News
Anti-LGBT advocates host D.C. fundraiser for Tammy Baldwin’s opponent
Wisconsin state Sen. Leah Vukmir (R-Milwaukee County) is Tammy Baldwin’s opponent in the 2018 election. (Photo public domain)
An invitation for the fundraiser, obtained by the Washington Blade late Wednesday, reveals the fundraising breakfast for Republican U.S. Senate candidate and Wisconsin State Sen. Leah Vukmir took place at the D.C. office for the Susan B. Anthony List, an organization that opposes abortion rights for women.
The fundraiser was presented by Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund, and Cleta Mitchell, a prominent anti-LGBT attorney with the Foley & Lardner law firm. Mitchell has a reputation for being “the conservative movement’s anti-gay eminence grise” and as board of the American Conservative Union succeeded in banning the now defunct gay conservative group GOProud from CPAC.
Listed as co-hosts for the event are key figures of the anti-LGBT Family Research Council, including Tony Perkins and Ken Blackwell. The Southern Poverty Law Center has branded the Family Research Council a hate group over its anti-LGBT positions.
According to the invite, tickets for the fundraiser ranged from $250 to $100 for individuals and $1,000 to $5,000 for political action committees. The maximum contribution was $2,700 for individuals and $5,400 for couples.
It’s not a secret the fundraiser was set to take place. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported the fundraiser was one of three for Vukmir in D.C. on Wednesday, although the Susan B. Anthony List event was the only one reported to have anti-LGBT advocates as co-hosts.
The fundraiser was set to take place on the same day the Susan B. Anthony List announced the Women Speak Out PAC, which seeks mobilize pro-life voters, would launch a six-figure digital expenditure campaign to elect Vukmir.
“Leah Vukmir will stand up to abortion extremists in the Senate at a time when her bold leadership could not be more urgently needed,” Dannenfelser said in a statement. “That’s why Women Speak Out is launching a six-figure digital campaign to expose Baldwin’s extremism and mobilize pro-life Wisconsinites to get to the polls and elect Leah.”
The Blade placed a request in with the Susan B. Anthony List to inquire about the amount of money raised for Vukmir at the event.
Vukmir, who secured the Republican nomination on Aug. 18, has an anti-LGBT record that includes support for a 2006 constitutional amendment in Wisconsin banning same-sex marriage and opposition to a measure against anti-LGBT bullying. As chair of the Wisconsin Senate Committee on Health & Human Services, Vukmir also sat on legislation that would have prohibited widely discredited “ex-gay” conversion therapy for minors in Wisconsin.
In contrast, Baldwin is the first out lesbian elected to Congress and has championed LGBT rights in her decades as a lawmaker, including by being a co-sponsor of the Equality Act.
Although one poll last month showed a close race between Baldwin and Vukmir, the Wisconsin Democrat has since that time taken a wide lead in the race. A Marquette law school poll published this month found Baldwin led Vukmir 52-40 in the race.
District of Columbia
JR.’s hosts meet & greet for mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George
Event organized by Capital Stonewall Democrats, Queers for Janeese
D.C. mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George spoke to a crowd of LGBTQ supporters on June 1 at a meet & greet event held at JR.’s on 17th Street in the Dupont Circle neighborhood.
The event, organized by Capital Stonewall Democrats, which has endorsed Lewis George for mayor, with support from a group called Queers for Janeese, was followed by a “get out the vote” canvassing endeavor in which several of those attending the meet & greet visited the homes of nearby residents known to be Lewis George supporters.
The purpose of the canvassing was to remind Lewis George supporters to return their mail-in ballots or go to the polls on June 16 to elect Lewis George as the city’s next mayor, according to Matthew Kavanagh, one of the leaders of Queers for Janeese who attended the meet & greet event at JR.’s.
Local political observers consider Lewis George, a Ward 4 D.C. Council member, and former At-Large D.C. Council member Kenyan McDuffie, to be the two leading candidates in this year’s race for mayor. The two are among seven mayoral candidates competing in the city’s June 16 Democratic primary.
Lewis George told those attending the meet & greet, which was held on the JR.’s outdoor patio, that she has a long record of advocating for and initiating city polices and laws in support of the LGBTQ community. She said large corporate donors were backing her opponents and urged her LGBTQ supporters to help raise funds for her in the remaining days of the campaign.
Among those attending the meet & greet was gay longtime Dupont Circle civic activist Randy Downs who last November opened a nearby eatery called Protest Pizza. “I am queer and I am a Janeese supporter,” Downs told the Blade.
Stevie McCarty, president of Capital Stonewall Democrats, who also spoke at the meet & greet event, said his group would organize events in support of Lewis George in the remaining days of the campaign. Among them, he said, was an LGBTQ bar crawl in which supporters of Lewis George, including the candidate herself, would visit LGBTQ bars to promote her candidacy.
Virginians for Marriage Equality on Monday launched a campaign in support of repealing Virginia’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman, former state Sen. Adam Ebbin, former state Del. Mark Sickles, and American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia Executive Director Mary Bauer are among those who spoke at the launch that took place in Richmond. State Del. Kirk McPike (D-Alexandria), who co-chairs the campaign, also participated.
“This amendment is about making clear that the government has no business deciding which marriages or which families are worthy of recognition,” said Bauer. “The ACLU of Virginia has been fighting for Virginians’ right to marry who they love since the landmark case, Loving v. Virginia, which struck down the ban on interracial marriage. Now we are proud to carry that legacy forward by standing with our coalition partners in the fight to pass this amendment and finally enshrine the right to marriage equality in the commonwealth’s constitution.”
Voters in 2006 approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment.
Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is a Republican, in 2024 signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.
Two successive legislatures must approve a proposed constitutional amendment before it can go to the ballot.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger in February signed a bill that finalized the referendum’s language.
The referendum will take place on Nov. 3.
National
White House Correspondents’ Dinner rescheduled after shooting
‘We will not allow an act of violence to have the last word’
The White House Correspondents’ Association announced on Tuesday that it has rescheduled its annual dinner for July 24 after the April event was halted when gunshots rang out at the Washington Hilton.
Cole Allen, 31, is charged with the attempted assassination of President Trump, who was in the ballroom at the time of the incident. One Secret Service officer was wounded in the attack. Officers stopped Allen before he could enter the ballroom where 2,500 journalists and politicos were having dinner and waiting for Trump to speak. It was Trump’s first time attending as president.
“We will not allow an act of violence to have the last word, especially during a year when we are reflecting on the 250th anniversary of America and everything we stand for,” said WHCA President Weijia Jiang in a statement to members.
She did not announce further details, including venue and ticketing.
Washington Blade White House reporter Joe Reberkenny was in the audience when shots were fired and reported live on social media from the scene.
This post will be updated as more details are announced.
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