Writing about President Joe Biden’s legacy is difficult without the distance and time required to assess a leader of his stature, but what becomes clear from talking with him is the extent to which his views on LGBTQ rights come from the heart.

Biden leads an administration that has been hailed as the most pro-LGBTQ in American history, achieving major milestones in the struggle to expand freedoms and protections for the community.

Meanwhile, conservative elected officials at the local, state, and national levels have led an all-out assault against LGBTQ Americans — especially those who are transgender, and especially transgender youth, who face an uncertain future with Donald Trump promising to strip them of their rights and reverse the gains of the past four years if he is elected in November.

Biden shared his thoughts and reflections on these subjects and more in a wide-ranging sit-down interview with the Washington Blade on Sept. 12 in the Oval Office, which marked the first time in which an LGBTQ newspaper has conducted an exclusive interview with a sitting U.S. president.

Looking back on the movement, the president repeatedly expressed his admiration for the “men and women who broke the back of the prejudice, or began to break the back” starting with those involved in the nascent movement for gay rights that was kicked off in earnest with the 1969 Stonewall Riots.

They “took their lives in their own hands,” Biden said. “Not a joke. It took enormous courage, enormous courage, and that’s why I’ve spent some time also trying to memorialize that,” first as vice president in 2016 when President Barack Obama designated a new national monument at the site of the historic uprising, and again this summer when speaking at the opening ceremony of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center.

“I think it set an example,” Biden said, not just in the U.S. but around the world.

Stonewall “became the site of a call for freedom and for dignity and for equality,” he said, and at a time when, “imagine — if you spoke up, you’d be fired, or you get the hell beat out of you.”

The president continued, “I was really impressed when I went to Stonewall. And I was really impressed talking to the guys who stood up at the time. I think the thing that gets underestimated is the physical and moral courage of the community, the people who broke through, who said ‘enough, enough,’ and they risked their lives. Some lost their lives along the way.”

Through to today, Biden said, “most of the openly gay people that have worked with me, that I’ve worked with, the one advantage they have is they tend to have more courage than most people have.”

“No, I’m serious,” he added, “I think you guys underestimate that.”

The president has spoken publicly about his deep respect and admiration for LGBTQ people, including the trans community, and trans youth, whom he has repeatedly said are some of the bravest people he knows.

A record-breaking number of LGBTQ officials are serving in appointed positions throughout the Biden-Harris administration. Among them are Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay Senate-confirmed Cabinet member; Rachel Levine, the highest-ranking transgender appointee in history, who serves as assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; the first out White House communications director and press secretary, Ben LaBolt and Karine Jean-Pierre; and 11 federal judges (the same number of LGBTQ judicial nominees who were confirmed during the Obama-Biden administration’s two terms).

Even though “everyone was nervous,” Biden said, “I wanted an administration that looked like America,” adding, “all the LGBTQ+ people that have worked for me or with me have reinforced my view that it’s not what your sexual preference is, it’s what your intellectual capacity is and what your courage is.”

“I never sat down and said, ‘it’s going to be hard, man, she’s gay, or he’s gay,’ or ‘she’s a lesbian’” he said, and likewise, “it wasn’t like the people I work with, I went, ‘God, I’m surprised they’re competent as anybody else.'”

And then there is Sarah McBride, the Delaware state senator who is favored to win her congressional race in November, which would make her the first transgender U.S. member of Congress, a sign that “we’re on the right track,” Biden said.

A close friend of the Biden family, McBride worked for the president’s eldest son, Beau, who died from cancer in 2015. (As the Blade reported on Friday, Biden called to congratulate her on winning the Democratic primary race last week.)

While the president’s close personal and professional relationships with LGBTQ friends and aides has often been highlighted in the context of Biden’s leadership on efforts to expand freedoms and protections for the community, he credits first and foremost the values he learned from his father.

“I think my attitude about this, from the very beginning, was shaped by my dad,” Biden said. “You think I’m exaggerating, but my dad was a well-read guy who got admitted to college just before the war started” and in addition to being well educated was “a decent, decent, decent, honorable man.”

“My dad used to say that everyone’s entitled to be treated with dignity,” the president said, recalling a story he has shared before about a time when, as a teenager, he was surprised by the sight of two men kissing in downtown Wilmington, Del., and his father responded, “Joey, it’s simple. They love each other.”

“As a consequence of that, most of the things that I’ve done have related to just [what] I think is basic fairness and basic decency,” Biden said.

In his 2017 memoir, “Promise Me, Dad,” Biden writes that the country was too slow to understand “the simple and obvious truth” that LGBTQ people are “overwhelmingly good, decent, honorable people who want and deserve the same rights as anyone else.”

Plus, “It’s not like someone wakes up one morning says, ‘you know, I want to be transgender,’ that’s what I want to do,” he said. “What do they think people wake up, decide one morning, ‘that’s what I wanted’ — it’s a lot easier being gay, right?”

As vice president, Biden had pushed for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and for the designation of a national monument to honor Stonewall, but he took a lot of heat — along with a lot of praise from the LGBTQ community — for voicing his support for same-sex marriage before Obama had fully come around to embracing that position.

His remarks came in the heat of the 2012 reelection campaign during an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Biden told the Blade he had just “visited two guys who had children” and “if you saw these two kids with their fathers, you’d walk away saying, ‘wait a minute, they’re good parents.’”

At the event, a reception hosted by Michael Lombardo, an HBO executive, and Sonny Ward, an architect, Biden pointed to the children and said, “Things are changing so rapidly, it’s going to become a political liability in the near term for someone to say, ‘I oppose gay marriage.’”

Nevertheless, “I remember how everyone was really upset, except the president,” Biden said, when he told David Gregory, “I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men and women marrying women and heterosexual men and women marrying men and women are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties and, quite frankly, I don’t see much of a distinction beyond that.”

