Politics
“America’s Doctor:” Outlining issues with Dr. Oz’s pseudoscience
Newport Beach-based cardiologist Dr. Danielle Belardo says Oz is a symptom of broader & more systemic problems in American healthcare systems
NEWPORT BEACH, Ca – By now, most folks are probably familiar with the widely ridiculed video released by Mehmet Oz’s Senatorial campaign, which followed his journey through a supermarket’s produce section on a mission to find ingredients for a crudité platter (otherwise known as a vegetable tray).
Oz’s Democratic opponent in the Senate race, Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, was quick to join the online mockery over the viral video, which began with the celebrity doctor’s announcement that he was at “Wegners” (not a real place, though possibly a portmanteau of Wegmans and Redner’s, two actual grocery chains with stores in Pennsylvania.)
In response, the Oz camp told Business Insider that had he “ever eaten a vegetable in his life,” perhaps Fetterman would not have suffered a stroke in May. That provoked a strong rebuke from Real Doctors Against Oz, a group of more than 100 Pennsylvania physicians who have vocally raised their objections to the candidate’s habit of promoting dangerous pseudoscience and dubious medical advice.
But Oz’s peers in the scientific and medical community have been sounding the alarm about these concerns well before his campaign’s suggestion that a plate of crudité keeps the stroke away, as Newport Beach-based cardiologist Dr. Danielle Belardo told The Los Angeles Blade on Friday.
Co-chair of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology Nutrition Committee, Dr. Belardo is an influential advocate for science-based medicine and accurate communication about health and nutrition, including through her podcast “Wellness: Fact vs. Fiction.”
She told The Blade Oz is a symptom of broader and more systemic problems in the American healthcare system. And if elected, he would gain even more power and influence at a time in which the internet and social media have, by orders of magnitude, accelerated the spread of false information about science and medicine.
“America’s Doctor” has already caused tremendous harm
Oz’s credentials are impeccable. It was not for no reason that Oz was once hailed by The New York Times as “one of the most accomplished cardiothoracic surgeons of his generation.” Triple board certified, he was vice-chair of Columbia University’s surgery department, the author of hundreds of peer-reviewed papers, and the recipient of several patents. Dr. Belardo pointed to his involvement in the creation of the MitraClip – a device used to treat leaky heart valves that effectively replaced the conventional treatment, a far riskier open-heart surgery. (A study by the New England Journal of Medicine found it could save millions of lives.)
Oz’s subsequent “foray into pseudoscience,” Dr. Belardo said, “was quite a departure from his previous career.”
After becoming a public figure through his appearances on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” Oz won a national audience and a wildly popular daytime TV program. There, he embraced and promoted ideas about science and medicine that, in many cases, even a layperson would be capable of correctly identifying as pseudoscientific quackery. (The reasons why he chose this path are a mystery not worth exploring here. A lengthy 2013 New Yorker profile offers some answers, none that are particularly satisfying.)
According to research in the British Medical Journal, which analyzed the overall quality of health claims made on “The Dr. Oz Show,” fewer than half of a sample of recommendations made on the program were supported by any credible evidence.
Below is semi-complete accounting of the ways in which Oz abused his platform as “America’s Doctor” over 13 seasons from 2009 to 2022.
