National
GOP candidate seeks LGBT help in ousting Pelosi
Dennis wins Log Cabin endorsement, faces uphill battle

The Republican candidate running against Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is looking for help from LGBT voters in his quest to unseat the House speaker.
John Dennis, in his first run for political office, is running against Pelosi to represent California’s 8th congressional district. He’s described on his website as “an accomplished businessman and entrepreneur” as well as “a pro-liberty San Franciscan.”
Dennis has earned the endorsement of the Log Cabin Republicans and last week spoke at the organization’s annual dinner in D.C. to cultivate support among gay Republicans.
During his remarks, the Republican candidate said one thing he was delighted to discover over the course of his campaign is that gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk supported Republican candidate Barry Goldwater in his 1964 bid for the presidency against then-President Lyndon Johnson.
“On the surface, it doesn’t make sense, but if you think about the pre-Stonewall era, it makes complete sense,” Dennis said. “The community had a tough time with government. Government was oppressing it and always on its back. But Barry’s libertarian streak actually connected with the community.”
Dennis emphasized the libertarian elements of the GOP and said those tenets mean the LGBT community “rightfully belongs in the Republican Party with our emphasis on individual liberty.”
Dennis said he’s running against an opponent who represents Democratic control of Washington and dissatisfaction with the federal government.
He said he’s noticed a lot of e-mails from Republican challengers saying their Democratic opponents vote either 94 percent of the time or 96 percent of the time with Pelosi.
“I can guarantee you one thing,” Dennis said. “My opponent votes 100 percent of the time with Nancy Pelosi.”
Dennis spoke with the Blade about his support for LGBT issues following his speech at the Log Cabin dinner. Pelosi hasn’t scheduled a time to talk with the Blade during the 111th Congress despite repeated requests for an interview over the past year.
Among Dennis’ pro-LGBT positions is his support for repeal of laws seen as discriminatory against LGBT people. He said he backs repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” as well as the Defense of Marriage Act.
“I don’t think marriage is a government issue,” he said. “It’s certainly not a federal government issue. So, those are issues that I’d be happy to support in the gay community.”
Dennis also said in 2008 he voted against Proposition 8 in California, which ended same-sex marriage in the state. He said his position against Prop 8 is consistent with his view that government should not be in “the marriage business.”
“It was very exclusionary, that law, and didn’t go to solve the problem,” Dennis said. “It just said, ‘OK, well, this is for us and then you guys do whatever you’re going to do.’ And I thought it was a little aggressive.”
Dennis added he thinks U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker’s recent ruling that Prop 8 is unconstitutional was “the right decision” and said he expressed his support for the ruling on his blog.
Still, Dennis hesitated when asked if he supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would bar job discrimination against LGBT people in most settings.
Dennis said his support on ENDA will depend on how the legislation “is presented” and said there’s a “flip-side” to the legislation.
“Do you end up forcing homophobes or anti-homosexual groups — do you end up protecting their right to be employed by homosexuals when there’s an obvious conflict there?” Dennis said. “So, it depends on how it’s worded. But, you know, I’m … against discrimination.”
Dennis emphasized his credentials as a Republican and said he wants to stop the “fiscal irresponsibility of Washington.”
“We need to get spending under control,” he said. “We need to balance our budgets. We need to start following the Constitution, and only spend on what the Constitution authorizes the Congress to spend on.”
Dennis said in the primary he ran as a “pro-civil liberties, anti-war, pro-legalization Republican” and won, so he doesn’t think he has “anything to prove to anyone” regarding his place in the Republican Party.
Log Cabin endorsed Dennis on Sept. 16 as part of a group 11 Republican candidates seeking House seats.
Other endorsements included Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), who voted for an amendment to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), a co-sponsor of numerous pro-LGBT bills.
R. Clarke Cooper, Log Cabin’s executive director, said Dennis’ support for ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was a major factor in the organization’s decision to endorse the Pelosi challenger.
“Bottom line is John Dennis is a pro-repeal Republican candidate,” Cooper said. “So he is on our radar screen and we are supporting him as well some other incumbents and candidates who would be a good force-multiplier in the party and help us get the party to be more inclusive toward gays and lesbians.”
Cooper said Dennis has been an “active ally” of the Log Cabin Republicans of San Francisco and has recruited numerous chapter members into his campaign.
Despite his support for LGBT issues, Dennis is running against a lawmaker who for decades has been seen as a stalwart supporter of LGBT people.
Drew Hammill, a Pelosi spokesperson, emphasized the speaker’s record on pro-LGBT legislation.
“Speaker Pelosi has been a staunch advocate for the LGBT community in her more than 20 years in the Congress; helping lead the fight against HIV/AIDS, opposing efforts to enshrine discrimination in the United States Constitution and served as a leading voice against Proposition 8 in California,” Hammill said.
Hammill said Pelosi led efforts to pass hate crimes legislation as well as pass legislation in the House to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Hammill said the speaker “will keep pushing for action on ENDA.” Pelosi is being honored with an award from the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund this week in Washington for her work on LGBT issues.
