Trump vs The LGBTQ Community

Trump has been at odds with huge swathes of the population but has been quiet about gays lately-- until yesterday. Remember, NBC's 2016 exit polls showed that 14% of LGBTQ voters admitted they had cast ballots for Trump. Yesterday Hill reporter Nathaniel Weixel wrote that the Regime plans to "scrap ObamaCare's nondiscrimination protections for sex and gender identity under a final rule released Friday. In a statement, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said the government's interpretation of sex discrimination will be based on 'the plain meaning of the word 'sex' as male or female and as determined by biology.' ... The move was announced amid Pride Month but has been long-anticipated by religious providers, who argue the administration needs to reinforce their right not to provide treatment that is against their beliefs. The administration has been working on the rule for well over a year."

That will come as delightful news to the bigoted evangelicals who are still the base of Trump's dwindling support base. Hatred is, after all, the essence of their creed.

Advocates and health groups said the policy will make it easier for doctors, hospitals and insurance companies to deny care or coverage to transgender and nonbinary patients, as well as women who have had abortions.

"HHS respects the dignity of every human being, and as we have shown in our response to the pandemic, we vigorously protect and enforce the civil rights of all to the fullest extent permitted by our laws as passed by Congress," said Roger Severino, director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights.

The administration has argued that removing the protections, based on Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, is largely moot because a federal judge in Texas vacated much of the rule last year.

The Obama-era rule made it illegal for doctors, hospitals and other health care workers to deny care to someone whose sexual orientation or gender identity they disapproved of.

The Obama administration did this by expanding the health law's definition of sex discrimination to include gender identity for the first time, but those expansions were blocked by a federal judge in 2016. The Trump administration has worked to weaken the rules before they could take effect.

The Trump administration’s rule is wide-ranging and goes beyond the Obama-era protections by rolling back nondiscrimination protections contained in other health provisions as well. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the rule removes protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity in 10 existing regulations.

Advocates and Democratic lawmakers said the decision to move ahead with the rule while the country is still in the middle of a pandemic is especially cruel. The concern is that LGBTQ patients might not be able to access the care they need.

The COVID-19 pandemic has already impacted access to medical treatment, as almost all "nonessential" procedures were halted, people stopped going to the emergency room and even stopped giving their children needed vaccines.

Yet even as states begin to reopen and loosen restrictions on nonessential medical procedures, advocates worry that LGBTQ patients will be discouraged from seeking treatment, coronavirus-related or otherwise.

  "At a time when protecting communities from the COVID-19 pandemic is paramount, your Department and the Trump Administration are knowingly putting the health and wellbeing of vulnerable individuals and children at risk, while blatantly promoting discrimination against LGBTQIA+ communities and religious minorities by pursuing the finalization of this proposed rule," Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Patty Murray (D-WA) wrote in a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar.

Katie Keith, a health care consultant and professor at Georgetown Law, said the rule will target vulnerable communities, likely making existing health care disparities worse.

"The circumstances [of the pandemic] make it harmful, but it would be harmful either way. It seems extra callous to push the regulation out at this point in time," Keith said.

The Human Rights Campaign immediately announced that it will file a lawsuit to overturn the rule and slammed the administration for releasing it on the anniversary of the Pulse shooting, where a gunman killed 49 people in an LGBTQ nightclub.

The administration's move was praised by religious conservatives and anti-abortion groups.

Imagine if the gayest Republican in the Senate got angry enough to denounce Trump for doing that. This is what it would sound like. You go #LadyG!





I asked several Blue America candidates to comment on the new rule. Marie Newman (IL), Julie Oliver (TX), Jon Hoadley (MI) and Eva Putzova (AZ) pretty much spoke for all of them. Marie, who already won her Chicagoland primary against an entrenched Blue Dog incumbent, sounded exasperated: "HHS and Trump do not respect anybody’s dignity. Whenever I think he will stop being cruel he drops the bar lower. Please vote and tell everyone you know to vote." Julie, also no fan of Trump and his lockstep enablers: "They’re targeting some of the most vulnerable of our fellow Americans’ access to health care during a global pandemic. This serves no purpose, and is as dangerous as it is hateful and backwards."

Jon is a Michigan legislator running for a congressional seat held by Trump collaborator Fred Upton. Hoadley is open about being gay. "There is no logical or policy motive for this move by the Trump Administration," he told us this morning. "Let's be clear: this is blatant discrimination against trans folks and will result in more death. Removing protections for any individual based on an aspect of their identity is obvious discrimination. Remember, anyone who voted against broad protections for LGBTQ+ folks in the Equality Act, like Fred Upton, share responsibility for this harm.

Eva explained that "Before this ruling, 31 percent of transgender Americans already lacked regular access to health care. Now, Trump is authorizing discrimination and futher jeopardizing the health of so many LGBTQ+ people in this country. It's sick, inhumane, and the fact he decided to roll back LGBTQ+ rights on the anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting and Pride Month makes it even more abhorrent. When I'm in Congress, I will fight this with bold action. We need to ensure LGBTQ+ equality in law by passing the Equality Act AND enact Medicare for All so all LGBTQ+ people have access to the affordable, quality care they need to be their full selves."

How To Write A Good Fundraising E-Mail, Episode 1

I'm going to start a new feature tonight. We all get way too many e-mails from candidates asking for money, right?. Many of them are created by over-priced, under-talented communications consultants with messaging straight from the two-legged jokes who work at the DCCC, DNC and DSCC. I tend to recognize the worst of the garbage either from the subject line or by the layout or, if not sooner, by the first sentence. More often than not, I just unsubscribe. But the e-mails never seem to slow down, do they?

Once in a while, a candidate sends me an e-mail that's actually worth reading, one that gives the readers a sense of who that candidate actually is and what they will fight for and who they will fight for when they get to Congress. Our new DWT feature will be to run some of the best of those fundraising e-mails. I hope they set an example for other candidates of how to do it-- and I hope some readers feel moved to contribute or to at least decide to look further into the candidates.

The first one is from the Blue American-endorsed congressional candidate in NC-02, Jason Butler, a progressive Wake County pastor in a district that spans suburbs and large rural swathes of northern North Carolina. Here's what he sent out about a week or so ago. If you like it and you would like to see Jason replace right-wing Trump enabler and sock-puppet George Holding in Congress, please consider contributing to Jason's campaign by clicking on the 2020 Blue America thermometer on the right, even if it's just $5 or $10. That's how candidates build successful campaigns-- $5 and $10 donations at a time.

Howard,

Recently, my wife and I went to Pride Fest here in Durham, NC. My church had a booth there and I wanted to show my support. I didn’t campaign. I just wanted to be a regular guy supporting the LGBTQ+ community. But I saw someone I know who asked me about the campaign, and he told me how tired he is of politics: the climate emergency, friends without healthcare, the impeachment proceedings. He said people were at the festival protesting his very existence. He told me, “I just want to run away.”