It was a watershed moment. Obama would pledge his support for marriage equality three days later. And 10 years later, as president, Biden would sign the Respect for Marriage Act, a landmark bill codifying legal protections for married same-sex and interracial couples, rights that conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has expressed an interest in revisiting.

The president glanced at a print-out with bullet points, presumably a list of the various ways in which he and his administration have advanced LGBTQ rights over the past four years. “I forgot half the stuff I had done,” he said. “But you know, I’m just really proud of a lot of things we did.”

Ticking through some highlights, Biden started with the Respect for Marriage Act. “I was very proud” to sign the legislation, he said, with a ceremony in December 2022 that included Vice President Kamala Harris, first lady Jill Biden, and second gentleman Doug Emhoff.

Biden pointed to several advancements in health equity, such as the FDA’s decision to change “the law so that you could no longer discriminate against using the blood of a gay man or a gay woman,” progress in the national strategy to end HIV by 2030, an initiative coordinated by HHS, and a push to expand access to prophylactic drug regimens to protect against the transmission of HIV.

He added, “I directed the administration to promote human rights for LGBTQ [people] everywhere, particularly, for example, Uganda — they want help from us; they’ve got to change their policy, in terms of the discrimination.”

President Yoweri Museveni in May 2023 signed a law that carries a death penalty provision for “aggravated homosexuality.” The U.S. subsequently imposed visa restrictions on Ugandan officials and removed the country from a program that allows sub-Saharan African countries to trade duty-free with the U.S. The World Bank Group also announced the suspension of new loans to Uganda.

Several of the administration’s pro-LGBTQ accomplishments and ongoing work address Republican-led efforts to restrict rights and freedoms. For instance, the president noted the importance of protecting in-vitro fertilization treatments, which are threatened by Trump “and his buddies” who were involved in Project 2025, the 900+ page governing blueprint that was drafted in anticipation of the former president’s return to the White House. The document contains extreme restrictions on reproductive healthcare and provisions that would strip away LGBTQ-inclusive non-discrimination rules.

“Fighting book bans” is another example, Biden said, adding, “I mean, come on, these guys want to erase history instead of make history.”

Last year, the president appointed an official to serve in the Education Department for purposes of advising schools on instances where their restrictions on reading material, which have been shown to disproportionately target content with LGBTQ characters or themes, may run afoul of federal civil rights law.

Before “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was repealed, Biden said, “I spoke up when they were dismissing people, discharging people in the military because they were gay.” In 2021, just a few days after his inauguration, the president issued an executive order reversing the Trump administration’s ban on military service by transgender service members.

Lowering his voice for emphasis, Biden added, “They can shoot straight. They can shoot just as straight as anybody else.”

Other major pro-LGBTQ moves by the Biden-Harris administration include:

• • Issuance of a new Title IX policy prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools, educational activities, and programs;
• • A proposed rule from HHS that would protect LGBTQ youth in foster care;
• • Expansion of mental health services, including the establishment of a 988 suicide and crisis lifeline, which provides the option for callers to be connected with LGBTQ-trained counselors;.
• • Legal challenges of anti-trans state laws, such as those restricting access to health treatments;
• • Repeated pushback against these bills by the president and other officials like Jean-Pierre;
• • The president’s remarks reaffirming his support for the LGBTQ community, including in all of his State of the Union addresses;
• • The administration’s work tackling the mpox outbreak;
• • Expanded non-discrimination protections in the healthcare space;
• • Issuance of new guidelines allowing for changes to gender markers on official government-issued IDs;
• • Efforts to bring justice to veterans who were discharged other than honorably under discriminatory military policies, and;
• • ‘The biggest Pride month celebrations ever held at the White House.

“But the one thing I didn’t get done was the Equality Act,” Biden said, “which is important. important.”

The president and his administration pushed hard for Congress to pass the legislation, which would codify LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination protections in areas from housing and employment to lending and jury service.

Biden raised the issue again when the conversation turned to his plans to stay involved after January 2025. “Look,” he said, “when a person can get married” to a spouse of the same sex but might “show up at a restaurant and get thrown out of the restaurant because they’re LGBTQ, that’s wrong.”

“That’s why we need the Equality Act,” Biden said. “We need to pass it. So, I’m going to be doing everything I can to be part of the outside voices, and I hope my foundations that I will be setting back up will talk about equality across the board.”

“Lawmakers, aides, and advocates say that significant obstacles to progress on the Equality Act remain, including polarized views on how to protect the rights of religious institutions that condemn homosexuality and Republicans’ increasing reliance on transgender rights as a wedge issue,” the Washington Post wrote in 2021, after the bill was passed by the House but left to languish in the Senate.

On LGBTQ issues more broadly, Biden said, “I think there are a lot of really good Republicans that I’ve served with, especially in the Senate, who don’t have a prejudiced bone in their body about this but are intimidated.”

“Because if you take a position, especially in the MAGA Republican Party now, you’re going to be — they’re going to go after you,” he added. “Trump is a different breed of cat. I mean, I don’t want to make this political, but everything he’s done has been anti, anti-LGBTQ, I mean, across the board.”

Project 2025, the president said, “is just full of nothing but disdain for the LGBTQ community. And you have Clarence Thomas talking about, when the decision was made [to overturn] Roe v Wade, that maybe we should consider changing the right of gays to marry — I mean, things that are just off the wall — just pure, simple, prejudice.”

“What I do worry about is I do worry about violence,” Biden said. “I do worry about intimidation. I do worry about what the MAGA right will continue to try to do, but I’m going to stay involved.”

“I’m going to remain involved in all the civil liberties issues that I have worked for my whole life.”

TONGA

A group of lawyers in the South Pacific nation of Tonga has called for the removal of newly appointed Chief Justice Malcolm Bishop because he is openly gay.

Bishop, a 71-year-old native of Wales, was appointed to the role last month. It is relatively common in small island nations for judges to be appointed from other Commonwealth countries, due to the scarcity of qualified jurists. 

