News
Gorsuch calls same-sex marriage ‘settled law’
‘I’ve tried to treat each case and each person as a person’
Judge Neil Gorsuch (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Amid opposition from LGBT rights supporters to the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court, President Trump’s nominee referred to same-sex marriage as “settled law,” but was otherwise relatively tight-lipped about his views during his confirmation hearings.
Grilled by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee about his judicial philosophy, U.S. Circuit Judge Gorsuch on Tuesday maintained “equal justice under the law” — words enshrined at the top of the Supreme Court building — was a “radical” idea, but one he’d uphold, when asked about application of the law to LGBT people.
Pressed by Sen. Al Franken about marriage equality specifically, Gorsuch replied, “It is absolutely settled law,” but added, “there’s ongoing litigation about its impact and its application right now.”
When Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) asked the nominee about his views on LGBT people, Gorsuch seemed irritated and responded, “What about them?” and as Durbin sought to clarify, the nominee retorted, “They’re people.”
Asked by Durbin to point to a statement or decision favorable to LGBT people, Gorsuch offered his judicial philosophy that all individuals are entitled to equal treatment under the law.
“I’ve tried to treat each case and each person as a person, not a this kind of person, not a that kind of person — a person,” Gorsuch said. “Equal justice under law is a radical promise in the history of mankind.”
Durbin pressed Gorsuch to clarify whether that applies to sexual orientation, prompting Gorsuch to invoke the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision in favor of same-sex marriage.
“The Supreme Court of the United States has held that single-sex marriage is protected by the Constitution,” Gorsuch said, using “single-sex marriage” terminology commonly cited in Europe, but rarely in the United States, to refer to marriage equality.
Durbin brought up LGBT people in the context of questioning of John Finnis, whom Gorsuch identified as a mentor during his time at Oxford University. A conservative one-time law professor, Finnis delivered a deposition in the early ’90s in favor of Colorado’s anti-gay Amendment 2, a law that prohibited cities from enacting non-discrimination ordinances based on sexual orientation. The Supreme Court struck down the law in the 1996 Romer v. Evans decision.
Referencing a passage in which Finnis compared same-sex relationships to bestiality and said antipathy toward LGBT people is based not just on religious reasons, but societal views, Durbin asked Gorsuch whether he was aware of his mentor’s statements.
“I know he testified in the Romer case,” Gorsuch said. “I can’t specifically recall the specifics of his testimony or that he gave a deposition.”
When Durbin sought more information from Gorsuch on the impact Finnis had on his views, Gorsuch referred to rulings he made on the bench as a member of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
“I think the best evidence is what I’ve written,” Gorsuch said. “I’ve written or joined over 6 million words as a federal appellate judge. I’ve written a couple of books. I’ve been a lawyer and a judge for 25 or 30 years, and I guess I’d ask you, respectfully, to look at my credentials and my record.”
In another exchange with Franken, Gorsuch conceded the issue of same-sex marriage is “settled” law, but acknowledged subsequent litigation is ongoing on its impact and kept his cards close to his vest on his personal views.
Referencing Gorsuch’s help with former President George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign in Ohio as a member of “Lawyers for Bush,” Franken noted that was the year the state had an anti-gay amendment on the ballot and asked the nominee whether same-sex marriage should be subjected to popular vote.
“Senator, I don’t recall any involvement in that issue during that campaign,” Gorsuch said. “I remember going to Ohio.”
When Franken asked the nominee if he was aware of the marriage issue in 2004, Gorusch replied, “Certainly, I was aware about it.”
Pressed further by Franken for his views, Gorsuch added, “Any revelation about my personal views about this matter would indicate to people how I might rule as a judge. Mistakenly, but it might, and I have to be concerned about that.”
When Franken pointed out the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of same-sex marriage nationwide and asked Gorsuch how his views have changed since 2004, the nominee remain tight-lipped.
“My personal views, if were to begin speaking about my personal views on this subject, which every American has views on, would send a misleading signal to the American people,” Gorsuch said.
The Minnesota Democrat sought to move on to another topic as Gorsuch said he wanted to finish his thought about not being able to disclose personal view, but Franken said, “You’ve given a version of this answer before. I understand.”
