Chris Pappas won the congressional primary in New Hampshire. (Photo courtesy Pappas)
Gay candidate Chris Pappas prevailed Tuesday night in New Hampshire’s congressional primary, setting himself up for a chance to become the first out member of Congress from the Granite State.Pappas claimed a plurality of 42.4 percent of the vote in the bid for the Democratic nomination to represent New Hampshire’s 1st congressional district in Congress. The Associated Press declared Pappas the winner of the primary at 9:05 pm.
Pappas, who has served as a member of New Hampshire’s executive council since 2013, is running to replace Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.), who had announced she won’t seek election for another term in Congress.
Among Pappas’ competitors in in the crowded 11-way primary was Levi Sanders, the son of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). The senator is popular in New Hampshire and beat Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire 2016 presidential primary.
In a Q&A with the Washington Blade in May, Pappas made opposition to President Trump a key component of his campaign message, saying he’d work to confront him as a member of Congress.
“The America we know is more kind, tolerant, and more decent than the America that Donald Trump is seeking to create,” Pappas said. “We have to stand up loudly and clearly and make it known that we are going to fight for the values that make this country great. We are going to fight to stem the tide of corruption in our political system, fight for folks who work hard in life to make their American Dream a reality, and start putting the people of this country first.”
Among the LGBT organizations that had endorsed Pappas were the Equality PAC, the political action committee for LGBT House members, and the LGBTQ Victory Fund. The Human Rights Campaign had yet to endorse Pappas at the time of primary.
Annise Parker, CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, said in a statement her organization believes Pappas will faithfully represent the voters of New Hampshire upon his election to Congress in November.
“Democratic primary voters are demanding authentic, values-driven leaders who prioritize policies over politics – and they found that leader in Chris,” Pappas said. “He was born and raised in the district, is a fierce advocate for fairness and equality, and will fight tirelessly to push forward policies that advance those principles. We need change in Washington, and a November victory for Chris is critical to securing a pro-equality majority in the next U.S. Congress.”
The winner of the Republican nomination for the congressional race was Eddie Edwards, a Navy veteran who was formerly chief of police for the town of South Hampton and director of the New Hampshire Liquor Commission Enforcement Division. Edwards was endorsed by the Trump administration and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Political observers have rated the New Hampshire’s 1st congressional district as leaning towards Democrats. With the Democratic nomination in hand and the expectation of a “blue” wave in November, Pappas’ chances of claiming victory are good, but not guaranteed.
The Trump administration defended a new military policy that will allegedly result in HIV-positive service members being fired in violation of their constitutional rights when it takes effect Oct. 1.
The “Deploy or Get Out!” directive is intended to improve military readiness by weeding out soldiers who can’t deploy overseas for more than 12 consecutive months “for any reason.” An earlier directive from the height of the AIDS crisis prevents soldiers with HIV from deploying overseas, meaning the new policy may make it impossible for them to serve.
But the military has wide latitude in deciding who can serve, the U.S. said in filing Sept. 7 in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, in seeking to dismiss a lawsuit over the policy.
The lawsuit was filed by OutServe-SDLN on behalf of a National Guard member who was deployed to Kuwait and Afghanistan before being diagnosed in 2012. He was later denied a promotion, apparently because he could not be redeployed.
The emcee at an LGBT journalists’ organization annual conference Saturday night called attendees “things and its.” Marshall McPeek, a meteorologist at a Sinclair-owned ABC affiliate station in Ohio later apologized and resigned his membership to The Association of LGBTQ Journalists (NLGJA).
“Ladies and gentlemen, things and its,” were the words McPeek chose to begin the evening’s event in Palm Springs, California, which was hosted by Fox News.
But it was a tweet from Mary Emily O’Hara, who covers LGBTQ news for Condé Nast’s them, that drew attention to McPeek’s offensive remarks. Those remarks were seen as especially bigoted toward the transgender and non-binary journalism professionals in attendance.In a statement to NCRM, the NLGJA called McPeek “a volunteer emcee,” who “made an inappropriate, unscripted remark that does not reflect our values.”