Bishop has more than five decades of legal experience and has lived as an openly gay man through much of his career.

But a group of Tongan lawyers say Bishop should not serve on the bench because “his lifestyle conflicts with the law of Tonga,” and they’ve petitioned King Tupou VI to remove him. The group cites Tonga’s Criminal Offenses Act, which criminalizes sodomy with a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. 

But that opposition is not universal. The Tongan Law Society has dissociated itself from the petition.

Henry Aho, a lawyer and former president of Tonga’s Leitis Association, the country’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, suggests a darker purpose behind the petition.

He says the group is trying “to bring to the fore that this law exists and that it ought to be used to prosecute consenting adults also.”

Neither Bishop nor King Tupou VI have responded publicly to the petition.

The sodomy law has never been enforced in Tonga, but the country’s largely Christian culture remains deeply conservative and opposed to LGBTQ rights. Efforts to lobby the government to repeal the sodomy law — a relic of the British colonial administration – have fallen on deaf ears, even as other South Pacific nations like Palau, Nauru, Fiji, and the Cook Islands have decriminalized sodomy in recent years.

The government has opposed LGBTQ rights so strongly that it is one of only five countries that has not signed or ratified the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, out of fear that it could lead to decriminalization of homosexuality and same-sex marriage. The other states are Iran, Sudan, Somalia, and the Vatican. The U.S. and Palau have signed but not ratified the convention. 

AUSTRALIA

Australia’s Labor government has spun itself in circles on LGBTQ issues in recent weeks, with its latest broken promise to the country’s LGBTQ community being new hate crime legislation that does not criminalize hate speech that vilifies minority groups.

The updated legislation strengthens some of the nation’s laws against urging hate-motivated violence and by adding specific provisions for hatred motivated by race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status, disability, nationality, national or ethnic origin or political opinion.

The government also introduced a separate bill that would criminalize “doxing,” which is the release of a person’s personal information with the intent to threaten, harm, or intimidate them. The law encompasses the release of a person’s private information about their sexual orientation or gender identity. Violators could get up to seven years in prison if their target is a member of a protected class.

But Labor had promised to criminalize the vilification of LGBTQ people, and that’s missing from the introduced legislation.

Attorney General Mark Dreyfus says the two laws “respond to the increasing prevalence of hate speech and hateful conduct in our society.”

Vilification laws already exist in several Australian states, but a national law would protect queer Australians in the states that don’t have them — Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, and the Northern Territory.

This is the latest policy flip on LGBTQ issues from the Labor government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Last month, the government caused controversy when it announced that it would not count LGBTQ people in the 2026 national Census, contrary to their election manifesto. The government eventually reversed its announcement, first saying it would ask a question about sexual orientation, then saying it would also add a question about gender identity.

Albanese’s government also came under fire earlier this year for walking back a promise to close an exception to discrimination law that allows religious schools to discriminate against LGBTQ students and teachers.

In a positive development, the government of South Australia state announced it would introduce a law to ban conversion therapy this week, modeled after legislation passed in several other states. After it passes, only Western Australia, Tasmania, and Northern Territory would lack laws against conversion therapy.

Western Australia’s government had announced plans to ban conversion therapy in 2022, but this week announced that they will not have time to pass a bill to ban it until after state elections next year.

JAPAN

Pressure is increasing on Japan’s government to recognize same-sex couples, as four more prefectures began same-sex partnership registries this month.

Fukushima, Yamaguchi, Niigata, and Shima, with a combined population of about 7 million people, bring the total number of prefectures issuing partnership certificates to same-sex couples to 30 out of Japan’s 46 prefectures. They’re home to more than 66 percent of Japan’s population of 125 million.

Partnership certificates help same-sex couples access local services, but otherwise hold no legal status and confer no rights or obligations on the parties. That’s made it difficult for same-sex couples to access national services or uphold their rights regarding inheritance, parenting, and taxation.

Even though polls suggest a majority of Japanese people support equal rights for same-sex couples, the deeply traditional national government has continued to oppose expanding marriage rights.

A series of court cases filed across the country have sought to have the ban on same-sex marriage declared unconstitutional. But while five out of six district courts that have heard the cases found the ban unconstitutional, they have all refused to allow same-sex marriage outright. 

Appeals to those cases are ongoing, with one appeal to be heard in the Tokyo High Court on Sept 26, a ruling in a separate Tokyo case expected to be handed down Oct. 30, a ruling from the Nagoya High Court expected on Nov. 5, and a ruling from the Fukuoka High Court expected on Dec. 13.

It’s likely the issue will ultimately be decided by Japan’s Supreme Court.

Japan is in the midst of selecting a new prime minister, after incumbent Fumio Kishida announced he was resigning as leader of the governing Liberal Democratic Party last month. None of the leading candidates for leadership has endorsed same-sex marriage except for Taro Kono, who is currently polling far behind other candidates. The leadership election is scheduled for Sept. 27. 

FINLAND

A citizen’s initiative to ban so-called conversion therapy in Finland appears to have the support of a clear majority of lawmakers but is still unlikely to pass into law due to opposition from two conservative parties that are part of the ruling coalition.

Last week, the chair of parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee, Juho Eerola, announced he was indefinitely suspending consideration of the initiative due to purported leaks to the media on the issue. Eerola comes from the far-right Finns Party, which opposes the initiative and LGBTQ rights generally.

The Finns are joined by the Christian Democrats in opposing the conversion therapy initiative. Leaders of both parties put out a statement saying the initiative would not pass during the life of the current parliament, which is expected to last until 2027.

The two parties are in a four-party coalition with the National Coalition Party and the Swedish People’s Party. While both of the latter parties support the conversion therapy ban, the coalition agreement does not mention it.

The left-leaning opposition Social Democrats, Left Alliance, and Green League all support banning conversion therapy as well. Together, those five parties have 125 votes out of 200 members of parliament — and several members of the Center Party are also supportive.