The issue of marriage equality came up later in the hearing when Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) brought it up when asking Gorsuch about his views on whether the Constitution protects intimate and personal choices. Gorsuch again declined to express his personal views, but underscored the importance of the Obergefell decision as precedent.
“Obergefell is a precedent of the United States Supreme Court,” Gorsuch said. “It entitles persons to engage in single-sex marriage. That’s a right that the Supreme Court has recognized. It is a precedent of the United States Supreme Court entitled to all the deference to precedence of the United States Supreme Court, and that’s quite a lot.”
Much of the concern over Gorsuch concerns his subscription to the judicial philosophy of originalism in which jurists seek to determine lawmakers’ original intent of enacting statutes before ruling on them, a practice criticized as a means to deny justice to minority groups, including LGBT people. The late U.S. Associate Justice Antonin Scalia advocated that judicial viewpoint in his dissents to major gay rights cases, such as the U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of same-sex marriage.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) sought clarification from Gorsuch on originalism, referencing, among other rulings, the 1996 Virginia Military Institute decision, which determined the state’s exclusion of women from the school violated the right to equal protection under the 14th Amendment. Scalia, in his dissent, wrote the decision was creating a new Constitution, not keeping to the original meaning of the U.S. Constitution.
Asked by Klobuchar whether the ruling was based on the original meaning of the Constitution, Gorsuch kept his views to himself and said, “The majority in that case argued that it was.” Gorsuch repeated his view the concept of equal protection under the law “is quite significant.”
When the Minnesota Democrat asked Gorsuch whether he’d apply that approach to minority groups, such as women, LGBT people and racial minorities, Gorsuch replied, “A good judge applies the law without respect to persons. That’s part of my judicial oath.”
Seemingly unsatisfied with the response, Klobuchar pressed Gorsuch further, prompting him to reply, “I don’t take account of the person before me. Everyone is equal under the eyes of the law.”
The reluctance of Gorsuch to offer his views during the confirmation process is typical of nominees seeking confirmation to the Supreme Court. As other nominees have done in the past, Gorsuch said disclosure of personal views or the appropriateness of a particular decision would suggest a bias on those issues if they came to him after winning confirmation.
Other decisions on which Gorsuch had no comment included the Roe v. Wade decision, the Heller decision affirming the Second Amendment right to own a firearm in D.C. and the Citizens United case allowing unlimited contributions from corporations and unions to political campaigns.
On rare occasions during the hearing, Gorsuch was more direct. Referencing Trump’s pledge to appoint only justices who’d overturn a woman’s right to have an abortion, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) asked Gorsuch if he made any private commitments to Trump to overturn Roe v. Wade, but the nominee replied he didn’t and was not asked to do so.
“I would have walked out the door,” Gorsuch said. “That’s not what judges do.”
A group of 21 LGBT organizations led by Lamdba Legal signed a joint letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week declaring their opposition to the nominee and urging rigorous questioning during the confirmation process.
Although Gorsuch has never ruled on the issue of same-sex marriage, the nominee wrote a scathing piece in 2005 for the National Review titled “Liberals & Lawsuits” excoriating the progressive movement for seeking advancements in the courts. Two years after the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, the article identifies marriage equality as an issue that should be settled outside the judicial system.
When asked by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) to respond to criticism over the op-ed, the nominee said he believes the courts, in fact, are a “very important place for the vindication of civil rights,” but in many cases they aren’t appropriate for change.
“I can report to you, having lived longer, as I did report to you in 2005 that the problem lies on both sides of the aisle, that I see lots of people who resort to the court more quickly than perhaps they should,” Gorsuch said.
Much of the discontent over Gorsuch is also related to his 11th Circuit decision in the Hobby Lobby case, when he ruled the Religious Freedom Restoration Act affords “religious freedom” protections to not just people, but corporations, and the business chain could refuse health insurance to female employees that covered contraception. Gorsuch joined a similar decision against the Obamacare contraception mandate in the Little Sisters of the Poor case.
At a time when many businesses and individuals are asserting civil rights laws prohibiting anti-LGBT discrimination unfairly penalize their religious beliefs, some LGBT rights supporters fear Gorsuch could apply that “religious freedom” reasoning in those cases to institute carve-outs for anti-LGBT discrimination.
