The president of an LGBTI advocacy group in Iceland has criticized her country’s government’s decision to host Vice President Pence next month.
Þorbjörg Þorvaldsdóttir, president of Samtökin ’78, the National Queer Organization of Iceland, in an op-ed that Vísir, an Icelandic newspaper, published on Aug. 11 wrote Pence is “against our marriages” and is “in favor of us being discriminated against.” Þorvaldsdóttir also noted Pence as governor of Indiana in 2015 signed a controversial religious freedom law that sparked widespread outrage among LGBTI activists and their supporters.
“He feels it is natural for people to deny us service for who we are,” wrote Þorvaldsdóttir.
Þorvaldsdóttir, among other things, notes Pence has “harshly criticized legislation designed to protect us from hate crimes.” Þorvaldsdóttir also highlights the Trump administration’s ban on openly transgender servicemembers in the U.S. military that took effect on April 12.
“Now, the government of Iceland intends to welcome Mike Pence, politely talk to him about business consulations and strengthen relations with the United States,” wrote Þorvaldsdóttir. “All such programs are pure and clever disregard for the community of queer people in Iceland.”
“We will not be silence on the fact that he is welcomed to this country,” added Þorvaldsdóttir. “Not a chance.”
Pence is scheduled to visit Iceland on Sept. 4. A press release from his office says he “will highlight Iceland’s strategic importance in the Arctic, NATO’s efforts to counter Russian aggression in the region and opportunities to expand mutual trade and investment.”
Þorvaldsdóttir on Tuesday reaffirmed criticism of Pence’s visit.
“It is incredibly disrespectful to the LGBTQ+ community in Iceland to invite him here with open arms,” Þorvaldsdóttir told the Blade in an email.
Þorvaldsdóttir said the Trump administration is “highly unpopular in Iceland.” Þorvaldsdóttir nevertheless said many Icelanders “have been very aware of the setbacks in LGBTQ+ rights … under the current U.S. administration or Mike Pence’s problematic history on those matters.”
“I think many more people are aware now,” Þorvaldsdóttir told the Blade.
Þorvaldsdóttir added reaction to the group’s criticism in Iceland “has largely been positive.”
“Obviously, not everyone shares our profound dismay over the fact that our government is receiving Pence in the first place,” said Þorvaldsdóttir. “However, that disagreement doesn’t come from Mike Pence being especially popular. People simply feel that he should be welcomed like any other leader in the name of diplomacy, despite his harmful views and policies.”
“That said, I think most Icelanders share the sentiment that Mike Pence has views that go against our core values here in Iceland,” added Þorvaldsdóttir.
Pence’s scheduled trip to Iceland will take place against the backdrop of continued criticism of the Trump administration’s anti-LGBTI rights record in the U.S. and its overall foreign policy.
Activists in Denmark last August boycotted the U.S. Embassy’s annual Pride month celebration over Trump’s LGBTI rights record. Francisco Rodríguez Cruz, a gay Cuban blogger who writes under the pen name Paquito el de Cuba and works closely with Mariela Castro, the daughter of former Cuban President Raúl Castro who spearheads LGBTI-specific issues as director of the country’s National Center for Sexual Education, in 2017 refused to attend an event at the U.S. Embassy in Havana after the Trump administration expelled two of his country’s diplomats from the U.S.
Richard Grenell, the openly gay U.S. ambassador to Germany, on July 26 hosted a group of LGBTI activists from around the world as part of a Trump administration initiative that encourages countries to decriminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations. The International AIDS Society’s Conference on HIV Science that took place last month in Mexico City showcased numerous LGBTI-specific HIV/AIDS studies from around the world the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the U.S. Agency for International Development supported.
Þorvaldsdóttir told the Blade she would accept an invitation to meet with Pence under the condition “that I be allowed to wear the rainbow and speak freely about LGBTQ+ rights.” Þorvaldsdóttir then proceeded to once again criticize the Trump administration’s LGBTI rights record, specifically noting more than a dozen transgender of color have been reported killed in the U.S. this year and “the administration doesn’t seem to care or acknowledge that there is a problem.”
“Looking at it from the outside and as someone who has a fondness for the U.S. and friends in the States, seeing the consistent attacks on LGBTQ+ rights right now is chilling,” said Þorvaldsdóttir. “And somehow, the administration’s efforts to undermine and roll back progress that has been made in recent years appears to fall under the radar, likely due to the many bizarre things that come out of the White House every day.”
Zuleika, 25, is a transgender woman from El Salvador’s San Vicente department.
She had been living at Casa Respetttrans, a shelter for LGBTI migrants in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, run by Respetttrans Chihuahua, a local trans advocacy group, for more than a month when the Washington Blade spoke with her on July 16. Zuleika said her ultimate goal was to receive asylum in the U.S.
“The U.S. is a free society,” she told the Blade.