We’re all exhausted. The last few years have felt like a decade. But I’ll tell you what I told him: we just can’t give up. I’m reminded of a quote I recently read from Bobby Kennedy which says, “Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted, when we tolerate what we know to be wrong, when we close our eyes and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy or too frightened…we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice.”

Y’all, I know we’ve been through a lot. But we just can’t turn our heads right now. There is too much at stake. We have to act. The future depends on good people standing up for justice.

One way to act is to give to a candidate who you believe in. Someone you know will fight for you and for all those who are suffering.

Will you join our people-powered campaign by making a contribution of $20 or more today? This will give us momentum, allow us to fight for the needs of everyday Americans like you, and reach out to voters who are waiting for a candidate who will fight for them.

I hope I can count on your support.

Thanks a ton!

—Jason

The Most Important LGBTQ Election Of 2019 Is Coming Up Six Weeks From Today

On Sunday, The Advocate published a feature by Michael Keegan, president of People for the American Way, The Most Important LGBTQ Race in 2019 Is Danica Roem's. "With the presidential primary campaigns in full swing-- and the first openly LGBTQ major-party presidential candidate very much in the mix-- it’s tempting to think the most momentous political fights of our lives lie ahead in 2020." wrote Keegan. "But there is an enormously consequential off-year fight going on right now in Virginia, and it’s one we all need to get behind."

It’s happening in Virginia House District 13, where Danica Roem is fighting hard to hold on to her seat against a well-funded right wing challenger. Her race is one of the most competitive in the state this cycle. Danica made history and headlines in 2017 when she won her election to the Virginia House of Delegates and became the first openly transgender person to serve on any state legislature. She won by taking out an incumbent who described himself as Virginia’s “chief homophobe.” The right wing wants revenge and will spend what it takes to get it. What happens in her race this November will reverberate across the country, with implications for the LGBTQ community and for the broader narrative about what’s happening in American politics right now.

Danica’s 2017 campaign inspired the first rainbow wave in the 2018 midterms. Meanwhile at the state level, her win was part of a broader shift in political power in which full control of the legislature hinged upon a single vote. Republican control of the Virginia legislature is hanging by a thread this year. A win by Danica is not only a key element of flipping the Virginia House and the entire state legislature from red to blue, it’s a key part of setting the stage for 2020-- just like the victories of diverse and progressive candidates in Virginia two years ago were curtain-raisers for big wins in the historic 2018 election.

By any measure Danica has earned reelection. She is a dedicated public servant with a laser focus on serving her constituents. She has campaigned on a platform to fix the region’s infrastructure. She cares about her constituents and the things that matter in their lives; she played a major role in the Virginia Medicaid expansion that provides vital coverage to hundreds of thousands of residents. But none of this insulates her from the transphobic hostility that motivates her opponent and many of that opponent’s deep-pocketed financial backers.

Danica’s opponent Kelly McGinn has a long record of anti-LGBTQ extremism. She has compared marriage equality to “morally repugnant practices” such as slavery, described LGBTQ parenthood as “absurd” and “harmful to children,” and even tried to justify her transphobia as a rationale for opposing the Equal Rights Amendment’s ratification in the state. It is all sadly reminiscent of the campaign of Danica’s 2017 opponent Bob Marshall, architect of Virginia’s shameful anti-trans bathroom bill. On the campaign trail, Marshall refused to recognize Danica’s gender identity, claiming that she “defied the laws of nature.”

Kelly McGinn is every bit the bigot that Marshall was. McGinn’s campaign website is slickly designed to appeal to voters who may not know much about her, describing her as a political moderate who is dedicated to family values. But she continues to accept financial contributions from far-right groups and donors that traffic either overtly or covertly in anti-LGBTQ hate-- like the Eagle Forum, which was founded by anti-LGBTQ activist Phyllis Schlafly. Anti-LGBTQ forces in the state know exactly who McGinn is. And they are all in.

And this is why we have to stand up. Our community is intimately familiar with the damaging, real-life consequences wrought by the Trump administration’s anti-LGBTQ agenda. When a candidate like McGinn emerges and espouses similar views and rhetoric, it’s paramount that we do all we can to make sure such candidates are defeated. This is especially true when defeating that candidate will send a strong message beyond a single district and a single year-- as the outcome of this race, in this critical run-up to 2020, most certainly will.

Our community rose to the occasion for her historic candidacy in 2017, and in this important election year, we can’t sit this one out. The organization I lead, People For the American Way, was deeply involved in supporting Danica two years ago, and we are doing it again because Danica is far more than a symbol, she is a proven progressive leader who is making Virginia a progressive state. We’re running ads, knocking on doors, organizing national phone banks, whatever we can do to help her win in what is going to be a tight race.

This is another all-hands-on deck moment for all of us. It’s an opportunity to make history once again and to rebuke hate in our politics, to stand up for Danica Roem at a pivotal moment for our community and our country. This is one we have to win.

Nearly all the state legislative candidates endorsed by Blue America so far this year are running in Virginia. That's not serendipity. Winning back the House of Delegates and the state Senate in Virginia are crucially important-- and it can be done without having to hold any noses and vote for any conservative lesser-of-two-evils candidates. Click on the Blue America 2020 legislative thermometer on the right. Those are all solid progressives you'll find there.

Pete Found A Good Line Tuesday To Describe The Shame Of Today's GOP-- "Naked Racism"

Trump's mind by Chip Proser

In Tuesday night's debate, Mayo Pete mostly regurgitated his slick McKinsey-like, carefully-tested talking points. He didn't really have a memorable moment, but he did make a worthwhile point about Status Quo Joe: "We cannot have a vision that amounts to 'back to normal,' he said. "The only reason we got this president, is that 'normal' didn't work." But he suddenly pivoted to Trump and his enablers in the Republican Party-- very smooth, very well-done. "We have to be ready to take on this president and, by the way-- something that hasn't been talked about as much tonight-- take on his enablers in Congress. When David Duke ran for Governor, the Republican Party, 20 years ago, ran away from him. Today they are supporting naked racism in the White house or are, at best, silent about it. And if you are watching this at home, and you are a Republican member of Congress, consider the fact that when the sun sets on your career, and they are writing your story, of all the good and bad things you did in your life, the thing you will be remembered for, is whether in this moment, with this president, you found the courage to stand up to him or you continue to put party over country."

The naked racism line was a great one from Pete-- and several Democrats running for Congress agreed wholeheartedly in terms of their own contests. Kara Eastman is taking on reactionary Republican Don Bacon in Omaha again this cycle. "Donald J. Bacon has voted 95.7% of the time with Donald J. Trump," she reminded us. "Today a prominent community leader in Omaha, Preston Love Jr., made the comment that Bacon pays 'lip service' to the African-American community in Omaha. He says he does not agree with the President’s viewpoints, but then stands with him almost all of the time. Bacon’s refusal to stand up against racism, sexism, anti-semitism, homophobia, and anti-immigrant statements and policies that stem from the President shows his true character. He is not representing the district, but just a party that has clearly lost its way."

