National
Romney, Santorum show new strength in Iowa polls
Controversy surrounds Paul’s newsletters and endorsement from anti-gay pastor
[Editor’s Note: The Washington Blade will have this reporter in Des Moines, Iowa, next week monitoring activity on the ground prior to the caucuses as well as their results.]
Two GOP presidential contenders are experiencing new strength in the polls just days before the Iowa caucuses as new concerns emerge about another candidate’s anti-gay connections and past.
Recent polls show former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney slightly ahead of other candidates in Iowa — where on Jan. 3 the GOP will hold the nation’s first contest for who’ll win the Republican nomination — as former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum has also risen to become a major candidate in the contest.
According to a NBC/Marist poll published Friday, Romney is virtually tied for support with Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) among likely Republican caucus-goers in Iowa. The poll revealed that Romney has support from 23 percent of respondents while Paul has support from 21 percent.
MORE IN THE BLADE: ROMNEY EDGES SANTORUM TO WIN IOWA CAUCUS
Meanwhile, Santorum has risen to third place in Iowa while Gingrich has plummeted after enjoying a commanding lead. The former senator has support from 20 percent of respondents, followed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry at 14 percent and Gingrich at 13 percent.
Gingrich, who until recently was the front-runner in the polls, has fallen after his opponents have attacked for his decisions over the course of this more than 30-year-long political career.
Criticism have been based on his admitted martial infidelities and the $1.6 million he received in consulting fees he received from Freddie Mac, a government-sponsored secondary home mortgage company whose activities some say contributed to the financial crisis of 2008.
Dan Pinello, a gay political science professor at the City University of New York, accounted for Romney’s modest new lead as conservatives coming to terms with the stronger prospects of the former Massachusetts governor winning in the general election.
“A lot of conservatives are finally realizing that they don’t have a viable alternative to Romney, and some of them are just holding their nose and going with him as the best alternative to someone they dislike even more, and that’s Barack Obama,” Pinello said.
Pinello added Romney’s rise in Iowa also could be because a win for Paul — who has significantly less of a chance of winning the Republican nomination or the general election — would have the effect of diminish the caucuses’ importance in the presidential primaries.
“Iowa Republicans have had heard their leadership’s cry that they’ve got to maintain the salience of the Iowa caucus system for the long haul, and choosing someone like Ron Paul doesn’t achieve that,” Pinello said.
As for Santorum — who’s known for being a social conservative and holding anti-gay views — Pinello said the candidate’s new strength is the anti-Romney crowd “scraping the bottom of the barrel” now that Gingrich has become a more unpopular candidate.
“They’ve gone with everyone else, and all those others have never panned out for the long haul,” Pinello said. “And so, [Santorum] is what’s left; he’s the consolation prize it seems in a sense.”
Just last week, anti-gay leader Bob Vander Plaats, CEO of FAMiLY LEADER, threw his personal support behind Santorum in the election, so the candidate’s rise could be the result of that support. ABC News later reported that Vander Plaats solicited money for the endorsement, although the Santorum campaign denied that any agreement was made about money.
Pinello declined to make prediction on who’ll win the Iowa caucuses because of the rapid change of the candidates’ positions in the polls, but said the outcome probably won’t have much bearing on who’ll win the Republican nomination.
“Over the past 40 years, Iowa has only accurately predicted the GOP nominee twice in five contests where there was no incumbent president running on the Republican side,” Pinello said. “That’s not a very good track record.”
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses in 2008 with 35 percent of the vote while Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) came in forth. The nomination went to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
Pinello said the outcome of the Iowa caucuses would only make a difference the race to win the Republican presidential nomination if Romney emerged as the victor.
“If, in fact, Romney is in first place after everything is over next Tuesday, that would be, I think, significant because it would show that it doesn’t seem to be a really truly viable two-person race after the initial contest,” Pinello said.
Paul’s anti-gay ties under scrutiny
As the Republican candidates continue to rise and fall in the polls, Paul’s record has come under increasing scrutiny because of anti-gay ties and statements found in the newsletters he once published.
The newsletters, which were published under various titles in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, describe AIDS as a disease wrought by gays for sexual misbehavior. The newsletters also contain many racially charged and anti-Semitic statements.
Among the gay-related content of the newsletters:
* If you heard a certain behavior of yours caused a deadly disease, wouldn’t you immediately cease and desist?
* Well, gays in San Francisco do not obey the dictates of good sense. They have stopped practicing “safe sex.”
* The rate of AIDS infection is on the increase again. From the gay point of view, the reasons seem quite sensible.
* They are not married, they have no children, and their lives on centered on new sexual partners.
