National
Gay advocate a leading voice on gun control
Glaze serves as director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns
Mark Glaze is leading the charge on gun control as director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns
Following a wave of horrific gun violence across the country, the nation is engaged in intense debate over gun control as President Obama on Wednesday issued a series of proposals to address the issue. One advocate who’s no stranger to working on behalf of the LGBT community is among those leading the call for action on gun control.
Mark Glaze, 42, has a variety of issues in his portfolio as a principal of the D.C.-based political affairs firm the Raben Group, including campaign finance reform, government ethics as well as LGBT issues — but also serves as director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the largest gun violence prevention group in the country.
In an interview with the Washington Blade, Glaze, who’s gay, said the country is “at a tipping point” in the wake of shootings like the one last month at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where 20 children and six school officials were killed, and is ready to embrace the kinds of protections that “we get the chance to pass once in a generation.”
“The mass shootings are happening more and more rapidly, and they’re becoming more and more deadly,” Glaze said. “The Newtown shooting was the second biggest mass shooting in U.S. history after Virginia Tech in 2007. And, you know, the kids who were shot and murdered were my son’s age, and it was right before Christmas. So, I think that combination of things has just got the public and the president ready to say, ‘Enough is enough, let’s finally get this right.'”
Mayors Against Illegal Guns has been in the spotlight in recent weeks amid intense media interest in gun control. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg serves as co-chair of the group along with Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. More than 800 mayors are members of the coalition, and this week, the organization passed one million grassroots supporters.
As for Glaze himself, he’s been widely featured in the mainstream media lately, including in the New York Times, Washington Post, the Associated Press and Politico. He’s also set for appearances on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” the PBS Newshour and an interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan.
Glaze, who in 2010 was hired by the Human Rights Campaign to push for Senate legislation to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” enters the gun control debate after robust work on LGBT issues — an area of focus that he said he still continues to pursue. Glaze has assisted in work for Mayors for the Freedom to Marry, an organization co-chaired by Bloomberg.
Glaze also has personal experience with guns and hunted when he was young. Growing up in the ranching town of Parlin, Colo., Glaze’s father was a gun dealer and he was raised in a house that was attached to a general store selling guns.
“My dad is like most gun dealers,” Glaze said. “He thinks that law-abiding people should have to take background checks, so everybody should have to take background checks. And gun dealers don’t like that guns get a terrible reputation because unlicensed sellers are handing guns out to people with criminal records. It gives the entire industry a bad name.”
Obama unveils gun control proposals
On Wednesday, President Obama unveiled in the South Court Auditorium of the White House a package of proposals developed by Vice President Joseph Biden’s task force to reduce gun violence, including an assault weapons ban, a measure to ban high-capacity magazine clips, and an effort to close loopholes in the country’s background check system.
“And in the days ahead, I intend to use whatever weight this office holds to make them a reality,” Obama said. “Because while there is no law or set of laws that can prevent every senseless act of violence completely, no piece of legislation that will prevent every tragedy, every act of evil, if there is even one thing we can do to reduce this violence, if there is even one life that can be saved, then we’ve got an obligation to try.”
Joining Obama as he unveiled the proposal were Biden as well as children from around the country who wrote him letters in the wake of the Newtown tragedy expressing their concerns about gun violence and school safety, along with their parents. Afterward, Obama signed 23 executive orders to address gun violence.
Glaze said he and other members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns met twice with administration officials — including one meeting that was attended by Biden himself — to lay out the case for gun control.
For Glaze, passing legislation that will close the loophole that currently allows individuals to buy guns without background checks from unlicensed private sellers will be a priority among other initiatives Obama enumerated as part of his proposals.
“Only licensed gun dealers have to give background checks, but almost 50 percent of gun sales in any given year are conducted by unlicensed private sellers,” Glaze said. “They do it online, at gun shows or out of the trunk of a car — and federal law doesn’t require those sellers to give background checks. So, it’s like creating two lines at the airport: one for people who want to go through security and get a background check, the other for people who feel they don’t need to pass a background check.”
