Politics
Lautenberg remembered as ‘champion for equality’
N.J. senator delivered stirring speech against marriage amendment


Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) died of complications from viral pneumonia on Monday. (Photo public domain)
The news of Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s death on Monday triggered an outpouring from those who celebrated his work on behalf of the LGBT community — particularly his efforts against anti-gay bullying.
Lautenberg, who served in the Senate starting in 1982 with a hiatus between 2001 and 2003, died at age 89 as a result of complications from viral pneumonia at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell. He was the last remaining veteran of World War II to serve in the Senate.
In a statement, Vice President Joseph Biden praised Lautenberg and called him one of his closest friends in the Senate.
“The son of working class immigrants, Frank served honorably in World War II, went to college on the G.I. bill and came back to build one of the most successful companies in America,” Biden said. “He’s the reason why people can’t smoke on airplanes, why domestic abusers can’t possess guns. He worked tirelessly against drunk driving, and co-wrote the new G.I. Bill because he knew first-hand what it could do.”
In terms of LGBT issues, Lautenberg was best known for being lead sponsor of the Tyler Clementi Act, which requires colleges and universities receiving federal student aid funding to enact LGBT-inclusive anti-harassment policies for students and employees. It also explicitly prohibits behavior often referred to as cyberbullying.
The legislation is named after Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi, who killed himself in 2010 by jumping off the George Washington Bridge after a fellow student secretly recorded him kissing another man.
In a statement to the Blade, the Clementi family said they were “very sad” to learn of Lautenberg’s passing and had a meeting with the senator recently to thank him for his work.
“We will never forget his compassion and advocacy after the passing of our son, Tyler,” the Clementi family said. “Last February, we had the chance to meet with the Senator and thank him in person for his personal outreach to our family and his sponsorship of the Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act. It was a very special meeting with a very special person. He was an inspiring man who embodied the great characteristics of New Jersey and its people.”
Over the course of his Senate career, Lautenberg had long supported the LGBT community. In 1996, he voted for a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The New Jersey senator also voted against the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment in 2004 and 2006. In the 110th Congress, Lautenberg voted for hate crimes protection legislation and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal.
Although Lautenberg voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, he was among the 40 Senate Democrats this year to sign a friend-of-the-court brief before the Supreme Court arguing the anti-gay law is unconstitutional.
In 2012, after President Obama came out in favor of marriage equality, Lautenberg issued his own statement expressing similar support and said the right for gay couples to marry is protected under the U.S. Constitution.
“Marriage equality is one of the most significant civil rights battles of our time and is critical to guaranteeing equal protection under the law promised to every American in the Constitution,” Lautenberg said.
Rea Carey, executive director of the Natioal Gay & Lesbian Task Force, called Lautenberg a “great champion for equality.”
“He embraced LGBT employment protections on the federal level and the freedom to marry,” Carey said. “And, he was a champion of many social justice issues such as immigration reform, women’s reproductive health, and economic safety net services. His voice will be greatly missed on the Senate floor.”
Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, recalled a speech that Lautenberg gave on the Senate floor in opposition to the Federal Marriage Amendment.
“Nothing better sums up his undying legacy than his 2004 floor speech opposing a federal constitutional amendment banning marriage equality,” Griffin said. “‘When we see things that are shameful we should not be too spineless to respond.’ Sen. Lautenberg had spine, and he will be deeply missed.”
It’s not clear at this stage what the process is for appointing a successor to Lautenberg. The general consensus is Gov. Chris Christie will appoint a temporary replacement and a special election for a permanent U.S. senator will take place later in the year.
Among the Republican names floated as possibilities for replacements are Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, State Sen. Joe Kyrillos and State Sen. Thomas Keane Jr.
Congress
Top Congressional Democrats reintroduce Equality Act on Trump’s 100th day in office
Legislation would codify federal LGBTQ-inclusive non-discrimination protections

In a unified display of support for LGBTQ rights on President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office, congressional Democrats, including leadership from the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, reintroduced the Equality Act on Tuesday.
The legislation, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, codifying these protections into federal law in areas from jury service to housing and employment, faces an unlikely path to passage amid Republican control of both chambers of Congress along with the White House.
Speaking at a press conference on the grass across the drive from the Senate steps were Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.), U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), who is the first out LGBTQ U.S. Senator, U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (Calif.), who is gay and chairs the Congressional Equality Caucus, U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (N.H.), who is gay and is running for the U.S. Senate, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.), and U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (Ore.).
Also in attendance were U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (Del.), who is the first transgender member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Dina Titus (Nev.), U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (Ill.), and representatives from LGBTQ advocacy groups including the Human Rights Campaign and Advocates 4 Trans Equality.
Responding to a question from the Washington Blade on the decision to reintroduce the bill as Trump marks the hundredth day of his second term, Takano said, “I don’t know that there was a conscious decision,” but “it’s a beautiful day to stand up for equality. And, you know, I think the president is clearly hitting a wall that Americans are saying, many Americans are saying, ‘we didn’t vote for this.'”
A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released Sunday showed Trump’s approval rating in decline amid signs of major opposition to his agenda.
“Many Americans never voted for this, but many Americans, I mean, it’s a great day to remind them what is in the core of what is the right side of history, a more perfect union. This is the march for a more perfect union. That’s what most Americans believe in. And it’s a great day on this 100th day to remind our administration what the right side of history is.”
Merkley, when asked about the prospect of getting enough Republicans on board with the Equality Act to pass the measure, noted that, “If you can be against discrimination in employment, you can be against discrimination in financial contracts, you can be against discrimination in mortgages, in jury duty, you can be against discrimination in public accommodations and housing, and so we’re going to continue to remind our colleagues that discrimination is wrong.”
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which was sponsored by Merkley, was passed by the Senate in 2013 but languished in the House. The bill was ultimately broadened to become the Equality Act.
“As Speaker Nancy Pelosi has always taught me,” Takano added, “public sentiment is everything. Now is the moment to bring greater understanding and greater momentum, because, really, the Congress is a reflection of the people.”
“While we’re in a different place right this minute” compared to 2019 and 2021 when the Equality Act was passed by the House, Pelosi said she believes “there is an opportunity for corporate America to weigh in” and lobby the Senate to convince members of the need to enshrine federal anti-discrimination protections into law “so that people can fully participate.”
Politics
George Santos sentenced to 87 months in prison for fraud case
Judge: ‘You got elected with your words, most of which were lies.’