Under questioning from Durbin, Gorsuch walked through his reasoning in the Hobby Lobby case, maintaining his ruling is based on the belief the U.S. government could make other accommodations for employees seeking contraception other than employer-based health coverage.
“Does the government have a compelling interest in the ACA in providing contraceptive care? The Supreme Court of the United States said, ‘We assume yes. We take that as given,” Gorsuch said. “The question becomes is it narrow tailored to require the Green family to provide it. The answer there the Supreme Court reached in precedent binding on us now, and we reached in anticipation, is no, that wasn’t as strictly tailored as it could be because the government had provided different accommodations to churches and to other religious entities.”
Other LGBT criticism over Gorsuch relates to his decisions on transgender rights. In 2015, Gorsuch joined an 11th Circuit decision against a transgender inmate who alleged she was denied transition-related hormone therapy and unfairly housed in an all-male facility. In 2009, Gorsuch also joined an unpublished opinion finding the provision against sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 doesn’t apply to transgender people.
Jim Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the case that brought same-sex marriage nationwide, wrote in an op-ed for Time magazine on the second day of the Gorsuch hearings he opposes the nominee on the basis that he could undermine LGBT rights, including same-sex marriage, at the Supreme Court.
Noting the narrow 5-4 marriage decision was written by U.S. Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was only confirmed to the Supreme Court after the Senate rejected President Reagan’s nomination of anti-LGBT judge Robert Bork, Obergefell wrote, “we must be as cautious as we were in 1987.”
“As during the Bork hearings, we must again demand that the next justice appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States continue to uphold our Constitution — including equal protections for LGBTQ people under the law,” Obergell wrote. “Donald Trump, in nominating Neil Gorsuch, noted his desire to pick a justice in the mold of Antonin Scalia. That should send chills down the spine of everyone who cares about equality and civil rights.”
Eric Lesh, fair courts director for Lambda Legal, said Gorsuch’s hearing did nothing to allay concerns about the his potential confirmation to the Supreme Court because he “refused to answer very fundamental questions.”
“He kept dodging and weaving and running away from his record, which is clearly hostile to the rights of LGBT people and people living with HIV,” Lesh said. “So, we need answers, and that doesn’t change Lambda Legal’s conclusion that based on a comprehensive review of his record, his views on civil rights issues, on LGBT equality are fundamentally at odds with the notion that our community is entitled to equal dignity, justice, liberty under the law.”
District of Columbia
Faith programming remains key part of Creating Change Conference
‘Faith work is not an easy pill to swallow in LGBTQ spaces’
The National LGBTQ Task Force kicked off the 38th annual Creating Change conference in D.C. this week. This year, as with years past, faith and interfaith programming remains a key part of the conference’s mission and practice.
For some, the presence of faith work at an LGBTQ+ conference may seem antithetical, and Creating Change does not deny the history of harm caused by religious institutions. “We have to be clear that faith work is not an easy pill to swallow in LGBTQ spaces, and they’re no qualms about saying that we acknowledge the pain, trauma, and violence that’s been purported in the name of religion,” Tahil Sharma, Faith Work Director for the National LGBTQ Task Force, said.
In fact, several panels at the conference openly discuss acknowledging, healing from, and resisting religious harm as well as religious nationalism, including one scheduled today titled “Defending Democracy Through Religious Activism: A panel of experts on effective strategies for faith and multi-faith organizing” that features local queer faith activists like Ebony C. Peace, Rob Keithan, and Eric Eldritch who are also involved in the annual DC Pride Interfaith Service.
Another session will hold space for survivors of religious violence, creating “a drop-in space for loving on each other in healing ways, held by Rev. Alba Onofrio and Teo Drake.”
But Sharma and others who organized the Creating Change Conference explained that “a state of antipathy” towards religious communities, especially those that align with queer liberation and solidarity, is counterproductive and denies the rich history of queer religious activism. “It’s time for us to make a call for an approach to LGBTQ+ liberation that uses interfaith literacy as a tool rather than as a weapon against us,” Sharma explained.