In the Newtown tragedy, Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster XM-15 to shoot his victims. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has said she will introduce legislation to ban the sale and possession of assault weapons, while Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) is planning a less sweeping proposal to ban the sale of magazine clips.
While Mayors Against Illegal Guns supports such proposals, Glaze said those weapons account for a small percentage of gun violence despite media attention to these shootings.
“Basically the assault weapons ban is important, but only two to 10 percent of firearms fatalities in any given year are connected to assault rifles,” Glaze said. “Thirty-three people are murdered with guns in the United States every day, and the majority of those murders were committed with handguns.”
Glaze also emphasized the potential for President Obama to take executive action to allow for greater enforcement of gun control laws already on the books. One such action — which was not taken among the 23 executive orders signed by Obama on Wednesday — would be for Obama to instruct the Justice Department to increase prosecution of dangerous people who are declined when they try to buy a gun at a licensed dealer.
“In 2009, 71,000 people who were prohibited gun purchasers — because they were felons, they were seriously mentally ill, they were domestic abusers — tried to buy guns by licensed dealers and were blocked,” Glaze said. “That’s a felony, trying to buy a gun when you’re a prohibited purchaser. But only 44 of those people were prosecuted. … Many of those people go on to buy guns somewhere else from an unlicensed dealer, where they don’t have to get a background check, and then they go on to commit crimes.”
Glaze also called on President Obama to make a recess appointment if Congress won’t take action to confirm a director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — a position that has been vacant for six years. President Obama on Wednesday tapped B. Todd Jones to head the bureau. He’s been acting director since August 2011 while maintaining his position as U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota.
“It’s hard to imagine the Department of Homeland Security, or a Fortune 500 company, not have a CEO for six years,” Glaze said. “And the agency suffers as a result. The president should get it done himself if the Senate can’t do it.”
NRA scoffs at proposals
Resistance to Obama’s proposals has already emerged from the powerful National Rifle Association.
After the remarks in which Obama unveiled his proposals, the NRA issued a statement criticizing the approach the administration was taking on gun violence.
“We look forward to working with Congress on a bi-partisan basis to find real solutions to protecting America’s most valuable asset – our children,” the organization said. “Attacking firearms and ignoring children is not a solution to the crisis we face as a nation. Only honest, law-abiding gun owners will be affected and our children will remain vulnerable to the inevitability of more tragedy.”
But Glaze dismissed the impact of the NRA, saying despite its money the group doesn’t have as much influence over lawmakers as some might think, noting the dismal performance of congressional candidates the organization backed on Election Day.
“The idea that the NRA can take away a congressman’s seat just because they support background checks is just a myth,” Glaze said. “It’s a very popular myth around Washington, but it’s a myth. If you look at how well the NRA has performed in the last five or six election cycles, the number of races where their participation made a dispositive impact can be counted on one hand.”
Glaze said the NRA had a “horrible year” in 2012 because it spent more money than ever before in a presidential election to defeat a president “who they say is trying to destroy the Second Amendment” and invested more than $100,000 in seven Senate races, while six of their candidates lost.
Despite his past work on LGBT issues and own identity as gay man, Glaze said he doesn’t think LGBT people are more inclined to support gun control efforts because concern is spread over a variety of demographics.
“Basically, every demographic — men, women, African-American, Hispanics, LGBT people — are all in basically the same place on gun issues,” Glaze said. “Basically, despite the politics that you hear in the media and see in Washington, there’s a broad consensus among real people on this issue for the first time in a generation.”
Glaze said he has no idea whether other LGBT organizations will get involved, although he noted that the Bohnett Foundation has been contributing funds to the effort, and gay Rep. David Cicilline has introduced his own legislation that would close the firesale loophole — in addition to being one of the founding members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns while still mayor of Providence, R.I.
