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.

Despite facing a $325,000 shortfall in sponsorship funding, Greater Palm Springs Pride is pressing forward with its annual four-day celebration, which draws more than 200,000 attendees and generates millions in local economic impact.

“In our specific case, 60% of our shortfall is from one sponsor in Florida where the governor has directed a pullback from supporting DEI or related programs. The other 40% is a sign of economic times,” said Ron deHarte, President of Palm Springs Pride. “Partners who have and continue to support Palm Springs Pride are experiencing tighter budgets… we are confident good partners will continue their investment in our programming.”

The funding gap underscores how critical LGBTQ+ organizations are to their communities. DeHarte noted that these groups provide services ranging from crisis intervention for homeless youth to HIV/AIDS prevention, legal aid, and safe spaces. “When funding is cut or becomes unreliable, these vital services are put at risk. This not only undermines the organizations themselves but also directly impacts the well-being and safety of the individuals they serve. This financial pressure can be seen as a modern tactic of marginalization,” he said.

But this challenge is part of a much longer history of resilience for the LGBTQ+ community. “The history of Pride is fundamentally a story of resistance. From the Stonewall Uprising’s response to police harassment and brutality, the LGBTQ+ community has always had to fight for its right to exist openly and without fear… the collective pushback against legal, social, and political forces that have sought to push LGBTQ+ people to the margins defines what the LGBTQ+ movement has represented for the last 50 years,” deHarte said.

For deHarte, the shortfall is also a testament to the LGBTQ+ community’s ingenuity and self-reliance. “We are not victims. The LGBTQ+ community has a long history of fighting for its rights… The decision to proceed with Palm Springs Pride, even with fewer resources, is a testament to this spirit of self-reliance and strength. We have fought for everything we have. The rights and freedoms celebrated at Pride were not given freely; they were earned through decades of activism, advocacy, and sacrifice,” he explained.

“We do what needs to be done with the resources available. This year’s event will highlight the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the LGBTQ+ community. When faced with a lack of corporate sponsorships, grassroots support and community donations will fill the void. This underscores the idea that the community’s power comes from within, not from external validation or funding. We do more with less,” deHarte said.

Even with fewer resources, organizers say the festival will remain bold, inclusive, and unapologetically political. “It is vital that we stand together and show the world that our community is strong and our fight for equality continues. This year, more than ever, Palm Springs Pride will be a vibrant and political statement and a call to action that will not be quieted,” he added.

From its roots in grassroots protest to today’s massive celebration, Palm Springs Pride demonstrates the power of community, the resilience of a movement, and the enduring spirit of resistance — proving that Pride is not just a party, but a declaration: the fight for equality continues, and the LGBTQ+ community will not be silenced.

Those who want to support the festival can make a contribution online or participate in events like the Equality Walk, though attendance remains free to all.

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You’ve linked the shortfall to the current political climate. When we look at the far-right media pipeline, it feels like they’re creating a lot of noise — but does that reflect reality on the ground?

 In our specific case, and we point out every Pride organization is unique, 60% of our shortfall is from one sponsor in Florida where the governor has directed a pullback from supporting DEI or related programs. The other 40% is a sign of economic times. Partners who have and continue to support Palm Springs Pride are experiencing tighter budgets. They have been supportive in the past, are continuing to be supportive today. We are confident good partners will continue their investment in our programming.

Corporations seem to react quickly to that noise, often pulling back support out of fear. Do you see that as a reflection of real public opinion, or more about how power operates in boardrooms and newsrooms?

We have heard of this happening with some very large Pride organizations across the country. But when you step back and look at the 450-500 Pride events in the United States, a very small percentage of those events have experienced the corporate retreat you mention.

Pride was born as resistance to systems of power that wanted us silent. How do you see this year’s funding shortfall fitting into that longer history of LGBTQ+ people being pushed to the margins? Has the resistance ever changed? 