- Oz claimed popular brands of apple juice contained dangerous levels of arsenic, which was not true and caused unnecessary alarm. The FDA called the segment “irresponsible and misleading”
- Oz promoted homoeopathy as an alternative to prescription drugs for the treatment of aches and pains, despite the overwhelming scientific and medical consensus that there is no evidence the practice works. Homeopathy is among the most widely debunked forms of alternative medicine, and safety concerns with homeopathic products have been flagged by the National Institutes of Health, the Federal Trade Commission, and the FDA
- Oz discussed conversion therapy, treating arguments from proponents and opponents of the practice as equally legitimate, despite the position held by mainstream medical and psychiatric organizations that it’s ineffective and dangerous
- Oz promoted iridology, all forms of which have been rejected by medical doctors as pseudoscience and quackery
- Oz told his viewers about a study that purported to show that genetically modified foods have damaging health impacts and can cause cancer. Almost as soon as it was published, researchers had discredited the study
- Oz repeatedly promoted the use of colloidal silver supplements for a variety of maladies including colds, viruses, bacteria, and wounds, despite the absence of any evidence for its use in the treatment or prevention of any medical condition and the risk that it may cause a condition called argyria, which turns the skin blue-grey and is irreversible
- Oz warned that women increase their risk of developing breast cancer by carrying cellphones in their bras, which is not supported by any scientific evidence and again caused unnecessary alarm
- Oz told his audience that supplements containing green coffee extract is “magic” and a “miracle” for weight loss, despite the absence of reliable evidence of any health benefits. The segment was among the reasons Oz was called to testify before a Senate hearing on consumer protection, where he was roundly criticized by members of both parties including former Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, who told him: “The scientific community is almost monolithic against you in terms of the efficacy of the three products that you call ‘miracles,’” adding, “I don’t know why you need to say this stuff, because you know it’s not true”
- Oz promoted the unproven use of hydroxychloroquine for treating covid, parroting – on his own show and in more than 25 appearances on Fox News – the claims about the drug made by then-President Donald Trump. (Oz stopped advocating for hydroxychloroquine only after a Veterans Affairs study showed covid patients were more likely to die when treated with it)
Oz is not alone
Few American physicians can boast of professional accomplishments in science and medicine that rival Oz’s. None have attained his level of celebrity. But with respect to providers who peddle pseudoscience despite having the education and professional training to know better, or despite having ties to respected institutions like academic research hospitals, Oz is not unique.
Dr. Belardo pointed to Mark Hyman of the renowned Cleveland Clinic, a trained MD who “promotes tons of misinformation about pseudoscience…selling things like detoxes and cleanses.” The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) branded him the “Dr. Oz of nutrition” for peddling pseudoscientific “lies” about dietary health, once going as far as to compare the harms of processed foods to the Holocaust. Hyman practices “functional medicine,” which ACSH described as “a form of alternative medicine that encompasses a number of unproven and disproven methods and treatments.”
“Unlike politics, when it comes to science there is no ‘two sides,’” Dr. Belardo said. “Scientific evidence is a process of critically evaluating data in a systematic and rigorous way and interpreting that data,” she said. Unlike politics, it’s based on facts, not feelings.
Likewise, “There’s no such thing as ‘alternative medicine’ and ‘regular medicine’ – there’s just medicine,” Dr. Belardo said, adding: “If something that might be considered ‘alternative’ has enough robust scientific evidence, it would be included in medical care” – for instance, in the guidelines published and maintained by major medical organizations.
“Alternative medicine” covers a variety of practices, often with fuzzy definitions and unclear distinctions. Among many others, common terms include “complementary and alternative medicine,” “wellness,” “integrated” or “integrative medicine,” “holistic medicine,” and “natural” or “naturopathic medicine.”
They are all pseudoscience – lacking biological plausibility, testability, reproducibility or repeatability, or evidence of their safety and efficacy (as gathered via clinical trials) – the very standards that, by contrast, are demanded of the diagnostic tools, pharmacological treatments, surgical procedures, and other forms of care offered in traditional medicine.
Sometimes, alternative medicine is provided as a supplement to traditional, evidence-based care, in which case it can be benign or even helpful – insofar as it may have a placebo effect or provide comfort to patients. In other cases, for a variety of reasons, people forego care from legitimate medical providers in favor of those practicing pseudoscience.
Complicating matters is the fact that it can often be very hard to tell the difference, Dr. Belardo said: “Predatory pseudoscientific providers prioritize and take advantage of the people who don’t understand the scientific process.” They typically use scientific language that only those with formal medical training would be able to recognize as bogus – and even doctors can be misled.
“Even though I’m a physician, I still can get duped and confused about scientific claims that are outside my specialty,” Dr. Belardo said. She added that some of the claims about “clean” beauty products – billed as less harmful to the skin and body because they are free from synthetic chemicals – looked facially plausible to her but did not hold up to scrutiny by “rigorously scientific dermatologists.”
Practitioners with formal training in legitimate medicine like Hyman and Oz further “muddy the waters,” Dr. Belardo said, lending the veneer of legitimacy to pseudoscientific practices while sowing doubt and mistrust towards lifesaving evidence-based medicine.
Pseudoscience kills
The financial incentives for practicing pseudoscience are considerable. The providers and businesses associated with non-evidence based medical practice (like supplement companies) are making lots of money, Dr. Belardo said. The industry is also backed by a powerful lobby and faces far less regulation than traditional medicine.