Kathy Ellis, is running for Congress in a red, red southeast Missouri district where Trump beat Hillary 75.4-21.0%. Her opponent, notorious anti-gay closet case, Jason Smith, adamantly opposes Trump being impeached (and himself being outed). "I couldn't agree more with Mayor Pete's comments on this topic," Kathy told us yesterday. "The blatant racism of our President is unacceptable, and it is the responsibility of Republican members of Congress to hold him accountable. However, my opponent, Rep. Jason Smith seems to have no comment about this or any other Trump policy that is harming the people in my District. The people in the 8th District and nationwide will not forget his silence."

Jon Hoadley is a Michigan state Rep. running for Congress in the southwest corner of the state. His opponent, Fred Upton, is a sly old Trump enabler. Hoadley told us that "We are at a generational moment. We need bold ideas that place people and communities at the center of decisions. The Fred Upton who folks voted for over 30 years ago is not the Congress Upton of today. When he said no to healthcare, no to equality, and no rising to the challenges of a climate crisis, it is clear voters are going to say no to his reelection. The Trump Republican Party has changed. Congressman Upton has changed. Is that the legacy he wants to leave for the history books?"

Teresa Tomlinson is running for the U.S. Senate. She wants to "remind everyone that Georgia Senator David Perdue was in the Oval Office when President Trump made his infamous 's-hole' countries statement. Perdue first said that didn’t happen, and then said he didn’t hear it. Denial is cowardice. We have seen the true colors of the current failed Republican leadership. They are cowards, for surely they do not condone or support the racism of the president’s tweets and rants, they are simply scared to say so. Or, do they? It is for them to tell us and tell us now. Do you stand with this President and his racist remarks, or are you cowardly enablers? Senator Perdue’s silence speaks volumes."

But, back to Pete; the line just wasn't enough to fish him out of the mayonnaise. In fact, two old buddies-- Ian Welsh and Pachacutec-- teamed up last night to take a swing at explaining who exactly Mayo Pete is... after his endorsement by former New Dem PAC head Patrick Murphy. Pachacutec started by introducing himself-- in contrast to Mayo Pete-- to Ian's readers:

Then he introduced Murphy via something I had once written about him, long, long ago, although my comment was about the other conservaDem Patrick Murphy, the guy from Florida, rather than the guy from Pennsylvania, which I'm 100% certain is the one who endorsed Mayo Pete:

"Pete," wrote Pach, "is getting a fair amount of recognition for being a gay candidate. People who know me know me know that I’m a big old homo. And now with my tiara firmly in place, I’m here to call out Mayor Pete."

Okay, I don’t actually wear a tiara. I’m actually very much like Pete in my gay origins, in that I am a light-skinned person, presumed to be white (though I’m half Latino) with a good education, cis gendered, and a beneficiary of all the presumptions of competence and intelligence that accrue to light-skinned, well educated men who are not effeminate in their conduct or manner.

Like Mayor Pete, I came out later in life, in my young 30s. That was a pretty traumatic time for me, actually. I made a fair mess of my life, and we won’t get into all that. But as Ian’s readers know, it’s what you do with your suffering that makes or breaks you. If you dive into it and learn from it, with the right support and process, you can turn it into your superpower.

Or you can become a preening, pompous, head up his ass climber who cashes in the cultural, social and political checks earned for work done by all the very homos, queers, transgender men and women, and people of color that you personally avoid engaging at all costs.

Everyone in the gay community knows these people. These are the white boys who stand and model, painfully preppy, in bars filled with other white boys, with a few token “ethnics” like black men, Asians or Latino men sprinkled in to provide a little variety, a little sexy “grit” and fetish fodder. Their Grindr profiles say things like “No offense, but I prefer white guys,” or “no fats or fems.”

These are cis gay white boys who might stay for the drag show and enjoy the bawdy jokes, but who feel painfully uncomfortable around effeminate men. As in my tweet, they don’t even see women, non-binary gender rebels, or black folk. Mayor Pete’s relationships with black folk in South Bend are a joke. Gay guys like Mayor Pete never go into a bar if the person of color ratio gets too high, say, higher than 15%, unless for example they really have a thing for Latin guys and it’s salsa night at the club. Some of these guys really fetishize some groups, be they Asians, black men or Latinos. It gets very creepy.

I don’t want to belabor the point. This guy has no claim to stand for gay politics when he is precisely the kind of guy who wouldn’t have been caught dead anywhere near the Stonewall Inn, and lacks the self-awareness to know it or understand why. I personally know the type, because, in the beginning of my coming out journey, I had to overcome the legacy cultural biases, blind spots and presumptions of privilege (I know Ian hates that word, sorry) that would have made me into one of those guys.

For some people, the experience of coming out, and the experience of being marginalized or oppressed in some fashion, leads to expanded empathy and curiosity for others who are downtrodden or outcast. That’s clearly not Mayor Pete. Pete fundamentally believes in his inherent superiority, and subsequently wants to have it both ways: he wants people to overlook his gayness because he’s not that gay, and then he wants credit for being some kind of LGBTQ pioneer. But whether you look at his policies, his politics or his presence in a room with real people, he is what he is: a conservative wannabe frat boy who happens to be gay. No wonder Patrick Murphy loves this guy.

Yeah-- it works for both Patrick Murphys. And-- just asking for a friend-- do gay frat boys still stick to that old "No Fats, No Femmes" thing? Someone should ask Mayo Pete at the next debate.

Another Republican Closet Case-- This One In Tennessee-- Caught With The Meat In His Mouth

But he doesn't look gay. Well... he does "look" gay in a blue state way, but in red states? This is exactly what gay political closet cases look like. Meet Bill Sanderson, a state Rep from Dyer County, in northwest Tennessee, about 80 miles north of Memphis-- a godforsaken area where Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri all meet. There aren't many Democrats in Dyer County anymore. Trump trounced Hillary up there 10,175 (76.6%_ to 2,815 (21.2%). The most famous person from Dyer County was Emmett Kelly, Jr., world famous clown who copied his father's style, Emmett Kelly, Sr. Most people assumed the most famous GOP closet case from the tri-state area was Republican Congressman Jason Smith of southeast Missouri. But now... what's in the water up there that makes people stay closeted?

On Wednesday, Sanderson resigned the HD 77 seat in the Tennessee House. He had never worried about being defeated. In fact, the last time a Democrat even ran against him was in 2012 when that guy "held Sanderson down" to a 66% win. So why did he suddenly resign? Sanderson: "It’s no scandal, no controversy. It’s strictly a family situation, a business situation... It’s just overwhelming. I feel smothered." However...

