National
Biden, Ryan offer contrasting views on role of faith
No. 2 on party tickets draw contrast in vice presidential debate
Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Vice President Joseph Biden (Washington Blade file photos by Michael Key)
The vice presidential candidates sparred during a debate Thursday over issues ranging from foreign affairs to the economy, and took very different views on the role their faith plays in their duties as public officials.
Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan said his Catholic faith is inseparable from the decisions he makes while in office under questioning from moderator Martha Raddatz on how his religion guides his pro-life views.
“I don’t see how a person can separate their public life from their private life or from their faith,” Ryan said. “Our faith informs us in everything we do. My faith informs me about how to take care of the vulnerable, about how to make sure that people have a chance in life.
Vice President Joseph Biden similarly talked about the importance of religion in his life — saying he’s been a practicing Catholic all his life and his religion has informed his social views — but he went on to say he’s pro-choice and wouldn’t impose his religion on others who may not share his views.
“But I refuse to impose it on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews and — I just refuse to impose that on others, unlike my friend here, the congressman,” Biden said.
It’s these views on religion that could help explain why they hold opposing views on same-sex marriage, which is opposed by the Catholic Church. Biden came out for marriage equality in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” while Ryan opposes same-sex marriage and voted twice for a U.S. constitutional amendment that would ban it throughout the country.
Adam Bink, who’s gay and director of online programs for the Courage Campaign, said the candidate’s opposing views on the way religion affects their public duties should concern LGBT Americans — particularly with several cases related to marriage pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
“For anyone concerned about LGBT equality, the bottom line was Rep. Ryan saying he can’t separate his faith from the way he serves in public office, and Vice President Biden saying ‘I accept the church’s doctrine in my personal life, but I refuse to impose that on others,'” Bink said. “With the Supreme Court considering whether to take cases on Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act, I know who I want advising the next president on judicial nominees.”
But no explicit mention of LGBT issues was made during the 90-minute debate at Centre College in Danville, Ky., where the terrorism attacks in Benghazi, Libya, the best way to end the war in Afghanistan and managing the fiscal affairs of the U.S. government took up large portions of the evening.
The murder of four Americans, including U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens, during the attacks in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012 led the evening. Ryan was critical of the lack of Marines guarding the consulate at the time of the attack, but Biden retorted that Ryan wanted to cut embassy security by $300 million as part of the budget he proposed as House Budget Committee chair. Biden also criticized the Republican ticket for politicizing the tragedy by issuing a statement critical of the Obama administration on the night of the attack and calling a news conference, saying, “That’s not presidential leadership.”
Biden and Ryan also offered a clear distinction on the war in Afghanistan, which Raddatz noted has taken the lives of more than 2,000 U.S. service members. Biden said the Obama administration would for sure pull out troops in 2014, but Ryan said a Romney administration wants to remove the U.S. military at that time only if conditions on the ground permit it.
Ryan was vague about the conditions that would be necessary for withdrawal and criticized Biden for having such a hard and fast timeline. Biden replied that 49 allied countries have agreed to the U.S. proposed timetable for leaving the country in 2014.
At one point when Biden and Ryan were sparring over government revenue, Biden took issue with Ryan saying a Republican White House could balance the budget by finding $5 trillion in tax loopholes while still offering a 20 percent tax cut, saying “Not mathematically possible.” When Ryan retorted President Kennedy lowered taxes and increased growth, Biden replied, “Oh, now you’re Jack Kennedy” — recalling an infamous line that Democrat Lloyd Bentsen used against Republican Dan Quayle during the 1988 vice presidential debate.
Views on who won the vice presidential debate were more mixed than last week when Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was declared the winner because he seemed more energized in taking on President Obama, but the general consensus was Biden was more effective. A CBS News poll found 50 percent of undecided voters believed Biden won while 31 percent said victory belonged to Ryan. However, a CNN poll of those who watched the debate revealed 48 percent gave the victory to Ryan, compared to 44 percent who thought Biden came out on top.