Zuleika is among the tens of thousands of migrants who have traveled to Ciudad Juárez in recent months with the hope they will enter the U.S. and receive asylum. El Paso, Texas, which is across the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juárez, remains a flashpoint over President Trump’s hardline immigration policy.
Casa Respetttrans opened in its current location in Ciudad Juárez earlier this year. Zuleika was among the 36 migrants — including Leche Merchant, a trans woman from Mexico’s Guerrero state who had been in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at the Cibola County Correctional Center in Milan, N.M., for two years until July 15 — were living at the shelter when the Blade visited it.
Casa Respetttrans Director Grecia Herrera noted Respetttrans Chihuahua is a group that advocates on behalf of trans women.
Herrera said the group had to “diversify” because Ciudad Juárez did not have any shelters that specifically served LGBTI migrants. Herrera told the Blade that Respetttrans Chihuahua now provides services to Mexicans of indigenous descent who have been displaced from other parts of the country, people who use drugs and other vulnerable groups.
“This space does not only think about the migrant population,” she said.
Programa Compañeros is another organization in Ciudad Juárez that provides assistance to LGBTI migrants.
The group, which formed in the 1980s in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, distributes feminine hygiene products and other items to migrants in the city. Programa Compañeros also works to promote safer sex practices and fights violence against women in Ciudad Juárez.
People who use drugs who participate in twice-weekly meetings at Programa Compañeros’ offices are able to eat a hot meal, take a shower and receive medical care. Some of men in the program have either had sex with other men in order to support their drug habit or have been deported from the U.S.
Programa Compañeros Director María Elena Ramos on July 16 told the Blade that women and girls who hope to enter the U.S. are frequently forced into prostitution. Ramos said they are also vulnerable to human trafficking.
“Their body is their passport to cross all of these invisible borders that exist,” she said. “They are in a very difficult situation and they exchange sex to buy things they need. It is the only option that they have.”
The New York Times on Sunday reported 5,600 asylum seekers in Ciudad Juárez are on waiting lists to enter the U.S. The New York Times also said more than 13,000 migrants have been returned to Ciudad Juárez under the Trump administration’s controversial “remain in Mexico” program that forces them to remain in Mexico as they await the outcome of their asylum cases.
Advocates on both sides of the border with whom the Blade spoke said Ciudad Juárez remains a dangerous city.
A travel advisory the State Department issued on April 9 urges Americans to “reconsider travel” to Mexico’s Chihuahua state in which Ciudad Juárez is located because of crime.
“Violent crime and gang activity are widespread,” reads the advisory. “While most homicides appear to be targeted assassinations carried out by criminal organizations, turf battles between criminal groups have resulted in violent crime in areas frequented by U.S. citizens. Bystanders have been injured or killed in shooting incidents.”
Imelda Maynard, a lawyer for Catholic Charities of Southern New Mexico, on July 15 told the Blade during an interview at a coffee shop in downtown El Paso that many of her clients in Ciudad Juárez “don’t know who to trust over there” because they are afraid of the Mexican police and kidnappers. Maynard also said some of them have to wait until January for their first hearing before an immigration judge.
“There’s no rhyme nor reason to it,” she said.
Johana “Joa” Medina León, a transgender woman from El Salvador, died on June 1 at Del Sol Medical Center in El Paso.
Medina stayed at Casa Respetttrans before she entered the U.S. at the Paso del Norte Port of Entry between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez on April 11. Medina was detained at the privately-run Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral, N.M., until ICE released her from its custody on May 28, three days before her death.
Medina’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.
“I really want to know exactly what happened,” Medina’s mother, Patricia Medina de Barrientos, told the Blade on July 22 during an exclusive interview in the Salvadoran capital of San Salvador.
Héctor Ruiz of the Santa Fe Dreamers Project, a New Mexico-based group that advocates on behalf of immigrants, told the Blade at his El Paso office that he did not know about Medina until after she died. Nathan Craig of Advocate Visitors with Immigrants in Detention (AVID) in the Chihuahuan Desert, an organization in Las Cruces, N.M., that visits migrants who are in detention centers, said one of Medina’s podmates with whom he and other AVID volunteers visited had expressed concern about Medina’s “declining health” in the weeks before her death.
“It’s really unfortunate,” Ruiz told the Blade, referring to Medina’s death. “That’s why we’re trying to make more of an effort to have a regular presence in Juárez, or regular contact with folks on the ground in Juárez to ensure there’s a smooth handoff from the groups that are working there.”
Fernández described the circumstances surrounding Medina’s death as “super shady.” Fernández also told the Blade the Detained Migrant Solidarity Committee supports the abolition of ICE, DHS, Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
“We don’t want to just better conditions,” said Fernández, referring to the conditions in which migrants are detained. “We don’t want these detention centers to even exist.”
‘Immigration has been a big tinderbox issue for awhile’
A gunman on Aug. 3 killed 22 people and injured more than two dozen others when he opened fire at a Walmart near El Paso’s Cielo Vista Mall, which is less than two miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.
