Politics
GLAD: 60 days for DOMA appeal haven't yet started
The window of time during which the U.S. Justice Department could appeal recent court decisions overturning part of the Defense of Marriage Act is longer than some observers may have initially thought, according to Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders.
GLAD, the organization responsible for one of the DOMA lawsuits, told the Blade the 60 days in which the Justice Department can decide whether or not to appeal the cases hasn’t yet started.
Carisa Cunningham, a GLAD spokesperson, said the time starts when “judgment is entered,” which she said usually doesn’t happen at the same time a court issues a decision.
“So, we’re still waiting for judgment to be entered, and when it is, then the clock will start ticking,” she said.
Many had thought the 60 daysĀ began on July 8 when U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts issued his decisions striking down part of DOMA.
CunninghamĀ said getting a final judgmentĀ meansĀ having a document outlining what a court is ordering in a particular case.
“In our case, we thought the most efficient way to get a final judgment would be for both sides to work to an agreed-upon document, and we are working to finalize it right now,” she said.
Cunningham said putting a timeline on when this judgment will be final is difficult, but said the document will probably be finished within a week.
TheĀ court determined Section 3 of DOMA, which prohibits federal recognition of same-sex marriages, is unconstitutional in two separate court cases — Gill v. Office of Personnel Management and Commonwealth of Massachusetts vs. Department of Health & Human Services.
Cunningham said the timeline will be on the same track for both the Gill case and the Commonwealth case.
Politics
Gay members of Congress challenge Vance over the ‘normal gay guy vote’
GOP vice presidential nominee spoke to Joe Rogan on Thursday
In comments to the Washington Blade on Friday, two gay members of Congress rebuffed claims by the Republican vice presidential candidate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, that he and former President Donald Trump have “the normal gay guy vote.”
A poll of LGBTQ voters in August by the Human Rights Campaign showed the community overwhelmingly supports the Democratic ticket, led by Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, by a margin of 74-7.5 percent.
Nevertheless, Vance told podcaster Joe Rogan during an interview on Thursday that, āI wouldnāt be surprised if me and Trump won, just, the normal gay guy vote, because, they just wanted to be left the hell alone.ā
The senator continued, āNow you have all this crazy stuff on top of it that theyāre like, āNo, no, we didnāt want to give pharmaceutical products to 9-year-olds who are transitioning their genders.āā
GayU.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, told the Blade “I donāt trust JD Vance on a lot of things, and I sure as hell donāt trust him to know whatās ‘normal.'”
“JD has spent his time as both a candidate and Senator attacking the rights of the LGBTQI+ community, and he has no idea what ānormal gays” go through because of bullies like him and Trump,” Pocan said.
He added, “‘Normal’ gays are like ‘normal’ non-gays ā we care about our families and we care about our country. My guess is the vast majority are voting for Kamala Harris because they know whatās at stake for our community and our country.”
Over the phone, U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), a gay co-chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, said the suggestion that “gay people are gonna somehow, en masse, start voting for Donald Trump and JD Vance, who are completely anti-gay, anti-LGBTQ and [have been] saying horrible things about the community” is “so stupid” and “ridiculous.”
“There might be, like, a handful of these MAGA Log Cabin folks that, quite frankly, are few and far between” the congressman said, referring to the LGBT conservative group Log Cabin Republicans, “but the support that Kamala Harris has in the gay community is is huge” and these voters are going to turn up on election day.
“And then, of course, this idea that [Vance is] somehow separating out ‘normal,’ regular gay guys,” Garcia said, “shows their complete lack of awareness about our community, what motivates us,” and “the solidarity we have together ā we’re a close community; we support each other.”
“Trying to separate us is not going to work in these last few days, it’s completely desperate and just completely out of touch,” he said.
Asked whether he believes the message might appeal to some gay men, or lesbian or bisexual folks for that matter, at a time when trans rights have become a salient political issue, Garcia emphasized that by and large, “Because of our own identity and struggles, we support our members of the trans community and trans families and we understand how difficult that is for folks.”
“Most of us in the community know people that are trans, have trans friends, have marched for rights with them, have been to fundraisers, raising money for causes, for the community with them,” the congressman said. “So they’re part of of our community.”
“We’re not going to allow Donald Trump and JD Vance try to separate them out,” he said. “I think that is something that conservatives try to do is to somehow say that they’re okay with, you know, the LGB, but not with trans people, and that’s unacceptable to us.”