Many patients seeing pseudoscientific providers will pay out-of-pocket for products, supplements, treatments, and procedures that are often not covered by insurance and have not been proven safe, nor shown any therapeutic effect for the treatment of any disease or health condition.
Other patients will suffer physical harms. Dr. Belardo said she has seen arrythmias, liver toxicity and failure, and bad interactions with prescribed heart medicines from patients because they were treated by an alternative provider who gave them underregulated herbal medications and supplements.
That is hardly the full extent of the problem, however. “When we think about harms we’re not just talking about unregulated supplements – which can cause harms – but rather, something I see frequently, harms from misdiagnoses,” Dr. Belardo said. In such cases, the patient sees “an alternative provider and it delays the diagnosis of an underlying medical condition that requires guideline-directed medical therapy and treatment.”
Dr. Belardo recounted a case where a gastroenterologist in her practice saw a patient who had been prescribed supplements for an iron deficiency, under the care of an alternative provider who did not perform a workup to determine the underlying cause of her condition. When Dr. Belardo’s colleague did a colonoscopy/upper endoscopy on the patient, per the diagnostic protocol, she discovered stage 4 colon cancer. “Had that been caught two years earlier, it would be a different scenario,” Dr. Belardo said.
There are even more extreme examples of negligent and harmful practices by alternative providers. For example, a few years ago, a California patient died after a naturopathic doctor intravenously administered curcumin as a supposed treatment for eczema. The provider was previously among 34 defendants served with a lawsuit for their use or advertising of so-called “ozone therapies,” through which the toxic gas is injected into joints or into a patient’s rectum or vagina with a catheter.
In 2020, a practice in Dallas was ordered to stop claiming that ozone therapy can cure covid, an example of a larger trend identified by Canada’s Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP), which wrote in 2020 that “Alternative medicine practitioners are leveraging the fear around coronavirus to sell products and procedures that are scientifically unproven.”
Oz and others practicing pseudoscience accelerate the spread of false information about science and medicine
The IRPP also linked alternative medicine to the proliferation of online misinformation about covid, with different “specialties” associated with different forms of “harmful noise”: Naturopaths have recommended useless supplements as preventative solutions as well as treatments, while homeopaths have endorsed a concoction later shown to cause liver damage. Aromatherapists and acupuncturists have stepped in to offer their services, which are comparatively benign but no more useful for the prevention or treatment of covid (or any other virus, for that matter).
When it comes to harmful, false messages about vaccines, practitioners of alternative medicine are among the worst offenders. A 2018 NIH study found that childhood vaccinations were less likely to be up to date among families that consulted a practitioner of alternative (“complementary”) medicine and more likely to be up to date among families that saw a general practitioner.
These problems get worse as Americans become less literate in health science, more susceptible to conspiratorial thinking, and more distrustful of modern medicine and legitimate health institutions. As Carl Sagan wrote, “Pseudoscience is embraced, it might be argued, in exact proportion as real science is misunderstood.”
“Unfortunately, I see it frequently and all too often,” Dr. Belardo said. “And this is actually something that physicians are seeing across the U.S., and it’s no longer just a southern California trend. With the advent of social media, pseudoscience and disinformation is accessible through the internet,” where it spreads widely and quickly, presenting problems that the medical community has been slow to understand and address.
“Medicine is an older system. Our medical societies are just catching up with social media. The pandemic was first time many physicians who are older and who are higher up in our field began to grapple with the amount of misinformation that is spread on social media,” Dr. Belardo said. Thankfully, “major organizations are starting to take a stand,” she said, noting the American Medical Association’s pledge to intervene when misinformation about covid is spread online and on social media platforms.
Oz’s election to Congress, certainly, would not help matters. “Just looking at his history of endorsing pseudoscientific views and non-evidence-based medicine, he is not someone capable of helping to elevate social media to a place where people can find trusted scientific information,” Dr. Belardo said.
Oz may have soiled his reputation among his peers, but he did not earn the moniker of “America’s Doctor” or build a devoted fanbase that propelled his TV show to win nine Daytime Emmy Awards over its 13 seasons for no reason. With Americans’ confidence in Congress reaching a new low of 7% this year, is the public likelier to trust Oz’s opinion less than another Senator’s when they differ on issues like the safety of vaccines or public policy solutions to mitigate a new strain of covid?
