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March 21, 2025 13 mins
 In this month's SpeakOut with Angela Giampolo, aka Philly Gay Lawyer, we explore pressing issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community. This episode the latest executive orders impacting the community and the elimination of over 200 words on government websites that not only impact LGTQIA+ but individuals in the wider community.
Giampolo Law Group  
 X: @Philly Gay Lawyer
Instagram: @yourgaylawyer
TikTok: @gaylawyer    
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining me as she does once a month every month
more or less is Angela Giankfolo. She is with Gimpolo
Law Group, that is her company. She is an extraordinary
advocate in the LGBTQIA plus community and has a blog
called Philly Gay Lawyer. And we talk about issues once
a month that impact the LGBTQIA plus community, but also

(00:20):
we talk about how those issues also impact the rest
of us. So thank you so much for joining us today.
So much talk about where do we start go, I.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Don't even know we'll start with.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
You know, this has been a particularly tough time for
the LGBTQ community post inauguration. More happened on day one,
January twentieth than I thought what happened over six months
to a year. I don't think anyone expected the fire
hose of executive orders that came on inauguration day, and

(00:55):
we are still seeing the effects the impact of that.
Several executive orders that directly impact the LGBTQ community. One
of the biggest that I think will continue to have
a ripple effect over time on other folks within the
umbrella of LGBTQ plus IA is defining sex federally as

(01:17):
solely male female, And so obviously the immediate impact of
that was felt on trans folks, non binary folks, and
gender diverse folks, immediate impacts, but will eventually, my opinion,
see that trickle down even to impacting marriage equality and
the federal benefits that flow for marriage, because then they'll say, oh,
the federal benefits that flow for marriage will only go

(01:40):
two traditional families as made up of a male and
a female, right, so we're not there yet. And then
passports and again, all federal documentation flowing from that executive order,
all federal documentation can only have an F or an
M ultimately viscerating and moving any trans folks, non binary folks,

(02:02):
and gender diverse folks, forcing them to choose, and no
longer being allowed to have X on their passports. So
I've had a lot of phone calls from folks if
you currently have X on your ID or on your passport,
it will remain, But when they go to renew their passports,
or if their trans and they've updated all of their

(02:24):
other documentation to reflect, when they go to get a passport,
it doesn't matter. They will get their sex assigned at birth.
So I've had a lot of phone calls from folks
with upcoming and pending international travel that no longer feel
safe to do. So they stopped all funding for HIV AIDS.
They've banned trans folks from participating in sports. That executive

(02:46):
order is under judicial scrutiny at the moment, So all
of these orders at the end of the day will
go through judicial scrutiny. But like what we saw Saturday
with the plane holding alleged you know, GAG members, and
that Trump violated judicial order. So even if the courts
ultimately come back and say that's not constitutional, you can't

(03:09):
do that.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
Can you explain a little further what you meant by
the plane?

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Right?

Speaker 3 (03:13):
So a plane was heading to I don't know what
country with alleged gang members on it and being deported.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
Oh, the Venezuelan deportations. Yeah, okay, exactly.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
And Trump was told he couldn't do that, and it
happened anyways, And so now we have we've been looking
at since February twelfth. It was one of the first
judicial orders, but it wasn't a final order that he disobeyed,
But it wasn't considered a constitutional crisis at the moment
because it wasn't a final order, and so he continued

(03:47):
to do the thing. For instance, one order that he's
violating it has been is moving trans prisoners from the
prison that they're currently at to the prison again matching
their assigned sex at birth, and so that's been deemed unconstitutional,
but not a final order, so he's continuing to do

(04:07):
it pending a final order. We have the makings of
a constitutional crisis. Harvard scholars don't know where that ends,
let alone me.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Well, I guess the question is when you talk about
the different branches of government. You've got, you know, the
executive branch, you've got Congress, you've got judicial and a
president who's essentially ignoring a judicial edict that this plane
shouldn't be going off, it shouldn't be taking these venezuelans

(04:38):
to god knows where. So he's openly defying court orders.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
What does that mean?

Speaker 1 (04:45):
I mean that just seems like where is this America?
What's happening?

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Right?

Speaker 3 (04:50):
The executive director of the ACLU was interviewed a couple
of weeks ago on this.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
This has been growing. This isn't brand new.

Speaker 3 (04:58):
This one caught the news and so now it's in
everybody's you know, daily conversation. But if you know, if
you google constitutional crisis, are we there yet? It goes
back to February twelfth, It goes back to over a
month ago, but this caught the news cycle. So, yeah,
you have the three branches of government. You have Congress
that makes the laws. Then you have the judiciary that

(05:18):
decides whether or not they're legal.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
And then you have the.

Speaker 3 (05:21):
Executive branch, which can also create executive orders but ultimately
not make law. There's always then Congress that says, okay,
yes you can do that, and then the judiciary that's
legal or it's not constitutional or not. And we've never
had a president ever defy a judicial order. And so
where does that leave us? The Constitution would say, it's

(05:43):
on Congress to then impeach. How many times has he
been impeached? I think we've gone down that road. How
how has that worked out for us?

Speaker 2 (05:52):
Not well?

Speaker 3 (05:53):
So Anthony Romero, the executive director of the ACLU, sees
a collapse of US government. Where does it end if
Congress won't do what it's supposed to do, which is
keep the president in check. The framers of the Constitution
did anticipate this. There is something that should be happening.

