News
It’s official: Senate confirms Brett Kavanaugh to Supreme Court
Vote narrowest in history for seating of justice to high court

With Vice President Mike Pence presiding over the chamber in case his constitutional duty to break tie votes was required, the Senate voted 50-48 to confirm Kavanaugh.
The Senate confirmed Kavanaugh despite multiple allegations the nominee committed sexual assault. Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate a teenaged Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982 when she was 15 years old. Kavanaugh also faced accusations of perjury based on his testimony, including his assertion the meaning of “Devil’s Triangle” and “boofed” in his high school yearbook entry weren’t sexually related terms.
Other critics said his response to the accusations in his testimony before the Senate, including an assertion it was a result of “revenge of the Clintons,” demonstrated a lack of judicial temperament and made him unfit for the Supreme Court.
The vote was largely along party lines, although Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W-Va.) broke with Democrats to vote in favor of nomination. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) came out against Kavanaugh’s confirmation, but voted “present” on the confirmation vote in the spirit of comity because Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) absent because he was attending his daughter’s wedding.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a supporter of LGBT rights who was a champion of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, was thought to be a potential “no” vote on Kavanaugh, but declared her support for the nominee Friday.
The margin was the narrowest ever in history for the confirmation of a justice to the Supreme Court, beating the 52-48 vote in 1991 to confirm U.S. Associate Justice Clarence Thomas.
Raj Shah, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement the Trump administration would waste no time in seating Kavanaugh and arrange his swearing-in the day of his confirmation vote.
“The White House applauds the Senate for confirming President Trump’s nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court,” Shah said. “Later today, the President will sign his commission of appointment and he will be officially sworn in.”
According to the Associated Press, U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts and former U.S. Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy would swear in Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
Progressive and LGBT groups, who opposed Kavanaugh since he was nominated out of fears he’d rollback LGBT rights and overturn Roe v. Wade, were indignant over the Senate approving his nomination.
Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said in a statement the confirmation was “a slap in the face to women and all sexual assault survivors.”
“It is also a blow to the legitimacy of the Supreme Court,” Minter said. “Kavanaugh’s belligerence and hyperpartisan attacks at last week’s hearing do not reflect the temperament or impartiality required for a lifetime appointment to our nation’s highest court.”
Kavanaugh now takes the seat on the Supreme Court formerly occupied by Kennedy, who was known as a moderate, dwing justice and wrote four major milestone decisions in favor of gay rights, including the 2015 ruling for marriage equality nationwide.
During his time as a judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Kavanaugh wasn’t asked to deliver any rulings on LGBT rights. However, his inclusion on Trump’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees, chosen by the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation, cast doubt he would the interpret the law favorably for LGBT rights.
Stan Sloan, CEO of the Family Equality Council, articulated in a statement the concerns felt by LGBT rights supporters over Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
“Today, we recognize the deep disappointment and fear many Americans are feeling, and acknowledge the specific fears of the LGBTQ community as the Justice joining the Supreme Court has a record that indicates he would undercut our rights, uphold discrimination against our community, and allow President Trump’s anti-LGBTQ agenda to withstand judicial scrutiny,” Sloan said.
Many LGBT right supporters have raised concerns Kavanaugh will be the deciding vote reversing Kennedy’s landmark decisions on LGBT rights, including the decision for marriage equality nationwide. Kavanaugh’s responses on LGBT rights during his confirmation hearing left LGBT legal experts wholly unsatisfied.
The chances of reversing Obergefell three years after the court issued the decision may be slim, but marriage equality is but one issue Kavanaugh could face as a justice. Other LGBT-related cases that may come to Supreme Court with Kavanaugh on the bench including litigation challenging President Trump’s transgender military ban, whether federal civil laws against sex discrimination applies to LGBT people and whether “religious freedom” affords a right for individuals and businesses to discriminate against LGBT people.
Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said in a statement the confirmation was a “moral failure” on the part of the Senate.
“Justice Kavanaugh is a direct threat to the well-being of 2 million transgender people, and his confirmation is an insult to the millions of people who have survived sexual assault,” Keisling said. “Every time the Supreme Court strips more rights away, survivors will receive a painful reminder that decisions about their lives are being made by people who have been credibly accused of sexual assault.”
With Kavanaugh seated, many progressives are hoping outrage over the confirmation will contribute to the energy driving an expected “blue” wave at the polls in the upcoming congressional mid-term elections. However, new signs have indicated the Kavanaugh confirmation process has also generated a backlash among Republican voters, who are now telling pollsters they’re also energized.
Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement the “harmful consequences of the Senate’s decision to support Brett Kavanaugh will last decades” and urged voters to make their objections heard at the polls.
“In the wake of this news, there is only one course of action,” Griffin said. “The millions of Americans who have fought a valiant struggle against this Trump-Pence nominee must make their voices heard in November and beyond by electing lawmakers who will stand up for our rights rather than sell us out.”
Kavanaugh may not be out of the woods even though he was confirmed to the Supreme Court. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, has indicated a Democratic majority in the House would further investigate sexual assault and perjury allegations against Kavanaugh, which could result in impeachment proceedings.
Sarah Kate Ellis, CEO of GLAAD, said in a statement voters should head to the polls to November to contain and reverse the Kavanaugh confirmation and the Trump administration.
“Brett Kavanaugh has been granted the opportunity to ensconce President Trump and Vice President Pence’s hate-fueled anti-LGBTQ agenda on the nation’s top court for decades to come, threatening the hard-won rights of women, LGBTQ people, immigrants, and all vulnerable people,” Ellis said. “We must turn our attention to the ballot box in November to protect and preserve our most deeply held American values, and resist the tyranny of the Trump Administration.”

