National
GOP Ariz. sheriff comes out after allegedly threatening to deport ex
Babeu denies allegations in explosive news report
A conservative congressional candidate in Arizona has come out as gay and stepped down from a position on the Romney campaign amid allegations he threatened to deport an ex-boyfriend who’s a Mexican immigrant.
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, who’s running for the Republican nomination to represent Arizona’s fourth congressional district in the U.S. House, has come under scrutiny after the Phoenix New Times first reported the allegations against him last week.
Jose, a 34-year-old from central Mexico whose last name was not disclosed in the article, told the paper Babeu threatened him with deportation if he were to reveal their years-long relationship.
The Mexican native said he met Babeu in October 2006 on Gay.com, a dating website for gay men. The two allegedly began dating, and Jose helped Babeu with his campaigns by creating and maintaining Babeu’s campaign websites, Facebook page and Twitter account. But after the relationship ended, Jose allegedly faced threats of deportation.
On Saturday, Babeu, first elected as sheriff in 2008 and considered a rising star in the Republican Party, held a news conference and denied all the allegations save one.
“Yesterday, a tabloid article made a number of false allegations about me,” Babeu said. “Only one was true: I’m gay.”
Babeu continued that he should be judged on his service to his country as he continues to pursue election to Congress.
“I want to be judged on my service: 20 years in the military, two deployments — including one in Iraq, a police officer who has responded to thousands of calls for help, and a sheriff who has cut response times while reducing my own budget,” Babeu said. “I hope you will stand with me as we talk about the issues that matter: securing our border and ending the record debt and deficit spending that is stalling our economy and bankrupting the country we all love.”
As part of its report, the Phoenix New Times published text messages Babeu allegedly sent Jose after the relationship ended, including messages saying, “You can never have business after this and you will harm me and many others in the process . . . including yourself & your family” and “You have crossed the line. Better get an attorney. You brother will also be contacted.”
Additionally, the paper published semi-nude photos of Babeu that he allegedly sent to Jose and a screenshot of what apparently is his profile for his adam4adam account.
Babeu later reportedly told the Arizona Republic he knows Jose as a campaign volunteer who improperly accessed his campaign website without permission. Babeu’s lawyer, Chris DeRose, provided the paper with a copy of a cease-and-desist order that he said was sent to the former campaign volunteer on Sept. 6 ordering him to stop accessing the site.
According to Talking Points Memo, Andrea Saul, a spokesperson for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, said Babeu has stepped down from his position as co-chair of the campaign in Arizona.
“Sheriff Babeu has stepped down from his volunteer position with the campaign so he can focus on the allegations against him,” she was quoted as saying. “We support his decision.”
The congressional race in which Babeu is running is contested and other Republicans are seeking the nomination. It remains to be seen whether Babeu will be able to win in the district, which is currently represented by Democrat Ed Pastor, after facing these allegations and coming out.
Even though he was allegedly in a relationship with an immigrant, Babeu has a taken a hard line on the issue over the course of his political career. Upon announcing his candidacy for Congress in October, Babeu decried what he said was the lack of action from the Obama administration to confront illegal immigration.
“Rather than secure our border and enforce the law, what did we see from our federal government?” Babeu writes. “Signs in my county warning Americans to stay away, because the cartels were in control; a lawsuit against the people of Arizona; a declaration that the border is more secure than ever. Meanwhile, 400,000 people unlawfully enter our state every year, tens of thousands with criminal records, some from nations that sponsor terrorism.”
Babeu and the allegations against him have received national attention since the Phoenix New Times reported them last week.
According to Politico, the developments will likely raise three concerns with Arizona Republican primary voters: his sexual orientation, the deportation allegation and the revelation Babeu was in a relationship with an undocumented immigrant while positioning himself as a hardline border protection sheriff.
“If Babeu fails to make it to the primary — or through it — some might point to the Republican Party’s reputation of being hostile to gays as the reason,” Politico reports.
In appearance on ABC News’ “This Week,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called Babeu his “friend” and said he should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
“Well of course Sheriff Babeu is a friend of mine,” McCain said. “I do not know the details except what has been published in the media and I am sure there will be a through and complete investigation if there is any allegations of wrongdoing. All I can say is that he also deserves the benefit, as every citizen does, of innocence until proven guilty.”
Babeu has connection to McCain because the sheriff helped with the senator’s re-election efforts. In May 2010, when he was featured in a McCain TV ad, where the two walk along a steel fence delineating the U.S.-Mexican border. Babeu affirms support for McCain’s immigration plan.
Babeu’s inclusion in the ad was meant to bolster the senator’s credibility on border security during a contested GOP primary race against former U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth.
Federal Government
RFK Jr.’s HHS report pushes therapy, not medical interventions, for trans youth
‘Discredited junk science’ — GLAAD