Under Finnish law, a citizen’s initiative must be considered by parliament if it gathers more than 50,000 signatures. Groups supporting a ban submitted 52,000 signatures in November 2023.

A queer Nigerian streaming TV channel has initiated a global signature collection drive that demands YouTube restore its platform that was suspended this week under unclear circumstances.

Omeleme TV, which airs gay love movies in Nigeria, faulted YouTube’s action on Sept. 8 as “not only surprising but disappointing” to the LGBTQ community.  

The channel, established a year ago, launched its first short film “Nearly All Men” on Oct. 22, 2023, featuring notable Nigerian actors as leads. “Pieces of Love” went viral after its release on June 21.

The channel boasted more than 5,000 subscribers and YouTube monetized it.      

“We have never involved ourselves in any aspect that goes against YouTube policies and have always complied with their rules and regulations accordingly,” reads the petition. “So deleting our YouTube page is basically shutting the voice of the queer folks in the region.”  

The TV channel notes homophobia around consensual same-sex love is often shrouded in taboo in society and that Omeleme has been the only primary YouTube platform to debunk such discriminatory beliefs.

“Omeleme TV plays a crucial role in normalizing these relationships, providing visibility and affirmation for LGBTQ+ individuals, both young and old. And the only platform through which their voice can be heard and seen is YouTube,” reads the petition.

The channel’s spokesperson told the Washington Blade that YouTube did not indicate “the main issue” for terminating the platform and confirmed that initially there was a copyright claim on a song they received from an artist but the concern was settled.

“We immediately requested a review and informed the artist of the copyright. He immediately informed his distributors and after back and forth, the distributors based in Sweden approved that we got permission,” the spokesperson, who sought anonymity, stated.

The spokesperson also disclosed that while settling the copyright issue, they realized that “Nearly All Men” had not been monetized despite having the certificate. Concerned about YouTube’s delay in giving feedback when contacted, the channel pulled the film, recorded an original song, and uploaded the movie.    

“They (YouTube) flagged it also on Aug. 18,” the spokesperson said. “This time they claimed it is not ad friendly but it does not affect the channel and that we can only earn and be viewed by premium subscribers.”  

Although the channel complied by subscribing to Premium and received approval on Sept. 3, they were not comfortable with the condition since the film was only limited to some subscribers against their streaming expectation targeting everyone.  

“In all of these, YouTube never for once issued a strike on our channel, rather they kept assuring us that it does not warrant a strike if we request for reviews since we had copyrights and all,” the spokesperson noted.

YouTube under its user policies boasts a safer platform that allows viewers and creators around the world to express their ideas and opinions freely with an assurance that such “a broad range of perspectives ultimately makes us a stronger and more informed society, even if we disagree with some of those views.”

Under the copyright rules, the streaming platform provides that “creators should only upload videos that they have made or that they are authorized to use.”  

“So if this back and forth is what warranted the deleting of our channel, it remains masked as they did not in any way specify the actual violation or spam,” the Omeleme spokesperson said.    

The spokesperson noted many Omeleme viewers around the world who were happy watching the films feel disappointed by the suspension by YouTube and that the channel has also suffered online mentions and subscriptions.    

“It was a labor of love and YouTube remains our major source for distribution of these films to queer folks all over the world,” the spokesperson said, while asking the platform not to silence the voice of young indie queer filmmakers behind the movies. “We believe it could have been a mistaken scam identity and YouTube being a safe space for filmmakers all over the world will do the right thing by restoring our channel for their esteemed viewers.”

Reverend Jide Macaulay, a gay minister of Nigerian descent who was born in London and founded House of Rainbow, an LGBTQ-affirming fellowship, criticized YouTube’s move to suspend Omeleme, which he applauds for promoting a positive queer narrative.   

“Omeleme TV has been a critical platform for increasing awareness and visibility of same-sex relationships, particularly in regions like Nigeria where LGBTQ+ individuals face pervasive homophobia and discriminatory laws,” said Macaulay.

He reiterated the channel has been the only beacon of hope for the queer community to see their stories represented and heard in a hostile homophobic environment.

“By blocking Omeleme TV, YouTube is silencing an essential voice in the fight for equality and understanding, especially in countries like Nigeria where safe spaces for queer individuals are scarce,” Macaulay stated.

He called on YouTube to support queer people’s right to be seen and heard by reinstating the channel so it can continue streaming films to empower marginalized voices. Macaulay also appealed for global support in signing the petition to have the channel restored in defending freedom of expression and the right to share diverse experiences.

Upwards of 1,000 people gathered in D.C. on Saturday for the first-ever Gender Liberation March, rallying for bodily autonomy and self-determination outside the U.S. Supreme Court and the Heritage Foundation headquarters. 

The march brought together advocates for transgender, LGBTQ, feminist, and reproductive rights, uniting the movements to protest attacks on healthcare access and individual freedoms.

The event kicked off just after noon at Columbus Circle, outside Union Station, where organizers had set up a stage. Throughout the day, speakers such as Elliot Page, Miss Major, and Julio Torres shared personal stories and highlighted the intersectional challenges of trans rights, abortion rights, and LGBTQ rights. Raquel Willis, a core organizer of the event, outlined the broad coalition of communities represented in the Gender Liberation March. 

“This march is for the queers, and the trans folks of any age. It’s for the childless cat ladies and babies and gentlemen and gentlethem. It’s for the migrants and our disabled family. It’s for intersex folks and those living and thriving with HIV. It’s for Muslims and folks of every faith. It’s for those who believe in a free Palestine. It’s for our sex workers. It’s for our incarcerated and detained. It’s for all of us who believe there is a better way to live and love than we are today,” she told the crowd. 

Nick Lloyd, an abortion storyteller from the organization We Testify, underlined the interconnectedness of the movements by sharing his experience as a trans man who had an abortion and discussing the support he received from trans women, emphasizing the significance of “radical solidarity.”

