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Pence responds to criticism from Pete Buttigieg, says he ‘knows better’

Pence touts having ‘fully implemented’ Obergefell decision

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Mike Pence, gay news, Washington Blade
Vice President Mike Pence (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Following remarks in which 2020 hopeful Pete Buttigieg in defense of his same-sex marriage criticized Mike Pence, the vice president responded by saying the South Bend mayor “knows better,” ignoring his own longtime opposition to LGBT rights.

“I worked very closely with Mayor Pete when I was governor of the state of Indiana,” Pence said. “We had a great working relationship, and he said some things that are critical of my Christian faith and about me personally, and he knows better, he knows me.”

Pence made the remarks during an interview Wednesday with Joe Kernen on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that was set to air Thursday morning.

The vice president suggested he thinks Buttigieg made the remarks to stand out amid the field of Democratic candidates vying for the 2020 presidential nomination.

“They got 19 people running for president on that side, and the party is sliding off to the left, and they’re all competing with one another for how much more liberal they can be,” Pence said. “I get that.”

Alluding to polls showing a supermajority of the American public now backs same-sex marriage, Kernen asked Pence whether he has evolved on LGBT rights.

“Look, the Supreme Court has made their decision,” Pence responded. “When I was governor of Indiana we fully implemented that decision into law.”

But Pence concluded with additional comments indicating his opposition to LGBT rights hasn’t changed.

“I have my Christian values,” Pence said. “My family and I have a view of marriage that’s informed by our faith, and we stand by that. That doesn’t mean that we’re critical of anyone else that has a different point of view.”

Drew Anderson, a spokesperson for the LGBT media watchdog GLAAD, said on Twitter Pence was lying about his remarks when he asserted he “fully implemented” the 2015 Obergefell decision in favor of same-sex marriage.

“Mike Pence claimed he helped implanted marriage equality in Indiana in 2015,” Anderson said. “Spoiler: It’s Because had had to.”

Anderson also pointed out Pence as Indiana governor backed a state constitutional amendment that sought to prohibit same-sex marriage in the Hoosier State. The measure ultimately failed in the state legislature.

Buttigieg invoked Pence during his speech before the LGBTQ Victory Fund brunch in D.C. on Sunday in a emotional speech in which the South Bend mayor talked about his personal struggle accepting being gay.

Reflecting on the Pence’s notorious anti-LGBT history, Buttigieg had a message with respect to his marriage for the Vice President, saying his marriage to his spouse, Chasten Buttigieg, has made him closer to God.

“I wish the Mike Pences of the world could understand, that if you have a problem with who I am, then your problem is not with me, your quarrel is with my Creator,” Buttigieg said.

The right-wing media had a field day with the remarks, asserting Buttigieg was unfairly criticizing the vice president.

Among those expressing indignation with Buttigieg was conservative commentator Ben Shapiro.

“You have not pushed back honestly against Pence’s policies,” Shapiro said on Twitter. “You have maligned his religious beliefs and character.”

The right-wing response ignores Pence’s long anti-LGBT history, which includes promoting as U.S. House member a Federal Marriage Amendment that would have banned same-sex marriage, signing as Indiana governor a “religious freedom” bill enabling anti-LGBT discrimination and defending as vice president his wife for teaching at a Christian school that refuses to admit LGBT student or employ LGBT teachers.

LGBT advocates have asserted Pence supports widely discredited “ex-gay” conversion therapy and engineered the transgender military ban, although spokespersons for Pence have denied that.

It should be noted that in 2015 when Buttigieg came out as gay, Pence as governor of Indiana had good things to say about the South Bend mayor.

“I hold Mayor Buttigieg in the highest personal regard,” Pence told WSBT-TV. “We have a great working relationship, and I see him as a dedicated public servant and a patriot.’

A Buttigieg campaign spokesperson referred the Washington Blade back to Buttigieg’s remarks and Pence’s anti-LGBT history in response to Pence’s remarks.

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National

Trump threatens Rosie O’Donnell’s citizenship

Comedian responds with post linking him to Epstein

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Rosie O'Donnell (Screen capture via The Late Late Show/YouTube)

Donald Trump threatened to revoke Rosie O’Donnell’s U.S. citizenship last weekend amid his administration’s pattern of targeting people with whom he has publicly disagreed.