Recognizing a local queer faith icon
Along with the panels, fighting religious nationalism and fostering communion with aligned faith activists and communities is at heart of this year’s faith work. As Sharma shared, “the person that we’re honoring this year for the faith award is Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, and Dr. Betancourt is an amazing leader and someone who really stands out in representing UUs but also representing herself unapologetically.”
Based in the Washington, D.C. area, Dr. Betancourt has more than 20 years of experience working as a public minister, seminary professor, scholar, and environment ethicist, and public theologian. Her activism is rooted in her lived identities as a queer, multiracial, AfroLatine first-generation daughter of immigrants from Chile and Panama, and has been a critical voice in advancing the United Universalism towards anti-racist and pluralistic faith work.
Creating a faith-based gathering space
Sharma also said that faith fosters a unique space and practice to encounter grief and joy. For this reason, Sharma wants to “create a space for folks to engage in curiosity, to engage in spiritual fulfillment and grounding but also I think with the times that we’re in to lean into some space to mourn, some space to find hope.” The Many Paths Gathering Space serves this purpose, where visitors can stop for spiritual practice, speak with a Spiritual Care Team member, or just take a sensory break from the bustle of the conference.
This also means uplifting and foregrounding queer religious ephemera with an ofrenda to honor those who have passed, a display of nonbinary Korean American photographer Salgu Wissmath’s exhibition Divine Identity, and the Shower of Stoles, a collection of about 1,500 liturgical stoles and other sacred regalia representing the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people of faith.
The Shower of Stoles
The collection was first started in 1995 by Martha Juillerat and Tammy Lindahl who received eighty stoles that accompanied them and lent them solace as they set aside their ordinations from the Presbyterian Church. The whole collection was first displayed at the 1996 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in New Mexico. The stoles, according to the Task Force, “quickly became a powerful symbol of the huge loss to the church of gifted leadership.”
Each stole represents the story of a queer person who is active in the life and leadership of their faith community, often sent in by the people themselves but sometimes by a loved one in their honor. About one third of all the stoles are donated anonymously, and over three-quarters of the stoles donated by clergy and full-time church professionals are contributed anonymously.
The collection shows “not just the deep harm that has been caused that does not allow people to meet their vocation when they’re faith leaders, but it also speaks to how there have been queer and trans people in our [faith] communities since the beginning of our traditions, and they continue to serve in forms of leadership,” Sharma explained.
Explicit interfaith work
Along with creating a sacred space for attendees, hosting workshops focused on faith-based action, and recognizing DC’s rich queer religious history, Creating Change is also hosting explicitly faith services, like a Buddhist Meditation, Catholic Mass, Shabbat service, Jummah Prayer Service, and an ecumenical Christian service on Sunday. Creating Change is also welcoming events at the heart of queer religious affirmation, including a Name/Gender/Pronoun/Identity Blessing Ritual and a reading and discussion around queer bibles stories with Rev. Sex (aka Rev. Alba Onofrio).
But along with specific faith-based programs, Sharma explained, “we’re looking to build on something that I helped to introduce, which was the separation of the interfaith ceremony that’s happening this year which is a vigil versus the ecumenical Christian service which is now the only thing that takes place on Sunday morning.”
This includes an Interfaith Empowerment Service this evening and an Interfaith Institute tomorrow, along with “Sing In the Revolution,” an event where folks are invited “to actually engage in the joy and rhythm of resolution and what that looks like,” Sharma said. One of the key activators behind this work is Rev. Eric Eldritch, an ordained Pagan clergy person with Circle Sanctuary and a member of the Pride Interfaith Service planning committee.
Affirming that queer faith work is part of liberation
The goal for this year, Sharma noted, alongside holding space and discussions about faith-based practice and liberation and intentional interfaith work–is to move from thinking about why faith matters in queer liberation spaces to “how is interfaith work the tool for how we’re engaging in our understanding of de-escalation work, digital strategies, navigating a deeper visioning that we need for a better world that requires us to think that we’re not alone in the struggle for mutual abundance and liberation,” Sharma explained.
It may surprise people to learn that faith work has intentionally been part of the National LGBTQ+ Task Force since its beginning in the 1980s. “We can really credit that to some of the former leadership like Urvashi Vaid who actually had a sense of understanding of what role faith plays in the work of liberation and justice,” Sharma said.
