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22 LGBT Advances That (Probably) Will Disappear Under A President Romney

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Under a President Mitt Romney, there are at least 22 advances in LGBT civil rights delivered by President Barack Obama that most likely will disappear. While Nancy Pelosi and, to a far lesser extent, Harry Reid, have worked to support civil rights and protections for the gay community, Barack Obama has — sometimes with great fanfare, oftentimes in the shadows — delivered important advances.

Back in 2010, at Change.org, I wrote a somewhat controversial (at the time) article, “Obama’s Gay Rights Come With An Expiration Date,” which stated:

President Obama should know better than to incrementalize gay rights, and tie them to his presidency. And yet, that’s exactly what he’s doing.

…

President Obama has slowly and quietly doled out rights to the LGBTQ community. These are rights we should have by the very nature of our existence, rights that every other American has upon birth, but the president has doled them out cautiously, meekly, without pomp or circumstance, and, worse, he has tied them to his presidency.

This tactic is problematic for two reasons.

First, by expanding our civil rights by issuing executive orders and memoranda, President Obama’s gay civil rights come with an expiration date. Yes, that’s right. The rights he has decreed, without working through Congress, are tied to his presidency. Any of his successors can, simply with the stroke of a pen, wipe out all our hard-earned rights, just because he or she wants to. Do you honestly think the next Republican president won’t do that?

Today, the Washington Blade’s Chris Johnson posts a long list of 21 LGBT advances a President Romney could — with the stroke of a pen or incrementally — make disappear into a more progressive history.

Asking, “Would President Romney undo pro-LGBT advances?,” Johnson notes:

Many of the pro-LGBT advances that have happened under the Obama administration occurred through changes made by the executive branch rather than through legislation. Changes that were made without the consent of Congress could be reversed under an administration that wanted to cozy up to the religious right.

The Washington Blade has identified five regulatory changes and 16 sub-regulatory changes enacted by the Obama administration that could be reversed if Romney were elected to the White House. These changes include giving greater recognition to same-sex couples, protecting federal LGBT workers against discrimination and ensuring the federal government recognizes the correct gender of transgender people.

The one Johnson doesn’t include in his list of “five regulatory changes and 16 sub-regulatory changes” is the most-obvious: Obama’s support of same-sex marriage equality.

Here’s the list from the Blade:

Regulations

The Administrative Procedures Act provides safeguards against politically motivated policy switches. Thus repealing the policies below would involve a multi-year process.

  • The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) adopted a regulation ending the ban on HIV-positive visitors and immigrants.
  • President Obama issued Presidential Memorandum in April 2010 directing HHS to issue regulations requiring all hospitals receiving Medicaid and Medicare to prohibit discrimination in visitation against LGBT people. HHS issued a final regulation that went into effect in early 2011.
  • HUD issued final regulations in January 2012 prohibiting discrimination in federal public housing programs and federally insured mortgage loans.  HUD also requires its grantees to comply with LGBT-inclusive state and local housing discrimination protections.
  • The Office of Personnel Management published final regulations in the Federal Register expanding the eligibility for long-term care coverage to same-sex partners and sick leave to care for a same-sex partner.
  •  The federal Prison Rape Elimination Commission proposed national standards to reduce sexual abuse in correctional facilities, including standards regarding LGBT and intersex inmates. They were later instituted as a rule finalized by the Justice Department last month.

Sub-Regulatory Guidance/Policy Announcements

These are policy advances instituted by — and subject to the will of — the administration.