The gunman, who was from a Dallas suburb, made anti-immigrant and anti-Latino statements before the massacre. The gunman also reportedly praised Trump and his calls for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump in 2015 described Mexicans as “rapists” when he announced he was running for president.
The president in February defended the wall during a rally he held at the El Paso County Coliseum, which is a few blocks from the Bridge of the Americas that connects El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. Trump in the wake of the Walmart massacre condemned white supremacy, but continues to face widespread criticism over his racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Fernández is among those in El Paso who said Trump’s immigration policy is a way for him to appeal to his base ahead of next year’s presidential election.
“Immigration has been a big tinderbox issue for awhile,” said Maynard. “Our system is messed up and it has been for awhile.”
“It didn’t start with the Trump administration,” she added. “But he just found a way to play off of the xenophobia, the otherness of other people and use that and run with it.”
Ramos agreed.
“You have elected a president who has a very aggressive attitude,” she told the Blade. “His campaign slogan … his campaign focus was migrants and at that time the migrants were Mexicans.”
“It’s very bad,” added Ramos. “It is very diabolical.”
Zuleika conceded she was afraid of Trump’s immigration policy, even though she was hopeful the U.S. would grant her asylum. Michelle, a 24-year-old lesbian woman from Soyapango, El Salvador, who was living at Casa Respetttrans with Zuleika, said she hoped to live in California with her partner.
“[El Salvador] is a very dangerous country,” Michelle told the Blade as she sat on a couch next to Willy, a 24-year-old gay man who fled La Ceiba, Honduras, last fall.
“It is very difficult to be a woman in this place,” added Michelle. “There is a lot of vulnerability.”
Herrera on Monday said Willy, Michelle and Zuleika are now in the U.S. Herrera told the Blade that Merchant still lives at Casa Respetttrans.
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A woman accused of hacking Capital One and at least 30 other organizations is a flight risk, a threat and should be kept locked up until her trial, U.S. prosecutors said in court documents filed ahead of a Friday detention hearing in Seattle.
Paige Thompson, a former Amazon software engineer who goes by the online alias “erratic,” has a history of stalking and threatening to kill people and to get herself killed by police, prosecutors said in the documents.
Police in Mountain View, California, said she also threatened to shoot up an undisclosed company in May, while she was living with a convicted felon who had a stockpile of pistols, rifles and ammunition.
Lawyers for Thompson, a 33-year-old transgender woman, denied that she is violent and said she should be released to a halfway house where she would have better access to mental health care. Citing a doctor, they say her safety is at risk in the male facility.
“The risk of being continuously misgendered and becoming a target for intimidation by other inmates is likely increased in a male facility,” Dr. Matt Goldenberg wrote.
Authorities say Thompson previously has been the subject of an extreme risk protection order due to mental illness issues. State red flag laws permit police or family to petition a court to remove firearms from a person deemed to be a danger to themself or others.
“In today’s America, it is easy enough to obtain firearms, and there is every reason to be concerned that Thompson, who repeatedly has threatened to kill, would obtain the means to carry out … her threats – particularly when confronted with the alternative of near-certain conviction and imprisonment,” prosecutors said in their motion.
Thompson was charged in July with accessing personal information on 106 million Capital One credit card holders earlier this year.
The financial corporation said among the information obtained by the hacker was 140,000 Social Security numbers and 80,000 bank account numbers. It said no credit card account numbers or log-in credentials were compromised.
The breach was among the largest on record involving a major U.S. financial institution. Thompson had talked about the hack online in chat groups, authorities say.
At least 40 lawsuits have been filed in the U.S. against Capital One following the breach, saying it failed to protect consumers. Eight other suits were filed in Canada.
Seattle police were granted the risk order against Thompson in May 2018. Four months later, two of Thompson’s former friends secured a protection order against her, saying she had stalked and harassed them.
Sarah Stensberg told police that Thompson left voice messages and several text messages, including one that listed Stensberg’s address and read, “rest in peace.” Stensberg said Thompson also stalked her on social media.
In May, Thompson focused on a California social media business and sent a series of Twitter messages to a former Amazon co-worker, according to police.
“I feel bad, when my cat dies, I’m going to California to shoot up (REDACTED) office I hope you are not there,” the message said. “Sorry. But it has to be done.”
The message continued: “I like you but I can’t let you stand in the way of what has to be done.”
The person responded, police said, and Thompson wrote back: “maybe spd could do something kind and come over and shoot me.”
Mountain View police sought help from Seattle police and they informed Thompson’s case manager and made a referral to a designated crisis responder.
Thompson’s lawyers said the Seattle police officer wrote in a report, “I am familiar with Paige Thompson and my unit has a response plan for her,” and found she had no means or money to travel to California.