“We’ve worked hard for many years to make NLGJA an inclusive organization for transgender and nonbinary journalists,” the organization, in the unsigned statement, wrote. “People were understandably hurt and offended by last night’s remarks. As journalists, we understand uniquely that words matter. We apologize and are committed to working to make NLGJA more inclusive and diverse.”
McPeek has not publicly commented since his apology at the event.
Monica Roberts, the award-winning journalist and founder of TransGrio, reportedly shouted, “Oh no he did not,” and, “there are no things or its here,” when McPeek made his bigoted comment.
President Trump’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court Brett Kavanaugh shifted to the ruling in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case — which came down in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to make a custom-made wedding cake for a same-sex couple — when asked Thursday whether he supports the historic ruling for same-sex marriage nationwide.
Under questioning from Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Kavanaugh refused to say whether he thinks the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges was correctly decided.
Kavanaugh cited a practice of nominees to refuse to comment on personal views or precedent set by the high court. That’s consistent with his responses to questions on other decisions, including Roe v. Wade.
Instead, Kavanaugh referenced five cases on LGBT rights written by former Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose seat he’d occupy on the high court, counting among them the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision narrowly in favor of Jack Phillips.
As Kavanaugh proceeded to enumerate the rulings, Harris interrupted and said “if we could just talk about Obergefell, that would be great,” redirecting the nominee to address Obergefell. But Kavanaugh noted each of the decisions, the 1996 ruling in Romer v. Evans, the 2003 ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, the 2013 decision in Windsor v. United States, the 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, and the 2017 decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.
Kavanaugh said he wanted to read a statement from Masterpiece Cakeshop, but Harris insisted he address the Obergefell decision, calling it a “yes or no” question. Nonetheless, Kavanaugh pressed forward with the statement from the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision.
“In Masterpiece Cakeshop, and this is, I think, relevant to your question, Justice Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion joined by Chief Justice [John] Roberts and Justice [Samuel] Alito and Justice [Neil] Gorsuch and Justice [Stephen] Breyer, the days of discriminating against gay and lesbian Americans as inferior in dignity and worth are over,” Kavanaugh said.
Asked by Harris if he agrees with that statement, Kavanaugh replied, “That is the precedent of the Supreme Court.”
When Harris followed up by asking Kavanaugh again if he agrees with Obergefell, Kavanaugh dodged.
“Each of the justices have declined as a matter of judicial independence, each of them, to answer in that line of questions,” Kavanaugh said.
Harris pointed out Kavanaugh once said the ruling in Brown v. Board was one of the greatest moments in the court’s history and asked the nominee whether he thinks the same about Obergefell, but the nominee refused to say.
“I’ve said, senator, consistent with what the nominees have done, that the vast swath of modern case law, as Justice Kagan, you can’t as a nominee in this seat, give a thumbs up or thumbs down,” Kavanaugh said.
Pressed again by Harris on whether Obergefell was a great moment, Kavanaugh again referred to Masterpiece.
“Justice Kennedy wrote the majority opinion saying the days of treating gay and lesbian Americans, or gay and lesbian couples, as second-class citizens or inferior in dignity or worth are over in the Supreme Court,” Kavanaugh said. “That’s a very important statement.”
Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, criticized Kavanaugh in a statement for refusing to support the Obergefell decision.
“Brett Kavanaugh’s refusal to answer very basic, very direct questions about the Supreme Court’s historic ruling bringing marriage equality nationwide is alarming and completely unacceptable,” Griffin said. “The Obergefell decision is settled law. If this nominee cannot so much as affirm that or the fundamental equality of LGBTQ people and our families, he should not and must not be granted a lifetime appointment to our nation’s highest court.”
Gregory Angelo, president of Log Cabin Republicans, on the other hand said Kavanaugh’s response was worthy of praise.