The history of Pride is fundamentally a story of resistance. From the Stonewall Uprising’s response to police harassment and brutality, the LGBTQ+ community has always had to fight for its right to exist openly and without fear. The root of the struggle has been about individual rights; however,  the collective pushback against legal, social, and political forces that have sought to push LGBTQ+ people to the margins defines what the LGBTQ+ movement has represented for the last 50 years.

In this context, the recent funding shortfall for LGBTQ+ organizations is a deeply concerning development that fits into this long history of marginalization. It is a modern form of the same pressure that has historically been used to silence and undermine the community.

The struggle for equality continues. Funding shortfalls for LGBTQ+ organizations represents a new front in this ongoing battle. These organizations are critical, providing a range of essential services for crisis intervention for homeless youth, healthcare access and HIV/AIDS prevention, legal aid for discrimination cases and community centers that provide safe spaces. When funding is cut or becomes unreliable, these vital services are put at risk. This not only undermines the organizations themselves but also directly impacts the well-being and safety of the individuals they serve. This financial pressure can be seen as a modern tactic of marginalization, as it seeks to weaken the infrastructure that the LGBTQ+ community relies on to advocate for its rights and support its members.

The funding shortfall is not just a financial issue; it’s an issue of social justice. It highlights the continued need for vigilance and support to ensure that the progress made by the LGBTQ+ community is not rolled back.

Corporate sponsorship often comes with strings attached and can vanish in the face of political pressure. What does it take to build support that is unshakeable, rooted in actual community power rather than optics? 

What sponsorship support comes with no strings attached or no risk of future investment? Grants have deliverables and restrictions, city government funding is dependent on political support, businesses want logo exposure / tickets/ recognition, and now federal grants require removal of any transgender language. One would think individuals would freely donate to their local Pride but many view Pride as a party. It would be great for individual donors to replace the funds currently provided by large money sponsors. While many Pride events are free to attend, implementing small fees for certain aspects can generate significant revenue. Tickets for specific concerts, reserved seating for the parade, or fundraisers throughout the year are also ways to shift the funding model. These are all opportunities. We need to do a better job letting the community know how they can support.

Is it fair to say that relying on corporations has sometimes weakened Pride’s political edge? How do you balance funding needs with staying true to a movement built on resistance?

In our case we have never tempered the political nature of Pride in Palm Springs. However, we have experienced parade participants pulling out because they feel the parade is too political.

What role do you see for small businesses, local organizers, and everyday community members in sustaining Pride, especially when big sponsors pull out?

For free Pride events like Palm Springs Pride, attendees can help by donating $10 bucks (or more) online in place of buying a ticket. Many small businesses who are able already support Pride. However, there are many others who benefit from the economic impact a Pride event has in the community who choose not to provide support. Our message is that we welcome everyone, we are a free event and donations are appreciated to cover expenses. 

Systems of power that target queer people are also targeting immigrants, BIPOC communities, and other marginalized groups. How do you see Pride standing in solidarity across those struggles?

We are immigrants. We are the BIPOC community. While Palm Springs is widely known as a welcoming and inclusive city for the LGBTQ+ community, groups within the community face additional layers of marginalization. These groups often experience unique challenges due to the intersection of their LGBTQ+ identity with other identities, such as race, age, and disability. We are one and must ensure TGI individuals, LGBTQ+ people of color, youth, older adults and individuals with disabilities are at the table. 

Are there lessons from mutual aid and grassroots organizing that could reshape how Pride operates — making it more of a real support network, not just a festival?

Yes, the origin of Pride is in grassroots organizing and protest. While the modern landscape includes celebratory elements and corporate involvement, look behind the curtain, and one will see its core purpose remains a powerful blend of community building, activism, and providing a crucial support network for LGBTQ+ people. That’s grassroots in 2025. In Palm Springs, it is, and always has been, more than just a party. Pride is fundamentally a real and vital support network for the LGBTQ+ community.

