National
Parker favored to win re-election in Houston
Seattle could get gay mayor in off-year election
Houston Mayor Annise Parker is favored to win re-election to a third term. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
The mayoral contests in Seattle and Houston are being watched closely by LGBT advocates from across the country because the outcome on Nov. 5 could be the election and re-election of openly gay mayors in two prominent U.S. cities.
In Seattle, most political observers believe Washington State Sen. Ed Murray is in a strong position to unseat incumbent Mayor Mike McGinn to become that city’s first openly gay mayor. Murray, 59, won election to the Washington House of Representatives in 1995 and was elected to the State Senate in 2006.
He’s been credited with taking the lead in pushing for the successful passage of the state’s LGBT non-discrimination law and for approval in the legislature of the marriage equality law that voters subsequently passed in a 2012 referendum.
In a development that raised eyebrows among Seattle’s political establishment, Murray beat McGinn by a narrow margin in the city’s multi-party “top two” primary in August by a margin of 30 to 29 percent in an eight-candidate race. Under the city’s election rules, the top two vote-getters in the primary advance to the general election in November.
Murray’s supporters were quick to point out that 70 percent of the voters cast their ballots in the primary for someone other than McGinn, a sitting mayor. And two of the primary candidates, both members of the City Council, who received 16 percent and 15 percent of the vote respectively, have endorsed Murray.
The most recent public opinion poll conducted by the Seattle-based communications and research firm Strategies 360, which isn’t backing any of the candidates, showed Murray ahead by a margin of 51 percent to 34 percent among likely voters. The remaining 15 percent either declined to disclose who they planned to vote for or were undecided. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percent.
With McGinn expressing strong support for LGBT rights during his career as an attorney, environmentalist and community activist, observers say LGBT issues aren’t at play in the election. Instead, the issue on the minds of most voters in a city known as a bastion of liberalism and progressivism is who is most capable of running the city to continue its current strong economic base and progressive agenda, political commentators have said.
In Houston, most consider incumbent Mayor Annise Parker, an out lesbian, as the frontrunner in a nine-candidate race. But they say it’s possible that her lead rival, millionaire attorney and philanthropist Ben Hall, could capture enough votes to force Parker into a runoff election, which would take place in December. Under the Houston election law, a mayoral candidate must win at least 50 percent of the vote in a multi-candidate race to win the election outright without a runoff.
Parker’s supporters say she is well known and well liked in a city where she has served six years as an elected City Council member and another six years as city controller before being elected to her first two-year term as mayor in 2009. Should she win in November she would enter her third and last term under Houston’s term limit law.
Some observers say that Hall, who is black and obtained a master’s of divinity degree before becoming a lawyer, could make inroads into Houston’s black vote, including socially conservative blacks, who comprise as much as 30 percent of the city’s voting population.
Hall has expressed opposition to same-sex marriage and has declined to say whether he would support legislation to ban discrimination in Houston based on sexual orientation and gender identity, according to Noel Freeman, president of the Houston LGBT Political Caucus. Freeman said Hall declined an invitation by the group to meet with its members to discuss LGBT issues and refused to fill out a questionnaire on LGBT-related issues that the caucus gives to all candidates running for public office in the city.
Campaign finance records show that Hall has contributed more than $2 million of his own money to his campaign.
Sue Davis, the Parker campaign’s communications director, said Hall, while attacking Parker on various non-gay issues, has so far not raised LGBT issues or Parker’s sexual orientation in the campaign.
“Annise has said all along she is not going to be the gay mayor but the best mayor,” Davis told the Blade.
A poll released in early September by Houston’s CBS TV affiliate showed Parker leading Hall by a margin of 34 percent to 13 percent, with more than 40 percent of respondents saying they were undecided. The remaining seven candidates had a combined total of less than 10 percent.
Arizona
Shooting outside gay bar in Ariz. leaves three dead
Tucson police investigating double murder-suicide as a hate crime
Three people were fatally shot outside a gay bar in Tucson, Ariz., early Monday morning, about a mile from the city’s nightlife district.
Police have said the shooting, which took place in the parking lot of Venture-N bar at 1239 N. 6th Ave., was likely a hate crime and a double murder-suicide following a verbal altercation.
The suspect, Ousman Ceesay, allegedly shot Vincent Anthony Siqueiros and Cameron Davis Capara while they were outside the club around 12:30 a.m. Monday.
Reports show Capara and Siqueiros were pronounced dead at the scene. Ceesay died after being taken to a local hospital with gunshot wounds.
Police have also said that Ceesay was carrying a list of LGBTQ businesses at the time of the shooting.
Arizona Public Media has said police are investigating the case as a hate crime because the suspect was carrying a note containing the names of multiple LGBTQ-associated businesses.
“I am deeply saddened that another senseless loss of life has happened in our community,” Tucson Police Chief Monica Prieto said in a statement. “Bias-based crimes are especially heinous and have no place in our community.”
