Politics
President Biden warns “equality & democracy are under assault”
“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic”
PHILDAELPHIA – President Biden delivered a strong rebuttal to the current political climate that has left nearly 70 percent of Americans in recent polling questioning if American democracy will survive. Standing in front of Independence Hall, the president warned that “equality and democracy are under assault.”
Referring to the building behind him that served as the backdrop to his speech and referencing the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, founding documents of the American nation written in it, Biden noted;
“So tonight I have come here to the place where it all began to speak plainly to the nation about the threats we face. About the power we have in our own hands to meet those threats. And about the incredible future that lies in front of us if only we choose it.”
The president sounded an alarm about his predecessor, Donald Trump, and “MAGA Republican” adherents, labeling them an extremist threat to the nation and its future.
“MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards. Backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love,” Biden said.
“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic,” the president said.
“For a long time, we’ve reassured ourselves that American democracy is guaranteed. But it is not. We have to defend it. Protect it. Stand up for it. Each and every one of us,” Biden cautioned.
In a rare prime time address to the nation the president in a speech that the White House had earlier claimed wasn’t political, Biden stated “too much of what’s happening in our country today isn’t normal.”
Biden called out the Republican party saying it is “dominated, driven, intimidated by Donald Trump” and his supporters, calling it “a threat to this country.”
“They refuse to accept the results of a free election. And they’re working right now as I speak in state after state to give the power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself,” Biden said.
The president sought to make clear that while he was not criticizing all Republicans, he called on mainstream Republicans to reject the extremist elements in their party.
“We are not powerless in the face of these threats. We are not bystanders in this ongoing attack on democracy,” he said. “There are far more Americans, far more Americans from every background and belief who reject the extreme MAGA ideology than those that accept it. “
The speech comes just two months ahead of the impending midterm congressional elections, where his party is battling to keep its slim majorities in both bodies.
House Minority Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who would be presumptive Speaker should the Democrats lose control of the House this November criticized the president’s speech, accusing him of being divisive.
“President Biden has chosen to divide, demean, and disparage his fellow Americans — why? Simply because they disagree with his policies,” McCarthy said. “That is not leadership.”
Full Text of the President’s remarks:
| Independence National Historical Park Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (September 1, 2022) |
| 8:03 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: My fellow Americans, please, if you have a seat, take it. I speak to you tonight from sacred ground in America: Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is where America made its Declaration of Independence to the world more than two centuries ago with an idea, unique among nations, that in America, we’re all created equal. This is where the United States Constitution was written and debated. This is where we set in motion the most extraordinary experiment of self-government the world has ever known with three simple words: “We, the People.” “We, the People.” These two documents and the ideas they embody — equality and democracy — are the rock upon which this nation is built. They are how we became the greatest nation on Earth. They are why, for more than two centuries, America has been a beacon to the world. But as I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under assault. We do ourselves no favor to pretend otherwise. So tonight, I have come this place where it all began to speak as plainly as I can to the nation about the threats we face, about the power we have in our own hands to meet these threats, and about the incredible future that lies in front of us if only we choose it. We must never forget: We, the people, are the true heirs of the American experiment that began more than two centuries ago. We, the people, have burning inside each of us the flame of liberty that was lit here at Independence Hall — a flame that lit our way through abolition, the Civil War, Suffrage, the Great Depression, world wars, Civil Rights. That sacred flame still burns now in our time as we build an America that is more prosperous, free, and just. That is the work of my presidency, a mission I believe in with my whole soul. But first, we must be honest with each other and with ourselves. Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic. Now, I want to be very clear — (applause) — very clear up front: Not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology. I know because I’ve been able to work with these mainstream Republicans. But there is no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans, and that is a threat to this country. These are hard things. But I’m an American President — not the President of red America or blue America, but of all America. And I believe it is my duty — my duty to level with you, to tell the truth no matter how difficult, no matter how painful. And here, in my view, is what is true: MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election. And they’re working right now, as I speak, in state after state to give power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself. MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards — backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love. They promote authoritarian leaders, and they fan the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country. They look at the mob that stormed the United States Capitol on January 6th — brutally attacking law enforcement — not as insurrectionists who placed a dagger to the throat of our democracy, but they look at them as patriots. And they see their MAGA failure to stop a peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election as preparation for the 2022 and 2024 elections. They tried everything last time to nullify the votes of 81 million people. This time, they’re determined to succeed in thwarting the will of the people. That’s why respected conservatives, like Federal Circuit Court Judge Michael Luttig, has called Trump and the extreme MAGA Republicans, quote, a “clear and present danger” to our democracy. But while the threat to American democracy is real, I want to say as clearly as we can: We are not powerless in the face of these threats. We are not bystanders in this ongoing attack on democracy. There are far more Americans — far more Americans from every — from every background and belief who reject the extreme MAGA ideology than those that accept it. (Applause.) And, folks, it is within our power, it’s in our hands — yours and mine — to stop the assault on American democracy. I believe America is at an inflection point — one of those moments that determine the shape of everything that’s to come after. And now America must choose: to move forward or to move backwards? To build the future or obsess about the past? To be a nation of hope and unity and optimism, or a nation of fear, division, and of darkness? MAGA Republicans have made their choice. They embrace anger. They thrive on chaos. They live not in the light of truth but in the shadow of lies. But together — together, we can choose a different path. We can choose a better path. Forward, to the future. A future of possibility. A future to build and dream and hope. And we’re on that path, moving ahead. I know this nation. I know you, the American people. I know your courage. I know your hearts. And I know our history. This is a nation that honors our Constitution. We do not reject it. (Applause.) This is a nation that believes in the rule of law. We do not repudiate it. (Applause.) This is a nation that respects free and fair elections. We honor the will of the people. We do not deny it. (Applause.) And this is a nation that rejects violence as a political tool. We do not encourage violence. We are still an America that believes in honesty and decency and respect for others, patriotism, liberty, justice for all, hope, possibilities. We are still, at our core, a democracy. (Applause.) And yet history tells us that blind loyalty to a single leader and a willingness to engage in political violence is fatal to democracy. For a long time, we’ve told ourselves that American democracy is guaranteed, but it’s not. We have to defend it, protect it, stand up for it — each and every one of us. That’s why tonight I’m asking our nation to come together, unite behind the single purpose of defending our democracy regardless of your ideology. (Applause.) We’re all called, by duty and conscience, to confront extremists who will put their own pursuit of power above all else. Democrats, independents, mainstream Republicans: We must be stronger, more determined, and more committed to saving American democracy than MAGA Republicans are to — to destroying American democracy. We, the people, will not let anyone or anything tear us apart. Today, there are dangers around us we cannot allow to prevail. We hear — you’ve heard it — more and more talk about violence as an acceptable political tool in this country. It’s not. It can never be an acceptable tool. So I want to say this plain and simple: There is no place for political violence in America. Period. None. Ever. (Applause.) We saw law enforcement brutally attacked on January the 6th. We’ve seen election officials, poll workers — many of them volunteers of both parties — subjected to intimidation and death threats. And — can you believe it? — FBI agents just doing their job as directed, facing threats to their own lives from their own fellow citizens. On top of that, there are public figures — today, yesterday, and the day before — predicting and all but calling for mass violence and rioting in the streets. This is inflammatory. It’s dangerous. It’s against the rule of law. And we, the people, must say: This is not who we are. (Applause.) Ladies and