News
Reid sets up Senate vote Monday for ENDA
Advocates confident 60 votes are present to overcome filibuster


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) set up a Senate vote on ENDA for Monday (Blade file photo by Michael Key).
Reid made the announcement on the Senate floor with little fanfare before he moved on to other business and adjourned the Senate until Monday at 2 pm.
Faiz Shakir, a Reid spokesperson, estimated the cloture vote on ENDA will take place around 5:45 on Monday and a final vote will take place sometime on Wednesday.
By filing cloture on the bill, Reid starts for the time period for when cloture vote will take place to enable the bill to move to the floor. After filing for cloture, the vote will take place after an intervening day and one hour pass. For a successful vote on cloture, 60 votes are required in the Senate.
After cloture is invoked, up to 30 hours of debate can take place before a vote happens on final passage, which requires a simple majority. But the vote for final passage could take place sooner if both parties agree to give up the time.
Confidence persists there are at least 60 votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on ENDA. All 55 members of the Senate Democratic caucus support ENDA, and there are two Republican original co-sponsors: Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.). Assuming the two Republicans who voted in committee for ENDA, Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), vote for cloture as well, only one more vote is required to move forward with ENDA.
Tico Almeida, president of Freedom to Work, expressed confidence in a statement sufficient votes are in place to pass ENDA.
āAfter months of lobbying and meetings with the overwhelming majority of Republican Senate offices, weāre confident we have the 60 votes to defeat any attempted filibuster,” Almeida said. “Weāre keeping the pressure up with phone-banking in key states to help thousands of registered voters patch-through and urge Yes votes from key Senators in Arizona, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. It’s long past time the Senate approved LGBT workplace protections.ā
During a taped interview on The Rachel Maddow Show that aired Wednesday, Reid expressed confidence there would be enough votes to invoke cloture on ENDA. Noting that all 55 Democrats are on board, Reid predicted āweāre going to get a least five Republicansā to reach 60 votes.
Other Republicans seen as possible “yes” votes on ENDA are Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Dean Heller (R-Nev.), Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). However, Flake this week told the Blade he’s voting “no” because of the transgender protections in the current version of the bill.
The Human Rights Campaign, and the $2.5 million Americans for Workplace Opportunity campaign it helped organize, is also touting its action in anticipation of an ENDA vote.
According to HRC, 30 field organizers in New Hampshire, West Virginia, Ohio, Arizona, Arkansas, Nevada and Pennsylvania have generated over 200,000 constituent contacts in favor of ENDA. Additionally, grassroots organizers have held 150 events in these critical states generating over 108,000 emails, 78,000 postcards, 13,000 calls and 800 letters, HRC says.
But anti-gay forces are also being outspoken against ENDA as the vote approaches.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, railed against the LGBT legislation in a statement, saying the bill “threatens the free market, undermines employers’ rights, and violates the free exercise of religion.”
“The vast majority of employers would not consider an employee’s sexual orientation relevant or even want to know about an employee’s sex life,” Perkins said. “However, ENDA would transform the workplace into an environment in which certain sexual lifestyles are given a special status by the federal government and religious expression is suppressed.”
The vote will be historic in many ways. It will the first time the either chamber of Congress has considered a version of ENDA that includes transgender workers. It’s also the first time the Senate has considered ENDA since 1996, when the legislation failed by one vote.
Amendments to ENDA are expected. Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee Chair Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) told the Blade, āThereāll be some amendments, yeah.ā Harkin added he doesnāt know what the nature of the amendments will be.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), chief sponsor of ENDA, also expressed excitement over the possibility the Senate approving legislation to end job bias against LGBT workers.
āWe have a chance next week to pass a landmark civil rights bill that will enshrine in law an issue of fundamental fairness: no one should be fired for their sexual orientation or gender identity,” Merkley said. “Discrimination is just plain wrong. Everyone should have the freedom to work hard and earn a living. I am pleased that the U.S. Senate will consider this fundamental issue of equality under the law.ā
Virginia
Youngkin calls on gay Va. GOP LG candidate to exit race over alleged ‘porn’ scandal
John Reid denounces ‘fabricated internet lie’ as anti-gay smear campaign

