National
New Catholic LGBT organization launches
Group prioritizes marriage, immigration reform
A new advocacy organization debuted this month that seeks to educate Catholics on issues such as same-sex marriage and the importance of LGBT inclusion in immigration reform.
The group, Catholics for Equality, seeks to mobilize American Catholics who believe LGBT people should have rights such as workplace protections, access to marriage and the ability to serve openly in the military.
Phil Attey, executive director of Catholics for Equality, said the organization plans to give voice to Catholics who already support rights for LGBT people.
“Catholics in the pews already understand these values, but are sometimes afraid to speak out,” Attey said. “Today, we are asking Catholics of conscience to engage in honest, loving conversations in the Catholic Church, in our families and in our community.”
Catholicism is the largest religious denomination in the United States. Around 68 million people in the country identify as Catholic, according to the National Council of Churches.
Aniello Alioto, a board member charged with the group’s grassroots campaign, said the main goal for the remainder of this year is encouraging Catholics to have discussions on LGBT issues.
Alioto said the organization’s website would be a primary tool for achieving this goal.
“We’ll be providing American Catholics with role models, facts and tips on how to have family discussions, how to challenge misinformation in the parishes and to ensure, as Catholics, their voices are heard in their community,” Alioto said.
One premise of the new group is that Catholic support for LGBT rights is among the highest among religious people in the United States.
Joseph Palacios, a gay Catholics for Equality board member and a sociology professor at Georgetown University, presented polling data showing a vast majority of Catholics support LGBT rights.
Palacios said a Gallup poll recently reported 62 percent of Catholics believe homosexuality should be accepted by society, which he said is up 16 points from 2006.
Additionally, Palacios said 69 percent of Catholics believe in civil unions for same-sex couples in committed relationships while 48 percent of all Catholics support same-sex marriage.
“In short, Catholics are the largest Christian body in the United States and members overwhelmingly support basic American freedoms and rights for their fellow LGBT family members, co-workers and neighbors,” Palacios said.
But although polls show many Catholics support rights for LGBT people, church leadership is known for opposing such rights. The Catholic Church is known for its role in promoting Proposition 8 in California, which ended same-sex marriage in the state. The church also had a lead role in the campaign for the referendum in Maine that last year abrogated the state’s marriage law.
Anne Underwood, a Maine resident and board member for the organization, said she’s taking part in Catholics for Equality in part because of the church’s role in the Maine marriage referendum.
“For many Catholics in Maine like me, 2009 was a soul-searing year,” she said. “During a six-month campaign leading up to the November vote, our liberties became vehicles for the hierarchy’s political agenda.”
On one particular Sunday, Underwood said the church required priests to preach about traditional values and its incompatibility with same-sex marriage.
“Specially printed envelopes for the political action committee Stand for Marriage appeared in our pews for our weekly collection,” she said.
Underwood said Catholics for Equality will help address these issues by providing church-goers who support LGBT rights with information.
“Telling our stories and listening to others will change the lives of our gay and lesbian relatives and friends, neighbors and colleagues,” she said. “We pro-equality Catholics are neither silent nor isolated anymore.”
The group is already working in anticipation of future fights in Maine and California to restore same-sex marriage to those states.
Palacios said Catholics for Equality has already reached out to Equality California and Equality Maine to link up grassroots efforts in those states and to connect them “into larger networks of people of faith doing outreach around critical issues in our battle states.”
In addition to the marriage issue, the organization says LGBT inclusion in comprehensive immigration reform legislation is another priority for the group.
Advocates are seeking language in immigration reform that would enable Americans to sponsor their foreign same-sex partners for residency in the United States.
However, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, strong proponents of immigration reform in general, has said it would withhold support for legislation inclusive of same-sex couples.
Palacios said Catholics for Equality has already started conversations with religious partners working on immigration reform and plans to be at the forefront of the issue.
“This is a really clear issue on inequality that the bishops of following,” he said. “That they would hold up comprehensive immigration reform over this is incomprehensible.”
Steve Ralls, spokesperson for Immigration Equality, said his organization welcomes Catholics for Equality as part of the faith coalition working for LGBT-inclusive immigration reform legislation.
“We have long known that Catholic parishioners are far more welcoming and affirming than groups like the Conference of Catholic Bishops would have us believe,” Ralls said.
Ralls said support from Catholics for Equality underscores that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is a group of about 425 bishops who have been “disproportionately loud and “out of step with their more than 68 million congregants.”