gentlemen, we can’t be pro-ex- — pro-ex- — pro-insurrectionist and pro-American. They’re incompatible. (Applause.) We can’t allow violence to be normalized in this country. It’s wrong. We each have to reject political violence with — with all the moral clarity and conviction this nation can muster. Now. We can’t let the integrity of our elections be undermined, for that is a path to chaos. Look, I know poli- — politics can be fierce and mean and nasty in America. I get it. I believe in the give-and-take of politics, in disagreement and debate and dissent. We’re a big, complicated country. But democracy endures only if we, the people, respect the guardrails of the republic. Only if we, the people, accept the results of free and fair elections. (Applause.) Only if we, the people, see politics not as total war but mediation of our differences. Democracy cannot survive when one side believes there are only two outcomes to an election: either they win or they were cheated. And that’s where MAGA Republicans are today. (Applause.) They don’t understand what every patriotic American knows: You can’t love your country only when you win. (Applause.) It’s fundamental. American democracy only works only if we choose to respect the rule of law and the institutions that were set up in this chamber behind me, only if we respect our legitimate political differences. I will not stand by and watch — I will not — the will of the American people be overturned by wild conspiracy theories and baseless, evidence-free claims of fraud. I will not stand by and watch elections in this country stolen by people who simply refuse to accept that they lost. (Applause.) I will not stand by and watch the most fundamental freedom in this country — the freedom to vote and have your vote counted — and — be taken from you and the American people. (Applause.) Look, as your President, I will defend our democracy with every fiber of my being, and I’m asking every American to join me. (Applause.) (A protestor disruption can be heard.) Throughout our history, America has often made the greatest progress coming out of some of our darkest moments, like you’re hearing in that bullhorn. I believe we can and we must do that again, and we are. MAGA Republicans look at America and see carnage and darkness and despair. They spread fear and lies –- lies told for profit and power. But I see a very different America — an America with an unlimited future, an America that is about to take off. I hope you see it as well. Just look around. I believed we could lift America from the depths of COVID, so we passed the largest economic recovery package since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. And today, America’s economy is faster, stronger than any other advanced nation in the world. (Applause.) We have more to go. I believed we could build a better America, so we passed the biggest infrastructure investment since President Dwight D. Eisenhower. And we’ve now embarked on a decade of rebuilding the nation’s roads, bridges, highways, ports, water systems, high-speed Internet, railroads. (Applause.) I believed we could make America safer, so we passed the most significant gun safety law since President Clinton. (Applause.) I believed we could go from being the highest cost of prescriptions in the world to making prescription drugs and healthcare more affordable, so we passed the most significant healthcare reforms since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act. (Applause.) And I believed we could create — we could create a clean energy future and save the planet, so we passed the most important climate initiative ever, ever, ever. (Applause.) The cynics and the critics tell us nothing can get done, but they are wrong. There is not a single thing America cannot do — not a single thing beyond our capacity if we do it together. It’s never easy. But we’re proving that in America, no matter how long the road, progress does come. (Applause.) Look, I know the last year — few years have been tough. But today, COVID no longer controls our lives. More Americans are working than ever. Businesses are growing. Our schools are open. Millions of Americans have been lifted out of poverty. Millions of veterans once exposed to toxic burn pits will now get what they deserve for their families and the compa- — compensation. (Applause.) American manufacturing has come alive across the Heartland, and the future will be made in America — (applause) — no matter what the white supremacists and the extremists say. I made a bet on you, the American people, and that bet is paying off. Proving that from darkness — the darkness of Charlottesville, of COVID, of gun violence, of insurrection — we can see the light. Light is now visible. (Applause.) Light that will guide us forward not only in words, but in actions — actions for you, for your children, for your grandchildren, for America. Even in this moment, with all the challenges we face, I give you my word as a Biden: I’ve never been more optimistic about America’s future. Not because of me, but because of who you are. We’re going to end cancer as we know it. Mark my words. (Applause.) We are going to create millions of new jobs in a clean energy economy. We’re going to think big. We’re going to make the 21st century another American century because the world needs us to. (Applause.) That’s where we need to focus our energy — not in the past, not on divisive culture wars, not on the politics of grievance, but on a future we can build together. The MAGA Republicans believe that for them to succeed, everyone else has to fail. They believe America — not like I believe about America. I believe America is big enough for all of us to succeed, and that is the nation we’re building: a nation where no one is left behind. I ran for President because I believed we were in a battle for the soul of this nation. I still believe that to be true. I believe the soul is the breath, the life, and the essence of who we are. The soul is what makes us “us.” The soul of America is defined by the sacred proposition that all are created equal in the image of God. That all are entitled to be treated with decency, dignity, and respect. That all deserve justice and a shot at lives of prosperity and consequence. And that democracy — democracy must be defended, for democracy makes all these things possible. (Applause.) Folks, and it’s up to us. Democracy begins and will be preserved in we, the people’s, habits of heart, in our character: optimism that is tested yet endures, courage that digs deep when we need it, empathy that fuels democracy, the willingness to see each other not as enemies but as fellow Americans. Look, our democracy is imperfect. It always has been. Notwithstanding those folks you hear on the other side there. They’re entitled to be outrageous. This is a democracy. But history and common sense — (applause) — good manners is nothing they’ve ever suffered from. But history and common sense tell us that opportunity, liberty, and justice for all are most likely to come to pass in a democracy. We have never fully realized the aspirations of our founding, but every generation has opened those doors a little wider to include more people who have been excluded before. My fellow Americans, America is an idea — the most powerful idea in the history of the world. And it beats in the hearts of the people of this country. It beats in all of our hearts. It unites America. It is the American creed. The idea that America guarantees that everyone be treated with dignity. It gives hate no safe harbor. It installs in everyone the belief that no matter where you start in life, there’s nothing you can’t achieve. That’s who we are. That’s what we stand for. That’s what we believe. And that is precisely what we are doing: opening doors, creating new possibilities, focusing on the future. And we’re only just beginning. (Applause.) Our task is to make our nation free and fair, just and strong, noble and whole. And this work is the work of democracy — the work of this generation. It is the work of our time, for all time. We can’t afford to have — leave anyone on the sidelines. We need everyone to do their part. So speak up. Speak out. Get engaged. Vote, vote, vote. (Applause.) And if we all do our duty — if we do our duty in 2022 and beyond, then ages still to come will say we — all of us here — we kept the faith. We preserved democracy. (Applause.) We heeded our wor- — we — we heeded not our worst instincts but our better angels. And we proved that, for all its imperfections, America is still the beacon to the world, an ideal to be realized, a promise to be kept. There is nothing more important, nothing more sacred, nothing more American. That’s our soul. That’s who we truly are. And that’s who must — we must always be. And I have no doubt — none –– that this is who we will be and that we’ll come together as a nation. That we’ll secure our democracy. That for the next 200 years, we’ll have what we had the past 200 years: the greatest nation on the face of the Earth. We just need to remember who we are. We are the United States of America. The United States of America. (Applause.) And may God protect our nation. And may God protect all those who stand watch over our democracy. God bless you all. (Applause.) Democracy. Thank you. (Applause.) |
California
Governor Newsom signs 6 pro-LGBTQ bills, vetoes 1
Newsom signs all but one Pro-LGBTQ bills into law, claiming legislative overreach.
Last week, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed and vetoed a slew of bills into state law. Among them were seven pertaining to California’s LGBTQ community. Newsom signed six while vetoing one. His actions drew applause and scorn from advocacy groups in the state.
The 6 Signed Bills:
Assembly Bill 1775 allows transgender veterans, who were banned from service last year by the Trump-Vance administration, to access housing assistance, use California’s discharge upgrade assistance program, and get support for gaining employment.
Assembly Bill 1930 strengthens privacy protections for healthcare patients and providers by creating clear guidelines for California agencies, individuals, and corporations to respond to out-of-state subpoena requests relating to abortion or gender-affirming care. This includes a requirement to contact the California Attorney General at least 7 days prior to responding to the subpoena or providing legal documents. This should add additional protection to those residing in California from investigations in states where abortion or gender-affirming care has more restrictions.
