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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

Death Penalty to Prayer: Nancy Mace’s Shifting Positions on Kirk’s Alleged Killer

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September 12, 2025

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Over the course of two days, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) has taken starkly shifting positions on the alleged assassin of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk—repeatedly blaming Democrats, calling for the death penalty, then urging prayer for the suspect to find Jesus Christ.

When news broke on Wednesday that Kirk—who had a large following on the right, and was close with President Donald Trump and his family—had been shot and had died, Mace declared, “They killed Charlie Kirk.” She did not specify who she thought “they” were.

Two hours later, Mace wrote, “It’s time to bring back the death penalty.” By late Thursday morning, she charged, “The Left owns what happened yesterday.”

She also posted video of herself from Wednesday, before Kirk had been pronounced dead, saying she was “devastated.”

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Using a slur for transgender people, she said that Kirk, when he was shot, was talking about mass violence.

“I hope that every single Democrat across the country will stand up and acknowledge that they have a problem within their party,” she urged. “So when are my colleagues on the left side of the aisle, the Democrats, going to own the violence that’s happening in this country against Republicans and against conservatives?”

“It’s only going to get better if Democrats step up to the plate and take responsibility for what’s happening in this country—the threats that are happening—and come together.”

“Democrats own this. Democrats own this,” she said. “Democrats own this 100%.”

Less than two hours after that post, echoing her earlier claim, she added: “Let me say this as nice as I can: DEMOCRATS OWN THIS.”

On Thursday, responding to now-retracted reports that the alleged shooter might have been transgender, or pro-transgender, Mace posted video of her telling reporters, “Enough is enough.”

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Again using a slur for transgender people, she said it “sounds like” the shooter was transgender or pro-transgender.

“The left, the Democrat Party, has allowed this stuff to happen,” she also charged.

Late Friday morning, Mace posted an image of the alleged assassin, about whom little was known, and wrote: “Bring back the death penalty.”

Also on Friday, amid reports that the alleged shooter, identified as Tyler Robinson, had turned himself in to law enforcement, Congresswoman Mace wrote: “We know Charlie Kirk would want us to pray for such an evil, and lost individual like Tyler Robinson to find Jesus Christ. We will try to do the same.”

Less than one hour later, she added, “We truly believe if Tyler Robinson had ever sat down across from Charlie, the great debater, the man of faith and grace he was, Tyler wouldn’t have pulled the trigger.”

Friday afternoon, she concluded, “Some crimes are so evil, the only just punishment is the death penalty.”

READ MORE: Trump Declares Inflation ‘Solved’ as Americans Pay More for Gas and Groceries

 

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license

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Eric Trump Echoes Father’s Rhetoric After Kirk Assassination to Hawk His Memoir

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September 12, 2025

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Eric Trump railed against “radical left lunatics” in a tirade of grievances—parroting the same rhetoric his father used in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk—as he hawked his new memoir, “Under Siege.”

“As to what the radical left lunatics were trying to do to our family, what the movement that we created, and it’s a movement of good. It’s exactly what Charlie epitomized,” the President’s son declared to podcaster Benny Johnson.

“You know, we’re all watching, and we see exactly what happened to Charlie,” he explained.

“That is us being under siege,” he told Johnson. “That is that is our party, that is our movement.”

READ MORE: Trump Declares Inflation ‘Solved’ as Americans Pay More for Gas and Groceries

“That is God being under siege,” he declared. “That’s our Constitution being under siege. That’s our American flag being under siege . That’s our family unit in this country being under siege. That’s our democracy being under siege. Everything that we love, everything that we fought for.”

“It’s every one of those college kids that’s indoctrinated,” he complained. “It’s all of them being under siege. It’s a revisionist history that they teach in our schools.”

Trump said he will donate part of the proceeds of the book to Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, “because here’s what you and I and all the other people can never allow happen: We cannot allow his mission, you know, to ever die, it won’t.”

He also claimed that “the bullets are only going one way,” suggesting that the left, not the right, is responsible for violence.

Trump went on to describe where he was when his father’s attempted assassination took place in Butler, Pennsylvania. He also invoked the 2017 shooting of Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, and “what almost happened to [Brett] Kavanaugh. And then we see what happens to Charlie Kirk.”

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“I mean, the bullets are only flying one way, and yet I get to hear the nonsense, and I get to watch all these networks every night,” he said.

“I mean, how is it that you know, the decorum is only going one way in this country, and yet we’re the ones that are labeled as the ‘fascist’? Isn’t that kind of ironic?”

“You know, hey, the Republicans in this country are generally the ones that have the guns. We’re the ones that believe in the Second Amendment. You know, they’re not doing this shooting.”

On Friday morning in a social media post with a photo of his book, Trump wrote, “Like all of you, I have been deeply impacted by Charlie’s life. His story is not over. This movement is not over, and there is still so much more to be done. In honor of Charlie’s life and his incredible legacy, I will be donating a portion of the proceeds from Under Siege to Turning Point USA to continue their amazing work.”

Pointing to that post, The Daily Beast wrote that Trump was using Kirk’s death “to sell his book.”

READ MORE: Republican Says Left’s Ideology Is ‘Pure Evil’

 

Image via Shutterstock

 

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Trump Declares Inflation ‘Solved’ as Americans Pay More for Gas and Groceries

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1 day ago

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September 12, 2025

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President Donald Trump has declared inflation “solved” as Americans are paying more for everyday goods like gas and groceries.

“I’ve already solved inflation,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Friday morning. “Costs are down.”

Inflation is now the highest it’s been since January, according to CNBC.

“Look at the energy costs,” he added. “You’re gonna have $2 gasoline pretty soon.”

The national average price of gas as of Friday is $3.19, according to AAA. Nationwide, prices are as high as $4.65 and as low as $2.71.

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The president went on to boast, “I’ve solved just about every problem.”

But statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor show Americans are paying more—in some cases far more—at the pump and at the checkout line.

“Inflation inched higher last month as Americans closed out the summer paying more for both groceries and gasoline,” NPR reported on Thursday. “Consumer prices in August were up 2.9% from a year ago, according to a report Thursday from the Labor Department. That’s a sharper annual increase than the previous month, when inflation was clocked at 2.7%.”

During the 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump vowed to lower prices “on day one.”

Yet, due in part to his sweeping tariffs, “Virtually all major grocery categories are now more expensive than they were a year ago, some substantially so,” according to Axios. “This was the biggest month-over-month increase since August 2022, the tail end of a year of huge monthly increases in grocery prices.”

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The price of coffee is up nearly 21%, the price of uncooked beef steaks is up nearly 17%, apples are up nearly 10%, and bananas are up almost 7%.

Overall, the cost of groceries in August was up 0.6% over July’s prices, and the price of gas jumped 1.9% in just one month, according to NPR.

READ MORE: ‘Fascist Playbook’: Trump Blasted for ‘Gas on the Fire’ Kirk Assassination Address

 

Image via Reuters

 

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