* They enjoy the attention and pity that comes with being sick.
* Put it all together, and you’ve got another wave of AIDS infections, that you, dear taxpayer, will be asked to pay for.
In a radio interview Thursday with WHO Radio in Des Moines, Paul disavowed the content of the letters, saying he had limited input on the content of the letters beyond the economic pieces. The candidate said controversy over the letters hasn’t harmed his campaign.
“It wasn’t a reflection of my views at all…I think it was terrible,” Paul reportedly said. “It was tragic, and I had some responsibility for it, because the name went out in my letter. But I was not an editor. I (was) like a publisher.”
Christian Berle, deputy executive director of the National Log Cabin Republicans, said Paul’s distancing of himself from the newsletters was “appropriate” because the anti-gay statements contained within them are “outside of the mainstream.”
“When looking at Paul as a candidate it is important to look at his focus on small, limited government which positions himself with many LGBT Americans, who are looking to succeed without Washington, telling them what to do,” Berle said.
Berle noted Paul twice voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment and in favor of measures to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in accordance with libertarian views.
“That libertarian message is one that is resonating in Iowa and across the country,” Berle concluded.
Meanwhile, a recent Paul endorsement from Rev. Phillip Kayser, pastor of Dominion Covenant Church in Omaha, Neb., has also been controversial. The religious leader is known for holding anti-gay views and gone so far as to state the death penalty should be imposed upon gays for homosexual acts.
Kayser makes the case for imposing biblical law in a 2009 publication titled “Is the Death Penalty Just?” and contends that gays should be subject to the death penalty to deter their behavior.
“Difficulty in implementing Biblical law does not make non-Biblical penology just,” he says. “But as we have seen, while many homosexuals would be executed, the threat of capital punishment can be restorative. Biblical law would recognize as a matter of justice that even if this law could be enforced today, homosexuals could not be prosecuted for something that was done before.”
According to Talking Points Memo, Kayser confirmed by phone that he still favors instating biblical punishments for gays — although he doesn’t anticipate the punishment being put in place anytime soon.
The Paul campaign touted the endorsement in a statement, although the response to the pastor’s support has apparently been removed from Paul’s web site.
“We welcome Rev. Kayser’s endorsement and the enlightening statements he makes on how Ron Paul’s approach to government is consistent with Christian beliefs,” said Ron Paul 2012 Iowa Chairman Drew Ivers. “We’re thankful for the thoughtfulness with which he makes his endorsement and hope his endorsement and others like it make a strong top-three showing in the caucus more likely.”
Jerame Davis, interim executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats, said the newsletters and endorsement demonstrate that Paul “has never been a friend to the LGBT community.
“He has a long history of close association with racist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic language,” Davis said. “A new endorsement or yet another revelation doesn’t really change a whole lot.”
New York
Men convicted of murdering two men in NYC gay bar drugging scheme sentenced
One of the victims, John Umberger, was D.C. political consultant
A New York judge on Wednesday sentenced three men convicted of killing a D.C. political consultant and another man who they targeted at gay bars in Manhattan.
NBC New York notes a jury in February convicted Jayqwan Hamilton, Jacob Barroso, and Robert DeMaio of murder, robbery, and conspiracy in relation to druggings and robberies that targeted gay bars in Manhattan from March 2021 to June 2022.
John Umberger, a 33-year-old political consultant from D.C., and Julio Ramirez, a 25-year-old social worker, died. Prosecutors said Hamilton, Barroso, and DeMaio targeted three other men at gay bars.
The jury convicted Hamilton and DeMaio of murdering Umberger. State Supreme Court Judge Felicia Mennin sentenced Hamilton and DeMaio to 40 years to life in prison.
Barroso, who was convicted of killing Ramirez, received a 20 years to life sentence.
National
Medical groups file lawsuit over Trump deletion of health information
Crucial datasets included LGBTQ, HIV resources
Nine private medical and public health advocacy organizations, including two from D.C., filed a lawsuit on May 20 in federal court in Seattle challenging what it calls the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’s illegal deletion of dozens or more of its webpages containing health related information, including HIV information.
The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, names as defendants Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and HHS itself, and several agencies operating under HHS and its directors, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration.
“This action challenges the widespread deletion of public health resources from federal agencies,” the lawsuit states. “Dozens (if not more) of taxpayer-funded webpages, databases, and other crucial resources have vanished since January 20, 2025, leaving doctors, nurses, researchers, and the public scrambling for information,” it says.
“These actions have undermined the longstanding, congressionally mandated regime; irreparably harmed Plaintiffs and others who rely on these federal resources; and put the nation’s public health infrastructure in unnecessary jeopardy,” the lawsuit continues.