At a grassroots level, Pride provides a space for LGBTQ+ individuals to be their authentic selves without fear of shame or stigma. This visibility is powerful, especially for those who may feel isolated in their daily lives. Pride events, and the organizations behind them, connect people with a “chosen family” and a sense of belonging. Pride continues to be a call to action. It raises awareness about ongoing struggles for equality and rights, and it is a powerful opportunity for protest and political mobilization.

Looking back at the history of Pride as a movement born from resistance, does this funding crisis feel like an opportunity to recenter the movement on community accountability, activism, and care networks rather than corporate sponsorship?

This is certainly a time to ensure our platform reignites the Pride experience to demand rights, protest injustice, and raise awareness about ongoing struggles of the community. The current funding crisis, while difficult, presents a chance to fortify the movement from the ground up, ensuring it remains a powerful force for advocacy and community care, rather than a perceived corporate-sponsored spectacle. It is vital that we stand together and show the world that our community is strong and our fight for equality continues. This year, more than ever, Palm Springs Pride will be a vibrant and political statement and a call to action that will not be quieted.

What would you say to those watching from outside the LGBTQ+ community? What message does Palm Springs Pride send by moving forward this year despite these setbacks? 

To those watching from outside the LGBTQ+ community, Palm Springs Pride sends a powerful and unwavering message. It is a message of resilience, determination, and a refusal to be silenced. By moving forward this year despite recent funding shortfall due to a challenging political climate, Palm Springs Pride is showing our commitment is not conditional on easy circumstances. We are demonstrating that Pride is more than a party; it is a fundamental act of visible existence, a celebration of hard-won rights, and a continued protest against injustice.

We are not victims. The LGBTQ+ community has a long history of fighting for its rights. From daily struggles for equality, the community has always had to create our own path forward. The decision to proceed with Palm Springs Pride, even with fewer resources, is a testament to this spirit of self-reliance and strength. We have fought for everything we have. The rights and freedoms celebrated at Pride were not given freely; they were earned through decades of activism, advocacy, and sacrifice. This year’s events serve as a reminder of this ongoing struggle and honors the pioneers who paved the way.

We do what needs to be done with the resources available. This year’s event will highlight the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the LGBTQ+ community. When faced with a lack of corporate sponsorships, grassroots support and community donations will fill the void. This underscores the idea that the community’s power comes from within, not from external validation or funding. We do more with less. The ability to adapt and thrive in the face of adversity is a defining characteristic of the LGBTQ+ community. Palm Springs Pride’s continued existence despite a budget reduction shows that the core message and purpose of the event are not dependent on a lavish production. The focus remains on community, activism, and a powerful, visible presence.

Palm Springs Pride Celebration 2025 / Thur Nov 6 through Sun Nov 9 FREE ADMISSION

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. 

Advocacy groups say the State Department’s 2024 human rights report that “erased” LGBTQ+ people will jeopardize the cases of those who are seeking asylum in the U.S.

Immigration Equality notes the report “serve as key evidence for asylum seekers, attorneys, judges, and advocates who rely on them to assess human rights conditions and protection claims worldwide.”

The 2024 report the State Department released on Aug. 12 did not include LGBTQ+-specific references. Immigration Equality Director of Law and Policy Bridget Crawford in a statement said country-specific reports within the larger report “should be accurate, fact-based, and reflect the lived reality of LGBTQ people — not ignore and actively hide it.”

“When adjudicators see less information in these reports than in prior years, they may wrongly assume conditions have improved,” said Crawford. “In truth, the absence of reporting is a purely political move, not based in fact or reality.”

Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration Executive Director Steve Roth in a statement condemned the Trump-Vance administration’s “deliberate erasure of LGBTIQ communities from the 2024 human rights report — an unprecedented move that violates international standards.”

“This is a targeted and malicious act that will directly endanger lives,” he said.

