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Biden, Trump win on Super Tuesday

Anti-LGBTQ N.C. gubernatorial candidate garners GOP nomination

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Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

About a third of all delegates for the presidential nominating conventions were up for grabs as voters in 16 U.S. states and the U.S. territory of American Samoa headed to the polls on Super Tuesday. 

As expected, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump trounced their respective rivals in the Democratic and Republican Parties, earning a respective 1,479 and 995 delegates and thereby setting up a rematch of the 2020 presidential election. 

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley announced the suspension of her campaign on Wednesday, but declined to endorse Trump. 

After he delivers the State of the Union address on Thursday, where he is expected to draw contrasts between his record and vision of leadership and Trump’s, the president will travel to Pennsylvania and then to Georgia. Both are swing states. Neither held primaries or caucuses on Tuesday.

The White House aside; the contests on Tuesday across the country shaped key races for state legislatures, Congress, mayors’ mansions, city councils and elsewhere. 

Among the most closely watched was the Democratic primary for California’s second U.S. Senate seat. The incumbent — Laphonza Butler, the first LGBTQ Black senator — was appointed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom after the death of Dianne Feinstein and announced that she would not seek another term shortly after she was seated in October. 

The move set up a three-way race between three well known Democrats representing California in the U.S. House of Representatives: Adam Schiff, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee. 

Schiff pulled ahead on Tuesday and will advance to the general election against former baseball player Steve Garvey, the GOP candidate.

In North Carolina, anti-LGBTQ Lieutenant Gov. Mark Robinson became the Republican gubernatorial nominee. Polls show that he is neck and neck with state Attorney General Josh Stein, the likely Democratic candidate. 

“There is no reason anybody, anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality or any of that filth,” Robinson said in 2021. “And yes, I called it filth. And if you don’t like it that I called it filth, come see me about it.”

He has also made anti-Semitic and misogynistic remarks. 

“Mark Robinson’s ascension to the Republican nomination for governor in our state is a disturbing signal of how extreme the GOP establishment has become in North Carolina,” Campaign for Southern Equality Director of Impact and Innovation Allison Scott said in a statement.

Human Rights Campaign Equality Votes PAC released a statement Tuesday that said “all signs point to North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson becoming the Republican party’s 2024 nominee for governor. Robinson is one of the most radical anti-LGTBQ+ MAGA politicians on the ballot this year, with a long record of demeaning LGTBQ+ people and spreading hateful, vile rhetoric without abandon. Among many other ‘lowlights,’ Robinson has: 

  • Referred to being transgender and homosexuality as “filth” and said gays are equivalent to “what the cows leave behind” as well as “maggots” and “flies.”
  • Called straight couples “superior” to LGBTQ+ couples
  • Said transgender women should be arrested over bathroom use and suggested transgender people instead  “find a corner outside somewhere” to go to the bathroom
  • Said the Pride flag “Makes me sick every time I see it — a church that flies that rainbow flag, which is a direct spit in the face of God almighty.”

The statement continued, “Beyond his bigoted anti-LGTBQ+ views, Robinson is also a Holocaust denier, an election denier, wants to ban all abortions in North Carolina and has mocked victims of school shootings. In short, there are few people who haven’t faced Robinson’s wrath.”

The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, which works to elect LGBTQ candidates to public office, pointed to several races in Texas and California that the organization was watching closely. 

Sacramento’s first LGBTQ city councilman, Steve Hansen, is angling to become its first LGBTQ mayor. He is tied with pediatrician and California state Sen. Richard Pan, each with 24 percent of the vote and 13 percent of precincts reporting.

Silicon Valley might get its first LGBTQ representative in Congress if Evan Low is elected to represent California’s 16th Congressional District, which will be vacant after Democratic Congresswoman Anna Eshoo’s retirement. He is currently in third place among the Democratic candidates with an estimated 51.7 percent of votes counted.

Palm Springs City Councilmember Lisa Middleton could also make history as the state’s first transgender legislator if she wins her bid for Senate District 28. She was leading incumbent state Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh in Tuesday’s early returns, and both will advance to the general election in November. And Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney Ethan Weaver would bring more LGBTQ representation to the Los Angeles City Council, though he is behind Councilmember Nithya Raman according to early returns reported by the Los Angeles Times.

LGBTQ candidates win in Texas

In Texas, state Rep. Julie Johnson won the Democratic primary in the race to succeed Democratic Congressman Colin Allred, who is running against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Johnson will make history as the first LGBTQ member of Congress from the South if she defeats Republican state Rep. Todd Hunter in November.