Robert Raben, who’s also gay and head of the Raben Group, said Glaze’s role as principal at the organization gives him “the flexibility to spend all of his time on this signature and crucial effort” and to draw on its resources “as the campaign itself changes from messaging to organizing to legislative advocacy.”
“We are unbelievably proud of Mark’s leadership; he has enormous responsibility and meets it well, with vision and delivery,” Raben said. “That he is an openly gay man helping lead such an important effort is a tribute to his professionalism, and how the country and its understanding of our talent has changed.”
National
Multi-billion-dollar 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund to continue until 2090
Eligibility for same-sex partner survivors remains unclear
As part of its commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, a federally operated program, released information during the past week showing it has awarded more than $18 billion to over 77,000 9/11 victims and their families since 2011.
Officials with what’s now referred to as the VCF point out that it was created to provide compensation to individuals or to a court-approved personal representative of a deceased individual who were present at one of the three sites where the hijacked jetliners crashed.
Among those supported under the program are thousands of rescue workers, clean-up crews, and residents living near the World Trade Center Twin Towers destruction site who became ill, many of whom later died, by being exposed to the toxic fumes created by the fire and falling debris.
“Twenty-five years since that day, the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund has served tens of thousands of victims and their families, and we continue to receive over 750 new claims each month — a clear indication of the ongoing importance of our mission,” said Allison Turkel, VCF’s leader, who holds the title of Special Master.
In a Sept. 2 briefing for the news media in advance of the 9/11 anniversary commemoration, Turkel pointed out that the VCF operation was upgraded and expanded by separate laws passed by Congress in 2011 and 2019, with the 2019 law signed by President Trump providing full funding to “pay all eligible claims and extended the filing deadline to Oct. 1, 2090.”
LGBTQ advocacy organizations in New York and nationwide have reported that during the time shortly after the 9/11 attacks same-sex surviving partners of 9/11 victims learned they were ineligible for compensation benefits because their same-sex relationships were not legally recognized.
Nicole Nava, a VCF spokesperson, told the Washington Blade she would inquire into whether same-sex couple surviving partners were being supported under the VCF program in more recent years.
She said under long established VCF procedures, all applicants for benefit claims regarding a deceased person, whether same-sex or opposite sex, must be appointed as a Personal Representative of the deceased person by a state court. For D.C. residents, the probate division of the D.C. Superior Court appoints a Personal Representative.
“Claims for deceased victims (regardless of the cause of death) may be submitted only by the Personal Representative,” a statement on the VCF website says. “Each state has laws that define the process for appointment of the Personal Representative and the specific authority granted to that Personal Representative,” it says.
The Washington Blade couldn’t immediately determine the criteria for being approved as a Personal Representative by the D.C. Superior Court and various state courts, including whether a same-sex survivor partner would be eligible for such an appointment.
A spokesperson for the District of Columbia LGBTQ+ Bar Association, which includes many local attorneys who specialize in a wide range of specialized legal issues, couldn’t immediately be reached to find out if one or more of their members might be able to determine the same-sex partner eligibility for Personal Representative status.
In her news media briefing, VCF Special Master Turkel said detailed information about how best to file a claim for 9/11 victim compensation is available on the VCF website.
“Twenty-five years since the events of September 11th , 2001, we know it has become increasingly challenging for claimants to find documents needed to prove their presence at an eligible location, which is one of the key requirements to be eligible for compensation,” she said.
She was referring to the requirement that 9/11 surviving victims seeking a claim for support for injuries or illnesses related to the 9/11 attacks must prove they were present at the World Trade Center site, the Pentagon site, or the Shanksville, Pa. site where the hijacked jetliners crashed. Those requirements are separate from the less clearly defined criteria for same-sex couple victim survivor eligibility.