“For being someone who wasn’t necessarily religious, she certainly did have a clear understanding of the relationship between those folks who are allies, those folks who stand against us, and then those folks who sit in between–those folks who profess to be of religious and spiritual background and also are unapologetically LGBTQ+,” he continued.
This year’s faith programming builds on this rich history, thinking about “a way to kind of open doors, to not just invite people in but our people to go out into the general scene of the conference” to share how faith-based work is a tool, rather than a hindrance, to queer liberation work.
Iran
LGBTQ Iranians join anti-government protests
Nationwide demonstrations over economy began Dec. 28
Protests erupted across Iran on Dec. 28 as public anger over the country’s collapsing country spilled into the streets. Members of the LGBTQ community are among those who have participated in them.
What began as demonstrations over rising living costs soon expanded into broader political dissent, with protesters chanting anti-government slogans and, in some cases, directly criticizing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Authorities later imposed internet restrictions and launched a nationwide crackdown, according to human rights groups.
According to Reuters, an Iranian official said authorities have verified at least 5,000 deaths linked to the unrest, including about 500 members of the security forces. The official blamed what the government described as “terrorists and armed rioters” for the killings, a characterization that could not be independently verified due to severe restrictions on media access and internet connectivity.
The same official told Reuters that the final death toll was not expected to rise significantly. The official also alleged that Israel and armed groups outside Iran had supported and supplied those involved in the protests, claims that could not be independently verified.
Multiple sources told the Washington Blade that LGBTQ Iranians have taken part in the protests against the government, despite the heightened risks they face under the country’s strict laws that criminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations.
Arsham Parsi, founder and executive director of International Railroad for Queer Refugees, is from Shiraz, a city in southern Iran. He fled the country in 2005.
Parsi told the Blade a widespread demand for dignity and freedom is driving the uprising.
“It is important to say clearly: LGBTQ people are part of Iranian society, and they are part of this protest,” said Parsi. “Many are participating directly, despite facing risks that are often even greater than others — because in Iran they are already criminalized and targeted simply for who they are.”
“For LGBTQ Iranians, showing up — whether publicly or in underground ways — can carry life-and-death consequences,” he added.
Parsi told the Blade that members of the LGBTQ community with whom he has been in contact described a mix of fear, exhaustion, grief, and determination. He added that many of them feel this moment differs from previous waves of protest in Iran.
“The scope, the persistence, and the public rejection of fear feel qualitatively different — and for that reason, many Iranians inside and outside the country are hopeful that this will lead to real transformation, including regime change, and that Iranians will finally regain their freedom,” said Parsi. “Freedom is not free, and Iranians are paying its cost with their blood.”
Parsi said the government’s response to the protests has been severe; citing widespread blackouts, internet shutdowns, telephone disruptions, and heavy security presence on the streets. He said the communication restrictions have made it increasingly difficult to document abuses, locate missing people, coordinate medical assistance or verify information, warning that such conditions can allow violence to occur beyond public view.
Parsi said his organization, along with other trusted groups, has been sharing harm-reduction guidance whenever possible, particularly on digital safety, avoiding identification and minimizing risk. He added, however, there is no fully safe way to protest under a system that criminalizes identity and treats dissent as an enemy, noting LGBTQ people, women, students, labor activists, and ethnic and religious minorities are among those facing the greatest danger.
“I also want to be very clear about what kind of international involvement we are calling for. We are against foreign military intervention. Iranians must determine Iran’s future. But we do need international aid and serious diplomatic engagement that is grounded in human rights — not convenience,” said Parsi. “In the past, too often, when Iranians rose up, parts of the international community were distracted by negotiations, ‘promises’ from the Islamic Republic, or short-term deals, and the momentum for human rights was abandoned.”
“We hope this time no one is fooled,” he added. “The regime is desperately trying to manipulate the narrative through state media and misinformation — to change the course of events and confuse the international community. The world must be smart, vigilant, and principled: do not reward repression with legitimacy, and do not trade away Iranian rights for empty assurances.”
