National
Another shot for UAFA in House, Senate
Lawmakers write to administration seeking executive action
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) reintroduced UAFA on Thursday (Blade photo by Michael Key)
Lawmakers initiated on Thursday a two-pronged approach to stop the separation of bi-national same-sex couples in the United States by introducing legislation and sending a letter to the Obama administration urging executive action.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) reintroduced in the House the Uniting American Families Act, which would enable gay Americans to sponsor their foreign partners for residency in the United States, while Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) reintroduced companion legislation in the Senate.
Meanwhile, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), ranking Democrat of the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, sent a letter to the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security — along with 47 other U.S. House members — urging administration officials to stop the deportations of foreigners in legally recognized same-sex marriages in the United States.
During a news conference Thursday, Nadler touted his newly reintroduced legislation, which has been languishing in Congress in various versions for more than a decade, as a means to “remove a wantonly discriminatory policy” in U.S. immigration code.
“Today, thousands of committed same-sex couples are needlessly suffering because of unequal treatment under our immigration laws, and this is an outrage,” Nadler said. “The Constitution guarantees that no class of single people will be singled out for differential and invidious treatment — and LGBT Americans should not, and must not, be excluded from that guarantee.”
In a statement, Leahy said UAFA is necessary because a key tenet of U.S. immigration policy is maintaining “family unity” — even for LGBT people — whom he said are often forced to choose between the country they love and the person they love.
“I hear from Vermont couples who face this difficult decision every year,” Leahy said. “No American should face such a choice. I hope that my colleagues who supported this important civil rights reform will join me in calling for fairness and equality in our immigration laws.”
Under current immigration code, straight Americans can sponsor their spouses for residency in the United States through the green card application process if their spouses are foreign nationals. The same rights aren’t available to gay Americans because they cannot marry in many places in the United States. Even where gay nuptials are recognized, Americans can’t sponsor their same-sex spouses for citizenship because the Defense of Marriage Act prohibits federal recognition of marriage equality.
Consequently, foreign nationals who are in committed relationships with gay Americans may have to leave the country upon expiration of their temporary visas or face deportation.
“It’s not only the partners in committed relationships that suffer, it’s their children, their extended families,” Nadler said. “Their communities and employers are all hurt when families are broken up.”
Shirley Tan (right) and Jay Mercado (left) with their two children and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (center) (Blade photo by Michael Key)
Shirley Tan, a Philippines native and lesbian Pacifica, Calif., resident, put a face to the need for passing UAFA during the news conference when she recounted how she was arrested in January 2009 by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and threatened with deportation away from her partner for nearly 25 years, Jay Mercado, and their two children: Jashley and Joriene.
“When I think of UAFA, I am reminded of what that ICE officer told me when I was picked up — that if Jay is a man, this wouldn’t have happened,” Tan said. “Same-sex couples should be given the right to petition for their partners. It is just plain discrimination that until now, this great country cannot have equality among their citizens.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has since introduced private legislation to keep Tan and Mercado together in the United States with their children temporarily, and is expected to do so again during the 112th Congress. The bill must be reintroduced every two years. If not, or if Feinstein leaves the Senate, Tan would again face deportation.
UAFA has provisions that would impose penalties on those who would seek the exploit the opportunities provided under the legislation should it become law. Any person found to have entered into a fraudulent, permanent partnership for the purposes of obtaining a visa for another individual could be subject to five-year imprisonment or a $250,000 fine, or both. UAFA also requires bi-national couples to provide proof that they are partners as defined in the legislation.
Representatives from LGBT advocacy groups who were present at the news conference — including Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese and National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Rea Carey — commended Nadler for introducing the legislation and said the bill is badly needed to eliminate the inequities that bi-national same-sex couples face.
Rachel Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality, expressed optimism about the chances of action from either Congress or the administration to provide relief to bi-national same-sex couples.
“Everything is coming together for LGBT Americans with foreign national partners,” Tiven said. “This is the time that have been waiting for. We are so close, we are so close at last to having truly equal rights for all American families — and LGBT immigrant families at the center of that change.”
The White House’s support for UAFA isn’t as strong as it is for other pro-LGBT legislation, such as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
Shin Inouye, a White House spokesperson, said President Obama “supports the goals of this legislation,” but didn’t explicitly endorse UAFA.
