National
Cain drops out of presidential race
Gay groups on right and left say candidate had to go
Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Faced with accusations of an extramarital affair and a past of sexual misconduct, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain announced Saturday he is suspending his campaign for the White House as LGBT groups on the right and left say he needed to move aside.
The former Godfather’s Pizza CEO made the announcement at his Atlanta campaign headquarters amid media reports that was reassessing whether to stay in the race.
“As of today, with a lot of prayer and soul-searching, I am suspending my presidential campaign,” Cain said. “I am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distraction, the continued hurt caused on me and my family.”
Cain said becoming president for him was “Plan A,” and under “Plan B,” he will continue to be “a voice for the people” and articulate policy ideas on his new website, TheCainSolutions.com.
According to Slate political correspondent John Dickerson, by suspending his presidential bid as opposed to ending it, Cain is eligible for federal matching funds for his campaign.
The pizza magnate exited the race after Ginger White, an Atlanta businesswoman, announced in a TV interview this week that she had engaged in a 13-year affair with Cain. In October, Politico reported that at least two women had accused him of sexual misconduct while head of the National Restaurant Association in 1990s. Cain has denied any wrongdoing.
For a time in October, Cain had enjoyed front-runner status in the GOP presidential race, but he fell to the bottom of the pack after the initial reporting of allegations of sexual misconduct. Now former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich has claimed the title of front-runner, although former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney remains the best funded Republican in the race.
Cain was best known in this campaign for what he called his “9-9-9” plan for tax reform, which would replace the current tax code with a 9 percent personal income tax, a 9 percent business transactions tax, and a 9 percent federal sales tax.
Gay Republican groups had praised Cain’s ability to initiate discussion on tax reform with his plan, but shared the sentiment that the time was now for him to move aside.
Jimmy LaSalvia, executive director of GOProud, said he was sorry to see Cain leave because of his emphasis on economic issues.
“Herman Cain’s laser focus on jobs, the economy, the size of government, and all the issues most important to all of us was good for the debate,” LaSalvia said. “I’m sorry to see him out of the race, but it was clear that his campaign could not go on.”
Christian Berle, deputy executive director for National Log Cabin Republicans, said Cain’s decision to leave the race enables Republicans to find the best candidate to beat President Obama.
“Herman Cain’s decision to step aside allows the primary process to move forward and enables the Republican field to continue its focus on the issues voters care about — jobs and the economy,” Berle said. “A Republican in the White House is going to get our economy and our nation moving in the right direction.”
On LGBT issues, Cain was initially distinct among other Republican candidates because he declined to support a Federal Marriage Amendment that would ban same-sex marriage throughout the country and said the matter should be left to the states.
Also, unlike Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) or former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, Cain said he has no problem with open gays in the military and wouldn’t seek to reinstate “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
But Cain apparently later shifted his position on the Federal Marriage Amendment when he said marriage “should be protected at the federal level also” and he would back legislation defining it as one man, one woman.
In a January radio interview, Cain also said he’d veto the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The candidate also came under fire in October for saying that he believes homosexuality is a choice and science hasn’t proven otherwise.
Fred Sainz, vice president of communications for the Human Rights Campaign, said Cain’s exit from the race is appropriate from someone who chose to side with anti-gay forces.
“It never ceases to surprise me how those who throw LGBT people under the bus are often the ones run over by the same bus,” Sainz said. “Often confused on his own positions, Cain eventually chose to side with anti-LGBT forces. The fact his run ends because of his own moral failings is ironic but unfortunately altogether too common among this field of Republican presidential candidates.”
Jerame Davis, interim executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats, said Cain demonstrated over the course of his campaign he “just doesn’t have the policy chops” to lead the country.
“Now, with these revelations about his past that make Newt Gingrich look like a model husband, he has little choice but to switch to ‘Plan B,'” Davis said. “It’s too bad ‘Plan B’ is just a rehash of ‘Plan A’ without the presidential aspirations.”
One lingering question is where Cain’s support in the Republican presidential race will go now that he’s made an exit — or if the former candidate will endorse another Republican in the race.
Dan Pinello, a gay political science professor at the City University of New York, said Cain’s exit will have “minimal effect on the presidential election” because he didn’t have the strength in the polls he once enjoyed.