Parsi said the unrest should also be viewed within a broader regional context, noting Iran’s actions beyond its borders have long drawn criticism from governments and analysts who accuse the country of supporting armed groups and contributing to conflicts that have harmed civilians across the Middle East. He said a future Iran that respects human rights domestically and pursues less confrontational policies abroad could have implications not only for Iranians, but for regional and global stability as well, adding many within the country continue to protest despite the personal risks involved.
Soudeh Rad, co-founder and executive director of Spectrum, a France-based NGO that works with Farsi-speaking communities on gender equality and LGBTQ issues, noted to the Blade the latest wave of large-scale protests began in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar. They said LGBTQ people, like other marginalized and underrepresented communities, often suffer disproportionate burden under systems of entrenched discrimination.
“Images and testimonials prove the fact that protestors are from all classes, ages, communities, ethnicities, genders, and even with different abilities. This is not a higher-class protest. Obviously, our LGBTQIA+ siblings, of all political tendencies and belongings,” said Rad. “As we can imagine, if their SOGIESC (sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics) identity is revealed at the detention centers and prisons, they will be subject to a higher and more intense torture. Police and militia have not hesitated a moment to shoot protestors to kill them. Snipers have been spotted targeting people. Reported numbers of killed and injured people go as high as thousands.”
Rad said recent protest movements have produced gradual social changes in Iran even without formal legal reforms. They cited the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement, noting observers report growing noncompliance with compulsory hijab rules and increased solidarity among ethnic and long-marginalized communities that include Baluchis, Kurds, and Azeris. Rad described the current unrest as part of an ongoing process of social transformation.
Shadi Amin, a director at the LGBTQ rights group 6Rang, said the full impact of the crackdown on LGBTQ activists remains unknown, citing internet shutdowns and limited access to detention centers that have hindered documentation. She said LGBTQ people often face additional barriers to recognition as victims of human rights abuses, because discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity are frequently sidelined during periods of unrest. This omission leaves many cases unacknowledged or erased from public narratives.
Amin also pointed to Iran’s legal framework, under which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death, as a key factor contributing to the long-standing invisibility of LGBTQ people.
She said the absence of official data makes it impossible to determine how many LGBTQ individuals may have been killed, detained or subjected to abuse during the protests, adding that this lack of recognition has persisted for decades. Amin told the Blade the internet shutdown has also severed regular communication between advocacy groups and LGBTQ people inside Iran, cutting off counseling services and daily contact that had previously provided limited insight into conditions on the ground. She said the loss of communication has made it increasingly difficult to assess the safety of individuals or confirm who remains in detention or has gone missing.
“I have spent almost my entire life fighting for freedom and democracy. Even if we have not yet achieved our ultimate goal, we have made life harder for our oppressors and safer for our community—and that in itself matters,” Amin noted to the Blade. “We seek change and have called for international intervention to uphold the responsibility to stop crimes against humanity, including through Responsibility to Protect (a U.N. principle adopted in 2005); however, top-down regime change or foreign military intervention would silence the movement.”
“In times of war, weapons — not people — have the final word, and social movements are pushed aside. This is one of our core concerns,” she added. “Another is the risk that even if the current regime is overthrown, it could be replaced by another form of dictatorship — such as a monarchic project represented by the son of the former shah, who has lived in the United States for nearly five decades and lacks democratic legitimacy.”
Amin said LGBTQ activists fear being overlooked amid the broader unrest, emphasizing concerns that ongoing repression and communication blackouts risk pushing LGBTQ experiences further out of public view. She said maintaining international attention remains critical for communities that are often forced into invisibility during periods of crisis.
Matt Forouzandy, president of the 30-Morg Queer Liberation Committee, an NGO focused on LGBTQ issues affecting Iranians inside the country and in the diaspora, confirmed LGBTQ Iranians have participated in the protests since they began.
He said some queer Iranians publicly expressed support for Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi on social media, sharing posts alongside Iran’s lion and sun flag, while acknowledging the risks they faced before joining demonstrations.
Pahlavi is the son of Iran’s last monarch, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was overthrown during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Living in exile, he has in recent years emerged as a symbolic opposition figure for some Iranians abroad, though his role and influence inside the country remain contested.