As for rumors swirling around Capitol Hill that there are incriminating photos or social media posts of him, Sanderson said anything like that would have to be a fabrication.

“I’m a happily married man. I’ve got a wonderful wife,” he said.

One way you can identify a right-wing closet case is by how anti-gay they are. The more anti-gay, the more likely they are to be covering something up. You don't have to take my word for this. Former Maryland GOP raving homophobe and high-up Republican congressman, Bob Bauman, wrote a book about it, The Gentleman from Maryland. And when the de-facto head of the California anti-gay contingent in the state Senate, Roy Ashburn, was outed with a young male prostitute in his car, he did a great deal of introspection and began talking:



Maybe one day Sanderson, a "family values," "Trump-Christian" will too, but now he's in total denial. The LGBT community in Tennessee knows what Sanderson is though: "Since he took office in 2011, Tennessee state Rep. Bill Sanderson (R-Kenton) has voted repeatedly in favor of legislation designed to harm the LGBT community. During that same time period, the 59-year-old Sanderson has also been openly soliciting sex with much younger men on Grindr, a gay hook-up and dating app, both from his home in West Tennessee and in Nashville." Yikes!

Sanderson’s campaign website states he “is proudly pro-life and pro-family … [and] is leading the charge to defend the rights of the unborn and preserve the values that have defined our families for generations,” adding that he “knows that our nation was founded on conservative, Christian values.” His (now-deleted) campaign Facebook page describes Sanderson as a “Family Man, Small Business Man, Farmer, Public Servant” whose favorite activities include running, working in the yard and “spending time with my dear wife, Marjie (the person with the best heart of anyone I have ever, ever met).” (Sanderson has been married to Marjie since the fall of 2012. He has three grown children with his first wife, Valerie; they divorced in 2011.)

His voting record during his four and a half sessions on the hill back up his conservative bonafides. Sanderson introduced legislation to mandate “In God We Trust” on state license plates. He has been a co-sponsor of some of the most extreme anti-abortion legislation, including this year’s heartbill bill (which passed the House but was delayed in the Senate until next year). In 2018, Sanderson, then the chair of the State Government Subcommittee, was widely criticized for helping kill a resolution denouncing Neo-Nazis and opposing a bill to outlaw chain gangs, saying such work was not dehumanizing to prisoners.

And Sanderson has voted in support of almost every anti-LGBT bill that has made it to the House floor. Despite having a gay son with a longterm partner. Despite sending sexually explicit messages and pictures to men almost 40 years his junior.

Sanderson’s extracurricular activities have long been an open secret around the Capitol. I, for one, have known about a set of Grindr communications for three years. But only recently, in the wake of the scandals involving House Speaker Glen Casada and his former chief of staff Cade Cothren, along with the increasing pressure to oust alleged molester Rep. David Byrd (R-Waynesboro), did sources agree to let me write about the messages and encounters.

...Sanderson, during his time in office, has cast many, many votes in support of anti-LGBT legislation. In 2011, Sanderson voted to adopt HB 600, which banned municipalities from adopting ordinances prohibiting anti-LGBT discrimination and overrode and nullified an ordinance that Nashville had adopted. In 2012, Sanderson voted for legislation requiring abstinence-based sex education in public schools, a bill that notably banned discussion of “gateway sexual activity.” (Never mind that premarital abstinence tends to not end up so well.)

In 2016 Sanderson signed onto a resolution denouncing the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling legalizing gay marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges. He then voted to defund the University of Tennessee at Knoxville’s Office of Diversity over a controversy surrounding the annual Sex Week and the use of gender neutral pronouns. Sanderson supported HB 1840, the bill that allowed therapists to decline to see patients if they are gay, in violation of the American Counseling Association’s code of ethics. In 2017, he voted for HB 1111, the “natural and ordinary meaning” bill, widely perceived as an effort to attack LGBT parents.

Earlier this year, Sanderson voted in support of HB 1274, which would require the state to defend local school systems from lawsuits if they passed a transgender bathroom ban; in favor of HB 1151, a watered down attempt at a transgender bathroom ban; and for HB 836, which would allow adoption agencies to discriminate against gay couples seeking to adopt. However, when it came up in committee, Sanderson did vote against the adoption bill, and on the floor he abstained from voting on HB 563, a bill the Tennessee Equality Project calls a “Business License to Discriminate.” (HB 1151 has been signed into law; the other three bills await passage in the Senate in 2020. Sanderson also says he has attempted to kill many other anti-LGBT bills in committee, which TEP does confirm.)

During many, if not all, of these votes, Sanderson has been on Grindr (and possibly other apps). In a Grindr profile from 2013, Sanderson, calling himself “Brian,” describes himself as being in an “open relationship.” For all I know, that may be true. As a man born in 1959 who attended the small Methodist Lambuth University in Jackson, Tenn., Sanderson didn’t have the liberty to come out as queer easily as I did at age 19 at Yale in 1996. (Sanderson says he was not in an open relationship and told me that if I published this story it would ruin his marriage. He denied being either bisexual or gay or having ever sexually touched a man.)

Whatever the private reality of Sanderson’s marriage, his public face is extremely at odds with the Grindr and text messages I reviewed. They all include pictures of Sanderson, including one of his naked torso and genitals. That very explicit picture has his face cropped out of it, but Sanderson is wearing the same watch in other photos. (He says the nude photo is faked, and the other pictures were stolen from his Facebook account.)

The Grindr messages that I reviewed, as in the ones posted by The Dirty, instruct the men to text him at a phone number with a 731 area code. If you Google that number, you’ll find page after page connecting that number to either the White Squirrel Winery-- which Sanderson owns-- or sites where it is listed as Sanderson’s cell number. The texts I saw were sent by the same number. It is the same number I used to call Sanderson for comment on this story and have texted him on since. (Again, he claims that the texts were faked.)

Those texts, in addition to including the nude photo, are frequently explicit in terms of discussing sexual activity. I’m not going to quote from the explicit parts, as Sanderson (allegedly) exchanged them with a reasonable expectation of privacy. But I will note that in his 2013 Grindr profile, which could be seen by anyone using the app, he writes, “I’ve seen a lot and done a lot, but I really haven’t had a connection with a guy and I have a burning desire to have that relationship. I like down and dirty guy to guy play too! So, I guess you might say, nothing will be held back …” (Sanderson says he did not write this.)

While some closeted men do use Grindr to sext and get off without ever meeting anyone, the messages sent by Sanderson that I have seen always suggest meeting in person. In one set, Sanderson even mentions having seen the man and his roommate at a restaurant the previous night, before asking, “Want to meet and play?” This man, who was 20 at the time, did not meet up but did exchange explicit texts with Sanderson in 2013.