“A Supreme Court nominee who declares that ‘the days of discrimination against gay and lesbian Americans are over’ is someone every LGBT American should celebrate — without exception,” Angelo said. “Even Ruth Bader Ginsburg refused to make such an assertion during her hearings, and she was confirmed by a vote of 96 to 3.”
Senate Democrats sought to put the brakes on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court Monday as they called for a delay in proceedings on a contentious first day of his confirmation hearings.
The partisan breakdown on the Senate Judiciary Committee was clear as Democrats decried the absence of available material — an estimated 100,000 pages — from when Kavanaugh was staff secretary at the George W. Bush White House and Republicans insisted the nominee’s 12-year record as a judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in D.C. offered enough insight about his judicial temperament.
For his part, Kavanaugh in his opening statement humbly positioned himself as a family man and a “pro-law” judge who would give both sides a fair shake when cases came before him at the Supreme Court.
“If confirmed to the Supreme Court, I would be part of a team of nine committed to deciding cases according to the Constitution and laws of the United States,” Kavanaugh said. “I would always strive to be a team player on the team of nine.”
Immediately after Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) gaveled the panel into session, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) called for a delay in proceedings until the missing information from Kavanaugh’s time at the Bush White House — blocked by the Trump administration — could be made available.
“What are we hiding by not letting those documents come up?” Booker said. “This committee is a violation of the values that we as a committee have striven for: Transparency.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) called on Grassley to adjourn the hearing. When the Iowa Republican denied the request, cited a rule requiring a vote on adjournment when one was requested. Grassley said the rule only applies to executive session, which the committee wasn’t in for the Kavanaugh hearings. Blumenthal retorted there was nothing in the rules preventing Grassley from taking a vote on adjournment.
Defending the process, Grassley said the committee had enough material to review despite the absence of material from Kavanaugh’s time as staff secretary, asserting the committee had five times more information than the last five Supreme Court nominees combined.
“That’s no reason to delay the hearing,” Grassley said. “We have received and read every page of Judge Kavanaugh’s extensive public record. This includes 12 years of his judicial service on the most important federal circuit court in the country, where he authored 307 opinions and joined hundreds more amounting to more than 10,000 pages of judicial writings.”
LGBT groups have joined Senate Democrats in objecting the withholding of information on Kavanaugh during his time as staff secretary, questioning the degree to which he was involved at the time in Bush’s push for a U.S. constitutional amendment that would have banned same-sex marriage nationwide.
The LGBT legal group Lambda Legal announced on Monday it had followed-up an unanswered Freedom of Information Act request pending before the White House Office of Management with a federal lawsuit seeking information on Kavanaugh’s involvement with the initiative.
Sharon McGowan, chief strategy officer at Lambda Legal, said the missing documents are “a black hole of critical information” and said proceeding with the hearing was irresponsible.
“The George W. Bush White House was one of the most homophobic administrations in recent history, and Brett Kavanaugh was at the center of the action” McGowan added.
The lawsuit is now one of several seeking information on Kavanaugh, including which also include lawsuit filed by “Fix the Court” seeking document on the nominee’s time at the Bush White House and as assistant to U.S. Special Counsel Kenneth Starr during the Clinton administration.
Even before the hearings began, demonstrators — many of whom objected to the perceived threat that Kavanaugh’s confirmation posed to abortion rights — sought to disrupt the proceedings with interruptions. At least one shouted the refrain, “Stop Kavanaugh!” One protester affiliated with “Code Pink” held up a sign reading, “Roe-Yes, Kava-Nope.”
The disruptions annoyed Republican members as they attempted to defend the nomination process amid criticism from Democrats — and even Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) expressed irritation at one point — but Grassley continued with the hearing.