“He believes that Americans with partners from other countries should not be faced with a painful choice between staying with their partner or staying in their country and thus we will work closely with Congress to craft comprehensive immigration reform legislation,” Inouye added.
The 100 co-sponsors that the House legislation had as of Thursday include the four openly gay members of Congress — Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and David Cicilline (D-R.I.) — as well as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Reps. Mike Honda (D-Calif.), Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas) and Jackie Speier (D-Calif.).
A proponent of comprehensive immigration reform, Polis during news conference said the inability of gay Americans to sponsor their foreign partners under current law is “just another example of how our broken immigration system is tearing apart.”
“Instead of continuing to discriminate against same-sex marriage, we should welcome immigrants who help grow our economy and make our country stronger,” Polis said. “Regardless of which side of the aisle one stands on, we all agree that our immigration system should reflect the values that our country hold dear. It should reward those who work hard and support families; instead, we have a system that breaks up families by deporting the loved ones of Americans.”
Movement on the UAFA in the House is expected to be difficult — to say the least — with Republicans in control of the chamber. Neither the office of U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) nor the office of House Judiciary Committee Chair Lamar Smith (R-Texas), who’s known for anti-gay views, responded to the Washington Blade’s request to comment on the legislation.
During the news conference, Nadler said he’s spoken with Smith about having a hearing or a markup on UAFA, but added the Texas lawmaker was “non-committal.”
A House Democratic aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, expressed pessimism about passage of UAFA both in the House Judiciary Committee and on the House floor because of the anti-gay Republican positions.
“The chairman has pretty strong stand against LGBT equality and against comprehensive immigration reform, so this might be the best Judiciary Committee to get optimistic about,” the aide said. “I don’t see Boehner bringing it up and I don’t see where you get enough Republicans [for passage] — even if you held the entire Democratic caucus together.”
No Republicans have signed on as co-sponsors for UAFA. Nadler said he’s spoken to some GOP lawmakers who have told him they’re “thinking about” signing on in support, although he declined to identify which lawmakers made these comments.
“We’d love to work with the Republicans on it, and we’re reaching out to see who we can get,” Nadler said.
In the Senate, where Democrats remain in control following the 2010 election, UAFA is seen as having as having brighter prospects, although challenges remain.
A Senate Democratic aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Republican support would be needed to make progress on UAFA in the Senate despite Democratic control of the chamber.
“It is difficult to advance immigration-related legislation, and particularly difficult to do so without bipartisan support, and so we are focused right now on shoring up more support for the bill,” the aide said.
In the Senate, UAFA had 18 co-sponsors as of Thursday, including Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) as well as Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). As in the House, the Senate version of the legislation has no Republican co-sponsors.
UAFA supporters have long advocated that comprehensive immigration reform is the best vehicle from moving the legislation forward in both chambers of Congress. Earlier this year, media reports emerged that key players for immigration reform in the Senate, including Schumer, had begun talks about comprehensive immigration reform legislation — intriguing LGBT advocates about the possibility of UAFA inclusion.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), a UAFA co-sponsor and leading proponent of comprehensive immigration reform, said during the news conference he’s heard about the immigration inequities facing LGBT people — as part of his “Campaign for American Children and Families” tour, which is aimed to address broader immigration and deportation concerns — and believes language to protect bi-national same-sex couples should part of any larger immigration package that passes Congress.
“If deportations or an inflexible visa system or any of the problems our immigration system are holding back and splitting up American families, it’s holding back gay and lesbian families as much or even more,” Gutierrez said. “That is why we need UAFA, and why it needs to be part of immigration reform.”
But whether immigration reform can pass both chambers of Congress — especially with Republicans in control of the House — remains to be seen, even though Obama mentioned it as legislative priority during the 2011 State of the Union address. Polis has told the Washington Blade passage is “unlikely” this Congress will pass immigration reform because many members of the Republican ran against it in their 2010 campaigns.
During the news conference, Nadler said he doesn’t know what the prospects are for passing comprehensive immigration reform in the 112th Congress, but said UAFA supporters will “press ahead” whether or not the larger bill goes forward.
As the new effort was launched to pass legislation, lawmakers also made their case with the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security to stop the separation of foreign nationals in legally recognized same-sex marriages administratively.
Lofgren announced at the news conference on Thursday that she and 47 other Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to the departments asking the Obama administration to take action — as she denounced the current situation under U.S. immigration law.