One former UT Martin student connected with Sanderson on Grindr several years ago when he was 19. In 2016, WKRN-TV recorded an interview with this man but decided later not to run the story. (Sanderson says he pressured the station to kill the story.) I have spoken to multiple people who confirm the man’s account, including a friend who was told about it at the time and shown the corresponding messages and pictures. All, including the former reporter (who is no longer at WKRN), had consistent accounts of the man’s recollections.

The former student says that Sanderson messaged him on Grindr and he agreed to meet with him in person. He was studying political science, and Sanderson was a state legislator; the man says he was hoping Sanderson could offer advice in regards to getting legislative jobs in Nashville after graduation. Although he assumed Sanderson was sexually interested in him, the man says he was not attracted to the legislator because of the massive age difference. After a winery tour, the man says, Sanderson tried to massage his shoulders and otherwise hit on him in a manner that made him feel uncomfortable. Sanderson also served the man wine, despite knowing he was 19, and gave him bottles of wine to take home. (Sanderson says he verifies the identification of everyone to whom he serves wine at White Squirrel.)

The man says that Sanderson’s wife Marjie unexpectedly came home, and that he was pressured by the legislator to make up a story on the fly about why he was on the property. A year later, he says, when he was in Nashville, he received another Grindr message from Sanderson (in town for the legislative session) trying to hook up. The man did not reply.

Gay Identity Politics-- McKinsey Pete

Monday, I responded to a tweet about some random guy primarying Jan Schakowsky (D-IL): "Jan Schakowsky is one of the best members of Congress & is one of the few who has NOT failed us." Notice what I didn't say: Jan Schawkowsky is one of the best female members of Congress" or even "Jan Schawkowsky is one of the best Jewish members of Congress"-- although she is both. But doesn't it sound better that she's just flat out one of the best members of Congress? You know where I learned that? Listening to Joni Mitchell explode when a reviewer would refer to her as the world's greatest female songwriter. From her reaction, you might think the reviewer had written that she has no songwriting ability at all. In her world, her rivals were always Bob Dylan and Neil Young and she sees herself as the best songwriter in the world. It wasn't uncommon to see Joni work on a song for longer than it took Neil to write and record an entire album.

If you read DWT much, you probably know how much I hate identity politics. Picking a candidate for any reason other than their qualifications sickens me and makes me worry for the health of a Democratic Party that is riven with leaders who are all about aggressively choosing people based on extraneous characteristics, even if it means winding up with less qualified-- or even unqualified-- people in positions. Many of my friends disagree with me on this'd I've been through the pros and cons countless times. Monday morning, a weak L.A. Times reporter, Janet Hook, wrote that McKinsey Pete is inspiring pride among gay voters.

I'm a gay voter and I don't feel a twinge of pride in that. I'm glad an openly gay person can run for office but...





My "but" is different than the but Hook wrote about. But but is that he's a crap candidate who spent much of his life in the closet, developing an ability to lie and deceive-- which is what people in the closet do-- and then fit in perfectly with the world's biggest-- and worst-- consulting firm, McKinsey, which trains its robots to lie flawlessly and without blinking. Hook says the but for gay voters is that they fear he can't win. Thank God for small favors!

Win or lose in the 2020 presidential race, Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Ind., is energizing LGBTQ Americans. With his surprisingly strong run for the Democratic presidential nomination, he is helping a long-marginalized community advance in political stature and pride in a way some compare to the effect Barack Obama’s presidency had on African Americans.

“Mayor Pete Buttigieg is transforming America’s perception of LGBTQ people,” said Annise Parker, president of the Victory Fund, an LGBTQ political group that endorsed Buttigieg in June, the first time it had endorsed a presidential candidate.

Buttigieg does not put his sexual orientation at the center of his campaign, but he is not hiding it either. In recent weeks, as his campaign gained prominence, he has made high-profile appearances before predominantly gay audiences.

When he traveled to Provincetown for a campaign event and fundraiser Friday, Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten, received a hero’s welcome from a town that, after the 2010 census, had the highest proportion of same-sex couples in the country.

It was a long way from Iowa, where Buttigieg was heckled by antigay activists this year. In P-town, as the city is known, a popular eatery painted a welcome message to the Buttigiegs in its window. An art gallery displayed an enormous portrait of Buttigieg. He met with students attending a local summer camp for LGBTQ youths. Throngs gathered during a morning stroll through town.

“It felt like our own little parade,” Buttigieg said at an afternoon event where hundreds in the hall-- and hundreds more in the overflow crowd outside-- waved “PETETOWN’’ signs. “It reminds me of what it is to be in a place that celebrates inclusion, that celebrates belonging.”

Buttigieg and his husband have become the most high-profile gay male couple in America. Images of the pair kissing at campaign events have been broadcast across the country. They have appeared together on the cover of Time magazine.

Asked about potential backlash, Buttigieg cites his experience coming out as gay in the conservative state of Indiana in 2015 just before running for reelection as South Bend mayor.

“I came out not knowing what the consequences would be and, in the end, got reelected with 80% of the vote,” he told reporters in Provincetown. “You have to give people a chance to show they can move beyond prejudice.”

But that could be a risky political bet in a campaign against President Trump. Many of Trump’s supporters are among the 31% of Americans who oppose gay marriage, according to a 2019 Pew Research Center poll, and even some of Buttigieg’s admirers question whether the country will accept a gay man as president.

“Homophobia is a very real thing; however, it is not as visible as racism,” said Damian Archer, a gay African American man at Buttigieg’s Friday rally who is undecided about which candidate to support in 2020.

Rufus Gifford, a gay former Obama administration official, who admires Buttigieg but has not committed to him or any other candidate, says: “I do worry with the stakes as high as they are, I ask myself every day: Is the U.S. ready to elect an openly gay president? I still question it. I’m scared to death we’ll reelect Donald Trump.”

Still, the response to Buttigieg’s candidacy is a remarkable sign of one of the fastest shifts in public attitudes ever measured in the U.S.: the growth in acceptance of homosexuality to the point that, at least among Democratic primary voters, Buttigieg’s orientation has ended up a political asset, not a liability.

Some 61% of Americans support same-sex marriage-- double the share in 2004, when only 31% did, according to the Pew Research Center.

Even within the Democratic Party, in 2008, none of the leading presidential candidates supported gay marriage. The ban on gays serving openly in the military ended only in 2011. It was just four years ago, 2015, that the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage could not be banned by states.

“I heard a woman from Alabama call Pete Buttigieg wholesome,” said Richard Holt, a board member of the Victory Fund. “I never thought I’d hear a Bible Belt mother refer to a gay guy as wholesome.”

Buttigieg often appears with his husband. With an active social media presence, Chasten Buttigieg has gained outsize celebrity and embraced the “candidate’s spouse” role with humor and style.

When the pair emerged from a black SUV for a June Victory Fund event in Brooklyn, attendees seemed almost as excited to see the spouse as the candidate.

