National
New anxieties emerge over ‘Don’t Ask’ vote
Repeal supporters hoping for enough votes for cloture
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Blade photo by Michael Key)
New anxieties are emerging over whether sufficient votes exist to advance legislation containing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal as a dispute has emerged in the U.S. Senate over the amendments that will be allowed for the bill.
The issue comes down to a disagreement between Democratic and Republican leadership on the issue of the ability to offer amendments on the Senate floor to the defense budget legislation that contains the repeal language.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said three amendments would be allowed on the fiscal year 2011 defense authorization bill when it comes to the floor, but Republicans reportedly want an agreement to offer additional amendments to the defense authorization bill.
The three amendments that Reid said he would allow are a measure on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal; a measure to attach the DREAM Act, an immigration-related bill, to the defense legislation; and another measure that would address the “secret holds” U.S. senators can place on presidential nominees.
Fred Sainz, the Human Rights Campaign’s vice president of communications and marketing, said this disagreement has made moving forward with the defense authorization bill “a partisan issue” for senators who would have otherwise voted in favor of cloture.
“Republicans would have liked to have seen additional amendments considered and so the party leaders on both the majority and minority side are holding their caucuses to these procedural issues on party lines,” Sainz said.
Concern about whether there are sufficient votes to move forward piqued on Thursday when the Advocate reported that Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) expressed doubts about finding enough votes for cloture.
“The question is whether the Senate leadership can negotiate an agreement with the Republicans that will allow the bill to come up and get them to feel that they can introduce amendments that they want to introduce as well,” Lieberman was quoted as saying. “But until that happens, I don’t think the votes are there to break the filibuster, which would be a shame.”
Consternation among Republicans seeking to offer additional amendments and now possibly withholding support for cloture is inspiring new worry from “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal supporters.
Sainz acknowledged the confidence that repeal supporters felt earlier in the week has given way to anxiety.
“Given what we now know on the way in which the cloture petition is kind of sizing up, it’s going to be a very close vote,” he said. “It’s going to be definitely a party line and we’re looking to bring a few Republicans to our side.”
Alex Nicholson, executive director of Servicemembers United, said he’s “still optimistic” that at least 60 senators will vote in favor of cloture on the defense authorization bill and acknowledged the vote would be close.
“I think we all generally feel like we’re still moving in the right direction,” Nicholson said. “Nothing has changed in terms of the estimation that it’s going to be a close vote, and we can’t take even one vote for granted on this.”
Nicholson said if the cloture vote were to take place now, the Senate would move to proceed on the defense authorization bill by a margin of one or two votes or possibly “an even 60.”
On Friday, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network issued the names of seven senators whom the organization says are uncommitted on the cloture vote and urged repeal supporters to contact them to urge them to move forward.
“For repeal to happen advocates need more senators on board to break John McCain’s filibuster,” the statements reads. “All supporters must call their senators now.”
The seven senators are Susan Collins (R-Maine), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.); Richard Lugar (R-Ind.); Judd Gregg (R-N.H.); Jim Webb (D-Va.) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio).
Only Webb’s office responded to the Blade’s request for comment on the defense authorization bill.
Will Jenkins, a Webb spokesperson, said he doesn’t have a statement from the senator at this time.
Still, he noted that while Webb voted against the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” provision in May during a committee markup, he voted to report out of committee the legislation as a whole.
“He has not indicated how he intends to vote on this in the future — as is his normal practice with pending legislation,” Jenkins said.
The fact that SLDN has cited Lugar as uncommitted for a vote on cloture is noteworthy because the senator told the Blade in July that he would “presume” that he would vote against any filibuster of the legislation.
The failure to invoke cloture on the defense authorization bill on Tuesday raises questions about its passage this Congress and the fate of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Sainz predicted that not having 60 votes to move forward on Tuesday would mean the bill would have to come up again in the lame duck session after Election Day — and perhaps with “a different set of circumstances.”
“It would be tight, but there would be the ability to go ahead and introduce [the defense authorization bill] and conference it,” Sainz said. “But that’s definitely a Plan B. We’re really kind of focused on cloture on Tuesday.”
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
Congratulations to Gil Pontes III on his recent appointment to the Financial Advisory Board for the City of Wilton Manors, Fla. Upon being appointed he said, “I’m honored to join the Financial Advisory Board for the City of Wilton Manors at such an important moment for our community. In my role as Executive Director of the NextGen Chamber of Commerce, I spend much of my time focused on economic growth, fiscal sustainability, and the long-term competitiveness of emerging business leaders. I look forward to bringing that perspective to Wilton Manors — helping ensure responsible stewardship of public resources while supporting a vibrant, inclusive local economy.”
Pontes is a nonprofit executive with years of development, operations, budget, management, and strategic planning experience in 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), and political organizations. Pontes is currently executive director of NextGen, Chamber of Commerce. NextGen Chamber’s mission is to “empower emerging business leaders by generating insights, encouraging engagement, and nurturing leadership development to shape the future economy.” Prior to that he served as managing director of The Nora Project, and director of development also at The Nora Project. He has held a number of other positions including Major Gifts Officer, Thundermist Health Center, and has worked in both real estate and banking including as Business Solutions Adviser, Ironwood Financial. For three years he was a Selectman, Town of Berkley, Mass. In that role, he managed HR and general governance for town government. There were 200+ staff and 6,500 constituents. He balanced a $20,000,000 budget annually, established an Economic Development Committee, and hired the first town administrator.