Lest anyone think this would come into play only in the context of immunizations and infectious disease, consider that Oz, who is armed with far greater expertise in science and medicine than now exists in the entire Congressional GOP caucus, was “just asking questions” in that segment on his show about whether conversion therapy should be considered a legitimate “treatment” for homosexuality and gender dysphoria. (Dr. Belardo called Oz’s unscientific and anti-LGBTQ+ framing of the topic “nauseating.”)
In the Senate, Oz would have a powerful regulatory role over alternative medicine
What is the difference between a wellness influencer and physician practicing pseudoscientific alternative medicine? Well, it might depend on where they live. To the extent that any regulation may exist, rules governing the practice of non-mainstream medicine differ tremendously state-by-state.
Complicating matters, distinctions among the various forms of alternative medicine are unclear and confusing – as are the occupational titles and educational and training requirements of those who practice in the space.
The classification and regulation of naturopaths provides a representative example of how alternative medicine is treated differently across different jurisdictions in America. According to overwhelming evidence presented in peer reviewed journals, naturopathic providers recommend against evidence-based medical testing, pharmacological treatments, vaccinations, and surgery in favor of unscientific diagnoses and treatments without evidentiary support. Quacks, in other words, who practice charlatanism and promote therapies that are often ineffective, harmful, and unethical.
Seventeen U.S. states allow naturopathic doctors to use the designations ND (“Naturopathic Doctor”) or NMD (“Naturopathic Medical Doctor”). Among these states, 12 allow for some health insurance coverage. In these states, the widely discredited alternative medical practice is given the appearance of legitimacy.
Even more alarming, 12 states and U.S. jurisdictions allow naturopaths to prescribe prescription medications, while nine allow them to perform minor surgeries. South Carolina and Tennessee specifically prohibit the practice of naturopathy.
It is not difficult to imagine that if elected to the Senate, Oz would use his legislative powers to loosen regulations of alternative medical providers and associated industries or otherwise treat these actors favorably.
In the absence of clear regulatory solutions to the multifaceted problems presented by alternative medicine and the spread of misinformation and disinformation, Dr. Belardo stressed the role of self-regulation by doctors – and the importance of advocating for evidence-based medicine wherever possible.
She pointed to California State Sen. Richard Pan (D-6), a practicing pediatrician as “a wonderful example.” Dr. Pan wrote a bill, signed into law in 2019, that prohibits fake medical exemptions for vaccinations of minors. For this, he was targeted with smear campaigns and violence from anti-vaccine advocates.
In an interview with the AMA, Dr. Pan said he urges physicians to tell “their patients that the COVID vaccine is safe and effective. It’s been thoroughly evaluated, administered to hundreds of millions of people.” And “If their patients have questions, they should encourage them to ask those questions and get accurate answers from either themselves or trusted sources, like the American Academy of Pediatrics or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
Dr. Belardo said other prominent figures in the medical community who have used their platforms to advocate for evidence-based science and medicine include Drs. Jennifer Gunter and Yoni Freedhoff.
For laypeople, meanwhile, there are ways to filter out pseudoscience. Dr. Belardo said she advises her patients to find another provider if given a diagnosis or offered a treatment that contradicts with the scientific consensus of major medical organizations. These groups typically have resources and guidelines – unassailably reliable – that are written specifically for patients, she said.
California
City Attorney candidate Marissa Roy to Children’s Hospital L.A.: ‘You still have to comply with state law’
Roy said CHLA’s ending of trans healthcare could be illegal under California law that bars discrimination on the basis of gender identity
California Deputy Attorney Gen. Marissa Roy is in a race against Deputy District Attorney John McKinney to be the next City Attorney of Los Angeles. The election for City Attorney has been overshadowed by L.A.’s Mayoral election and the national midterms that will determine control of both chambers of Congress. However, the City Attorney has the power to interpret national, state, and local laws in Los Angeles, set guidelines for enforcement of laws, and represent the city in civil and misdemeanor capacities. This means the winner of the election will shape the city’s legal priorities from law enforcement to civil rights and consumer protection.
Roy spoke with the Los Angeles Blade in an exclusive interview discussing her campaign priorities and her plans if elected as the L.A.’s next City Attorney.
