National
Behind the scenes of the Obama campaign
LGBT staffers take key roles in 2012 effort
President Obama (Blade file photo by Michael Key)
[Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series.]
Gay and lesbian staffers have taken key roles ranging from public outreach to battleground state strategy in the campaign already underway to re-elect President Obama to the White House in 2012.
The Washington Blade interviewed four gay and lesbian staffers working to re-elect Obama from the campaign headquarters in Chicago. This article is the second in a two-part series and features interviews with two of the campaign workers: Jamie Citron, LGBT vote director for Project Vote, and Karine Jean-Pierre, deputy battleground states director.
As LGBT vote director for Project Vote, Citron, who’s 28 and gay, is focused on monitoring the news developments and needs of the LGBT community. Established in August, Project Vote is the Obama campaign’s initiative aimed at encouraging participation among Democratic base constituencies, including LGBT Americans.
“Usually when I first make it into the office, it’s trying to catch up on the community,” Citron said. “It’s seeing what the conversations are, what the buzz was overnight on the listservs. It’s about reading the blogs and reading the LGBT press and seeing what the top lines of the stories are today.”
Other daily duties for Citron are meeting with the rest of the Project Vote team to discuss the best ways for taking the Obama campaign’s messages to the Democratic Party’s constituencies — as well as integrating the concerns of those constituencies into the campaign.
“Most important to me in my mind, each of us kind of figures out how we can work together across constituencies and make sure that we are engaging people as whole people instead of just focusing on one block at a time,” Citron said.
Citron’s role with the Obama campaign is similar to his previous role at the Democratic National Committee, where he served as director of the LGBT leadership council. Citron, who was also involved in the 2008 campaign, said he transferred back to the campaign to take a more direct role in the “engine working the campaign” to re-elect Obama.
A Chicago native, Citron said he also wanted to return to the Windy City to be closer to his boyfriend of three years, Tyler, who’s 30 and a lawyer living in the area. The two met in 2007 at an Obama fundraiser. Citron asked that Tyler’s last name be withheld.
The scope of Jean-Pierre’s role is somewhat larger as she develops campaign strategy for the battleground states in 2012. A key task: providing resources to states and figuring out the best way for them to get the word out for the campaign.
“To me, getting the president re-elected right now is the most important thing that I can be doing with my life,” Jean-Pierre said.
Jean-Pierre’s role is similar to her duties in 2008 as the Obama campaign’s southern political director. Upon Obama’s election, Jean-Pierre, a lesbian, became White House liaison to the Labor Department and later became regional director in the White House Office of Political Affairs.
For Jean-Pierre, the decision to work as part of the 2012 campaign as opposed to staying at the White House was an easy one.
Under the Obama administration, the LGBT community has seen significant achievements, including passage an expanded federal hate crimes law and repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” In February, Obama declared that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional — after initially defending the anti-gay law in court — and has been filing legal briefs against the statute.
Still, Obama has yet to fulfill all promises to the LGBT community on which he campaigned in 2008. One notable outstanding goal is passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Obama’s lack of support of same-sex marriage continues to disappoint LGBT advocates.
But those working on the Obama campaign maintain has been a friend to the community and will continue to be an LGBT advocate during a second term in office.
As a recent example of support, Citron cited the news of the Obama administration reasserting that DOMA is unconstitutional in a legal brief against the anti-gay statute in the case of Windsor v. United States as well as an announcement that the Department of Homeland Security will work to take foreign nationals in same-sex relationships out of the deportation pipeline.
“I think the conversation between the LGBT community and the president certainly has been robust over the three years, and I think a lot of good things have come out about it,” Citron said. “Is the conversation finished? No. But I think it’s important that we acknowledge all that has come out from that and all that continues to come out.”
Campaign workers may also have their work cut out for them in convincing the general public to send the president back to the White House. According to recent polls, Obama’s approval ratings are at an all-time low. A Gallup poll published over the weekend found the president’s approval rating stands at just 42 percent.
Citron maintained LGBT people should be part of the effort to re-elect Obama.
“I think that the LGBT community could agree with me when I say I know that a second Obama term means more forward progress, whereas with a Republican entering the White House in 2012, not only does that signal the end to that progress, but it signals the start of a backwards march,” Citron said. “I think that’s something we should all be concerned about.”
Arizona
Shooting outside gay bar in Ariz. leaves three dead
Tucson police investigating double murder-suicide as a hate crime
Three people were fatally shot outside a gay bar in Tucson, Ariz., early Monday morning, about a mile from the city’s nightlife district.
Police have said the shooting, which took place in the parking lot of Venture-N bar at 1239 N. 6th Ave., was likely a hate crime and a double murder-suicide following a verbal altercation.
The suspect, Ousman Ceesay, allegedly shot Vincent Anthony Siqueiros and Cameron Davis Capara while they were outside the club around 12:30 a.m. Monday.
Reports show Capara and Siqueiros were pronounced dead at the scene. Ceesay died after being taken to a local hospital with gunshot wounds.
Police have also said that Ceesay was carrying a list of LGBTQ businesses at the time of the shooting.
Arizona Public Media has said police are investigating the case as a hate crime because the suspect was carrying a note containing the names of multiple LGBTQ-associated businesses.