According to a poll published Thursday by Rasmussen Reports, Cain had support from just 8 percent of likely voters in the Republican primary.
Still, Pinello predicted that what little support Cain had would shift to Gingrich as social conservatives continue to push against handing Romney the Republican banner in 2012.
“As a result, the Gingrich-Romney match-up will be more competitive than it would have been had Cain remained in the game,” Pinello said. “Thus, what so far has been a Republican free-for-all will quickly transform into a two-person slugfest for the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.”
National
LGBTQ Catholic groups slam Trump over pope criticism
‘Moral truth and compassion always overcome ignorant hate’
LGBTQ Catholic groups have sharply criticized President Donald Trump over his criticisms of Pope Leo XIV.
Leo on April 13 told reporters while traveling to Algeria that he had “no fear of the Trump administration” after the president described him as “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy” in response to his opposition to the Iran war. (Trump on the same day posted to Truth Social an image that appeared to show him as Jesus Christ. He removed it on April 13 amid backlash from religious leaders.)
Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, during a Fox News Channel interview on the same day said “in some cases, it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of what’s going on with the Catholic church, and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy.” Vance on April 14 once again discussed Leo during an appearance at a Turning Point USA event in Athens, Ga., saying he should “be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni; former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Miguel Díaz; and Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, are among those who have criticized Trump over his comments. The president, for his part, has said he will not apologize to Leo.
“The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants,” said Leo on Thursday at a cathedral in Bamenda, Cameroon.
Francis DeBernardo is the executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based LGBTQ Catholic organization. He told the Washington Blade on Thursday that Trump’s comments about Leo “are one more example of the ridiculous hubris of this leader (Trump) whose entire record shows that he is nothing more than a middle-school bully.”
“LGBTQ+ adults were often bullied as children, and they have learned the lesson that bullies act when they feel frightened or threatened,” said DeBernardo. “But secular power does not threaten the Vicar of Christ, and Pope Leo’s response illustrates this truth perfectly.”
DeBernardo added Trump “is obviously frightened that Pope Leo, an American, has more power and influence than the president on the world stage.”
“Like most Trumpian bullying, this strategy will backfire,” DeBernardo told the Blade. “Moral truth and compassion always overcome ignorant hate. Trump’s actions are not an example of his power, but of his impotence.”
Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, an LGBTQ Catholic organization, echoed DeBernardo.
“He [Trump] has demonstrated throughout both presidencies that he doesn’t understand the basic concepts of any faith system that is founded on the dignity of human beings, the importance of common good,” Duddy-Burke told the Blade on Thursday during a telephone interview. “It’s just appalling.”
Duddy-Burke praised Leo and the American cardinals who have publicly criticized Trump.
“The pope’s popularity — given how much more respect Pope Leo has than the man sitting in the White House — is a blow to his ego,” Duddy-Burke told the Blade. “That seems to be a sore sport for him.”
“It’s such an imperialistic world view,” she added.
Leo ‘is the real peacemaker’
The College of Cardinals last May elected Leo to succeed Pope Francis after his death.
Leo, who was born in Chicago, is the first American pope. He was the bishop of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru from 2015-2023.
Francis made him a cardinal in 2023.
Juan Carlos Cruz — a gay Chilean man and clergy sex abuse survivor who Francis appointed to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors — has traveled to Ukraine several times with Dominican Sister Lucía Caram since Russia launched its war against the country in 2022. Cruz on Thursday responded to Trump’s criticism of Leo in a text message he sent to the Blade from Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.
“I am in Ukraine under many attacks,” said Cruz. “Trump is an asshole and has zero right to criticize the Pope who is the real peacemaker.”
Tennessee
Charlie Kirk Act advances in Tenn.
Bill would limit protests, protects speakers opposing ‘transgender’ identities
The Tennessee legislature has passed Senate Bill 1741 / House Bill 1476, dubbed the “Charlie Kirk Act,” which, if signed by Republican Gov. Bill Lee, would reshape how public colleges and universities regulate speech on campus.
The measure targets all public higher education institutions and requires them to adopt a “free expression” policy modeled on the University of Chicago’s framework. That framework emphasizes that universities should not shield students from controversial or offensive ideas and requires state schools to formally embrace institutional neutrality — meaning they do not publicly take a stance on political or social issues.