“San Franciscans know Nancy Pelosi’s commitment to fostering equality and ending discrimination,” Hammill said.
But one group that has criticized Pelosi for not moving forward with a House vote on ENDA is washing its hands of the race.
Robin McGehee, co-founder of GetEQUAL, which has staged acts of civil disobedience throughout the country over Pelosi’s inaction this Congress over ENDA, said voters in the speaker’s district should “determine for themselves how well she is representing [them] and fighting for their equality.”
“Our equality knows no political party; we are not beholden to the Democratic Party or the Republican Party,” McGehee said. “Whoever wins the election can expect us to hold them accountable on their commitments to the LGBT community.”
Dennis faces an uphill fight to unseat Pelosi -— to say the least — in the Democratic stronghold of California’s 8th congressional district, which includes San Francisco. Members of the Green Party often fare better than Republicans in the district.
Pelosi has consistently won election in the area since she first sought a U.S. House seat in 1988. Pelosi often wins these races with more than 80 percent of the vote.
Dennis also has major deficit against Pelosi in terms of fundraising. The speaker has raised nearly $2 million this campaign cycle while Dennis has $650,000, according to the most recent Federal Election Campaign reports.
Pelosi has $214,000 in cash on hand while Dennis has $58,000. Pelosi also has no campaign debt while Dennis has $53,000.
Still, Dennis said he sees a path to victory because his internal polling numbers show that Pelosi’s support is growing soft among independents and Democrats.
“If we win all the votes of people who say they won’t vote for her, plus have a good turnout for the Republicans, we’ll actually have enough votes to defeat her,” Dennis said.
Cooper acknowledged that Dennis is facing an “uphill battle” and said he thinks the Republican candidate realizes the challenge.
Still, Cooper said he thinks Pelosi could be vulnerable because of the number of House Democrats who are distancing themselves from Pelosi in campaign ads.
“There are Democrats trying to maintain their seats who don’t want her to come into their district, they don’t want her support and they don’t want to look like they’re affiliated with her as speaker even though they’re running as a Democrat,” Cooper said.
During his speech, Dennis acknowledged that running in San Francisco is “challenging” for a Republican and said he has to do “special things” to build support.
A recent web ad from the Dennis campaign depicts Pelosi as the Wicked Witch of the West from “The Wizard of Oz” and criticizes her for leading the way in what the ad describes as rampant spending in Washington and burdensome taxation.
“It went viral,” Dennis said. “We were mentioned in a lot of shows. Jay Leno included us in his monologue. It’s been seen about 630,000 times. And I will say that there is a coven of witches in … New Jersey that vehemently oppose us over this.”
Dennis noted that he received the Log Cabin endorsement right after the publication of the ad, which he said shows, “I really am a friend of the Friends of Dorothy.”

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Congratulations to Ted Lewis M.ED. on being named executive director of Rainbow Families. On their appointment they said, “Right now, when we are facing tremendous opposition to our very existence, is the time to build up our community and our community resources. LGBTQ+ families are innovative, supportive, loving, and resilient and we will need all those tools and more in this moment. My hope as Rainbow Families’ Executive Director is to expand our membership and welcome the vast community resources, expertise, and lived experiences to support new family formation and new parents. I hope to bring education, advocacy and support to LGBTQ+ families, parents, and prospective parents when we are worried about our rights disappearing. I’m also excited to join the joyous and thriving community at Rainbow Families and expand on fun events that bring families together from our weekend camping trip, to picking pumpkins at Cox Farms, and dancing at family parties. It is within a beloved community that we can both prepare for challenges ahead and celebrate our fabulousness together.”
Prior to this, Lewis served as director of Youth Well-Being for the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. Lewis served as project manager for Project THRIVE, a multi-year campaign with 30+ national organizations committed to the thriving of LGBTQ youth resulting in industry specific resources and professional development on LGBTQ best practices. Lewis was also founder and CEO of Ted Lewis Consulting, advising K-12 school districts, Fortune 500 companies, higher education institutions, and non-profits on LGBTQ inclusive practices. They also served as assistant director for Sexual/Gender Diversity, UNC Charlotte, responsible for LGBTQ student programming as well as Men’s & Women’s programming for the institution. Lewis has presented on numerous panels including: “Othermuvas: How Black LGBTQ+ Chosen Families Provide Support to Black LGBTQ+ Youth” National Mentoring Summit, 2025; “Addressing the Issues of LGBTQ+ Cultural Competency, Parity and Inconsistency” Richmond Bench-Bar Conference, 2019; and “The Unmasking: Race & Reality in Richmond” Richmond Magazine Panel, 2017. Lewis was named in Style Weekly’s 40 Under 40, in 2018; and received the VA Pride Firework Award in 2019.
Lewis earned a bachelor’s degree in English and History, University of Mary Washington; Master of Education, University of South Carolina, and an Education Master Certificate in Women & Gender Studies, University of North Carolina, Charlotte.