The committee didn’t proceed with questioning on the first day of hearings, which Grassley said would begin on Tuesday. LGBT issues came up only in the capacity of Senate Democrats warning Kavanaugh’s confirmation would have strong implications on issues such as same-sex marriage and protections for LGBT people at the workplace.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) brought up potential LGBT issues Kavanaugh might be forced to adjudicate as she expressed concerns about the nominee’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.
“We’re talking about the impact that one individual on that court can have, impact on people you’ll never meet and whose names you will never know,” Harris said. “Whether a person can exercise their constitutional right to cast a ballot — that may be decided if Judge Kavanaugh sits on that court — whether a women with breast cancer can afford health care, or is forced off life-saving treatment, whether a gay or transgender worker is treated with dignity, or may be treated as a second-class citizen, whether a young woman who got pregnant at 15 is forced to give birth, or in desperation go to a back alley for an abortion, whether a president of the United States can be held accountably and whether he’ll be above the law.”
Peter Avsenew, convicted of killing a Wilton Manors couple days before Christmas 2010 and stealing their car to escape to north Florida, who told a jury in January that he had no regrets and a judge in March that he had killed before and would again, has been sentenced to die.
He is the first defendant in Broward to receive a death sentence since a new law was passed in 2017 requiring juries to be unanimous in finding an execution is warranted. It seemed to be the result Avsenew wanted — after his conviction last fall for the murders of Stephen Adams and Kevin Powell, a Wilton Manors couple who took him in after he posted a sexually suggestive classified ad on Craigslist.
Adams and Powell had been together for nearly 30 years. But Avsenew’s comments about them, in his letter, were without mercy. “It is my duty as a white man to cull the weak and timid from existence.” Avsenew, 33, wrote. “Homosexuals are a disease to mankind and must be put down.”
The judge could have rejected the jury’s recommendation for a death sentence, but apparently the killer’s letter did the trick. As you can see in the photo above, he gave the finger to family members of the victims earlier this year.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Thursday to force the city of Philadelphia to resume the placement of children in need of foster care with a Catholic agency that refuses to accept gay couples as foster parents.
In a decision that Catholic Social Services had said would force its foster care program to close, the justices refused the religious agency’s request for an injunction compelling the city to allow it to place children in foster homes while litigation over the dispute continues in lower courts.
In the brief order that did not give any reasons for the decision, three conservative members of the court, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, said they would have granted the agency’s request.
Five of the nine Supreme Court justices are needed to grant an injunction, but the court is one member short since Justice Anthony Kennedy retired at the end of July. The court is split 4-4 between liberal and conservative justices. President Donald Trump has nominated conservative federal appeals court Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace Kennedy.
“We hoped for a different decision today,” said Lori Windham, a lawyer at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents the agency. She said she was encouraged that three justices agreed with their position.
The dispute arose last March after the city suspended referrals with Catholic Social Services following a newspaper report on the agency’s policy to turn away same-sex couples.
At issue is Catholic Social Services’ policy of refusing to perform home studies on same-sex couples to evaluate and certify them as foster parents, which it says would amount to a written endorsement of same-sex marriage, according to court papers.
The case underscores increasing tensions in the United States between advocates for religious groups seeking exemptions from anti-discrimination laws, and gay rights proponents who say such exemptions would be a license to discriminate.
Legal fights are brewing in several U.S. states over laws allowing private agencies to block gay couples from adoptions or taking in foster children.
The Supreme Court legalized gay marriage nationwide in a landmark 2015 decision.
Philadelphia says that as part of its foster care contract with Catholic Social Services, the agency must follow a city anti-discrimination law, which covers sexual orientation.
Catholic Social Services, which is part of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, filed suit in federal court arguing that the city had violated its religious and free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution.
A 9-year-old boy from Denver, Co. was found dead after he was bullied by classmates for coming out as gay. Denver Police say the death is being investigated as a suicide.
Leia Pierce found her son Jamel Myles unresponsive just four days after he told his fourth-grade classmates at Joe Shoemaker Elementary School he was gay.
