News
Trend watch: gay Republicans for Congress
Innis seeks N.H. House seat in ‘historic’ year for GOP
Dan Innis is running for Congress in New Hampshire (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key).
The New Hampshire Republican is one of three openly gay Republicans running in the congressional mid-terms along with Richard Tisei in Massachusetts and Carl DeMaio in San Diego.
The significance of the triumvirate of gay GOPers running for Congress at the same time isn’t lost on Innis, who spoke with the Washington Blade during a trip to D.C. last week between meetings on K Street.
“I think it’s an indicator of how far we have moved as a nation because 10 years ago, this wouldn’t be happening,” Innis said. “And we have really come a long way, and I think we will continue to move along this path. To me, it’s a real statement about our continued push for full equality.”
But it’s the Republican aspect of Innis’ candidacy that’s at the forefront of his mind as he seeks to oust incumbent Democrat Rep. Carol Shea-Porter from her seat representing New Hampshire’s 1st congressional district.
During his tenure since 2007 as dean of the College of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire, Innis said the young people with whom he works don’t see the world in the same way as he did when he was younger.
“I’ve been working with young people for 23 years in higher education,” Innis said. “I have three kids of my own, 13, 20 and 22. And the way that they see the world today is different from the way that I saw it. They don’t feel the same level of freedom, they don’t feel the same opportunities, they don’t feel that their future is as bright as I felt mine was.”
For Innis, the downward shift has its roots in Washington, and it’s time for New Hampshire to send representatives to Congress “who are not career politicians, who can help to turn things back around, and bring back that sense of optimism about the future.”
Innis earlier this month won an endorsement from the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which has also endorsed Tisei in his bids for Congress. The Victory Fund has yet to endorse DeMaio.
“Dan Innis is a sensible and visionary leader, two qualities New Hampshire constituents deserve in a representative,” said Torey Carter, chief operating officer at the Victory Fund. “His unique combination of corporate and academic backgrounds has allowed him to address issues that affect others with careful consideration.”
Innis said he hasn’t sought an endorsement from the Human Rights Campaign. The Log Cabin Republicans are prohibited from making endorsements in the primary.
Even with the Victory Fund endorsement, the New Hampshire Republican said he doesn’t see LGBT issues as a priority for him if elected as much as the advancement of equality in general.
“I think, for me, it’s about equality for all, and those are the issues that I’ll always champion, so any issue that relates to equality — whether it’s related to gender, race, sexual orientation — those are values that I think all Americans hold, and those are things that I would always fight for,” Innis said. “It’s a broad-based equality mission for me.”
But among the pieces of legislation at the top of his list is the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a bill that has languished in Congress for years that would prohibit bias against LGBT people in the workforce.
“It’s time that that come up for a vote, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t,” Innis said. “We’ve seen support for that on the Senate side, New Hampshire senators both supported it, Republican and Democrat, and I’m proud of that. And I believe the House will do the right thing.”
The legislation passed in the Senate late last year on a bipartisan vote of 64-32, but House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has said he opposes it and it hasn’t yet come up for a vote in the Republican-controlled chamber.
Even though his vote first in Congress would be for Republican leadership, Innis said he sees the ability for LGBT legislation to advance under a GOP-controlled House because he’d bring a different voice to the caucus.
“When they’re not there with you, you don’t see it the same way,” Innis said. “The minute I’m sitting down next to John Boehner or somebody else, I’m there, and that bill affects me, and that affects how they perceive that bill, and I think it will really change the way the Republican Party will move forward.”
Innis isn’t alone in his bid for the Republican nomination. Also running is Frank Guinta, a former member of the U.S. House who defeated Shea-Porter in 2010, but lost to her in the 2012 election. The primary is Sept. 9.
A recent WMUR Granite State Poll showed Guinta ahead of Shea-Porter, but Innis behind her. He attributed that discrepancy to name recognition, saying that would change as the campaign gets underway and Super PACs come to his aid.
Although significant gains for LGBT equality have been made under the Obama administration, Innis insisted credit for progress should be given to all who contributed.
“You know, we’ve seen previous presidents, the one before Obama, put an awful lot of money into AIDS research,” Innis said, “And I think that deserves credit. George W. Bush was phenomenal on that. He deserves credit. Any leader who’s taken a stand on these issues deserves credit regardless of party. To me, this is not a partisan issue; this is a human issue.”
