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.
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.
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