National
Two gay candidates shine in fundraising
Pougnet, Cicilline post strong second-quarter results
Congressional candidate David Cicilline, the mayor of Providence, R.I., has raised $1.16 million over the course of his campaign. (Photo courtesy of Cicilline)
Two gay politicians posted strong second-quarter fundraising numbers that could propel them to seats in Congress.
Campaign finance reports made public earlier this month show Steve Pougnet, the mayor of Palm Springs, Calif., and David Cicilline, the mayor of Providence, R.I., boasting particularly strong numbers.
And Pougnet had the added accomplishment of keeping his fundraising numbers on par with his incumbent Republican opponent, Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.). Both candidates raised about $400,000 for the April to June period.
The second-quarter numbers mean Pougnet has raised $1,267,910 so far in his campaign, leaving him with $878,283 in cash on hand, while Bono Mack raised $1,731,752, leaving her with $1,241,919 in cash on hand.
In a statement, Pougnet said he’s “incredibly humbled” by the support he’s received in his bid to represent California’s 45th congressional district.
“In these very difficult times, our congresswoman has been absent and it’s clear people are hungry for change,” Pougnet added.
But Ryan Mahoney, campaign manager for Bono Mack, touted the Republican candidate’s fundraising ability and noted that Bono Mack is “humbled” by the support she’s received.
“She is proud to represent the people of California’s 45th congressional district and will continue to fight on their behalf to end reckless spending and debt in Washington and create more jobs and better business opportunities in California,” Mahoney said.
Pougnet’s ability to match Bono Mack during the second quarter is unusual because challengers often do not match their incumbent opponents in fundraising. The fundraising numbers are also significant because the race in the 45th district is widely seen as among the most competitive congressional contests in the country.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee put Pougnet on its “Red to Blue” program, and Bono Mack has been a lawmaker the National Republican Congressional Committee has worked to protect.
Notable donations to Pougnet from LGBT groups include $2,400 from the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and $6,900 from the Human Rights Campaign. Both organizations have endorsed the candidate. Donations also have come from Bruce Bastian, a Utah-based gay billionaire philanthropist, who donated $2,400; Hilary Rosen, a D.C. lesbian PR executive, who donated $1,000; and Lane Hudson, a D.C. gay activist, who contributed $300.
But Bono Mack is not without LGBT donors. In April, the Log Cabin Republicans gave $500 to her campaign.
Bono Mack had been considered a pro-LGBT Republican because of her votes in favor of the hate crimes bill and a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, as well as votes against the Federal Marriage Amendment. Her record was tarnished in May when she voted against an amendment that would lead to repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
R. Clarke Cooper, Log Cabin’s national director, noted his organization made the $500 contribution prior to Bono Mack’s vote against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal.
He said although Bono Mack voted against the repeal amendment, she ultimately voted in favor of the fiscal year 2011 defense authorization bill as a whole. Consequently, Cooper said Log Cabin’s endorsement of the Republican lawmaker stands.
“[Log Cabin] will continue to work with Representative Bono Mack,” Cooper said. “Using the carrot approach, additional [Log Cabin] PAC funds could be made available contingent upon her future work and performance in the House.”
Cicilline, who’s running to succeed Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) to represent Rhode Island’s 1st congressional district, meanwhile raised $436,000 in the second quarter. He’s raised $1.16 million over the course of his campaign and ended the quarter with $901,000 in cash on hand.
In a statement provided by his campaign, Cicilline said he’s pleased with his fundraising and the LGBT support he received in the second quarter.
“I am extremely grateful to the members of our community who are supporting my campaign for Congress,” he said. “They are helping to ensure that we have the resources necessary to get our message out for the Sept. 14 primary.”
Bill Lynch, the former head of the Rhode Island Democratic Party who’s running against Cicilline in the primary, raised $55,832 in the second quarter. In the same period, he spent $126,000, leaving him with $139,000 in cash on hand.
The winner of the Democratic primary will likely face Republican John Loughlin, an Iraq war veteran and Rhode Island Assembly member. He raised $104,786 in the second quarter while spending $192,000. Loughlin has $101,000 in cash on hand.
Cicilline is running in a safely Democratic district and the Democratic nominee who wins the primary is widely expected to succeed Kennedy in the U.S. House.
The Providence mayor has been the beneficiary of LGBT support over the course of the campaign, particularly during the second quarter. The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which has endorsed Cicilline, contributed $2,400 to his campaign in the second quarter.
Michael Cole, an HRC spokesperson, said his organization donated $721 to Cicilline in the second quarter, which was mostly in-kind contributions raised through HRC’s website.
Noting that HRC previously donated $6,025 to Cicilline, Cole said HRC plans to max out that contribution to $10,000 by year’s end.
Among the notable contributors to Cicilline’s campaign in the second quarter were Bastian, who donated $4,800; Rosen, who donated $500; Joe Solmonese, HRC’s president, who personally donated $500; and Winnie Stachelberg, senior vice president for external affairs at the Center for American Progress, who donated $1,000.
Other gay congressional candidates seeking office didn’t fare as well as Pougnet or Cicilline during the second quarter.