“Our team is committed to ensuring no claimant feels lost or overwhelmed when submitting a claim,” Turkel said at the briefing. “We have a great helpline with real live people who can answer or refer any questions that come in,” she added. “They engage in over 4,000 calls a month on average. We encourage folks to call 1-855-1555 with any questions.”
The VCF website, which has additional detailed information, can be accessed at www.vcf.gov.
National
Remembering the LGBTQ heroes of 9/11 terrorist attacks
25 years later, ‘the heartbreak remains strong’
Many in the LGBTQ community in the D.C. area and throughout the country were expected to join friends, co-workers, and family members this week in commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the New York World Trade Center’s Twin Towers and on the Pentagon just outside D.C. as well as the jetliner hijacking that ended in a fatal crash in an open field in Shanksville, Pa.
A total of 2,996 people died in the 9/11 attacks, including 19 terrorists who hijacked four jetliners whose passengers included Americans and citizens of many other countries.
Activists involved with local and national LGBTQ advocacy organizations recall witnessing a coming together of LGBTQ people and their co-workers, neighbors, and family members to support one another during a time of unimaginable horror and grief.
Among those who lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist attacks was American Airlines co-pilot David Charlebois, an out gay man and member of the Gay Pilots Association, who was on American Airlines Flight 77, which the terrorists crashed into the Pentagon.
Also among the terrorist victims in the 9/11 attacks was gay public relations executive and rugby enthusiast Mark Bingham of San Francisco, who was among several passengers of the hijacked United Airlines jet who reportedly stormed the cockpit to regain control of the jetliner before one of the hijackers crashed the jet into the countryside in rural Pennsylvania.
The jet had taken off from Newark, N.J. with its destination being San Francisco. Investigators learned the hijackers turned the plane around and were heading to Washington, D.C., with plans to crash it into the White House or the U.S. Capitol.
The passengers, including Bingham, who stormed the cockpit and were among the 44 passengers and crew who lost their lives in the crash are credited by investigators and family members and friends with saving the lives of hundreds of others if the hijackers succeeded in crashing into the White House or Capitol.
Among the other LGBTQ people known to have lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks was Father Mychal Judge, 68, a gay Franciscan priest who served as a Catholic chaplain for the New York City Fire Department. According to the National Catholic Reporter, Judge rushed to the scene of the World Trade Center shortly before the Twin Towers collapsed. He was fatally struck by debris falling from the south tower while giving last rites to a fallen firefighter, the Catholic publication reported.
“He was a decent, wonderful human being,” said New York gay journalist Andy Humm, who had interviewed Judge for LGBTQ-related stories prior to the 9/11 attacks. “I saw him at many demonstrations for gay and AIDS causes, showing up in his Franciscan monk’s cassock,” Humm told the Washington Blade five years ago at the time of the 9/11 20th anniversary. “And he was equally beloved by the fire department, there at every major fire tragedy in the city, lending moral support to firefighters,” Humm said.
Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministries, a Maryland-based LGBTQ Catholic group that advocates for LGBTQ supportive policies within the church, reported five years ago that his group was supporting an effort to call on the Catholic Church to officially recognize Fr. Judge as a saint by canonizing him. But DeBernardo told the Blade this week that those efforts failed to obtain the needed support from various Catholic entities, including the Franciscan Order of Friars Minors, of which Judge was affiliated, ending efforts to canonize Judge as a saint.
DeBernardo has written a book about Judge’s life and legacy published in 2023 called “Mychal Judge:Take Me Where You Want Me to Go.”
Among the other widely reported LGBTQ victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks were a gay couple from California, Daniel Brandhorst and Ronald Gamboa, and their adopted son, David, who were among those who died aboard the United Airlines flight that crashed in Pennsylvania. The Los Angeles Times reported that Brandhorst, an attorney, and Gamboa, the manager of a Santa Monica Gap store, had adopted three-year-old David when he was an infant.