Roth, like Immigration Equality, noted courts “around the world rely on these reports to evaluate asylum claims.”

“Stripping out documentation of LGBTIQ persecution removes a vital tool in assessing claims for protection, jeopardizing the ability of LGBTIQ asylum seekers to access safety,” said Roth.

Congress requires the State Department to release a human rights report each year.

The State Department usually releases them in the spring, as opposed to August. Then-State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce, who president Donald Trump has nominated to become deputy representative at the U.N., during her last press briefing on Aug. 12 defended the delay and the report itself.

“We weren’t going to release something compiled and written by the previous administration,” said Bruce. “It needed to change based on the point of view and the vision of the Trump administration, and so those changes were made.”

Asylum courts ‘will have less credible data to rely on’

Jessica Stern, the former special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ+ and intersex rights under the Biden-Harris administration, co-founded the Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice with several other former State Department officials. 

The Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice in response to the report said the U.S. has “betrayed the trust of human rights defenders who risked their safety to share the truth” and added “some (of them) are now less safe.”

“Asylum courts in the U.S. and globally will have less credible data to rely on,” said the group.

Human Rights Watch echoed the Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice.

“The human rights report has been used in U.S. asylum court cases to show that an asylum seeker could not be returned to a country where similarly situated people were being persecuted,” said Human Rights Watch in response to the 2024 report. “That essential resource for keeping people safe is not only no longer reliable or helpful, but in some cases could put people at risk by denying abuses in places where the United States or other countries intend to deport asylum seekers and immigrants.”

En el corazón de Medellín hay una red que late con fuerza propia. No aparece en los grandes titulares, pero su presencia se percibe en el sonido de un tambor que marca el ritmo de un ensayo, en las manos que se manchan de colores para pintar un mural, en el aire tibio que entra por las ventanas abiertas y se mezcla con el eco de una risa, en los abrazos que cierran una jornada. Es la Red Popular Trans, una plataforma comunitaria que ha hecho del arte, la naturaleza, las espiritualidades y la organización social una herramienta de vida para cientos de personas trans, no binaries y cuir, un lugar donde la creatividad fluye como el agua, se expande como el viento y se enraíza como un árbol que crece en suelo fértil.

Allí, los sueños se tejen en colectivo y las puertas que antes parecían cerradas se abren para dejar pasar la luz. De ese trabajo nació el Festival Interdisciplinar de Artes Trans – Travar las Artes, organizado junto a la colectiva Pajarapintadanza y fundado con el impulso y liderazgo de Ale Álvarez, quien fue una de sus creadoras y principal representante durante los primeros cuatro años. Este festival no es un evento para la foto, es el primer festival de arte trans en Colombia dirigido por personas trans y para personas trans, un hecho histórico que ha marcado un antes y un después en la cultura del país.

No es un simple espacio de exhibición: es un laboratorio vivo de resistencia y cuidado donde la danza, el teatro, la música, la poesía y las artes visuales dialogan con la tierra, el cuerpo y la voz, devolviéndoles su poder y transformándolos en acto político y en celebración de la vida. Travar las Artes ha demostrado que la cultura también puede ser una trinchera de libertad, y que es posible resignificar tradiciones para abrir nuevos caminos. Basta recordar la reinterpretación del bullerengue, una danza tradicional colombiana, llevada a escena desde una mirada queer y desafiante. Poner a una travesti a bailar bullerengue no fue un simple acto estético, sino un gesto político que desafió estructuras hegemónicas y abrió posibilidades de representación que antes parecían impensables.

En este espacio no hay protagonistas únicos. Cada historia es un cauce que alimenta un mismo río: la joven que encontró en la danza un lenguaje para hablar de su identidad sin miedo, el actor que convirtió su transición en una obra de teatro que recorre barrios y escuelas, la cantante que lleva su voz a escenarios comunitarios porque sabe que allí también se construye país. Entre esas historias, una brilla con especial fuerza: la de Ale.

