National
Gay candidate in Fla. loses bid for Congress
Galvin, Flippen fail to win Democratic nods

Florida’s primaries on Tuesday brought unwelcome ends for two high-profile gay candidates seeking office.
Scott Galvin, a North Miami City Council member, lost his bid for the Democratic nomination to represent Florida’s 17th congressional district in the U.S. House. He was among nine Democratic candidates seeking the nomination in the primary to pursue a run for Congress. The victor was Frederica Wilson, a state senator who received almost 35 percent of the vote.
In comparison, Galvin received about 6 percent of the vote. The number of votes he received placed him eighth among the nine candidates.
Galvin said he lost because Wilson “decimated the field” with a strong campaign and because she had the support of the district.
“There was nobody even close to her,” he said. “She clearly ran a very good campaign that reflected her standing in the community.”
Denis Dison, spokesperson for the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which endorsed Galvin in his bid, attributed the loss in part to the amount of money that opponents funneled into the race during its final weeks.
“It was one of those situations where you could see a path to victory if certain things fell the right way, and so that’s why he earned our endorsement,” Dison said. “Unfortunately, there was a ton of money dumped into the race in the last few weeks.”
Dison noted that Rudolph Moise, another Democratic candidate who lost the primary, put $1 million of own money into the race.
Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida, said many things needed to happen for Galvin to have won the primary. She noted the vote would have had to split almost uniformly among the candidates, and Galvin would have needed an extraordinary turnout of supporters.
“I think he executed the things that were in his control, and the things that got in his way were outside of his field,” she said.
Another factor that Dison said contributed to Galvin’s loss was that he was the only white candidate among nine choices in a largely Haitian-American district.
No Republican candidate has filed to run in the general election in this Democratic-safe seat, so Wilson is now the presumptive U.S. House member in the district.
In another Florida race, Justin Flippen, a tourism project coordinator for the Fort Lauderdale area, lost the Democratic nomination to run for a state legislative seat representing a district in South Florida.
The incumbent Democratic legislator in the race, Gwyndolen Clarke-Reid, captured almost 56 percent of the vote, while Flippen took 44 percent.
Flippen said he pursued a run against Clarke-Reid because she wasn’t faithful to the principles of the Democratic Party as a lawmaker and didn’t back pro-LGBT legislation.
Dison speculated that Flippen’s loss was in part the result of the significant amount of money Clarke-Reid raised, some of which Dison said came from anti-gay contributors.
“She certainly had the money to compete,” Dison said. “She is the incumbent, so there was a bit of an advantage there.”
Although Flippen lost, Smith said he did a “fantastic job” in his campaign and noted he came within a small margin of victory: 334 votes. Additionally, Smith noted that Flippen’s entrance into the race prompted Clarke-Reid to become a co-sponsor of additional pro-LGBT bills in the state legislature.
Despite the losses by Galvin and Flippen, Smith said the election on the whole was “a terrific night” for pro-LGBT candidates and a negative one for anti-gay candidates.
In the race for the Republican nomination to become the next Florida governor, state Attorney General Bill McCollum, who supported efforts to keep adoption by gays illegal in Florida, lost his bid to former health-care executive Rick Scott.
Additionally, state Sen. Dan Gilbert, who championed anti-bullying legislation in the state legislature, won the Democratic nomination to become Florida’s next attorney general over state Sen. Dave Aronberg.
“We endorsed [Gilbert] when the other Democrat was considered the favorite,” Smith said. “And he absolutely just cleared the board.”
Gay candidates running in other states found success Tuesday. Jack Jackson, Jr., who’s gay and a member of the Navajo Nation, won a three-way race for a seat in the Arizona Senate. Steve Howard, who’s gay, won the Democratic nomination to become Vermont’s next lieutenant governor.
New York
Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade
One of the victims remains in critical condition

On Sunday night, following the annual NYC Pride March, two girls were shot in Sheridan Square, feet away from the historic Stonewall Inn.
According to an NYPD report, the two girls, aged 16 and 17, were shot around 10:15 p.m. as Pride festivities began to wind down. The 16-year-old was struck in the head and, according to police sources, is said to be in critical condition, while the 17-year-old was said to be in stable condition.
The Washington Blade confirmed with the NYPD the details from the police reports and learned no arrests had been made as of noon Monday.
The shooting took place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, mere feet away from the most famous gay bar in the city — if not the world — the Stonewall Inn. Earlier that day, hundreds of thousands of people marched down Christopher Street to celebrate 55 years of LGBTQ people standing up for their rights.
In June 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, members of the LGBTQ community pushed back, sparking what became known as the Stonewall riots. Over the course of two days, LGBTQ New Yorkers protested the discriminatory policing of queer spaces across the city and mobilized to speak out — and throw bottles if need be — at officers attempting to suppress their existence.
The following year, LGBTQ people returned to the Stonewall Inn and marched through the same streets where queer New Yorkers had been arrested, marking the first “Gay Pride March” in history and declaring that LGBTQ people were not going anywhere.
New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, whose district includes Greenwich Village, took to social media to comment on the shooting.
“After decades of peaceful Pride celebrations — this year gun fire and two people shot near the Stonewall Inn is a reminder that gun violence is everywhere,” the lesbian lawmaker said on X. “Guns are a problem despite the NRA BS.”
New York
Zohran Mamdani participates in NYC Pride parade
Mayoral candidate has detailed LGBTQ rights platform

Zohran Mamdani, the candidate for mayor of New York City who pulled a surprise victory in the primary contest last week, walked in the city’s Pride parade on Sunday.
The Democratic Socialist and New York State Assembly member published photos on social media with New York Attorney General Letitia James, telling followers it was “a joy to march in NYC Pride with the people’s champ” and to “see so many friends on this gorgeous day.”
“Happy Pride NYC,” he wrote, adding a rainbow emoji.
Mamdani’s platform includes a detailed plan for LGBTQ people who “across the United States are facing an increasingly hostile political environment.”
His campaign website explains: “New York City must be a refuge for LGBTQIA+ people, but private institutions in our own city have already started capitulating to Trump’s assault on trans rights.
“Meanwhile, the cost of living crisis confronting working class people across the city hits the LGBTQIA+ community particularly hard, with higher rates of unemployment and homelessness than the rest of the city.”
“The Mamdani administration will protect LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers by expanding and protecting gender-affirming care citywide, making NYC an LGBTQIA+ sanctuary city, and creating the Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs.”
U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court upholds ACA rule that makes PrEP, other preventative care free
Liberal justices joined three conservatives in majority opinion

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a portion of the Affordable Care Act requiring private health insurers to cover the cost of preventative care including PrEP, which significantly reduces the risk of transmitting HIV.
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the majority opinion in the case, Kennedy v. Braidwood Management. He was joined by two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, along with the three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown-Jackson.
The court’s decision rejected the plaintiffs’ challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s reliance on the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force to “unilaterally” determine which types of care and services must be covered by payors without cost-sharing.
An independent all-volunteer panel of nationally recognized experts in prevention and primary care, the 16 task force members are selected by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to serve four-year terms.
They are responsible for evaluating the efficacy of counseling, screenings for diseases like cancer and diabetes, and preventative medicines — like Truvada for PrEP, drugs to reduce heart disease and strokes, and eye ointment for newborns to prevent infections.
Parties bringing the challenge objected especially to the mandatory coverage of PrEP, with some arguing the drugs would “encourage and facilitate homosexual behavior” against their religious beliefs.
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