  • The Department of Health and Human Services revised its funding guidance around abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education programs, requiring that recipient programs are inclusive of and non-stigmatizing toward LGBT youth.
  • HHS, in partnership with the Department of Education and Department of Justice, launched stopbullyingnow.com.
  • The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency recently released new 2011 Performance Based National Detention Standards.  These new standards provide guidance that aims to improve treatment of LGBT and HIV-positive people in detention facilities.
  • In summer 2011, ICE published a memo and clarifying guidance providing that an individual’s family relationships, including a same-sex relationship, would be considered as a factor in labeling certain deportations as low-priority deportations.
  • The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol announced a proposed regulatory change expanding the meaning of “members of a family residing in one household” for the purposes of the customs declaration form, which must be completed prior to re-entry to the United States.
  • The DOJ issued an opinion clarifying that the criminal provisions of the Violence Against Women Act related to stalking and abuse apply equally to same-sex partners.
  • The State Department revised the standards for changing a gender marker on a passport, making the process less burdensome for transgender people.
  • In September 2011, the Social Security Administration confirmed that it ended the practice of allowing gender to be matched in its Social Security Number Verification System (SSNVS). This resulted in the immediate cessation of SSA sending notifications that alert employers when the gender marker on an employee’s W-2 does not match Social Security records.
  • The State Department extended numerous benefits to the partners of Foreign Service officers, including diplomatic passports and access to emergency evacuation.
  • The State Department reversed a Bush administration policy that refused to use a same-sex marriage license as evidence of a name change for passports.
  • The Department of Education issued guidance clarifying when student bullying may violate federal law, distributed a memo outlining key components of strong state anti-bullying laws and policies and made clear to public schools that gay-straight alliances have a right to form and meet.
  • The Department of Education published guidance and, in coordination with the Department of Justice, has pursued Title IX complaints filed by LGBT students experiencing harassment based on sex or sex stereotyping.
  • OPM added gender identity to the equal employment opportunity policy governing all federal jobs.
  • The Department of Labor issued guidance clarifying that an employee can take time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act to care for a same-sex partner’s child.
  • The IRS clarified that domestic partners (and their children) can be designated beneficiaries for VEBA funding/payment purposes.
  • The Census Bureau overturned the Bush administration’s interpretation of the Defense of Marriage Act and agreed to release data on married same-sex couples along with other demographic information from the 2010 Census.

SOURCE: HRC

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News

‘Obviously a Lie’: Trump Admin Slammed for Conflicting Claims in ‘Party Balloon’ Shutdown

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February 11, 2026

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The Trump administration is facing blowback after putting out conflicting reports from top officials at multiple agencies — and after offering no explanation initially — as it closed a U.S. airport, initially for ten days, only to reopen it hours later. Reports revealed communications snafus between the Department of Defense and the FAA, and alleged causes being foreign drones or a “party balloon.”

“A U.S. official confirmed to Fox News that the U.S. military earlier this week shot down what was later determined to be a party balloon near El Paso, Texas, after initially assessing it as a possible foreign drone,” the news outlet reported. “The misidentification eventually led to a total shutdown of airspace around the El Paso, Texas, airport.”

“A separate U.S. administration official had told Fox News that Mexican cartel drones breached U.S. airspace near El Paso, Texas, and that counter-drone measures were taken to disable them,” Fox added.

CNN reported that a “Pentagon plan to use a high-energy, counter-drone laser without having coordinated with the Federal Aviation Administration about potential risks to civilian flights prompted Wednesday’s unprecedented airspace shutdown over El Paso, Texas.”

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CBS News reported that the “unexpected but brief airspace closure” had “stemmed from disagreements” between FAA and Pentagon officials over drone-related tests.

“Two sources identified the technology as a high-energy laser,” CBS added.

The FAA Administrator, Bryan Bedford, “on Tuesday night decided to close the airspace — without alerting White House, Pentagon or Homeland Security officials, sources said.”

But Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth offered a different explanation, saying that the FAA and the Pentagon “acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion. The threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region. The restrictions have been lifted and normal flights are resuming.”

Critics blasted the administration.

Pointing to one administration official’s claim about “Mexican cartel drones,” Aaron Fritschner, deputy chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) wrote: “As everyone knows, the standard response to an incursion by ‘Mexican cartel drones’ is a sudden unexplained and poorly communicated 9/11 esque shutdown of all air traffic for ten days that is clumsily revoked a few hours later.”

“This is so obviously a lie,” he charged.

READ MORE: Carville Predicts Trump Will Get a Complete and Total ‘Whipping’

Veteran journalist Kevin Baron, who has a background in global security, defense, intelligence, and foreign policy, called the closure and rapid re-opening, “unnecessarily alarming.”

Astrophysicist and associate professor Robert Rutledge remarked, “We are being lied to by @SeanDuffyWI [Secretary Sean Duffy] and the FAA. This is obviously b — —.”

“There have now been three different explanations given by government sources to reporters for the shut-down of the El Paso airport,” he continued. “If any one of them were correct, the shut down would still be a completely bonkers, unacceptable situation.”

CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem slammed the Defense Department.

