National
DNC 2012: Clinton delivers rousing speech at convention
Defends Obama on economy, attacks Romney
Former President Bill Clinton addressing the Democratic National Convention (Blade photo by Michael Key)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A rousing speech from former President Bill Clinton that capped off Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention was well-received by attendees, although the day wasn’t free of controversy.
Clinton took to the podium at the Time Warner Cable Arena to call formally for the nomination of Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee for president, but not before taking digs at Republican nominee Mitt Romney and others for what he said were false assertions about the current administration.
Among the accusations made by GOP vice residential nominee Paul Ryan that Clinton disputed was the claim that Obama robbed Medicare of $716 billion in an effort that could imperil the benefits of seniors.
“Here’s what really happened,” Clinton said. “There were no cuts to benefits. None. What the president did was save money by cutting unwarranted subsidies to providers and insurance companies that weren’t making people any healthier. He used the saving to close the donut hole in the Medicare drug program, and to add eight years to the life of the Medicare Trust Fund. It’s now solvent until 2024. So President Obama and the Democrats didn’t weaken Medicare, they strengthened it.”
The former president, who signed welfare reform into law in 1996, also took issue with Republican claims that Obama had waived the work requirement for welfare reform — an assertion echoed last week by former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum on stage at the Republican National Convention.
“When some Republican governors asked to try new ways to put people on welfare back to work, the Obama administration said they would only do it if they had a credible plan to increase employment by 20 percent,” Clinton said. “You hear that? More work. So the claim that President Obama weakened welfare reform’s work requirement is just not true, but they keep running ads on it.”
Clinton also came to Obama’s defense on the economy, saying the economic situation that had befallen the nation in 2008 under the Bush administration was so dire that Obama couldn’t be expected to reverse course in just one term in office, but more progress should be seen in a second term.
“President Obama started with a much weaker economy than I did,” Clinton said. “No president — not me or any of my predecessors could have repaired all the damage in just four years. But conditions are improving and if you’ll renew the president’s contract you will feel it.”
The former president also touted Obama’s signature legislative achievement — the Affordable Care Act — saying claims that it amounts to a government takeover of health care are untrue.
“Soon the insurance companies, not the government, will have millions of new customers — many of them middle class people with pre-existing conditions,” Clinton said. “And for the last two years, health care spending has grown under 4 percent, for the first time in 50 years. So are we all better off because President Obama fought for it and passed it? You bet we are.”
Clinton, who signed into law “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Defense of Marriage Act, made no reference to LGBT issues during his remarks. The former president has come out for marriage equality and has since called for DOMA repeal and an end to the military’s gay ban before it was ultimately lifted.
But Clinton did express gratitude to former President George W. Bush for creating the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief when talking about the accomplishments of former Republican presidents and how he could never hate the GOP the way the far right hates Obama.
“I am grateful to President George W. Bush for PEPFAR, which is saving the lives of millions of people in poor countries and to both Presidents Bush for the work we’ve done together after the South Asia tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the Haitian earthquake,” Clinton said.
Attendees at the Democratic National Convention were captivated by Clinton as he delivered his remarks. His speech was punctuated by applause and shouts of “Four more years! Four more years!” After the remarks, Obama entered onstage alongside Clinton, who gave a bow to the current president before the two embraced.
Va. Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-District 30) (Blade photo by Michael Key)
Adam Ebbin, a gay delegate from Virginia and member of the Virginia State Senate, told the Washington Blade after Clinton’s speech that the former president “made the case for why we need to re-elect the president” and to keep health care reform on the books.
“When he talked about health care and what it meant, and economic polices and tax fairness, I think it really resonated with the crowd here in the hall and hopefully with the crowd at home,” Ebbin said.
U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, who’s locked in a tight race to unseat Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), also delivered remarks that stirred the audience as she emphasized the struggle of the middle class to achieve the American dream and took a dig at Romney’s infamous remark that “corporations are people.”
“No, Gov. Romney, corporations are not people,” Warren said. “People have hearts, they have kids, they get jobs, they get sick, they cry, they dance. They live, they love, and they die. And that matters. That matters because we don’t run this country for corporations, we run it for people. And that’s why we need Barack Obama.”
But in comparison to Tuesday, when at least four openly gay speakers took to the podium and a multitude of others who spoke incorporated references to LGBT rights in their remarks — explicit references to the LGBT community were fewer on Wednesday.
The most notable exception were remarks from gay California Assembly Speaker John A. Perez, who talked about the advancement of LGBT rights in addition to addressing women’s and immigrant-related issues. However, he wasn’t given a primetime slot.
California Assembly Speaker John A. Perez (Blade photo by Michael Key)
Perez addressed the continued lack of federal non-discrimination workplace protections.
“In too many states, even some folks who have a job wake up every morning in fear that they will lose that job simply for being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender,” Perez said. “We fight for them.”
Perez also praised Obama for repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and for coming out in support of marriage equality, saying they’re evidence of Obama working to protect and advance “opportunities” for all American people.
“He repealed ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ giving LGBT Americans the opportunity to proudly and openly serve our nation in uniform,” Perez said. “And he’s standing up for the right of LGBT Americans to say, ‘I do.'”
More gay speakers should follow at the convention. Gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who’s retiring from Congress at the end of this year, was initially slated to speak on Wednesday, but he agreed to move his speech to the next day due to, according a Democratic official, the “overwhelming enthusiasm in the arena and extended applauses.” Lesbian U.S. Senate candidate Tammy Baldwin is scheduled to speak on the same day.
Other speakers also made note of LGBT issues or touted the Obama administration’s progress on them. References to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal were made by Congressional Black Caucus Chair Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Mo.), Rep. Luis Guiterrez (D-Ill.) — who also mentioned marriage equality — and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). California Attorney General Kamala Harris, who refused to defend Proposition 8 in court, also incorporated marriage equality in her speech, saying the American dream belongs to “the men and women across this country who know it shouldn’t be against the law to marry the person you love.”
The day also saw controversy as a result of the party platform. Shortly after the gavel time starting the session for the day, party leaders attempted to amend the platform after controversy ensued to include a mention of God in the manifesto as well as an assertion that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. The amendments reportedly were backed by Obama.
Democratic National Committee chair and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had to ask for three voice votes to get the the two-thirds vote necessary for the changes.
Rhode Island House Assembly Speaker Gordon Fox (Blade photo by Michael Key)
But Democrats were unified at the end of the evening when the roll call of the states was read to formally award delegates to Obama to make him the Democratic nominee for president. All of the 5,963 delegates were awarded to Obama. Notably, at least three of the speakers representing their states during the roll call were gay: Colorado State Democratic Chair Rick Palacio; New Hampshire State Democratic Chair Ray Buckley; and Rhode Island House Assembly Speaker Gordon Fox.
After the roll call, Buckley told the Blade being able to represent New Hampshire in the nominating process for Rhode Island was deeply personal for him because he recalled that each state had sent this year at least one LGBT delegate to the convention.
“The only time I really choked up was when we did the roll call, and the fact every single state and territory had at least somebody [LGBT] there,” Buckley said. “Some little gay kid — when they’re 12, 13 realizes they’re gay — is going to realize that this is the party that will stand for them and stand with them, and welcome them and empower them and embrace them. Not a lot of people gave a lot of positive reinforcement to people my age when we were adolescents and I think it sends a very powerful message.”
Vice President JD Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, will visit Hungary next week.
An announcement the White House released on Thursday said the Vances will be in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, from April 7-8.
JD Vance “will hold bilateral meetings with” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The announcement further indicates the vice president “will also deliver remarks on the rich partnership between the United States and Hungary.”
The Vances will travel to Hungary less than a week before the country’s parliamentary elections take place on April 12.
Orbán, who has been in office since 2010, and his Fidesz-KDNP coalition government have faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
The Associated Press notes polls indicate Orbán is trailing Péter Magyar and his center-right Tisza party.
President Donald Trump removed Attorney General Pam Bondi from her post Thursday, following growing criticism over how she and the Department of Justice handled a range of issues, including matters related to sex offender and Trump ally Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump announced Bondi’s removal on Truth Social, where he also said Todd Blanche will serve as acting head of the Justice Department.
“Pam Bondi is a great American patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my attorney general over the past year,” Trump wrote on the platform. “Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown on crime across our country, with murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900.”
Trump was seen as recently as Wednesday with the now-former attorney general at a Supreme Court hearing on citizenship.
The decision contrasts with Trump’s previous public praise of Bondi, the 87th U.S. attorney general and former 37th attorney general of Florida, who served in that role from 2011-2019 before joining the Trump-Vance administration. He has frequently lauded her loyalty and said he speaks with her often. Bondi was also one of president’s defense lawyers during his first impeachment trial.