Ale llegó a la Red Popular Trans buscando un lugar seguro donde pudiera ser sin explicaciones ni condiciones. Lo encontró, y encontró también un espejo en el arte, una forma de reconocerse. Lo que empezó como curiosidad por la danza se volvió vocación y raíz. Hoy es licenciada en Danza, graduada con honores, y ha regresado a los mismos espacios que la vieron crecer para guiar a otres que, como ella, buscan un camino. En cada taller que facilita, Ale recuerda que antes de ser profesional fue una persona que necesitaba escuchar: “Aquí eres bienvenide”.

Esa frase resume la esencia de lo que aquí ocurre. La Red Popular Trans no solo impulsa el festival: organiza talleres permanentes, acompaña procesos de salud y bienestar, conecta artistas con oportunidades y teje redes de apoyo que se sostienen incluso fuera del escenario. Pajarapintadanza ha puesto el cuerpo, el movimiento y el espíritu al servicio de la pedagogía queer y decolonial, demostrando que el arte puede sanar, movilizar y transformar.

En estas redes, cada logro individual es una victoria colectiva. Cuando une bailarín trans pisa un escenario, cuando une pintore no binarie exhibe su obra, cuando une poeta cuir recita frente a su comunidad, toda la red respira con orgullo. El arte que nace aquí no es lujo, es necesidad; no solo inspira, sino que salva. Es viento que acaricia, raíz que sostiene, agua que fluye y fuego que enciende. El trabajo comunitario, constante y apasionado, convierte historias marcadas por el dolor en relatos de resiliencia y esperanza. Ale, la Red Popular Trans, Pajarapintadanza y Travar las Artes son prueba viva de ello, recordándonos que mientras haya cuerpos que bailen, voces que se alcen y manos que creen, siempre habrá un lugar para empezar de nuevo, y a veces, sin darnos cuenta, ese lugar se convierte en hogar.

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.

Advocacy groups on Tuesday sharply criticized the removal LGBTQ-specific references from the State Department’s 2024 human rights report.

The report, which the State Department released on Tuesday, does not reference Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Law and the impact it has had on the country’s LGBTQ community since President Yoweri Museveni signed it in 2023. The report, however, does note Ugandan government officials “reportedly committed acts of sexual violence.”

“NGOs reported police medical staff subjected at least 15 persons to forced anal examinations following their arrests,” it reads. “Opposition protesters stated security forces used or threatened to use forced anal examinations during interrogations.”

Uganda is among the dozens of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized. Authorities in the African country often use so-called anal tests to determine whether someone has engaged in homosexuality.

The report does not mention that Brazil has the highest number of reported murders of transgender people in the world. It does, however, note the President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2024 “undermined democratic debate by restricting access to online content deemed to ‘undermine democracy,’ disproportionately suppressing the speech of supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro as well as journalists and elected politicians, often in secret proceedings that lacked due process guarantees.”

The report says there “were no credible reports of significant human rights abuses” in Hungary in 2024, even though Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government continued its anti-LGBTQ rights crackdown. The report does note Russian authorities last year “invoked a law prohibiting the distribution of ‘propaganda on nontraditional sexual relations’ to children.”

The State Department’s 2023 human rights report specifically notes a Russian law “prohibited gender transition procedures and gender-affirming care … and authorities used laws prohibiting the promotion of ‘non-traditional sexual relations’ to justify the arbitrary arrest of LGBTQI+ persons.” The 2023 report also cites reports that “state actors committed violence against LGBTQI+ individuals based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, particularly in Chechnya” and “government agents attacked, harassed, and threatened LGBTQI+ activists.”

“There were instances of non-state actor violence targeting LGBTQI+ persons and of police often failing to respond adequately to such incidents,” it adds.

The 2024 report does not mention Thai lawmakers last year approved a bill that extended marriage rights to same-sex couples. Gays and lesbians began to legally marry in the country in January.