Garcia added, “It should be unacceptable to all members of our community. We should never allow them to separate us and to damage the solidarity that we have with people that are our friends and that are being attacked every day.”
Asked about the Trump campaign’s last-ditch outreach to gay conservatives, Garcia said the “Log Cabin types should look in the mirror and ask themselves what the fuck they’re doing and what the fuck they’re thinking because this is absolutely destructive to anyone that they care about.”
He continued, “this idea that they can still blindly support Donald Trump who wants to overthrow our government, move us backwards, attack our community, install a Supreme Court that will take away our rights ā it’s insane, total insanity.”
“That’s why overwhelmingly our community supports Kamala Harris,” Garcia said. “We’ve done a lot of events with the Out for Harris team and get out the vote efforts, and the energy is there, people are excited, gay people are turning out and showing up, and we’re not going to be separated out by weirdos like JD Vance.”
Politics
Meet the LGBTQ candidates running in key races from U.S. Senate to state houses
Baldwin in tight contest; McBride poised to make history in Delaware
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) became the first openly LGBTQ senator with her election in 2012, having previously served as U.S. representative from Wisconsinās 2nd Congressional District as the first non-incumbent LGBTQ member elected to the chamber. She is running against Republican mega-millionaire Eric Hovde, whose campaign has targeted her sexual orientation with negative advertising, in a race that Cook Political Report considers a toss-up.
Delaware State Sen. Sarah McBride (D) became the first openly trans state senator and the highest-ranking trans official in U.S. history with her election in 2020, having previously worked in LGBTQ advocacy and authored a memoir. She is running for Delawareās sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, where she would be the first transgender Member of Congress. She is favored to win her race.
Mondaire Jones served as U.S. representative for New Yorkās 17th Congressional District from 2021 to 2023, during which time he was often described as a rising star in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, serving on the Progressive, Black, and Equality Caucuses. Jones was one of the first two openly gay Black members of Congress. He is running to reclaim his seat representing NY-17.
Gay Democratic U.S. attorney Will Rollins is gunning for U.S. Rep. Ken Calvertās (R-Calif.) seat after narrowly losing to the GOP incumbent in 2022. His victory is key for Democrats to retake control of the House, with Cook Political Report characterizing their race as a toss-up and POLITICO writing it will be one of the most āclosely watched and expensive battleground slugfests in the country.ā
U.S. Rep. Angie Craig (D) is the first LGBTQ member of Congress from Minnesota and the first lesbian mother to serve in either chamber. In the House, Craig has opposed Republican-led efforts to implement anti-LGBTQ policies, especially in schools. She is facing off against Republican Joe Teirab in a race that, according to Cook Political Report, is shaping up in her favor/lean Democratic.
U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen (D) is a former meteorologist and the first openly gay member of Congress from Illinois. While he is the first Democrat to represent portions of the stateās 17th Congressional District in decades, particularly the towns of Rockford and Peoria, Sorensenās race is ālikelyā Democratic, per Cook Political Report. He is running against Republican Joe McGraw, a judge and former prosecutor.
U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids is a former mixed martial artist and attorney serving as the first Democrat to represent a Kansas congressional district in Congress in more than a decade. She is also the first LGBTQ Native American and one of the first two Native American women (along with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland) elected to the chamber. Her race is ālikelyā Democratic according to Cook Political Report.
U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (D) is the first openly gay man from New Hampshire to serve in Congress following his election in 2018 and reelection in 2020 and 2022. He is running against Republican Russell Prescott in a race that Cook Political Report expects will be ālikelyā Democratic. New Hampshire Public Radio called Pappas the 1st Congressional Districtās most successful Democrat in more than four decades.
There are four other openly LGBTQ members of Congress, all serving as co-chairs of the Equality Caucus under chair Mark Pocan, Democratic U.S. representative from Wisconsin: U.S. Reps. Robert Garcia and Mark Takano, Democrats from California, Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), and Becca Balint (D-Vt.). They are all expected to win their bids for reelection.
Gay Pennsylvania State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D) is running for auditor general of the Keystone State, squaring off next week against incumbent Republican Tim DeFoor and three third-party candidates. Appointed by President Joe Biden to chair the Presidential Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans, Kenyatta is considered a rising star in the Democratic Party.