First and foremost, Roy views Los Angeles as a city under siege by the Trump-Vance administration and believes that the current City Attorney, Hydee Feldstein Soto, could have done more to insulate the city from harm.
“I think the thing to remember with the Trump administration at the end of the day is that they’re bullies,” Roy said. She believes that the city should be fighting the Trump-Vance administration in court more aggressively and more frequently. “We need to be really active in this litigation because it is what works,” she said, adding that when the National Guard was deployed in L.A. amid protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, California state sued for their removal, not the city.
A particularly prominent example of the Trump-Vance administration’s policies impacting Los Angeles came last year when Children’s Hospital L.A. ended its gender-affirming care services amid federal pressure. Roy said that if elected, she would work to get the hospital to reinstate the “life-saving care” the hospital provided for transgender youth. She said that regardless of executive orders to end gender affirming care for minors, it still remains legal in California and that it may be a violation of the California Unruh Civil Rights Act to deny trans patients care on the basis of their gender identity.
“As city attorney, I would want to work with the California Department of Justice to say that you still have to comply with state law, which bans that discrimination,” Roy said. She also said that the city could join numerous other lawsuits against the Trump-Vance administration, as it has targeted gender-affirming care and transgender rights across the country, something current City Attorney Feldstein Soto has not yet done.
Roy said another priority of her campaign was to wield the City Attorney’s office to protect Angelenos from predatory employers, landlords, and companies. She wants to scale up the public rights branch of the City Attorney’s office from 25 to 100 lawyers to help the city proactively prosecute workers’ rights, tenant rights, and consumer protection cases. When the city wins these cases, they not only get back pay and restitution for the litigants, they also get civil penalties from whoever violated the law, which can then go towards fighting more cases. “These are revenue-generating sections, and they operate based on the penalties they win, so that is how we are able to scale up the work,” Roy said.
But more important than any individual issue, Roy wants to show Angelenos that the city is actively working for them, not just waiting and watching. “I know that this office can be a fighter and that people deserve their government to be fighting with them,” Roy said. “It shouldn’t always fall on their shoulders … this should be an office that is your lawyer.”
For more information, head to www.MarissaRoy.com.
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.
White House
Allegations involving Ric Grenell raise questions about pay-for-play in White House
Gay administration official at center of questions involving paid access to Trump
Questions about how high-level political appointees wield their power have long persisted, particularly under the Trump-Vance administration. Now, allegations involving openly gay Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions Ric Grenell, White House adviser Alina Habba, and her husband, Turkish businessman Turhan Mildon, are making headlines across newsrooms.
The allegations have prompted President Donald Trump to order an investigation into what has become a convoluted mess, raising questions about a potential “pay-for-play” scheme within the White House.
Axios first reported that Habba accused Grenell of directing her husband to send $17.6 million to a Texas defense and security company, with approximately $5.6 million supposedly earmarked for the Kennedy Center. A text message allegedly sent by Grenell to Mildon promised VIP events and access to administration officials, including Trump, in connection with arranging a donation.
“Once the money comes to the company here, I will arrange the donation to Kennedy center, and you’ll be joining the VIP events and get close with the administration, even with POTUS,” the message allegedly sent by Grenell reads, according to Axios.
Habba, a former U.S. attorney for New Jersey, has alleged that the Kennedy Center never received the donation. Grenell, who served as the center’s acting director from February 2025 to March 2026, has denied sending the text message and called the allegations against him false.
According to Axios, Habba raised concerns with Trump on Oct. 9 after money had reportedly been sent to the Texas company but the promised donation to the Kennedy Center had not materialized. One administration official described Habba as “pretty animated” during the discussion and said she exclaimed at one point, “Ric stole the money!”
However, an administration source told Axios that Habba had not gathered all the necessary information before making the accusation.
“[She] didn’t have all her stuff in order. She went in there half-cocked without all the facts yelling about Grenell stealing. And the facts keep changing,” the source told Axiso. “That doesn’t mean Ric is out of the woods. This looks really shady.”
Following Habba’s accusations, Trump called White House Counsel Will Scharf into the Oval Office and asked him to investigate her claims, according to sources cited by Axios.
Trump and Scharf then called Grenell, who denied the allegations and said he would have immediately alerted others if he had known about a $17 million contribution.
“There’s no way this is true. This is crazy,” Grenell told Trump at one point, according to a source briefed on the discussion.
