News
DNC names gay operative as nat’l political director
Alvillar served briefly as interim LGBT liaison for the White House
Raul Alvillar was named national political director for the DNC. (Photo courtesy of the White House)
Raul Alvillar, who has worked in the White House for Vice President Joseph Biden, was named to the position by DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
In a statement, Wasserman Schultz said Alvillar brings to the DNC more than a decade of experience on campaigns — both in the private sector and in government.
“His work on everything from legislative outreach to campaigns and LGBT advocacy will be an asset to Democrats at every level,” Wasserman Schultz said. “Together, with the rest of the team at the DNC, we’ll be able to support the President’s legislative agenda and elect Democrats up and down the ballot in 2014 and beyond.”
News of the appointment was made shortly after the DNC winter meeting over the weekend in which Wasserman Schultz announced plans for a lesbian leadership council to boost the leadership role of lesbians within the party.
Alvillar said in the same statement reaching out to state parties and DNC members would be a priority for him during his tenure.
“I am excited to join the DNC and get to work electing and reelecting Democrats across the country,” Alvillar said. “I look forward to working with our state parties and DNC members to make certain we are providing them the tools they need to ensure that the Democratic Party thrives at all levels.”
Among the roles that Alvillar held before his appointment to DNC is serving as interim LGBT liaison at the White House in 2011 after former liaison Brian Bond departed, but before present-day liaison Gautam Raghavan came on board.
Alvillar also served as a senior adviser to Secretary of Housing & Urban Development Shaun Donovan and associate director at the Office of Public Engagement for the White House Office of the Vice President. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Alvillar was western political director for Obama and assisted with LGBT outreach and LGBT super delegates at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
According to a bio provided by the DNC, Alvillar was deputy national political director for John Kerry’s Keeping America’s Promise PAC and political director and regional field director for Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign.
Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), chair of the House Democratic Caucus, heaped praise upon Alvillar following news of his appointment.
“Raul is a strong ally for Democrats everywhere and I’m proud to call him a friend,” Becerra said. “At a time when the stakes could not be higher for working families in America, I am confident that Raul brings the experience and dedication to promote the President’s agenda and propel Democrats to victory in November.”
Alvillar joins the DNC at a challenging time for the Democratic Party as support for President Obama remains in the 40-percentile range among Americans and political observers say Democrats may lose control of the Senate in the mid-term elections.
Steve Elmendorf, who’s gay and a Democratic lobbyist, called Alvillar “a real star in the Democratic world.”
“He worked for me during the Kerry for President Campaign and showed great skill and political judgment,” Elmendorf said. “The DNC is lucky to have him.”
Michael Cole-Schwartz, spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, also had good things to say about the DNC’s latest appointment.
“Raul brings a wealth of experience and a deep commitment to improving the lives of Americans,” Cole-Schwartz said. “We’re thrilled he’ll be putting his enormous talents to use at the DNC.”
Virginia
Va. Senate committee approves resolution to repeal marriage amendment
Outgoing state Sen. Adam Ebbin introduced SJ3
The Virginia Senate Privileges and Elections Committee on Wednesday by a 10-4 vote margin approved a resolution that seeks to repeal a state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Outgoing state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) introduced SJ3.
Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2024 signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.
A resolution that seeks to repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment passed in the General Assembly in 2021. The resolution passed again in 2025.
Two successive legislatures must approve the resolution before it can go to the ballot. Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates have said the resolution’s passage is among their 2026 legislative priorities.
Iran
Grenell: ‘Real hope’ for gay rights in Iran as result of nationwide protests
Former ambassador to Germany claimed he has sneaked ‘gays and lesbians out of’ country
Richard Grenell, the presidential envoy for special missions of the United States, said on X on Tuesday that he has helped “sneak gays and lesbians out of Iran” and is seeing a change in attitudes in the country.
The post, which now has more than 25,000 likes since its uploading, claims that attitudes toward gays and lesbians are shifting amid massive economic protests across the country.
“For the first time EVER, someone has said ‘I want to wait just a bit,” the former U.S. ambassador to Germany wrote. “There is real hope coming from the inside. I don’t think you can stop this now.”
Grenell has been a longtime supporter of the president.
“Richard Grenell is a fabulous person, A STAR,” Trump posted on Truth Social days before his official appointment to the ambassador role. “He will be someplace, high up! DJT”
Iran, which is experiencing demonstrations across all 31 provinces of the country — including in Tehran, the capital — started as a result of a financial crisis causing the collapse of its national currency. Time magazine credits this uprising after the U.N. re-imposed sanctions in September over the country’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.
As basic necessities like bread, rice, meat, and medical supplies become increasingly unaffordable to the majority of the more than 90 million people living there, citizens took to the streets to push back against Iran’s theocratic regime.
Grenell, who was made president and executive director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts last year by Trump, believes that people in the majority Shiite Muslim country are also beginning to protest human rights abuses.
Iran is among only a handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Virginia
Mark Levine loses race to succeed Adam Ebbin in ‘firehouse’ Democratic primary
State Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker won with 70.6 percent of vote
Gay former Virginia House of Delegates member Mark Levine (D-Alexandria) lost his race to become the Democratic nominee to replace gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) in a Jan. 13 “firehouse” Democratic primary.
Levine finished in second place in the hastily called primary, receiving 807 votes or 17.4 percent. The winner in the four-candidate race, state Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, who was endorsed by both Ebbin and Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger received 3,281 votes or 70.6 percent.
Ebbin, whose 39th Senate District includes Alexandria and parts of Arlington and Fairfax Counties, announced on Jan. 7 that he was resigning effective Feb. 18, to take a job in the Spanberger administration as senior advisor at the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority.
Results of the Jan. 13 primary, which was called by Democratic Party leaders in Alexandria, Arlington, and Fairfax, show that candidates Charles Sumpter, a World Wildlife Fund director, finished in third place with 321 voters or 6.9 percent; and Amy Jackson, the former Alexandria vice mayor, finished in fourth place with 238 votes or 5.1 percent.
Bennett-Parker, who LGBTQ community advocates consider a committed LGBTQ ally, will now compete as the Democratic nominee in a Feb. 10 special election in which registered voters in the 39th District of all political parties and independents will select Ebbin’s replacement in the state senate.
The Alexandria publication ALX Now reports that local realtor Julie Robben Linebery has been selected by the Alexandria Republican City Committee to be the GOP candidate to compete in the Jan. 10 special election. According to ALX Now, Lineberry was the only application to run in a now cancelled special party caucus type event initially called to select the GOP nominees.
It couldn’t immediately be determined if an independent or other party candidate planned to run in the special election.
Bennett-Parker is considered the strong favorite to win the Feb. 10 special election in the heavily Democratic 39th District, where Democrat Ebbin has served as senator since 2012.
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Mark Levine running in ‘firehouse’ Democratic primary to succeed Adam Ebbin