Senate Bill 934 targets conversion therapy in California and increases the amount of time a patient has to bring a medical malpractice lawsuit against a provider for attempting to change the patient’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The bill takes aim at the widely debunked practice that treats queerness as a mental disorder that could be cured through psychotherapeutic methods. Conversion therapy has been illegal in California since 2012; however, a recent Supreme Court decision threw the ban into question, prompting lawmakers to write this new bill that legally defines it as medical malpractice.
Senate Bill 1023 expands access to PrEP, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, a medication that protects people from contracting HIV. The bill requires insurers to cover the drug through the medical benefit and the pharmacy benefit pathways, allowing for more providers to give patients PrEP.
Senate Bill 1114 strengthens privacy protections for voluntary self-identification data about sexual orientation and gender identity. The bill limits when California government agencies can share this data and bars it from being disclosed outside of the state government, with few exceptions.
Senate Bill 1328 expands support for LGBTQ students and staff in California colleges. The bill requires any institution of higher education to designate an employee at any campus, satellite campus, branch campus, or outreach center to support the needs of LGBTQ individuals.
Equality California, the largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights group in the country, commended the Governor for his support of legislation that protects and supports the queer community amid escalating threats, attacks, and rollbacks from the federal government.
Executive Director Tony Hoang said in a written statement, “California is once again demonstrating that when LGBTQ+ people are targeted, our state will respond with action,” adding, “We are grateful to Governor Newsom for signing these measures.”
The Vetoed Bill:
Assembly Bill 2164 would have banned California from extraditing anyone residing in California for providing abortions or gender-affirming care in another state. Governor Newsom vetoed this bill despite agreeing with its principles, claiming in a written statement that “extradition is an exclusively executive function” and that he did not want to limit the “executive authority of an incoming Governor.”
This bill was created in response to Louisiana’s attempt to extradite a California physician for allegedly sending abortion pills in the mail to a Louisiana woman. Governor Newsom responded forcefully to the extradition request, publicly denying it and stating, “We will not allow extremist politicians from other states to reach into California and try to punish doctors based on allegations that they provided reproductive health care services.”
In a written statement responding to the veto, Lizzy Hinkley, the legal director of the bill’s lead sponsor, Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, criticized Newsom, stating, “[the] outgoing Governor’s principled stance is cold comfort to Californians living and working in the real world post-Dobbs. A high-brow, academic justification for refusing to codify legal protections only reveals an ignorance for the lived reality of patients and providers – and does nothing to help them.”
Caleb Kaufman is a California Local News Fellow placed with the Los Angeles Blade. The California Local News Fellowship is a state-funded initiative to support and strengthen local news reporting. Learn more about it at fellowships.journalism.berkeley.edu/cafellows.
Politics
From the desk of Equality California: the latest political news for CA and beyond as we head into the midterms
With the November midterm elections inching ever closer, Equality
California is preparing to release our final round of endorsements for local
candidates
With the November midterm elections inching ever closer, Equality California is preparing to release our final round of endorsements for local candidates, as well as prepare for major get-out-the-vote operations.
We’re also still waiting on Governor Newsom to sign our 2026 legislative package. The governor has until September 30 to sign or veto hundreds of bills from this legislative session. That means we have just a short window to make our voices heard and ensure these vital protections become law. And with the onslaught of attacks from the Trump administration, particularly against transgender youth and their families, the stakes couldn’t be higher. LGBTQ+ people deserve strong laws that affirm our dignity and protect our rights. Send an email to his office and tell him to stand up for LGBTQ+ Californians by signing our bills today!
To read more stories, join our mailing list, and sign up for the weekly Equality Brief, visit eqca.org/equalitybrief.
DOLLY PARTON: ICON. ARTIST. UNAPOLOGETIC LGBTQ+ ALLY.
We are deeply saddened by the loss of musical icon and humanitarian Dolly Parton. As legendary for her exaggerated glamour as her hit songs — “It costs a lot to look this cheap,” she often joked — Dolly was a longtime ally and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community whose message of love without limits crossed generational and political lines. In addition to her iconic musical legacy (and still the only musician to ever have their own theme park, Dollywood), Dolly also founded the Imagination Library, which promotes childhood literacy and provides free books to children from birth to kindergarten. And at the height of the COVID pandemic, she personally donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University to help with development of vaccines. If ever anyone embodied the phrase “angel on earth,” it was Dolly Parton.
Dolly, we will always love you.
- Equality California Endorses in 8 Ballot Proposition Campaigns:
Equality California announced its positions on eight statewide ballot propositions appearing on the November midterm election ballot. “Our positions reflect our commitment to advancing equality, protecting civil rights and building a California where every LGBTQ+ person can live with dignity, safety and opportunity,” said Executive Director Tony Hoang. Read the statement announcing the endorsements here. - Federal Judge Upholds Injunction Against Chino Valley Anti-Trans Policy:
A federal judge in San Bernardino County denied a request from Chino Valley Unified School District to dissolve his previous injunction blocking them from enforcement of a policy that requires school employees to forcibly out students if they identify as transgender or use different names and pronouns at school. Chino, whose board is led by anti-LGBTQ+ extremist Sonja Shaw, brought the challenge following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Mirabelli v. Bonta, where a majority of Justices ruled a school cannot purposely withhold information about a student’s identity from a parent. Because there is no such withholding requirement in the Chino case, Judge Michael Sachs allowed the injunction to stand and specifically differentiated it from the Mirabelli case. - New Report From HHS Alarms Civil Rights Groups, Advocates:
A new HHS “study” — inherently untrustworthy, originating as part of the Trump administration — posits that those who support transgender people may be more likely to justify political violence. Experts are extremely skeptical of the study’s veracity and underlying methodology, noting that it uses disproven pseudoscience as a basis for its findings. This is just the latest in the administration’s messaging war to assign blame for violence, hate crimes, and similar incidents to what they refer to as “ support for transgender ideology.” - Federal Court: IRS Cannot Share Data with ICE
A federal appeals court unanimously upheld a lower court ruling to block the Internal Revenue Service from turning over confidential taxpayer information of non-citizens who pay taxes to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The challenge, Center for Taxpayer Rights v. IRS, was supported by an amicus brief filed by 115 Members of the Congress including Senator Padilla and Reps Sánchez and Gomez of the California delegation. - Flailing Ahead of Midterms, Republicans Turn to Tried and True Transgender Attacks:
With their prospects for victory in the midterms growing dimmer by the day, far-right MAGA Republicans are turning to attacks on transgender people as a way to motivate their base to get out the vote. States including Missouri, Colorado, Washington and Arizona will have ballot issues around banning trans youth from sports and/or prohibiting healthcare access for transgender youth (in the case of Colorado, both are up for voter approval). The efforts smack of cynicism, and are reminiscent of anti-marriage equality attacks deployed to increase Republican turnout in 2004. - Federal Judge Strikes Down Texas Drag Ban:
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David Hittner struck down a 2023 Texas state law that sought to restrict drag shows. Judge Hittner ruled that Texas Senate Bill 12 was an overly broad, unconstitutional attack on free speech, offering in his ruling a solution to anyone opposed to drag shows: “Just don’t go.”
UPCOMING EVENTS
Our premier event of the year, the Los Angeles Equality Awards, is happening on Saturday, October 17, 2026 from 6:00-10:00 PM at the gorgeous Fairmont Century Plaza. And this year, we’re making Monét moves — Drag Race All-Stars winner, comedian, actor, and presenter Monét X Change will serve as emcee! We’ll also honor Asm. Rick Chavez Zbur with the Equality Leadership Award and entrepreneur Tristan Schukraft with the Equality Trailblazer Award. Tickets are on sale now!