The Kennedy Center reportedly has no record of receiving the alleged $5.6 million contribution. The White House investigation remains ongoing, with officials examining the digital authenticity of the disputed text message.
Grenell has denied soliciting money under false pretenses or receiving any payment from Mildon.
“I’ve never asked for one cent to be sent somewhere else pretending it was for the Kennedy Center, and I’ve never received any payment from him at all,” Grenell said. “Make him give proof to what he is saying, not make these absurd allegations.”
The amount Habba cited has also reportedly changed. She initially claimed the donation intended for the Kennedy Center totaled approximately $17 million, while the amount allegedly designated for the performing arts institution appears to have been $5.6 million.
The allegations come amid broader questions about corruption within the Trump-Vance administration. Vice President JD Vance addressed the issue last week when asked whether he had witnessed anything inside the White House that gave him pause.
“D.C. is a corrupt town,” Vance said. However, he added, “I have not seen a single shred of evidence that [Trump] participates or sanctions in that corruption.”
The Los Angeles Blade reached out to the White House, Habba, and Grenell for comment but did not receive a response before publication.
California
Nithya Raman makes her case for LGBTQ voters in the race for LA Mayor
The mayoral candidate said she would use ‘every tool that the city has to protect trans Angelenos’
On a cool evening, around a hundred people gathered at the Black Cat’s outdoor seating area in Silverlake. The crowd was full of precisely trimmed mustaches, sleeveless cardigans, and colorful rainbow pins that read “Nithya Raman for Mayor of Los Angeles.”
This was the “Coming out for Nithya” LGBTQ fundraiser for Nithya Raman’s mayoral campaign.
The event which took place on October 8th, was hosted by gay comedian Joel Kim Booster and Pickles the Drag Queen. The pair encouraged the queer audience to support Raman and to donate money to her campaign. The event ended with over $20,000 raised to support Raman according to an organizer of the fundraiser.
Raman is locked in a tight race to become the next mayor of Los Angeles with current incumbent Karen Bass. After coming second in the mayoral primary in August, defeating right-wing provocateur and former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, Raman and Bass advanced to the general election. Since then, current City Councilmember Raman has been steadily gaining in the polls, with most showing her now maintaining a consistent lead over Bass. But the race is far from over, as many of the same polls show a large portion of voters are still undecided. Mayor Bass did not respond to multiple requests to comment on this story.
After an hour of the audience ordering drinks and snacking on appetizers, Raman took the stage. She addressed the audience in an impassioned speech where she invoked the history of the historic Black Cat venue where the event was taking place.
In the early hours of New Year’s Day 1967, undercover police officers raided the gay bar, arresting and beating patrons for kissing people of the same gender as the new year rolled in. The raid left many queer community members badly injured, and others were permanently placed on the sex offender registry. The bar would soon have its liquor license revoked and was forced to close only a few months later.
“Six weeks after the raid, hundreds of people stood right where we are right now on Sunset [Avenue] and peacefully protested,” Raman said in her speech. “In 1967 being seen on that sidewalk could cost you your job, it could cost you your home, it could cost you your family, and they showed up anyways,” she said. “How remarkably brave.”
She then tied the historic oppression of queer people in Los Angeles to contemporary issues, highlighting the Trump-Vance administration’s targeting of transgender people. “Right now, Donald Trump and the people around him are running a coordinated attack on trans people,” she said. Raman remarked on how this targeting of trans people has impacted Los Angeles. “Last year, under pressure from the Federal government, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles shut down the largest clinic for trans youth in the country,” she said, referring to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ decision to suspend gender affirming care services.
“As mayor, I will use every tool that the city has to protect trans Angelenos,” Raman said to ecstatic applause from the audience.
After her speech, Raman spoke with the Los Angeles Blade about the specific actions she would take to protect Angelenos from the federal government.
According to Raman, the federal administration is conditioning funding to the city “in ways that undercut some of the values of inclusiveness that we have here,” she said. “Going through the courts is very powerful… I would do more of that. This city has actually not filed as many cases as other cities have.”
Speaking about CHLA’s ending of gender affirming care services, Raman said, “There are other hospitals that have not stepped back from their services as quickly as CHLA did.” If elected as Mayor, Raman said she would “reach out to their board and speak to them about that decision and see how we can push them to do better [for] trans patients,” she said, adding that she doesn’t think “that outreach has happened yet” under Mayor Bass’ administration.