South Africa National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza on June 17 swore in lesbian feminist Palomino Jama as a new MP.
Jama joins other LGBTQ legislators — including Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson; Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Dion George; and Deputy Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities Minister, Steve Letsike.
Jama said she will work hard and excel as MP.
“What a great moment to be alive. Thank you youth of 1976, thank you Simon Nkoli, Phumi Mthetwa, Paddy Nhlaphos, Vanessa Ludwig, and others for what you did for the LGBTI people in the 80s and 90s. Lastly, for the fierce fist of the Jamas to always hit where it matters for the people of this country,” said Letsike.
Embrace Diversity Movement, a local LGBTQ organization, said Jama’s inauguration came at an appropriate time, during Pride month.
“Her swearing-in took place during a month of profound significance in June, which marks both international Pride Month and Youth Month in South Africa,” said the group. “Palomino is a seasoned queer activist and dedicated community builder with a distinguished record of leadership and service.”
“The EDM proudly supports Palomino in her deployment to parliament, her presence meaningfully advances youth and queer representation in public office,” added the Embrace Diversity Movement. “We are confident that she will serve the people of South Africa with integrity, courage, and distinction.”
South Africa is the only African country that constitutionally upholds LGBTQ rights. There are, however, still myriad challenges the LGBTQ community faces on a daily basis that range from physical attacks to online abuse.
Letsike in May faced a barrage of online attacks after she released a scathing statement against popular podcaster Macgyver “MacG” Mukwevho, who during a podcast episode in April insinuated that the reason behind popular socialite Minnie Dlamini’s “unsuccessful” relationships were probably due to the bad odor from her genitals.
Letsike, who viewed MacG’s comments as offensive, called for the podcaster to be summoned before parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities and criticized the local television station that aired the podcast.
X users and other social media subscribers bombarded Letsike with anti-lesbian comments. She, however, was unphased.
Letsike continues to face anti-lesbian comments, even though MacG apologized and the television station on which his podcast had aired cancelled its contract with him.
Israel
Activist recalls experience in Tel Aviv after Israel-Iran war began
Marty Rouse was part of Jewish Federations of North America Pride mission

