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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

‘Dangerous and Corrupt’: Critics Slam Trump for Firing Labor Stats Chief Over Jobs Report

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August 1, 2025

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A furious President Donald Trump has fired the Commissioner of Labor Statistics following a dismal June jobs report that showed only 73,000 new jobs added and downward revisions of more than 250,000 for April and May.

“I was just informed that our Country’s ‘Jobs Numbers’ are being produced by a Biden Appointee, Dr. Erika McEntarfer,” Trump wrote in a social media post, baselessly accusing her of having “faked the Jobs Numbers before the Election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of Victory.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is an independent statistical agency and part of the U.S. Department of Labor.

Claiming that the Bureau had “overstated the Jobs Growth in March 2024 by approximately 818,000 and, then again, right before the 2024 Presidential Election, in August and September, by 112,000,”  Trump wrote: “These were Records — No one can be that wrong?”

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“I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified,” he vowed. “Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes.”

“McEntarfer said there were only 73,000 Jobs added (a shock!) but, more importantly, that a major mistake was made by them, 258,000 Jobs downward, in the prior two months,” he noted.

Trump then also called for the termination of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, despite having claimed he does not plan to fire him before his term ends next year.

“The Economy is BOOMING under ‘TRUMP’ despite a Fed that also plays games, this time with Interest Rates, where they lowered them twice, and substantially, just before the Presidential Election, I assume in the hopes of getting ‘Kamala’ elected – How did that work out? Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell should also be put ‘out to pasture.’ Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

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Democracy Docket reported that McEntarfer’s “firing raises the threat of political interference in U.S. economic data, which economists warn would undermine confidence in the economy.”

The media outlet called her dismissal “part of Trump’s ongoing efforts to take control of traditionally independent federal agencies, and to use them for political gain.”

Critics blasted the move.

“Unquestionably the most dangerous and corrupt attack on the independence of US economic data in American history,” wrote Joey Politano, who writes the economics Substack Apricitas Economics. “Trump is firing the head of the BLS, [a] longtime civil servant confirmed 86-8 by the Senate, simply because the job numbers came in below his expectations today.”

Arin Dube, Provost Professor of Economics at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, issued this warning:

“Firing the Commissioner of Labor Statistics when the BLS revises jobs numbers down (as it routinely does) threatens to destroy trust in core American institutions, and all government statistics. I can’t stress how damaging this is.”

Journalist and author Charles Fishman noted, “Trump doesn’t like Friday’s official job statistics. Trump fires career labor economist who is Commissioner of Labor Statistics. This is what authoritarianism looks like. Don’t like reality? Fire the person, insist on a new reality. Completely undermines trust in gov’t data.”

Journalist Brian J. Karem wrote: “Remember the part about ‘shooting the messenger’? This is a real Third World, Russian or North Korean propaganda move. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen Don. You don’t get to burn down the house.”

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) declared, “Breaking: Kill the messenger.”

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Trump’s ‘Rare’ Nuclear Sub Deployment Follows Epstein Scandal, Jobs Slump, Critics Say

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August 1, 2025

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In what is being called an “escalating war of words,” President Donald Trump announced in a social media post that he is repositioning two nuclear submarines in response to an apparent threat made by the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev. Some see Trump’s move as a distraction from the bad news of the week, including the ongoing Epstein files scandal and Friday’s poor jobs report.

Medvedev, who served as President of Russia, denounced Trump’s deadline for Russia to end its illegal war against Ukraine this week as a “step towards war,” Fox News reported.

Calling Medvedev’s remarks “highly provocative statements,” Trump announced: “I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that.”

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Trump did not state where the “appropriate regions” are.

“Words are very important,” he declared, “and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances.”

Military.com’s Konstantin Toropin called it “an incredibly rare move” that “the President publicly announces that two US nuclear submarines are apparently poised to strike Russia.”

“Important note,” he added, “all US subs are nuclear so it’s not immediately clear if Trump is communicating a nuclear or conventional deterrent here.”

Critics weighed in.

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HuffPost Senior White House correspondent S.V. Dáte noted: “1) Remember when he claimed that Biden and Harris would get us into WWIII? 2) Normally the US does not breathe one word, not one syllable, about the location of the Navy’s missile boats. 3) 77 million Americans voted for this. 4) How far will he go to distract from Epstein?”

MeidasTouch News editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski wrote: “Probably just a coincidence that Trump announces he’s stationing two nuclear subs off Russia because of war threats just hours after the worst jobs report in 5 years just dropped.”

“Trump spent every day for 4 years saying that Biden was about to start World War 3 and if he got elected he would end the war in Ukraine and we would have peace with Russia because he has a great relationship with Putin,” Filipkowski added.

Podcaster Fred Wellman, an Army veteran of 22 years, responded to the news with: “Wow. Epstein.”

“How Trump went from ‘wouldn’t it be great to get along with Russia’ to deploying nuclear subs in response to Medvedev is a tale of astonishing Russian diplomatic failure,” noted The Daily Telegraph’s Chief foreign affairs commentator David Blair.

READ MORE: Trump Responsible for Rising Prices, High Cost of Living, Most Americans Say: Report

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Trump Responsible for Rising Prices, High Cost of Living, Most Americans Say: Report

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August 1, 2025

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With inflation and unemployment rising, a majority of Americans say President Donald Trump is to blame for increased prices and the high cost of living, as many turn to credit cards and other high-interest vehicles to pay for their purchases, a new poll finds. Some are skipping meals just to make ends meet, some spend time daily worrying about how they are going to pay their bills, and many are forced to turn to friends and family for financial support.

“American families are struggling financially, and 6 in 10 place blame on Donald Trump for driving up their cost of living,” reported progressive think tank The Century Foundation, with data from a Morning Consult poll that it sponsored. “More than half believe that billionaires, corporations, and congressional Republicans have made their lives harder,” while the “majority of voters feel the Trump administration’s actions are making their problems and anxieties worse—not better.”

Overall, a staggering four out of five Americans (83%) are concerned about the cost of groceries, including 46% who say they are “very concerned.”

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Almost half (47%) worry about being able to pay their rent or mortgage, almost one in four say it would be difficult to pay for an unexpected home or medical emergency—and many would have trouble paying even a $500 expense.

“This financial insecurity is widespread across demographic and income groups—although it is more pronounced among groups such as younger Americans, Americans of color, women, and lower-income Americans,” the report stated.

For many Americans, anxiety about money is a daily experience, and a large majority worry that things are going to get worse.

“A shocking 1 in 4 Americans (24 percent) say they spend at least three hours on a typical day worrying about their finances and ability to afford basic necessities. More than 4 in 10 spend at least one hour per day,” according to the report. “While low- and middle-income Americans express the strongest financial concerns, one-third of those with incomes above $100,000 also spend at least an hour concerned about their finances on a typical day.”

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President Donald Trump’s tariffs are a major concern for many Americans as well.

49% believe Trump’s tariffs will make the cost of goods made overseas more expensive, and nearly seven in ten say they believe Trump’s tariffs will increase prices.

The Century Foundation published video detailing its findings.

Watch the video below or at this link.

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