Politics
Looking ahead to the Democratic National Convention
Victory, Task Force, HRC, GLAAD, A4TE, and others will be in Chicago

The Washington Blade will be reporting live from Chicago at the Democratic National Convention next week.
With 81 percent of delegates responding, this year has seen a record number — 17 percent — who identify as LGBTQ, up from 11.5 percent in 2020, convention officials told the Blade. They will be joined by LGBTQ lawmakers, including the chair and most co-chairs of the Congressional Equality Caucus, and representatives from several major LGBTQ advocacy organizations.
This year’s DNC will be the last in which Annise Parker will participate as president and CEO of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund and LGBTQ+ Victory Institute. Under the leadership of the former Houston mayor, the political action campaign and training organization for LGBTQ elected leaders have become powerhouses.
The Human Rights Campaign will also be on the ground with President Kelley Robinson leading events throughout the week. Less than a week after Vice President Kamala Harris’s emergence as the presumptive Democratic 2024 nominee, HRC raised more than $300,000 during an Out for Harris LGBTQ+ Unity Call.
For the first time in more than 40 years, the National LGBTQ+ Task Force Action Fund endorsed a presidential candidate, Harris, following President Joe Biden’s announcement on July 21 that he would step off the presidential ticket. Task Force President Kierra Johnson will be in Chicago alongside senior staff for the organization.
GLAAD will be at the DNC to help inform media about LGBTQ issues and amplify queer and trans voices, while Advocates 4 Trans Equality (f.k.a. the National Center for Transgender Equality and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund) will have a presence at the convention, too.
Events for next week will include:
- Sunday Aug. 18 | 6 p.m. CT: HRC and Victory Fund will host a delegate meet-up and mixer/bar crawl at various LGBTQ establishments in Chicago
- Location: LGBTQ venues including Sidetrack, Roscoe’s, Progress, Lark, Kit Kat, and Hydrate
- Monday, Aug. 19 | 3 p.m. CT: A4TE And HRC will host “LGBTQ+ Voices: What matters to the community”
- Location: McCormick Place
- Monday Aug. 19 | 3 p.m. CT: HRC will host a “DNC LGBTQ+ Kickoff — The Power of Equality Votes,” which will feature top leaders and strategists from the LGBTQ movement and the Democratic Party, along with influencers and others
- Location: McCormick Place
- Monday Aug. 19 | 4:30 p.m. CT: LPAC will host a cocktail reception with special guests Ali Krieger, Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kansas), Del. state Sen. Sarah McBride and Colo. state Rep. Leslie Herod. Charlotte Clymer is serving as emcee.
- Location: Villanelle at 2500 W. Chicago Ave.
- Tuesday, Aug. 20 | 10 a.m. CT: GLAAD will host a “Media Institute Culture Briefing” to review the organization’s 2024 Accelerating Acceptance report
- Location: The Drake Hotel
- Tuesday Aug. 20 | 4 p.m. CT: The Victory Fund will host a “Victory at the DNC” event, which is expected to draw delegates and executive officers
- Location: The Wit
- Tuesday Aug. 20 | 9 p.m. CT: HRC and Planned Parenthood Action Fund will host a “We Show Up — We Decide” party (by invitation only)
- Location: downtown Chicago
- Wednesday Aug. 21 | 11:45 a.m. CT: The Task Force will address a meeting of the LGBTQ+ Caucus
- Location: McCormick Place
- Thursday Aug. 21: HRC will host 50+ watch parties across the country. Harris is expected to take the stage at the United Center between 6 and 10 p.m. CT
- All week: HRC will host a “Creator Studio and Activation Center” where attendees can learn how best to make an impact in the 2024 elections and mobilize volunteers
- Location: McCormick Center
Register for HRC events at HRC.im/DNC.
Congress
Top Congressional Democrats reintroduce Equality Act on Trump’s 100th day in office
Legislation would codify federal LGBTQ-inclusive non-discrimination protections

In a unified display of support for LGBTQ rights on President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office, congressional Democrats, including leadership from the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, reintroduced the Equality Act on Tuesday.
The legislation, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, codifying these protections into federal law in areas from jury service to housing and employment, faces an unlikely path to passage amid Republican control of both chambers of Congress along with the White House.
Speaking at a press conference on the grass across the drive from the Senate steps were Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.), U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), who is the first out LGBTQ U.S. Senator, U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (Calif.), who is gay and chairs the Congressional Equality Caucus, U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (N.H.), who is gay and is running for the U.S. Senate, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.), and U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (Ore.).
Also in attendance were U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (Del.), who is the first transgender member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Dina Titus (Nev.), U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (Ill.), and representatives from LGBTQ advocacy groups including the Human Rights Campaign and Advocates 4 Trans Equality.
Responding to a question from the Washington Blade on the decision to reintroduce the bill as Trump marks the hundredth day of his second term, Takano said, “I don’t know that there was a conscious decision,” but “it’s a beautiful day to stand up for equality. And, you know, I think the president is clearly hitting a wall that Americans are saying, many Americans are saying, ‘we didn’t vote for this.'”
A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released Sunday showed Trump’s approval rating in decline amid signs of major opposition to his agenda.
“Many Americans never voted for this, but many Americans, I mean, it’s a great day to remind them what is in the core of what is the right side of history, a more perfect union. This is the march for a more perfect union. That’s what most Americans believe in. And it’s a great day on this 100th day to remind our administration what the right side of history is.”
Merkley, when asked about the prospect of getting enough Republicans on board with the Equality Act to pass the measure, noted that, “If you can be against discrimination in employment, you can be against discrimination in financial contracts, you can be against discrimination in mortgages, in jury duty, you can be against discrimination in public accommodations and housing, and so we’re going to continue to remind our colleagues that discrimination is wrong.”
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which was sponsored by Merkley, was passed by the Senate in 2013 but languished in the House. The bill was ultimately broadened to become the Equality Act.
“As Speaker Nancy Pelosi has always taught me,” Takano added, “public sentiment is everything. Now is the moment to bring greater understanding and greater momentum, because, really, the Congress is a reflection of the people.”
“While we’re in a different place right this minute” compared to 2019 and 2021 when the Equality Act was passed by the House, Pelosi said she believes “there is an opportunity for corporate America to weigh in” and lobby the Senate to convince members of the need to enshrine federal anti-discrimination protections into law “so that people can fully participate.”
Politics
George Santos sentenced to 87 months in prison for fraud case
Judge: ‘You got elected with your words, most of which were lies.’