“Changing the law takes time, and that is something that so many of these families, including U.S. citizens, spouses and children, do not have,” Lofgren said. “Our administration, like all prior administrations, has the ability under current law to avoid the senseless destruction of families while the validity of the Defense of Marriage Act is tackled in the courts and in Congress.”
The letter maintains that the Obama administration has the authority to stop the deportations of foreign nationals in legally recognized same-sex marriage now that the president has found that DOMA is unconstitutional. On Feb. 23, U.S. Attorney General Eric General announced that Obama determined DOMA was unconstitutional and that the Justice Department would no longer defend the anti-gay law against litigation in court.
To the Department of Homeland Security, the lawmakers ask U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services to hold the denial of green card applications for married same-sex couples until Congress repeals DOMA or the courts make a determination on the law’s constitutionality.
“We further ask that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) exercise its existing prosecutorial discretion in removal proceedings with respect to lawfully-married foreign nationals who would be eligible for immigration relief but for DOMA,” the lawmakers write. “ICE already exercises prosecutorial discretion and promotes efficient use of government resources by dismissing without prejudice certain cases in which a foreign national appears to be eligible for relief from removal on the basis of a pending petition or application.”
Adam Fetcher, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, said his department plans to respond to the lawmakers, but continues to enforce DOMA as directed by the Justice Department.
“The administration will respond to the members of Congress directly,” Fetcher said. “Pursuant to the attorney general’s guidance, the Defense of Marriage Act remains in effect and the executive branch, including DHS, will continue to enforce it unless and until Congress repeals it or there a final judicial determination that it is unconstitutional.”
To the Justice Department, the lawmakers ask that the Board of Immigration Appeals and the Executive Office of Immigration Review issue a moratorium on removing married foreign nationals in same-sex marriages “who would be eligible to adjust their status to lawful permanent residence but for DOMA.”
Tracy Schmaler, a Justice Department spokesperson, said her department is reviewing the letter and will respond.
The letter from U.S. House members comes on the heels of a similar letter that Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and 11 other U.S. senators sent last week to Obama administration seeking restitution for married bi-national same-sex couples. Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), who is among the co-signers of the Lofgren letter, also last week sent a similar missive to the Obama administration.
National
Inside the lonely world of MAGA gay men
Pushback against community members who support Trump is not unusual
Uncloseted Media published this article on April 18.
This story was written in partnership with Gay Times Magazine.
By EMMA PAIDRA | When Evan decided it was time to tell his boyfriend that he voted for Trump, he couldn’t get the words out. “I was stuttering for 20 minutes straight on the phone,” he told Uncloseted Media and GAY TIMES.
Once he finally worked up the courage, he was met with pushback: “He made fun of me. … He called me a racist and a white supremacist,” says Evan, a 21-year-old math major who lives in Long Island, N.Y.
That pushback isn’t unusual: According to a 2023 Pew Research Center survey, 83 percent of queer men typically vote Democrat. One key reason gay men swing left in 2026 is because of the Trump administration and MAGA-aligned politicians’ track record on LGBTQ issues. Since the start of Trump’s second term, his administration has terminated more than $1 billion worth of grants to HIV-related research, removed the Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument and shut down the LGBTQ-specific option on the 988 youth suicide hotline.
Because of this, many of the fewer than one in five LGBTQ men who cast their ballot for Trump in 2024 face judgment for their political affiliation.
“People think that I hate myself for being gay, and that I’m a gay traitor. … I wish there were more gay conservatives or moderates,” says Evan, who requested to use a pseudonym due to fears over retaliation for his political views.
Navigating dating and relationships as a gay Trumper
Nick Duncan, 43, can relate to Evan’s fears about being an open Trump supporter: “I mostly get hatred. I’ve never lost a conservative friend because I’m gay, but I’ve lost all of my gay friends because I’m conservative,” says Duncan, a hospitality executive who lives in Miami. “I’ve divorced myself from what I refer to as the Alphabet Mafia.”
Duncan says he feels so unwelcome by the LGBTQ community that he’s hesitant to attend certain queer events. “Nowadays, I would never go to a Pride event,” Duncan told Uncloseted Media and GAY TIMES. “I don’t feel that I would be safe.”
Despite these concerns, Duncan doesn’t hide his political views when looking for love. “I’m in a long-term relationship now, and when I have been on the dating market, I’m very open and upfront about [my political views]. So I think it just weeds out most people who would have an issue.”