Despite his support for LGBT rights, Innis stopped short of endorsing the idea of an executive order barring LGBT workplace bias against federal contractors. No Republican lawmaker or candidate has yet to endorse the order.
“I have some issues with executive orders,” Innis said. “I’m not a big fan of executive orders generally speaking, and I will say I haven’t given this one an awful lot of thought, but I think equality is always a good thing.”
Asked whether he was leaning in favor of supporting the executive order, Innis said he’d like to see an end to LGBT discrimination “done in a more open and participative way.”
Coming from a state where same-sex marriage was made legal in 2009 through the legislative process, Innis had a role in helping resist an effort from a Republican supermajority in the legislature to repeal the statute.
Innis acknowledged he didn’t have an active role in the legalization of same-sex marriage at that time because he had recently come out as gay and was still in his position at the university, but said he lent his voice as a Republican when the law was under threat.
“I guess I was on a brochure that went to all the legislators with my story,” Innis said. “I gave a couple of talks, some things in newspapers, and really I think represented equality in the state in that battle. It became very visible for me. I was featured in the Portsmith Herald on the front page the day after. It was a little more public than I wanted to be, but so be it.”
Innis said he faced criticism for his role in convincing the Republicans to drop efforts to repeal the law, but wouldn’t identify who was unhappy with him.
“I think it’s important to note that that was a Republican legislature that had a veto-proof majority in both houses. Think about that and equality was supported,” Innis said. “That’s New Hampshire. And we believe in equality and freedom for all.”
Innis said he hasn’t yet spoken to the other two gay Republican candidates running for Congress, but said he expects to talk to them soon. He’s also not a member of the joint fundraising committee formed by Tisei and DeMaio called the Equality Leadership Fund. Innis said he’s aware of the fund but remains focused on his campaign.
It should be noted all three openly gay Republicans seeking seats in the U.S. House are trying to oust incumbent Democrats.
Ray Buckley, who’s gay and chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, said Shea-Porter is the best candidate because New Hampshire voters expect elected officials “to stand up against injustice and support families of all varieties.”
“Instead, Dan Innis failed to fight for LGBT rights in New Hampshire as the legislature debated marriage equality,” Buckley said. “He failed them again during the fight for the Employee Non-Discrimination Act, in which strong Republican voices could have helped turn the tide, ending the ability to discriminate against someone in the workplace for simply being who they are. Meanwhile, Congresswoman Shea-Porter has consistently been on the right side of history, defending LGBT families and advancing civil rights. Dan Innis is the wrong candidate for families of all kinds in the state of New Hampshire.”
But Innis insisted that he’s the right candidate for the LGBT community because, unlike Shea-Porter, he’s lived the experience of being openly gay.
“I live it and understand it more thoroughly than she ever will. I’m LGBT; Carol Shea-Porter is not,” Innis said. “And though I appreciate her support of the community, I think the support coming from me is genuine and it’s part of me.”
It’s the new voices the gay Republican candidates are bringing to the fore that Innis said are making the campaigns valuable in and of themselves.
“I think we have three historic races,” Innis said. “Races that wouldn’t have taken place not that many years ago. And I think that in and of itself adds value for our community, and if we’re going to move equality forward, we’ve got to do it in every way possible – Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, independent, doesn’t matter — I think that if one or all of us wins, we’re that much closer to equality.”
CORRECTION: An initial version of this article incorrectly stated the Victory Fund endorsed Carl DeMaio. The Blade regrets the error.
World
Top 10 international LGBTQ news stories of 2025
Marriage progress in Europe; trans travel advisories depress WorldPride attendance
The Trump-Vance administration and its policies had a significant impact on the global LGBTQ rights movement in 2025. War, anti-LGBTQ crackdowns, protests, and legal advances are among the other issues that made headlines around the world over the past year.
Here are the top international stories of 2025.
10. Australia ends ban on LGBTQ blood donors
Australia on July 14 ended its ban on sexually active LGBTQ people from donating blood.
“Lifeblood (the Australian Red Cross Blood Service) has been working to make blood and plasma donation more inclusive and accessible to as many people as possible, whilst maintaining the safety of the blood supply,” said the Australian Red Cross Blood Service in a press release that announced the new policy.
Lifeblood Chief Medical Officer Jo Pink said the new policy will allow 24,000 additional people to donate blood each year.
9. Kenyan judge rules gov’t must legally recognize trans people
A Kenyan judge on Aug. 20 ruled his country’s government must legally recognize transgender people and ensure their constitutional rights are protected.