The event, like the Provincetown visit, was a respite for Buttigieg, who has been battered by criticism for his handling of racial tensions in South Bend after a black man was shot by a white policeman. The fund’s endorsement had been scheduled for earlier in June but was postponed when Buttigieg returned to South Bend to cope with the crisis.

It was rescheduled to a propitious day-- the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, a landmark in the history of the LGBTQ rights movement that occurred after police raided a gay bar in New York City.

“We haven’t seen equality come to the land, not by a long shot, but think about what it means that 50 years after Stonewall, we could be gathered in a room with a top-tier candidate for the American presidency and be in a room with his husband,” Buttigieg said to cheers.

Buttigieg rose implausibly fast in the party’s big 2020 presidential field in part because he is gay. That fact helped him stand out from the pack and garner media attention, and drew a big infusion of early campaign donations from the LGBTQ community. He went on to raisean impressive $24.8 million in the second quarter, more than any of his rivals have announced so far.

Los Angeles political consultant David Wolf said Buttigieg has received significant fundraising support from Hollywood’s LGBTQ community, including TV producer Ryan Murphy and prominent agents Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huvane.

Buttigieg added to his coffers Friday at the Provincetown fundraiser organized by Bryan Rafanelli, a major Democratic donor who also hosted a Buttigieg event this year at Fenway Park in Boston.

For many Democrats-- gay and straight-- Buttigieg’s biggest liability is not his sexuality, but that he is too young, too inexperienced or not liberal enough.

“I’m still concerned about his ability to beat Trump,” said Mitchell Katine, a Houston lawyer who helped win a landmark 2003 Supreme Court ruling that decriminalized gay sex. “I want him to be in the running and continue this education process. But he’ll have to convince me he can beat Trump.”

Antigay sentiment is still a powerful force. There are only 20 states where LGBTQ people are protected against discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. Just 46% of Republicans say they are open to electing a gay president, an April Quinnipiac University poll found.

Nor does Buttigieg have a monopoly on LGBTQ voters. Former Vice President Joe Biden earned the allegiance of many with his 2012 endorsement of gay marriage-- getting out in front of Obama on the issue. Sen. Kamala Harris of California enjoys strong support in San Francisco’s gay community.

A group of 47 LGBTQ activists and elected officials announced their endorsements of Harris last weekend ahead of her participation in the city’s Pride parade.

A June poll of LGBTQ voters by Whitman Insight Strategies and BuzzFeed News found a noteworthy gender gap. Buttigieg was the top choice among Democratic gay men, with 27% saying they were likely to support him.

Among lesbians, however, Buttigieg was fifth choice, with just 13% saying they’d likely support him, behind Harris, Biden and Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Some lesbians are torn between their interest in Buttigieg and a desire to elect a female president. But Kate Wise, a gay woman from Cleveland who was in New York for the World Pride celebration, said she was all in for Buttigieg from the minute he announced.

“We landed a bro on the top of the pile,” Wise said. But she added, “He would be my guy even if he was not gay.”

Whether he wins the party nomination and goes on to the White House, gay activists hope Buttigieg will help inspire other LGBTQ candidates running up and down the ballot.

“He can have coattails,” Holt said. “We have to have representatives at all levels.”

Harvey Milk was an incredible person who I spent great deal of time with when he was on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. When I arrived in San Francisco, penniless, he staked me the darkroom equipment I used to set up a photography business and later became his campaign photographer. Many of the unacknowledged photos you see of him were pictures I took. (The Times of Harvey Milk film credits me for my pictures by the rest are just routinely stolen. Sorry for the tangent.) I remember once sitting with Harvey in the back of his photo shop on Castro Street. He had a mail sack filled with letters from all over the country. I remember one from a kid in Kansas or Nebraska. My eyes still well up with tears, around 4 decades later, when I think about it. This kid read about Harvey's election and it made him revaluate his own self-worth and to rescind his decision to commit suicide. Harvey was an inspiring figure. It wasn't just because he was the first openly gay person to win elective office; it was because of who he was. That's not who McKinsey Pete is.

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

Sometimes actions do speak louder than words. Sometimes words are enough. Trump has, from time to time, insincerely and superficially spoken and tweeted words favorable to the LGBTQ community, including some recent nice words (best words?) directed toward Gay Pride Month (For any republicans reading this, that's THIS month). But, no sooner did Trump board Air Force One to return to the United States than, in a move to show his true self and his solidarity with his party of bigots, he issued a decree that our embassies can no longer fly the Gay Pride flag on their flag poles. Some words are actions in and of themselves, meant to continue to encourage and embolden his followers. Some words are the words of a conniving coward who wants others to do the dirty work.

We've had Nazis for a long time, but with the dawn of Trump, we've had things like endless white supremacy hand gestures and racist comments and policy pronouncements from White House staff. We've had white supremacists from GOP-TV, like Carlson and Hannity, enjoying a direct line to Trump. Trump, too, employs the same hand gestures that aide and speechwriter Stephen Miller is infamous for. Trump enjoys retweeting white supremacy propaganda from Carlson. Richard Spencer's crew chants "Hail Trump." It goes on and on. The Nazis know they have an ally.

The photo for tonight's meme was taken at a Detroit Gay Pride parade on Saturday. Some of Trump's "very fine people" came out of their Nazi closets to attend and mark the festivities in their own very Republican way. You probably won't see much, if any of the photo, unless FOX "News" names the pictured perps as their "Heroes Of The Month." Note that it isn't just the Gay Pride flag that is the object of desecration for Trump's Nazis. I think we know where Trump really stands on that one as well, in his charred black heart of hearts. He's just a little bit more secretive about it. There will be more flags targeted.

House Passes Equality Act-- Republicans Whine It Impinges On Their Right To Discriminate Against Gays

Aside from being Republicans serving in Congress, what do these 8 men and women have in common: Susan Brooks (R-IN), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Brain Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Will Hurd (R-TX), John Katko (R-NY), Tom Reed (R-NY), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Greg Walden (R-OR)? They were the Republicans to stand up for their own LGBTQ constituents by voting with every single Democrat to pass David Cicilline's Equality Act (H.R.5). It's a simple, straight forward bill that prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in areas including public accommodations and facilities, education, federal funding, employment, housing, credit, and the jury system. Specifically, the bill defines and includes sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity among the prohibited categories of discrimination or segregation. It allows the Department of Justice to intervene in equal protection actions in federal court on account of sexual orientation or gender identity. And it prohibits an individual from being denied access to a shared facility, including a restroom, a locker room, and a dressing room, that is in accordance with the individual's gender identity.

The bill passed with a big bipartisan majority-- 236-173. McConnell has already signaled that he will not permit a vote on the legislation in the Senate, ironic since he's a lifelong closet case himself who was kicked out of the military many decades ago for fondling a private's privates. Republicans don't admit that they're bigots when they try to block this kind of legislation. They claim it-- equality itself-- imposes on their freedom. Banning anti-LGBTQ discrimination is against their bizarre religion and will lead, the insist, to persecution of Christians. (No, no they really tell each other that.)