“When we fight for liberation, we need to make sure we are fighting for liberation for all of us,” he said in his speech. 

The Gender Liberation March is organized by a collective of gender justice-based groups, including organizers behind the Women’s Marches and the Brooklyn Liberation Marches. Rachel Carmona, the executive director of the Women’s March, also addressed the importance of solidarity across movements.

She acknowledged that some within the feminist movement have questioned the inclusion of trans issues but countered this view.

“The women’s movement necessarily includes trans people,” Carmona asserted.

The march organized buses from nine East Coast cities, and many attendees arrived in D.C. in the days prior. Chris Silva and Samy Nemir Olivares left New York early that morning to make sure they could participate.

“I actually heard [about the march] from my dear friend, Samy, two weeks ago, and I got energized by the idea, and we woke up really early today to take a 5 a.m. bus and make it here this morning,” Silva said. 

At 1 p.m. the crowd began marching toward the Supreme Court on a route that also passed by the Capitol. Marchers held signs and banners proclaiming “You can’t legislate us out of existence,” and “Our bodies, our futures.”

The Supreme Court has eroded individual liberties with recent decisions such as the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and is set to hear U.S. v. Skrmetti, a case with wide-reaching implications for trans healthcare, in October. Speaking through a speaker system in front of the Supreme Court, activist Aaryn Lang urged the crowd to remain vigilant.

“We do not have the luxury of treating very real threats like a difference of opinion. It’s not that type of time. They really want us dead,” Lang said.

Republican lawmakers in state legislatures are relentlessly attacking the rights of LGBTQ people, particularly trans individuals. This year alone, 70 anti-LGBTQ laws have been signed into law, most targeting trans rights, and at least 26 states have laws or policies banning gender-affirming care, according to the Human Rights Campaign. 

From the Supreme Court, the march proceeded to the Heritage Foundation headquarters. The far-right think tank created the Project 2025 initiative, a blueprint to overhaul the federal government and attack trans and abortion rights under a potential second Trump administration. 

Marchers chanted, “Abortion rights are trans rights,” as they approached the Heritage Foundation, where DJ Griffin Maxwell Brooks and booming music received them. The crowd quickly fell into an impromptu dance party and formed a circle where marchers took turns showcasing their vogueing. Trans queer performance artist Qween Amor noted that the march was attended by a group diverse in both identity and age.

“I think it’s very empowering to see not just my generation, but also seeing younger generations coming up and finding themselves in a moment where we can be liberated together and to see a mix of intersectional identities. I think, for me, [that] lets me know that, you know, I’m alive and that there’s hope,” she told the Washington Blade. 

The march then returned to Columbus Circle, where health organizations and political organizations had set up booths. Hundreds of banned books were distributed for free and all copies were claimed within two hours of the event’s start.

It was a particularly hot Saturday with temperatures reaching 87 degrees, but Columbus Circle continued to be filled with people late into the day. 

Page, known for his roles in films and series such as “Juno” and “The Umbrella Academy,” drew a large crowd when he took the stage to speak about his journey as a trans man. 

“When I was finally able to step back from the squirreling, foreboding, the self-battering, and torment, the messages to lie and hide grew faint. I was able to listen, at last, to embrace myself wholly. And goodness, do I want that feeling for everyone,” he said. “I love being trans. I love being alive, and I want everyone to have access to the care that has changed my life. So let’s fight for it.”

When Scotland voted to add questions about sexuality and transgender status to its census, and clarified the definition of “sex,” it was so controversial it led to a court case.

It got so heated that the director of Fair Play for Women, a gender-critical organization, argued: “Extreme gender ideology is deeply embedded within the Scottish Government, and promoted at the highest levels including the First Minister.”

Data, like the census, “is often presented as being objective, being quantitative, being something that’s above politics,” says Kevin Guyan, author of “Queer Data.”

Listening to the deliberations in parliament breaks that illusion entirely. “There’s a lot of political power at play here,” says Guyan, “It’s very much shaped by who’s in the room making these decisions.”

Great Britain has been a ‘hotspot’ for the gender-critical movement. “You just really revealed the politics of what was happening at the time, particularly in association with an expanded anti-trans movement,” explains Guyan.

Ultimately, the LGBTQ community was counted in Scotland, which was heralded as a historic win.

This makes sense, says Amelia Dogan, a research affiliate in the Data plus Feminism Lab at MIT. “People want to prove that we exist.” 

Plus, there are practical reasons. “To convince people with power, especially resource allocation power, you need to have data,” says Catherine D’Ignazio, MIT professor and co-author of the book “Data Feminism.” 

When data isn’t collected, problems can be ignored. In short, D’Ignazio says, “What’s counted counts.” But, being counted is neither neutral nor a silver bullet. “Even when we do prove we exist, we don’t get the resources that we need,” says Dogan.

“There are a lot of reasons for not wanting to be counted. Counting is not always a good thing” they say. D’Ignazio points to how data has repeatedly been weaponized. “The U.S. literally used census data to intern Japanese people in the 1940s.” 

Nell Gaither, president of the Trans Pride Initiative, faces that paradox each day as she gathers and shares data about incarcerated LGBTQ people in Texas. 

“Data can be harmful in some ways or used in a harmful way,” she says, “they can use [the data] against us too.” She points to those using numbers of incarcerated transgender people to stoke fears around the danger of trans women, even though it’s trans women who face disproportionate risk in prison.

This is one of the many wrinkles the LGBTQ community and other minority communities face when working with or being represented by data.

There is a belief by some data scientists that limited knowledge of the subject is OK. D’Ignazio describes this as the “hubris of data science” where researchers believe they can make conclusions solely off a data set, regardless of background knowledge or previous bodies of knowledge. 

“In order to be able to read the output of a data analysis process, you need background knowledge,” D’Ignazio emphasizes. 

Community members, on the other hand, are often primed to interpret data about their communities. “That proximity gives us a shared vocabulary,” explains Nikki Stephens, a postdoctoral researcher in D’Ignazio’s Data plus Feminism lab. 

