News
Tillerson: I haven’t raised Chechnya anti-gay abuses with Russia
Secretary of state reluctantly condemns violence in Russian republic
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he hasn’t raised anti-gay violence in Chechnya with Russian leaders. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson admitted in congressional testimony he hasn’t brought up reports of anti-gay abuses in Chechnya with Russian officials, condemning the violence only after repeated questions from Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.).
When Cicilline, who’s gay and a co-chair of the LGBT Equality Caucus, questioned Tillerson Wednesday on the violence, the secretary of state said he’s “aware of those reports.”
But Tillerson conceded he didn’t raise the issue during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov or any other time.
“Those are on our pending list,” Tillerson said. “We did not make our way through all of the issues in the meetings we had.”
Pressed by Cicilline on whether President Trump brought up the violence with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Tillerson said he’s “unaware” of whether the president discussed the issue.
Tillerson’s response is consistent with the comments made last week to the Washington Blade from White House National Security Council spokesperson Michael Anton, who said anti-gay abuses in Chechnya “did not come up in the meetings” with Lavrov.
When Cicilline called on Tillerson during the hearing to “condemn the torture and murder of gay men in Chechnya” and insist the Russian government must protect all of its citizens, including LGBT people, Tillerson replied, “That is our position globally.”
Asked whether that applies to Russia, Tillerson said, “Last time I checked Russia’s part of that.” When Cicilline sought to clarify whether that response was a “yes,” Tillerson replied, “Yes.”
Concerns persist over reports that authorities in Chechnya, a semi-autonomous Republic in Russia, are detaining and torturing gay men at what eyewitnesses have called concentration camps. Despite testimonies affirming those reports, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has said it’s not happening because no gay people exist in the region. Novaya Gazeta, which first reported the news of the violence, reported last month 26 gay men have been killed as a result of the persecution.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley has spoken out against the atrocities, but President Trump has said nothing. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron have each spoken out against the violence.
David Stacy, government affairs director of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement Tillerson’s response during the hearing is far from sufficient.
“People have been tortured and killed in Chechnya, yet Secretary Tillerson admitted today he hasn’t raised concern about the atrocities against gay and bisexual men with his Russian counterparts — not even once,” Stacy said. “When directly asked during the hearing to clearly condemn the attacks, Sec. Tillerson declined to do so. And he had no idea if the President has raised the issue. The Trump/Pence administration’s lack of leadership on this issue and human rights around the globe is beyond disturbing. The time for action is now.”
Virginia
Va. Senate committee approves resolution to repeal marriage amendment
Outgoing state Sen. Adam Ebbin introduced SJ3
The Virginia Senate Privileges and Elections Committee on Wednesday by a 10-4 vote margin approved a resolution that seeks to repeal a state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Outgoing state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) introduced SJ3.
Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2024 signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.
A resolution that seeks to repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment passed in the General Assembly in 2021. The resolution passed again in 2025.
Two successive legislatures must approve the resolution before it can go to the ballot. Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates have said the resolution’s passage is among their 2026 legislative priorities.
Iran
Grenell: ‘Real hope’ for gay rights in Iran as result of nationwide protests
Former ambassador to Germany claimed he has sneaked ‘gays and lesbians out of’ country
Richard Grenell, the presidential envoy for special missions of the United States, said on X on Tuesday that he has helped “sneak gays and lesbians out of Iran” and is seeing a change in attitudes in the country.
The post, which now has more than 25,000 likes since its uploading, claims that attitudes toward gays and lesbians are shifting amid massive economic protests across the country.
“For the first time EVER, someone has said ‘I want to wait just a bit,” the former U.S. ambassador to Germany wrote. “There is real hope coming from the inside. I don’t think you can stop this now.”
Grenell has been a longtime supporter of the president.
“Richard Grenell is a fabulous person, A STAR,” Trump posted on Truth Social days before his official appointment to the ambassador role. “He will be someplace, high up! DJT”
Iran, which is experiencing demonstrations across all 31 provinces of the country — including in Tehran, the capital — started as a result of a financial crisis causing the collapse of its national currency. Time magazine credits this uprising after the U.N. re-imposed sanctions in September over the country’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.
As basic necessities like bread, rice, meat, and medical supplies become increasingly unaffordable to the majority of the more than 90 million people living there, citizens took to the streets to push back against Iran’s theocratic regime.
Grenell, who was made president and executive director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts last year by Trump, believes that people in the majority Shiite Muslim country are also beginning to protest human rights abuses.
Iran is among only a handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Virginia
Mark Levine loses race to succeed Adam Ebbin in ‘firehouse’ Democratic primary
State Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker won with 70.6 percent of vote
Gay former Virginia House of Delegates member Mark Levine (D-Alexandria) lost his race to become the Democratic nominee to replace gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) in a Jan. 13 “firehouse” Democratic primary.
Levine finished in second place in the hastily called primary, receiving 807 votes or 17.4 percent. The winner in the four-candidate race, state Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, who was endorsed by both Ebbin and Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger received 3,281 votes or 70.6 percent.
Ebbin, whose 39th Senate District includes Alexandria and parts of Arlington and Fairfax Counties, announced on Jan. 7 that he was resigning effective Feb. 18, to take a job in the Spanberger administration as senior advisor at the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority.
Results of the Jan. 13 primary, which was called by Democratic Party leaders in Alexandria, Arlington, and Fairfax, show that candidates Charles Sumpter, a World Wildlife Fund director, finished in third place with 321 voters or 6.9 percent; and Amy Jackson, the former Alexandria vice mayor, finished in fourth place with 238 votes or 5.1 percent.
Bennett-Parker, who LGBTQ community advocates consider a committed LGBTQ ally, will now compete as the Democratic nominee in a Feb. 10 special election in which registered voters in the 39th District of all political parties and independents will select Ebbin’s replacement in the state senate.
The Alexandria publication ALX Now reports that local realtor Julie Robben Linebery has been selected by the Alexandria Republican City Committee to be the GOP candidate to compete in the Jan. 10 special election. According to ALX Now, Lineberry was the only application to run in a now cancelled special party caucus type event initially called to select the GOP nominees.
It couldn’t immediately be determined if an independent or other party candidate planned to run in the special election.
Bennett-Parker is considered the strong favorite to win the Feb. 10 special election in the heavily Democratic 39th District, where Democrat Ebbin has served as senator since 2012.
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Mark Levine running in ‘firehouse’ Democratic primary to succeed Adam Ebbin