Wyoming
U.S. attorney nominee confirmed despite anti-LGBTQ history, no trial experience
Nine felony grand jury indictments tied to Darin Smith dismissed last week
Republicans confirmed Darin Smith as U.S. Attorney for the District of Wyoming on Monday, regardless of his history as interim U.S. Attorney for Wyoming and a state senator.
While serving as interim U.S. Attorney for Wyoming — after being appointed by President Donald Trump last July despite never trying a case outside of his time as a law student intern — former state Sen. Darin Smith likely prejudiced jurors during grand jury proceedings.
Nine felony grand jury indictments tied to Smith’s tenure were dismissed last week.
Judges dismissed felony indictments against Cheyenne Swett, Richard Allen, Michael Scott Hopper, Brian Joseph Johnson, Dennison Jay Antelope, Matthew Christopher Jacoby, Matthew Miller Jr., Wolf Elkins Duran, and Jose Benito Ocon. The now-dismissed charges included felony firearm possession, drug distribution, and possession of child pornography, among other allegations.
Smith allegedly told the grand jury that the defendants were “bad guys,” described them as “murderers,” and said deliberations “won’t take long.”
Even the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming acknowledged that Smith’s comments were “ill-advised.”
Smith has a history of aligning with Trump over the Constitution and supporting anti-LGBTQ legislation.
In 2025, Smith co-sponsored House Bill 0194, titled “Obscenity amendments,” which, among other provisions, would have criminalized drag shows. The bill also would have repealed exemptions for public and school librarians from the crime of “promoting obscenity” to minors. The wording of the bill was so vague that Republican state Rep. Lee Filer said, “We will end up having to arrest somebody for allowing a child to read the Holy Bible.”
Smith also co-sponsored SF0062, a bill requiring public school students to use restrooms, sex-designated changing facilities, and sleeping quarters that align with their sex assigned at birth. In March 2025, the Wyoming governor signed the bill into law, along with its House companion.
He also attended the Jan. 6 Capitol riot alongside thousands of other Trump supporters.
“Smith was on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6 … and made the reprehensible claim … that the hundreds of Capitol Police officers who risked their lives that day were guilty of ‘massive incompetence.’ Smith blames the police for what happened on Jan. 6. Without evidence, he claimed that rioters who breached the Capitol were victims of entrapment,” U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said. “Moreover, Smith is not remotely qualified to be a U.S. Attorney. He’s going to be in the package — take it or leave it. Prior to becoming the interim U.S. Attorney, he had no courtroom or litigation experience whatsoever. None. And Smith’s lack of experience has had real-world consequences.”
Prior to his work in the Wyoming state legislature, Smith worked as Director of Planned Giving for the Family Research Council, an organization that describes homosexuality as “harmful” to society with “negative physical and psychological health effects.”
The organization also believes that sexual orientation “should [not] be included as a protected category in nondiscrimination laws or policies, as it is not comparable to inborn, immutable characteristics such as race or sex.”
During questioning before the U.S. Senate, he denied that his work with the organization shows he has loss of impartiality when it comes to matters of LGBTQ rights.
Also questioning, Smith was asked about a now-deleted Facebook post in which he appeared to express support for Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who was found to be unconstitutional in her refusal to issue same-sex marriage licenses, despite Obergefell v. Hodges.
“Perhaps Hillary and Obama can share the cell with Kim Davis for refusing to uphold the Defense of Marriage Act,” the post said.
When asked why he posted it, Smith told Durbin: “I do not recall.”
Josh Sorbe, spokesperson for the Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats and Durbin, said:
“Anti-LGBTQ+ extremist Darin Smith has no business serving as a top law enforcement officer in any state — let alone a state with as much history of queer importance as Wyoming. He’s an unqualified insurrectionist with no experience litigating criminal or federal matters, and his bigotry puts into serious question his commitment to upholding the law for all Americans.”
Human Rights Campaign Vice President of Government Affairs David Stacy also condemned Smith’s confirmation to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
“The justice system in America is supposed to be about ensuring the law is applied fairly and equally. But Darin Smith has spent his career obsessed with making life worse for LGBTQ+ people, opposing marriage equality, cosponsoring state legislation targeting transgender youth, and smearing LGBTQ+ people in public statements,” Stacy said. “Just over two decades after Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered in that same state, Wyoming deserves better than tired anti-LGBTQ+ hate at the helm of federal law enforcement. The Senate should reject Darin Smith and demand a nominee who will put the people — and justice — first.”