According to Fox 31, Jamel came out to his mother over the summer before the school year started.
“And he looked so scared when he told me. He was like, ‘Mom I’m gay.’ And I thought he was playing, so I looked back because I was driving, and he was all curled up, so scared. And I said, I still love you,” Pierce said.
After coming out to his family, Jamel decided he wanted to also come out to his classmates.
“He went to school and said he was gonna tell people he’s gay because he’s proud of himself,” Pierce said.
Pierce says Jamel told her oldest daughter that when he came out to his classmates they bullied him and told him to “kill himself.”
Four days later, Jamel was found dead.
“I’m so upset that he thought that was his option,” Pierce said.
Denver Public Schools sent out a letter to families that grief counselors and extra social workers would be available for classmates, faculty and staff.
For Pierce, the root of the tragedy is bullying. She says children and parents should be held accountable.
“We should have accountability for bullying. I think the child should. Because the child knows it’s wrong. The child wouldn’t want someone to do it to them. I think the parent should be held because obviously the parents are either teaching them to be like that, or they’re treating them like that,” Pierce said.
Trans Queer Pueblo Liberation Coordinator Karyna Jaramillo speaks with the Washington Blade in Phoenix on July 19, 2018. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
PHOENIX — An Arizona organization that advocates on behalf of undocumented LGBTI immigrants says more of their clients are living in fear because of President Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy.Trans Queer Pueblo, which operates out of a small house in Phoenix’s Garfield neighborhood, runs a monthly clinic that offers health care to undocumented LGBTI migrants. Trans Queer Pueblo Project Coordinator Dagoberto Bailón told the Washington Blade during a July 19 interview that his organization also works to provide undocumented LGBTI immigrants “fair and dignified work” and access to immigration-related services.
Trans Queer Pueblo works with other immigrant advocacy groups that visit the Eloy and Florence Detention Centers — two facilities outside of Phoenix that house detained undocumented immigrants — and meet with detainees. Trans Queer Pueblo also remains a vocal critic of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Border Patrol and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over the treatment of LGBTI immigrants who are in their custody.
Karyna Jaramillo, an undocumented transgender woman from Mexico who is Trans Queer Pueblo’s Liberation Coordinator, is among those who paid tribute to Roxana Hernández, a trans Honduran with HIV who died on May 25 while in ICE custody in New Mexico, during a vigil that took place outside ICE’s offices in downtown Phoenix.
Jaramillo said fled to the U.S. in the late 1980s after police officers in Mexico’s Morelos state raped her.
She was detained in the Eloy Detention Center for two weeks in 2015 after she was arrested for DUI. Jaramillo said guards used male pronouns to refer to her and the men with whom she was detained threated her as though she was a “sex object” and a “sick person.”
Bailón, who entered the U.S. from Mexico when he was eight, said immigrant detention centers “are not equipped to care for LGBTI people.” He spoke with the Blade as Jaramillo and two of their colleagues, Crystal Zaragoza and Dora Mejia, listened.
Zaragoza, the daughter of Mexican migrants who coordinates Trans Queer Pueblo’s Justice in Health Care Program, told the Blade many of the organization’s clients were afraid to seek access to health care and other services after Trump took office. Zaragoza said Trans Queer Pueblo’s health care clinic currently has a three-month waiting list.
“There are many patients who have not seen a doctor in 10 years, 14 years,” she noted. “They are still a little bit afraid.”
The Eloy Detention Center in Eloy, Ariz., on July 22, 2018. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
Trans Queer Pueblo works against the backdrop of Arizona laws that critics contend specifically target immigrants. These include Senate Bill 1070, a law then-Gov. Jan Brewer signed in 2010 that allowed police officers to check the immigration status of anyone who they suspected were in the U.S. illegally.
English is the official language in Arizona, even though statistics indicate more than a quarter of the state’s residents speak another language at home. Undocumented immigrants are unable to receive Medicare and other public assistance in Arizona.