It adds, “The removal of public health resources was apparently prompted by two recent executive orders – one focused on ‘gender ideology’ and the other targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (‘DEI’) programs. Defendants implemented these executive orders in a haphazard manner that resulted in the deletion (inadvertent or otherwise) of health-related websites and databases, including information related to pregnancy risks, public health datasets, information about opioid-use disorder, and many other valuable resources.”
The lawsuit does not mention that it was President Donald Trump who issued the two executive orders in question.
A White House spokesperson couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on the lawsuit.
While not mentioning Trump by name, the lawsuit names as defendants in addition to HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., Matthew Buzzelli, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health; Martin Makary, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration; Thomas Engels, administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration; and Charles Ezell, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management.
The 44-page lawsuit complaint includes an addendum with a chart showing the titles or descriptions of 49 “affected resource” website pages that it says were deleted because of the executive orders. The chart shows that just four of the sites were restored after initially being deleted.
Of the 49 sites, 15 addressed LGBTQ-related health issues and six others addressed HIV issues, according to the chart.
“The unannounced and unprecedented deletion of these federal webpages and datasets came as a shock to the medical and scientific communities, which had come to rely on them to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks, assist physicians and other clinicians in daily care, and inform the public about a wide range of healthcare issues,” the lawsuit states.
“Health professionals, nonprofit organizations, and state and local authorities used the websites and datasets daily in care for their patients, to provide resources to their communities, and promote public health,” it says.
Jose Zuniga, president and CEO of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC), one of the organizations that signed on as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said in a statement that the deleted information from the HHS websites “includes essential information about LGBTQ+ health, gender and reproductive rights, clinical trial data, Mpox and other vaccine guidance and HIV prevention resources.”
Zuniga added, “IAPAC champions evidence-based, data-informed HIV responses and we reject ideologically driven efforts that undermine public health and erase marginalized communities.”
Lisa Amore, a spokesperson for Whitman-Walker Health, D.C.’s largest LGBTQ supportive health services provider, also expressed concern about the potential impact of the HHS website deletions.
“As the region’s leader in HIV care and prevention, Whitman-Walker Health relies on scientific data to help us drive our resources and measure our successes,” Amore said in response to a request for comment from the Washington Blade.
“The District of Columbia has made great strides in the fight against HIV,” Amore said. “But the removal of public facing information from the HHS website makes our collective work much harder and will set HIV care and prevention backward,” she said.
The lawsuit calls on the court to issue a declaratory judgement that the “deletion of public health webpages and resources is unlawful and invalid” and to issue a preliminary or permanent injunction ordering government officials named as defendants in the lawsuit “to restore the public health webpages and resources that have been deleted and to maintain their web domains in accordance with their statutory duties.”
It also calls on the court to require defendant government officials to “file a status report with the Court within twenty-four hours of entry of a preliminary injunction, and at regular intervals, thereafter, confirming compliance with these orders.”
The health organizations that joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs include the Washington State Medical Association, Washington State Nurses Association, Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Academy Health, Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, Fast-Track Cities Institute, International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, National LGBT Cancer Network, and Vermont Medical Society.
The Fast-Track Cities Institute and International Association of Providers of AIDS Care are based in D.C.
U.S. Federal Courts
Federal judge scraps trans-inclusive workplace discrimination protections
Ruling appears to contradict US Supreme Court precedent
Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas has struck down guidelines by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission designed to protect against workplace harassment based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
The EEOC in April 2024 updated its guidelines to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), which determined that discrimination against transgender people constituted sex-based discrimination as proscribed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
To ensure compliance with the law, the agency recommended that employers honor their employees’ preferred pronouns while granting them access to bathrooms and allowing them to wear dress code-compliant clothing that aligns with their gender identities.
While the the guidelines are not legally binding, Kacsmaryk ruled that their issuance created “mandatory standards” exceeding the EEOC’s statutory authority that were “inconsistent with the text, history, and tradition of Title VII and recent Supreme Court precedent.”
“Title VII does not require employers or courts to blind themselves to the biological differences between men and women,” he wrote in the opinion.
The case, which was brought by the conservative think tank behind Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation, presents the greatest setback for LGBTQ inclusive workplace protections since President Donald Trump’s issuance of an executive order on the first day of his second term directing U.S. federal agencies to recognize only two genders as determined by birth sex.
Last month, top Democrats from both chambers of Congress reintroduced the Equality Act, which would codify LGBTQ-inclusive protections against discrimination into federal law, covering employment as well as areas like housing and jury service.
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