The actress and comedian, known for her roles in major motion pictures like “A League of Their Own” and “Harriet the Spy,” was singled out by the president on his social media app Truth Social, where he called the lesbian entertainer a “Threat to Humanity.”

“Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship,” Trump also posted. “[She] should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”

In response to the post—which reignites a decade-old feud between the two—O’Donnell shared a collage of photos from her time in Ireland, along with an old photo of Trump with convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“The president of the usa has always hated the fact that i see him for who he is – a criminal con man sexual abusing liar out to harm our nation to serve himself,” the former talk show host posted on Instagram. She continued, “this is why i moved to ireland – he is a dangerous old soulless man with dementia who lacks empathy compassion and basic humanity – i stand in direct opposition [to] all he represents – so do millions of others – u gonna deport all who stand against ur evil tendencies – ur a bad joke who cant form a coherent sentence.”

Trump’s threat is both irregular and constitutionally unsound. The Supreme Court has ruled over multiple decades that stripping someone of their citizenship violates the Constitution—and the 14th Amendment.

Three Supreme Court cases in particular—Trop v. Dulles (1958), Afroyim v. Rusk (1967), and Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969)—have all affirmed that once legally obtained, citizenship is not something that can simply be revoked, even if the president disagrees with what a person says or does. In Afroyim v. Rusk, the Supreme Court wrote: “In our country the people are sovereign and the Government cannot sever its relationship to the people by taking away their citizenship.”

This authoritarian threat echoes Trump’s broader efforts to undermine birthright citizenship, which has been a foundational part of the U.S. Constitution since the ratification of the 14th amendment.

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Bolivia

Trans Bolivian Senate candidate hopes to make history

Luna Humérez running to represent La Paz Province

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Luna Humérez (Courtesy photo)

Luna Humérez has made history in Bolivia as the first transgender woman to run for a seat in the country’s Senate.

“We are making history, my candidacy is a bet on human rights,” Humérez told the Washington Blade.

She hopes to represent La Paz Province under the banner of SÚMATE, a center-left political movement that includes presidential candidate Manfred Reyes Villa. 

“It is important to occupy these spaces and demonstrate that beyond our identity we have the capacity,” said Humérez.

With a trajectory of more than 15 years as an activist for trans rights in Bolivia, Humérez is not a new figure in the public arena. A lawyer by profession and president of the Organization of Transvestites, Transgender and Transsexual Women of Bolivia known by the acronym OTRAF, she has been one of the main promoters of a trans rights law in the country. Humérez is also the first trans woman in Bolivia to enter into a civil marriage after authorities legally recognized her gender identity.

Humérez is the founder of Casa Trans Pamela Valenzuela, a refuge and community center in La Paz.

Aware of the need to advance protections for sexual and gender diversities, Humérez has proposed a legislative platform that focuses on the control and effective enforcement of laws.

“Bolivia is full of laws, regulations that are obsolete, however they have a mandatory compliance,” she said, noting reforms should improve accessibility and respond to marginalized groups’ specific needs.

Humérez’s platform is “full rights for all, regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity.”

Facing a campaign from a historically marginalized identity, Humérez recognizes the resistance, but also celebrates the support. 

“My candidacy also speaks of the fact that there is a large number of Bolivians who have been left behind because of discriminatory bias,” she told the Blade. “I have so many anecdotes, which began with those who trusted me, among them are my sisters in struggle, human rights activists, political activists, animal activists, environmentalists, and others with whom we formed ties, mostly young people who also have the desire to take flight and change the country for the better. They are my other family and I am very grateful to them.”

Humérez proposes, in addition to a gender rights and diversity agenda, a platform with seven focuses — legal, political, economic, productive, social, moral, and territorial — and five immediate actions. These include:

  • An “immediate injection” of $10 billion to stabilize the economy and create the flow of dollars
  • Reestablish order throughout the country; guaranteeing freedom of protest without interfering in economic development
  • Create one million “decent and well-paid jobs” that would allow “talented young people” to remain in the country
  • “Act firmly” against corruption
  • “Promote real authority for each department” that would decentralize the government

Regarding LGBTQ youth in Bolivia, the lawyer and activist envisions a future where “the freedom that every human being has to choose their sexual orientation and gender identity with equal opportunities must be guaranteed.” 

“I notice that the youth today understood this, and now it is necessary to have spaces of accessibility and participation without any consideration,” said Humérez. “The State must guarantee through its instances this accessibility. We need a Bolivia that is more plural, inclusive and in brotherhood.”