The National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association announced it will induct LGBT rights movement pioneer and journalist Lilli Vincenz of Arlington, Va., into its LGBTQ Journalists Hall of Fame.
“Vincenz is a path-breaking journalist and pioneer of the gay right movement beginning in the early 1960s,” NLGJA said in an Aug. 14 statement announcing Vincenz is one of three people to be inducted this year into its LGBTQ Journalists Hall of Fame on Aug. 31.
The statement notes that Vincenz became one of the first in the LGBT rights movement to write about and film LGBT-related events and activities beginning in 1962 in Washington and other cities.
“She joined the Mattachine Society of Washington in 1962 as one of their first lesbian members and served as editor of their monthly magazine, The Homosexual Citizen,” the NLGJA statement says. “In 1966, Vincenz became the first woman, with her face recognizable, to appear on the cover of The Ladder, a lesbian magazine,” it says.
“She filmed the 1968 Annual Reminder in Philadelphia and the first Christopher Street Liberation Day march in 1970,” the statement says, referring to the pre-Stonewall annual homosexual rights demonstration held in front of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall that early homophile movement activists began in 1965.
Organizers ended the event in 1969 after the Stonewall riots in New York triggered what many consider the modern LGBT rights movement.
Vincenz joined D.C. gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny, co-founder of the D.C. Mattachine Society, in New York in June 1970, when she filmed what turned out to be the first anniversary commemoration of the Stonewall riots in the form of the Christopher Street Liberation Day march and rally.
“Her films contributed to a priceless visual archive of the gay rights movement and were donated to the Library of Congress in 2013, along with documents, photographs and memorabilia covering 50 years of America’s LGBTQ civil rights movement,” NLGJA’s statement says
The statement notes that Vincenz wrote a bi-weekly column for the New York-based GAY magazine in the years following Stonewall and became a frequent contributor to other community publications.
It also notes that in October 1969 Vincenz co-founded the Gay Blade, an independent gay publication that later evolved into the Washington Blade, which will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in October.
NLGJA’s selection of Vincenz for its LGBTQ Journalists Hall of Fame follows several events and actions recognizing her contributions to the LGBT rights movement organized by the updated version of the Mattachine Society of Washington. Charles Francis, the group’s leader, says it’s dedicated to preserving archival documents chronicling LGBT history.
Francis said the group earlier this year produced a video called “Lilli’s Legacy,” which highlights the documentary films she made of the Christopher Street Liberation Day march in 1970 and the 1968 Reminder event in Philadelphia. The Mattachine video includes tributes to Vincenz by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) and historian Lillian Faderman.
LGBT rights advocate and NLGJA member Bob Witeck said he has known Vincenz for many years.
“I consider Lilli truly significant in America’s civil rights story,” Witeck said. “She not only was an early and bold activist in a movement dominated by gay white men, she was instrumental in recording and capturing our fledgling activism,” he said. “That makes all the difference in the world about the power of a small group of people to light an unquenchable flame.”
Witeck said Vincenz, 82, currently lives in an assisted living facility in Northern Virginia.
A Kentucky print shop owner who refused to make a gay pride T-shirt argued before the Kentucky Supreme Court that he shouldn’t be compelled to promote messages that go against his religious beliefs.
Blaine Adamson is owner of Hands-On Originals in Lexington and declined to print a shirt promoting an LGBT pride festival in 2012. The city’s Human Rights Commission said that refusal violated its gay-rights fairness ordinance.
On Friday, the high court heard an attorney for the T-shirt maker argue that the First Amendment protects him from having to print that message. An attorney for the Human Rights Commission says the T-shirt maker cannot pick and choose who it wants to serve in the Lexington community.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments from attorneys and will issue a ruling at a later date.
In 2011 California ratified the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful Education Act, a law that mandates the inclusion of the political, economic and social contributions of people with disabilities and LGBTQ people in educational textbooks and the social studies curricula in California public schools. The legislation was groundbreaking in its own right, but was only a first step. Real change involves updating textbooks and classroom materials, providing teacher support and fighting efforts to water down or undermine the requirements of the statute. Eight years after passage of the FAIR Education Act, History Happens is checking in with two California educators to learn how the act is being implemented both in the policy realm and in the classroom. Don Romesburg, a professor of women’s and gender studies at Sonoma State University and one of the key advocates of the legislation, engaged in a conversation with Ángel Rafael “Ralph” Vásquez-Concepción, an eighth-grade teacher at Everett Middle School in San Francisco, to compare notes from their respective vantage points.
Ralph: Don, can you please offer some updates on the implementation of the act? How have you seen it roll out from your perspective as an advocate for the act and as a university professor?