Congress
Jeremy Moss looks to bring LGBTQ+ advocacy from Lansing to Capitol Hill
Congressional candidate would represent Detroit suburbs if elected
With fall comes swapping out T-shirts for sweaters, raking leaves and, of course, elections. The summer’s primaries have narrowed the playing field in a slew of races, but the big ones — the actual races for seats in federal and local elections — are still to come.
Jeremy Moss is one of those people running for a congressional seat in Michigan. Despite his young age, Moss has quickly learned the ropes of politics in the state, already serving terms in the Great Lakes State’s House of Representatives and Senate.
Moss sat down with the Los Angeles Blade to discuss his history in Michigan politics, his experience as an openly LGBTQ+ legislator and his vision for a better America as he looks toward Congress.
He currently represents Michigan’s 7th Senate District, but now he is setting his sights beyond Lansing toward Capitol Hill to represent Michigan’s 11th Congressional District, which includes Detroit’s northern suburbs.
Moss earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University, where just a few years later he made history as the first openly gay person elected to the Michigan Senate and the first to serve as its president pro tempore.
His political experience stretches across multiple offices.
Moss worked in the offices of Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence, who also served in the U.S. House of Representatives, and State Rep. Paul Condino.
Moss, at age 25, was elected to the Southfield City Council in 2011, becoming the youngest member elected in the body’s history. He then switched over to the state legislature, representing Michigan’s 35th House of Representatives District in the Michigan House of Representatives from 2014-2018, becoming the second openly gay member elected to the Michigan legislature.
He then moved from Michigan’s House to its Senate in 2018, elected to represent the 11th Michigan Senate District and becoming the Assistant Democratic Leader. Moss started his second term in the Michigan Senate in 2023, this time representing District 7.
He currently has a long list of priorities listed on his campaign website, many of which have become standard for Democrats running across the country, with a particular focus on minimizing — and cleaning up — issues that the Republican-controlled federal government has created under President Donald Trump.
Those goals include lowering healthcare costs, tackling the cost of living crisis, holding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement accountable and fixing the broken immigration system, restoring national voting rights, protecting rights — with a particular focus on abortion access and LGBTQ+ rights — combating corruption in politics, preventing gun violence and strengthening gun safety, empowering Michigan workers, and preserving the environment.
Why Moss is running for Congress
When asked why he wants to run for Congress, Moss pointed to his lengthy resume in state leadership, with a clear voice arguing that if he can do it in Lansing, he can get it done in Washington.
“I’ve served 12 years in the legislature and have ascended into leadership as president pro tem of the Senate,” Moss explained to the Blade. “We flipped our state legislative chamber to a Democratic majority for the first time in 40 years in 2022, and we passed some big, generational-changing, consequential Democratic wins that had languished for a generation, but had improved people’s lives in our state.
“We’ve passed the first gun safety laws in a generation that are saving lives. We protected the right to vote amidst attacks from Donald Trump and other conspiracies. We pushed forward and finally put LGBTQ rights in our state civil rights law. We provided free school meals and lunches for all public school children in the state of Michigan.
“The problems from Washington, D.C., aren’t getting less severe over time,” he continued. “They’re getting more severe. So this district unexpectedly opened up due to a series of retirements and it was just a great opportunity for me to continue to advocate for big change that we’ve already achieved here in the state legislature.”
“I’m a product of this district. I grew up here. I’ve represented a bulk of the district already in the state legislature, and I knew that I was going to earn grassroots support to be able to wage this campaign. We sought it out, we earned it, including some premier endorsements from Gov. (Gretchen) Whitmer, among many others, and were highly successful in the primary because we were in tune to the needs of this district.”
Moss has been endorsed by a slew of Democratic leaders and organizations, including, as he pointed out, by Whitmer.
Other endorsements include former Gov. Jim Blanchard, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Attorney General Dana Nessel, the Equality PAC, the Human Rights Campaign, the Unity Fund, and the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund.
His political identity and the Democratic Party
Moss described himself as being “on the liberal end of the spectrum,” but argued that the Democratic Party’s internal divisions should not be the central focus.
“I’m certainly on the liberal end of the spectrum, but I don’t even think it necessarily has to be this progressive versus establishment fight that we’ve seen play out,” Moss said when asked about various elements of in-party disagreements. “It has to be between action and, and inaction, fighters versus folders.”
He said that distinction between action and inaction is central to how he would approach Washington.
“At this moment, I think we need to demonstrate that we are ready to take on Donald Trump and MAGA chaos with boldness and effectiveness. I’ve been saying all along our campaign trail, we can no longer be the party that shows up to the knife fight carrying a pie chart, and so I think we have to be showing that we have spine and we have punch, and we’re really ready to be tough fighters for, for Michiganders and the American people.”
“We can’t walk on eggshells anymore. We can’t pull our punches,” he added. “We can’t fear that we’re offending someone, you know, one way or another with how we act. People are expecting a bold party to take on MAGA, and I think that’s exactly what the Democratic Party needs.”
Becoming an LGBTQ+ legislator
Moss also reminisced with the Blade about his first run for elected office — at a time when Michigan had no openly LGBTQ+ members serving in the state legislature — and how that experience became deeply connected to his identity and his approach to LGBTQ+ politics.
In 2014, Michigan was in the pre-marriage equality era, and the state had no openly LGBTQ+ members serving in the legislature.
“12 years ago in 2014 — this was pre-marriage, the pre-marriage equality era — we had zero people from our community serving in the legislature, and still they were talking about us.
“The big topic then in Michigan was whether or not to expand our civil rights law to include LGBTQ protections, so that people from our community would no longer face discrimination in housing and employment. And they were talking about us regardless of whether or not we were at the table.”
Moss eventually helped lead the effort to expand Michigan’s civil rights protections to include LGBTQ+ people, a measure that passed with bipartisan support.
He said his experience as an openly gay lawmaker allowed him to make the case for LGBTQ+ protections in terms that extended beyond LGBTQ+ issues.
“One thing I definitely aligned with Gov. Whitmer at the time was making the case that discrimination was not only morally wrong, but it was bad for business,” he said. “By not having these protections for our LGBTQ neighbors and family members and friends and community members, we were actually holding back our economy. We were essentially allowing people to be kicked out of Michigan as consumers and workers, because of who they are and how they identified.”
That led to various efforts — including committee hearings and meetings with advocates, businesses and the public — that helped make Michigan what the Movement Advancement Project deems the 16th most LGBTQ+-friendly state, solidly above other states due to its robust LGBTQ+-related legislation.
“I wanted to meet everybody where they were, including those who may have not been involved with or engaged with the LGBTQ community as legislators, but understood that we couldn’t sustain the economic impact of discriminating against our community,” Moss said. “And as I’ve said all along, discrimination is bad for business. That’s something I think helped broaden the vote and earn some bipartisan support for it.”
Representation and LGBTQ+ youth
For Moss, the importance of LGBTQ+ representation also comes from his own experience growing up.
“I think about when I was younger, when I was 18 years old. It was in 2004, and, you know, there are certain things that really shaped me in that time … Michigan had a ballot proposal that passed to have the strictest language banning marriage equality in our state constitution. We didn’t even allow civil unions in that language in our constitution to exist, and there were scandal-plagued LGBTQ politicians.”
“It was the same year that Jim McGreevey was forced to resign as he came out,” he said. “So it really was a signal to me that, you know, you don’t have a future. Not just you don’t have a future in politics; you might not even have a future. Period, and it was pretty defining for me.”
Despite those fears, Moss continued to pursue public office.
“And you can’t be what you can’t see, and so to be able to break the barriers at the state level and at this congressional level, I think is a signal to anybody who is struggling with wondering where their place is?”
“I think that visibility is incredibly important, and it’s something that I needed when I was much younger, and it’s something that I’ve been honored to be able to provide for the, for the next generation of emerging leaders.”
