team who continues to deliver for the Department of Interior and the American people.”

Update: On Monday, October 9, GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis shared the following statement with the Washington Blade:

Again and again, extremists reveal just how desperate and unhinged they are about the mere existence of LGBTQ people, and it’s getting more dangerous and outrageous. Recent posts have appeared to lead to bomb threats at elementary schools, libraries and children’s hospitals.

This must stop. Dehumanizing words and targeting of people just for who they are must stop. It’s also pointless- LGBTQ people are not going anywhere. We are in your families, workplaces, schools and government, welcome as we are. Social media bullies need to find something better to do. LGBTQ people will always be out here living with joy and freedom.

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