Connect with us

National

RNC 2012: Kolbe gives ‘qualified endorsement’ to Romney

Former lawmaker says GOP candidate better than Obama on economics

Published

on

Former congressman Jim Kolbe (Blade photo by Michael Key)

TAMPA, Fla. — Former Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), who’s gay, offered his “qualified endorsement” of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Tuesday, saying the candidate’s business background makes him a good choice for president. Kolbe noted that Romney needs to come along further on LGBT issues.

“I think based on the economic issues, yeah, I think my endorsement would be a qualified endorsement,” Kolbe said in an interview with the Washington Blade. “I think he’s clearly the better of the two candidates, but we have a long ways to go to bring him around on this [LGBT rights] issue.”

Kolbe, 70, spoke with the Blade following remarks he delivered at the “Republicans Out to Win” event co-hosted by the Log Cabin Republicans and the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund at the Oystercatchers bar at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay. Other speakers included R. Clarke Cooper, Log Cabin’s national director, and Jeff Spitko, senior vice president for external affairs at the Victory Fund.

The former lawmaker, who served in the U.S. House from 1985 to 2007, said he wishes Romney were “further along in the development of his thinking” on LGBT rights, but added it’s one of many issues and said Romney “has a much better background in business and economics” than President Obama.

“I think he’s much more likely to turn the country in the right direction on fiscal matters,” Kolbe said. “To me, that is the existential issue that we face today, and for that reason, I support Mitt Romney.”

Romney has built up a significant anti-LGBT record over the course of his campaign. The candidate has signed an agreement with the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage pledging to back a Federal Marriage Amendment and defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court. Romney’s last stated position on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act is that he opposes the legislation, although he once said he’d co-sponsor the bill as a U.S. Senate candidate in 1994.

Kolbe emphasized that a bi-partisan approach to LGBT rights is necessary and he expects the Republican Party to change on the issue over time because “it’s clearly, clearly a generational issue” and younger members of the GOP are more progressive.

“I can honestly say I haven’t talked to a young person under the age of 30 that cares a whit about this issue, who thinks gay marriage is bad and should banished, abolished or denied,” Kolbe said. “There may be some that aren’t endorsing it, but none of them are actively opposed to it. It’s just totally generational.”

Asked if he wants Log Cabin to follow suit and endorse Romney, Kolbe replied he’d like to see the organization throw its support behind the candidate, but isn’t a member of the national board and doesn’t know what action the organization will take. Log Cabin is expected to announce whether or not it’ll endorse Romney prior to its national dinner in D.C. on Sept. 20.

Kolbe, a trade expert who’s a fellow at the German Marshall Fund think tank, said he’s spoken with the Romney campaign’s foreign policy team on trade and development issues, but hasn’t had any discussions with the Romney campaign on LGBT rights.

Even though Kolbe said he thinks Romney is better than Obama on economic issues, the former congressman said the election will be “very close” and said Romney needs to articulate his economic vision more clearly to win.

“He’s got to use this convention as his launching pad for a vision of what he would do that’s different than Obama,” Kolbe said. “And I think what he hasn’t done yet is articulate a different economic vision. We know it’s different, but we don’t know exactly what it is.”

The former lawmaker also responded to the anti-gay language in the draft version of the Republican Party platform. In addition to endorsing a Federal Marriage Amendment, the platform criticizes the Obama administration for dropping defense of DOMA in court and judges for “re-defining marriage” in favor of gay couples.

Kolbe predicted the 2012 Republican platform will be the last one to include such language.

“That’ll be the last time that will be in the Republican Party platform,” Kolbe said. “It won’t be there four years from now. It’s got its last gasp. I don’t believe it’ll be there four years from now; I wish it weren’t there now, but I don’t believe it will be four years from now.”

The Romney campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Kolbe’s “qualified endorsement” of the candidate.

Advertisement
FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM
SIGN UP FOR E-BLAST

New York

Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade

One of the victims remains in critical condition

Published

on

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.”

Continue Reading

New York

Zohran Mamdani participates in NYC Pride parade

Mayoral candidate has detailed LGBTQ rights platform

Published

on

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.”

Continue Reading

U.S. Supreme Court

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

Liberal justices joined three conservatives in majority opinion

Published

on

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.

Continue Reading

Popular