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National news in brief: Feb. 3

Wash. Senate votes on marriage bill, anti-gay lawmaker refused service in a restaurant, Newark mayor slams Gov. Christie, and more

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Christine Gregoire, gay news, gay politics dc

Washington state Governor Christine Gregoire has thrown her full support behind a same-sex marriage bill. (photo by Evan Derickson)

Wash. Senate votes on same-sex marriage bill

OLYMPIA — In a 28-21 vote the Washington State Senate passed a bill extending marriage rights to same-sex couples late Wednesday, in what was expected to be the biggest hurdle toward passage for the bill.

Read the Washington Blade’s full report here.

The bill, which is supported by the governor, and is expected to pass easily in the lower house, was thought to face its most difficult prospects in the Washington Senate where it was supported by the slimmest of majorities.

With 49 senators, the bill needed at least 25 votes to pass, which it received. The Blade reported earlier this month that 25 senators had pledged to vote in favor of the bill in the Senate.

“Marriage in Washington State has tremendous momentum behind it and we’re optimistic going into [the] vote,” Human Rights Campaign communications director Michael Cole-Schwartz told the Blade Wednesday.

Anti-gay lawmaker asked to leave restaurant

KNOXVILLE — Tennessee Sen. Stacey Campfield — the sponsor of several anti-gay bills, including the infamous “Don’t Say Gay” bill — has responded with a furious post to his personal blog after being asked to leave a Knoxville restaurant because of his record.

The Nashville Scene website reported that the lawmaker was denied service at the Bistro at the Bijou located on Gay Street by restaurant owner Martha Boggs.

“I didn’t want his hate in my restaurant,” Boggs told Metro Pulse, a Scripps publication. “I told him he wasn’t welcome here. … I feel like he’s gone from being stupid to being dangerous, and I wanted to stand up to him.”

Last week Campfield appeared on the Michelangelo Signorile radio show, and shocked listeners by claiming that HIV is “virtually impossible” to transmit through heterosexual sex.

“My understanding is that it is virtually — not completely, but virtually — impossible to contract AIDS through heterosexual sex… very rarely [transmitted],” Campfield said on Sirius satellite radio. “What’s the average lifespan of a homosexual? It’s very short. Google it yourself.”

Newark mayor slams Gov. Christie

NEWARK — Responding to a call by N.J. Gov. Chris Christie to put same-sex marriage up for a vote in the Garden State, the mayor of the state’s largest city told reporters “we should not be putting civil rights issues to a popular vote subject to the sentiments of the day.”

“No minority should have their rights subject to the passions and sentiments of the majority,” Newark Mayor Corey Booker told reporters at a press conference last week. “This is a fundamental bedrock of what our nation stands for. And I get very concerned that we have created in our state, we refuse to address, call it like it is… that we’ve created a second-class citizenship in our state.”

LGBT group to Colbert: reenter GOP race

WASHINGTON — Catholics for Equality, an organization of pro-gay Catholics, is calling on comedian Stephen Colbert to reenter the GOP primary.

Colbert briefly flirted with the idea of entering the GOP primaries and held a rally in South Carolina in mid-January prior to that state’s primary vote, but was unable to qualify for the ballot. Catholics for Equality is calling on fellow Catholic Stephen Colbert to restart his primary campaign, saying his views reflect the views of most mainstream Catholics.

“Colbert is the only Republican Catholic contender who reflects comprehensive Catholic social justice teaching,” the group said in a press release.

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New York

Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade

One of the victims remains in critical condition

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The Stonewall National Memorial in New York on June 19, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

On Sunday night, following the annual NYC Pride March, two girls were shot in Sheridan Square, feet away from the historic Stonewall Inn.

According to an NYPD report, the two girls, aged 16 and 17, were shot around 10:15 p.m. as Pride festivities began to wind down. The 16-year-old was struck in the head and, according to police sources, is said to be in critical condition, while the 17-year-old was said to be in stable condition.

The Washington Blade confirmed with the NYPD the details from the police reports and learned no arrests had been made as of noon Monday.

The shooting took place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, mere feet away from the most famous gay bar in the city — if not the world — the Stonewall Inn. Earlier that day, hundreds of thousands of people marched down Christopher Street to celebrate 55 years of LGBTQ people standing up for their rights.

In June 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, members of the LGBTQ community pushed back, sparking what became known as the Stonewall riots. Over the course of two days, LGBTQ New Yorkers protested the discriminatory policing of queer spaces across the city and mobilized to speak out — and throw bottles if need be — at officers attempting to suppress their existence.

The following year, LGBTQ people returned to the Stonewall Inn and marched through the same streets where queer New Yorkers had been arrested, marking the first “Gay Pride March” in history and declaring that LGBTQ people were not going anywhere.

New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, whose district includes Greenwich Village, took to social media to comment on the shooting.

“After decades of peaceful Pride celebrations — this year gun fire and two people shot near the Stonewall Inn is a reminder that gun violence is everywhere,” the lesbian lawmaker said on X. “Guns are a problem despite the NRA BS.”

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New York

Zohran Mamdani participates in NYC Pride parade

Mayoral candidate has detailed LGBTQ rights platform

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NYC mayoral candidate and New York State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani (Screen capture: NBC News/YouTube)

Zohran Mamdani, the candidate for mayor of New York City who pulled a surprise victory in the primary contest last week, walked in the city’s Pride parade on Sunday.

The Democratic Socialist and New York State Assembly member published photos on social media with New York Attorney General Letitia James, telling followers it was “a joy to march in NYC Pride with the people’s champ” and to “see so many friends on this gorgeous day.”

“Happy Pride NYC,” he wrote, adding a rainbow emoji.

Mamdani’s platform includes a detailed plan for LGBTQ people who “across the United States are facing an increasingly hostile political environment.”

His campaign website explains: “New York City must be a refuge for LGBTQIA+ people, but private institutions in our own city have already started capitulating to Trump’s assault on trans rights.

“Meanwhile, the cost of living crisis confronting working class people across the city hits the LGBTQIA+ community particularly hard, with higher rates of unemployment and homelessness than the rest of the city.”

“The Mamdani administration will protect LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers by expanding and protecting gender-affirming care citywide, making NYC an LGBTQIA+ sanctuary city, and creating the Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs.”

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U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court upholds ACA rule that makes PrEP, other preventative care free

Liberal justices joined three conservatives in majority opinion

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The U.S. Supreme Court as composed June 30, 2022, to present. Front row, left to right: Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., and Associate Justice Elena Kagan. Back row, left to right: Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Photo Credit: Fred Schilling, the U.S. Supreme Court)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a portion of the Affordable Care Act requiring private health insurers to cover the cost of preventative care including PrEP, which significantly reduces the risk of transmitting HIV.

Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the majority opinion in the case, Kennedy v. Braidwood Management. He was joined by two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, along with the three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown-Jackson.

The court’s decision rejected the plaintiffs’ challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s reliance on the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force to “unilaterally” determine which types of care and services must be covered by payors without cost-sharing.

An independent all-volunteer panel of nationally recognized experts in prevention and primary care, the 16 task force members are selected by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to serve four-year terms.

They are responsible for evaluating the efficacy of counseling, screenings for diseases like cancer and diabetes, and preventative medicines — like Truvada for PrEP, drugs to reduce heart disease and strokes, and eye ointment for newborns to prevent infections.

Parties bringing the challenge objected especially to the mandatory coverage of PrEP, with some arguing the drugs would “encourage and facilitate homosexual behavior” against their religious beliefs.

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