“I am deeply saddened that another senseless loss of life has happened in our community,” Tucson Police Chief Monica Prieto said in a statement. “Bias-based crimes are especially heinous and have no place in our community.”
According to Prieto, there is no imminent threat to the community, and the Tucson Police Department is working to provide extra protection to various LGBTQ businesses across town.
Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva, who represents the area, issued a statement condemning the act of violence, which appears to have been at least in part motivated by homophobia.
“I am disgusted and deeply saddened to learn of a targeted act of hate and the cold-blooded murder of two members of our LGBTQIA+ community, Vincent Siqueiros and Cameron Capara, at the Venture-N bar in Tucson last night. This horrific attack is a painful reminder that even in welcoming communities like Tucson, hate and violence against the LGBTQIA+ community still exist.”
“When that hate is combined with easy access to firearms, the consequences can be deadly. I am sick and tired of Congress refusing to lift a finger to protect our communities while, every day, dozens of people are shot and killed across the country. It does not have to be this way. The House of Representatives is returning to session this week, and our first action should be passing common-sense gun safety reforms that we know can save lives.”
Other federal lawmakers also condemned the shooting.
The Congressional Equality Caucus, which is made up of federal legislators advancing LGBTQ interests, issued a statement after news broke.
“Our hearts are with the friends and loved ones of the victims of this devastating attack outside a Tucson gay bar and with the Tucson LGBTQI+ community,” it said on X. “No one should fear violence because of who they are — and we’re going to continue fighting to build a world where no one does.”
The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ organization in the country, released a statement following the shooting.
“We are heartbroken by the loss of Vincent Anthony Siqueiros and Cameron Davis Capara and our hearts are with their families, loved ones, and the entire Tucson LGBTQ+ community. Once again, we are reminded that gun violence robs people of their lives, destroys families, and devastates communities.”
A candlelight vigil honoring the victims is planned for Sept. 2 at 6:30 p.m. at Catalina Park in North Tucson.
Congress
HRC president campaigns for Chris Pappas in NH
Gay congressman running to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen
Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson on Sunday campaigned for U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) in New Hampshire.
Robinson traveled to Manchester, the state’s largest city, nine days before the Sept. 8 primary that will determine who will vie for retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)’s seat.
We’re hitting the pavement across New Hampshire to fight for a freer, fairer future for everyone.
Glad to have Human Rights Campaign President @KelleyJRobinson join us for a canvass launch in Manchester today. pic.twitter.com/XWCEaQxy4o
— Chris Pappas (@ChrisPappasNH) August 30, 2026
Former U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu, who represented New Hampshire in the U.S. Senate from 2003-2009, will face off against former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, who represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate from 2010-2013, in the Republican primary.
Karishma Manzur is among the Democrats challenging Pappas.
A poll the University of New Hampshire Survey Center released on Aug. 26 shows Sununu is ahead of Brown. The same survey shows Pappas ahead of Manzur and his other Democratic challengers.
The UNH Survey Center poll shows Sununu ahead of Pappas by a 45-43 percent margin if they were to face off in the general election. The margin of error is +/-2.1 percent.
Pappas would become the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. Senate if he were to win in November.
National
Milo Yiannopoulos deported to UK
ICE arrested far-right provocateur in New Orleans on Thursday
Editor’s note: The Department of Homeland Security on Saturday said Milo Yiannopoulos has been deported to the U.K.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday arrested far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos.
A DHS spokesperson in a statement sent to the Washington Blade said ICE arrested Yiannopoulos, who they described as “an illegal alien from the United Kingdom,” at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
The DHS spokesperson said Yiannopoulos “legally entered the country” in New York on May 14, 2019.
“He chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation’s laws,” said the spokesperson.
The DHS spokesperson said an immigration judge on July 22 “issued a final order of removal” for Yiannopoulos “after failing to show up for his immigration hearing.” The Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans on Friday reported Yiannopoulos is being held at an ICE detention center in Alexandria, La., which is about 200 miles northwest of the Crescent City.
“He will remain in ICE custody pending removal,” said the DHS spokesperson.
Yiannopoulos has, among other things, repeatedly targeted transgender people and Muslims.
The American Conservative Union, which organizes the annual Conversative Political Action Conference, in 2017 disinvited Yiannopoulos from speaking at that year’s CPAC after a video in which he appeared to condone sex between adults and underage boys emerged. Yiannopoulos subsequently resigned from Breitbart News, a far-right news website, where he had been a senior editor.
Yiannopoulos later that year married his boyfriend in Hawaii. The far-right provocateur in 2021 claimed he was an “ex-gay.”
The Australian government in 2019 banned Yiannopoulos from entering the country “on character grounds.” Yiannopoulos was also banned from Facebook, Twitter (now X), and other social media platforms.
The Times-Picayune reported Yiannopoulos “most recently worked for” Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.
The controversial rapper is scheduled to perform in New Orleans on Friday.
Laura Loomer, a far-right conspiracy theorist who is close to President Donald Trump, has called for Yiannopoulos’s deportation. Loomer on Friday wrote on X that she “reported him to ICE and the FBI” after he “called for me to be assassinated.”
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