His LGBTQ+ priorities in Congress
When asked what LGBTQ+ issues he would prioritize in Congress, Moss emphasized the importance of growing the number of LGBTQ+ lawmakers while also expanding federal nondiscrimination protections.
“To have a caucus in the legislature has made all the difference because you can, you know, run these issues across the field. You can have somebody take on marriage. You can have somebody take on trans rights. You can have somebody take on LGBTQ youth. You can have somebody take on discrimination protections.”
He sees much of the work he wants to get done on Capitol Hill as a direct follow-up to his work in Lansing — most importantly, the passage of the Equality Act. The legislation has been debated in some form for more than 50 years at the federal level, with the goal of protecting LGBTQ+ people from discrimination under federal law.
“I think the Equality Act is incredibly important. That’s kind of the, the counterpart to what we’ve done in the state legislature, ensuring discrimination protections for the LGBTQ community,” he said.
“I think housing and, and workplace discrimination is, is everything, you know, to protect our community so that they can have a safe place to call home and earn a living … That’s incredibly important across the board. And I would really want to take a leading role in telling the story of how we were able to do it in Michigan after 50 years since this act was first written — and finally finished the job federally to ensure their federal protections in, in, in, in employment and housing.”
LGBTQ+ political organizations and Congress
Moss said the LGBTQ+ political organizations that have supported his political career from its early stages have helped him along the way.
“Obviously, I’ve been affiliated with Victory Fund since I first ran for office, and they were early endorsers, but Equality PAC, which is the political arm of the LGBTQ caucus in Congress, has been an incredible part of my support system. From day one they helped me out.
“I’ve been getting to know a lot of the members of Congress who are LGBTQ, really over the last year of this campaign. So I’m eager to join them. I’m eager to be one of the players on the field here to be able to advocate and advance our issues.”
Voting rights
Voting rights are another major focus for Moss, an issue he said dates back to his experience during the 2004 campaign over marriage equality.
“Something I’m very passionate about is voting rights, and it really does go back to that 2004 campaign where it was very evident that elections can determine your future.
“Elections can determine what rights you do have and don’t have, and so I’ve been very laser focused on increasing access to the ballot box, making sure our democracy remains whole and accessible.”
He explained how Trump’s recent attacks on voting legitimacy and mail-in voting have only made his desire to help that much stronger.
“We went through a real trial of that in 2020 with, with Michigan’s presidential election, with Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani — as he jetted into Michigan and tried to overturn our valid and accurate election results. We were kind of the spotlight of the nation in that stop this deal movement that led to Jan. 6.”
That, according to Moss, spurred direct action on his end.
“I took the helm as chair of the Senate Elections Committee, and we wrote the law to implement pieces of that ballot proposal, including drafting the law that implemented nine days of early voting here in Michigan, increased access to absentee ballot. We further secured our canvassing and certifications so that nobody could jet in with an alternative slate of electors and send them to Congress on Jan. 6.”
“So I’ve been on the front lines in Michigan on defending our election systems and strengthening protections for both voters to access the ballot box and protections against those who want to overturn our election results.”
Those issues are still present today, he explained.
“He’s pushing for suppressive tactics like the Save Act. The Supreme Court has eroded the federal Voting Rights Act,” Moss said. “I want to really get into Congress as an election expert, we have a Michigan story to tell. I wrote a lot of that story, and, and I think the most urgent thing that we could pass is the John Lewis Voting Rights Act to make sure that there’s no pocket of discrimination anywhere in our country, and that people have the ability to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right to vote.”
What he would do differently in Washington
Moss also shared that he believes Democrats should communicate differently in Washington, with an emphasis on getting things done.
“Yeah, again, we’ve, we’ve seen politics evolve in this Trump era, and I think that Democrats need to communicate differently.
“He talks so brazenly, and how proud he is that he’s renamed the Gulf of Mexico or Lake Ontario. I put that in the stupid category.
“He’s also done things in the harmful category that he boasts about, like cutting Medicaid and cutting SNAP. And of course, he’s doing things in the dangerous category, but proud of it, like trying to overturn our elections or suppressing the vote.
“What we’re doing is both popular and good for people, whether it’s growing our economy from the middle class outward, whether it’s lowering costs, whether it’s making healthcare more affordable, whether it’s strengthening the core functions of our democracy, we have to be talking about it with the same gusto and confidence that MAGA talks about their agenda.
“I think this is a party that needs more spine and more punch, and really meet this moment because I think that’s what people are looking for, and that’s really what I think a new generation will bring into this next Congress.”
Congress
Chris Pappas wins NH Democratic Senate primary
Gay congressman running to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen
New Hampshire Congressman Chris Pappas on Tuesday won the Democratic primary in the race to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) in the U.S. Senate.
Pappas defeated Karishma Manzur, who was his primary challenger, by a 61.8-36.1 percent margin.
The gay congressman will face off against former U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu, who defeated former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown in the Republican primary.
“Tonight’s victory sends a clear message that voters are looking for leaders who will fight for their rights, their freedoms, and to be treated with dignity and respect,” said Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson in a statement.
She campaigned for Pappas in Manchester, New Hampshire’s largest city, on Aug. 30.
“Chris Pappas has delivered results, stood up for equality, and showed up for the people he serves,” said Robinson in her statement. “HRC was proud to mobilize Equality Voters across New Hampshire to help power this win. We don’t have a second to waste between now and November. We look forward to continuing our work with Rep. Pappas as he drives toward victory in November so he can help return a pro-equality majority to the United States Senate.”
A poll the University of New Hampshire Survey Center released on Aug. 26 showed Sununu ahead of Pappas by a 45-43 percent margin if they were to face off in the general election. The margin of error is +/-2.1 percent.
Pappas would become the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. Senate if he were to win in November.
Congress
Everton Blair makes history as first openly gay congressman from Ga.
Former Gwinnett County Board of Education member to serve remainder of David Scott’s term
Georgia made history last week when Everton Blair, Jr., was sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the state’s first openly LGBTQ+ member of Congress and the latest LGBTQ+ addition to the chamber.
Blair, who represents Georgia’s 13th Congressional District, was sworn in on Sept. 1 after winning a special election to fill the vacancy left by the late-Congressman David Scott. Blair defeated Marcye Scott, the late congressman’s daughter, in the Aug. 25 runoff, winning 53.2 percent of the vote to Scott’s 46.8 percent.
He will serve the remainder of Scott’s term through Jan. 3, 2027. Blair is not running in the November general election for a full term.
Blair brings a progressive platform to Congress.
The 34 year-old supports Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, raising the minimum wage, and universal gun background checks. His campaign platform also included positions on LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive freedom, workers’ rights, climate, and gun violence.
Since joining the House, Blair has joined the Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Progressive Caucus. He is also a co-chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus.
Before joining the House, Blair served on the Gwinnett County Board of Education, where he became the first Black member and youngest-ever member elected to the board, as well as its first openly gay member. He was later unanimously selected as chair.
Blair also served as a fellow in President Barack Obama’s White House Initiative on Educational Excellence that focused on improving academic outcomes and expanding opportunities for minority students.
The son of Jamaican immigrants, Blair was born and raised in Georgia’s 13th Congressional District. He earned a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics from Harvard University, a master’s degree in policy, organization, and leadership from Stanford University, and a Doctor of Education Leadership degree from Harvard.
Blair’s campaign received endorsements from a number of organizations, including the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund and progressive Democratic groups such as Future Democrats.
The Equality PAC, a political action committee dedicated to electing openly LGBTQ+ candidates to office, celebrated Blair’s victory and provided a statement to the Los Angeles Blade about the historic nature of his election.
“This is a historic election for Georgia, the South, and our entire country,” Equality PAC said in an email. “Everton Blair brings a strong record of public service and a deep commitment to making government work for working families.”
The group said Blair would “fight to lower costs, expand access to quality health care, create economic opportunity, and ensure every community has a voice in Washington.”
