Much has happened this week in positive changemaking for the LGBTQ community at this time of challenge and uncertainty. Heroes in government, law, and in faith communities, are standing up to enormous pressure by the Trump administration and those emboldened by anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.
Standing Up for LGBTQ Protections in Employment
At the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency established in 1965 to enforce civil rights laws against workplace discrimination in the United States, one judge is not bending to pressure to ignore the rights of some Americans. Karen Ortiz (below) is an administrative judge in the New York District Office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Following Trump’s inaccurate executive order declaring that there are only two biological sexes, Ortiz started speaking up. When the acting chair of the EEOC repeated the executive order in a press release and directed administrative judges to hold back on cases that alleged discrimination based on LGBTQ status. Ortiz sent an email with the subject line “THIS IS NOT NORMAL,” to the entire New York District Office. When that email was deleted—not by her—from her outbox, she sent another, writing that she would not compromise her ethics and her duty to uphold the law, that she would not cower to bullying and intimidation.
The First Amendment on Military Bases
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), alleging that schools on U.S. military bases have engaged in widespread censorship by removing books and altering curricula related to race, gender identity and sexual orientation, and civil rights. This legal action, brought on behalf of 12 students from six families stationed in the U.S. and abroad, claims that these measures—prompted by executive orders from President Donald Trump—violate students’ First Amendment rights.
The lawsuit details the removal of award-winning literature and educational materials, including To Kill a Mockingbird, The Kite Runner, Fahrenheit 451, Well-Read Black Girl and The Antiracist Kid, as well as the cancellation of cultural observances including Black History Month and LGBTQ Pride Month. The Department of Defense’s directives also extend to prohibiting references to so-called “gender ideology” (a term created to diminish the existence of gender diverse people)in school events, yearbooks, and classroom discussions. Critics, including ACLU attorneys and affected families, assert that this campaign amounts to a “whitewashing” of the curriculum, isolating students from essential perspectives and stifling open dialogue about America’s multicultural social fabric. Plaintiffs argue that these actions deprive students of learning about their own histories and identities, as well as broader American history and diversity.
Hundreds of military base students walked out of class last week to protest the anti-diversity moves. It follows smaller protests deployed in February and March, and included about a dozen schools on bases in Europe, Asia and at least one stateside, according to military.com.
“We’re here and we’re going to fight for what we believe in, especially when it comes to our education,” a tenth grade organizer said. “Our parents are actively fighting for our country for us to be able to have these rights.”
Montana Reps Vote “No” on Criminalizing Transgender Health Care
In Montana, Republican and Democratic members of the Montana House voted down a bill that would have made it a crime for parents and other adults to assist minors under age 16 in accessing transgender health care. The House voted 41–57 against Senate Bill 164, which would have expanded the definition of child endangerment to include providing or facilitating gender transition treatments for minors.
Nonbinary Rep. SJ Howell, D-Missoula, one of two out transgender lawmakers currently in the House (along with Zooey Zephyr, D-Missoula), urged a “no” vote on the legislation. Howell described the potential unintended consequences: “There’s a lot of concerns I have about the broadness of this bill, and also the use of felony criminal charges to regulate medical care,” Rep. Howell said.
“We have a lot of tools at our disposal as the legislature to regulate healthcare, but felony criminal charges are not the appropriate tool for that job. Lastly, but certainly not least, this bill has a lot of concern for me about parental rights. At the end of the day, there are a lot of parents of trans kids that are just doing what they believe is best for their kids. This criminalizes those parents.”
Earlier in the session, a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers also voted down House Bill 653, which would have given parents expanded access to their children’s medical records, and House Bill 754, a similar bill. Opponents of the bill argued that the wording of the proposal would endanger children experiencing abuse or neglect at home, including those who are LGBTQ. A separate bill aimed at regulating drag shows also failed to pass in the GOP-majority chamber.
Marriage Equality in Colorado
Colorado has officially repealed its ban on marriage equality. Last week Gov. Jared Polis, who is an out gay man, signed SB25-014 into law Monday, also known as the Protecting the Freedom to Marry act. The bill repeals the portion of a Colorado statute that states that marriage is valid only if it is between a man and a woman. That ban on same-sex marriages has been unenforceable since the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges.
In 2006, Colorado voters approved a state constitutional amendment that defined marriage exclusively as the union of one man and one woman. This ban was overturned in 2024, when 63% of voters supported a new amendment.
“Colorado is for everyone, no matter who you are or who you love. Last November, the voters got rid of outdated language in our constitution that banned same-sex marriage,” Polis said in a statement. “This is a long overdue step in the right direction and today’s law I’m signing ensures that Coloradans can marry who they love in our Colorado for all.”
The new Colorado law guarantees that same-sex marriage will remain legal in the state, even if the Supreme Court overturns Obergefell. While the federal Respect for Marriage Act requires the federal government and all states to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages performed in other states, it does not require states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Supreme Court Associate Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas attacked the court’s 2015 Obergefell decision when the court declined to hear a case brought by a Kentucky county clerk. The two justices wrote that the clerk, Kim Davis, “may have been one of the first victims of this court’s cavalier treatment of religion in its Obergefell decision,” which they also described as “ruinous.” Justice Thomas also called for Obergefell to be “reconsidered” in his concurring opinion to the decision that rolled back Roe.