Don: Implementation has been slow and has required tireless advocacy by LGBTQ historians, advocacy organizations, students, community members and educators. In 2014, queer historians produced Making the Framework FAIR, a policy document drawing on decades of scholarship, including research based on materials in the GLBT Historical Society’s archives. It proposed comprehensive curricular changes for the California Department of Education to incorporate into its History–Social Science Framework. In 2016 the CDE approved the revised framework, and it now features significant LGBTQ content for elementary schools, middle schools and high schools. Finally, in 2017 the CDE also approved 10 possible textbooks for the state’s K–8 classrooms, which cover most of the LGBTQ material. Since then, organizations such as the California History–Social Science Project and Our Family Coalition, as well as individuals such as me and Rob Darrow, who works with the Safe Schools Project in Santa Cruz County, have been collaborating with the state’s teachers and administrators to inegrate the LGBTQ content into their curricula. It’s been encouraging to see how enthusiastic educators are. Many want to bring LGBTQ history into their classrooms, but are unsure how. Most K–12 teachers never learned any LGBTQ history in their own primary, secondary or undergraduate education or in their credentialing and graduate programs. So there’s a big demand for training, but unfortunately not much funding to support it. Progress is being made slowly. Individual professors are teaching this content: I’ve been doing it with my undergrads at Sonoma State and so has Wendy Rouse, who teaches history for future teachers at San Jose State. Ralph, I’m interested to know how well you think implementation is going, since you’re on the ground. How proactive has San Francisco Unified School District been about training teachers on the LGBTQ content? How supported do you feel in your school, and what are some examples of ways you are teaching queer content in eighth grade?
Ralph: I feel very supported. At Everett we consistently bring up LGBTQ experiences not just in social sciences and history, but in natural sciences as well. There are many queer and Two-Spirit people who have made important contributions to our democratic and scientific institutions, and as a school we enagage that history as much as possible. During Pride Week, queer content is the backbone of lesson-planning, ensuring that our students get exposure in all their classes. Every teacher brings their unique expertise to bear; for example, I use contemporary art history and queer poetry. Don: Also, Ralph, how could you use the GLBT Historical Society’s resources in teaching students?
Ralph: While consulting the archives for past exhibitions I have curated at the GLBT Historical Society Museum, I have used materials that could serve as primary source documentation of queer life in this city. It would be great to create lessons around some of these materials. Don, can you offer some clues as to how similar legislation is proceeding in other parts of the country?
Don: It’s been so exciting to see how what started in California has taken off nationally. New Jersey, Colorado, Illinois and Oregon have passed laws similar to the act, and now we are waiting to see how implementation proceeds. In Massachusetts, an LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum has been put forward, but it’s optional; I’m curious if it will become mandatory, following in the other states’ footsteps. In August, Maryland’s Department of Education announced that it would incorporate the LGBTQ civil rights movement into its history framework when it is revised in 2020. I expect that we’ll see a number of other states follow suit in the next couple of years. California fortunately set the curricular standard pretty high, and it’s going to be hard for other states to just mention Stonewall and think they’ve done it right. Ralph, what role do you think California’s teachers can play in helping other states create change?
Ralph: We live in a very special state, where teachers have the freedom to prepare students to engage differences and be culturally responsive. Teachers elsewhere face pressure from religious groups and homophobic organizations, and some live in fear of being outed and having their livelihoods destroyed. By continuing to develop community programming around Pride and actively seeking to bring visibility to LGBTQ curricula, teachers in California can help ensure that queer history is not erased, and that it is ultimately protected by federal policy. I also foresee the need for more collaboration between college professors and K–12 teachers.
Don Romesburg is aprofessor of women’s and gender studies at Sonoma State University. Ángel Rafael Vásquez-Concepción teaches eighth grade at Everett Middle School in San Francisco.
If you hear about the United States announcing the sale of military technology to a foreign ally, R. Clarke Cooper will have had a hand in it.
As assistant secretary for political-military affairs at the State Department, Cooper is charged with advancing national security interests by coordinating with allied nations the sale of U.S. conventional weapons, such as F-35 aircraft, bombs, missiles and firearms. Each year, his bureau facilitates more than $190 billion in U.S. defense transfers.
Among the recipients are democracies like the United Kingdom, Italy and Japan — although others, such as Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, have repressive governments notorious for criminalizing gay relationships and restricting women’s rights.
As a gay combat veteran, Cooper said he’s aware the United States supplies weapons to countries with less than stellar — even abysmal — records on human and civil rights.
“I’ve probably spent a good chunk of my life serving in places where one’s orientation like mine, would be either defined as criminal or even under the threat of a death sentence,” Cooper said. “But it doesn’t preclude us from presenting our people forward into these places, and it certainly doesn’t suspend our bilateral relationships.”
Cooper is acquainted with policies that suppress gay people. In the early Obama years, Cooper, as executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, worked with Congress to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and coordinated litigation that compelled the Pentagon to support open service.
Speaking with the Washington Blade in his office at the State Department on Aug. 21 about his present role, Cooper said the weapons sales are about a different thing entirely: Maintaining global security with U.S. allies to limit the influence of adversaries like Russia and China.