The Arizona State Capitol on July 19, 2018. State lawmakers over the last decade have passed Senate Bill 1070 and other laws that have faced sharp criticism from immigrants rights advocates. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
Arizona’s hate crimes law includes sexual orientation, but not gender identity. The late-U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was among those who opposed a controversial religious freedom bill that Brewer vetoed in 2014.
Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu are among the state’s most vocal opponents of undocumented immigrants. Babeu, who has run for Congress twice, came out as gay in 2012 amid allegations he was in a relationship with an undocumented immigrant.
“Arizona is a state where the intent of all of these policies is to see how they work or how those that pass in other states can improve them,” Bailón told the Blade, referring specifically to SB 1070. “Many white people and Republicans — and not only Republicans, but Democrats also — I think are really trying to maintain this status quo that allows them to remain in power and to continue to dictate what happens to communities of color.”
Ylenia Aguilar, a member of the Osborn School District Governing Board in Phoenix, largely agreed with Bailón when she spoke with the Blade at a restaurant in downtown Phoenix on July 19.
Aguilar, who was born in Mexico’s Veracruz state and learned she was undocumented when she was in high school, was able to normalize her immigration status under the Violence Against Women’s Act because her mother is a survivor of domestic violence. Aguilar, who is now married, became a U.S. citizen in 2016.
Aguilar is an organizer for UnidosUS, the country’s largest Latino civil rights organization, and a Human Rights Campaign supporter. She is also an interpreter for undocumented immigrants who go before federal judges in Phoenix.
Aguilar, whose paternal grandfather in Mexico was gay, pointed out to the Blade her school board is the only one in Arizona that has publicly criticized the Trump administration over the separation of migrant children from their parents. She also acknowledged immigration was among the issues about which voters were angry going into the 2016 election.
“I was conflicted by that,” she said. “I was like, you had the opportunity to vote all your life and you chose not to. There are people crossing the desert, risking their lives. Eighty percent (of women) get raped. Children and women get raped. They die. They die of heat exhaustion. They’re exposing their lives obviously because going through that journey is way better than what they have in their native countries, so I never take that for granted.”
‘Immigration is interesting here’
The Blade reported from Arizona less than six weeks before the state’s primary elections, which took place on Tuesday.
Arpaio, who Trump pardoned in 2017 after his criminal contempt conviction over his failure to stop profiling Latinos as part of his campaign against undocumented immigrants, and former Arizona state Sen. Kelli Ward lost to Congresswoman Martha McSally in the Republican primary for retiring U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.)’s seat. McSally will face off against Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema, an openly bisexual Democrat who voted for a 2015 bill that sought to block Syrian and Iraqi refugees from resettling in the U.S., in November.
David Garcia, a professor at Arizona State University, will square off against incumbent Republican Gov. Doug Ducey in the general election. A RGA (Republican Governors Association) PAC ad that aired on a Phoenix television on July 23 said Garcia’s election as governor would mean “more drugs smuggled across our border” and “more gang members in our neighborhoods.”
“Immigration is interesting here,” Aguilar told the Blade. “Just the narrative here is interesting.”
“It’s sad,” she added. “My families that I serve live in fear.”
Ylenia Aguilar is a member of the Osborn School District Governing Board in Phoenix. She was born in Mexico. (Photo courtesy of Ylenia Aguilar)
Bailón described Arizona’s politics to the Blade as “super messed up.” He and his colleagues further stressed the state’s laws continue to target immigrants, the LGBTI community, sex workers and other marginalized groups.“We are seeing various tactics that are being used to ensure that these people don’t have a voice or a vote,” said Bailón.
Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) has won her primary in a bid foe a U.S. Senate seat. (Photo by Gage Skidmore; courtesy Flickr)
Arizona Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) achieved a significant victory on Tuesday in the Arizona primary when she became the first openly bisexual person to win a major party nomination to run for a U.S. Senate seat.The Associated Press declared Sinema, a three-term member of Congress, the winner at 9:21 local time after polls closed in Arizona at 7 pm. Sinema was in a contest against Muslim progressive activist Deedra Abboud for the Democratic nomination to run for the open U.S. Senate seat in Arizona.