Privately, however, Trump had grown frustrated that Bondi was not “moving quickly enough” to prosecute critics and political adversaries he wanted to face criminal charges, according to multiple sources. The New York Times reported that her inability to charge former FBI Director James B. Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James with any crimes is a large factor in the president’s choice to fire her from the government’s primary law enforcement agency.
The move comes as Trump has sought to minimize public turmoil within his administration, avoiding the perception of a revolving-door Cabinet that defined his first term.
Lee Zeldin, a former Republican congressman from New York who unsuccessfully ran for governor, has emerged as a leading contender to lead the Justice Department. He has been one of Trump’s most reliable allies.
“He’s our secret weapon,” Trump said of Zeldin in February during a White House event promoting the coal industry, adding, “He’s getting those approvals done in record-setting time.”
Bondi has also growing faced scrutiny from Congress.
The House Oversight Committee recently subpoenaed her to testify about the department’s handling of certain files, where she declined to answer key questions during a contentious House Judiciary Committee hearing in February.
The Tampa native has a long history of opposing LGBTQ rights through her roles in government. As Florida attorney general, she fought against the legalization of same-sex marriage, arguing it would cause “serious public harm,” pushing forward a legal battle that cost taxpayers nearly half a million dollars. She also asked the Florida Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that found the state’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional.
More recently, Bondi established a “Title IX Special Investigations Team” within the Justice Department focused on restricting transgender women and girls from participating in women’s and girls’ sports teams and accessing facilities aligned with their gender identity. She also told Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to turn over the medical records of anyone under 19 who received gender-affirming care.
Her removal follows Trump’s decision last month to oust another controversial female Cabinet figure, Kristi Noem.
The White House
VIDEO: Gay journalist detained for booing Trumps at ‘Chicago’ opening night
Eugene Ramirez booed first family at Kennedy Center
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attended the opening night of “Chicago” at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday. They were greeted by a mix of cheers, applause, and some audible boos.
Among them was Eugene Ramirez, a gay Washington resident, who later shared his account of the night after being briefly detained by security for booing the president and giving a thumbs-down gesture — an expression of what many would call a textbook definition of constitutionally protected speech to criticize the government.
Ramirez attended the opening night performance with a group of friends, hoping to catch a final show before the center undergoes two years of major changes under Trump oversight. The musical, based on a 1926 play of the same name, has become synonymous with Broadway success.
With music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse, “Chicago” has cemented itself as a cultural staple — known for its signature Fosse choreography, stripped-down staging, and sleek, campy aesthetic. The story follows Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, women who murder their husbands but — with the help of the manipulative, charismatic, and narcissistic attorney Billy Flynn — walk away scot-free.
It remains the longest-running American musical in Broadway history, and its 2002 film adaptation famously won the Academy Award for Best Picture. On this night, however, the production also became the backdrop for a very modern moment of political protest.
“I accompanied five friends to opening night of ‘Chicago’, as a way to enjoy a final performance in the Kennedy Center as we know it,” Ramirez began to recount to the Washington Blade, describing the moment his group settled into their seats inside the ornate Opera House theater.
Just before the performance began, the twice impeached president and first lady appeared in the balcony box, drawing immediate attention from the audience below. Theatergoers stood, cheered, clapped, and waved, while Ramirez made a different choice.
While accounts of the crowd’s reaction have varied, Ramirez said his response was intentional, immediate, and within his rights. Moments after booing and giving a thumbs-down while recording on his iPhone, security intervened.
The video of Ramirez booing the Trump’s is here:
“Within moments, the director [of security] and another guard approached and escorted me to a side area where several other security guards were waiting,” he said. “I was detained until everyone was seated and the lights dimmed.”
As he was escorted away, Ramirez said his instincts as a journalist kicked in. A former lead anchor for Sinclair’s national evening news broadcast, he said the situation immediately felt off — or more aptly put — as if he could see the strings being pulled from someone attempting to control the narrative.
“Journalism is a vocation, not just a job. I immediately knew there wasn’t just an uncomfortable interaction with security,” he said. “The Kennedy Center is a federally funded cultural institution, and being questioned about speech related to the president in that setting felt like something the public should know about.”
Ramirez explained the difference between a standard visit by a public official and this performance: the president’s appearance wasn’t just ceremonial; it was very clearly a media moment.
“The White House press pool was there, and it was clear this was an effort to manage the president’s image in the media,” Ramirez continued. “The irony was not lost on me that this was happening on opening night of ‘Chicago’, a musical about manipulating the press to shape public perception.”