A long-time activist who was in Israel last month when its war with Iran began has returned to D.C.
Marty Rouse traveled to Israel on June 6 with the Jewish Federations of North America. The 5-day mission ended the night before the annual Tel Aviv Pride parade was scheduled to take place.
Mission participants met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and several LGBTQ activists in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. They visited the Western Wall, the Nova Music Festival site, and Nir Oz, a kibbutz in southern Israel that is less than a mile from the country’s border with the Gaza Strip. Mission participants also visited Sderot, a city that is roughly a mile from the Hamas-controlled enclave, a veterans rehabilitation facility, a new LGBTQ health center and the Aguda: The Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel in Tel Aviv.
Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, killed upwards of 360 partygoers and kidnapped dozens more at the music festival that was taking place at a campground near Re’im, a kibbutz that is roughly 10 miles southwest of Nir Oz. The militants killed or took hostage nearly a quarter of Nir Oz’s residents. They also took control of Sderot’s police station.

Tel Aviv Deputy Mayor Chen Arieli spoke at the mission’s closing party that took place at the Sheraton Grand, a hotel that overlooks Tel Aviv’s beachfront, on June 12.
Rouse and other mission participants planned to stay in Tel Aviv for the Pride parade, which was scheduled to take place the following day. He and Gordie Nathan, another mission participant who lives in Palm Springs, Calif., had checked into a nearby hotel that was less expensive.
“We said our farewells,” recalled Rouse when he spoke with the Washington Blade in D.C. on June 24. “We went to our hotels, and we get the warning, and then all hell broke loose.”
Israel early on June 13 launched airstrikes against Iran that targeted the country’s nuclear and military facilities.
Rouse said mission organizers told him and other participants who remained in Tel Aviv to meet at the Sheraton Grand for breakfast and dinner — Israel’s airspace was closed in anticipation of an Iranian counterattack, and authorities cancelled the Pride parade.
He said he went to bomb shelters at least twice a night for three nights.
Israel’s Home Front Command during the war typically issued warnings about 10 minutes ahead of an anticipated Iranian missile attack. Sirens then sounded 90 seconds before an expected strike.
Rouse and Nathan walked to the Sheraton Grand on June 13 when the Home Front Command issued a 10-minute warning. They reached the hotel in a couple of minutes, and staff directed them to the bomb shelter.
“You know to walk slowly, everything’s fine,” recalled Rouse. “You get 10 minutes, so everything was fine when the alarm goes off.”
Rouse described the Sheraton Grand shelter as “well lit” with WiFi, a television, and air conditioning. He was watching an Israeli television station’s live coverage of the Iranian missile attack when he saw one hit an apartment building in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan.
A 74-year-old woman died and her boyfriend was seriously injured.
“I go over to look at the TV, just to watch,” recalled Rouse. “All of a sudden, you watch, and you see one bomb go and land and explode in Tel Aviv on TV. It landed and blew up.”
“I was like, okay, this is real, and so that was scary,” he added.
Rouse said the bomb shelter in the hotel where he and Nathan were staying after the mission ended was far less comfortable.
“It was dark. It was humid. It was hot. It was very uncomfortable,” said Rouse. “You really felt alone.”

Rouse and nearly everyone else on the mission who were in Tel Aviv when the war began left Israel on June 15. They boarded buses that took them to the Jordanian capital of Amman, which is a roughly 2 1/2-hour drive from Tel Aviv through the West Bank.
Rouse described the trip as “like a field trip” until they drove across the Jordan River and arrived at the Jordanian border crossing.
“You walk into this room, and instead of being in a well air-conditioned airport, you’re in this hot, humid, small place in the middle of the desert, packed with people, and those big, large, loud fans and pictures of military people on the walls,” he said. “It was almost like a Casablanca kind of feeling.”
Rouse said Jordanian authorities brought mission participants through customs in groups of 10. A Jewish Federations of North America liaison from Amman who previously worked as a tour guide for A Wider Bridge — a group that “advocates for justice, counters LGBTQphobia, and fights antisemitism and other forms of hatred” — went “behind closed doors” to ensure everyone was able to enter the country.
“It took a really long time,” Rouse told the Blade.