Protesting Corporations Abandoning Diversity
Faith leaders in the Black community have called upon pastors to encourage their congregations to participate in a 40-day boycott of Target. The 40-day boycott, described as a “fast,” was organized by Rev. Jamal Bryant of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia, who rallied Christians and Black churchgoers nationwide to abstain from shopping at Target during Lent, starting March 5 and ending April 17.
The boycott is part of a larger campaign pushing back against companies that have abandoned diversity initiatives, and is among numerous efforts by civil rights groups, faith leaders, and others targeting companies that have retreated from diversity initiatives following President Trump’s executive order to rollback diversity, equity, and inclusion programs within the federal government.
For LGBTQ federal employees and those seeking federal services, these changes mean the removal of programs and policies specifically designed to address and prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The rollback also signals to federal contractors and grantees that programs promoting LGBTQ equity may be unfavorably scrutinized or discouraged.
More than 100,000 people, many from Black churches, reportedly joined the boycott, with faith leaders urging participants to support Black-owned businesses instead. In March Target reported a more than $12 million in loss market value since the start of the boycott. Rev. Bryant has signaled a plan to continue pressure on Target following the 40 day period.
Faith Leaders Stand Up to Attacks
GLAAD’s ALERT Desk tracks anti-LGBTQ incidents targeting affirming faith-based communities in the United States (see here for an update to incident reporting). A number of heroic figures at LGBTQ-affirming faith-based communities have responded to threats.
“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” —Martin Luther King, Jr.
These are the words that Rev. Mark Suriano used to open his sermon at the First Congregational United Church of Christ, the Sunday after his church received death threats regarding their Pride flag. Rev. Suriano continued: “I have always loved [this] quote from Martin Luther King Jr., in theory. When he speaks of ‘an inescapable network of mutuality’ and ‘a single garment of destiny,’ my heart has always warmed. But this past week, I, for the first time, had the most palpable sense of these ideas in action… It was a weekend of terror, grief, and [exhaustion.] But, in the midst of all that, the outpouring of support far surpassed the hateful and violent rhetoric against us.” These and other messages of strength and resilience from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ECLA), Joy Metropolitan Community Church, Sikh LGBTQIA+ Oral History Project, Keshet, Inter-Intra Community, and others can be found here.
GLAAD’s Sarah Moore writes, “As we enter the holy season for those of so many faiths—from the end of Ramadan and Passover, to the start of Easter and Vaisakhi—let us remember these courageous leaders, who recognize our shared humanity and advocate for the importance of our diverse identities in fighting hate for all. In the words of the Interfaith Alliance, ‘While there are a variety of theological understandings of human sexuality and gender, we can all unite around the belief that nobody should fear for their safety or face discrimination based on who they love or who they are.’”
Transgender Student Athletics in Maine
Elected leaders in Maine continue to support transgender students and threats by the Trump administration to freeze federal funding for schools, school lunch programs, and university research.
President Trump initiated a confrontation with Maine’s Governor Janet Mills (D) at a White House event for the National Governors Association. Trump asked Mills if the state was going to comply with his executive order seeking to ban trans students from school sports. Mills said she would comply with “state and federal law.”
“You better do it,” said Trump, “because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t.”
Mills replied, “See you in court.”
The Maine Principals’ Association said it would continue to allow trans girls to compete in accordance with state law. The Trump administration attempted to freeze federal school lunch funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for Maine. Last week a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze the funding, which supplements school meals that feed Maine’s nearly 200,000 students.
“Because there are two, maybe two, trans athletes competing in Maine schools right now, they decided to shut off funding for the school nutrition program, the school lunch program, entirely,” Mills told CBS affiliate WGME.
“The law says if you don’t like what a state is doing over here, you can’t just take the funds away over here.”
Due Process
A federal judge is holding the Trump administration in contempt of court for not following a directive to facilitate the return of a man mistakenly arrested and shipped off to a mega prison in El Salvador.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident, was detained and flown to a prison in El Salvador without being told why he was detained and without the right to defend himself, a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s due process protections. The Trump administration admitted his detention was a mistake, was ordered to facilitate his return to the U.S., but has failed to do so, and made unsubstantiated claims about Abrego Garcia to justify their inaction.
Abrego Garcia is among 238 men detained and sent to El Salvador, including Andry Hernandez Romero. Romero is a 31-year-old gay makeup artist who fled Venezuela for the United States last year seeking asylum, and has no criminal record in Venezuela or the U.S.
View this post on Instagram
His case now has national attention after a 60 Minutes investigation. Romero’s attorney told correspondent Cecilia Vega that it is highly unlikely that the U.S. government knows something she doesn’t know about her client. But even if they did, she reminds officials that “they should follow the Constitution, present that information, give us the ability to reply to it.”
Elected officials who are supposed to provide the checks and balances as a co-leader of the government with the executive branch are continuing to hear it from constituents.
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, hosted a town hall meeting in southeast Iowa. Grassley was asked what he was doing about the mistaken detention of Abrego Garcia.
“Are you going to bring that guy back from El Salvador?” one man asked Grassley, eliciting applause from others in attendance.
“Why not?” he followed up after the Iowa senator said he wouldn’t.
When Grassley attempted to move on, another attendee interjected, citing the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment granting the right to due process for every “person,” not just citizen.
“Why won’t you do your job, senator?” the man asked.
Make sure to subscribe to GLAAD’s channels @GLAAD on social media to never miss an update on Heroes of the Resistance, and to stay informed on calls to action to support LGBTQ equality in your region!