Under the legislation, publicly funded schools cannot disinvite or cancel invited speakers based on their viewpoints or in response to protests from students or faculty. Student organizations, however — like Turning Point USA, an American nonprofit that advocates for conservative politics on high school, college, and university campuses, founded by Charlie Kirk, and often lack widely represented liberal counterparts — would retain broad authority to bring speakers to campus regardless of controversy.
The law includes broad protections for individuals and organizations expressing religious or ideological beliefs, including opposition to abortion, homosexuality, or transgender identity, regardless of whether those views are rooted in religious or secular beliefs. It further prohibits public institutions from retaliating against faculty for protected speech or scholarly work.
The bill, which has been hailed by supporters as an effort to “preserve campus free speech,” ironically also limits protest activity. Shouting down speakers, blocking sightlines, staging disruptive walkouts, or physically preventing entry to events are now considered “substantial interference” under the legislation, making those who engage in such actions subject to discipline.
Some of those disciplinary consequences include probation, suspension, and even expulsion for students, while faculty who protest in ways deemed to violate the policy could face unpaid suspensions and termination after repeated violations.
Supporters of the bill argue it strengthens free expression on campus. State Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood), the bill’s sponsor, said it reinforces a commitment to “civil and robust” debate at public universities.
“The Charlie Kirk Act creates critical safeguards for students and faculty and renews the idea that our higher education institutions should be centers of intellectual debate,” Bulso told Fox 17. “This legislation honors the legacy of Charlie Kirk by promoting thoughtful engagement and defending religious freedom.”
Critics, including Democratic lawmakers, have raised concerns that the legislation effectively elevates certain ideological viewpoints — particularly those tied to religious objections to LGBTQ identities — while exposing students and faculty to punishment for protest or dissent.
“It’s ironic that this body is talking about free speech when we had professors in Tennessee schools expelled and suspended when they did not mourn the death of Charlie Kirk — when they said that his statements were problematic and that the way he died did not redeem the way he lived,” state Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) told WKRN.
Kirk, the right-wing activist and founder of Turning Point USA, for whom the bill is named, was assassinated in September 2025 at a public event at Utah Valley University. His legacy and rhetoric remain deeply polarizing, particularly among LGBTQ advocates, who have cited his history of anti-LGBTQ statements in opposing his campus appearances.
The bill now heads to Lee’s desk for his signature.
National
Demonstrators disrupt OMB director hearing over PEPFAR
Capitol Police arrested five protesters
A group of protesters interrupted Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought during his testimony before Congress on Wednesday.
Vought was at the Cannon House Office Building to give testimony to the House Budget Committee.
Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) began the hearing by touting what he described as economic accomplishments of the Trump-Vance administration’s economic accomplishments. Ranking Member Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) disputed those claims in his opening statement.
Boyle went on to admonish Vought for not attending a committee hearing in the previous year.
Vought, the “Project 2025” architect, was invited to speak after Arrington and Boyle made their statements.
Shortly after Vought began reading his statement, Housing Works CEO Charles King stood up in the gallery and began shouting, “PEPFAR saves lives: spend the money!”
The U.S. Capitol Police moved quickly to escort King from the room. Other activists began chanting with King as they unfolded signs bearing a picture of Vought’s face and statements such as, “Vought’s cuts kill people with AIDS,” and “Protect PEPFAR from Vought.”
The group of HIV/AIDS activists included independent activists, former U.S. Agency for International Development and PEPFAR staff, members of Health GAP, Housing Works, and the Treatment Action Group. Six activists were escorted from the hearing and the U.S. Capitol Police detained five of them.
The HIV/AIDS treatment activists protested at the hearing in response to the dismantling of global health programs, including PEPFAR, a federally-funded program credited with saving millions of lives from HIV/AIDS, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Russell Vought is directly responsible for illegally withholding Congressionally appropriated funds for PEPFAR and related global health initiative,” King said in a statement provided to the Washington Blade. “These funding disruptions have already contributed to preventable deaths and threaten to reverse decades of progress in the fight against HIV worldwide. Enough is enough. Congress must ensure Vought stops this deadly sabotage.”
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