National
Will Obama campaign with Baldwin in Senate race?
Lesbian candidate trails Thompson in new polls
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney (Blade file photo by Michael Key)
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was unable to say Thursday whether President Obama would make a campaign appearance with lesbian U.S. Senate candidate Tammy Baldwin to assist in her bid to become the first openly gay person elected to the U.S. Senate.
Carney said he had “no campaign announcements” when asked by the Washington Blade whether Obama would travel to Wisconsin to campaign with Baldwin, who’s running against Republican candidate Tommy Thompson to replace retiring Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.).
“I have no campaign announcements, scheduling announcements to make on behalf of the president,” Carney said. “The president himself has an election as you know in a few short months. But I have no campaign announcements to make.”
Under further questioning, Carney acknowledged that Baldwin’s campaign is significant in terms of the expertise the seven-term congresswoman would bring to the U.S. Senate.
“I think it’s very significant,” Carney said. “I think what is most significant is that someone qualified like Ms. Baldwin is running for that office and would make an excellent senator if elected.”
Baldwin appears to be facing an tough battle in her race against Thompson because recent polls give him a considerable lead. A poll from Marquette University Law School published Wednesday found Thompson leading Baldwin 50-41, while a Public Policy Poll published the same day gave Thompson a 49-44 lead.
It’s not unprecedented for Obama to campaign with Democratic candidates who are in tight races. In 2010, among the Democratic incumbents with whom Obama campaigned was former Rep. Tom Perriello, who had voted for health care reform legislation even though he represented a conservative district in Virginia. Perriello ultimately lost the election, but only by a margin of four points against Republican Robert Hurt. Perriello now serves as president of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
On the same day as Carney’s remarks, the lesbian political action committee LPAC announced it had donated $112,000 to Baldwin’s effort through the “WISCONSIN WOMEN VOTE!” independent expenditure campaign, which will assist in buying air time for a TV ad depicting Thompson as a D.C. insider. LPAC had previously announced its own initiative in which it would match donations up to $50,000 to Baldwin’s campaign.
“Tammy Baldwin embodies everything LPAC stands for,” said LPAC Chair Sarah Schmidt. “She has a history of protecting women’s rights and expanding issues of social justice. Rep. Baldwin is a staunch advocate for reproductive rights and wrote bills to expand both breast cancer screenings and hate crime laws, as well as measures to eliminate workplace discrimination.”
National
Queen Jean is Tony’s first transgender winner
Designer/activist wins for work on ‘Cats: The Jellicle Ball’
It was a historic night at the 79th annual Tony Awards on Sunday as Queen Jean won the award for Best Costume Design of a Musical, making her the first out transgender person to win a Tony.
“This experience has been monumental. We are here for the legacy of queer people, trans people,” she said. “We are taking up space in ways we have to take up space. We have to shift the paradigm. So I just want to say, thank you all so much for this incredible honor. The world right now is deeply, deeply combating so many ailments, and we know as a society that when we come together, we can make real, permanent change.”
She won the award for her work on “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” and was also nominated for best costume design of a play for “Liberation.”
In addition to her stage work, Queen Jean is the founder of Black Trans Liberation, an organization that supports trans and gender-nonconforming people in New York City.
National
Madonna turns Times Square into massive dance floor
Pop icon celebrates Pride month with surprise performance
Pop icon Madonna celebrated Pride month with a pop-up performance in New York City’s Times Square on Thursday to the delight of 50,000 fans.
She performed for about 15 minutes high above street level, including several songs from her new album “Confessions II” due on July 3, along with a trio of songs from the first “Confessions on a Dance Floor.”
In addition to the brand new “Love Sensation,” she performed “I Feel So Free” and “Bring Your Love,” plus “Hung Up,” “Get Together” and “I Love New York.” She wished the crowd a happy Pride season; the event was shared with audiences through Grindr’s first-ever livestream.
National
Gallup finds LGBTQ support among Americans is dropping
Marriage equality support lowest since 2016
Gallup, one of the leading organizations in public opinion polling, has found that LGBTQ support among Americans is dropping.
The poll, whose data was collected using Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs survey, was conducted in May and was published on Wednesday. The data was collected through telephone interviews from a sample of more than 1,000 adults living in all 50 states and D.C. using random digit dialing.
It highlights declining attitudes surrounding LGBTQ issues in multiple areas — from support for same-sex marriage to views on gender identity and the morality of one’s sexuality.
One of the most striking findings was that support for marriage equality fell six points from its 2022-2023 high.
The survey also found that 62 percent of Americans view gay and lesbian relations as morally acceptable, the lowest level since 2016 just after same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide by the U.S. Supreme Court.
One newer question on the poll found that the perceived morality of changing one’s gender has dropped eight points since 2021, indicating the American public is less supportive of transgender people.
The data attributes much of the decline to shifting Republican views alongside the party itself. Conservative leaders have pushed back against diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that were intended to foster greater acceptance of LGBTQ people and other historically disadvantaged groups.
President Donald Trump has been a guiding force behind waves of anti-LGBTQ sentiment, particularly when it comes to trans rights. The president has enacted multiple executive orders, including Executive Order 14168, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” which mandates that gender be defined by one’s sex assigned at birth. He also signed Executive Order 14183, “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” which barred qualified trans applicants from joining the military and led to the removal of trans service members already serving in the armed forces.
Additionally, he signed Executive Order 14201, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” which prohibits trans female athletes from participating on women’s and girls’ sports teams.
In February, Gallup found that an estimated 9 percent of Americans identified as part of the LGBTQ community in some form.
The organization also found that 23 percent of adults under age 30 identify as LGBTQ, compared with 10 percent of those ages 30 to 49 and 3 percent or less among those ages 50 and older.
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