The strongest sentiment after the debate was that Raddatz was effective as moderator because she pressed candidates to clarify their views and challenged them as they answered questions.
LGBT groups on the right and left issued statements following the debate backing up whichever candidate their organization has been supporting over the course of the campaign.
Jerame Davis, executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats, drew on a favorite word of Biden’s during the debate — “malarkey” — as he praised Biden for making an exceptional case for the administration’s domestic and foreign policy record.
“Joe Biden wasn’t having any of the Romney-Ryan malarkey tonight,” Davis said. “From the start, it was evident that Paul Ryan was going to follow Mitt Romney’s lead and say whatever it takes to get elected. Ryan misled Americans on the unemployment rate and refused to give specifics on the Romney-Ryan tax plan that would significantly increase the tax burden on the middle class.”
Jimmy LaSalvia, executive director of GOProud, carried the Republican talking point for the evening that Biden was inappropriately smirking and laughing at remarks he deemed inaccurate from Ryan.
“Not only did Biden laugh his way through a discussion over their failed economic record, he also laughed his way through a discussion of this administration’s failed foreign policy in a dangerous world,” LaSalvia said. “Paul Ryan made it clear how seriously the Romney/Ryan administration would take America’s leadership in the world and in protecting Americans at home and abroad.”
State Department
State Department implements anti-trans bathroom policy
Memo notes directive corresponds with White House executive order
The State Department on April 20 announced employees cannot use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity.
The Daily Signal, a conservative news website, reported the State Department announced the new policy in a memo titled “Updates Regarding Biological Sex and Intimate Spaces, Including Restrooms.”
The State Department has not responded to the Washington Blade’s request for comment on the directive.
“The administration affirms that there are two sexes — male and female — and that federal facilities should operate on this objective and longstanding basis to ensure consistency, privacy, and safety in shared spaces,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Piggot told the Daily Signal. “In line with President Trump’s executive order this provides clear, uniform guidance to the department by grounding policy in biological sex as determined at birth.”
President Donald Trump shortly after he took office in January 2025 issued an executive order that directed the federal government to only recognize two genders: male and female. The sweeping directive also ordered federal government agencies to “effectuate this policy by taking appropriate action to ensure that intimate spaces designated for women, girls, or females (or for men, boys, or males) are designated by sex and not identity.”
The Daily Signal notes the new State Department policy “does not prohibit single-occupancy restrooms.”
National
I’m telling the scared little girl I once was it’s okay to feel free
This week is Lesbian Visibility Week
Uncloseted Media published this article on April 23.
By SOPHIE HOLLAND | At 13 years old, I remember looking in the mirror in my Toronto bathroom and thinking, “Yeah, I’m a lesbian.” At the time, I thought it was a dirty word. Thinking back, it could be because the first time I heard it was when a family member said, “I don’t know what a lesbian is, they are like aliens.”
And although I walked around in camouflage Crocs with a rainbow My Little Pony charm, plaid knee-length shorts and a shark tooth necklace (yes, these are all, in my opinion, stereotypically lesbian apparel!), I didn’t feel like I fit the mold. The longer I thought about it, the worse I felt, so I buried my feelings deep inside.
Now I am 25, and I have been out since I was 22. Three years ago, I never could have imagined that I’d be working for a queer news publication and celebrating Lesbian Visibility Week, an annual event meant to honor and uplift lesbian perspectives and highlight the hardships our community faces. To me, LVW is so important because, frankly, it has been an absolute shit show getting here, to a place where I feel love and joy most days.
I think back to the frustration of constantly being asked, “Do you have a boyfriend?” Of watching princess movies and seeing a broken girl only find herself when her prince charming arrives. I remember listening to music that was always about heterosexual relationships. I remember feeling left out in high school when, one by one, my friends got boyfriends.
I tried the boyfriend, and I tried really hard for it to work at a large detriment to my wellbeing. I brainwashed myself into thinking I was probably bisexual, which I told my closest friends around 16 and unsuccessfully told my parents at the same age. I was probably subconsciously using this as a litmus test of their acceptance and to soothe the anxiety I felt around my sexuality.