“The Pentagon is dangerous,” she wrote. “This is totally outrageous and risky. The American public’s safety is not a pawn in Hegseth and Duffy’s fighting over DOD and DOT control of skies. Hegseth totally at fault here, it seems.”

Responding to an FAA statement, former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance asked, “Who is running this clown show?”

Meteorologist Justin Stapleton remarked, “y’all need to get your story straight. This isn’t ok.”

READ MORE: ‘Toast’: Latino GOP Strategist Warns ‘Republicans Are Gonna Lose So Big in November’

 

Image via Reuters 

This article has been updated to include Kayyem’s remarks. 

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‘Corruption, Chaos and Cruelty’: Strategist Urges Dems to Hold GOP Accountable for Trump

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2 hours ago

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February 11, 2026

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It’s time for Democrats to stop blaming President Donald Trump for every GOP policy failure and start placing the blame on Republicans.

That’s according to communications strategist Steven Singer, in an opinion piece at The Hill.

“When immigration enforcement officers killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, Democrats blamed President Trump and his team,” Singer writes. “Too many Republicans said little, and once again, Democrats let them off the hook. It’s time to try something different.”

“These are not ‘Trump’s goons,’ but Republican goons,” suggests Singer. “This isn’t a Trump war on blue states; it’s a Republican war on American cities. It’s not that Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem and Trump are out of control; it’s just the Republican Party in action.”

READ MORE: ‘Can’t Erase Us’: Stonewall Pride Flag Removal Becomes National Flashpoint for Trump Admin

Singer serves up more examples.

“Almost all the administration does can be seen as examples of Republican corruption, chaos and cruelty. The constant lying is not a point in and of itself, but rather another instance of the moral corruption of the administration. The $400 million jet from Qatar; the $500 million to Trump’s crypto fund; the pardons for wealthy criminals — this is all Republican corruption.”

The “most important” technique is “making all Republicans own everything their leader does, and explicitly and concisely linking each outrage to a single, consistent frame of reference, such as ‘corruption, chaos and cruelty,'” urges Singer. “It’s the difference between calling on Republicans to act, or accusing them of cowardice for not doing so, and making clear that these extremist policies are theirs.”

Singer sums up his lesson:

“Pick some examples and try it yourself. The magic is in the consistent repetition of this basic construct. Remember, less ‘Trump’ and more ‘Republicans.’ More ‘corruption, chaos and cruelty.’ Do it again and again. It really is that simple.”

READ MORE: Carville Predicts Trump Will Get a Complete and Total ‘Whipping’

 

Image via Reuters 

 

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News

GOP Senator Slams DOJ’s ‘Political Lawfare’

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4 hours ago

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February 11, 2026

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A prominent Republican senator blasted the U.S. Department of Justice after it attempted — unsuccessfully — to secure indictments against six sitting Democratic lawmakers who urged members of the military to follow the law and not obey illegal orders.

U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) had “slammed the Justice Department’s push to criminally charge” the six Democrats, Politico reported. All six Democrats had served in the U.S. Armed Forces or the Intelligence Community.

“Political lawfare waged by either side undermines America’s criminal justice system, which is the gold standard of the world,” Senator Tillis wrote on Wednesday. “Thankfully in this instance, a jury saw the attempted indictments for what they really were. Political lawfare is not normal, not acceptable, and needs to stop.”

READ MORE: NYC Officials to Defy Trump Admin Over Pride Flag Removal From Stonewall National Monument

Tillis pointed to an NBC News report that stated: “The indictment, pursued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, led by Trump appointee Jeanine Pirro, is the latest example of the Justice Department’s targeting the president’s perceived political opponents.”

Politico reported that the unsuccessful effort to indict “marked another instance of U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro failing to clinch a high-profile federal indictment since taking over as the top prosecutor in D.C.”

“President Donald Trump called for the lawmakers to face trial for ‘seditious behavior’ and reshared a post that advocated for hanging the Democrats,” Politico also noted.

But some criticized Tillis’s remark for its “both sides” claim.

“Under one party, an independent Justice Department prosecuted offenders for attempting the violent overthrow of a presidential election and under the other, presidential cronies attempted to indict sitting members of Congress for restating the UCMJ,” wrote Zev Karlin-Neumann, a former speechwriter and senior advisor to former U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken. “But yes, both sides!”

READ MORE: Carville Predicts Trump Will Get a Complete and Total ‘Whipping’

 

Image via Reuters 

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