It can also make more rich data. When Stephens was interviewing other members of the transgender community about Transgender Day of Remembrance, they realized we “think more complicated and more meaningful thoughts, because we’re in community around it.” 

Community members are also primed to know what to even begin to look for.

A community may know about a widely known problem or need in their community, but they are invisible to institutions. “It’s like unknown to them because they haven’t cared to look,” says D’Ignazio.

That is how Gaither got involved in tracking data about incarcerated LGBTQ people in Texas in the first place.

Gaither received her first letter from an incarcerated person in 2013. As president of the Trans Pride Initiative, Gaither had predominately focused on housing and healthcare for trans people. The pivot to supporting the LGBTQ incarcerated community came out of need—trans prisoners were not given access to constitutionally mandated healthcare. 

Gaither sought a legal organization to help, but no one stepped in—they didn’t have expertise. So, Gaither figured it out herself.

As TPI continued to support incarcerated, queer Texans, the letters kept rolling in. Gaither quickly realized her correspondences told a story: definable instances of assault, misconduct, or abuse. 

With permission from those she corresponded with and help from volunteers, Gaither started tracking it. “We’re hearing from people reporting violence to us,” says Gaither, “we ought to log these.” TPI also tracks demographic information alongside instances of abuse and violence, all of which are publicly accessible. 

“It started off as just a spreadsheet, and then it eventually grew over the years into a database,” says Gaither, who constructed the MySQL database for the project. 

Gaither’s work especially focuses on the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), which ostensibly includes specific protections for transgender people. 

To be compliant with PREA, prisons must be audited once every three years. Numerous investigations have shown that these audits are often not effective. TPI has filed numerous complaints with the PREA Resource Center, demonstrating inaccuracies or bias, in addition to tracking thousands of PREA-related incidents. 

“We are trying to use our data to show the audits are ineffective,” says Gaither.

Gaither has been thinking about data since she was a teenager. She describes using a computer for the first time in the 1970s and being bored with everything except for dBASE, one of the first database management systems. 

“Ever since then, I’ve been fascinated with how you can use data and databases to understand what your work with data,” Gaither says. She went on to get a master’s in Library and Information Sciences and built Resource Center Dallas’s client database for transgender health.

But gathering, let alone analyzing, and disseminating data about queer people imprisoned in Texas has proven a challenge.

Some participants fear retaliation for sharing their experiences, while others face health problems that make pinpointing exact dates or times of assaults difficult.

And, despite being cited by The National PREA Resource Center and Human Rights Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law, Gaither still faces those who think her data “doesn’t seem to have as much legitimacy.” 

Stephens lauds Gaither’s data collection methods. “TPI collect their data totally consensually. They write to them first and then turn that data into data legible to the state and in the service of community care.” 

This is a stark contrast to the current status quo of data collection, says Dogan, “people, and all of our data, regardless of who you are, is getting scraped.” Data scraping refers to when information is imported from websites – like personal social media pages – and used as data.

AI has accelerated this, says D’Ignazio, “it’s like a massive vacuum cleaning of data across the entire internet. It’s this whole new level and scale of non-consensual technology.” 

Gaither’s method of building relationships and direct correspondence is a far cry from data scraping. Volunteers read, respond to, and input information from every letter. 

Gaither has become close to some of the people with whom she’s corresponded. Referring to a letter she received in 2013, Gaither says: “I still write to her. We’ve known each other for a long time. I consider her to be my friend.”

Her data is queer not simply in its content, but in how she chooses to keep the queer community centered in the process. “I feel very close to her so that makes the data more meaningful. It has a human component behind it,” says Gaither.

Guyan says that data can be seen as a “currency” since it has power. But he emphasizes that “people’s lives are messy, they’re complicated, they’re nuanced, they’re caveated, and a data exercise that relies on only ones and zeros can’t necessarily capture the full complexity and diversity of these lives.” 

While Gaither tallies and sorts the incidents of violence, so it is legible as this “currency,” she also grapples with the nuance of the situations behind the scenes. “It’s my family that I’m working with. I think it makes it more significant from a personal level,” says Gaither.

Guyan explains that queer data is not just about the content, but the methods. “You can adopt a queer lens in terms of thinking critically about the method you use when collecting, analyzing, and presenting all types of data.” 

(This story is part of the Digital Equity Local Voices Fellowship lab through News is Out. The lab initiative is made possible with support from Comcast NBCUniversal.)

Delaware State Sen. Sarah McBride, who is favored to become the first transgender member of Congress after winning the Democratic primary this week, received a congratulatory call on Wednesday from a powerful friend and ally: President Joe Biden.

The president shared details about their conversation with the Washington Blade during an exclusive interview in the Oval Office on Thursday, which will be available to read online early next week.

“I called her and I said, ‘Sarah,’ I said, ‘Beau’s looking down from heaven, congratulating you,’” Biden said, referring to his late son, who had served as attorney general of Delaware before his death from cancer in 2015.

McBride had worked on Beau Biden’s campaign in 2006 and on his reelection campaign in 2010. Two years later, when she came out as transgender, the AG called to say, “I’m so proud of you. I love you, and you’re still a part of the Biden family.”

The president told the Blade that McBride welled with emotion — “she started to fill up” — as she responded that the “‘only reason I’m here is because of Beau. He had confidence in me.’”

When the two worked together, “[Beau] was getting the hell kicked out” of him because “he hired her,” Biden said, but “now she’s going to be the next congresswoman, the next congresswoman from Delaware.”

Later, when asked how he will remain involved in the struggle for LGBTQ rights after leaving office, the president again mentioned McBride. “Delaware used to be a pretty conservative state, and now we’re going to have — Sarah is going to be, I pray to God, a congresswoman.”

West Hollywood City Council candidate Zekiah Wright, 38, was arrested on felony charges on Thursday September 12, 2024 at the West Hollywood Sheriff’s station.