Justice Reuben Nyakundi of the Eldoret High Court in western Kenya ruled in favor of a trans athlete who was arrested in 2019 and forced to undergo a medical examination to determine her gender. The 34-year-old plaintiff who is a board member of Jinsiangu, a trans rights organization, said authorities arrested her at a health facility after they claimed she impersonated a woman.
“This is the first time a Kenyan court has explicitly ordered the state to create legislation on transgender rights, and a first in the African continent,” noted Jinsiangu in a statement. “If implemented, it could address decades of legal invisibility and discrimination faced by transgender persons by establishing clear legal recognition of gender identity, protection against discrimination in employment, housing, healthcare, and education, and access to public services without bias or harassment.”
8. U.S. withdraws from UN LGBTI Core Group
The U.S. in 2025 withdrew from the U.N. LGBTI Core Group, a group of U.N. member states that have pledged to support LGBTQ and intersex rights.
A source told the Washington Blade the U.S. withdrew from the Core Group on Feb. 14. A State Department spokesperson later confirmed the withdrawal.
“In line with the president’s recent executive orders, we have withdrawn from the U.N. LGBTI Core Group,” said the spokesperson.
7. Wars in Gaza, Ukraine continue to make headlines
Israeli airstrikes against Iran prompted authorities in Tel Aviv to cancel the city’s annual Pride parade that was scheduled to take place on June 13.
The airstrikes prompted Iran to attack Israel with drones and missiles. One of them destroyed Mash Central, a gay bar that was located a few blocks from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. Marty Rouse, a longtime activist who lives in Maryland, was in Israel with the Jewish Federations of North America when the war began. He and his group left the country on June 15.
Bet Mishpachah, an LGBTQ synagogue in D.C., welcomed the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that took effect on Oct. 10, roughly two years after Hamas militants killed upwards of 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 200 others when they launched a surprise attack on the country.
In Ukraine, meanwhile, the war that Russia launched in 2022 drags on.
6. Int’l Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders
The International Criminal Court on July 8 issued arrest warrants for two top Taliban officials accused of targeting LGBTQ people, women, and others who defy the group’s strict gender norms.
The warrants are for Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, and Afghanistan Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani.
Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, in January announced a request for warrants against Taliban officials over their treatment of women and other groups since they regained control of Afghanistan in 2021. The request marked the first time the court specifically named LGBTQ people as victims in a gender persecution case before it.
5. Hundreds of thousands defy Budapest Pride ban
More than 100,000 people on June 28 defied the Hungarian government’s ban on public LGBTQ events and participated in the 30th annual Budapest Pride parade.
Former Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who is his country’s first openly gay head of government, and openly gay MEP Krzysztof Śmiszek, who was previously Poland’s deputy justice minister, are among those who participated in the march.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz-KDNP coalition government have faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
Hungarian lawmakers in March passed a bill that bans Pride events and allow authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify those who participate in them. MPs in April amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.
4. LGBTQ delegation travels to Vatican to meet Pope Leo after Francis dies
Pope Francis died on April 21.
The Vatican’s tone on LGBTQ and intersex issues softened under the Argentine-born pope’s papacy, even though church teachings on homosexuality and gender identity did not change.
The College of Cardinals on May 8 chose Pope Leo XVI, an American cardinal from Chicago who was bishop of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru from 2015-2023, to succeed Francis.
Leo on Sept. 1 met with the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest who founded Outreach, a ministry for LGBTQ Catholics. A gay couple from D.C. — Jim Sweeney and the Rev. Jason Carson Wilson — are among those who took part in an LGBTQ pilgrimage to the Vatican a few days later that coincided with the church’s year-long Jubilee that began last Christmas Eve when Francis opened the Holy Door.
3. EU’s top court rules states must recognize same-sex marriages
The European Union’s top court on Nov. 25 ruled member states must recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other member states.
The EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled in favor of a couple who challenged Poland’s refusal to recognize their German marriage.
The couple who lives in Poland brought their case to Polish courts. The Polish Supreme Administrative Court referred it to the EU Court of Justice.
“Today’s ruling of the Court of Justice of the EU is of key importance not only for the couple involved in the case, but also for the entire LGBT+ community in Poland,” said the Campaign Against Homophobia, a Polish LGBTQ and intersex rights group.
2. U.S. funding cuts devastate global LGBTQ community
The Trump-Vance administration’s decision to cut U.S. foreign aid spending in 2025 has had a devastating impact on the global LGBTQ rights movement.