Jessica Stern, the former special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights under the Biden-Harris administration who co-founded the Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice, during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday said she and her colleagues “expected (the report) to be bad.”

“When we saw what the administration released, the truth is we were shocked and horrified,” said Stern.

Stern added the Trump-Vance administration “has erased or watered-down entire categories of abuse against people of African descent, indigenous people, Roma people, members of other marginalized racial and ethnic communities, workers, women and girls, and LGBTQI+ people.”

“It is deliberate erasure,” said Stern.

The Council for Global Equality in a statement condemned “the drastic restructuring and glaring omission of violence and abuse targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) persons in the U.S.”

“We denounce the Trump administration’s efforts to politicize the State Department’s annual human rights reports by stripping longstanding references to human rights abuses targeting LGBTQI+ and other marginalized groups,” said Mark Bromley, the group’s co-chair.

Gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), who chairs the Congressional Equality Caucus, echoed Bromley and Stern.

“Omitting the persecution of LGBTQI+ people from the human rights reports doesn’t erase the abuse, violence, and criminalization our community is facing around the world — it condones it,” said Takano in a statement.

“Erasing our community from these reports makes it that much harder for human rights advocates, the press, and the American people to be aware of the abuses LGBTQI+ people are facing worldwide,” he added.

Congress requires the State Department to release a human rights report each year. Foggy Bottom usually releases it in the spring. 

Politico in March reported the Trump-Vance administration planned to cut “sections about the rights of women, the disabled, the LGBTQ+ community, and more” from the human rights report. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce, who President Donald Trump has nominated to become deputy representative at the U.N., on Tuesday during her last press briefing defended the report and the delay in releasing it.

“We weren’t going to release something compiled and written by the previous administration,” said Bruce. “It needed to change based on the point of view and the vision of the Trump administration, and so those changes were made.”

“It certainly promotes, as does our work, a respect for human rights around the globe,” added the former Fox News contributor who has described herself as a “gay woman.”

The Council for Global Equality and Democracy Forward has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. A press release notes it is “seeking the release of additional information … including any instructions provided by political appointees to strip references to abuses against LGBTQI+ persons from the reports.”

“The reports make LGBTQI+ persons and other minorities invisible and, in so doing, they undermine the human rights landscape that protects all of us,” said Bromley.

“Erasing our community from these reports makes it that much harder for human rights advocates, the press, and the American people to be aware of the abuses LGBTQI+ people are facing worldwide,” added Takano. “Failing to rectify this censorship will have real — and potentially deadly — consequences for LGBTQI+ people, including both for those who travel abroad from the U.S. and for LGBTQI+ people in countries whose leadership no longer need to worry about consequences for their human rights abuses. The State Department must reverse course and restore the LGBTQI+ section to these reports.”

A State Department spokesperson told the Washington Blade the “information included in the 2024 reports has been restructured and streamlined for better utility and accessibility, and to be more responsive to the legislative mandate for the (human rights report.)”

“The result directly addresses the reporting requirements as laid out in statute as well as being more streamlined, objective, universal, and accessible to the American public,” said the spokesperson.

The spokesperson did not comment on the FOIA lawsuit the Council for Global Equality and Democracy Forward has filed.

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.”

Wallis Annenberg, who passed away shortly after her 86th birthday on July 28th, left behind a legacy that few philanthropists of any era could hope to match. A passionate leader, cultural patron, and unapologetically generous force in Los Angeles, she spent her life championing creativity, compassion, and community. But what often went unsaid, sometimes politely ignored, was that Wallis was also a queer pioneer. In a world that didn’t always make room for women like her, she quietly yet courageously carved out space not just for herself, but for others on the margins, channeling her power and privilege into building a more inclusive world.