Forouzandy said LGBTQ people inside Iran have, in some cases, participated more openly in the protests than many observers might expect, citing years of compounded repression under the regime. He said many queer activists use their real names and photographs on X and other social media platforms, rather than operating anonymously. Forouzandy added LGBTQ participants across different regions of the country have publicly expressed opposition to the current system.
Forouzandy said the future legal and civil status of LGBTQ people in Iran would depend on the political direction taken if the current system were to change, including whether outcomes reflect domestic demands or outside influence. He said some protesters have expressed support for a return to monarchical rule, arguing that such a shift could affect prospects for civil rights, though the outcome remains uncertain.
“Iranians in the diaspora — including LGBTQ+ individuals — are doing everything within their capacity to support those inside the country,” said Forouzandy. “However, the most decisive force remains the people inside Iran themselves. Their courage, determination, and collective will are what ultimately shape the outcome.”
“This is especially true for LGBTQ+ Iranians, who are fighting simultaneously for the liberation of their homeland and for full and equal civil rights within a future free Iran,” he added.
Virginia
McPike prevails in ‘firehouse’ Dem primary for Va. House of Delegates
Gay Alexandria Council member expected to win 5th District seat
Gay Alexandria City Council member Kirk McPike emerged as the clearcut winner in a hastily called Jan. 20 “firehouse” Democratic primary for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Alexandria.
McPike, who was one of two gay candidates running in the four-candidate primary, received 1,279 votes or 60.5 percent, far ahead of gay public school teacher Gregory Darrall, a political newcomer who received 60 votes or 3 percent.
Former Alexandria City School Board member Eileen Cassidy Rivera came in second place with 508 votes or 24 percent and Northern Virginia criminal law defense attorney Chris Leibig finished in third place with 265 votes or 12.5 percent.
Each of the candidates expressed strong support for LGBTQ-related issues.
With less than a week’s notice, Democratic Party officials in Alexandria called the primary to select a Democratic nominee to run in the Feb. 10 special election to fill the 5th District House of Delegates seat being vacated by state Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria).
Bennett-Parker won the Democratic nomination for the Virginia State Senate seat being vacated by gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria), who is resigning from his seat to take a position in the administration of Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who took office on Jan. 17.
Bennett-Parker won the nomination for Ebbin’s state Senate seat in yet another firehouse primary on Jan. 13 in which she defeated three other candidates, including gay former state Del. Mark Levine.
McPike, a longtime LGBTQ rights advocate, first won election to the Alexandria City Council in 2021. He has served for 13 years as chief of staff for gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and has remained in that position during his tenure on the Alexandria Council. He told the Washington Blade he will continue as chief of staff until next month, when he will resign from that position before taking office in the House of Delegates.
He received the endorsement of Ebbin, U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), and the LGBTQ Victory Fund in his race for the 5th District Va. House seat. Being an overwhelmingly Democratic district, virtually all political observers expect McPike to win the Feb. 10 special election.
He will be running against Republican nominee Mason Butler, a local business executive who emerged as the only GOP candidate running for the delegate seat.
“Thank you to the voters of Alexandria for choosing me as the Democratic nominee in the House of Delegates District 5,” McPike said in a statement released shortly after the vote count was completed. “It is an incredible honor to have the opportunity to fight for our community and its values in Richmond,” he said.
“I look forward to continuing to work to address our housing crisis, the challenge of climate change, and the damaging impacts of the Trump administration on the immigrant families, LGBTQ+ Virginians, and federal employees who call Alexandria home,” he stated.
He praised Ebbin for his longstanding support for the LGBTQ community in the Virginia Legislature and added, “If elected to the House of Delegates in the Feb. 10 general election, I will continue to fight to protect the rights and freedoms of LGBTQ+ Virginians from my new position in Richmond.”
Gay candidate Darrall’s campaign website said he is a “proud progressive, lifelong educator, and labor leader running to put people first.” It says he is a political newcomer “with more than 20 years in the classroom” as a teacher who played a key role in the successful unionization of Fairfax Public Schools.
“He is a proud member and staunch supporter of the LGBTQIA+ community,” his website statement said.
Faith programming remains key part of Creating Change Conference
LGBTQ Iranians join anti-government protests
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