Daily Signal: LGBTQ advocacy groups lobbied Biden DOJ to take action against state transgender laws

THE ALASKA STORY

Oct. 18, 2026 – LGBTQ advocacy organizations used regular meetings with the Biden Justice Department to request federal intervention against state transgender policies, according to newly released documents detailed in an Oct. 18 report by The Daily Signal.

The records describe exchanges between advocacy groups and the department’s Civil Rights Division, including requests to discuss litigation, school policies, and ways the federal government could oppose legislation. The Daily Signal deserves credit for the original reporting on the documents.

The meetings themselves were publicly announced. A June 30, 2023, DOJ release described the inaugural quarterly gathering led by Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke and the division’s LGBTQI+ Working Group. Officials from several federal agencies attended, and the department said it heard concerns from participating organizations.

The newly reported records provide more detail about what those organizations wanted discussed.

According to The Daily Signal, an agenda attributed a request about limiting or stopping legislation characterized as anti-transgender to the National Women’s Law Center. Other subjects included medical-care litigation raised by Lambda Legal, strategic DOJ involvement raised by the ACLU, threats of violence raised by the Human Rights Campaign, and school protections raised by several groups, including the Southern Poverty Law Center.

At an Oct. 5, 2023, meeting, Clarke linked hostility toward gay and transgender people partly to state policies the division was challenging, according to the reported remarks. Those policies included restrictions on gender-transition treatment, bathroom access, and transgender participation in girls’ sports.

Clarke also referred to concerns organizations had raised at an earlier meeting about bathroom legislation and highlighted a DOJ filing opposing an Idaho law governing access to bathrooms and changing rooms by biological sex.

An internal message from Civil Rights Division attorney David Knight described an agenda identifying “which issues the stakeholders asked us to address,” The Daily Signal reported.

DOJ’s own announcements confirm that the gatherings included both briefings from officials and input from outside organizations.

A February 2024 readout listed discussions about hate crimes, threats against healthcare providers, legislation affecting LGBTQI+ people, adoption and foster care, and discrimination involving intersex people and people living with HIV. The same announcement highlighted DOJ participation in challenges involving restrictions on treatment for transgender minors in North Carolina and Medicaid coverage in Florida.

A September 2024 readout likewise described organizations raising concerns about schools, access to gender-affirming medical care, health privacy, and hate crimes. Participants included representatives from the FBI and numerous other federal offices and agencies.

The records establish that advocacy organizations submitted issues for discussion and sought federal action. They do not establish that a particular enforcement decision followed from those requests: The Daily Signal explicitly said it could not independently confirm that any specific filing, investigation, or enforcement action resulted directly from a stakeholder recommendation.

The working group was closed shortly after President Donald Trump returned to office, according to the outlet.

Responding to The Daily Signal, DOJ spokeswoman Kiersten Pels characterized the Biden-era meetings as giving outside activists influence over division priorities. She said the current administration bases its enforcement and litigation decisions on federal civil rights law and equal treatment of Americans.