“At the same time, Everton understands the importance of standing up for equality and defending the rights and freedoms of LGBTQ Americans and every community facing discrimination,” Equality PAC said. “His historic election as Georgia’s first openly LGBTQ Member of Congress and the first openly LGBTQ man elected from the South is a powerful reminder of how far our country has come — and how much work remains.”
Equality PAC said it was “proud to welcome Everton to the House” and looked forward to working with him.
Pentagon
Pentagon expands testosterone screening as trans troops face hormone therapy restrictions
Defense Department says updated guidelines to be issued shortly
The Pentagon has announced that new clinical guidance will be released establishing mandatory testosterone deficiency screening for active-duty and reserve cisgender male service members ages 30 and older, advancing a policy that expands hormone-related care for cisgender troops.
The Defense Department said the existing clinical guidelines, which are not currently available on the Defense Health Agency’s website, are being updated and that the final guidance will be issued shortly.
The announcement comes amid a wave of anti-transgender policies from both the DoD and the Trump-Vance administration, which continue to prohibit trans men from receiving the same treatment.
Under the forthcoming guidance, men ages 30 and older will be forced to undergo testosterone blood tests as part of their medical care. Younger male service members will be tested if they request screening or if clinicians identify warning signs of low testosterone.
The new guidelines formalize a screening program Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in July, when he said the Pentagon would begin testing service members to ensure that “you have the right testosterone levels to operate at your absolute best.”
“Taking care of your long-term health means ensuring you remain strong, resilient, and capable — not just for your next deployment, but for the rest of your life, so you can thrive long after you take off the uniform,” Hegseth said at the time.
The Defense Health Agency’s clinical guidance says the program is intended to address “hormonal and energy-availability issues.” Hegseth said in July that testosterone replacement therapy would remain voluntary for service members if treatment is recommended.
The Food and Drug Administration is also scheduled to hold a meeting later this month with experts to discuss the medical use of testosterone.
The Pentagon’s push to routinely test testosterone levels runs counter to current medical guidance, which generally recommends considering testosterone therapy only for men who have symptoms consistent with low testosterone and have documented low hormone levels on two separate blood tests.
Testosterone is a sex hormone naturally produced by people of all sexes. It plays a role in regulating muscle mass, bone density, and sex drive. Testosterone levels in men naturally decline with age and have been associated with symptoms including erectile dysfunction, low libido, mood changes and weight gain, although experts continue to debate when testosterone therapy is medically appropriate.
The policy has drawn scrutiny from LGBTQ+ advocates because the Pentagon and Hegseth have simultaneously cited hormone therapy as part of the rationale for removing trans service members from the military.
Under President Donald Trump’s 2025 executive order, “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” the military has moved to bar trans people diagnosed with gender dysphoria from serving and has begun formal administrative separation proceedings against trans personnel.
The Pentagon continues to pursue implementation of the trans military ban as litigation over the policy proceeds. As a result, some trans service members have had their gender-affirming hormone therapy halted even as the Pentagon expands testosterone screening and potential treatment for cisgender service members.
SPARTA Pride, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization made up of trans service members, veterans and their allies, criticized the disparity to the Los Angeles Blade when Hegseth first announced the screening program.
“If hormone therapy helps warfighters perform at their best, then it cannot simultaneously be used as evidence that transgender service members are unfit to serve,” said Kara Corcoran, executive director of SPARTA Pride. “The same class of evidence-based medical treatment cannot be characterized as readiness-enhancing for one group and readiness-destroying for another.”
On June 1, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that trans service members already serving in the military could continue to do so while allowing the armed services to continue refusing to enlist new trans recruits.
The Blade reached out to the Pentagon when the testosterone screening program was first announced in July, asking why cisgender service members could receive testosterone therapy while transgender service members could not. The Pentagon did not respond.
Politics
How gay nerds will shape the midterm elections
HeadCount and NerdsVote are fighting to get LGBTQ+ geeks to the polls!
The nerd community is certainly a fierce fellowship.
These are the people completely dedicated to certain franchises, who express their love for these IPs at any given opportunity and are ready to defend them against anyone who can’t fathom their greatness. Whether it’s anime, video games, comic books or more, they know what it means to be a ‘real’ fan today. And, as the thousands of conventions hosted across the U.S. each year show, this community is only growing both in size and in social power every single day. This growth hasn’t come without issue; like any large group, nerds have faced intense struggles with online bullying and in-group harassment over the years. But these folks are united by their geeky love! And, especially when it comes to the many LGBTQ+ individuals who use their fandoms as an escape, most understand that these projects are best when you’re celebrating them with others just as heartfelt as you.
Theirs is a beautiful sense of community, one that inspired nonprofits HeadCount and NerdsVote to partner and help nerds rally around one of the best things this country has to offer: the right to vote.
Both HeadCount and NerdsVote help individuals flex their right to vote, though in very different ways; HeadCount specializes in hosting voter registration drives at large-scale events, usually concerts and festivals. While NerdsVote also supports people in the polling box, they focus on digital campaigns with nerd culture’s many celebrities to foster voter registration online. These groups recently announced that they’d be officially partnering to bring their missions into nerdy gatherings across the country, ensuring that any con-goer can leave an event not only with their favorite merch, but the knowledge that they’re ready to vote in any upcoming election.
“Our expanded partnership with NerdsVote comes at an exciting time, both as we lead up to the midterm elections but also as the comic-con community is rapidly growing,” said Tappan Vickery, Vice President of Program and Strategy at Headcount. “We are thrilled to bring voter engagement into the space, and look forward to supporting this fan-focused community.”
It’s a demographic that is especially important when it comes to voting; despite what early Hollywood will have you believe, nerd communities are some of the most diverse groups that the U.S. has to offer. Gone are the nonstop portrayals of nerds as cisgender, straight, and white, an archetype popularized in movies like Revenge of the Nerds. While those community members do exist, today’s fandoms are filled with queer folks and other marginalized identities who finally feel welcomed in these spaces. It’s a promising shift for these groups, and it’s why, now more than ever, it’s important they can vote for policies that support their rights (and against the politicians who see them as political fodder).
“From our experience working in games and animation, attending comic cons, the fans and fellow nerds we’ve met tend to be a wildly diverse, empathetic, problem-solving, and creative community,” said JP Karliak, a renowned voice performer (known for their work as Morph in X-Men ‘97) and Co-Founder of NerdsVote. “Who wouldn’t want more of them involved in our democracy?”
This partnership will see these groups set up voter registration tables at comic-cons, gaming expos, and any other nerdy festival they can find. It will offer not only vital education to the people in attendance, but a direct civic outreach that these populations don’t often receive. And, in the ultimate mission of this new partnership, it will turn America’s nerd community into the most active group of voters at the upcoming midterm elections.
NerdsVote and HeadCount are hitting the ground running with this partnership, already having tables planned for the upcoming Animate! Convention in Philadelphia and Galaxycon in St. Louis. They’ve assured their many supporters that these are only the beginning and are currently organizing for the hundreds of other nerd events 2026 still has in store. It’s hard work, but in the words of Courtenay Taylor, NerdsVote President, “[This] moves us closer to achieving my big dream of having voter registration booths at every Comic-Con in the United States!”
Congress
Markey’s primary win deemed success for LGBTQ+ activists
Mass. lawmaker champions transgender rights
U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) clinched the Democratic seat for his reelection campaign in Massachusetts’s primary election on Tuesday.
Markey won the deep-blue state with 64.8 percent of the vote, according to NBC News, triumphing over Marine Corps combat veteran and Congressman Seth Moulton, who received 35.2 percent of the vote.
Massachusetts’s primary election, which determined which Democratic candidate will head to the polls to face off against the Republican challenger in November, is being considered a victory for LGBTQ+-inclusive policy, as well as for a divisive pro-transgender rights candidate — both things Markey has become an outspoken champion of.