A 409-page report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services challenges the ethics of medical interventions for youth experiencing gender dysphoria, the treatments that are often collectively called gender-affirming care, instead advocating for psychotherapy alone.
The document comes in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order barring the federal government from supporting gender transitions for anyone younger than 19.
“Our duty is to protect our nation’s children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. “We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.”
While the report does not constitute clinical guidance, its findings nevertheless conflict with not just the recommendations of LGBTQ advocacy groups but also those issued by organizations with relevant expertise in science and medicine.
The American Medical Association, for instance, notes that “empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression.”
Gender-affirming care for transgender youth under standards widely used in the U.S. includes supportive talk therapy along with — in some but not all cases — puberty blockers or hormone treatment.
“The suggestion that someone’s authentic self and who they are can be ‘changed’ is discredited junk science,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “This so-called guidance is grossly misleading and in direct contrast to the recommendation of every leading health authority in the world. This report amounts to nothing more than forcing the same discredited idea of conversion therapy that ripped families apart and harmed gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people for decades.”
GLAAD further notes that the “government has not released the names of those involved in consulting or authoring this report.”
Janelle Perez, executive director of LPAC, said, “For decades, every major medical association–including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics–have affirmed that medical care is the only safe and effective treatment for transgender youth experiencing gender dysphoria.
“This report is simply promoting conversion therapy by a different name – and the American people know better. We know that conversion therapy isn’t actually therapy – it isolates and harms kids, scapegoats parents, and divides families through blame and rejection. These tactics have been used against gay kids for decades, and now the same people want to use them against transgender youth and their families.
“The end result here will be a devastating denial of essential health care for transgender youth, replaced by a dangerous practice that every major U.S. medical and mental health association agree promotes anxiety, depression, and increased risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts.
“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice, and no amount of pressure can force someone to change who they are. We also know that 98% of people who receive transition-related health care continue to receive that health care throughout their lifetime. Trans health care is health care.”
“Today’s report seeks to erase decades of research and learning, replacing it with propaganda. The claims in today’s report would rip health care away from kids and take decision-making out of the hands of parents,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of NCLR. “It promotes the same kind of conversion therapy long used to shame LGBTQ+ people into hating themselves for being unable to change something they can’t change.”
“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice—it’s rooted in biology and genetics,” Minter said. “No amount or talk or pressure will change that.”
Human Rights Campaign Chief of Staff Jay Brown released a statement: “Trans people are who we are. We’re born this way. And we deserve to live our best lives and have a fair shot and equal opportunity at living a good life.
“This report misrepresents the science that has led all mainstream American medical and mental health professionals to declare healthcare for transgender youth to be best practice and instead follows a script predetermined not by experts but by Sec. Kennedy and anti-equality politicians.”
The White House
Trump nominates Mike Waltz to become next UN ambassador
Former Fla. congressman had been national security advisor

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he will nominate Mike Waltz to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
Waltz, a former Florida congressman, had been the national security advisor.
Trump announced the nomination amid reports that Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, were going to leave the administration after Waltz in March added a journalist to a Signal chat in which he, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other officials discussed plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.
“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States ambassador to the United Nations,” said Trump in a Truth Social post that announced Waltz’s nomination. “From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role.”
Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as interim national security advisor, “while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department.”
“Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to make America, and the world, safe again,” said Trump.
Trump shortly after his election nominated U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Trump in March withdrew her nomination in order to ensure Republicans maintained their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. Federal Courts
Second federal lawsuit filed against White House passport policy
Two of seven plaintiffs live in Md.

Lambda Legal on April 25 filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of seven transgender and nonbinary people who are challenging the Trump-Vance administration’s passport policy.
The lawsuit, which Lambda Legal filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, alleges the policy that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers “has caused and is causing grave and immediate harm to transgender people like plaintiffs, in violation of their constitutional rights to equal protection.”
Two of the seven plaintiffs — Jill Tran and Peter Poe — live in Maryland. The State Department, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the federal government are defendants.
“The discriminatory passport policy exposes transgender U.S. citizens to harassment, abuse, and discrimination, in some cases endangering them abroad or preventing them from traveling, by forcing them to use identification documents that share private information against their wishes,” said Lambda Legal in a press release.
Zander Schlacter, a New York-based textile artist and designer, is the lead plaintiff.
The lawsuit notes he legally changed his name and gender in New York.
Schlacter less than a week before President Donald Trump’s inauguration “sent an expedited application to update his legal name on his passport, using form DS-5504.”
Trump once he took office signed an executive order that banned the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers. The lawsuit notes Schlacter received his new passport in February.
“The passport has his correct legal name, but now has an incorrect sex marker of ‘F’ or ‘female,'” notes the lawsuit. “Mr. Schlacter also received a letter from the State Department notifying him that ‘the date of birth, place of birth, name, or sex was corrected on your passport application,’ with ‘sex’ circled in red. The stated reason was ‘to correct your information to show your biological sex at birth.'”
“I, like many transgender people, experience fear of harassment or violence when moving through public spaces, especially where a photo ID is required,” said Schlacter in the press release that announced the lawsuit. “My safety is further at risk because of my inaccurate passport. I am unwilling to subject myself and my family to the threat of harassment and discrimination at the hands of border officials or anyone who views my passport.”
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June 2021 announced the State Department would begin to issue gender-neutral passports and documents for American citizens who were born overseas.
Dana Zzyym, an intersex U.S. Navy veteran who identifies as nonbinary, in 2015 filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their application for a passport with an “X” gender marker. Zzyym in October 2021 received the first gender-neutral American passport.
Lambda Legal represented Zzyym.
The State Department policy took effect on April 11, 2022.
Trump signed his executive order shortly after he took office in January. Germany, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands are among the countries that have issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U.S.
A federal judge in Boston earlier this month issued a preliminary injunction against the executive order. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of seven trans and nonbinary people.