Molly Cook finished second in the Senate District 15 Democratic primary. She will face state Rep. Jarvis Johnson in a May 28 runoff. The winner will face Republican Joseph Trahan in November. Cook would become Texas’ first LGBTQ state senator if she wins.

Lauren Ashley Simmons, a progressive candidate from House District 146, defeated anti-LGBTQ Democratic state Rep. Shawn Thierry. Mo Jenkins, who is transgender, finished third in the Democratic primary in House District 139.

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After Biden signs TikTok ban its CEO vows federal court battle

“Rest assured, we aren’t going anywhere,” CEO said

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TikTok mobile phone app. (Screenshot/YouTube)

President Joe Biden signed an appropriations bill into law on Wednesday that provides multi-billion dollar funding and military aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan after months of delay and Congressional infighting.

A separate bill Biden signed within the aid package contained a bipartisan provision that will ban the popular social media app TikTok from the United States if its Chinese parent company ByteDance does not sell off the American subsidiary.

Reacting, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said Wednesday that the Culver City, Calif.-based company would go to court to try to remain online in the U.S.

In a video posted on the company’s social media accounts, Chew denounced the potential ban: “Make no mistake, this is a ban, a ban of TikTok and a ban on you and your voice,” Chew said. “Rest assured, we aren’t going anywhere. We are confident and we will keep fighting for your rights in the courts. The facts and the constitution are on our side, and we expect to prevail,” he added.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre adamantly denied during a press briefing on Wednesday that the bill constitutes a ban, reiterating the administration’s hope that TikTok will be purchased by a third-party buyer and referencing media reports about the many firms that are interested.

Chew has repeatedly testified in both the House and Senate regarding ByteDance’s ability to mine personal data of its 170 million plus American subscribers, maintaining that user data is secure and not shared with either ByteDance nor agencies of the Chinese government. The testimony failed to assuage lawmakers’ doubts.

In an email, the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee, U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who doesn’t support a blanket ban of the app, told the Washington Blade:

“As the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, I have long worked to safeguard Americans’ freedoms and security both at home and abroad. The Chinese Communist Party’s ability to exploit private user data and to manipulate public opinion through TikTok present serious national security concerns. For that reason, I believe that divestiture presents the best option to preserve access to the platform, while ameliorating these risks. I do not support a ban on TikTok while there are other less restrictive means available, and this legislation will give the administration the leverage and authority to require divestiture.”

A spokesperson for U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) told the Blade: “Senator Padilla believes we can support speech and creativity while also protecting data privacy and security. TikTok’s relationship to the Chinese Communist Party poses significant data privacy concerns. He will continue working with the Biden-Harris administration and his colleagues in Congress to safeguard Americans’ data privacy and foster continued innovation.”

The law, which gives ByteDance 270 days to divest TikTok’s U.S. assets, expires with a January 19, 2025 deadline for a sale. The date is one day before Biden’s term is set to expire, although he could extend the deadline by three months if he determines ByteDance is making progress or the transaction faces uncertainty in a federal court.

Former President Donald Trump’s executive order in 2020, which sought to ban TikTok and Chinese-owned WeChat, a unit of Beijing-based Tencent, in the U.S., was blocked by federal courts.

TikTok has previously fought efforts to ban its widely popular app by the state of Montana last year, in a case that saw a federal judge in Helena block that state ban, citing free-speech grounds.

The South China Morning Post reported this week that the four-year battle over TikTok is a significant front in a war over the internet and technology between Washington and Beijing. Last week, Apple said China had ordered it to remove Meta Platforms’s WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China over Chinese national security concerns.

A spokesperson for the ACLU told the Blade in a statement that “banning or requiring divestiture of TikTok would set an alarming global precedent for excessive government control over social media platforms.”

LGBTQ TikToker users are alarmed, fearing that a ban will represent the disruption of networks of support and activism. However, queer social media influencers who operate on multiple platforms expressed some doubts as to long term impact.

Los Angeles Blade contributor Chris Stanley told the Blade:

“It might affect us slightly, because TikTok is so easy to go viral on. Which obviously means more brand deals, etc. However they also suppress and shadow ban LGBTQ creators frequently. But we will definitely be focusing our energy more on other platforms with this uncertainty going forward. Lucky for us, we aren’t one trick ponies and have multiple other platforms built.”