Disgraced former Republican congressman George Santos was sentenced to 87 months in prison on Friday, after pleading guilty last year to federal charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
“Mr. Santos, words have consequences,” said Judge Joanna Seybert of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. “You got elected with your words, most of which were lies.”
The first openly gay GOP member of Congress, Santos became a laughing stock after revelations came to light about his extensive history of fabricating and exaggerating details about his life and career.
His colleagues voted in December 2023 to expel him from Congress. An investigation by the U.S. House Ethics Committee found that Santos had used pilfered campaign funds for cosmetic procedures, designer fashion, and OnlyFans.
Federal prosecutors, however, found evidence that “Mr. Santos stole from donors, used his campaign account for personal purchases, inflated his fund-raising numbers, lied about his wealth on congressional documents and committed unemployment fraud,” per the New York Times.
The former congressman told the paper this week that he would not ask for a pardon. Despite Santos’s loyalty to President Donald Trump, the president has made no indication that he would intervene in his legal troubles.
Congress
Democratic lawmakers travel to El Salvador, demand information about gay Venezuelan asylum seeker
Congressman Robert Garcia led delegation

California Congressman Robert Garcia on Tuesday said the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador has agreed to ask the Salvadoran government about the well-being of a gay asylum seeker from Venezuela who remains incarcerated in the Central American country.
The Trump-Vance administration last month “forcibly removed” Andry Hernández Romero, a stylist who asked for asylum because of persecution he suffered because of his sexual orientation and political beliefs, and other Venezuelans from the U.S. and sent them to El Salvador.
The White House on Feb. 20 designated Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, as an “international terrorist organization.” President Donald Trump on March 15 invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which the Associated Press notes allows the U.S. to deport “noncitizens without any legal recourse.”
Garcia told the Washington Blade that he and three other lawmakers — U.S. Reps. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), and Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) — met with U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador William Duncan and embassy staffers in San Salvador, the Salvadoran capital.
“His lawyers haven’t heard from him since he was abducted during his asylum process,” said Garcia.
The gay California Democrat noted the embassy agreed to ask the Salvadoran government to “see how he (Hernández) is doing and to make sure he’s alive.”
“That’s important,” said Garcia. “They’ve agreed to that … we’re hopeful that we get some word, and that will be very comforting to his family and of course to his legal team.”

Garcia, Frost, Dexter, and Ansari traveled to El Salvador days after House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) denied their request to use committee funds for their trip.
“We went anyways,” said Garcia. “We’re not going to be intimidated by that.”
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on April 14 met with Trump at the White House. U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) three days later sat down with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who the Trump-Vance administration wrongfully deported to El Salvador on March 15.
Abrego was sent to the country’s Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum-security prison known by the Spanish acronym CECOT. The Trump-Vance administration continues to defy a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ordered it to “facilitate” Abrego’s return to the U.S.
Garcia, Frost, Dexter, and Ansari in a letter they sent a letter to Duncan and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday demanded “access to” Hernández, who they note “may be imprisoned at” CECOT. A State Department spokesperson referred the Blade to the Salvadoran government in response to questions about “detainees” in the country.
Garcia said the majority of those in CECOT who the White House deported to El Salvador do not have criminal records.
“They can say what they want, but if they’re not presenting evidence, if a judge isn’t sending people, and these people have their due process, I just don’t understand how we have a country without due process,” he told the Blade. “It’s just the bedrock of our democracy.”

Garcia said he and Frost, Dexter, and Ansari spoke with embassy staff, Salvadoran journalists and human rights activists and “anyone else who would listen” about Hernández. The California Democrat noted he and his colleagues also highlighted Abrego’s case.
“He (Hernández) was accepted for his asylum claim,” said Garcia. “He (Hernández) signed up for the asylum process on an app that we created for this very purpose, and then you get snatched up and taken to a foreign prison. It is unacceptable and inhumane and cruel and so it’s important that we elevate his story and his case.”
The Blade asked Garcia why the Trump-Vance administration is deporting people to El Salvador without due process.
“I honestly believe that he (Trump) is a master of dehumanizing people, and he wants to continue his horrendous campaign to dehumanize migrants and scare the American public and lie to the American public,” said Garcia.
The State Department spokesperson in response to the Blade’s request for comment referenced spokesperson Tammy Bruce’s comments about Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador.
“These Congressional representatives would be better off focused on their own districts,” said the spokesperson. “Instead, they are concerned about non-U.S. citizens.”
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