“It is always going to be what U.S. interests do we have in that particular country, in that region that we need to protect,” Cooper said. “That is overriding. Full stop. Always will be.”
Although Cooper is a Trump appointee (making him one of the handful of openly gay officials in the administration), the sale of weapons to these countries spans both Democratic and Republican administrations, including those of Trump, Obama, Clinton and both Bushes.
It’s the wiggle-room in between, Cooper said, that enables the United States to advocate for decriminalization of same-sex relationships and women’s role in society. Among these efforts, he said, are the United Nations’ Women, Peace & Security initiative and requirements on troop-contributing countries in global peacekeeping operations.
“There are a number of countries that have been challenging either statutes or policies on women and the LGBT community, who are significant troop contributors to U.N. peacekeeping operations or African Union peacekeeping operations,” Cooper said. “That does provide us a point of entree as a department to advocate for those communities.”
Cooper said the process for the arms transfer can take years, and during that time, red flags addressed in the State Department Human Rights Report or regional contextual issues could come into play.
“At the end of the day, though, regardless of whatever outlying issues there are, it’s always going to be about what’s in our interest,” Cooper said. “Again, not a new protocol, that is sustained.”
Weapons sales are but one part of the job of managing the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. The responsibilities also include helping coordinate diplomacy and defense policy, assisting countries with clearing explosive hazards and building a capable and accountable staff of political-military practitioners.
Cooper won Senate confirmation in May after his nomination by President Trump was pending for about 10 months. Since that time, Cooper said his day-to-day life on the job is unpredictable and “predicated on what’s happening globally.”
“I can have a day where I know that, OK, I’ve got calendar items, there’s either a meeting at the National Security Council, or there’s a briefing on Capitol Hill, or I’ve got to make sure I got to get a decision up to Secretary [Mike] Pompeo,” Cooper said. “Those are things that are on our calendar, and I can plan [for], what we don’t plan for is a particular reaction from an adversary or a posturing or threatening act by an adversary, and how that might be disruptive, and how we have to react.”
Cooper knows his stuff. Over the course of the interview, he quickly rattles off military acronyms, policy initiatives and recalls historical policies set by the Untied States and allies in the immediate aftermath of World War II.
Although Cooper said he’s forced to speak in generalities because much of his work is sensitive and classified, he identified both Russia and China as adversaries the United States is seeking to limit through weapons sales to allies.
“When we’re talking about the national security strategy that is very much focused on China and Russia,” Cooper said. “So when we’re looking at how we’re prioritizing not only foreign military financing, and foreign military sales and security assistance, all of that is looking to bolster and support our security partners who may be either directly challenged by Moscow or Beijing.”
In historical context, Cooper said those partners have been limited to countries bordering Russia and China, but in an asymmetric environment where the world is flat, those partnerships are “much broader than that.”
“When we are looking at security assistance, when we’re looking at presence and when we’re looking at influence, countering China is inclusive of Africa, and the African continent, countering Russia is inclusive of, well, this hemisphere as well,” Cooper said.
In terms of China, Cooper also identified the Indo-Pacific region as an area “where we have put significant attention and resources.”
“That is, we’re wanting to make sure that is it not only free and open for trade, but unmolested, and undisrupted by China,” Cooper said. “That does help us as far as prioritization.”
It’s a dream job for Cooper, who following his stint from 2010 to 2012 at Log Cabin continued service in the military as a member of the U.S. Army Reserve. His tours include United States Africa Command, Special Operations Command Africa, Joint Special Operations Task Force Trans-Sahara and Special Operations Command Central.
In a previous life during the Bush administration, Cooper worked in the State Department as a representative to the United Nations and an adviser at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. Immediately before his confirmation, Cooper was director of intelligence planning for Joint Special Operations Command’s Joint Inter-Agency Task Force in the National Capital Region.
But it’s also a dirty job, according to a majority of Americans. Last month, the Chicago Council for Global Affairs issued survey data finding 70 percent of Americans believe that selling weapons to other countries makes the United States less safe, not more.
That view cuts across party lines, with 75 percent of Democrats, 70 percent of independents and 62 percent of Republicans believing the United States is worse off for the weapons sales. Another 20 percent say the weapons sales make no difference.
Elliot Imse, a spokesperson for the LGBTQ Victory Institute, which has sought to facilitate the appointment of LGBT people to federal government posts, had an altogether different complaint about Cooper: Too white male, not LGBT enough.
“All aspects of our government have been dominated by straight white cisgender men — and that perspective, and conscious or unconscious bias, seeps into every policy decision our country makes,” Imse said. “Better decisions are made — whether about our economy, international relations or national defense — when people of color, women, LGBTQ people and other diverse voices are part of the conversation.”
Imse pointed out Cooper is an appointee in the Trump administration, which has gained a reputation for being hostile to LGBT people and other minorities.