Born into one of America’s most influential media families, Wallis Annenberg was raised in Philadelphia with ink practically in her veins. Her father, Walter Annenberg, founded TV Guide and Seventeen, and built a philanthropic legacy as prominent as his publishing empire. After graduating from Pine Manor College in 1959, Wallis dipped a toe into the family business at TV Guide before eventually diving headfirst into the deeper waters of philanthropy. It wasn’t until her father’s death in 2002 that she properly took the reins, steering the Annenberg Foundation into its most impactful era as President and CEO from 2009 until her passing.

Under her leadership, the Foundation funneled a staggering $1.5 billion into a wildly diverse portfolio of causes, from arts and culture to environmental conservation, journalism to gerontology, and yes, even animal overpasses. Her imprint on Los Angeles is practically architectural – the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, GenSpace in Koreatown, PetSpace for animal lovers, the ambitious Wildlife Crossing set to open in 2026, and the science-sparking Annenberg Building at the California Science Center. Her boardroom resume reads like a cultural tour of LA and then some – USC, LACMA, MOCA, the Philharmonic, the Music Center, and Harlem Children’s Zone, to name just a few. In 2022, President Joe Biden awarded her the National Humanities Medal, sealing her place in history as part of the only three-generation family to earn such a distinction, further proof that giving back wasn’t just in the Annenberg bloodline but a full-fledged dynasty.

Most obituaries have captured her vast philanthropic footprint, her roles in the public sphere, and her institutional endowments quite accurately yet have almost entirely glossed over or minimized a central truth: Wallis Annenberg lived as a lesbian woman, and openly supported LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS causes with strategically courageous generosity.

To fully and properly honor Wallis is to acknowledge not only her generational wealth and philanthropic vision but also her very much so queer identity: a lesbian woman whose visibility was moderately limited by her time and place yet meaningful when and where it counted. Her sexuality and identity shaped her empathy toward marginalized people. 

Ignoring that part of her story perpetuates the ever-constant sanitization of queer public figures, simplifying them into neutered benefactors while erasing the very identity that informed the bulk of their charitable giving. Wallis’s lived experience as a lesbian deserves proper and public acknowledgment not merely as a footnote but as integral to her philanthropy, her community care, and her story – a story layered with courage, complexity, and an undertone of quiet and careful defiance.

Wallis faced addiction head-on, and the recovery journey didn’t just save her – it connected her to journalist Karen Ocamb, who became to Wallis a close companion and confidante. Wallis didn’t shy away from vulnerability and fueled that same vulnerable energy into generosity, building a philanthropic approach shaped by her experience rather than detachment. 

Among the many tributes after her passing, it was only Ocamb who celebrated and honored Wallis’ sexuality with clarity and care. In her heartfelt Substack tribute, Ocamb wrote, “Wallis never came out – but she lived out loud, fiercely loving women and channeling her passion into transformative giving.”

Back in 1985, when AIDS was still drenched in stigma and so many people, including health professionals, kept their distance, Wallis stepped forward to co-chair the Commitment to Life dinner. That decision was in no way a headline grab but most certainly was a risk on her part for the time. In a day and age when silence was safest when protecting one’s reputation, Wallis chose to speak out through action. Her courage didn’t need a spotlight. It simply showed up where it mattered most.

Navigating public life came with its own choreography. Wallis maintained what some might call “strategic privacy,” presenting a heteronormative front in certain circles while sharing her life, deeply and authentically, with women in more trusted spaces. It wasn’t about hiding but surviving the era she lived in, and, like so many others, choosing when and how to live freely.

Wallis brought that same intentional care to her philanthropy. While major media celebrated her support for the arts, education, and conservation, far less attention was paid to her contributions to LGBTQ+ elder communities. Initiatives like Gay and Lesbian Elder Housing made a genuine, tangible difference in people’s lives, even if her name wasn’t always highlighted in the coverage.

And through it all, there was Kris Levine—Wallis’s steadfast partner, legally acknowledged near the end of Wallis’s life but largely absent from obituaries. Their relationship, though rarely publicized, was integral. It stood as one more example of how much of Wallis’s real story lived just beneath the surface.