Wright, who uses they/them pronouns, is facing charges of identity theft and fraud, with potential additional perjury charges.

Arrest details and allegations
The arrest occurred at 10 a.m., and Wright was released on citation at 10:45 a.m., according to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Inmate Information Center. The release on citation requires Wright to appear in court at a future date, likely Nov. 11 at the Los Angeles County Superior Court, LAX location, according to an unnamed source.

WeHoOnline, a blog owned in part by perennial WeHo City Council candidate Larry Block, reports that the arrest stems from allegations that Wright altered LLC documents, replacing their name with Mayor John Erickson’s without his knowledge. This incident, WeHoOnline alleges, is part of an ongoing dispute between Wright and their ex-partner, Patricia Betzner, also known as Jackie Steele.

Investigation and official statements
The arrest follows an investigation that is said to have involved Erickson and a former West Hollywood Public Safety Commissioner. Erickson, who is seeking reelection, provided a statement to WEHO TIMES:

“My understanding is that there is an investigation into this matter and if you have further questions, please get in touch with the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Department. I am confident they are handling this matter appropriately.”

Attempts to get more information from the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station have been unsuccessful as of the time of this report.

Personal disputes and legal confrontations
According to WeHoOnline, Wright and Betzner’s February breakup has escalated into legal confrontations, with both parties alleging misconduct. The situation has cast a shadow over Wright’s campaign for the upcoming city council election.

Los Angeles Blade has so far been unable to reach Wright.

Wright’s background
Wright is a labor and employment litigator in Los Angeles. They relocated to Los Angeles in 2017 and started their own law firm, the Wright Firm, specializing in labor and employment law for employees and small business owners.

Wright’s involvement in West Hollywood politics began in 2019 when then-Council member John D’Amico appointed them to the Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board (LGAB). They were the LGAB’s first nonbinary member.

Later, Council member Sepi Shyne appointed Wright as chair of the West Hollywood Rent Stabilization Commission. However, they were abruptly removed from this position in June 2024 for undisclosed reasons. Shyne has made no comments on the current situation.

Political aspirations and endorsements
Wright joined the City Council race just before the Aug.15 filing deadline. They came close to joining the council in 2022, placing fourth in a crowded field.

Recently, the West Hollywood Chamber’s West Hollywood Political Action Committee (WEHO PAC) endorsed Wright in their run for West Hollywood City Council. The WeHo PAC also selected candidate George Nickle, citing their “commitment to addressing critical issues facing the West Hollywood area community, including homelessness, affordable housing, and public safety.”

As of now, Wright has not responded to requests from Los Angeles Blade for comment — their campaign website remains active.

The story was first reported by Rance Collins of Beverly Press and is a developing story.

GLAAD released its fifth State of HIV Stigma report in partnership with Gilead Sciences, highlighting Hollywood’s shortcomings in representing people with HIV, “further pushing the issue into the closet.”

The report says ‘seeing more stories of people living with HIV in the media is key to combating HIV stigma.’

GLAAD’s annual State of HIV Stigma Report, the only one of its kind, tracks Americans’ views, understandings, attitudes, overall knowledge of the illness, prevention of HIV, and stigmas surrounding care. 

According to the report, a Where We Are on TV study found that only one LGBTQ character living with HIV was portrayed in primetime scripted TV. Jonathan Bailey plays gay character Tim Laughlin in “Fellow Travelers” (2023), who is not expected to return to the series. 

Not only was this representation small, it was also short-lived.

The report finds that there has been a significant decrease over the years in Americans seeing people living with HIV in TV or film, from 39 percent to 35 percent in 2024.

“Pose” (2018), in stark contrast in terms of representation, offers not only a look into the lives and livelihoods of people with HIV, but also a comprehensive look into HIV stigma and misinformation surrounding the transmission of the illness. 

One of the main nurses is famously played by sapphic icon Sandra Bernhard. Not many people — even within the LGBTQ community — are unaware of the reason behind the community acronym starting with the letter ‘L,’ for lesbians. 

In a recent reality TV dating show on Hulu, “I Kissed A Girl” (2024), contestant Georgia Robert explained to the other contestants that the ‘L’ comes first in the acronym because lesbian nurses kept the community together during their darkest times. This history checks out, and archival research shows that lesbian nurses were the only ones who were willing to help their impacted community members. 

The lesser known, but equally as impactful on-screen representation seen in “Chocolate Babies” (1996) points to the issue lying in politics. Set in New York City in the 90s, the feature-length film follows a group of Black, queer activists who are HIV-positive and seek government recognition of the crisis and resources to ensure that less of them pass away due to the illness. 

It took Stephen Winter, director of the film, 27 years to get the recognition his film deserved because of the voices that tried to silence it. At the time it was originally released in 1996, the film became marginalized and sidelined. The issue that was central to the film, was not an issue that people — critics unimpacted by the issue — cared about. 

In an interview with Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival press staff, Winter opened up about how poorly his film was received during that time. 

“It was always extremely frustrating and painful that the film was unavailable, underseen, and under review,” Winter said. 

The recent report is academically necessary nationally and locally because information like the one found in this report is meant to produce government and industry interventions through resources and guidance. 

Overall, the report shows that “knowledge of HIV is mostly stable in the U.S. and in the U.S. South over five years, with nearly 90 percent of Americans knowing something about HIV.” 

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ‘social and structural issues — such as HIV stigma, homophobia, discrimination, poverty and limited access to high-quality health care — influence health outcomes and continue to drive inequities.’

Though there has been a decline in new incidences, HIV still continues to affect millions of people each year and a lack of Hollywood representation of this issue affects millions of Americans each year. 

According to the findings, 85 percent of Americans say they believe HIV stigma still exists. 

More importantly, the report found that the loss of HIV stories in entertainment media “is a deafening silence, likely contributing to decreases in comfortability in interacting with a neighbor or co-worker living with HIV.” 

