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Gabriel Gomez endorses ENDA

GOP candidate says he opposes discrimination of any kind, but marriage is a state issue

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Gabriel Gomez, Massachusetts, gay news, Washington Blade

U.S. Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez supports ENDA (Photo by Gabriel Gomez for Senate; courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

The Republican candidate vying for the open U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts has come out in favor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

In a statement provided to the Washington Blade from his campaign via email, Gabriel Gomez, a former Navy SEAL, announced his support for ENDA in response to an inquiry on the legislation.

“I support ENDA, because I do not believe in discrimination of any kind, including discrimination by sexuality,” Gomez said.

Gomez, who after leaving the military became a private equity investor, hasn’t before explicitly addressed ENDA, although he said in March during a Republican primary debate that he opposes discrimination. In the same debate, Gomez said he backs DOMA repeal and marriage equality.

But on California’s Proposition 8, Gomez said in that debate marriage is a state issue and, while he doesn’t agree with the measure, added “you need to respect what the states decide on a state-by-state issue.”

Gregory Angelo, executive director of the National Log Cabin Republicans, said Gomez’ support for ENDA means he’s next-generation Republican.

“Clearly, hearing that Gomez supports ENDA is encouraging news, and only goes to raise his profile as a next generation Republican who should have broad appeal to the voters of Massachusetts,” Angelo said.

Only two sitting Republicans U.S. senators are co-sponsors for ENDA: Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.).

Gomez isn’t the first Republican U.S. Senate candidate to campaign in favor of ENDA. In 1994, then-U.S. Senate candidate Mitt Romney told Log Cabin Republicans he would co-sponsor ENDA and seek to broaden it to include housing and credit.

The gay conservative group GOProud has already endorsed Gomez. Log Cabin hasn’t yet made an endorsement, but Angelo said the group has spoken with the campaign and has a Board of Directors meeting in Boston next week — including a reception at the Algonquin Club on Friday — that will be attended by Gomez campaign representatives.

The candidate is running against Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) for U.S. Senate seat in a special election set for June 25 to succeed John Kerry, who left the Senate to become Secretary of State. Both Markey and Gomez made appearances at Boston Pride last week.

Markey, who’s served as a U.S. House member since 1976, has a long history of backing LGBT rights and is a co-sponsor of ENDA. He was among 67 U.S. House members in 1996 to vote against DOMA. More recently, he voted for hate crimes protections and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal.

Andrew Zucker, a Markey spokesperson, drew attention to Gomez’ belief that marriage is a state issue in response to the Republican candidate’s support for ENDA.

“Gabriel Gomez says that he supports same-sex equality, but he also supports the rights of 29 states like Texas, North Carolina and California to ban same sex marriages and enact discriminatory policies that bar gay and lesbian couples from receiving equal visitation rights and spousal benefits,” Zucker said. “The bottom line is Gabriel Gomez can’t be trusted to support same sex equality in the Senate. There’s only one candidate in this race whom the LGBT community can count on to fight for them in the Senate, and that’s Ed Markey.”

Markey enjoys a considerable lead over Gomez in the polls in the closely watched race. A poll conducted last week week from The Mass INC Polling Group gives the Democratic candidate a 7-point lead over the Republican.

CLARIFICATION: This article has been amended to clarify that the email from Gomez was given to the Blade by his campaign in response to an inquiry on the legislation.

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Congress

Congress passes ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ with massive cuts to health insurance coverage

Roughly 1.8 million LGBTQ Americans rely on Medicaid

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U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The “Big, Beautiful Bill” heads to President Donald Trump’s desk following the vote by the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday, which saw two nays from GOP members and unified opposition from the entire Democratic caucus.

To partially offset the cost of tax breaks that disproportionately favor the wealthy, the bill contains massive cuts to Medicaid and social safety net programs like food assistance for the poor while adding a projected $3.3 billion to the deficit.

Policy wise, the signature legislation of Trump’s second term rolls back clean energy tax credits passed under the Biden-Harris administration while beefing up funding for defense and border security.

Roughly 13 percent of LGBTQ adults in the U.S., about 1.8 million people, rely on Medicaid as their primary health insurer, compared to seven percent of non-LGBTQ adults, according to the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute think tank on sexual orientation and gender identities.

