National
Santorum denounces killing of gays in Iran
But renews pledge to reinstate DADT, fight marriage equality
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum (Blade photo by Michael Key)
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Thursday pledged to speak out against the executions of gay people in Iran — calling it “a grave moral wrong” — and accused President Obama of not addressing the issue.
“I would talk about it,” Santorum said. “This president doesn’t talk about those things. He doesn’t talk about the torture, he doesn’t talk about the killing of women and gays and imprisonment. These are fundamental violations of human rights that I would speak about.”
Santorum made the remarks in a brief interview with the Washington Blade in D.C. at the 2011 Value Voters Summit, a convention for social conservatives hosted by the Family Research Council.
The GOP presidential hopeful spoke with the Blade after a giving a speech in which he criticized Obama for not defending the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act in court and for allowing military chaplains to officiate at same-sex weddings.
Santorum also pledged to fight marriage equality “in every state to make sure that marriage remains between one man and one woman.” He backs a U.S. constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage throughout the country.
Speaking with the Blade, the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania pledged to speak out against the killing of gays in Iran when asked to clarify remarks he gave in August during a presidential debate. At the time, Santorum called Iran a ‘mullahcracy’ that “tramples the rights of women, tramples the rights of gays, tramples the rights of people all throughout their society.”
In Iran, sodomy is an offense subject to the death penalty. Just last month, Iran reportedly executed three people who were convicted of engaging in same-sex sexual relations.
Chris Barron, chair of GOProud, said Santorum is “absolutely right” about the violations of human rights against gays in Iran.
“We believe strongly that basic human rights should know no geographic boundary,” Barron said. “We thank Senator Santorum for having the courage to speak out with moral clarity on this issue.”
Barron commended Santorum while saying the Obama administration has failed to address the issue.
“While leaders like Israel’s Bibi Netanyahu have addressed the United Nations about the barbaric treatment of gay people in Iran, this administration has chosen to turn a blind eye,” Barron said.
Despite claims Obama hasn’t addressed the issue, the president has spoken up more generally in favor of LGBT rights during a speech last month before the United Nations General Assembly, making him the first sitting U.S. president to do so.
“No country should deny people their rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion, but also no country should deny people their rights because of who they love, which is why we must stand up for the rights of gays and lesbians everywhere,” Obama said.
Also during the interview with the Blade, Santorum wouldn’t venture to say whether he thinks being gay is a choice when asked if he shares the views of fellow GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain, who earlier this week stated that view.
“I think there’s all sorts of studies that are contradicting on that subject,” Santorum said.
Major psychological institutions — including the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association — have stated that sexual orientation can’t be changed and that so-called reparative therapy practices are dangerous.
Santorum also addressed his previously stated pledge to reinstate “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” if elected president. He said he doesn’t know whether he would do so administratively or whether that would have to be achieved through legislation.
“I’d have to study the issue,” Santorum said. “I don’t know. At this point, I’d have to — I can’t say how, but I certainly would work toward that.”
A transcript of the exchange between the Blade and Santorum follows:
Washington Blade: Herman Cain said earlier this week that homosexuality is a choice. Is that a view you share?
Rick Santorum: Ah, well, I think there’s all sorts of studies that are contradicting on that subject.
Blade: You’ve said you’d reinstate “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” if elected president. Would you do that administratively, or would that have to be through legislative means?
Santorum: I’d have to study the issue. I don’t know. At this point, I’d have to — I can’t say how, but I certainly would work toward that.
Blade: One thing you said in August that really jumped out during the presidential debate was you criticized Iran for trampling the rights of women and gays. I’m just wondering what rights-trampling you’re objecting to.
Santorum: Ah, they’re killing them. They’re killing people because they’re gay, which is a grave moral wrong.
Blade: And how would you address that as president?
Santorum: I would talk about it. This president doesn’t talk about those things. He doesn’t talk about the torture, he doesn’t talk about the killing of women and gays and imprisonment. These are fundamental violations of human rights that I would speak about.
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.
National
Demonstrators disrupt OMB director hearing over PEPFAR
Capitol Police arrested five protesters
A group of protesters interrupted Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought during his testimony before Congress on Wednesday.
Vought was at the Cannon House Office Building to give testimony to the House Budget Committee.
Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) began the hearing by touting what he described as economic accomplishments of the Trump-Vance administration’s economic accomplishments. Ranking Member Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) disputed those claims in his opening statement.
Boyle went on to admonish Vought for not attending a committee hearing in the previous year.
Vought, the “Project 2025” architect, was invited to speak after Arrington and Boyle made their statements.
Shortly after Vought began reading his statement, Housing Works CEO Charles King stood up in the gallery and began shouting, “PEPFAR saves lives: spend the money!”
The U.S. Capitol Police moved quickly to escort King from the room. Other activists began chanting with King as they unfolded signs bearing a picture of Vought’s face and statements such as, “Vought’s cuts kill people with AIDS,” and “Protect PEPFAR from Vought.”
The group of HIV/AIDS activists included independent activists, former U.S. Agency for International Development and PEPFAR staff, members of Health GAP, Housing Works, and the Treatment Action Group. Six activists were escorted from the hearing and the U.S. Capitol Police detained five of them.
The HIV/AIDS treatment activists protested at the hearing in response to the dismantling of global health programs, including PEPFAR, a federally-funded program credited with saving millions of lives from HIV/AIDS, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Russell Vought is directly responsible for illegally withholding Congressionally appropriated funds for PEPFAR and related global health initiative,” King said in a statement provided to the Washington Blade. “These funding disruptions have already contributed to preventable deaths and threaten to reverse decades of progress in the fight against HIV worldwide. Enough is enough. Congress must ensure Vought stops this deadly sabotage.”
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Charlie Kirk Act advances in Tenn.
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