Less than a week after John Reid, the conservative gay radio talk show host from Richmond secured the Republican nomination for the office of lieutenant governor in Virginia, sensational allegations have surfaced, which he strongly denies, that he allegedly posted pornographic photos on social media.
According to the Virginia Mercury newspaper, the allegations surfaced when Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkinās office released a statement saying Youngkin contacted Reid on Friday, April 25, and asked him to withdraw his candidacy over reports that a social media account with Reidās username included āpornographic contentā that was āsharedā with others.
āThe governor was made aware late Thursday of the disturbing online content,ā the Virginia Mercury quotes a Youngkin spokesperson as saying. āFriday morning, in a call with Mr. Reid, the governor asked him to step down as the lt. governor nominee,ā the spokesperson is quoted as saying.
Reid responded to the allegations in an early Friday evening video he posted on his campaignās Facebook page, calling the allegations āa totally fabricated internet lieā motivated by anti-gay bias.
āI can tell you thatās not my account and anyone on the internet can open accounts with the same or similar names as other people,ā he stated in his video. āItās predictable,ā he added.
āBut what I didnāt expect was the governor I have always supported to call and demand my resignation without even showing me the supposed evidence or offering me a chance to respond,ā Reid states in his video.
He said he will not drop out of the lieutenant governorās race and called the allegations against him just the latest in what he said was an ongoing effort by some in the Republican Party, especially conservative Christians, to force him out of politics.
āLetās be honest,ā he said. āitās because Iām openly gay. And I have never backed down to the establishment, and will not,ā he continued in his video message. āWhat happened today is another coordinated assassination attempt against me to force the first openly gay candidate off of a Virginia statewide ticket.ā
Reid added, āItās shameful, and I wonāt back down, even though I know the plan is for the attacks to continue in this overt effort to make me toxic.ā
Reid secured the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor last week after his only rival in the Republican primary, Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity, dropped out of the race for health reasons.
By securing the nomination Reid became the first known openly gay candidate, Republican or Democrat, to be nominated for a statewide office in Virginia.
In an interview with the Washington Blade earlier this week Reid pointed out that he came out as gay in 1996 or 1997 on National Coming Out Day in his role as TV news anchor in Richmond, where he worked for 10 years.
Following that, Reid worked as a radio talk show host for the next eight years, promoting his ideas as a gay conservative Republican, up until shortly before he announced his candidacy for lieutenant governor, he told the Blade.
Reidās video responding to the accusations against him can be accessed here.
Reidās campaign website and statements he has released to the media acknowledge his status as a gay candidate but point out he has a long record of support for conservative Republican positions on a wide range of issues that are against the positions of most mainline LGBTQ rights organizations.
āIām not a diversity hire,ā he stated in a press release issued at the time he announced his candidacy in January. āIām the most conservative and proven candidate running, and Iāve boldly stood up for our beliefs in a way that should make my personal life a total nonissue,ā he stated.
A statement on his campaign website states āJohn is uniquely positioned to take the fight to the radical progressives head on as he continues his fight against boys in girlsā sports and the extreme trans agenda being forced upon our children.ā
His campaign website statement on transgender issues concludes by saying, āAnd we must be blatant in saying that it is factually impossible for biological men or women to personally decide to change their gender. John believes in the right for grown adults to live their lives as they see fit, but not if they impose restrictions and obligations on others and not if any of their behavior sexualizes or grooms children.
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.
āMr. Santos, words have consequences,ā said Judge Joanna Seybert of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. āYou got elected with your words, most of which were lies.ā
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.
Maryland
A Baltimore theater educator lost jobs at Johns Hopkins and the Kennedy Center
Tavish Forsyth concluded they could not work for Trump

BY WESLEY CASE | Tavish Forsyth had come to a conclusion: They could not work for President Donald Trump.
So the 32-year-old Baltimore resident stripped down, turned on their camera, and lit their career on fire.
āFāā Donald Trump and fāā the Kennedy Center,ā a naked Forsyth, an associate artistic lead at the Washington National Operaās Opera Institute, which is run by the Kennedy Center, said in a video that went viral. The board of the nationās leading cultural institution had elected Trump just weeks prior as its chairman after he gutted the board of members appointed by his predecessor, President Joe Biden.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
-
Federal Government4 days ago
HHS to retire 988 crisis lifeline for LGBTQ youth
-
Opinions5 days ago
David Hoggās arrogant, self-indulgent stunt
-
District of Columbia4 days ago
D.C. police seek help in identifying suspect in anti-gay threats case
-
Virginia5 days ago
Gay talk show host wins GOP nom for Va. lieutenant guv