Council for Global Equality Chair Mark Bromley noted to the Blade the U.S. historically funded roughly a third of the global LGBTQ rights movement.
Groups around the world — including those that worked with people with HIV/AIDS — that received U.S. funding had to curtail programming or close altogether. LGBTQ+ Victory Institute President Elliot Imse earlier this year noted the global LGBTQ rights movement in 2025 was set to lose more than $50 million.
“It is a catastrophe,” he said.
1. Countries boycott WorldPride amid travel advisories
Canada and a number of European countries in 2025 issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who planned to visit the U.S.
The advisory the Danish government issued notes President Donald Trump’s executive order that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers. It also notes “two gender designations to choose from: male or female” when applying for an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) or visa for the U.S.
Egale Canada, one of Canada’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organizations, in February announced its members would not attend WorldPride, which took place in D.C. from May 17-June 8, or other events in the U.S. because of the Trump-Vance administration’s policies. Other advocacy groups and activists also did not travel to the U.S. for WorldPride.
InterPride, which coordinates WorldPride, also issued its own travel advisory for trans and nonbinary people.
National
Top 10 LGBTQ national news stories of 2025
Trump, Supreme Court mount cruel attacks against trans community
President Trump’s anti-LGBTQ agenda dominated national news in 2025, particularly his cruel attacks on trans Americans. Here are our picks for the top 10 LGBTQ news stories the Blade covered in 2025.
10. Trump grants clemency to George Santos
President Donald Trump granted clemency to disgraced former Long Island Rep. George Santos. Santos was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft and had served just 84 days of his more than seven-year sentence. He lied to both the DOJ and the House Ethics Committee, including about his work and education history, and committed campaign finance fraud.
9. U.S. Olympics bans trans women athletes
The United States Supreme Court decided in 2025 to take up two cases — Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J.— both of which concern the rights of transgender athletes to participate on sports teams. The cases challenge state laws under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which prevents states from offering separate boys’ and girls’ sports teams based on biological sex determined at birth. Both cases are set to be heard in January 2026. The developments follow a decision by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee to change eligibility rules to prohibit transgender women from competing in women’s sporting events on behalf of the United States, following Trump’s Executive Order 14201, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”
8. FDA approves new twice-yearly HIV prevention drug
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on June 18 approved a newly developed HIV/AIDS prevention drug that needs to be taken only twice a year, with one injection every six months. The new drug, lenacapavir, is being sold under the brand name Yeztugo by pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences. According to trial data, 99.9 percent of participants who received Yeztugo remained HIV negative. This emerging technology comes amid direct cuts to HIV/AIDS research measures by the Trump–Vance administration, particularly targeting international HIV efforts such as PEPFAR.
7. LGBTQ people ‘erased’ from gov’t reports
Politico reported in March that the Trump–Vance administration is slashing the State Department’s annual human rights report, cutting sections related to the rights of women, people with disabilities, the LGBTQ+ community, and more. Members of Congress objected to the removal of the subsection on “Acts of Violence, Criminalization, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity or Expression, or Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC)” from the State Department’s Annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
In a Sept. 9 letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Julie Johnson (D-Texas), and Sarah McBride (D-Del.) urged the department to restore the information or ensure it is integrated throughout each report, noting that the reports serve as key evidence for asylum seekers, attorneys, judges, and advocates assessing human rights conditions and protection claims worldwide.
6. Trump admin redefines ‘sex’ in all HHS programs
The Trump administration canceled more than $800 million in research into the health of sexual and gender minority groups. More than half of the National Institutes of Health grants scrapped through early May involved studies of cancers and viruses that disproportionately affect LGBTQ people.
The administration is also pushing to end gender-affirming care for transgender youth, according to a new proposal from the Department of Health and Human Services, NPR reported. The administration is considering blocking all Medicaid and Medicare funding for services at hospitals that provide pediatric gender-affirming care. “These rules would be a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s attack on access to transgender health care,” said Katie Keith, director of the Center for Health Policy and Law at Georgetown University.
5. FBI plans to label trans people as ‘violent extremists’
The Human Rights Campaign, Transgender Law Center, Equality Federation, GLAAD, PFLAG, and the Southern Poverty Law Center condemned reports that the FBI, in coordination with the Heritage Foundation, may be working to designate transgender people as “violent extremists.” The concerns followed a report earlier this month by independent journalist Ken Klippenstein, who cited two anonymous national security officials saying the FBI is considering treating transgender subjects as a subset of a new threat category.