A morally "upright" Republican hate-monger like Florida crackpot Ross Spano-- who stole his election and should never have been seated-- warned that HR-5 will "allow the government to force its rigid and unyielding fist inside the church... It would deliver a crushing blow to the base of the tree of religious liberty." Could you even image having a lunatic who talks like that as a Reprsentative? Another GOP gay-hater and bigot from the Sunshine State, Greg Steube, also voted no, he says, to protect women athletes.

The Florida Republican argued that the bill will inhibit competitiveness in women's sports and women's eligibility for athletic scholarships.

"A sports team couldn't treat a transgender woman differently from a woman who is not transgender on the ground that the former is male-bodied," Steube said on the House floor. "Yet, the reality is [when] putting male and female bodied athletes together in open sport ... females lose."

"This is fear mongering about trans women playing in sports," California Rep. Katie Hil largued in opposition to the amendment. "No person is trying to game the system to participate in women's sports. That is a sad scare tactic." The Republican motion to recommit failed with only one Democrat, Rep. Dan Lipinski, voting in favor of the amendment; seven did not vote. Lipinski was also the only Democrat not to cosponsor the legislation.

Republican opponents also argued the measure would restrict individual religious freedoms and mandate "specific accommodations" in shared facilities that would put burdens on small businesses, schools, and other community places.

"Its vague and circular definition of gender identity will lead only to uncertainty, litigation, and harm to individuals and organizations that will be forced to comply with a law the authors don’t even seem to understand," Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said on the House floor Friday. "This is a classic example of passing something now and figuring out what it actually means later ... If the devil is in the details, we’re in for a lot of devilish surprises."

In response, Cicilline, the measure's sponsor, argued that the bill "does not, nor could any legislation," supersede the First Amendment's religious freedom protections.

"H.R. 5 allows the standards set by prior civil rights law to not interfere with worship and religious practices by religious organizations," Cicilline added.

It's worth reminding people who Virginia Foxx-- one of Congress' most hateful and homophobic psychics-- actually is. Do you remember the name Matthew Shepard? He was the young gay man who was crucified-- literally-- and left to die next to a lonely Wyoming highway. While his grieving mother sat in the congressional visitors' gallery, this is what North Carolina 's premiere contribution to national evil and hatred had to say.



Foxx never apologized and has voted against every equality bill that has ever come before Congress-- proudly and loudly, always making sure everyone knows she stands for hatred and intolerance. Her district is safely gerrymandered so that she is re-elected year after year without ever doing anything for anyone but herself and other selfish multimillionaires. Meanwhile, yesterday, what's left of poor old Pat Robertson was ranting and raving on evangelical TV. Clearly, God has cursed him:





Austin and Houston are what you could call WOKE cities. Both Travis and Harris counties-- the westernmost and easternmost components of a gerrymandered shitshow (TX-10) by Tom Delay-- are open and welcoming parts of Texas where people expect everyone to be treated fairly and equally. By cutting Austin up like a pie, Texas Republicans succeeded in disenfranchising voters there-- putting them into 4 bizarrely-drawn congressional districts, 3 of which are predominately Republican. One of the conservative anti-LGBTQ congressmen that gerrymander had forced on Austin is multimillionaire-- he married well-- crackpot and Trump bootlick Michael McCaul. Progressive Democrat Mike Siegel held him down to a 51.1% win last year and Siegel has every intention of finishing the job next year, In fact, please consider contribution to his campaign by clicking on the Lone Star State ActBlue thermometer on the right. After the vote on the bipartisan H.R.5 yesterday, Mike told us he would have gladly joined the vast majority of congressmembers who voted for it. "The Equality Act is about making sure everyone can access work and housing and education and other public services, without fear of discrimination. Unfortunately, here in the Texas 10th, in a district that includes strong LGBT communities in the Austin and Houston areas, our 'representative' voted to legalize hatred. To legitimize oppression and bigotry. To endanger his very constituents, who he is sworn to protect. This is only the latest example of Michael McCaul failing to stand up for Texans. We are working hard to ensure this is the beginning of his end."

Mike Pence Is A Bigot And Has No Place In America's Future-- A Guest Post By Frank Schaeffer

Chances are Mike Pence might become president through Trump’s resignation, impeachment or arrest.

A Pence presidency is a horrible possibility because every entity related to Trump is either bankrupt, closed or under investigation. Trump Casinos, Trump Golf Courses, The Trump Foundation, Trump University, the Trump Campaign Transition, the Trump Inaugural Committee and the Trump White House all are under some sort of cloud or investigation. We have a crooked loser for “president.” Pence looms.

Trump’s most scandalous action to date was his appointing Mike Pence as vice president. Mike Pence is hostile to LGBTQ people. He has linked same-sex couples to “societal collapse” and supported conversion therapy, a form of torture. A vice president who has expressed such intolerance is a dangerous, mean person and has no more place in American politics than a KKK lynch mob.

In Trump/Pence-dominated 2017, 20 gay, bisexual or queer men were murdered in hate crimes, an increase of 400 percent from the previous year. Every single one died at the hands of people who share Mike Pence’s immoral “views” on homosexuality.

Thus Mike and Karen Pence are figures of great consequence. And their bigotry-- regardless of their white evangelical religious justification-- has to be confronted. Anti-gay evangelical fools have no place in American life. Period. Religious freedom does not mean freedom to lead us to backward hell.

Let’s put this in perspective: Ralph Northam must step down. Agreed. But having Pence in American politics is a bigger scandal than a 40-year-old blackface sin because Pence is a bigot right now! His “black face” equivalent is happening– right now!

The destructive, evil power of blackface and Ku Klux Klan robes in a yearbook picture must never be underestimated. But let’s also ponder the harm of ongoing “respectable” hateful “biblical” homophobia.

The Pences are “deeply religious,” and their views on homosexuality are based on their “sincere religious convictions.” So what? The Bible was used to justify slavery, genocide, murdering girls for losing virginity, war without end. “Religious freedom” is no excuse for evil ugly stupidity.

Female circumcision and mutilation is a religious freedom issue for many people from Muslim cultures. But in America it is against the law. We would not have a vice president who advocated female mutilation in the name of sincere religious belief. Why do we have one that advocates the persecution of gay men and lesbians and who quotes backward evil Bible verses that say they should be killed?

Enough!

Demand the resignation of Mike Pence for his views on homosexuality. Insist Pence’s wife Karen resign from a school that discriminates against gays and lesbians.

White Trumped evangelicals like the ever more dreadful Pences must not ever be given leadership positions in a civilized society. Period. In fact the fact that Trump even appointed an evangelical bigot like Pence is the best reason for Trump’s impeachment.