Mission participants arrived in Amman a short time later. They checked into their hotel and then had dinner at a restaurant.
“Now we feel like we’re safe and we’re in Amman,” recalled Rouse. “We’re sitting outside having a beautiful dinner.”
Iranian missiles passed over Amman shortly after Rouse and the other mission participants had begun to eat their dessert. They went inside the restaurant, and waited a few minutes before they boarded busses that brought them back to their hotel.
“No one was openly freaking out, which I was surprised by,” said Rouse.
The group was scheduled to fly from Amman to Cairo at 11 p.m. local time (4 p.m. ET) on June 16. They visited Jerash, an ancient city north of Amman, before their flight left Jordan.
“[The Jerash trip] actually took our minds off of everything,” said Rouse.
A Jewish Federations of North America contact met Rouse and the other mission participants at Cairo’s airport once their flight landed. Rouse arrived at JFK Airport in New York on June 17.
Trump-announced ceasefire ended 12-day war
President Donald Trump on June 23 announced a ceasefire that ended the 12-day war.
The U.S. three days earlier launched airstrikes that struck three Iranian nuclear sites. The ceasefire took effect hours after Iran launched missiles at a U.S. military base in Qatar.
Iran said the war killed more than 900 people in the country.
The Associated Press notes Iranian missiles killed 28 people in Israel. One of them destroyed Tel Aviv’s last gay bar on June 16.
The war took place less than two years after Oct. 7.
The Israeli government says Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, killed roughly 1,200 people on that day when it launched its surprise attack on the country. The militants also kidnapped more than 200 people.
The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says Israeli forces have killed nearly 55,000 people in the enclave since Oct. 7. Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, has said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who the IDF killed last October, are among those who have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and Israel.

Rouse upon his return to the U.S. said he “was never as aware of the comfort of another human being than I was during that time.” Rouse affectionately called Nathan his “bomb shelter boyfriend” and even questioned the way he reacted to the missile alerts.
“He’s sitting on the edge of the bed and he goes, okay, I’m going to put on my socks and my shoes, and I say, really? You’re going to put on your socks,” Rouse told the Blade. “The fact that I was nervous, that putting on socks might have changed the direction of our lives, to me was like I can’t believe I said that to him.”
Rouse quickly added Nathan helped him remain calm.
“If I was by myself, those nights would have been long enough,” said Rouse. “It’s a totally different feeling to be with another human that you know than to be by yourself.”

Rouse also praised the Jewish Federations of North America.
“JFNA really sprung into action and started to figure out all options to get us all safely home,” said Rouse. “It was all about logistics. Staff worked around the clock identifying and then mobilizing to get us back to the states. It was a great team effort and I know I speak for everyone in expressing our deep appreciation for their dedication to getting us safely home.”
Congress
Congress passes ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ with massive cuts to health insurance coverage
Roughly 1.8 million LGBTQ Americans rely on Medicaid

The “Big, Beautiful Bill” heads to President Donald Trump’s desk following the vote by the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday, which saw two nays from GOP members and unified opposition from the entire Democratic caucus.
To partially offset the cost of tax breaks that disproportionately favor the wealthy, the bill contains massive cuts to Medicaid and social safety net programs like food assistance for the poor while adding a projected $3.3 billion to the deficit.
Policy wise, the signature legislation of Trump’s second term rolls back clean energy tax credits passed under the Biden-Harris administration while beefing up funding for defense and border security.
Roughly 13 percent of LGBTQ adults in the U.S., about 1.8 million people, rely on Medicaid as their primary health insurer, compared to seven percent of non-LGBTQ adults, according to the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute think tank on sexual orientation and gender identities.
In total, the Congressional Budget Office estimates the cuts will cause more than 10 million Americans to lose their coverage under Medicaid and anywhere from three to five million to lose their care under Affordable Care Act marketplace plans.
A number of Republicans in the House and Senate opposed the bill reasoning that they might face political consequences for taking away access to healthcare for, particularly, low-income Americans who rely on Medicaid. Poorer voters flocked to Trump in last year’s presidential election, exit polls show.
A provision that would have blocked the use of federal funds to reimburse medical care for transgender youth was blocked by the Senate Parliamentarian and ultimately struck from the legislation — reportedly after the first trans member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) and the first lesbian U.S. senator, Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), shored up unified opposition to the proposal among Congressional Democrats.
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