That classification—originally created under the Biden administration as “Anti-Authority and Anti-Government Violent Extremists” (AGAAVE) — was first applied to Jan. 6 rioters and other right-wing extremists. Advocates said the proposal appears to stem from the false claim that the assassination of Charlie Kirk was committed by a transgender person.
4. Pentagon targets LGBTQ service members
Acting in agreement with the growing anti-LGBTQ sentiment from the Trump administration, during a televised speech to U.S. military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico in late September, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denounced past military leadership for being too “woke,” citing DEI initiatives and LGBTQ inclusion within the Department of Defense. During the 45-minute address, Hegseth criticized inclusive policies and announced forthcoming directives, saying they would ensure combat requirements “return to the highest male standard only.”
Since 2016, a Navy replenishment oiler had borne the name of gay rights icon Harvey Milk, who served in the Navy during the Korean War and was separated from service under other than honorable conditions due to his sexuality before later becoming one of the first openly LGBTQ candidates elected to public office. In June 2025, the ship was renamed USNS Oscar V. Peterson.
The U.S. Air Force also announced that transgender service members who have served between 15 and 18 years would be denied early retirement and instead separated from the military without benefits. Transgender troops will be given the option of accepting a lump-sum payout offered to junior service members or being removed from service.
In February, the Pentagon said it would draft and submit procedures to identify transgender service members and begin discharging them from the military within 30 days.
3. Trump blames Democrats, trans people for gov’t shutdown
Republicans failed to reach an agreement with Democrats and blamed them for the government shutdown, while Democrats pointed to Republicans for cutting health care tax credits, a move they said would result in millions of people paying significantly higher monthly insurance premiums next year. In the White House press briefing room, a video of Democrats discussing past government shutdowns played on a loop as the president continued to blame the Democratic Party and “woke” issues, including transgender people.
“A lot of good can come from shutdowns. We can get rid of a lot of things. They’d be Democrat things,” Trump said the night before the shutdown. “They want open borders. Men playing in women’s sports. They want transgender for everybody.”
2. Supreme Court joins attacks on LGBTQ Americans
The U.S. Supreme Court issued multiple rulings this year affecting LGBTQ people. In Mahmoud v. Taylor (6–3), it ruled that public schools must give parents advance notice and the option to opt children out of lessons on gender or sexuality that conflict with their religious beliefs. The case arose after Montgomery County, Md., schools added LGBTQ-inclusive storybooks to the elementary curriculum.
In June, the court upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, protecting similar laws in more than 20 states. Lawmakers and advocates criticized the ruling, and a coalition of seven medical associations warned it strips families of the right to direct their own health care.
The Court also allowed the Trump administration to enforce a ban on transgender military personnel and to implement a policy blocking passports with “X” gender markers, with the federal government recognizing only male and female designations.
1. Trump inaugurated for second time
President Donald Trump became the 47th president after winning Wisconsin, securing 277 of the 270 electoral votes needed. His guidebook, Project 2025, outlined the Republican Party’s goals under his new leadership, with a particular focus on opposing transgender rights.
Trump nominated openly gay hedge fund executive Scott Bessent as U.S. Treasury Secretary, a role he eventually assumed. Bessent became the highest-ranking openly gay U.S. government official in American history.
Honorable mention: The war on rainbow crosswalks escalates around the country
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) ordered state transportation officials to remove a rainbow-colored crosswalk in Orlando next to the Pulse gay nightclub, where 49 mostly LGBTQ people were killed in a 2016 mass shooting. The move follows a July 1, 2025, announcement by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy that, with support from President Trump, the department adopted a “nationwide roadway safety initiative” that political observers say could be used to require cities and states to remove rainbow street crosswalks.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Tuesday signed a bill that will ban so-called LGBTQ propaganda in the country.
Members of Kazakhstan’s lower house of parliament last month unanimously approved the measure that would ban “‘LGBT propaganda’ online or in the media” with “fines for violators and up to 10 days in jail for repeat offenders.” The Kazakh Senate on Dec. 18 approved the bill.
Kazakhstan is a predominantly Muslim former Soviet republic in Central Asia that borders Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and China. Russia, Georgia, and Hungary are among the other countries with anti-LGBTQ propaganda laws.
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Kazakh president signs anti-LGBTQ propaganda bill
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