Demand the resignation of Pence for his hateful, anti-science, lying bigoted “views” on homosexuality. He belongs in the trash can of history, along with the sort of people who think entitled white men dressing up in black face is fine– or that young girls should be tied down while they are mutilated with razor blades because this is a social and religious tradition, or that black youths who glance at a white woman should be lynched.

After Caving On The Shutdown, Loser Trump Throws His Hate-Filled Backers A Bone

Forever beleaguered in finding enough red meat for his-- in ex-Senator Alfonse D’Amato's words-- right-wing whack-a-doodle base, Trump wants to pivot away from his embarrassing loss to Pelosi over the anti-Hispanic vanity-wall to crapping all over the LGBTQ community. The asshole's latest: revving up the dead nomination for Eric Murphy Ohio Solicitor General to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Murphy was the attorney who argued against marriage equality before the Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges. Trump nominated him for the judgeship 7 months ago. As home-state senator, Sherrod Brown blocked the nomination (did not return his blue slip) and the nomination died. Last week Trump renominated him. Over the weekend, the Washington Post ran an OpEd by Jim Obergefell denouncing not just Murphy and the nomination but Rob Portman, Ohio's other senator, for supporting it. "In March 2013," wrote Obergefell," Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) broke with his Republican colleagues and penned an op-ed in the Columbus Dispatch supporting same-sex couples’ right to marry, a conclusion he reached shortly after his son came out as gay. In the article, he expressed his desire for each of his three children to have 'the same opportunities to pursue happiness and fulfillment' in all aspects of their lives. So I was surprised to find out that Portman was supporting the nomination of Eric Murphy to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit even after Murphy argued against same-sex marriage at the Supreme Court."

Barely four years ago, Mr. Murphy made a forceful argument that my marriage was unconstitutional. As the attorney tasked with defending Ohio’s discriminatory ban on same-sex marriage, he used dog-whistles such as “traditional marriage” in his brief to the Supreme Court and argued that “bigotry” had nothing to do with why the state refused to recognize my lawful marriage to my late husband.

The court rejected Murphy’s arguments and overturned that law. In a landmark opinion written by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy-- for whom Murphy himself once clerked-- the Supreme Court declared that “it demeans gays and lesbians for the State to lock them out of a central institution of the Nation’s society.” Gay couples “ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law,” Kennedy wrote. “The Constitution grants them that right.”

Still, if Murphy had been successful, John and I, and tens of thousands of couples like us, would have been denied the right to marry and forced to live as second-class citizens.

Now, Murphy seeks to be a judge who will decide cases such as mine; his renomination was sent to the Senate this week. As a federal judge, Murphy would have immense power and influence over the rights of the LGBTQ community. Judges can decide if presidents can ban transgender soldiers from serving in the military. Judges can decide if people can be fired from their job for being gay. Such decisions would affect people such as me, Senator Portman’s son, and thousands of other LGBTQ people living in the 6th Circuit states of Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee.

In light of his past arguments, Murphy must show he is capable of being fair and unbiased toward the LGBTQ community.

Now that he is no longer obligated to defend the old Ohio law, he should explicitly affirm that my Supreme Court case was correctly decided and vow that discrimination against the LGBTQ community would have no place in his courtroom. Surely there is no longer anything stopping Murphy from showing the same respect and dignity to the LGBTQ community as Kennedy and Portman have.

Until Murphy makes such a statement, Portman and his fellow senators should oppose his nomination.

Trump wants a quick "win" for his base after his embarrassing defeat at the hands of Pelosi over the wall. I was happy to see that all the Blue America-endorsed congressional candidates are questioning his re-nomination of Murphy. Today Austin-based congressional candidate Mike Siegel remarked that "Unfortunately, despite high-profile losses for Trump and his party on the government shutdown, ACA repeal, and a few other issues, the Republicans continue to radically reshape our judiciary. The antidote will be the 2020 elections. With a Democratic Congress, we must finally enact comprehensive civil rights legislation that guarantees LGBT equality in every way, from employment and housing to marriage, adoption, and inheritance. In the meantime, we must oppose Murphy and other extreme nominees and hope to embarrass the GOP on a case-by-case basis."

Please consider contributing to Mike, Marie and Eva by clicking on the Blue America 2020 thermometer on the right. Needless to say, Illinois progressive Democrat, Marie Newman who's in a hot primary battle against one of the last virulent homophobes in the Democratic congressional delegation, Blue Dog Dan Lipinski, is just as disappointed in the nomination. Lipinski's voting record against the LGBTQ community is startling and there are even Republicans who are less filled with bigotry and ignorance. Marie is no fan of Trump's nomination. "I would certainly hope to see his nomination rejected," she told us today. "This is simple, Eric Murphy and his supporters want to divide the country and ruin our economy. Murphy’s goal is simply to keep folks out of the economy and prevent equality. It is morally wrong and terrible for the economy."

Eva Putzova, the Blue America-endorsed Arizona progressive in a primary against another reactionary Blue Dog, also has strong feelings about these kinds of divisive nominations by Trump. She told us that "While most Americans agree that 'love is love' and all people should be equal in pursuing happiness no matter where their partner is on the gender spectrum, it's troubling that in 2019 Eric Murphy's name even comes up in the nomination process. People who think some members of our society are less than others because of who they choose to love should have no place at any level of our judicial system."

I reached our old buddy, 2018 congressional candidate Dan Canon, a prominent Indiana civil rights lawyer who was one of the attorneys who won the Obergefell Supreme Court case. This is what he had to say about the Murphy re-nomination today:

The Sixth Circuit is already among the most hostile venues in the country for individual rights, especially where it concerns the rights of women and minorities. This is amply demonstrated by the court's ruling in Love v. Beshear, which later became known as Obergefell. When the court ruled against us in that case, it eventually led to marriage equality in all 50 states, but it was a close call-- I'm not sure it would turn out the same way today. At the time, the Supreme Court was turning down cases from other circuits because they all reached the same conclusion-- that same-sex marriage bans violated the Fourteenth Amendment rights of committed couples. The Sixth Circuit was the only federal appellate court to say otherwise. That was over four years ago.

Since then, Trump has been committed to dragging all the federal courts even further to the right by appointing inexperienced extremists to lifetime positions-- positions that give them tremendous power of the lives of other people. Democrats and activist organizations have got to take this seriously, and develop a strategy to mobilize people on this issue. It's not enough to raise hell when Trump appoints an extremist to the Supreme Court. The lower courts-- for which Senate Democrats have consistently provided rubber stamps on Trump's nominees-- are far more consequential when it comes to justice (or injustices) that affects the day-to-day lives of women, minorities, the working classes, and the poor. The trial and intermediate appellate judges that Trump silently installs are going to be the first-- and often last-- word on voting rights, abortion, employment discrimination, capital punishment, corporate accountability, immigration, etc. It is absolutely critical that voters become more engaged, and vocal, about all judicial appointments.