Humérez concluded the interview by noting her family’s humble beginnings.

“I know what deprivation is and I know what it is like not to have enough bread to put in one’s mouth,” she said. “If my life has been to help as many people as possible, being in there I will be able to help much more. I am an example of overcoming and showing that anything is possible. Do not judge me by my identity, but by my capacity.”

The country’s general elections will take place on Aug. 17. 

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National

Trump administration sues California over trans student-athletes

Lawsuit claims state policy violates federal law on school sports

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Attorney General Pam Bondi and Education Secretary Linda McMahon (Screen capture via The Justice Department/YouTube)

President Donald Trump is making good on his threat to punish California officials for allowing transgender female student-athletes to compete with cisgender girls in school sports. 

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it is suing the state’s Department of Education, claiming California’s policy to allow trans students to compete with other girls violates Title IX, the federal law that bans discrimination in education based on sex. The DOJ’s suit says California’s rules “are not only illegal and unfair but also demeaning, signaling to girls that their opportunities and achievements are secondary to accommodating boys.”

As the Washington Blade reported in June, this lawsuit follows a warning by the Trump administration to end the trans participation policy within 10 days or face referral to the DOJ as well as the loss of federal education funding.

And California may merely be the first to face legal action, according to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who warned that the 21 other states which permit trans girls to compete in female athletics could also face challenges by the federal government.

“If you do not comply, you’re next,” she said in a video posted on the DOJ website. “We will protect girls in girls sports.” Bondi was joined by Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. 

The DOJ suit named California’s Education Department and the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body for high school sports. A spokesperson for the CIF told the Associated Press the organization would not comment on pending litigation.

A spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom deferred to the CIF and the Department of Education in declining to comment on the lawsuit since the governor was not named a defendant. But Newsom’s office told the AP that the Trump administration’s attacks on its policies protecting transgender athletes are “a cynical attempt” to distract from the federal government’s withholding of funds for all students who benefit from after-school and summer programs.

Newsom, however, has come under criticism — most notably by the Human Rights Campaign — for remarks he made in March, that allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports was “deeply unfair,” as the Blade reported. 

For more than a decade, California law has allowed students to participate in sex-segregated school programs, including on sports teams, and use bathrooms and other facilities that align with their gender identity.

But headlines about AB Hernandez, an out trans female high school student-athlete who won titles in the California track-and-field championships last month, drew condemnations from Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, and President Trump himself. 

Following the meet, Dhillon wrote in a letter to the California Interscholastic Federation that it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution by allowing trans girls to compete against other female athletes.

As for the lawsuit, DOJ claims California’s policies “ignore undeniable biological differences between boys and girls, in favor of an amorphous ’gender identity.’”

“The results of these illegal policies are stark: girls are displaced from podiums, denied awards, and miss out on critical visibility for college scholarships and recognition,” the suit says.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear two cases challenging state bans on trans student-athletes, as the Blade reported. More than 20 states have limited trans girls from participating on girls sports teams, barred gender-affirming surgeries for minors and required parents to be notified if a child changes their pronouns at school. More than two dozen states have laws barring trans women and girls from participating in certain sports competitions. Challenges to some of those policies are still being decided by courts across the country. 

Back in February, the president signed an executive order that bans trans girls and women from participating in sports that match their gender identity, as the Blade reported.

Supporters of banning trans girls and women from competing include the conservative California Family Council, which has posted a petition online, arguing a ban would restore fairness in athletic competitions. Opponents like Equality California say bans are an attack on transgender youth.

“Local schools and athletic associations are the ones who should be handling these issues, and they are already creating policies that protect transgender youth and ensure a level playing field for all students. A federal ban that overrides those rules could require young girls to answer inappropriate personal questions or even be subjected to genital inspections by strangers if they want to participate in sports,” the organization said in a statement in February.

“The head of the NCAA, himself a former Republican Governor, recently told a U.S. Senate panel that he knew of less than 10 out transgender athletes among the 510,000 currently competing in college sports—less than .002 percent of all NCAA athletes.

“Studies confirm that participation in sports provides kids with invaluable life skills such as teamwork, leadership, discipline, and cooperation—fundamental lessons that every young person deserves the chance to experience. Beyond the field, sports also contribute significantly to students’ overall well-being, fostering better mental health, boosting academic performance, and enhancing self-esteem and confidence.”

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