News
Cruz floats report Planned Parenthood shooter ‘transgendered’ activist
2016 hopeful rejects link between videos and attacker
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called Robert Dear a “transgendered leftist activist.” (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
The Republican presidential candidate made the remarks in Newton, Iowa, when asked about Robert Dear, who allegedly on Friday shot a police officer and two civilians dead at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs. A reporter asked about the potential connection between Dear and the inflammatory — but highly edited — Planned Parenthood videos that have stirred the pro-life movement.
The U.S. senator from Texas responded by saying the “vicious rhetoric” has in fact come from progressive activists against the pro-life movement in the aftermath of the attack.
“We don’t fully know the motivations of the this deranged individual,” Cruz said. “We know that he was a man who registered to vote as a woman. The media promptly wants to blame him on the pro-life movement when at this point, there’s very little evidence to indicate that.”
When a reporter pointed out a report Dear said something about “baby parts” while being apprehended, Cruz was again dismissive.
“It’s also been reported that he was registered as an independent and a woman and a transgendered leftist activist, if that’s what he is,” Cruz said. “I don’t think it’s fair to blame on the rhetoric on the left. This is a murderer.”
Setting aside Cruz’s use of a objectifying pejorative for transgender people, Cruz appears to refer to a report on the conservative website The Right Scoop on the voting records of Dear, which reportedly identifies him as female.
The Blade couldn’t immediately find any other evidence or reporting indicating Dear is transgender, nor that he was motivated allegedly to kill three people based on transgender activism.
Cruz invocation of dubious conservative media reports Dear was acting on behalf of transgender rights is consistent with Republican presidential candidates dismissing the link between the anti-abortion Planned Parenthood videos and the Black Friday shooting.
On Sunday, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said on CNN the incident was “domestic terrorism,” but he doesn’t know of any pro-life leader who’s “suggested violence toward Planned Parenthood personnel or some act of violence toward their clinics.” Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina said the attempt to link the attack to the pro-life movement are “typical left-wing tactics.”
Virginia
Walkinshaw wins Democratic primary in Va. 11th Congressional District
Special election winner will succeed Gerry Connolly
On Saturday, Fairfax County Supervisor James Walkinshaw won the Democratic primary for the special election that will determine who will represent Virginia’s 11th Congressional District.
The special election is being held following the death of the late Congressman Gerry Connolly, who represented the district from 2008 until 2024, when he announced his retirement, and subsequently passed away from cancer in May.
Walkinshaw is not unknown to Virginia’s 11th District — he has served on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors since 2020 and had served as Connolly’s chief of staff from 2009 to 2019. Before he passed away, Connolly had endorsed Walkinshaw to take his place, claiming that choosing Walkinshaw to be his chief of staff was “one of the best decisions I ever made.”
The Democratic nominee has run his campaign on mitigating Trump’s “dangerous” agenda of dismantling the federal bureaucracy, which in the district is a major issue as many of the district’s residents are federal employees and contractors.
“I’m honored and humbled to have earned the Democratic nomination for the district I’ve spent my career serving,” Walkinshaw said on X. “This victory was powered by neighbors, volunteers, and supporters who believe in protecting our democracy, defending our freedoms, and delivering for working families.”
In addition to protecting federal workers, Walkinshaw has a long list of progressive priorities — some of which include creating affordable housing, reducing gun violence, expanding immigrant protections, and “advancing equality for all” by adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the Fair Housing Act.
Various democratic PACs contributed more than $2 million to Walkinshaw’s ad campaigns, much of which touted his connection to Connolly.
Walkinshaw will face Republican Stewart Whitson in the special election in September, where he is the likely favorite to win.
Maryland
LGBTQ suicide prevention hotline option is going away. Here’s where else to go in Md.
Changes will take effect July 17
By ANNA RUBENSTEIN | The national suicide prevention hotline will no longer offer specialized support to LGBTQ people, starting July 17, the Trump administration announced last week.
Dialing the hotline at 988 will still be available for crisis support. But callers will no longer be able to reach specific LGBTQ services by pressing Option 3. The change worries advocates because their data shows the LGBTQ community has a disproportionally high suicide rate.
Even after the option ends, here’s how to receive tailored support if you’re in Maryland.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
New York
Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade
One of the victims remains in critical condition
On Sunday night, following the annual NYC Pride March, two girls were shot in Sheridan Square, feet away from the historic Stonewall Inn.
According to an NYPD report, the two girls, aged 16 and 17, were shot around 10:15 p.m. as Pride festivities began to wind down. The 16-year-old was struck in the head and, according to police sources, is said to be in critical condition, while the 17-year-old was said to be in stable condition.
The Washington Blade confirmed with the NYPD the details from the police reports and learned no arrests had been made as of noon Monday.
The shooting took place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, mere feet away from the most famous gay bar in the city — if not the world — the Stonewall Inn. Earlier that day, hundreds of thousands of people marched down Christopher Street to celebrate 55 years of LGBTQ people standing up for their rights.
In June 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, members of the LGBTQ community pushed back, sparking what became known as the Stonewall riots. Over the course of two days, LGBTQ New Yorkers protested the discriminatory policing of queer spaces across the city and mobilized to speak out — and throw bottles if need be — at officers attempting to suppress their existence.
The following year, LGBTQ people returned to the Stonewall Inn and marched through the same streets where queer New Yorkers had been arrested, marking the first “Gay Pride March” in history and declaring that LGBTQ people were not going anywhere.
New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, whose district includes Greenwich Village, took to social media to comment on the shooting.
“After decades of peaceful Pride celebrations — this year gun fire and two people shot near the Stonewall Inn is a reminder that gun violence is everywhere,” the lesbian lawmaker said on X. “Guns are a problem despite the NRA BS.”
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