Tampa native and mother of two teen boys, Ashley Brundage has built programs to help educate people and facilitate economic empowerment for entrepreneurs, earning a āSpirit of the Community Awardā for her work from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. And if she wins her race next week to serve in the Florida House of Representatives, Brundage would be the stateās first out transgender elected official.
Aime Wichtendahl is the first transgender official elected in the state of Iowa, serving on the city council of Hiawatha, a suburb northwest of Cedar Rapids, since 2015. Her work has focused on expanding infrastructure, reducing property taxes, and helping small businesses. If elected to the Iowa House of Representatives next week, Wichtendahl would be Iowaās first openly trans state legislator.
Politics
Trump, Harris make final pitches to voters with days until election
More than 60,000 turn out for vice president’s Ellipse speech
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are making their final pitches in the week before Election Day, delivering closing arguments while their campaigns work to get out the vote.
On Friday, the candidates will make competing appearances in the swing state of Wisconsin, where polls show their race in a dead heat, as is the case in the other six battlegrounds. Experts expect 2024 might be the closest presidential race in modern American history.
On Monday, the Republican nominee’s campaign was beset with a scandal of its own making after a comic attacked Puerto Rico as “a floating island of garbage” during his set at Trump’s rally in Madison Square Garden.
The event also featured anti-Semitic and anti-Arab language, sexism directed at Harris, and other offensive remarks ā a display that The New York Times dubbed “a closing carnival of grievances, misogyny, and racism.”
At the same time, the trans community is in the crosshairs of negative advertising by the Trump team and Republican allies, commercials that aired during NFL games on Sunday in a last-minute push to get men into the voting booth.
As the Republican nominee said himself during his rally in New York on Monday, āGet your husband off the couch. The football game doesnāt mean a damn thing. You got to get out and vote.ā
Trump’s ads show the vice president with Rachel Levine, the highest ranking openly trans official, assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Sam Brinton, a genderfluid former official at the U.S. Department of Energy.
Brinton was arrested for allegedly stealing luggage from airport baggage carousels.
āKamala is for they/them,” the ads proclaim, while “President Trump is for you.ā
As the Times wrote, the intention was clearly for “viewers to recoil from images of Ms. Harris alongside those of people who plainly do not conform to traditional gender norms, to try to portray Ms. Harris herself as out of the ordinary.ā
For her part, in a speech Tuesday night that drew more than 60,000 supporters, Harris highlighted the differences between her candidacy and her opponent’s, between her record of service and her opponent’s, and between her vision for America and her opponent’s.
The vice president spoke from the Ellipse, the park south of the White House where Trump rallied his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021 before they ransacked the U.S. Capitol.
āItās really a reminder of the gravity of the job, how much a president can do for good and for bad, to shape the country and impact peopleās lives,ā Harris campaign chair Jennifer OāMalley Dillon said on Tuesday.
āBut itās also a stark visualization of probably the most infamous example of Donald Trump and how heās used his power for bad, really focusing on himself and spreading division and chaos and inciting a mob to try to maintain his own power and put himself over the country,ā she said.
From the outset, the vice president’s campaign sought to convey joy, along with the idea that the career prosecutor has always worked on behalf of the American people throughout her several decades of public service.
By contrast, Trump has earned criticism for calling Democrats and political opponents “the enemy from within,” language that recalls some of the world’s most notorious autocrats.
Stark differences on LGBTQ rights
LGBTQ advocacy groups like the Human Rights Campaign have lined up behind Harris’s bid for the White House, touting her record of supporting the community well before it was politically expedient to endorse rights like same-sex marriage.
HRC President Kelley Robinson said, āVice President Kamala Harris is a trailblazer and has been a champion for LGBTQ+ equality for decades: from leading the fight in San Francisco against hate crimes and her work in California to end the so-called gay and transgender ‘panic defense’ to her early support for marriage equality and her leadership serving as our vice president.”
āConvicted felon Donald Trump has already shown that he aims to destroy democracy and divide the country in his quest for power,” Robinson said.
HRC has chronicled Trump’s anti-LGBTQ record, noting that he “Banned openly transgender military service, discriminated against LGBTQ+ students, argued businesses can post signs refusing service to LGBTQ+ customers, and more.”
The former president also appointed three U.S. Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn the reproductive freedoms in place since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973 and to allow businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ customers, the group wrote.
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