Federal Government
Garcia writes to HHS Secretary about the dismantling of HIV programs in Trump’s second term
Out congressman was elected top Democrat on House Oversight on June 24

U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, sent a letter on Thursday to U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. demanding answers about the Trump-Vance administration’s “systematic” elimination of programs to fight HIV in the U.S. and around the world.
Also signed by Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, the letter requests information about cuts to federal support for HIV research, including vaccine development efforts, the shuttering of the HIV prevention division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the defunding of programs providing HIV treatment and prevention services since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
The lawmakers requested responses by or before the end of July.
“It is shameful that HHS Secretary RFK Jr. and the Trump Administration are working to dismantle our HIV research, care, and prevention programs aimed at eradicating the disease across the world,” Garcia said. “This decision is absolutely reckless and puts millions of lives at risk. Oversight Democrats refuse to let Secretary Kennedy’s reliance on conspiracy theories and misinformation threaten the health and safety of our public health.”
“The Trump Administration’s reckless decision to gut HIV prevention and research programs is not only scientifically indefensible—it’s morally unconscionable. These cuts jeopardize the health of millions, both at home and abroad, and reverse decades of bipartisan progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS,” Krishnamoorthi said. “We’re demanding answers because the American people, and the global community, deserve better than politically motivated neglect of public health.”
Echoing warnings from HIV and public health experts, the congressmen in their letter stressed that backsliding in efforts to fight the disease at home and abroad come just as advancements in treatment and prevention have finally put some of the most ambitious goals to end the epidemic within reach.
The letter suggests that Kennedy’s embrace of misinformation about HIV might explain, to some extent, his dismantling of programs to end the epidemic at home and abroad, specifically, pointing to the secretary’s history of challenging the overwhelming and longstanding scientific and medical consensus about the causal relationship between HIV and AIDS.
The congressmen also detailed many of the real-world consequences of health policy concerning HIV in Trump’s second term. For example, they note experts anticipate there will be millions of excess new HIV infections and hundreds of thousands of excess HIV-related deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa in just one year.
The letter also warns that “President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget request for domestic HIV program calls for a $1.5 billion reduction in funding,” which “could lead to more than 143,000 additional HIV cases in the United States within five years and about 127,000 additional deaths from HIV and AIDS-related causes.”
Garcia’s leadership of Oversight Dems will be closely watched
If Democrats recapture a majority of seats in the House next year, Garcia becomes chair of the committee and has access to far more powerful tools to exercise oversight — like the authority to issue subpoenas (unilaterally or by majority vote) compelling witnesses to testify or requiring officials to turn over documents.
Leadership positions, especially coveted spots leading the most powerful committees in Congress, are typically awarded based on seniority. When the House Democratic caucus elected Garcia on June 24, it marked the first first time in more than a century that a second-term member was selected for the role.
During his brief time in Washington, the congressman, who is openly gay and formerly served as mayor of Long Beach, has emerged as arguably one of the strongest communicators in the House Democratic caucus and one of his party’s most vocal critics of the second Trump administration.
Thursday’s letter, which comes less than a month after his election as ranking member, may signal how Garcia will approach fact finding missions and investigations, or where he will focus the committee’s work, under the vastly expanded powers that might be available to him after the midterms.
National
Trump threatens Rosie O’Donnell’s citizenship
Comedian responds with post linking him to Epstein

Donald Trump threatened to revoke Rosie O’Donnell’s U.S. citizenship last weekend amid his administration’s pattern of targeting people with whom he has publicly disagreed.
The actress and comedian, known for her roles in major motion pictures like “A League of Their Own” and “Harriet the Spy,” was singled out by the president on his social media app Truth Social, where he called the lesbian entertainer a “Threat to Humanity.”
“Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship,” Trump also posted. “[She] should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
In response to the post—which reignites a decade-old feud between the two—O’Donnell shared a collage of photos from her time in Ireland, along with an old photo of Trump with convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“The president of the usa has always hated the fact that i see him for who he is – a criminal con man sexual abusing liar out to harm our nation to serve himself,” the former talk show host posted on Instagram. She continued, “this is why i moved to ireland – he is a dangerous old soulless man with dementia who lacks empathy compassion and basic humanity – i stand in direct opposition [to] all he represents – so do millions of others – u gonna deport all who stand against ur evil tendencies – ur a bad joke who cant form a coherent sentence.”
Trump’s threat is both irregular and constitutionally unsound. The Supreme Court has ruled over multiple decades that stripping someone of their citizenship violates the Constitution—and the 14th Amendment.
Three Supreme Court cases in particular—Trop v. Dulles (1958), Afroyim v. Rusk (1967), and Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969)—have all affirmed that once legally obtained, citizenship is not something that can simply be revoked, even if the president disagrees with what a person says or does. In Afroyim v. Rusk, the Supreme Court wrote: “In our country the people are sovereign and the Government cannot sever its relationship to the people by taking away their citizenship.”
This authoritarian threat echoes Trump’s broader efforts to undermine birthright citizenship, which has been a foundational part of the U.S. Constitution since the ratification of the 14th amendment.
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