Joe Reberkenny is the White House Correspondent for the Washington Blade. He joins The Gaily Show bi-weekly on Wednesdays to share his latest reporting. This week he shares a new report from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) that found a record 12% of Americans identify as LGBTQ. Also, a federal judge has struck down Texas’ 2023 ban on drag performances. And finally, the Log Cabin Republicans have gone full MAGA and officially stopped supporting transgender people (article continues below).
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The landmark HRC report was based on federal data collected between 2021 and 2024, finding that roughly 25.6 million Americans self-identified as LGBTQ — the largest ever number documented by the U.S. government.
In the new report, approximately 32% of LGBTQ Americans are between 18-24. This supports results in other studies that found that younger Americans tend to self-identify as LGBTQ at higher rates than other age groups. Another important finding was that people identifying as bisexual surged.
Researchers have long assumed that surveys and federal data have undercounted LGBTQ people who were unwilling to disclose their identity to researchers. This report is based on a survey that allowed people to self-disclose privately.
“People are able to answer on their own terms,” Reberkenny explained, “and not have to tell somebody else where they might feel uncomfortable.”
Reberkenny also spoke to how the Trump administration’s attacks on the LGBTQ community may also have a contributing factor as to why so many more Americans chose at this time to disclose their LGBTQ identity.
Trump Admin Cutting Federal Data Collection
Since coming back into office, Trump and MAGA have been systematically erasing LGBTQ people from the federal government. A deliberate strategy, Reberkenny claims, to stop America’s support of the queer community.
“The Trump administration is point-blank just trying to reduce LGBTQ federal specific data collection,” Reberkenny said. “We knew that from civil rights activism, once it reaches a certain point of the public supporting it, whether it be because they’re part of the community or they just are not here for watching the federal government attack and belittle and take away rights from citizens, it reaches a breaking point where you can’t put that Pandora’s box lid back on.”
Reberkenny emphasized that this report shows queer Americans are standing up to be counted, “they’re willing to speak more out than they had prior.”
Federal Judge Strikes Down Texas Drag Ban
Reberkenny also reported that U.S. District Judge David Hitter, a Reagan appointee, dismantled Texas’s law banning drag performances. The law wanted to impose a one-year jail sentence and a $10,000 fine.
In his ruling, Judge Hitter had this advice for people who don’t like drag.
“People who find drag offensive, ‘just don’t go,'” Reberkenny said, quoting the ruling.
He also said that Judge Hitter invoked Dolly Parton in his ruling, writing that the law was written so broadly that her performances would have been found to violate it.
Reberkenny said that the ACLU of Texas has celebrated the decision in the uber-conservative state. Attorney General Ken Paxton, currently running for the U.S. Senate, can still appeal. But Reberkenny was doubtful about his chances.
“Unless the Supreme Court decides to be real ready to change a lot of things in this country, I don’t foresee it happening,” Reberkenny said. “And if they do take it on, I don’t foresee it going super well for the Texas AG.”
As Reberkenny explained it, this ruling hinges on artistic expression which falls squarely under the protections of the First Amendment.
“There’s such a fine line between it being chilling effect and between it being outright just restricting actions,” he explained. “The [goal of the] First Amendment is to be able to display who you are and what you feel.”
Log Cabin Republicans End Support for Transgender People
While they have previously supported transgender Americans, including opposing the ban on transgender service members, the Log Cabin Republicans have announced they will end their organization’s support for transgender rights.
Reberkenny reported that the group claims they will not expel current transgender members and yet they will stop all public advocacy on their behalf for military service, healthcare, and employment protections.
“They’re trying to tear the LGBTQ political umbrella apart to fit better what the Trump administration is seeing as the most important or the most important group of the LGBTQ community,” Reberkenny said.
Reberkenny noted that Ross Heminger, who made the announcement in an op-ed, didn’t cite a specific policy driving the change. Reberkenny suggested that it was Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s ongoing attacks on the transgender community that influenced the Log Cabin Republican’s decision.
Speaking to the ban on transgender service members, Reberkenny said, “I’ve had the privilege to meet so many fantastic transgender military members. Their transgender experience only supports them being the most fantastic military members overall.”
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