GLAAD’s We Are on TV and Studio Responsibility Index studies hold Hollywood accountable for their stories surrounding queer and trans issues. 

According to the report, Hollywood is missing major opportunities to accurately and fairly represent these communities and the issues they face. 

“GLAAD’s core work to eradicate HIV stigma and misinformation in media is more urgent than ever. Ending HIV and HIV stigma should be every generation’s lasting achievement, and we have never been closer to that accomplishment,” said GLAAD’s Chief Executive Officer Sarah Kate Ellis in a statement.

The report’s methodology was an online survey conducted in January 2024, with a sample of 2,511 U.S. adults. 

The U.S. pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences announced on Sept. 12 the findings of its most recent Phase 3 clinical trial for its twice-yearly injectable HIV prevention drug Lenacapavir show the drug is highly effective in preventing HIV infections, even more so than the current HIV prevention or PrEP drugs in the form of a pill taken once a day.

There were just two cases of someone testing HIV positive among 2,180  participants in the drug study for the twice-yearly Lenacapavir, amounting to a 99.9 percent rate of effectiveness, the Gilead announcement says.

The announcement says the trial reached out to individuals considered at risk for HIV, including “cisgender men, transgender men, transgender women, and gender non-binary individuals in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, Thailand and the United States who have sex with partners assigned male at birth.”

“With such remarkable outcomes across two Phase 3 studies, Lenacapavir has demonstrated the potential to transform the prevention of HIV and help to end the epidemic,” Daniel O’Day, chair and CEO of Gilead Sciences said in the announcement.

 “Now that we have a comprehensive dataset across multiple study populations, Gilead will work urgently with regulatory, government, public health, and community partners to ensure that, if approved, we can deliver twice-yearly Lenacapavir for PrEP worldwide for all those who want or need it,” he said.

Carl Schmid, executive director of the D.C.-based HIV+ Hepatitis Policy Institute, called Lenacapavir a “miracle drug” based on the latest studies, saying the optimistic findings pave the way for the potential approval of the drug by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2025.

“The goal now must be to ensure that people who have a reason to be on PrEP are able to access this miracle drug,” Schmid said in a Sept. 12 press release. “Thanks to the ACA [U.S. Affordable Care Act], insurers must cover PrEP without cost sharing as a preventive service,” he said.

“Insurers should not be given the choice to cover just daily oral PrEP, particularly given these remarkable results,” Schmid said in the release. “The Biden-Harris administration should immediately make that clear. To date, they have yet to do that for the first long-acting PrEP drug that new plans must cover,” he said.

Schmid, through the HIV+ Hepatitis Policy Institute, has helped to put together a coalition of national and local HIV/AIDS organizations advocating for full coverage of HIV treatment and prevention medication by health insurance companies.

A statement by Gilead says that if approved by regulatory agencies, “Lenacapavir for PrEP would be the first and only twice-yearly HIV prevention choice for people who need or want PrEP. The approval could transform the HIV prevention landscape for multiple populations in regions around the world and help end the epidemic.”

Uruguay’s LGBTQ community finds itself in a moment of strategic reflection and coordinated action in this crucial election year.

With presidential elections on the horizon, diverse voices inside and outside the Uruguayan political arena are advocating for representation. They are also working to confront the challenges facing the country’s queer population in obtaining positions in Congress. 

Uruguay is one of the first countries in Latin America to implement legislation and public policies to improve the quality of life of LGBTQ people. Uruguay, in fact, is considered one of the safest countries in the world for queer tourists.

In recent years, however, LGBTQ people been underrepresented in Congress and other political spaces. And activists see the Oct. 27 election as an opportunity to gain space. 

Diego Sempol, a renowned Uruguayan political scientist, told the Washington Blade that LGBTQ participation in national politics is important. 

“It is crucial for the LGBTQ+ community to hold positions in Congress to make their issues visible,” he said. “This not only drives more inclusive legislative advances, but also challenges existing social prejudices.” 

“I think it would seem important to run for a position in Congress or in the Senate because it would contribute to make the LGBTIQ+ population visible at the political level, which is very good because it is still a great centrality for a large part of the population and therefore achieving voting places, important places voted for, confirms that there is an advance or a setback in social prejudices about dissident gender identities,” added Sempol.

Daniela Buquet, a spokesperson for Colectivo Ovejas Negras, a Uruguayan advocacy group, explained how the LGBTQ movement is approaching this electoral cycle.

“We find ourselves in a context where the major political discussions are still centered on traditional figures, mostly white, upper-class cis males,” said Buquet. “However, we are moving forward strategically, strengthening our demands as the campaign progresses.” 

The recent primaries showed a political dynamic marked by established figures and discussions that do not always address the needs of social movements. Buquey stressed “LGBTQ+ candidacies are scarce in high-level positions, but we see progress at lower levels of the legislature, where congressmen and congresswomen are beginning to incorporate our concerns.” 

The electoral panorama reflects a clear division between the main parties, the Frente Amplio and the Partido Nacional, while parties such as Cabildo Abierto, known for its conservative and homophobic stance, are also part of the scenario. 

“We have seen attempts of setbacks by sectors such as Cabildo Abierto, but also resistance and social mobilization that have prevented significant negative changes.” said Buquet. 

The current government has faced criticism for its lack of compliance and progress on critical issues for the LGBTQ community. 

“The comprehensive law for trans people is still not fully implemented, and educational and health programs remain insufficient,” Buquet noted. 

The debate on inclusion and sexual diversity in Uruguay is not limited to the legislative arena, but encompasses the effective implementation of inclusive social and educational policies. LGBTQ activists expect the next government to take concrete steps to guarantee rights and improve the quality of life of all citizens, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. 

With the diversity march scheduled for this month, LGBTQ social organizations and collectives will continue to push for more equitable representation and effective public policies. The challenge is clear: “Transform visibility into tangible political action that benefits all of Uruguayan society.”