Vermont
Vt. lawmaker equates transgender identity with bestiality
Vermont Democrats condemned comments, demanded apology
State Sen. Steven Heffernan (R-Addison) equated transgender people to bestiality on the Vermont Senate floor on May 15 while debating an animal cruelty bill.
Heffernan, who was elected in 2024 to the state Senate, constructed a scenario in which a trans person is indistinguishable from someone committing bestiality.
“In these crazy times, what happens if the individual identifies as an animal having intercourse with an animal? How is the courts going to handle that?” the former member of the Vermont Air National Guard said while debating House Bill 578. “Being that we voted through Prop Four, and if it does make it through this state, and I have a gender identity that I identify as a dog and had sex with my dog, is this law going to affect me?”
State Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky (D-Chittenden Central), who presented H. 578 responded professionally.
“The bill that we are putting forward in the current law is quite clear that any act between a person and an animal that involves contact with the mouth, sex organ, or anus of the person, and the mouth, sex organ, or anus of the animal, without a bona fide veterinary purpose, will be a crime.”
In the video, Heffernan continued to ask inappropriate questions — questions that Vyhovsky answered.
“If I identify as that animal, will this be able to … It says a person. I’m not a person. I’m identifying as this animal I’m having intercourse with,” he said. “We are identifying genders, of whatever gender we decide we want to be, and I think I like this bill. I’m going to vote for this bill, but I want to make this chamber aware of what’s coming.”
Vyhovsky made a statement saying this was a planned move in an attempt to “other” trans Vermonters instead of protecting them.
“Senator Heffernan knew exactly what he was doing,” said Vyhovsky. “Sen. Heffernan is using the same dehumanizing playbook that has been used against LGBTQ+ people for generations — the false, ugly suggestion that queer and trans identity is synonymous with deviance and harm. It was wrong then and it is wrong now.”
This derogatory action at the expense of trans people appears to be part of a pattern of behavior from Heffernan in his official capacity.
In March, Heffernan left the floor right before lawmakers voted on Proposal 4, conveniently missing the bill vote. PR 4, if passed by the state’s voters in the fall, would amend the state constitution to enshrine protections against unjust treatment, including discrimination based on a “person’s race, ethnicity, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or national origin.”
Heffernan told VTDigger at the time that he left because his stomach was feeling “agitated” and he needed to use the restroom. He said he had not made up his mind on how to vote on the amendment, largely because he’d heard from constituents urging him both to vote for and against it.
“My pizza hit at the right time, I guess,” he said, calling the timing “convenient.”
Despite his leaving — and being the only lawmaker to do so — the state Senate voted to pass it 29-0, with Heffernan marked “absent.” This came after the state House of Representatives voted to pass it 128-14 last week.
Vermont Senate Democrats condemned the statement and used the opportunity to emphasize the need for the state to pass PR 4 on Nov. 4.
“In the wake of Sen. Heffernan’s comments, the stakes of this election couldn’t be more clear,” the statement provided to the Washington Blade read. “Transgender and nonbinary Vermonters are our neighbors, our friends, and our family members. On Friday, Sen. Heffernan used his platform as an elected official representing the people of Vermont to dehumanize them. Senate Democrats will never stop fighting for dignity for all Vermonters. We demand Senator Heffernan apologize to those he has harmed with his words and actions.”
State Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale (D-Chittenden Southeast), speaking in her capacity as chair of the Senate Ethics Panel, responded to similar transphobic comments made by President Donald Trump in a White House counterterrorism strategy document last week, in which he said those with “extreme transgender ideologies” should know “we will find you and we will kill you,” stating:
“A lot of people are living in fear in this country because of what somebody with the power of the pen and the power of the military is saying every day,” Hinsdale said. “Just because [speech] is protected does not mean it is worthy of this institution, and does not mean it is worthy of the office we hold and the power that we wield in the lives of Vermonters.”
The Blade reached out to Heffernan for comment but has not heard back.
Former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) died on Tuesday. He was 86.
The Massachusetts Democrat served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981-2013. Frank in 1987 became the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as gay.
The Washington Blade earlier this month interviewed Frank after he entered hospice care at his Ogunquit, Maine, home where he lived with his husband, Jim Ready, since 2013. The former congressman, among other things, talked about his new book, “The Hard Path to Unity: Why We Must Reform the Left to Rescue Democracy.”
The book is scheduled for release on Sept. 15.
NBC Boston reported Frank’s sister, Ann Lewis, and a close family friend confirmed his death.
The Blade will update this article.
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