For Evan, political differences have been a source of tension in his relationship even before he told his boyfriend who he voted for. “When I first met him, he asked me if I liked Trump. … He was kind of scaring me. So I said, ‘I don’t know,’” Evan recalls. “He said, ‘Good answer, because if you said yes, I couldn’t even talk to you.’”
Since revealing his conservative identity, Evan has had multiple arguments with his boyfriend about politics. “This guy, who I’ve been dating for almost a year, he’s way too far left. … The first proof is he thinks there’s more than two genders,” says Evan. “I tried telling him there were only two genders, and he got mad at me.”
Though Evan believes there are only two genders, research suggests that gender is a spectrum allowing for multiple gender identities.
Proud gay Trump supporters
According to a 2025 report from Pew Research Center, 71 percent of LGBTQ adults view the Republican Party as unfriendly towards LGBTQ Americans. Duncan thinks these critiques are unreasonable: “The Republican Party is not nearly as anti-gay as [leftists] believe,” he says. “The Trump administration has plenty of openly gay people in the administration, and Trump actually supported gay marriage before it was cool.”
Gay members of the Trump administration include Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, as well as Tony Fabrizio, a pollster and strategist. Additionally, Trump did tell the Advocate in a 2000 interview that though “the institution of marriage should be between a man and a woman,” he thinks amending the Civil Rights Act to grant the same protection to gay people that we give to other Americans is “only fair.”
But since then, Trump has appointed Supreme Court Justices who have denounced marriage equality and Cabinet members with anti-LGBTQ track records, including Pete Hegseth, Marco Rubio, and Pam Bondi.
Duncan says part of the reason he isn’t worried about Trump’s anti-LGBTQ track record is because he doesn’t view being gay as the most important part of his identity: “The most important part of who I am is as a father.”
Duncan is not alone: A 2020 report from the UCLA Williams Institute School of Law found that Republican lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are more likely to feel connected to other parts of their identities than their sexual orientations.
Evan doesn’t identify with the community at large and does not like to be referred to as “LGBTQ” or “queer.”
“I realized I’m normal. I’m not LGBTQ,” he says. “I’m just gay.”
Evan’s desire to be seen as “normal” rings of Vice President JD Vance’s 2024 comments on Joe Rogan’s podcast, where he said Trump could win the “normal gay” vote. During this same interview, Vance suggested that parents of genderqueer children use their children’s identities as a rejection of having white privilege. Vance received significant backlash for these comments, with the Human Rights Campaign responding to the vice president’s remarks over X.
Some gay Republicans see the GOP as more friendly
For Chris Doane, 56, voting Republican is the only choice that makes sense, as he believes voting for a Democrat goes directly against his interests as a queer man. “Conservatives don’t want to murder gays. They want them saved,” he says. “Muslims vote Democrat, because if the Democrats win, they get to stay [in the U.S.], they get to take power, and they will murder gays brutally with a smile on their face,” says Doane.
Doane’s comments are unfounded and display racist stereotypes peddled by far-right American media: One study from the Brennan Center for Justice compiled data from 1984 to 2020 and found that racial resentment is more prevalent on the right than on the left.
Doane was raised in a conservative family in Bryan, Texas, and isn’t out to his family because he fears that they won’t accept him. For him, voting Republican is part of his heritage. “I was told, ‘Don’t ever let Democrats in control. They’ll ruin our country,’” he says. “That’s pretty much what they did, and that’s why President Trump is working overtime to straighten it all back out.”
Trans rights and gay Republican men
Though Doane and other gay Republicans hold a range of views, a common thread is a hesitancy around trans rights. So, they align more with the Trump administration, which has railed against the trans community with Trump’s policies and rhetoric.
For example, Doane sees being able to transition as a matter of personal freedom but thinks gender-affirming care for trans kids is a step too far.
“When it comes to transgender, I have nothing against that. I just believe that when you make that transition, it should be at a point where your brain is fully developed … and you’re actually going to enjoy that transition,” he says.
He also holds the view that for a trans person to be accepted as their correct gender, they must fully physically transition. “If you’re gonna transgender, transgender all the way. If you’ve still got male parts on you, you don’t belong in the women’s dress room.” However, research suggests otherwise, with a 2025 study indicating that policing bathroom access can lead to mental distress in trans youth.
Duncan has his own doubts.
