Opinions
Gay Millennials can embrace Rubio’s vision
Now we need jobs and rising incomes to solidify our marriages
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) (Washington Blade file photo by Lee Whitman)
Progress. There are several definitions for the word but in the political context it often applies as “the development of an individual or society in a direction considered more beneficial than and superior to the previous level.”
Today we have a president that Millennials wildly supported in 2008, but who appears to be managing America’s economic decline.
In an era in which many Millennials are cynical because they face stubborn unemployment or underemployment, many are looking for youthful alternatives that do not represent the past, be it Democratic or Republican.
I believe that youthful leader is Marco Rubio, who is compared by some to John F. Kennedy. Of all the candidates currently running in the crowded Republican primary field, Rubio stands out as a man who demonstrates the enduring power of American exceptionalism and is capable of effectively communicating conservative principles to younger voters. He is also Hispanic and will dramatically broaden his party’s outreach to Hispanics and Latinos. If the GOP does not significantly increase its share of the growing Hispanic vote, as well as its share of the gay and Millennial vote, it will suffer defeats in 2016 and beyond.
His campaign has emphasized the need for America to meet the challenges of the fiercely competitive new global economy to ignite a “New American Century.”
Gay Millennials are well aware that they are now forced to compete with educated workers across the globe. They are more receptive to a candidate who is confident in our ability to prosper in the 21st century rather than those who encourage a class warfare mentality based on the assumption that we can only succeed at the expense of others. Millennials may be ready to wise up and realize our outdated tax code that penalizes middle class gay entrepreneurs, just as much as it penalizes all U.S. employers and fosters Millennial under employment.
As Rubio puts it, “these ideas don’t move us forward, these ideas move us backward.” This is the sort of new candor that Millennials are seeking in a president.
On other issues, Rubio is equally responsive to the concerns of younger voters. The plan he proposed to simplify the tax code would unleash the potential of LGBT workers and business owners when government eliminates the artificial burdens placed on them by misguided policies and counterproductive regulations. Rubio and increasingly many gay Millennials recognize that “when our economy is growing and thriving, employment isn’t a zero-sum game.”
For gay Millennials who went into debt so they could graduate with degrees that ultimately failed to lead to jobs, Rubio’s proposal to require that college faculty advisers publish the average salaries of the majors they recommend would go a long way toward insuring new Millennials make a profoundly better choice of their major field of study. And this all goes to the essence of what “progress” actually is. It means confronting and remedying problems head-on with new strategies, not pushing them further down the road.
Having seen them in practice while growing up, more and more Millennials are beginning to recognize that to continue fashionable Democratic policies of expanding government power with its scheduled 2016 $20 trillion debt has more in common with Einstein’s definition of insanity than with the dictionary definition of progress. Their way leads only to underachievement and a lethargic economy. We can only counter their outdated ideas with better newer ideas.
As Rubio aptly describes it, “Most people who have ever lived were trapped by the circumstances of their birth, destined to live the life their parents had. But America is different. Here, we are the children and grandchildren of people who refused to accept this.” If we do that, we’ll have achieved true progress, and that includes gay people.
While gay Millennials are predominantly Democratic, often one-third and sometimes more of gay voters quietly vote with the GOP. And they have good reason to take a second look at the GOP, given the Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage, for it was George W. Bush’s former solicitor general, Ted Olsen, who won the California case against Prop 8 (the ruling was made by a gay Republican judge).
Yet, make no mistake, Millennials need long-term meaningful jobs and rising incomes to solidify their marriages, be they gay or straight. Let’s be all we can be. Yes, America can!
Gabino Cuevas is the former 2008 Entrepreneur of the Year winner from Hispanic Business magazine in the Heavy Industry category and serves on the board of Log Cabin Republicans of Miami.
Letter-to-the-Editor
Candidates should pledge to nominate LGBTQ judge to Supreme Court
Presidential, Senate hopefuls need to go on the record
As soon as the final votes are cast and counted and verified after the November 2026 elections are over, the 2028 presidential cycle will begin in earnest. Polls, financial aid requests, and volunteer opportunities ad infinitum will flood the public and personal media. There will be more issues than candidates in both parties. The rending of garments and mudslinging will be both interesting and maybe even amusing as citizens will watch how candidates react to each and every issue of the day.
There is one particular item that I am hoping each candidate will be asked whether in private or in public. If a Supreme Court vacancy occurs in your potential administration, will you nominate an open and qualified LGBTQ to join the remaining eight?
Other interest groups on both sides have made similar demands over the years and have had them honored. Is it not time that our voices are raised as well? There are several already sitting judges on both state and federal benches that have either been elected statewide or approved by the U.S. Senate.
Our communities are being utilized and abused on judicial menus. Enough already! Challenge each and every candidate, regardless of their party with our honest question and see if honest answers are given. By the way … no harm in asking the one-third of the U.S. Senate candidates too who will be on ballots. Looking forward to any candidate tap dancing!
Opinions
2026 elections will bring major changes to D.C. government
Mayor’s office, multiple Council seats up for grabs
Next year will be a banner year for elections in D.C. The mayor announced she will not run. Two Council members, Anita Bonds, At-large, and Brianne Nadeau, Ward 1, have announced they will not run. Waiting for Del. Norton to do the same, but even if she doesn’t, there will be a real race for that office.
So far, Robert White, Council member at-large, and Brooke Pinto, Council member Ward 2, are among a host of others, who have announced. If one of these Council members should win, there would be a special election for their seat. If Kenyon McDuffie, Council member at-large, announces for mayor as a Democrat, which he is expected to do, he will have to resign his seat on the Council as he fills one of the non-Democratic seats there. Janeese George, Ward 4 Council member, announced she is running for mayor. Should she win, there would be a special election for her seat. Another special election could happen if Trayon White, Ward 8, is convicted of his alleged crimes, when he is brought to trial in January. Both the Council chair, and attorney general, have announced they are seeking reelection, along with a host of other offices that will be on the ballot.
