Politics
Biden, Trump win on Super Tuesday
Anti-LGBTQ N.C. gubernatorial candidate garners GOP nomination
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.
Congress
Congress passes ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ with massive cuts to health insurance coverage
Roughly 1.8 million LGBTQ Americans rely on Medicaid
The “Big, Beautiful Bill” heads to President Donald Trump’s desk following the vote by the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday, which saw two nays from GOP members and unified opposition from the entire Democratic caucus.
To partially offset the cost of tax breaks that disproportionately favor the wealthy, the bill contains massive cuts to Medicaid and social safety net programs like food assistance for the poor while adding a projected $3.3 billion to the deficit.
Policy wise, the signature legislation of Trump’s second term rolls back clean energy tax credits passed under the Biden-Harris administration while beefing up funding for defense and border security.
Roughly 13 percent of LGBTQ adults in the U.S., about 1.8 million people, rely on Medicaid as their primary health insurer, compared to seven percent of non-LGBTQ adults, according to the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute think tank on sexual orientation and gender identities.
In total, the Congressional Budget Office estimates the cuts will cause more than 10 million Americans to lose their coverage under Medicaid and anywhere from three to five million to lose their care under Affordable Care Act marketplace plans.
A number of Republicans in the House and Senate opposed the bill reasoning that they might face political consequences for taking away access to healthcare for, particularly, low-income Americans who rely on Medicaid. Poorer voters flocked to Trump in last year’s presidential election, exit polls show.
A provision that would have blocked the use of federal funds to reimburse medical care for transgender youth was blocked by the Senate Parliamentarian and ultimately struck from the legislation — reportedly after the first trans member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) and the first lesbian U.S. senator, Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), shored up unified opposition to the proposal among Congressional Democrats.
Congress
Ritchie Torres says he is unlikely to run for NY governor
One poll showed gay Democratic congressman nearly tied with Kathy Hochul
Gay Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres of New York is unlikely to challenge New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in the state’s next gubernatorial race, he said during an appearance Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“I’m unlikely to run for governor,” he said. ““I feel like the assault that we’ve seen on the social safety net in the Bronx is so unprecedented. It’s so overwhelming that I’m going to keep my focus on Washington, D.C.”
Torres and Hochul were nearly tied in a poll this spring of likely Democratic voters in New York City, fueling speculation that the congressman might run. A Siena College poll, however, found Hochul leading with a wider margin.
Back in D.C., the congressman and his colleagues are unified in their opposition to President Donald Trump’s signature legislation, the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which heads back to the House after passing the Senate by one vote this week.
To pay for tax cuts that disproportionately advantage the ultra-wealthy and large corporations, the president and Congressional Republicans have proposed massive cuts to Medicaid and other social programs.
A provision in the Senate version of the bill that would have blocked the use of federal funds to reimburse medical care for transgender youth was blocked by the Senate Parliamentarian and ultimately struck from the legislation, reportedly after pressure from transgender U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) and lesbian U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).
Torres on “Morning Joe” said, “The so-called Big Beautiful Bill represents a betrayal of the working people of America and nowhere more so than in the Bronx,” adding, “It’s going to destabilize every health care provider, every hospital.”
Congress
House Democrats oppose Bessent’s removal of SOGI from discrimination complaint forms
Congressional Equality Caucus sharply criticized move
A letter issued last week by a group of House Democrats objects to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s removal of sexual orientation and gender identity as bases for sex discrimination complaints in several Equal Employment Opportunity forms.
Bessent, who is gay, is the highest ranking openly LGBTQ official in American history and the second out Cabinet member next to Pete Buttigieg, who served as transportation secretary during the Biden-Harris administration.
The signatories to the letter include a few out members of Congress, Congressional Equality Caucus chair and co-chairs Mark Takano (Calif.), Ritchie Torres (N.Y.), and Becca Balint (Vt.), along with U.S. Reps. Nikema Williams (Ga.), Hank Johnson (Ga.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (Ill.), Delia Ramirez (Ill.), Joyce Beatty (Ohio), Lloyd Doggett (Texas), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.), Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), and Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas).
The letter explains the “critical role” played by the EEO given the strictures and limits on how federal employees can find recourse for unlawful workplace discrimination — namely, without the ability to file complaints directly with the Employment Opportunity Commission or otherwise engage with the agency unless the complainant “appeal[s] an agency’s decision following the agency’s investigation or request[s] a hearing before an administrative judge.”
“Your attempt to remove ‘gender identity’ and ‘sexual orientation’ as bases for sex discrimination complaints in numerous Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) forms will create unnecessary hurdles to employees filing EEO complaints and undermine enforcement of federal employee’s nondiscrimination protections,” the members wrote in their letter.
They further explain the legal basis behind LGBTQ inclusive nondiscrimination protections for federal employees in the EEOC’s decisions in Macy v. Holder (2012) and Baldwin v. Foxx (2015) and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020).
“It appears that these changes may be an attempt by the department to dissuade employees from reporting gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination,” the lawmakers wrote. “Without forms clearly enumerating gender identity and sexual orientation as forms of sex discrimination, the average employee who experiences these forms of discrimination may see these forms and not realize that the discrimination they experienced was unlawful and something that they can report and seek recourse for.”
“A more alarming view would be that the department no longer plans to fulfill its legal obligations to investigate complaints of gender identity and sexual orientation and ensure its
employees are working in an environment free from these forms of discrimination,” they added.
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