“I disagree with the integration of gender ideology and radical wokeism into the LGBT community. You are free to live under any delusion you so desire. You’re not free to require me to live under your delusion as well,” he says. “But if somebody wants to live as a man or a woman, however it is, I firmly believe they have the right to do that. I would never get in the way of it.”
Duncan also believes that education about LGBTQ people should be limited in schools. He sees adolescence as a fundamentally confusing time, and believes an education about LGBTQ communities would “add on layers of confusion.” This belief seems to be in line with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2022 “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which has banned education on gender identity and sexual orientation in Florida’s classrooms from pre-kindergarten until the end of eighth grade, though there are exceptions for health lessons.
“It’s okay to tell kids that some boys like boys, some girls like girls, some people like both. But it just needs to be kept vague and general,” Duncan says. “However you are is okay. We don’t need to expose children to gay media because if you’re gay, you’re going to know.”
Duncan does not believe heteronormative bias in mainstream media is a problem, though a study published in Equity & Excellence in Education found heteronormative biases in schools may harm queer students. “The vast majority of people are heterosexual, and a functioning society is built on a heteronormative bias,” he says. “It is important to understand that we are the extreme minority and society is not responsible for conforming to us.”
They approve of Trump and don’t see him as a threat
While LGBTQ Americans see the Republican party as unfriendly towards queer people, Duncan and Doane aren’t worried about being stripped of their rights. Duncan says the 2015 passage of gay marriage solidified his equal rights. “We have marriage as gay men. I have every right that a straight man does,” he says.
Doane also feels that his rights are secure under Trump 2.0 and approves of the president so far. “I voted for that great, big, beautiful wall because we were being overrun by illegals,” he says. Doane also approves of U.S. interventions in Iran and Venezuela, though he criticizes Trump for “leaving [Venezuela] way too soon.”
Similarly, Duncan is generally approving of Trump’s handling of immigration. “I don’t love what we’re doing as far as deportations, but we had to get some control over the illegal population,” says Duncan. “I wish there was another way, but I can’t think of it.”
Duncan and Doane are certainly in the minority as queer men who approve of Trump, but as far as they’re concerned, Trump is delivering on his promises. “Overall, I’m happy,” says Duncan. “I’m getting pretty much exactly what I voted for.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article stated that Trump told the Advocate in 2000 that legalizing gay marriage was “only fair.” That was incorrect. He told the publication that he thinks amending the Civil Rights Act to grant the same protection to gay people that we give to other Americans is “only fair.”
National
LGBTQ Catholic groups slam Trump over pope criticism
‘Moral truth and compassion always overcome ignorant hate’
LGBTQ Catholic groups have sharply criticized President Donald Trump over his criticisms of Pope Leo XIV.
Leo on April 13 told reporters while traveling to Algeria that he had “no fear of the Trump administration” after the president described him as “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy” in response to his opposition to the Iran war. (Trump on the same day posted to Truth Social an image that appeared to show him as Jesus Christ. He removed it on April 13 amid backlash from religious leaders.)
Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, during a Fox News Channel interview on the same day said “in some cases, it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of what’s going on with the Catholic church, and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy.” Vance on April 14 once again discussed Leo during an appearance at a Turning Point USA event in Athens, Ga., saying he should “be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni; former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Miguel Díaz; and Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, are among those who have criticized Trump over his comments. The president, for his part, has said he will not apologize to Leo.
“The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants,” said Leo on Thursday at a cathedral in Bamenda, Cameroon.
Francis DeBernardo is the executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based LGBTQ Catholic organization. He told the Washington Blade on Thursday that Trump’s comments about Leo “are one more example of the ridiculous hubris of this leader (Trump) whose entire record shows that he is nothing more than a middle-school bully.”
“LGBTQ+ adults were often bullied as children, and they have learned the lesson that bullies act when they feel frightened or threatened,” said DeBernardo. “But secular power does not threaten the Vicar of Christ, and Pope Leo’s response illustrates this truth perfectly.”
DeBernardo added Trump “is obviously frightened that Pope Leo, an American, has more power and influence than the president on the world stage.”
“Like most Trumpian bullying, this strategy will backfire,” DeBernardo told the Blade. “Moral truth and compassion always overcome ignorant hate. Trump’s actions are not an example of his power, but of his impotence.”
Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, an LGBTQ Catholic organization, echoed DeBernardo.