For many LGBTQ residents of New York and the D.C. area, the suffering over the loss of loved ones, including same-sex partners, was heightened a short time later when they learned they were initially ineligible for local and federal programs aimed at providing financial assistance to survivors of the 9/11 attack victims because same-sex couples were not legally recognized.
At the urging of LGBTQ rights organizations, state and local officials in the New York and the D.C. area took steps to address the initial denial of financial support for surviving same-sex partners In programs under their control. Officials with a massive federal aid program for 9/11 survivors, however, said they did not have legal authority to authorize payments to same-sex partners.
The officials, in the administration of then-President George W. Bush, said the best they could do would be to leave it up to local authorities to determine whether state probate laws would recognize a same-sex partner as a family member for eligibility in the federal aid program for 9/11 survivors, many of whom lived in states outside the New York and D.C. area.
Nicole Nava, a spokesperson for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, a federally funded program established to compensate for physical harm or death caused by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, including support for surviving family members, said she would inquire into whether same-sex surviving partners were being supported under that program in subsequent years in response to a request from the Washington Blade.
Jenny Pizer, an attorney for the LGBTQ litigation group Lambda Legal, which supported LGBTQ partner survivors of victims of the 9/11 attacks, said the information she and her organization had showed that many if not most of the LGBTQ partner survivors were unable to obtain the federal Victim Compensation Fund payment benefits that married heterosexual spouses obtained. She said she didn’t have a definitive answer on whether some LGBTQ surviving partners were compensated.
However, at least one case where an LGBTQ partner was compensated was reported by the Washington Post in a Jan. 22, 2003, news story about Peggy Neff, the lesbian partner of 18 years of Sheila Hein, 51, a civilian employee at the Pentagon, who was killed when the terrorist hijacked jetliner crashed into the Pentagon.
The Post reported that the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund, under the leadership of its director, Kenneth Feinberg, approved an award of $557,390 for Neff in compensation for the loss of her partner. The Post story quoted a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign as saying, “It is our sincere hope that this signals that other gay families who have suffered the loss of a loved one will be treated similarly.”
The compensation program, which is operated by the U.S. Department of Justice, remains in operation until 2090. The Blade will report on any additional similar awards for LGBTQ surviving partners if Nava provides such information.
Events commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks were scheduled to take place this week at memorial sites honoring the 9/11 victims located outside the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., at the site of the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York City, and the site of the jetliner crash in Shanksville, Pa., which is operated by the U.S. National Park Service.
The U.S. Congress in 2017 and 2021 approved separate bills signed by President Donald Trump during his first term in office and President Joe Biden creating the Global War on Terrorism Memorial and its construction, to be built on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. that’s scheduled to be completed in 2028.
The memorial, to be located near the Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam Veterans Memorial close to 23rd Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W., is intended to honor people who served and were lost in the wars and counterterrorism operations that followed the 9/11 attacks, including U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Longtime LGBTQ rights advocate Jay Fisette, who at the time of the 9/11 attacks held the elected position of chair of the Arlington County Board, which serves as the county’s governing body, was among the Arlington officials that came to the Pentagon’s grounds in Arlington to oversee efforts by firefighters to rescue Pentagon workers on the day of the attack.
At an Oct. 7, 2001, 9/11 Day of Remembrance and Appreciation ceremony held in Arlington, Fisette expressed the views of many in the community in response to the 9/11 attacks.
“Tonight, our community gather as a family,” he told the gathering. “We gather in sorrow and in disbelief, in remembrance and appreciation,” he said. “But we come here, too, with resolve and pride. We come together as Arlingtonians who love our country, as Americans who love our country,” he said.
“Our enemies may hurt our bodies and destroy our buildings, but they will never defeat our determination to make this a world of peace and a community in which our children grow up safe and secure,” Fissette said.