In total, the Congressional Budget Office estimates the cuts will cause more than 10 million Americans to lose their coverage under Medicaid and anywhere from three to five million to lose their care under Affordable Care Act marketplace plans.

A number of Republicans in the House and Senate opposed the bill reasoning that they might face political consequences for taking away access to healthcare for, particularly, low-income Americans who rely on Medicaid. Poorer voters flocked to Trump in last year’s presidential election, exit polls show.

A provision that would have blocked the use of federal funds to reimburse medical care for transgender youth was blocked by the Senate Parliamentarian and ultimately struck from the legislation — reportedly after the first trans member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) and the first lesbian U.S. senator, Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), shored up unified opposition to the proposal among Congressional Democrats.

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Congress

Ritchie Torres says he is unlikely to run for NY governor

One poll showed gay Democratic congressman nearly tied with Kathy Hochul

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U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Gay Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres of New York is unlikely to challenge New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in the state’s next gubernatorial race, he said during an appearance Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“I’m unlikely to run for governor,” he said. ““I feel like the assault that we’ve seen on the social safety net in the Bronx is so unprecedented. It’s so overwhelming that I’m going to keep my focus on Washington, D.C.”

Torres and Hochul were nearly tied in a poll this spring of likely Democratic voters in New York City, fueling speculation that the congressman might run. A Siena College poll, however, found Hochul leading with a wider margin.

Back in D.C., the congressman and his colleagues are unified in their opposition to President Donald Trump’s signature legislation, the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which heads back to the House after passing the Senate by one vote this week.

To pay for tax cuts that disproportionately advantage the ultra-wealthy and large corporations, the president and Congressional Republicans have proposed massive cuts to Medicaid and other social programs.

A provision in the Senate version of the bill that would have blocked the use of federal funds to reimburse medical care for transgender youth was blocked by the Senate Parliamentarian and ultimately struck from the legislation, reportedly after pressure from transgender U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) and lesbian U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).

Torres on “Morning Joe” said, “The so-called Big Beautiful Bill represents a betrayal of the working people of America and nowhere more so than in the Bronx,” adding, “It’s going to destabilize every health care provider, every hospital.”

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Congress

House Democrats oppose Bessent’s removal of SOGI from discrimination complaint forms

Congressional Equality Caucus sharply criticized move

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

A letter issued last week by a group of House Democrats objects to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s removal of sexual orientation and gender identity as bases for sex discrimination complaints in several Equal Employment Opportunity forms.

Bessent, who is gay, is the highest ranking openly LGBTQ official in American history and the second out Cabinet member next to Pete Buttigieg, who served as transportation secretary during the Biden-Harris administration.

The signatories to the letter include a few out members of Congress, Congressional Equality Caucus chair and co-chairs Mark Takano (Calif.), Ritchie Torres (N.Y.), and Becca Balint (Vt.), along with U.S. Reps. Nikema Williams (Ga.), Hank Johnson (Ga.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (Ill.), Delia Ramirez (Ill.), Joyce Beatty (Ohio), Lloyd Doggett (Texas), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.), Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), and Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas).

The letter explains the “critical role” played by the EEO given the strictures and limits on how federal employees can find recourse for unlawful workplace discrimination — namely, without the ability to file complaints directly with the Employment Opportunity Commission or otherwise engage with the agency unless the complainant “appeal[s] an agency’s decision following the agency’s investigation or request[s] a hearing before an administrative judge.”

“Your attempt to remove ‘gender identity’ and ‘sexual orientation’ as bases for sex discrimination complaints in numerous Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) forms will create unnecessary hurdles to employees filing EEO complaints and undermine enforcement of federal employee’s nondiscrimination protections,” the members wrote in their letter.

They further explain the legal basis behind LGBTQ inclusive nondiscrimination protections for federal employees in the EEOC’s decisions in Macy v. Holder (2012) and Baldwin v. Foxx (2015) and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020).

“It appears that these changes may be an attempt by the department to dissuade employees from reporting gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination,” the lawmakers wrote. “Without forms clearly enumerating gender identity and sexual orientation as forms of sex discrimination, the average employee who experiences these forms of discrimination may see these forms and not realize that the discrimination they experienced was unlawful and something that they can report and seek recourse for.”

“A more alarming view would be that the department no longer plans to fulfill its legal obligations to investigate complaints of gender identity and sexual orientation and ensure its
employees are working in an environment free from these forms of discrimination,” they added.

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