“He [Trump] has demonstrated throughout both presidencies that he doesn’t understand the basic concepts of any faith system that is founded on the dignity of human beings, the importance of common good,” Duddy-Burke told the Blade on Thursday during a telephone interview. “It’s just appalling.”
Duddy-Burke praised Leo and the American cardinals who have publicly criticized Trump.
“The pope’s popularity — given how much more respect Pope Leo has than the man sitting in the White House — is a blow to his ego,” Duddy-Burke told the Blade. “That seems to be a sore sport for him.”
“It’s such an imperialistic world view,” she added.
Leo ‘is the real peacemaker’
The College of Cardinals last May elected Leo to succeed Pope Francis after his death.
Leo, who was born in Chicago, is the first American pope. He was the bishop of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru from 2015-2023.
Francis made him a cardinal in 2023.
Juan Carlos Cruz — a gay Chilean man and clergy sex abuse survivor who Francis appointed to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors — has traveled to Ukraine several times with Dominican Sister Lucía Caram since Russia launched its war against the country in 2022. Cruz on Thursday responded to Trump’s criticism of Leo in a text message he sent to the Blade from Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.
“I am in Ukraine under many attacks,” said Cruz. “Trump is an asshole and has zero right to criticize the Pope who is the real peacemaker.”
Tennessee
Charlie Kirk Act advances in Tenn.
Bill would limit protests, protects speakers opposing ‘transgender’ identities
The Tennessee legislature has passed Senate Bill 1741 / House Bill 1476, dubbed the “Charlie Kirk Act,” which, if signed by Republican Gov. Bill Lee, would reshape how public colleges and universities regulate speech on campus.
The measure targets all public higher education institutions and requires them to adopt a “free expression” policy modeled on the University of Chicago’s framework. That framework emphasizes that universities should not shield students from controversial or offensive ideas and requires state schools to formally embrace institutional neutrality — meaning they do not publicly take a stance on political or social issues.
Under the legislation, publicly funded schools cannot disinvite or cancel invited speakers based on their viewpoints or in response to protests from students or faculty. Student organizations, however — like Turning Point USA, an American nonprofit that advocates for conservative politics on high school, college, and university campuses, founded by Charlie Kirk, and often lack widely represented liberal counterparts — would retain broad authority to bring speakers to campus regardless of controversy.
The law includes broad protections for individuals and organizations expressing religious or ideological beliefs, including opposition to abortion, homosexuality, or transgender identity, regardless of whether those views are rooted in religious or secular beliefs. It further prohibits public institutions from retaliating against faculty for protected speech or scholarly work.
The bill, which has been hailed by supporters as an effort to “preserve campus free speech,” ironically also limits protest activity. Shouting down speakers, blocking sightlines, staging disruptive walkouts, or physically preventing entry to events are now considered “substantial interference” under the legislation, making those who engage in such actions subject to discipline.
Some of those disciplinary consequences include probation, suspension, and even expulsion for students, while faculty who protest in ways deemed to violate the policy could face unpaid suspensions and termination after repeated violations.
Supporters of the bill argue it strengthens free expression on campus. State Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood), the bill’s sponsor, said it reinforces a commitment to “civil and robust” debate at public universities.
“The Charlie Kirk Act creates critical safeguards for students and faculty and renews the idea that our higher education institutions should be centers of intellectual debate,” Bulso told Fox 17. “This legislation honors the legacy of Charlie Kirk by promoting thoughtful engagement and defending religious freedom.”
Critics, including Democratic lawmakers, have raised concerns that the legislation effectively elevates certain ideological viewpoints — particularly those tied to religious objections to LGBTQ identities — while exposing students and faculty to punishment for protest or dissent.
“It’s ironic that this body is talking about free speech when we had professors in Tennessee schools expelled and suspended when they did not mourn the death of Charlie Kirk — when they said that his statements were problematic and that the way he died did not redeem the way he lived,” state Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) told WKRN.
Kirk, the right-wing activist and founder of Turning Point USA, for whom the bill is named, was assassinated in September 2025 at a public event at Utah Valley University. His legacy and rhetoric remain deeply polarizing, particularly among LGBTQ advocates, who have cited his history of anti-LGBTQ statements in opposing his campus appearances.
The bill now heads to Lee’s desk for his signature.
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Charlie Kirk Act advances in Tenn.
