This week, News is Out hosted a live virtual panel event, Project 2025: The Impact on the LGBTQ+ community. The event was moderated by Dana Piccoli from News Is Out and Christopher Kane, senior politics reporter at Washington Blade, provided a comprehensive overview of Project 2025. They were joined by special guests Chasten Buttigieg, Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (PA), Commissioner Precious Brady-Davis, Charlotte Clymer, Kevin Jennings (Lambda Legal), Janelle Perez (LPAC), Rep. Julie Johnson (TX) Allen Morris (National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund) and Leah Israel.The Project 2025 policy document, authored by the Heritage Foundation, lays out a conservative blueprint for a potential next Republican administration, including restrictions that would significantly affect the LGBTQ+ community.The 900-page playbook targets abortion access, immigrant rights, the Department of Education, transgender health care and various climate change initiatives. Piccoli highlighted that the document mentions Donald Trump over 300 times, despite his efforts to distance himself from it. However, the policies echo many of the core conservative values that align with his administrations past actions. As Kane noted, Project 2025 is a 900-plus page policy playbook authored by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, and is the blueprint for the next Republican administration.Watch Project 2025 panel video Chasten Buttigieg, an educator, best-selling author, and husband of U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, spoke passionately about the threat to healthcare. He warned that Project 2025 would dismantle ACA protections, forcing families to make life-threatening choices. This is really a campaign of the heart, Buttigieg said. He shared, My mom was diagnosed with cancer when I was in high school pre-ACA. My parents struggled, with one, getting kicked off insurance companies because they would discover that my mom had cancer. She had a pre-existing condition. And two, just affording chemotherapy drugs and treatments that she relied on.The panel also discussed how Project 2025 would specifically impact LGBTQ+ rights. The proposal aims to dismantle LGBTQ+ protections, roll back marriage equality, and undermine workplace protections established by the Supreme Courts Bostock v. Clayton County decision. It also seeks to narrow anti-discrimination laws, with Kane emphasizing that the document targets non-discrimination policies and removes inclusive language across federal agencies.Buttigieg reflected on the dangers the plan poses to public education, particularly for marginalized students. He warned about the potential rollback of federal protections for LGBTQ+ students, arguing, I think it reminds us of how deeply unserious Donald Trump is about educating our kids and taking education seriously. You saw that in his first term with picking someone like Betsy DeVos.These changes, Buttigieg argued, would leave millions of students, particularly those with disabilities or from marginalized communities, without the essential protections they need.Charlotte Clymer, another panelist and prominent LGBTQ+ activist, further emphasized the real-world consequences. She warned that the project lays the groundwork for a more extreme future, noting that the permission structure of Project 2025 would allow far-right groups to push for even harsher policies against the LGBTQ+ community. She added, The cruelty and suffering that can be inflicted is only limited by the imagination.Precious Brady-Davis, commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, added that Project 2025 would dehumanize the LGBTQ+ community, and in particular, the transgender community, even further.I think it would allow for the continuation of dangerous practices like conversion therapy, the banning of LGBTQ+ books in schools, LGBTQ+ curriculum, said Brady Davis. I think it would encourage harassment to an already vulnerable population. Weve already seen in Trumps book that trans people are disposable.Kevin Jennings, CEO of Lambda Legal, highlighted the judicial consequences of Project 2025. He explained that the removal of federal protections would empower discriminatory actions under the guise of religious freedom.Instead of calling it a religious exemption, we prefer to call it what it is at Lambda Legal: a license to discriminate, said Jennings.He further stressed the importance of taking this threat seriously, warning, Believe them when they say they plan to make us second-class citizens. They have a plan to do it and they will execute if given the opportunity.Pennsylvania State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta added an empowering message about the importance of fighting back and staying positive in the face of adversity. It is just our turn, Kenyatta said. We do what weve always done. We pull our shoulders back, we put our heads up, we look straight in the eye of all of the challenges, all of the bigots, and we say, its our turn and we are ready to beat you, to resist and to win as our community always has. He also emphasized the importance of unity and collective effort: Were going to win in 12 days, hear me. We are going to win.Throughout the event, panelists stressed the urgency of stopping Project 2025 and encouraged the LGBTQ+ community and its allies to mobilize.In this story we used AI to help us transcribe and summarize the panel. When using AI we also had a human check for accuracy. The post Panel of LGBTQ+ experts highlights concerns over Project 2025 appeared first on News Is Out.