Although some of the same-sex partners of those killed in the 9/11 attacks faced obstacles in obtaining financial support through the federal 9/11 relief program, Tom Hay, the surviving partner of 14 years of American Airlines pilot David Charlebois was treated with respect and honor by American Airlines officials and colleagues at Charlebois’s funeral mass at D.C.’s St. Matthew Cathedral.
More than a dozen uniformed company pilots and flight attendants attended the mass. And a press release issued by American Airlines mentioned Charlebois’s relationship with Hay and told how Hay stood with Charlebois when Charlebois advocated for equal rights for LGBTQ people in the airline industry through his involvement with the National Gay Pilots Association.
“David was an early member of the NGPA,” the American Airlines statement said. “His contribution helped ensure ongoing progress toward fairness and solidarity.”
Activists in New York have said the 9/11 attacks drew attention to the need for legal protections for same-sex couples, including the need for recognition of same-sex marriage, which the U.S. Supreme Court legalized nationwide in its landmark ruling in 2015.
But LGBTQ advocates in New York pointed to the difficulties LGBTQ surviving partners faced when desperately seeking to find out if a partner had survived at the site of the World Trade Center attack where the Red Cross and other emergency relief agencies set up a station near the site of the attack.
“Literally, gay people had to go there, turn around, go back home, and get some paperwork that spouses didn’t have to get to prove a relationship existed,” said Ross Levi, who at the time served as executive director of the New York LGBTQ advocacy group Empire State Pride Agenda.
“You were nervous and scared and sad and then you had to go through that,” Levi told the Blade in 2011 at the time of the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. “And worse yet, other people turned them away, even with the paperwork, saying sorry you’re not a family according to our guidelines.”
Activists said New York City and New York State officials quickly recognized the inequities faced by same-sex partner survivors and took steps to change polices and laws to correct the situation. Among other things, New York’s then-Gov. George Pataki (R) issued an executive order in October 2001 that included surviving partners of gay and lesbian victims of the World Trade Center attacks in receiving full spousal benefits from the state’s Crime Victims Board.
In a separate development, the LGBTQ litigation group Lambda Legal, ESPA, the Human Rights Campaign, and other LGBTQ advocacy groups created the September 11 Gay & Lesbian Family Fund to provide some support to surviving same-sex partners who were ineligible for help from the federal relief fund program.
“The terrorist attack on September 11th is a tragedy that touched every American, impacting people and families from all walks of life,” Jonathan Lovitz, the Human Rights Campaign’s Senior Vice President for Campaigns and Communications told the Blade in a statement this week.
“As in all moments in American history, LGBTQ+ Americans were there, and feel the impact of this day,” he said. “As we remember the lives lost 25 years later, the heartbreak remains strong and the work to ensure that every person can live safe from violence in this country continues.”
2026 Midterm Elections
Chris Pappas wins NH Democratic Senate primary
Gay congressman running to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen
New Hampshire Congressman Chris Pappas on Tuesday won the Democratic primary in the race to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) in the U.S. Senate.
Pappas defeated Karishma Manzur, who was his primary challenger, by a 61.8-36.1 percent margin.
The gay congressman will face off against former U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu, who defeated former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown in the Republican primary.
“Tonight’s victory sends a clear message that voters are looking for leaders who will fight for their rights, their freedoms, and to be treated with dignity and respect,” said Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson in a statement.
She campaigned for Pappas in Manchester, New Hampshire’s largest city, on Aug. 30.
“Chris Pappas has delivered results, stood up for equality, and showed up for the people he serves,” said Robinson in her statement. “HRC was proud to mobilize Equality Voters across New Hampshire to help power this win. We don’t have a second to waste between now and November. We look forward to continuing our work with Rep. Pappas as he drives toward victory in November so he can help return a pro-equality majority to the United States Senate.”
A poll the University of New Hampshire Survey Center released on Aug. 26 showed Sununu ahead of Pappas by a 45-43 percent margin if they were to face off in the general election. The margin of error is +/-2.1 percent.
Pappas would become the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. Senate if he were to win in November.
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