With 94 percent of precincts reporting, Sinema won 80.5 percent of the vote compared to the 19.5 percent won by Abboud, according to results from the New York Times.
The primary contest is to run for the seat being vacated by Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who announced he wouldn’t seek another term in the U.S. Senate and remains outspoken with his own party against President Trump. (The other seat representing Arizona in the U.S. Senate after the death of John McCain will be filled by a interim replacement chosen by the Arizona governor and come up for a vote in the general election in 2020.)
As the only openly bisexual member of Congress and co-chair of the LGBT Equality Caucus, Sinema has taken the lead on LGBT issues during her time in Congress. Among other things, Sinema was a co-sponsor of the Equality Act, comprehensive legislation that would prohibit anti-LGBT discrimination in all areas of federal civil rights law and legislation against Trump’s attempted ban on transgender service members.
Representing a moderate district in Congress, Sinema has taken votes in line with the Republican caucus that have angered progressive and LGBT activists. Sinema has never voted for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as speaker, voted to delay implementation of the individual mandate in Obamacare and voted for a measure that would have inhibited Syrian refugees from coming to the United States.
Also revealed in the Arizona primary was the Republican opponent whom Sinema would face in the general election. The winner on the Republican side was Martha McSally, a former Air Force pilot who represents Arizona’s 2nd congressional district in Congress.
Other candidates were Kelli Ward, a former member of the Arizona State Senate, and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who declared his candidacy after President Trump granting him a pardon for violating the law in his enforcement of immigration law.
McSally won 52.9 percent of the vote in the Republican primary, compared to the 28.2 percent won by Ward and the 18.9 percent won by Arpaio.
Although McSally has served in the U.S. House for only two terms, she has already cast at least one anti-LGBT vote. The Arizona Republican vote in favor of an amendment on the House floor introduced by anti-LGBT Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.), which would have the barred from the U.S. military from paying for transition-related care for transgender people, including gender reassignment surgery.
McSally has also opposed interpreting Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972 to require school to allow transgender kids to use the restrooms consistent with their gender identity, saying during a town hall early last year the matter is best handled at the local level.
In 2016, McSally was also one of the 33 Republicans in committee to vote in favor of an amendment to major defense authorization legislation that would have weakened President Obama’s executive order against anti-LGBT workplace discrimination. Although the committee approved the amendment, it was later taken out in conference deliberations.
Annise Parker, CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, said Sinema “shattered a lavender ceiling” in the primary, but the race against McSally will also be significant.
“This race is consequential not just for the Democratic party and for the LGBTQ community, but for all Americans who demand an end to the political divisiveness that Martha McSally embodies,” Parker said. “An LGBTQ Senate candidate taking down an anti-LGBTQ opponent in a red state will be a defining moment in this year’s rainbow political wave – and will further the evolution in how Americans view LGBTQ people and candidates.”
Sinema wasn’t the only LGBT candidate in a primary race on Tuesday night. Other LGBT candidates were in the fray in Arizona and Florida and had different results:
* In Florida’s 18th congressional district, lesbian candidate and former State Department official Lauren Baer won the Democratic nomination over attorney Pam Keith by a 60-40 margin. Baer will face off against incumbent Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) in the general election.
* Also in Florida, Donna Shalala, a former official with the Department of Health & Human Services during the Clinton, narrowly defeated openly gay State Rep. David Richardson for the Democratic nomination to run in Florida’s 27th congressional district. Shalala will run against Maria Elvira Salazar in race to succeed retiring Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) in Congress.
* In Arizona, gay candidate and former Arizona State Rep. Matt Heinz came up short in a bid to claim the Democratic nomination to run in Arizona’s second congressional district against former U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick.