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Tipper Gore attends GetEqual event

Gay action group launches plan for state protests

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Tipper Gore, wife of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, was among about 100 people who turned out Sunday night for a first year anniversary celebration and fundraiser in D.C. for the LGBT direct action group GetEqual.

The group attracted national headlines last year when it organized non-violent ā€œcivil disobedienceā€ protests against ā€œDonā€™t Ask, Donā€™t Tellā€ in which participants got arrested for handcuffing themselves to the White House fence.

ā€œIā€™m honored that people were willing to show up and happy to talk about our full equality agenda,ā€ said Robin McGehee, co-founder and executive director of GetEqual.

The event took place at the Mitchell Gold-Bob Williams furniture store showroom on 14th Street, N.W., where co-owner Mitchell Gold, a GetEqual supporter, served as host.

McGehee has said GetEqual was formed to organize the type of non-violent civil disobedience demonstrations used by the African-American civil rights movement in the 1960s, where lunch counter sit-ins and other actions drew attention to segregation laws and other forms of racial discrimination.

She told the gathering Sunday night that similar to the 1960s-era civil rights movement groups, GetEqual believes itā€™s necessary to stage protests against political leaders supportive of LGBT rights, such as President Obama and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, whom the group felt were not doing enough to advance equality for LGBT people.

The group staged sit-in demonstrations at Pelosiā€™s offices in Washington and San Francisco last year.

She said the group hopes to work in harmony with other national and state LGBT organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign, Service Members Legal Defense Network, and National Gay & Lesbian Task Force.

Gore did not speak at the event. GetEqual public relations representative Brad Luna said she made a $100 contribution to the group. Luna said her friend, gay activist Philip DuFour, a former aide to the Gores during the Clinton administration, was among the organizers of the GetEqual event.

ā€œGetEqual is not going to survive if we donā€™t have the community investing in helping it survive,ā€ McGehee said. ā€œSo weā€™re hoping that people will emerge that are willing to help support the organization, to host house parties or fundraisers.ā€

The group this year is launching a new program called Organizing for Equality to ā€œhighlight state based actions to eliminate the injustice of discrimination and compliment it with national actions,ā€ she said. ā€œSo for example, on Valentineā€™s Day we had 37 actions in 13 different states.ā€

Another round of actions and protests across the country are planned for “tax day” on April 15, McGehee said, to highlight how LGBT people are taxed but continue to face discrimination and are not protected by non-discrimination laws in most states.

Among those attending Sundayā€™s event in D.C. were participants who were arrested for handcuffing themselves to the White House fence in a GetEqual protest last November, including former U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Miriam Ben-Shalom, former Marine Corps Sgt. Justin Elzie, and former ROTC Cadet Mara Boyd. The three were discharged from the military in years prior to the White House protests because of their sexual orientation.

Also speaking were veteran D.C. gay activist Frank Kameny and Jon Reinish, special assistant to U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who said Gillibrand is strongly committed to LGBT civil rights.

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National

Trump refers to Anderson Cooper as ā€˜Allisonā€™

Crude insults continue in effort to attract male voters

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Donald Trump is referring to CNNā€™s Anderson Cooper as ā€˜Allison.ā€™

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump referred repeatedly over the weekend to CNNā€™s Anderson Cooper as ā€œAllison Cooper.ā€

Cooper, one of the nationā€™s most prominent openly gay television anchors, moderated a town hall last week with Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump last Friday called Anderson ā€œAllisonā€ in a social media post, then used the moniker again at a Michigan rally.

ā€œIf you watched her being interviewed by Allison Cooper the other night, heā€™s a nice person. You know Allison Cooper? CNN fake news,ā€ Trump said, before adding, ā€œOh, she said no, his name is Anderson. Oh, no.ā€

Trump repeated the name during another Michigan rally on Saturday, according to the Associated Pres, then followed it up during a reference in Pennsylvania. ā€œThey had a town hall,ā€ Trump said in Michigan. ā€œEven Allison Cooper was embarrassed by it. He was embarrassed by it.ā€

Describing Anderson Cooper as female plays into offensive and stereotypical depictions of gay men as effeminate as Trump continues to pursue the so-called ā€œbro vote,ā€ amping up crude and vulgar displays in an effort to appeal to male voters.

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Pennsylvania

Transgender Honduran woman canvasses for Harris in Pa.