Ed Potosnak, a gay Democratic former staffer for Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) and public school teacher running in New Jersey, raised $47,000 in the second quarter while spending $26,000.
His finances leave him with $72,000 in cash on hand. Potosnak has raised $148,000 over the course of his campaign. Potosnak’s GOP opponent in his race to represent New Jersey’s 7th congressional district, one-term incumbent Rep. Leonard Lance (R-N.J.), raised $108,000. However, he spent nearly $250,000 in the same period, leaving him with $359,000 in cash on hand.
In what could be an uphill battle for a U.S. House seat, Potosnak is running in a traditionally Republican district. He hasn’t been endorsed by HRC or the Victory Fund.
Despite the funding disparity, Potosnak said he’s happy with the amount he raised in the second quarter because it came from individuals donors and not special interest money.
“Compared to the opponent, the guy that I’m running against, Congressman Lance, I received more contribution from individuals in the last filing — about $5,000 more,” Potosnak said. “I didn’t get the special interest money from the big banks and Wall Street that are fueling his campaign.”
A similar situation with campaign finances is playing out in Florida’s 17th congressional district, where nine candidates, including North Miami City Council member Scott Galvin, are vying for the Democratic nomination in a primary set for Aug. 24.
After raising $57,000 in the second quarter while spending $97,000, Galvin had about $15,000 in cash on hand. He’s raised about $112,000 over the course of his campaign, according to FEC records.
Galvin said he’s feeling good about his finances for the second quarter and was preparing to submit an amended report showing that he has raised $130,000 over the course of his campaign.
“We found several pages of donations that didn’t get included by accident, so for what it’s worth, the to-date total, I guess, would show $130,000,” Galvin said.
The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which has endorsed Galvin, contributed $2,400 to his campaign during the second quarter.
The candidate in the Democratic primary with the greatest war chest is Rudolph Moise, a physician and president of the Comprehensive Health Center in North Miami. He raised $938,162 for his campaign, although $800,000 was a personal loan to his campaign from himself. He spent $280,000 in the second quarter, leaving him with $909,000 in cash on hand.
Galvin said the disparity in finances didn’t bother him and he would remain focused on a “grassroots concentrated effort.”
“We’re doing it through all the old-fashioned, knocking-on-door, mail-to-the-home, traditional way of campaigning,” he said.
The 17th congressional district in Florida is also considered a safely Democratic seat. No Republican candidate has filed for candidacy, so the winner of the Democratic primary would be the presumptive winner of the seat.
South Carolina
Man faces first S.C. ‘hate intimidation’ charge
Timothy Truett allegedly shot at gay club in Myrtle Beach on April 1
A South Carolina man remains in custody on a more than $300,000 bond after he allegedly opened fire at a Myrtle Beach nightclub on April 1, according to WMBF.
Reports say 37-year-old Timothy James Truett Jr., of Clover, S.C., was detained by the Myrtle Beach Police Department after the April 1 incident outside Pulse Ultra Club. He was later arrested and charged with possession of a weapon during a violent crime, discharging a firearm into a dwelling, discharging a firearm within city limits, malicious injury to real property valued over $5,000, and assault or intimidation due to political opinions or the exercise of civil rights.
At 10:57 a.m. on April 1, officers responded to a call about a possible shooting at Pulse Ultra Club, located in the 2700 block of South Kings Highway.
In an affidavit released later, the club’s owner, Ken Phillips, said he was doing paperwork that morning when he heard “five or six” gunshots. He went outside and found a window and the windshield of his SUV shattered by bullets. An SUV with blue plastic covering one window was left at the scene.
Police later reviewed footage that showed a silver vehicle stopping in the middle of the road. The video appeared to capture muzzle flashes coming from the passenger-side window.
According to the affidavit, an officer later pulled over a vehicle driven by Truett and found spent shell casings in the back seat, along with a gun.
Documents do not detail why Truett was ultimately charged under the state law covering assault or intimidation tied to political opinions or the exercise of civil rights.
As of April 1, records show Truett is being held in Horry County on a combined bond of more than $312,000.
WMBF spoke with Phillips after the incident and asked whether there was any prior conflict that might have led to the shooting.
“I don’t know if it’s personal, I don’t know if it’s related to being gay, I don’t know if it’s related to the bar issues,” Phillips told WMBF. “Anybody with a mindset of pulling out a weapon in broad daylight is not right.”
“My primary concern has and always will be the safety of my community and my customers,” he added. “It’s given me great concern … as to how far people will go.”
WMBF also spoke with Adam Hayes, vice chair of Myrtle Beach’s Human Rights Coalition, who was involved in pushing for the ordinance. He said that while the incident itself is troubling, it shows the policy is being put to use.
The ordinance is intended to deter “crimes that are motivated by bias or hate towards any person or persons, in whole or in part, because of the actual or perceived” identity, in the absence of a statewide hate crime law.
“It’s nice to see that something we put into policy is not just a piece of paper, that it’s actually being used,” said Hayes.
He said the shooting underscores the need for a statewide hate crime law in South Carolina and added that the incident has left the local LGBTQ community shaken.
South Carolina and Wyoming are the only two states in the U.S. without a comprehensive statewide hate crime law.