Many of the races could look like the one in Ward 1 where at least six people have already announced. They include three members of the LGBTQ community. It seems the current leader in that race is Jackie Reyes Yanes, a Latina activist, not a member of the LGBTQ community, who worked for Mayor Fenty as head of the Latino Affairs Office, and for Mayor Bowser as head of the Office of Community Affairs. About eight, including the two Council members, have already announced they are running for the delegate seat.
I am often asked by candidates for an endorsement. The reason being my years as a community, LGBTQ, and Democratic, activist; and my ability to endorse in my column in the Washington Blade. The only candidate I endorsed so far is Phil Mendelson, for Council chair. While he and I don’t always agree on everything, he’s a staunch supporter of the LGBTQ community, a rational person, and we need someone with a steady hand if there really are six new Council members, out of the 13.
When candidates call, they realize I am a policy wonk. My unsolicited advice to all candidates is: Do more than talk in generalities, be specific and honest as to what you think you can do, if elected. Candidates running for a legislative office, should talk about what bills they will support, and then what new ones they will introduce. What are the first three things you will focus on for your constituents, if elected. If you are running against an incumbent, what do you think you can do differently than the person you hope to replace? For any new policies and programs you propose, if there is a cost, let constituents know how you intend to pay for them. Take the time to learn the city budget, and how money is currently being spent. The more information you have at your fingertips, the smarter you sound, and voters respect that, at least many do. If you are running for mayor, you need to develop a full platform, covering all the issues the city will face, something I have helped a number of previous mayors do. The next mayor will continue to have to deal with the felon in the White House. He/she/they will have to ensure he doesn’t try to eliminate home rule. The next mayor will have to understand how to walk a similar tightrope Mayor Bowser has balanced so effectively.
Currently, the District provides lots of public money to candidates. If you decide to take it, know the details. The city makes it too easy to get. But while it is available, take advantage of it. One new variable in this election is the implementation of rank-choice voting. It will impact how you campaign. If you attack another candidate, you may not be the second, or even third, choice, of their strongest supporters.
Each candidate needs a website. Aside from asking for donations and volunteers, it should have a robust issues section, biography, endorsements, and news. One example I share with candidates is my friend Zach Wahls’s website. He is running for United States Senate from Iowa. It is a comprehensive site, easy to navigate, with concise language, and great pictures. One thing to remember is that D.C. is overwhelmingly Democratic. Chances are the winner of the Democratic primary will win the general election.
Potential candidates should read the DCBOE calendar. Petitions will be available at the Board of Elections on Jan. 23, with the primary on June 16th, and general election on Nov. 3. So, ready, set, go!
Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist.
Opinions
Lighting candles in a time of exhaustion
Gunmen killed 15 people at Sydney Hanukkah celebration
In the wake of the shooting at Bondi Beach that targeted Jews, many of us are sitting with a familiar feeling: exhaustion. Not shock or surprise, but the deep weariness that comes from knowing this violence continues. It is yet another reminder that antisemitism remains persistent.
Bondi Beach is far from Washington, D.C., but antisemitism does not respect geography. When Jews are attacked anywhere, Jews everywhere feel it. We check on family and friends, absorb the headlines, and brace ourselves for the quiet, numbing normalization that has followed acts of mass violence.
Many of us live at an intersection where threats can come from multiple directions. As a community, we have embraced the concept of intersectional identity, and yet in queer spaces, many LGBTQ+ Jews are being implicitly or explicitly asked to play down our Jewishness. Jews hesitate before wearing a Magen David or a kippah. Some of us have learned to compartmentalize our identities, deciding which part of ourselves feels safest to lead with. Are we welcome as queer people only if we mute our Jewishness? Are those around us able to acknowledge that our fear is not abstract, but rooted in a lived reality, one in which our friends and family are directly affected by the rise in antisemitic violence, globally and here at home?
As a result of these experiences, many LGBTQ+ Jews feel a growing fatigue. We are told, implicitly or explicitly, that our fear is inconvenient; that Jewish trauma must be contextualized, minimized, or deferred in favor of other injustices. Certainly, the world is full of horror. And yet, we long for a world in which all lives are cherished and safe, where solidarity is not conditional on political purity or on which parts of ourselves are deemed acceptable to love.
We are now in the season of Chanuka. The story of this holiday is not one of darkness vanishing overnight. It is the story of a fragile light that should not have lasted. Chanuka teaches us that hope does not require certainty; it requires persistence and the courage to kindle a flame even when the darkness feels overwhelming.
For LGBTQ+ Jews, this lesson resonates deeply. We have survived by refusing to disappear across multiple dimensions of our identities. We have built communities, created rituals, and embraced chosen families that affirm the fullness of who we are.
To our LGBTQ+ siblings who are not Jewish: this is a moment to listen, to stand with us, and to make space for our grief. Solidarity means showing up not only when it is easy or popular, but especially when it is uncomfortable.
To our fellow Jews: your exhaustion is valid. Your fear is understandable, and so is your hope. Every candle lit this Chanuka is an act of resilience. Every refusal to hide, every moment of joy, is a declaration that hatred will not have the final word.
Light does not deny darkness. It confronts it.
As we light our candles this Chanuka season, may we protect one another and bring light to one another, even as the world too often responds to difference with violence and hate.
Joshua Maxey is the executive director of Bet Mishpachah, D.C.’s LGBTQ synagogue.
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