She added that her campaign’s focus on affordability and affordable housing is particularly important for queer people. She said that if elected, she would create “an office of tenant protections” to help renters most vulnerable to being priced out of the city.
“Housing is what makes LA a haven for people,” Raman said. “If you can’t afford to live here, then LA is not a place that is inclusive anymore.”
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.
Federal Government
EXCLUSIVE: Democrats seek answers on EEOC settlement affecting LGBTQ+ workers
Bobby Scott and Mark Takano want clarification on anti-discrimination protections
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission agreed in August to a settlement with the Christian Employers Alliance that could limit the agency’s ability to pursue certain workplace discrimination claims involving gender identity. Now, Democratic lawmakers are questioning how far the agreement reaches — and whether it could constrain the commission’s enforcement decisions for years to come.
The Los Angeles Blade obtained an early version of a letter from U.S. Reps. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), the ranking member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, and Mark Takano (D-Calif.), raising concerns about the settlement and its potential implications for workplace protections.
The agreement stems from a lawsuit the CEA filed challenging the Biden-Harris administration’s EEOC guidance on workplace harassment; including protections involving gender identity, pronouns, dress codes, and access to bathrooms and other facilities. The CEA argued that the guidance infringed on its members’ religious rights.
Under the settlement, the EEOC agreed not to pursue certain charges based on gender identity discrimination against the CEA and its member organizations. The agreement also covers future CEA members, provided the alleged conduct occurred while the employer was a member of the organization, raising questions about whether employers could receive protections from agency enforcement by joining the alliance.
Two Democratic congressional aides familiar with the EEOC’s work and workplace protections, who spoke to the Blade on the condition that they remain anonymous, said the agreement could restrict the commission’s ability to pursue discrimination complaints and potentially tie the hands of future administrations.
“They’re sort of swearing not to go after it and not exercising their own discretion, but they’re also purporting to bind future administrations with respect to exercising that discretion,” one aide said.
The aide said the agreement raises constitutional questions about whether the current administration can limit how future administrations exercise the EEOC’s enforcement authority.
In their letter to EEOC Chair Andrea R. Lucas, Scott and Takano question the legal authority for an agreement that they say would prevent future administrations from pursuing certain claims. They cite a 1986 Justice Department legal opinion concerning settlement agreements that constrain the discretion of future administrations and ask Lucas to explain the legal basis for the EEOC’s decision.
The lawmakers also ask whether the commission has entered into similar agreements, whether other federal agencies were consulted and whether the EEOC believes there are limits to its authority to make such commitments.
Scott also criticized the EEOC’s handling of workplace discrimination involving transgender and nonbinary people, arguing that the commission has failed to uphold its responsibilities under federal law.
“Discrimination against transgender and nonbinary people is a serious and ongoing issue. A recent survey found that despite the Bostock decision, 27 percent of transgender people experienced workplace discrimination in the past year. The EEOC was created under Title VII of the Civil Right Act of 1964 and charged with addressing discrimination against workers. Yet, under Chair Lucas’s leadership, the EEOC has abdicated this responsibility under the law when it comes to transgender and nonbinary workers,” said Scott.
The commission’s fiscal year 2026 litigation filings also reflect a shift in its enforcement priorities. The agency’s lawsuits largely tracked its National Enforcement Plan, which emphasizes religious discrimination, alleged anti-American bias, protections for women and purportedly unlawful diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.
The EEOC filed 16 religion-based lawsuits, pursued several cases involving alleged discrimination against majority-group members and continued to bring pregnancy and sex discrimination claims. However, its filings included no lawsuits brought on behalf of LGBTQ+ employees, underscoring questions about how the commission is prioritizing workplace discrimination claims under Lucas’s leadership. The filings suggest the NEP has served as a roadmap for the agency’s litigation decisions, rather than merely a statement of policy priorities.
The letter raises a further concern: whether the agreement could allow employers to obtain protection from certain discrimination claims simply by joining the CEA.
The congressional aides questioned what safeguards would prevent employers from joining the alliance primarily to shield themselves from discrimination claims, rather than because of a genuine commitment to the organization’s stated religious principles.
“What kind of oversight is going to exist to even ensure that these future employers who join […] could just lie, right?” one aide said, questioning whether employers could claim to share the CEA’s beliefs while seeking liability protection.