“The Trump administration is still the Trump administration and the people they appoint rarely reflect our values, but the hope is that even those who don’t can provide some new openings toward more inclusive thinking,” Imse said. “There will be no miracles, however, as this administration remains fundamentally opposed to equality.”
There’s one other aspect of Cooper’s job: It’s macho and consists of engagements with military officials and foreign leaders in countries hostile to LGBT rights.
Cooper, however, said being gay has “not at all” come up as an issue.
“I have not encountered anything that would be interpreted or defined as counter to supportive,” he said. “I’ve not witnessed or assessed anything that would have been degrading, or holding me back in my career.”
Cooper pivoted to his time in the military immediately after his tenure at Log Cabin and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal to emphasize the transition in the way the United States views gay people, including in the military. At the time, Cooper said no one else with whom he served was aware of his time at the Republican LGBT group.
“I think one of the best things, probably the most equitable place for the LGBT community is the military,” Cooper said. “Because it is such a merit based place. Again, you either are able to meet requirements, and you’re able to fulfill those requirements. And then there are certain programs like I was in that have very specific assessment and selection procedures. But none of them factor in orientation. None.”
At the same time, Cooper developed his relationship with his now husband Michael Marin, who’s also an active duty officer. Cooper said as members of the military they were both expected to attend each other’s functions as a date.
When the time came for marriage, Cooper said he informed his commander, per military transition dating back to the 18th century, and received an enthusiastic response. Not only that, Cooper said, but his peers in the military barracks were supportive.
“They were making jokes about life’s gonna be a little easier being married to a guy,” Cooper said. “I was like, What? ‘You can fart in bed and stuff.’ And so I’m sitting here thinking, I can’t believe I’m having this conversation. We’ve gotten to that point where it’s like there, and then they’re giving marital advice.”
Cooper said he realizes that transition may surprise older gay men, who are used to the idea of the military being hostile to gays. Holding back emotion for a brief moment, Cooper said, “The exciting part of this is not everybody gets to see the fruits of their labor, and they don’t get to see it as quickly.”
Still, Cooper conceded what has changed in the military for gays in the aftermath of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” may not be true in all areas of the United States.
Invoking a time before the civil rights era for black Americans — when they were treated more equitably in the military after desegregation, but not in other places of the country — Cooper said the same holds true for gay people at military bases, which he said have become “islands of equality.”
“Fort Bragg, North Carolina, I’m a peer. I’m equal,” Cooper said. “There is no difference…I’m married. My spouse is identified by the Department of Defense as my spouse, not my partner, my spouse. Step into Fayetteville: Not so much.”
But Cooper stopped short of criticizing the transgender military ban implemented under the Trump administration. Asked if based on that experience whether he opposes the policy, Cooper replied, “No.”
Cooper relented by saying “if someone is trans and they are capable of serving, they should be serving,” but towed the line of the Defense Department.
“This is not my wheelhouse right now, but my understanding of where the current status is with the Department of Defense is that there is no ban that’s in place,” Cooper said.
Under the Trump administration, service members are discharged who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria or are prescribed transition-related care. In terms of enlistments, the policy bars applicants with a history of gender dysphoria — unless the individuals are willing to serve in their biological sex (an extremely small number of transgender people). Applicants who obtained transition-related care are outright banned.
In a recent Washington Blade article on the transgender policy, which was implemented in April, the military reported no discharges — although transgender rights advocates have doubts about those numbers.
“I do know that [James] Mattis and [Mark] Esper made clear that if we are going to address readiness across the board, there was a refocus on people’s weight, people’s exposure to drug and alcohol abuse…if people had to come off line from service, for whatever reason,” Cooper said, adding he’s “not equating someone’s status with other issues.”
Asked if that means he’s fine with the policy, Cooper replied, “If I understand it correctly, there’s not a ban on trans service. There’s not an operative ban on trans service at the department.”
Pressed again by the Blade about the issue, Cooper said, “I think it’s I think it’s still being addressed.” (The issue is considered resolved by the Trump administration.)
“I know that depending on where somebody may be in transition, that that was probably part of the dialogue,” Cooper said. “I say probably because I’m guessing because I wasn’t a part of that conversation.”
Informed by the Blade an estimated 14,700 transgender people are serving in the military, Cooper said those service members should be able to stay “if they’re in current service, and they’re deployable.”
Asked whether he had any input on Log Cabin’s recent controversial endorsement of Trump, Cooper distanced himself and said he hasn’t been involved in politics for some time.
“I’ve been in a Hatch Act space now for quite a while,” Cooper said. “So I can say from previous experience of how those work. Any group that would be seeking endorsement of any candidate usually is going to be doing some homework prior to doing that. But I have zero visibility on what either they or the RNC is doing.”
Cooper, however, still has allies from his days at Log Cabin.
Christian Berle, a gay Republican who worked with Cooper at Log Cabin on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal, praised his one-time colleague.