According to Prieto, there is no imminent threat to the community, and the Tucson Police Department is working to provide extra protection to various LGBTQ businesses across town.
Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva, who represents the area, issued a statement condemning the act of violence, which appears to have been at least in part motivated by homophobia.
“I am disgusted and deeply saddened to learn of a targeted act of hate and the cold-blooded murder of two members of our LGBTQIA+ community, Vincent Siqueiros and Cameron Capara, at the Venture-N bar in Tucson last night. This horrific attack is a painful reminder that even in welcoming communities like Tucson, hate and violence against the LGBTQIA+ community still exist.”
“When that hate is combined with easy access to firearms, the consequences can be deadly. I am sick and tired of Congress refusing to lift a finger to protect our communities while, every day, dozens of people are shot and killed across the country. It does not have to be this way. The House of Representatives is returning to session this week, and our first action should be passing common-sense gun safety reforms that we know can save lives.”
Other federal lawmakers also condemned the shooting.
The Congressional Equality Caucus, which is made up of federal legislators advancing LGBTQ interests, issued a statement after news broke.
“Our hearts are with the friends and loved ones of the victims of this devastating attack outside a Tucson gay bar and with the Tucson LGBTQI+ community,” it said on X. “No one should fear violence because of who they are — and we’re going to continue fighting to build a world where no one does.”
The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ organization in the country, released a statement following the shooting.
“We are heartbroken by the loss of Vincent Anthony Siqueiros and Cameron Davis Capara and our hearts are with their families, loved ones, and the entire Tucson LGBTQ+ community. Once again, we are reminded that gun violence robs people of their lives, destroys families, and devastates communities.”
A candlelight vigil honoring the victims is planned for Sept. 2 at 6:30 p.m. at Catalina Park in North Tucson.
Congress
HRC president campaigns for Chris Pappas in NH
Gay congressman running to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen
Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson on Sunday campaigned for U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) in New Hampshire.
Robinson traveled to Manchester, the state’s largest city, nine days before the Sept. 8 primary that will determine who will vie for retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)’s seat.
We’re hitting the pavement across New Hampshire to fight for a freer, fairer future for everyone.
Glad to have Human Rights Campaign President @KelleyJRobinson join us for a canvass launch in Manchester today. pic.twitter.com/XWCEaQxy4o
— Chris Pappas (@ChrisPappasNH) August 30, 2026
Former U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu, who represented New Hampshire in the U.S. Senate from 2003-2009, will face off against former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, who represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate from 2010-2013, in the Republican primary.
Karishma Manzur is among the Democrats challenging Pappas.
A poll the University of New Hampshire Survey Center released on Aug. 26 shows Sununu is ahead of Brown. The same survey shows Pappas ahead of Manzur and his other Democratic challengers.
The UNH Survey Center poll shows 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.
National
Milo Yiannopoulos deported to UK
ICE arrested far-right provocateur in New Orleans on Thursday
Editor’s note: The Department of Homeland Security on Saturday said Milo Yiannopoulos has been deported to the U.K.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday arrested far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos.
A DHS spokesperson in a statement sent to the Washington Blade said ICE arrested Yiannopoulos, who they described as “an illegal alien from the United Kingdom,” at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
The DHS spokesperson said Yiannopoulos “legally entered the country” in New York on May 14, 2019.
“He chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation’s laws,” said the spokesperson.
The DHS spokesperson said an immigration judge on July 22 “issued a final order of removal” for Yiannopoulos “after failing to show up for his immigration hearing.” The Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans on Friday reported Yiannopoulos is being held at an ICE detention center in Alexandria, La., which is about 200 miles northwest of the Crescent City.
“He will remain in ICE custody pending removal,” said the DHS spokesperson.
Yiannopoulos has, among other things, repeatedly targeted transgender people and Muslims.
The American Conservative Union, which organizes the annual Conversative Political Action Conference, in 2017 disinvited Yiannopoulos from speaking at that year’s CPAC after a video in which he appeared to condone sex between adults and underage boys emerged. Yiannopoulos subsequently resigned from Breitbart News, a far-right news website, where he had been a senior editor.
Yiannopoulos later that year married his boyfriend in Hawaii. The far-right provocateur in 2021 claimed he was an “ex-gay.”
The Australian government in 2019 banned Yiannopoulos from entering the country “on character grounds.” Yiannopoulos was also banned from Facebook, Twitter (now X), and other social media platforms.
The Times-Picayune reported Yiannopoulos “most recently worked for” Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.
The controversial rapper is scheduled to perform in New Orleans on Friday.
Laura Loomer, a far-right conspiracy theorist who is close to President Donald Trump, has called for Yiannopoulos’s deportation. Loomer on Friday wrote on X that she “reported him to ICE and the FBI” after he “called for me to be assassinated.”
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