According to Ramirez, the explanation he received from Kennedy Center Director of Safety and Security Karles C. Jackson Sr., was brief, but illuminating.
“He said, ‘they don’t want booing,’ and even called out my thumbs-down gesture. He never clarified who ‘they’ were, but whether it was the administration or the Kennedy Center, the distinction felt meaningless,” he explained. “Mr. Jackson ultimately told me he was just trying to do his job, shook my hand, and allowed me to return to my seat once the lights dimmed and the overture started playing.”
Ramirez said he didn’t blame the guard individually, noting the broader context of the Kennedy Center’s uncertain future and the pressures staff were under.
“With the center closing in the coming months, some of these security guards being pressured to restrict our freedom of speech may only have a few weeks of work left.”
He believes the decision to remove him was driven less by disruption than optics, particularly given the presence of the press.
“It was very clearly about protection — whether protecting the president from visible dissent, or his image before the media present. There was no disruption as almost everyone was standing and reacting loudly to the arrival of the president and first lady, with cheers, applause, and hand gestures. The difference was that my reaction, unlike most, was negative.”
Drawing on his experience covering public officials, Ramirez said the incident felt more about controlling perception than security.
“Usually, law enforcement may monitor or intervene if there’s a disruption, but here there was no disruption at all. Simply expressing dissent in a public, cultural space drew the attention of security. It made it feel less like a matter of decorum and more like an effort to control the narrative around the president,” he said. “It’s about what happens when dissent is treated as disruption rather than a right.”
“The show hadn’t started. I threatened no one. Billy Flynn would have approved of the optics. The rest of us should be paying attention.”
Ramirez framed the incident as part of a broader constitutional concern, one that is plaguing the Trump-Vance administration as they continue to reject rules and normalcy set forth by other reserved presidents.
“Being singled out by security at a federally funded institution for expressing dissent shouldn’t be brushed off; it undermines the First Amendment,” he said, looking at it slightly distanced from it now. “Being of Cuban heritage, and a journalist, it’s a right I’m not willing to give up readily.”
“Publicly funded cultural institutions should allow visible dissent, even in politically charged moments,” he added. “Of course, I understand the need to manage disruptions during a performance, but that was not the case here.”
The themes of “Chicago”, a long-running satire about media manipulation and public perception, added another layer of irony to the experience, Ramirez explained.
“The satire truly leapt off the stage! A show about controlling the narrative, manipulating the press, and covering up truths by leaning on showmanship and distractions. The show is decades old, but could’ve been written today. We’re being razzle-dazzled daily and it’s getting harder to tell fact from fiction, no matter where you get your news.”
He, being gay, also acknowledged how hard it must have been for the performers on stage, assuming that at least some in the cast were also members of the LGBTQ community — and artists — two things Trump doesn’t always get along with.
“It was not lost on me that many of the actors on that stage, that the president and first lady presumably applauded, are members of the LGBTQ community which this administration has rolled back protections for under the guise of religious liberty and free speech, resulting in blatant discrimination.”
He pointed to a particular number that felt surreal given the circumstances.
“Its ‘Razzle Dazzle’ number celebrates keeping audiences off balance; at its climax, a massive American flag descends as the song celebrates blinding audiences to what is real. Watching that scene after being detained for a thumbs-down was surreal.”
Ramirez said the show’s closing lines were especially sharp given the presidential audience and what he just experienced.
“At the end of the show,
Velma says: ‘You know, a lot of people have lost faith in America.’
Roxie replies: ‘And for what America stands for.’
Velma: ‘But we are the living examples of what a wonderful country this is.’
Roxie: ‘So we’d just like to say thank you and God bless you.’
They had both just gotten away with murder!”
His closing lines, however, were a bit more pointed than “scintillating sinners” Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly’s were in the show.
“Democracy only works when citizens are allowed to boo,” he said. “Tuesday night at the Kennedy Center, ‘Chicago’ made that point better than I ever could.”
The Blade reached out to the Kennedy Center but did not receive a comment back.
Mayor Bowser signs bill requiring insurers to cover PrEP
JD Vance to travel to Hungary next week
Pam Bondi ousted as attorney general
VIDEO: Gay journalist detained for booing Trumps at ‘Chicago’ opening night
Idaho Gov. signs harshest anti-trans bathroom bill in the country
‘Out for McDuffie’ event held at D.C. gay bar
‘Jonah’ an undeniably compelling but unusual memory play
The Oscar-losing performance that’s too good to miss
Thousands attend ‘No Kings’ protests in D.C.