Brooklyn, N.Y.,-based gay social media creator and influencer Artem Bezrukavenko told the Blade:

“For smart creators it won’t because they have multiple platforms. For people who put all their livelihood yes. Like people who do livestreams,” he said adding: “Personally I’m happy it gets banned or American company will own it so they will be less homophobic to us.”

TikTok’s LGBTQ following has generally positive experiences although there have been widely reported instances of users, notably transgender users, seemingly targeted by the platform’s algorithms and having their accounts banned or repeatedly suspended.

Of greater concern is the staggering rise in anti-LGBTQ violence and threats on the platform prompting LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD, in its annual Social Media Safety Index, to give TikTok a failing score on LGBTQ safety.

Additional reporting by Christopher Kane

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Smithsonian staff concerned about future of LGBTQ programming amid GOP scrutiny

Secretary Lonnie Bunch says ‘LGBTQ+ content is welcome’

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Lonnie G. Bunch III, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, appears before a Dec. 2023 hearing of the U.S. Committee on House Administration (Screen capture: Forbes/YouTube)

Staff at the Smithsonian Institution are concerned about the future of LGBTQ programming as several events featuring a drag performer were cancelled or postponed following scrutiny by House Republicans, according to emails reviewed by the Washington Post.

In December, Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III appeared before a hearing led by GOP members of the Committee on House Administration, who flagged concerns about the Smithsonian’s involvement in “the Left’s indoctrination of our children.”

Under questioning from U.S. Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.), Bunch said he was “surprised” to learn the Smithsonian had hosted six drag events over the past three years, telling the lawmakers “It’s not appropriate to expose children” to these performances.

Collaborations with drag artist Pattie Gonia in December, January, and March were subsequently postponed or cancelled, the Post reported on Saturday, adding that a Smithsonian spokesperson blamed “budgetary constraints and other resource issues” and the museums are still developing programming for Pride month in June.

“I, along with all senior leaders, take seriously the concerns expressed by staff and will continue to do so,” Bunch said in a statement to the paper. “As we have reiterated, LGBTQ+ content is welcome at the Smithsonian.”

The secretary sent an email on Friday expressing plans to meet with leaders of the Smithsonian Pride Alliance, one of the two groups that detailed their concerns to him following December’s hearing.

Bunch told the Pride Alliance in January that with his response to Bice’s question, his intention was to “immediately stress that the Smithsonian does not expose children to inappropriate content.”

“A hearing setting does not give you ample time to expand,” he said, adding that with more time he would have spoken “more broadly about the merits and goals of our programming and content development and how we equip parents to make choices about what content their children experience.”

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Survey finds support for Biden among LGBTQ adults persists despite misgivings

Data for Progress previewed the results exclusively with the Blade

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Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

A new survey by Data for Progress found LGBTQ adults overwhelmingly favor President Joe Biden and Democrats over his 2024 rival former President Donald Trump and Republicans, but responses to other questions may signal potential headwinds for Biden’s reelection campaign.

The organization shared the findings of its poll, which included 873 respondents from across the country including an oversample of transgender adults, exclusively with the Washington Blade on Thursday.

Despite the clear margin of support for the president, with only 22 percent of respondents reporting that they have a very favorable or somewhat favorable opinion of Trump, answers were more mixed when it came to assessments of Biden’s performance over the past four years and his party’s record of protecting queer and trans Americans.

Forty-five percent of respondents said the Biden-Harris administration has performed better than they expected, while 47 percent said the administration’s record has been worse than they anticipated. A greater margin of trans adults in the survey — 52 vs. 37 percent — said their expectations were not met.

Seventy precent of all LGBTQ respondents and 81 percent of those who identify as trans said the Democratic Party should be doing more for queer and trans folks, while just 24 percent of all survey participants and 17 percent of trans participants agreed the party is already doing enough.

With respect to the issues respondents care about the most when deciding between the candidates on their ballots, LGBTQ issues were second only to the economy, eclipsing other considerations like abortion and threats to democracy.

These answers may reflect heightened fear and anxiety among LGBTQ adults as a consequence of the dramatic uptick over the past few years in rhetorical, legislative, and violent bias-motivated attacks against the community, especially targeting queer and trans folks.

The survey found that while LGBTQ adults are highly motivated to vote in November, there are signs of ennui. For example, enthusiasm was substantially lower among those aged 18 to 24 and 25 to 39 compared with adults 40 and older. And a plurality of younger LGBTQ respondents said they believe that neither of the country’s two major political parties care about them.

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