(06:13):
But that's Congress that that is supposed to keep the
president in check, so that it would be the military,
and quite frankly, the military is not on his side.
There's a great video a couple of weeks ago of JD.
Vance and Trump walking out in something and the military
is supposed to play music, and they were playing lems
and they had no idea what lemons was, and so

(06:33):
they're clapping and they're like, Yay, this is great.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
They're playing music for us, and it's about the revelation,
right right.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
Well, I want to go back to something you said
before we started this conversation, and that was the president's
elimination of over two hundred words. And we talk about
and we talk often about how issues impacting the LGBTQI
plus community really do reflect issues that impact all. I
wonder if you can tell us more about what that

(07:03):
is that he did and what the implications are.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
Yeah, over two hundred and seventy words have been deleted
from all federal websites, regardless of what agency. Everything from
the words equality, indigenous, Latin X, racism, pollution, women, the
term just women, all women, uterus, the term uterus black

(07:30):
and pregnant, from pollution to pregnancy, to women's uteruses, to
LATINX to indigenous folks, to just equality on a whole, ally, ship, activism,
biologically female.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
I can go on and on.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
There's a lot of words on that list.

Speaker 3 (07:49):
Two hundred and seventy woke words. Yeah, and by no
means are these words woke. These make up citizens of
the United States of America, and we get pregnant and
we have and there's pollution, and there's racism, and these are.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
Things that impact everyone.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
You know. One of the over fifteen years that we've
known each other, one of the poems that we keep
going back to is you know, and then they came
for me. So it starts with they came for the socialists.
I wasn't a socialist. I didn't stand up. And they
came from the trades folks. I wasn't a trade person,
so I didn't stand up. Then they came for the Jews,
and I wasn't a Jew, so I didn't stand up.

(08:26):
And then they came for me, and there was nobody
left to stand up to speak for me, right, And
so I've chose we are literally at that point where
there is nobody not on the menu and So everybody
needs to get to the table, because if you're not
on the table, you're on the menu. Everybody, and I've

(08:46):
said this since the election, everybody is an ally to somebody.
Everybody is an ally to somebody, and so really reaching
out and being there for the folks around you that
are in need of support right now, and that extends
far beyond LGBTQ plus IA folks.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
This is this is everybody.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
Yeah. I mean you're seeing a lot of people who
voted for Trump who were laid off because of the
reduction in the federal workforce. So yes, what's happening is
impacting everybody.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
I had a gentleman called me yesterday who voted for
Trump and his wife got deported.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
Wow. So I guess a lot of people are kind
of in a state of despair, not knowing what to do,
and I think that that's probably going to persist for
a little bit longer. But obviously actions can be taken.
You talk about supporting those who need support, and of
course we believe in that being allies, that's who we are.

(09:47):
But what else can people do?

Speaker 3 (09:49):
Some things that not everybody can do, but some things
that with privilege, if you have the ability to take
these things into your hands. You mentioned, you know, folks
who voted for trum that were then laid off some
very very impactful things that if you have the control
over them that you can do is where you work
and where you live. The government, all these things are happening,

(10:11):
and there is unfortunately nothing that we can do to
control what is happening at the federal level. If you
have any control over where you work, and that workplace
is inclusive and kind and is aware of everything that's happening.
We spend a lot of time at work, so having
a place a safe place to go to work. Not

(10:31):
everyone can control that, but if you can. And then
obviously where you live, and so if you're listening to
the show, you live somewhere fairly inclusive and safe. And
then really monitoring your news intake. At the end of
the day, these things are going to keep happening. You
do not have control over that. I also told a
client of mine also, stop she's watching the news and

(10:54):
her stocks at all.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah, fifteen times.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
A day not a good thing for the mental health, right,
It won't.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
Help go up or down or the news to get
any better. And so then that goes back to our
allyship and being intentional getting off Facebook, getting off Instagram
and actually physically going to see the folks that you
love and being actually in an environment with real life
people and sharing in the things that you're concerned about.

(11:25):
What Lorena is concerned about is different than what I'm
concerned about, which would be different than what someone else
is concerned about. But all together, energetically being in the
same place and off of social media really goes a
long way again to your point for mental health.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
Yes, and we have to mention as we do, especially
the last couple of months, and that is if you
are married or in a partnership, your will get your
all the legal stuff in place, because that could be impacted.
And that's not just for the LGBTQIA plus community, that's
for everybody. Every One needs to have a will, Everyone

(12:01):
needs to have a medical all the different terms that
I am not a lawyer.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
So yeah, well, I mean I got passionate around this
topic with the Terry Shaibo case twenty years ago.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
Street married couple.

Speaker 3 (12:11):
He was not her health care power of attorney, she
didn't have an advanced directive. So yes, every America needs
to have these documents. More so the LGBTQ community, because
we're only considered married in thirty seven countries out of
one hundred and ninety five the fly flag and soon
not here either, So very very important as well as
if you're in a family, doing your confirmatory adoptions and

(12:32):
getting that taken care of, and if you still have
documents that you can update your name on. As for
with trans folks, not better your folks and gender diverse
folks get as many of the documents uniform that you
that you can, aside from the federal.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
Right, and that is your speciality. If people want to
find out more, where do they get in touch with you?

Speaker 3 (12:53):
Absolutely you can call my office two on five six
four five twenty four fifteen, or go to my website
lawyer dot LGBT, Lawyer dot LGBT dot dot com.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
And you have a blog where do we find.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
Phil Phillygaylawyer dot com.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
Bought that domain in college, probably the only person who
became a lawyer to fulfill a business model, but Phillygay
Lawyer dot com and I write frequently also on social
media Gay Lawyer TikTok and your gay lawyer on Instagram.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yes, here you have quite a few followers on TikTok,
which is very delightful. Angela Gmpolo, gmpolo law, Philly Gay Lawyer.
Thank you as always for coming with us to speak out.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
Thank you, Loried
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