National
RNC 2012: Economy the priority for gay GOP delegates
Gay delegates dismissive of marriage rights, party platform
David Rappel, a gay Republican delegate from Los Angeles (Blade photo by Michael Key)
TAMPA, Fla. — Gay delegates attending the Republican National Convention share a similar mindset when discussing their vision for the country: the economy is a priority, LGBT rights are not.
The Washington Blade spoke with a handful of out delegates who were committed to electing Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney as they dismissed the notion that issues such as marriage equality and workplace non-discrimination protections had significant importance.
David Rappel, a gay 46-year-old travel agent from Los Angeles, said he wanted to represent his party on the national stage at this convention because he’s a conservative who has a long history as a Republican activist at the local and state level.
“I believe in the conservative message of lower taxes and of free trade, and people need to be independent of government,” Rappel said.
Asked whether he’s bothered by belonging to a party and supporting a presidential candidate that take a hard line against LGBT rights, Rappel invoked former President Ronald Reagan.
“I don’t agree with everything they say, but I agree with over 80 percent of what they say,” Rappel said. “Yes, we disagree on same-sex marriage, and some of my friends, we disagree on same-sex marriage, but that still does not preclude me from being a Republican.”
Rappel was similarly dismissive when asked about the anti-gay language in the Republican Party platform that strongly limits marriage to opposite-sex couples and endorses a Federal Marriage Amendment, calling the manifesto “worthless.”
“It doesn’t make a difference,” Rappel said. “No one reads a single word of the platform except for the press. There’s no one that’s ever run on any political platform.”
David Valkema, a gay 46-year-old business executive from Long Beach, Ind., similarly said he wanted to take part in the 2012 convention after participating in the 2004 and 2008 conventions.
“I see the new Republican Party that’s emerging in the last four years being united on issues that affect all of us — not just straight people, or religious people, but all Americans — gay, straight, white, black, Latino, Asian — and we are uniting as a party behind the core issues that really make us Republicans,” Valkema said. “I’m proud first-generation American, primarily. Secondarily, I’m a constitutional conservative who belongs to the Republican Party and I believe that change is only going to be effected by the two parties.”
The Long Beach, Ind., resident emphasized that being gay is only one part of him and he’s more concerned about the keeping the United States from adopting leftist policies than advancing LGBT rights.
“I don’t want to see it become any more socialist,” Valkema said. “You know what? I can redistribute my wealth much better than the government can, and I do. I give a lot away to charity. That’s not coerced wealth distribution.”
Valkema, who was pledged to Romney, touted being “a proud first-generation American” and said his parents were born and raised in the Netherlands, but immigrated to the United States after World War II after “they saw the storm clouds of socialism on the horizon.”
Asked whether he’s bothered by the anti-gay language in the Republican platform, Valkema replied he took part in drafting the Indiana state Republican platform, which makes no reference to marriage — even though that state is considering a constitutional amendment to ban marriage rights for gay couples.
“Now it’s OK, legally, for a Republican in Indiana, per the rules of the party, to feel however they want to feel about marriage, and I think you’re finding that across the board, state by state by state,” Valkema said. “And that’s where change happens in America — in the laboratory of the states.”
Additionally, Valkema professed a personal lack of interest in whether government recognition of same-sex unions is called marriage, civil unions, or some other name.
“You can call it marriage, you can call it partnerships, you can call it civil unions — for all I care you can call it jumping over the broomstick,” Valkema said. “What I care about are the equal rights inherent in a contractual union between a couple of the same sex. That’s all I care about.”
Pressed on whether he thinks civil unions are inherently inferior tom marriage, Valkema replied, “In your mind maybe, and if what you need is social acceptance, go somewhere else. Don’t go to the government for social acceptance, OK?”
It’s unclear how many openly LGBT delegates were in attendance at the convention in Tampa because the Republican National Committee doesn’t keep track of which of its delegates identify as LGBT. On the other hand, the Democrats do keep track and the Democratic National Committee works with states in setting goals for LGBT representation at the convention. Earlier this week, the National Stonewall Democrats announced Democrats would have a record 486 openly LGBT delegates at the convention as part of a group of 534 LGBT participants that include alternate delegates, standing committee members and pages.
Seth Kaufer, a gay Republican alternate delegate from Philadelphia. (Blade photo by Michael Key)
Seth Kaufer, a gay 32-year-old physician and alternate delegate from Philadelphia, said his sexual orientation hasn’t been an issue — either in the process of becoming a delegate or in the treatment he’s received at the convention.
“There’s a lot of other things that describe me, and our party just doesn’t like to label people like that,” Kaufer said. “Democrats want to put everyone into a group, do identity politics, put up a specific ethnic candidate in a certain district. I see it all the time in Philadelphia. … You have a black district you have to put a black person [in]; you have a gay district, you have to put in a gay person there. That doesn’t even come into our thinking. You’re based on your merits, what you’ve done for the party.”
Kaufer also expressed confidence that limited measures such as domestic partnership would be able to pass even if Republicans controlled both the White House and Congress.
“Everyone talks about marriage, but there’s a lot of things we can agree on, but there’s things like non-discrimination in the workplace, partnership rights, financial equality,” Kaufer said. “I think that is the stuff we can all agree on and probably pass regardless of Republicans or Democrats are in control.”
But informed that Romney is opposed to any kind of relationship recognition for gay couples, Kaufer said he’s not a one-issue voter and “it’s selfish to look at one little thing when the economy is 100 percent — that affects everyone right now.”
“Those are all campaign issues,” Kaufer said. “But it was the same thing when Bush was president and the whole Congress was Republican. Not one thing was passed that was anti-gay.”
Despite Kaufer’s assertion that nothing anti-gay was passed under the Bush administration, Congress attempted to pass a Federal Marriage Amendment in 2004 and 2006, although the efforts failed the measure didn’t receive the supermajority of votes necessary for passage.
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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