“He’s a conservative, so locking himself to the White House fence has never been who he is, but he has, in my experience, used his personal and political connections to advocate for those who he knows are disadvantaged,” Berle said.
Berle said Cooper’s efforts during the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal process were “rooted in his frustration” about privileged gay people like him being able to serve in high-profile civilian positions, but others not being allowed to serve in the military.
“I think Clarke is very capable of using his positions, his opportunity to interact with Secretary Pompeo and other members of the administration to argue for a fairer [world],” Berle said. “I think there is a lot more that needs to be done, a lot of people elsewhere in the administration who also need to stand up, but I’m confident in the work that Clarke is doing to raise the voice to stand up for LGBT members of the diplomatic corps.”
At least four Democratic presidential hopefuls — Joe Biden, Julián Castro, Joe Sestak and Marianne Williamson — are expected to attend an LGBTQ forum in Iowa on Sept. 20.
The event at Coe College in Cedar Rapids will be hosted by One Iowa, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group; The Gazette, a daily in Eastern Iowa; and The Advocate, an LGBTQ magazine. The candidates will address the audience before a question-and-answer session with the three moderators, one from each of the host organizations.
Courtney Reyes, the interim director of One Iowa, said the event will “focus on LGBTQ people in the heartland and their needs.”
“The overarching narrative that LGBTQ people in the U.S. live in urban coastal areas ignores the millions of LGBTQ individuals living and working in the middle of the country,” Reyes wrote in a statement. “We look forward to hearing what the presidential candidates have to say to this often overlooked, but politically powerful community.”
Advocate Editor-in-Chief Zach Stafford said the forum will be an event where LGBTQ issues “are front and center” and will allow the community to “make clear and informed decisions about the candidates seeking our valuable votes.”
LGBTQ voters are a reliable part of the Democratic base, according to exit polls. In the 2018 midterm elections, over 80 percent of LGBTQ people said they voted for the Democrat in their local federal election, while just 17 percent voted for the Republican. And in 2016, 78 percent of LGBTQ voters said they voted for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, while just 14 percent reported supporting Donald Trump.
In addition to former Vice President Joe Biden, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, former Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Sestak and author Marianne Williamson, other 2020 candidates “are expected to confirm in the coming weeks,” according to The Advocate.
The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community has been largely ignored in the initial Democratic presidential debates. While the campaign of Mayor Pete Buttigeig of South Bend, Indiana, the first major gay presidential candidate, has elevated the issue of LGBTQ rights more broadly, the community was only mentioned in the first debate in the context of Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii’s prior opposition to same-sex marriage. In the second debate, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York was the only candidate to devote speaking time to LGBTQ issues.
Democratic presidential candidates have also been invited to a town-hall-style meeting at UCLA on Oct. 10, the eve of National Coming Out Day. That forum will be hosted by UCLA and the Human Rights Campaign. Additional details have not yet been released.
Lesbian political activists in the US are divided over whether they want Pete Buttigieg for president or whether they want a woman, according to Politico.
But interviews with prominent LGBT+ Democrats have shown that there is a “collision of goals and ideals in the community of lesbian political activists this year”, Politico reports.
“Mayor Pete, he’s a trailblazer,” said Campbell Spencer, a lesbian and political consultant who worked in the Obama White House and sits on the board of the LGBTQ Victory Fund – which this year endorsed Buttigieg to be president, it’s first-ever endorsement of a presidential candidate.
“But I’m one of these women who thinks we are way overdue for having a woman in the White House. That’s a lens through which I’m going to filter my decision,” Spencer added.
“It feels like a slap in the face to just go directly to the white gay guy, when for decades you’ve been trying to elect a woman and it didn’t happen last time,” said one lesbian Democrat who works in national politics. “If Pete Buttigieg is elected it won’t feel like a vindication of Hillary Clinton. If a woman is elected, it will.”
“As a woman, as a lesbian, as someone who was all in for Hillary Clinton and as someone who was a historic first myself, I would love to see a woman at the top of the ticket,” said Annise Parker, the former Houston mayor who is now president and CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund.
“And talking with other women inside the community and not, we understand the importance of Pete’s candidacy — but dammit, we’re half the population. It’s time” for a woman president, Parker added.
LGBT+ voters make up around six per cent of the US electorate, according to 2018 midterm election exit polls.
Buttigieg previously addressed his sexuality in a speech to LGBT+ campaigners at a Human Rights Campaign dinner in Las Vegas on May 11.
“I may be part of the LGBTQ community, but being a gay man doesn’t tell me what it’s like to be a trans woman of colour in that same community, let alone an undocumented mother of four, or a disabled veteran, or a displaced auto worker. But being gay, just like every other fact about me, means I have a story,” he said.
“And if I look to that story, I can find the building blocks not only for empathy, but for the impetus for action. The more you know about exclusion, the more you think about belonging, and we have a crisis of belonging in this country.”