Wallis reshaped what philanthropy could look like. Her leadership turned the Annenberg Foundation toward place-based investments, inclusive community programs, aging and wellness initiatives, and bold infrastructure like GenSpace and the Wallis Center. Her vision made space not just for ideas, but for people too often overlooked. Her presence sent a message, whether spoken or not, that queer women, especially those of her generation, have always helped shape the culture, even when they weren’t given a slot up at the mic. 

Wallis Annenberg leaves behind more than just her sprawling physical legacy. She also leaves us with a moral legacy grounded in generosity extended to communities she truly and deeply cared for, in particular the queer community that she was very much so part of. Let us all remember Wallis not only as a philanthropist, but as a queer woman whose identity was at the epicenter of her compassion. Let this tribute stand as an acknowledgment that she was more than her institutions. She was human, nuanced, hidden, and honest. And let it serve as an invitation to future remembrances. I more than dare you to include the truth of sexuality, the courage of love, and the quiet acts of resistance that defined her.

Wallis Annenberg, may your spirit continue to guide all communities – arts, aging, wildlife, and LGBTQ+ – toward a world that you helped shape for the better. Your gifts were vast. Your love was real. And your full story deserves telling.

As Texas House Democrats fled the state to prevent Republicans from gerrymandering Democratic-held districts to flip seats, they also blocked anti-transgender legislation from being considered simply by not showing up.

More than 50 House Democrats left Texas on Sunday in an attempt to pause — if not kill — recent Republican-proposed and Trump-encouraged measures making their way through the state House.

This move by Democrats is called “breaking quorum,” and means the Texas House has fewer than the required minimum number of representatives present to conduct business. In total, the Texas House has 150 seats. Republicans hold only 88 seats — less than the 100 required to meet quorum — pausing the legislative session.

The Democratic legislators traveled to Illinois and New York, two Democratic strongholds with outspoken governors vowing to protect them and prevent Republicans from gaining an unfair advantage in the middle of the legislative calendar — at Trump’s behest.

The major issue Texas Democrats are drawing attention to is the recent redistricting plan, which would flip five Democratic U.S. House of Representatives seats to Republican ones through the use of gerrymandering, or strategic manipulation of district boundaries. This gerrymandering would likely result in Republicans retaining control of the U.S. House in the 2026 midterms.

In addition to redistricting, Republicans have proposed Senate Bill 7, also known as “The Trans Bathroom Ban.” This bill mandates that people use the bathroom in government buildings, schools, and women’s violence shelters that corresponds with their sex at birth, rather than their gender identity. The bill would also require incarcerated individuals to be placed in facilities that match their sex at birth.

Proponents of the bill, like Fran Rhodes, the president of True Texas Project — a hardline conservative group that opposes LGBTQ rights and immigration — argue that without SB 7, “we put women and girls at risk.”

This proposed legislation has been denounced by Equality Texas, which says it would not only put trans women at risk, but also cis women, who would be subject to “invasive gender inspections.” They argue this would undermine the Republicans’ stated intent of the bill by subjecting women to unnecessary scrutiny rather than protecting them.

Multiple cis women have come out in opposition to the bill, including Wendy Davis, a lawyer and former member of the Texas State Senate, who called the bill “a solution without a problem.”

Davis continued, saying that “Our trans sisters deserve to be safe in the restroom, just like we deserve to be safe in the restroom.”

Additionally, some Black Texans have sounded the alarm on this bill, likening it to Jim Crow-era segregation legislation — but instead of skin color, it uses gender identity to discriminate.

As the clock runs out on this 30-day special session ending Aug. 19, there is a chance Republican Gov. Greg Abbott could extend the session, as it is within his power as governor.

Texas Democrats hope this will pressure Republicans to work with them to reach a compromise on both redistricting and killing the anti-trans bill.