Learning to love who I am did not only come from me unraveling my internalized lesbophobia and dissecting the oppressive societal messages of heteronormativity. It came from meeting an awesome community of lesbians and queers. I found people who understood my worldview and who showed me the ropes. I no longer had to stutter over concepts like lesbian loneliness or my frustration with misogynistic straight men.
They all just got it.
Without this community, I am not sure if I could be as warm and confident in myself as I am today.
And while I still experience homophobia, like being spat on while walking with an ex in downtown Toronto or having a stranger yell in my face “Are you fucking lesbians?” in Kensington Market, the joy and love still outweighs the nasty.
So, as the sentimental dyke that I have become, I decided to ask a set of lesbians in my orbit — including my friends as well as Uncloseted staffers, board members and followers — if they would share a little bit about what makes them love being a lesbian. And now, I can share it with all of you. Here they are. Happy LVW!
Timi Sotire
Falling in love with her was a reset. I felt like a kid again, hopeful about the future. We’ve had to overcome many obstacles to be together, but I’d choose her in every lifetime. I was sick with a long-term health condition when we met, and hanging out with Sophia really helped me with my recovery after my surgery.
Bella Sayegh
Being a lesbian is one of the most beautiful things in the world. To be authentically yourself in resistance and joy is so special within the lesbian community.
Parker Wales
When I met Liv, I finally understood why almost every song is about love.
Gillian Kilgour
There is no connection quite as perfect as between lesbians, no one sees me like my lesbians do.
Chyna Price
There’s many things I love about being a lesbian. But here are my top three:
- There’s just a deeper understanding when it comes to being loved by another woman.
- The next one would be the sense of community, especially being a POC masculine-presenting lesbian. I don’t feel like I’m cosplaying as someone else like I felt like I was doing before I came out.
- There’s so much history going back to the 1800s on how we found and fought for our love. That fight makes me proud because it shows me … that we’ve [found] ways to express our love even when it was misunderstood, illegal and deemed as madness.
Hope Pisoni
Before I knew I was a lesbian, romantic relationships seemed suffocating — it felt like everyone would expect me to act my part in the meticulous performance that is heterosexuality. But meeting my spouse and discovering our identities together showed me just how freeing it could be to love without a script to follow.
Leital Molad
It was the joy of watching the New York Sirens defeat the Toronto Sceptres at our first professional women’s hockey game — surrounded by hundreds (maybe thousands?) of cheering lesbians.
Angela Earl
I spent years building a life that looked right. But I never felt settled, and eventually I started asking what would actually make me happy. Coming out was about more than who I love, it was letting go of everything I was told to be. The last few years have felt like coming home to a life that had been waiting for me.
Tali Bray
What I love about being a lesbian is what I love about being in love … the wonder and joy of “oh, this is what it’s supposed to feel like.” I love moving through the world with women.
Izzy Stokes
I didn’t fall in love until I realized that queerness was an option. My queer friends have helped me see so much more than I grew up seeing. I’m so proud of us, and I’m so grateful for my lesbian community.
Nandika Chatterjee
When I met my fiancée is when I started to feel most like myself. That meant loving myself for who I am and embracing my identity as a lesbian. I felt free in a way I have never before. That’s the long and short of it.
Liz Lucking
The love and joy of being a lesbian is getting to live the life I dreamed of but never thought I would get to have!
Reflections
As I read these beautiful entries, it’s not lost on me that we’re still living in a world where lesbians are more likely to struggle with maternity problems, fetishization, and compulsory heterosexuality — not to mention the intersectional pressures of racism from both inside and outside the queer community. That’s part of why, according to a 2024 survey, 22 percent of LGBTQ women have attempted suicide, and 66 percent have sought treatment for trauma.
So if you are a lesbian who isn’t out or doesn’t feel safe, I hope you read this and can glean some hope from these messages. So when you look in the mirror, you know that it’s okay to release the weight — which can feel so heavy — of a heteronormative world.