Truett remains in jail as of publication.
The White House
Trump budget would codify expanded global gag rule
Funding for LGBTQ health programs around the world would also be cut
The Trump-Vance administration’s fiscal year 2027 budget would codify the expanded global gag rule and eliminate funding for LGBTQ-specific programs in global health initiatives.
“The budget would ensure no funding supports abortion, unfettered access to birth control, and also eliminates funding for circumcision and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer services to better focus funds on life-saving assistance,” reads the proposed budget the White House released on April 3. “The United States should not pay for the world’s birth control and therapy.”
The proposed budget includes four examples of “eliminated activities.”
- In the last administration, PEPFAR funded health workers who performed over 21 abortions in Mozambique
- Promoting reproductive health education and access to birth control and other harmful programs couched under ‘family planning’ in Ghana
- A supply chain “control tower” to provide a “holistic commercial of the shelf solution” on the Office of Population and Reproductive Health (PRH)
- Promoting health equity and providing condoms and contraception in Kenya.
President Ronald Reagan in 1985 implemented the global gag rule, also known as the “Mexico City” policy, which bans U.S. foreign aid for groups that support abortion and/or offer abortion-related services.
Trump reinstated the rule during his first administration. The Biden-Harris administration shortly after it took office in January 2021 rescinded it.
The Trump-Vance White House earlier this year expanded the global gag rule to ban U.S. foreign aid for groups that promote “gender ideology.” The expansion took effect on Feb. 26.
US funding cuts have devastated global LGBTQ rights movement
The Trump-Vance administration after it took office in January 2025 moved to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, which funded LGBTQ and intersex rights groups around the world. USAID officially shut down on July 1, 2025.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio in March 2025 announced the State Department would administer the 17 percent of USAID contracts that had not been cancelled. Rubio issued a waiver that allowed PEPFAR and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” programs to continue to operate during the U.S. foreign aid freeze the White House announced shortly after it took office.
The global LGBTQ and intersex rights movement has lost more than an estimated $50 million in funding because of these cuts. The Washington Blade has previously reported PEPFAR-funded programs in Kenya and other African countries have been forced to suspend services and even shut down.
The Trump-Vance administration has signed healthcare-specific agreements with Kenya, Uganda, and other African countries through its American First Global Health Strategy. Advocacy groups with whom the Blade has spoken have expressed concern these partnerships will result in further exclusion and government-sanctioned discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The proposed fiscal year 2027 budget includes $5.1 billion for “global health to end the previous administration’s abuse of these programs and to execute (the State Department’s) newly released America First Global Health Strategy.” This figure represents a $4.3 billion cut from the previous year.
“The president’s new vision of bilateral health assistance eliminates bloated Beltway Bandit contracts, does more with fewer dollars, and transitions recipient countries to self-reliance,” reads the proposed budget. “The budget would also eliminate disease-specific accounts and provide the department crucial agility to address the actual needs of each recipient country — across HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and polio — to strengthen global health security and protect Americans from disease.”
“The budget would focus on new compacts that unify funding, achieving economies of scale in both implementation and oversight,” it adds. “Under the prior administration, only about 40 percent of PEPFAR funds supported actual service delivery, including medications, testing, commodities, and health workers, with the remaining 60 percent wasted on duplicative administrative costs, unwieldy supply chains, and layers of endless bureaucracy. The new AFGHS (America First Global Health Strategy) compacts would improve efficiency, cut red tape, and dismantle the bloated ecosystem of foreign assistance profiteers.”
The Council for Global Equality on April 3 reiterated its criticism of the expanded global gag rule, and urged Congress to reject the proposed budget.
“We won’t mince words: people are dying because of this policy,” said the Council for Global Equality in a statement. “Making this policy permanent will only ensure that U.S. foreign assistance discriminates against those who need services the most, all while forcing people around the world to adhere to the Trump administration’s extremist, ideological agenda that denies the very existence of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex persons.”
“We will not be silent as Trump threatens to upend decades of bipartisan foreign assistance programs to appease his extremist base,” added the group. “We call on Congress to immediately reject this budget and block implementation of the expanded global gag rules.”
Vice President JD Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, will visit Hungary next week.
An announcement the White House released on Thursday said the Vances will be in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, from April 7-8.
JD Vance “will hold bilateral meetings with” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The announcement further indicates the vice president “will also deliver remarks on the rich partnership between the United States and Hungary.”
The Vances will travel to Hungary less than a week before the country’s parliamentary elections take place on April 12.
Orbán, who has been in office since 2010, and his Fidesz-KDNP coalition government have faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
The Associated Press notes polls indicate Orbán is trailing Péter Magyar and his center-right Tisza party.
Amendments to India’s transgender rights law criticized
Cuba under pressure and without answers
Police mental health struggles gain growing attention
Man faces first S.C. ‘hate intimidation’ charge
Trump budget would codify expanded global gag rule
Pam Bondi ousted as attorney general
JD Vance to travel to Hungary next week
Mayor Bowser signs bill requiring insurers to cover PrEP
Belarusian lawmakers approve bill to crackdown on LGBTQ rights
