As teased earlier in the week, President Donald Trump pledged in his State of the Union address Tuesday to “eliminate the HIV epidemic in the United States within ten years.”
Noting incredibly scientific strides, Trump promised, “Together, we will defeat AIDS in America and beyond.”
Following the speech, Health & Human Services Secretary Alex Azar released additional detail about the strategy, which for the most part, contains core components that...
lgbtq
The Senate has been rushing through judicial confirmations, including many anti-LGBTQ judges
The process by which the Senate confirms federal judges has greatly shifted under President Trump, and the results are greatly endangering the LGBTQ community. A new report from Lambda Legal shows that more than a third of nominees have a documented history of anti-LGBTQ bias, but many are getting rushed across the confirmation finish line to lifetime appointments anyway.
In the past, the Senate has been a bit slow to confirm judges to the federal bench. For example, under the past ...
Coalition releases plan to end U.S. HIV epidemic by 2025
In advance of World AIDS Day Saturday, a coalition of HIV/AIDS advocacy organizations have laid out a detailed plan to end the U.S. HIV epidemic by 2025.
The new roadmap sets ambitious goals for treatment and prevention and calls upon lawmakers to enact the kinds of changes that will help achieve them.
What that looks like is meeting what is called the “95/95/95” framework:
- 95 percent of people who have HIV are aware of their status.
- 95 perce...
Transgender women celebrate monumental health care court victory
It was the first case outcome of its kind: a total of $780,000 in damages for two transgender women who were denied medically necessary health care because of their gender identity. It was also likely the first time a court found that facial feminization surgery was medically necessary.
The women now hope that if eight jurors in Wisconsin could be convinced that transgender people deserve access to health care related to their identities, others might be inspired to fight for what t...
Trump administration falsely blames Obama administration for transgender erasure proposal
The Trump administration issued a new response Monday to the New York Times’ report that it is considering a plan to erase transgender people from recognition under federal nondiscrimination laws. This attempt to blame the Obama administration for the current circumstances is not only false, but further undermined by conservative groups’ praise for the news.
In a statement calling the Times’ story “misleading,” Health and Human Services spokesperson Cai...
It’s not an exaggeration to say the Trump administration wants to erase transgender people
A Sunday New York Times article revealed that the Trump administration is planning to impose a rule that would effectively erase the existence of transgender people under the law. Though the Times did not share the full memo draft it had reviewed, it detailed the memo’s plan to define sex across agencies as “either male or female, unchangeable, and determined by the genitals that a person is born with” — subject to genetic testing.
It’s the equivalent of impo...
Trump voters worry about discrimination against men and Christians more than any other group
A new survey from YouGov and The Economist suggests that people who voted for President Donald Trump are living in a very different United States than those who voted for Hillary Clinton.
In a series of questions about the discrimination they perceive different groups to be experiencing, the respondents were far more concerned with the plight of men and Christians than with just about any other group.
The poll surveyed 1,500 U.S. adults this past Sunday through Tuesday, 28 pe...
Lawmakers’ scores plummet on LGBTQ congressional scorecard
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has released its Congressional Scorecard for the 115th Congress — and it’s revealed some shocking drop-offs.
With Republicans in control of both Congress and the White House, lawmakers showed far less concern for the LGBTQ community, voting against their interests and ignoring legislation that would protect them.
Unlike in previous sessions, lawmakers over the past two years didn’t vote on a single bill that would have directl...
These 3 anti-LGBTQ lawsuits outline new conservative strategy in Texas
Conservatives in Texas have filed three lawsuits seeking to overturn LGBTQ protections in the name of “religious freedom.” As the Texas state legislature gears up for its 2019 session, the litigation suggests a bold and renewed effort to undermine civil rights for LGBTQ people, seemingly at every turn.
The three suits in question were filed last week — all within a few days of each other — by three of Texas’ most vocal anti-LGBTQ groups. Two of them tar...
Two federal judges rule insurance companies must cover transgender health procedures
Two different federal courts granted rulings last week in favor of allowing transgender people to access the medically necessary care prescribed to them by their doctors.
The rulings confirm the Affordable Care Act’s protections on the basis of sex extend to transgender people.
In Wisconsin, two University of Wisconsin employees challenged an exclusion to the Uniform Benefits established by the state’s Government Insurance Board. The exclusion prohibited coverage ...