Disgraced former Republican congressman George Santos was sentenced to 87 months in prison on Friday, after pleading guilty last year to federal charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
“Mr. Santos, words have consequences,” said Judge Joanna Seybert of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. “You got elected with your words, most of which were lies.”
The first openly gay GOP member of Congress, Santos became a laughing stock after revelations came to light about his extensive history of fabricating and exaggerating details about his life and career.
His colleagues voted in December 2023 to expel him from Congress. An investigation by the U.S. House Ethics Committee found that Santos had used pilfered campaign funds for cosmetic procedures, designer fashion, and OnlyFans.
Federal prosecutors, however, found evidence that “Mr. Santos stole from donors, used his campaign account for personal purchases, inflated his fund-raising numbers, lied about his wealth on congressional documents and committed unemployment fraud,” per the New York Times.
The former congressman told the paper this week that he would not ask for a pardon. Despite Santos’s loyalty to President Donald Trump, the president has made no indication that he would intervene in his legal troubles.
Congress
Democratic lawmakers travel to El Salvador, demand information about gay Venezuelan asylum seeker
Congressman Robert Garcia led delegation

California Congressman Robert Garcia on Tuesday said the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador has agreed to ask the Salvadoran government about the well-being of a gay asylum seeker from Venezuela who remains incarcerated in the Central American country.
The Trump-Vance administration last month “forcibly removed” Andry Hernández Romero, a stylist who asked for asylum because of persecution he suffered because of his sexual orientation and political beliefs, and other Venezuelans from the U.S. and sent them to El Salvador.
The White House on Feb. 20 designated Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, as an “international terrorist organization.” President Donald Trump on March 15 invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which the Associated Press notes allows the U.S. to deport “noncitizens without any legal recourse.”
Garcia told the Washington Blade that he and three other lawmakers — U.S. Reps. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), and Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) — met with U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador William Duncan and embassy staffers in San Salvador, the Salvadoran capital.
“His lawyers haven’t heard from him since he was abducted during his asylum process,” said Garcia.
The gay California Democrat noted the embassy agreed to ask the Salvadoran government to “see how he (Hernández) is doing and to make sure he’s alive.”
“That’s important,” said Garcia. “They’ve agreed to that … we’re hopeful that we get some word, and that will be very comforting to his family and of course to his legal team.”

Garcia, Frost, Dexter, and Ansari traveled to El Salvador days after House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) denied their request to use committee funds for their trip.
“We went anyways,” said Garcia. “We’re not going to be intimidated by that.”
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on April 14 met with Trump at the White House. U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) three days later sat down with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who the Trump-Vance administration wrongfully deported to El Salvador on March 15.
Abrego was sent to the country’s Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum-security prison known by the Spanish acronym CECOT. The Trump-Vance administration continues to defy a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ordered it to “facilitate” Abrego’s return to the U.S.
Garcia, Frost, Dexter, and Ansari in a letter they sent a letter to Duncan and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday demanded “access to” Hernández, who they note “may be imprisoned at” CECOT. A State Department spokesperson referred the Blade to the Salvadoran government in response to questions about “detainees” in the country.
Garcia said the majority of those in CECOT who the White House deported to El Salvador do not have criminal records.
“They can say what they want, but if they’re not presenting evidence, if a judge isn’t sending people, and these people have their due process, I just don’t understand how we have a country without due process,” he told the Blade. “It’s just the bedrock of our democracy.”

Garcia said he and Frost, Dexter, and Ansari spoke with embassy staff, Salvadoran journalists and human rights activists and “anyone else who would listen” about Hernández. The California Democrat noted he and his colleagues also highlighted Abrego’s case.
“He (Hernández) was accepted for his asylum claim,” said Garcia. “He (Hernández) signed up for the asylum process on an app that we created for this very purpose, and then you get snatched up and taken to a foreign prison. It is unacceptable and inhumane and cruel and so it’s important that we elevate his story and his case.”
The Blade asked Garcia why the Trump-Vance administration is deporting people to El Salvador without due process.
“I honestly believe that he (Trump) is a master of dehumanizing people, and he wants to continue his horrendous campaign to dehumanize migrants and scare the American public and lie to the American public,” said Garcia.
The State Department spokesperson in response to the Blade’s request for comment referenced spokesperson Tammy Bruce’s comments about Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador.
“These Congressional representatives would be better off focused on their own districts,” said the spokesperson. “Instead, they are concerned about non-U.S. citizens.”
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