Monserrath Aleman is CASA in Action volunteer

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Monserrath Aleman, a transgender woman in Honduras, has canvassed in Pennsylvania for Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democratic candidates. (Photo by Phil Laubner/CASA in Action)

A transgender woman from Honduras has traveled to Pennsylvania several times in recent weeks to campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democratic candidates.

Monserrath Aleman traveled to York on Aug. 31 and Lancaster on Sept. 21 with a group of other volunteers from CASA in Action. 

They door-knocked in areas where large numbers of African Americans, Black, and Latino voters live. Aleman and the other CASA in Action volunteers urged them to support Harris, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), and other down ballot Democratic candidates.

Aleman will be in Harrisburg on Nov. 2, and in York on Election Day.

“We achieved the goal that we had in mind and that we wanted to achieve,” she told the Washington Blade on Oct. 22 during a Zoom interview from Baltimore. “We knocked on doors, passed out flyers.”

Aleman cited Project 2025 ā€” which the Congressional Equality Caucus on Thursday sharply criticized ā€” when she spoke with the Blade.

“We know that there is a Project 2025 plan that would affect us: The entire immigrant Latino community, the LGBTI community, everyone,” said Aleman. “So that’s why I’m more motivated to go knocking on doors, to ask for help, for support from everyone who can vote, who can exercise their vote.”

She told the Blade that she and her fellow volunteers “did not have any bad response.”

Aleman grew up in Yoro, a city that is roughly 130 miles north of the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa.

She left Honduras on Nov. 25, 2021.

Aleman entered Mexico in Palenque, a city in the country’s Chiapas state that is close to the border with Guatemala. The Mexican government granted her a humanitarian visa that allowed her to legally travel through the country.

Aleman told the Blade she walked and took buses to Ciudad JuƔrez, a Mexican border city that is across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas.

She scheduled her appointment with U.S. Customs and Border Protection while living at a shelter in Ciudad JuĆ”rez.Ā Aleman now lives in Baltimore.

“Discrimination against the LGBTI community exists everywhere, but in Honduras it is more critical,” said Aleman.

Aleman added she feels “more free to express herself, to speak with someone” in the U.S. She also said she remains optimistic that Harris will defeat former President Donald Trump on Election Day.

“There is no other option,” said Aleman.

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National

HRC rallies LGBTQ voters in 12 states ahead of Election Day

10 Days of Action campaign targets pro-equality candidate

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Human Rights Campaign headquarters (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Human Rights Campaign said it filled 1,426 new volunteer shifts and held 174 events across key swing states between Oct. 10-20 as part of its 10 Days of Action campaign.Ā 

The LGBTQ civil rights advocacy group is working to mobilize and turn out voters in support of pro-equality and LGBTQ candidates, including the Harris-Walz ticket, on Election Day.

HRC reported exceeding its recruitment goals, noting the strong response across the 12 states as a ā€œclear and resounding messageā€ that LGBTQ and allied voters are energized to back the Harris-Walz ticket. 

To kick off the 10 Days of Action, Gwen Walz, the spouse of Minnesota governor and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, spoke at a Philadelphia event that HRC and the Out for Harris-Walz coalition hosted on Oct. 10.

Walz highlighted her husbandā€™s long-standing support for LGBTQ issues, such as his role in fighting to repeal “Donā€™t Ask, Donā€™t Tell” in Congress and banning so-called conversion therapy as governor, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.Ā 

Other events launched canvassing efforts for Senate candidates, such as U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.), along with House candidates, such as Will Rollins and Mondaire Jones in California and New York respectively. 

A virtual organizing call on Oct. 11 that the Out for Harris-Walz coalition hosted featured prominent figures, including actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Andy Cohen, U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), and Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride, who is running for Congress.

To close out the 10 Days of Action, HRC President Kelley Robinson canvassed with LGBTQ organizers in Phoenix on Oct. 20. 

In a statement, Robinson said the campaignā€™s work is ā€œfar from over.ā€

ā€œWe plan to spend every day until the election making sure everyone we know is registered to vote and has a plan to vote because no one is going to give us the future we deserve ā€” we have to fight for it and show America that when we show up, equality wins,ā€ she said. ā€œTogether, we will elect pro-equality leaders like Vice President Harris and Governor Walz who value our communities and are ready to lead us forward with more freedom and opportunity.ā€

A September HRC poll found that LGBTQ voters favor Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in the presidential race by a nearly 67-point margin.

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