Markey has experience at multiple levels of government, from the state level, where he served three terms in the state House of Representatives, to his federal tenure, including 20 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and is now serving his second term as a senator. He has become a fixture of a changing Democratic Party in one of the most consistently blue places in the U.S.
This primary — and much of the national discussion surrounding the Senate seat — focused a lot of campaigning power on fighting the growing sentiment, led mostly by Republicans, that the frustration many Americans feel lends itself to an anti-establishment and anti-incumbent attitude.
Markey ran his campaign using his past as a reflection of his commitment to constantly putting his best foot forward for Bay Staters — particularly with apprehension for issues younger and more progressive democrats have been righting for — including Green New Deal and “Medicare for All” while Moulton — who was also elected to federal office prior to this run — campaigned on being younger than Markey, arguing that he was not the same type of established politician.
Moulton also faced backlash for negative comments about trans athletes, sparking criticism for those who did want younger candidate but want for trans rights to be protected.
Markey’s track record of supporting the LGBTQ+ community is one of the most clear in federal politics, one that has garnered a “100 percent lifetime voting record” on the Human Rights Campaign’s PAC politician review scorecard.
That list of Markey’s actions includes being a cosponsor of the Equality Act, driving landmark legislation to ensure federal protections for LGBTQ+ Americans, and being one of the most vocal proponents for trans rights in the federal government — specifically in multiple appropriations bills and in the National Defense Authorization Act. He was also the lead sponsor of the Transgender Health Care Access Act and the Transgender Bill of Rights resolution.
Markey first introduced the Transgender Bill of Rights in the Senate in 2023, where it ultimately failed to be brought to law. He reintroduced the legislation this year once again. This was a direct response to the attitude pushed by many conservatives after 2021, when the push to minimize trans rights started to become a key part of their cause and has been constantly propped up by the Trump-Vance administration.
“Massachusetts needs a senator who stands up and fights back, a senator who never forgets who they are fighting for,” Markey said during his victory speech. “That has been the mission of my life, and it always will be.”
Following the calling of the primary, a slew of LGBTQ+ organizations rallied behind Markey, many pushing his past as an asset that puts his money where his mouth is through advocating for legislation specifically protecting the LGBTQ+ community.
Tyler Hack, the executive director of the Christopher Street Project, an organization dedicated to pushing for legal protections for trans americans, released a statement following Markey’s win. Hack argued that putting forward such a staunchly pro-trans candidate is a win for the community, especially after endorsing him earlier this year.
“Tonight, anti-trans politics lost. Massachusetts rejected the idea that attacking transgender people is a shortcut to political power. Voters chose a different path: one where equality is not negotiable, cruelty is not courage, and transgender people do not have to disappear for Democrats to succeed.”
The Human Rights Campaign also endorsed him as a candidate earlier this year and issued a statement via its president, Kelley Robinson.
“Ed Markey has spent decades fighting for LGBTQ+ equality, for working people, and for a more livable world,” Robinson said. “He knows why equality matters. He’s stood with us no matter what. We were proud to endorse him this year, and when a pro-equality majority takes back the Senate this fall, we will continue to count on him as a champion for our community.”
Markey is running for reelection against Republican John Deaton in November, where he is expected to win.
Politics
Out combat vet Cait Conley fights Trump flunkie for New York’s flippable 17th Congressional District
Conley on GOP’s big money: “Outspent. Not Outfought.”
Consider the timing. Two weeks before the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and two months before the midterm elections, top U.S. military leaders alert the public that Donald Trump and Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth’s bellicose incompetence is dangerously weakening national security.
On Sunday, Aug. 30, The Washington Post reported that the heads of the Army, Navy and Air Force and the four-star commanders overseeing U.S. operations throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America warned Hegseth directly that “prolonging large-scale operations against Iran is unsustainable and risks weakening their ability to confront threats elsewhere, including the U.S. homeland, according to people familiar with a recent assessment prepared for the Pentagon chief.”
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell responded on X, trying to discredit the reporting without disputing Hegseth’s plan to keep more than 50,000 U.S. troops in the Middle East through September, with some deployments possibly extended into 2027.
“Publishing highly classified assessments from the Secretary’s orders book is a crime,” he wrote. “We are in great shape around the world. This story isn’t about readiness. It’s TDS and PDS – they hate President Trump and Secretary Hegseth more than they love America.”
On Monday, Army Sec. Dan Driscoll resigned “amid reports of heightened discord with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth,” Military Times has learned, adding that “the Army is effectively leaderless. Hegseth fired Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George in April and has yet to nominate a replacement for the Army’s top uniformed post.”
The Post notably experienced government pushback 55 years ago when the Nixon administration tried but failed to stop or criminalize publication of the Pentagon Papers, the leaked “top secret” report on U.S. policymaking in Vietnam showing that two presidents promised victory while knowingly sending thousands of soldiers to fight an unwinnable war.
In 1971, the Supreme Court ruled against President Richard Nixon’s claim of executive authority, with Justice Hugo Black writing, “The press was to serve the governed, not the governors.” This Trump-loving Supreme Court, however, granted the convicted felon president broad immunity for official acts, which Trump has exploited with the complicity of a feckless Republican majority in Congress.
On Sunday, after a month’s respite in the six-month failed war against Iran, the U.S. military struck Iranian rocket launchers on the Strait of Hormuz that a U.S. Central Command spokesperson told the Associated Press were prepared to replace cleared sea mines in the international shipping routes. Iran retaliated for the “deadly attack.”
Five-time draft dodger Donald Trump may be “bored” with the war he started, but the rest of the world is scrambling. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is meeting with world finance ministers faced with aggressive tariffs on major allies. And then there’s the $40 trillion debt.
This is the “everything-all-at-once” existential crisis in which Americans must consider candidates for the Nov. 3 midterms. After the deep DOGE cuts of national and cybersecurity experts, conscientious voters should consider candidates with trustworthy, reality-based experience. Unfortunately, polls and donations are still considered the key barometers for victory.
Axios, for instance, recently reported that House Democrats are quietly helping Republican Rep. Mike Lawler’s re-election campaign against combat vet and national security expert Cait Conley by not fighting hard enough in New York’s 17th Congressional District, considered the most vulnerable House seat in the country.
The battleground seat in the Lower Hudson Valley area could decide which party controls the House next year. But it took the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee more than two weeks after Conley dusted her four opponents in the June primary, winning 51.4 percent of the vote, to include her in its “coveted” Red-to-Blue program.
The designation is “signaling that the DCCC is invested in providing Conley, a top-tier candidate, with the support needed to continue building a winning campaign as she runs for New York’s 17th Congressional District,” according to the committee.
The University of Virginia’s Center for Politics and the Cook Political Report subsequently shifted the race from “Leans Republican” to “Toss-up.”
However, the “Lawler campaign has a commanding advantage in available funds and booked media,” which includes “millions” from Elon Musk, according to the Conley campaign. Trump, Cabinet secretaries, and House leaders like House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) have campaigned for Lawler.
Democrats still seem soft. “If you’re going to have a Republican, it’s the kind of Republican we want in the Congress,” a Democratic source told Axios of Lawler.
“I don’t think Lawler is beatable,” a senior House Democrat told Axios.
When asked by The Hudson Independent about the money disparity, “The response by West Point graduate Conley: ‘Outspent. Not Outfought.’”
Conley says she lives by the Special Ops saying, “run to the sound of the guns.” But Lawler and his Republican friends think calling her “scaredy-cat” for “chickening out” by not meeting his challenge to debate on CNN or NBC makes him look strong.
Both are 39 years old, so consider how their life experiences may fit today’s needs.