We still have a long fight until all lesbians can feel safe to be themselves, but this is a community that does not back away from the tough, from the joy, from being loud and from all the other things that it takes to start a small revolution.
Hell yeah, lesbians! Here’s to you.
*I am signing off with my cat on my lap and a pride flag over my head <3.
Cuba
Trans parent charged with kidnapping, allegedly fled to Cuba with child
Cuban authorities helped locate Rose Inessa-Ethington
Federal authorities have charged a transgender woman with kidnapping after she allegedly fled to Cuba with her 10-year-old child.
An affidavit that Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Jennifer Waterfield filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Utah on April 16 notes the child is a “biological male who identifies as a female” and “splits time living with divorced parents who share custody” in Cache County, Utah.
Waterfield notes the child on March 28 “was supposed to be traveling by car to” Calgary, Alberta, “for a planned camping trip with his transgender mother, Rose Inessa-Ethington, Rose’s partner, Blue Inessa-Ethington, and Blue’s 3-year-old child.”
The affidavit notes the group instead flew from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Mexico City on March 29. Waterfield writes the Inessa-Ethingtons and the two children then flew from Mérida, Mexico, to Havana on April 1.
The 10-year-old child called her biological mother on March 28 after they arrived in Canada. The custody agreement, according to the affidavit, required Rose Inessa-Ethington to return the child to her former spouse on April 3.
“Interviews of MV [Minor Victim] 1’s family members provided significant concerns for MV 1’s well-being, as MV 1 was born a male, however, identifies as a female child, which is largely believed to be due to manipulation by Rose Inessa-Ethington,” reads the affidavit. “Concerns exist that MV 1 was transported to Cuba for gender reassignment surgery prior to puberty.”
The affidavit indicates authorities found a note in the Inessa-Ethingtons’ home with “instruction from a mental health therapist located in Washington, D.C., including instruction to send the therapist the $10,000.00 and instructions on gender-affirming medical care for children.”
The affidavit does not identify the specific “mental health therapist” in D.C.
A Utah judge on April 13 ordered Rose Inessa-Ethington to “immediately” return the child to her former spouse. The former spouse also received sole custody.
“Your affiant believes that due to the extensive planning and preparation exhibited by both Rose Inessa-Ethington and Blue Inessa-Ethington to isolate MV 1 and take MV 1 to Havana, Cuba, without notifying or requesting permission from MV 1’s mother indicates they are likely not planning to return to the United States,” wrote Waterfield.
The affidavit notes Cuban authorities found the Inessa-Ethingtons and the child.
A press release the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah issued notes the Inessa-Ethingtons “were deported from Cuba” on Monday “with the assistance of the FBI.”
The couple has been charged with International Parental Kidnapping. The Inessa-Ethingtons were arraigned in Richmond, Va., on Monday. The press release notes a federal court in Salt Lake City will soon handle the case.
The New York Times reported the child is now back with their biological mother.
“We are grateful to law enforcement for working swiftly to return the child to the biological mother,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak of the District of Utah in the press release.
The case is unfolding against the backdrop of increased tensions between Washington and Havana after U.S. forces on Jan. 3 seized now former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
President Donald Trump shortly after he took office in January 2025 issued an executive order that directed the federal government to only recognize two genders: male and female. A second White House directive banned federally-funded gender-affirming care for anyone under 19.
The U.S. Supreme Court last year in the Skrmetti decision upheld a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming care for minors.
Cuba’s national health care system has offered free sex-reassignment surgeries since 2008.
Activists who are critical of Mariela Castro, the daughter of former President Raúl Castro who spearheads LGBTQ issues as director of Cuba’s National Center for Sexual Education, have previously told the Washington Blade that access to these procedures is limited. The Blade on Wednesday asked a contact in Havana to clarify whether Cuban law currently allows minors to undergo sex-reassignment surgery.
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Second trans member announces plans to resign from Capital Pride board
State Department implements anti-trans bathroom policy
I’m telling the scared little girl I once was it’s okay to feel free
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