Pontes earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.
Kansas
ACLU sues Kansas over law invalidating trans residents’ IDs
A new Kansas bill requires transgender residents to have their driver’s licenses reflect their sex assigned at birth, invalidating current licenses.
Transgender people across Kansas received letters in the mail on Wednesday demanding the immediate surrender of their driver’s licenses following passage of one of the harshest transgender bathroom bans in the nation. Now the American Civil Liberties Union is filing a lawsuit to block the ban and protect transgender residents from what advocates describe as “sweeping” and “punitive” consequences.
Independent journalist Erin Reed broke the story Wednesday after lawmakers approved House Substitute for Senate Bill 244. In her reporting, Reed included a photo of the letter sent to transgender Kansans, requiring them to obtain a driver’s license that reflects their sex assigned at birth rather than the gender with which they identify.
According to the reporting, transgender Kansans must surrender their driver’s licenses and that their current credentials — regardless of expiration date — will be considered invalid upon the law’s publication. The move effectively nullifies previously issued identification documents, creating immediate uncertainty for those impacted.
House Substitute for Senate Bill 244 also stipulates that any transgender person caught driving without a valid license could face a class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. That potential penalty adds a criminal dimension to what began as an administrative action. It also compounds the legal risks for transgender Kansans, as the state already requires county jails to house inmates according to sex assigned at birth — a policy that advocates say can place transgender detainees at heightened risk.
Beyond identification issues, SB 244 not only bans transgender people from using restrooms that match their gender identity in government buildings — including libraries, courthouses, state parks, hospitals, and interstate rest stops — with the possibility for criminal penalties, but also allows for what critics have described as a “bathroom bounty hunter” provision. The measure permits anyone who encounters a transgender person in a restroom — including potentially in private businesses — to sue them for large sums of money, dramatically expanding the scope of enforcement beyond government authorities.
The lawsuit challenging SB 244 was filed today in the District Court of Douglas County on behalf of anonymous plaintiffs Daniel Doe and Matthew Moe by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kansas, and Ballard Spahr LLP. The complaint argues that SB 244 violates the Kansas Constitution’s protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process, and freedom of speech.
Additionally, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a temporary restraining order on behalf of the anonymous plaintiffs, arguing that the order — followed by a temporary injunction — is necessary to prevent the “irreparable harm” that would result from SB 244.
State Rep. Abi Boatman, a Wichita Democrat and the only transgender member of the Kansas Legislature, told the Kansas City Star on Wednesday that “persecution is the point.”
“This legislation is a direct attack on the dignity and humanity of transgender Kansans,” said Monica Bennett, legal director of the ACLU of Kansas. “It undermines our state’s strong constitutional protections against government overreach and persecution.”
“SB 244 is a cruel and craven threat to public safety all in the name of fostering fear, division, and paranoia,” said Harper Seldin, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “The invalidation of state-issued IDs threatens to out transgender people against their will every time they apply for a job, rent an apartment, or interact with police. Taken as a whole, SB 244 is a transparent attempt to deny transgender people autonomy over their own identities and push them out of public life altogether.”
“SB 244 presents a state-sanctioned attack on transgender people aimed at silencing, dehumanizing, and alienating Kansans whose gender identity does not conform to the state legislature’s preferences,” said Heather St. Clair, a Ballard Spahr litigator working on the case. “Ballard Spahr is committed to standing with the ACLU and the plaintiffs in fighting on behalf of transgender Kansans for a remedy against the injustices presented by SB 244, and is dedicated to protecting the constitutional rights jeopardized by this new law.”
National
After layoffs at Advocate, parent company acquires ‘Them’ from Conde Nast
Top editorial staff let go last week
Former staff members at the Advocate and Out magazines revealed that parent company Equalpride laid off a number of employees late last week.
Those let go included Advocate editor-in-chief Alex Cooper, Pride.com editor-in-chief Rachel Shatto, brand partnerships manager Erin Manley, community editor Marie-Adélina de la Ferriére, and Out magazine staff writers Moises Mendez and Bernardo Sim, according to a report in Hollywood Reporter.
Cooper, who joined the company in 2021, posted to social media that, “Few people have had the privilege of leading this legendary LGBTQ+ news outlet, and I’m deeply honored to have been one of them. To my team: thank you for the last four years. You’ve been the best. For those also affected today, please let me know how I can support you.”
The Advocate’s PR firm when reached by the Blade said it no longer represents the company. Emails to the Advocate went unanswered.
Equalpride on Friday announced it acquired “Them,” a digital LGBTQ outlet founded in 2017 by Conde Nast.
“Equalpride exists to elevate, celebrate and protect LGBTQ+ storytelling at scale,” Equalpride CEO Mark Berryhill said according to Hollywood Reporter. “By combining the strengths of our brands with this respected digital platform, we’re creating a unified ecosystem that delivers even more impact for our audiences, advertisers, and community partners.”
It’s not clear if “Them” staff would take over editorial responsibilities for the Advocate and Out.
Comings & Goings
Kansas passes bathroom bounty hunter bill
ACLU sues Kansas over law invalidating trans residents’ IDs
After layoffs at Advocate, parent company acquires ‘Them’ from Conde Nast
Spring into sold
New book profiles LGBTQ Ukrainians, documents war experiences
PHOTOS: Queen of Hearts
Two very different views of the State of the Union
Va. activists preparing campaign in support of repealing marriage amendment