Conley, a fourth-generation Hudson Valley native from a working-class family, was a junior at Pine Bush High School when the Twin Towers fell on 9/11. The next day, she began her application to West Point, where she graduated in the top 2% of her class. She later received advanced degrees from MIT and Harvard, accruing expertise in national security.
Conley served for more than 16 years as an active-duty Army officer, deploying six times to combat zones, including Iraq and Afghanistan, where she became one of the first women to serve in Special Operations leadership. She received three Bronze Stars and a stellar reputation for exceptional leadership under pressure.
Conley subsequently served as director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council at the White House. She transferred to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, where she helped safeguard critical infrastructure and election systems – always defending the integrity of the people and American democracy.
Lawler never served in the military nor worked to protect national security. According to his campaign website, he grew up in Rockland County, graduated from Suffern High School, and was valedictorian at Manhattan College in the Bronx, where he majored in finance and accounting.
Lawler served as deputy town supervisor of Orangetown, senior advisor to the Westchester County Executive, and executive director of the New York State Republican Party, and he founded a successful government affairs and public relations firm. He was then elected to the New York State Assembly. He touts his 2022 Congressional victory over the gay chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
In 2024, Lawler won a congressional district that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris won. “In that race,” his website says, “he outperformed the presidential ballot by nearly 7 points, a testament to his bipartisan, pragmatic approach to governing and his broad appeal among Democrats and Independents.”
Lawler has voted five separate times to back Trump’s Iran war, about which, he told News Nation, he had privately been given information about an “imminent” nuclear threat. Six months later, he believes the war is “absolutely worth it,” though gas prices are above $4.15 per gallon.
Conley has an impressive list of endorsements – most of whom are local. So VoteVets launched a $1 million dollar ad buy for Conley, highlighting Lawler’s record of voting with Trump “100% of the time.”
The VoteVets ad, “Valley Home,” highlights Conley’s roots, her working-family background, her commitment to serve after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and her military leadership.
In an interview with Trudy Ring for LGBTQ+ Freedom Fighters, Conley likened her decision to challenge Lawler to her decision to join the military.
“The reason I’m in this fight to take back New York 17, flip it from red to blue, and get Mike Lawler out of here, and is the same reason that over 20 years ago I decided to serve this country after the terror attacks of 9/11,” she said. “It is love for this country and a feeling of responsibility to our community in this country to fight for it.”
“Washington has grown increasingly corrupt, especially under this administration, which has just set a whole new bar for a willingness to exploit the federal government for personal gain, to use the federal government as a weapon against political opposition, and the level of corruption that we are seeing from the White House and [Donald] Trump himself, his family making $2 billion while he’s in office, right?” she added.
“The shamelessness—it’s straight up un-American, and it has been enabled by cowards in Congress like Mike Lawler, and so we have to stop it, and that’s what this fight’s about. No one else is going to come in and save us. This is our fight, and that’s why I’m proud to take it on,” Conley said.
Lawler touts himself as a moderate, but he “has voted 100 percent of the time with Donald Trump,” Conley said. “What does that mean? Well, it means voting eight times for reckless tariffs that have jacked up the price of goods on everything from prescriptions to groceries in the middle of an affordability crisis. It has cost an average household $4,200 for the same goods because of these tariffs.”
“There is no line Mike Lawler will not cross for Donald Trump. When Donald Trump says jump, Mike Lawler’s response is ‘how high?’ People here in the Hudson Valley deserve a hell of a lot better.”
If elected, Conley’s priorities will include lowering costs of health care and other necessities, investing in education, addressing climate change by promoting clean energy, codifying reproductive rights, reforming the immigration system and reining in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), fighting cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, championing LGBTQ+ rights, and generally combating the policies of the Trump administration.
Caring about the military is also a priority.
Pete Hegseth is incompetent and should never have been confirmed as Secretary of Defense, Conley said. He’s depriving the military of talent by kicking out transgender service members, women, people of color, and those who simply disagree with him. Trans military members, she noted, “are men and women who have more courage in their big toe than Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth have combined.”
She has also decried the mistreatment of troops such as those who’ve been at sea on the USS Lincoln for nearly nine months, facing food shortages and generally horrific conditions that have led to mental health crises.
Asked about Trump’s recent decision to reduce joint military exercises with South Korea and to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, Conley said, “I’m at a loss of words sometimes. … We should be standing by our allies like South Korea. We should be standing by our allies like NATO and Europe. We should be standing by our allies like Ukraine. But instead, because our president has this bizarre affinity for dictators,” he prefers countries that are our “strategic adversaries,” like North Korea and Russia.
Conley’s been called a war hero, but she doesn’t refer to herself that way.
“What I would say is I’ve proudly served,” she said, noting the personal sacrifice of serving in silence as a lesbian under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
“You saw brave service members who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for this country but had to live in fear,” she said. “That’s not America.”
Later, as director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council (NSC), she got banned from Russia, along with such big names as former President Obama and comedian Stephen Colbert, something of which she’s proud. Since the list was alphabetical in English, as a “huge fan,” Conley said it was “one of the coolest things” seeing her name listed after Colbert’s.
Immigration reform is another priority. “It has broken my heart, as someone who loves this country, to watch, on American streets, American federal agents … literally killing the very people they’re sworn to serve and protect, and there’s no accountability. That’s not a partisan issue. That’s a straight American issue.”
Conley’s district has the second-highest number of Haitian immigrants in the U.S., and Trump recently revoked their Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a status that meant they were legally cleared to work and wouldn’t be deported. Since many work in health care, deporting them would hurt the immigrants and the communities they serve. This is another example of the “cruelty and corruption” of the Trump administration, Conley said.
She also noted that 37,000 people in her district will lose health insurance due to Medicaid cuts and the revocation of certain tax credits for premiums on Affordable Care Act plans. She favors a public option for health insurance.
“I talk to families all across this district, and what I hear is people, regardless of political affiliation, are sick of the dysfunction and partisanship that is tearing communities and families apart, and they want to get back to doing what is right for our future and focusing on solving the very real problems,” Conley said.
If Conley is elected, it would be sweet revenge for the LGBTQ+ community; Lawler has previously beaten two gay candidates, five-term Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney and former Congressman Mondaire Jones.
“Third time’s the charm, and let me tell you, he has never had to face someone like me before,” Conley said. “Yes, absolutely a proud member of the LGBTQ community, but also a woman veteran… It’s about our future, and so folks are coming together. There’s a generation of us that are hungry to get in there and root out the corruption that I feel like has taken root in Washington, to root it out and to really deliver.”
This article is cross-posted from Karen Ocamb’s Substack LGBTQ+ Freedom Fighters.
Congress
HRC president campaigns for Chris Pappas in NH
Gay congressman running to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen
Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson on Sunday campaigned for U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) in New Hampshire.
Robinson traveled to Manchester, the state’s largest city, nine days before the Sept. 8 primary that will determine who will vie for retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)’s seat.
We’re hitting the pavement across New Hampshire to fight for a freer, fairer future for everyone.
Glad to have Human Rights Campaign President @KelleyJRobinson join us for a canvass launch in Manchester today. pic.twitter.com/XWCEaQxy4o
— Chris Pappas (@ChrisPappasNH) August 30, 2026
Former U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu, who represented New Hampshire in the U.S. Senate from 2003-2009, will face off against former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, who represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate from 2010-2013, in the Republican primary.
Karishma Manzur is among the Democrats challenging Pappas.
A poll the University of New Hampshire Survey Center released on Aug. 26 shows Sununu is ahead of Brown. The same survey shows Pappas ahead of Manzur and his other Democratic challengers.
The UNH Survey Center poll shows Sununu ahead of Pappas by a 45-43 percent margin if they were to face off in the general election. The margin of error is +/-2.1 percent.
Pappas would become the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. Senate if he were to win in November.
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