The aides also raised concerns about the financial incentives the agreement could create for the organization as it recruits new members.
“It’s more than a little gross that this alliance is attracting other employers to join their alliance and making a buck off of workers’ discriminations, you know, complaints not being adjudicated by EEOC,” one aide said.
Scott and Takano are asking the EEOC to explain what requirements employers must meet to qualify for CEA membership and what safeguards will ensure they continue to meet those criteria. They also want to know how the agency will handle complaints involving multiple forms of alleged discrimination when only some fall within the settlement’s terms.
The agreement does not prevent workers from filing complaints with the EEOC, according to the congressional aides. Workers may also retain the ability to pursue private lawsuits. But the aides said employees could lose the commission’s support in cases the settlement prevents it from pursuing.
“They will still have the right to bring private lawsuits, they just won’t have the EEOC in their corner,” one aide said.
The lawmakers are seeking answers about what happens when an employee files a complaint against a CEA-member employer and the employer claims the case is covered by the settlement. They ask how quickly the EEOC would issue a right-to-sue notice in such circumstances and whether workers would be told that the settlement was the reason the agency did not pursue their cases.
The letter also asks whether the EEOC has developed — or plans to develop — notices explaining when an investigation is closed or partially closed because of the agreement.
The aides said the agreement’s precise scope remains unclear, including how it could affect complaints involving conduct beyond the specific issues challenged in the CEA’s lawsuit. They also questioned whether its implications could extend to other forms of sex-based discrimination, such as discrimination based on an employee’s appearance or failure to conform to gender stereotypes.
“The scope of this seems really big. Well, actually, it seems undefined, which is really the scary part,” one aide said.
The lawmakers are also seeking information about the role of EEOC Chief of Staff Shannon Royce, who, according to the letter, was CEA president when the organization filed its lawsuit. They ask whether Royce participated in the settlement process, whether she recused herself and whether the commission will provide records of relevant communications and meetings.
Scott and Takano are requesting quarterly reports on the number of investigations involving the CEA and its members that the EEOC closes because they fall within the settlement’s terms. The aides said the letter is intended to establish a record of the lawmakers’ concerns and signal that they intend to continue scrutinizing the agreement.
One aide warned that the settlement could contribute to a broader chilling effect on LGBTQ+ workers.
“I think this is one more move by this administration to shove people back in the closet,” the aide said.
The Blade contacted the EEOC on Friday seeking comment on the settlement’s implications for workplace protections and responses to the questions raised by Scott and Takano. The EEOC has yet to respond.
California
Trans woman says Kyle Brazeal used anti-trans slur, threw purse at her in 2024
WeHo City Council candidate denies he said ‘tranny’ during argument at Gym Bar
A transgender woman claims that West Hollywood City Council candidate Kyle Brazeal called her a “tranny” and threw a purse at her at Gym Bar in 2024.
The Los Angeles Blade spoke with the alleged victim and two people who say they witnessed Brazeal’s actions that night. The Blade has also obtained timestamped video that places Brazeal at Gym Bar that evening and text messages from the following day describing in detail what allegedly occurred on Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024.
Brazeal said in a written statement that “I categorically deny the allegations.” He added that while he was involved in “a disagreement” at Gym Bar that night, that “this incident is being deliberately misrepresented and weaponized for political purposes in the final weeks of this election.” Addressing the transgender community in West Hollywood, Brazeal said, “I will continue to stand with you as a Council member, just as I did before I was a candidate,” citing his donation to a GoFundMe for gender affirming surgery as evidence of his support.
Upon requesting comment, Brazeal referred the Blade to Rolandos Liatsos, his current campaign treasurer and friend of Brazeal’s who was with him at Gym Bar that evening. Liatsos gave his account of the night and said he never witnessed Brazeal use any slurs or throw the purse.
‘Get out of my way, tranny’
On Dec. 29, 2024, Amber says she went to Gym Bar with a group of friends, including Tommy Craven and Rick Turpin. Amber’s real name is not being used to protect her privacy.
The group arrived at Gym Bar around 5 p.m. The evening started out well. “Just being around friends that night was really good,” Amber said. “There was no problem whatsoever.”
Turpin also recalls having fun. “We were having a good time,” he said. Amber came out as trans a few years earlier and was still adjusting to life as an out transgender woman. “It was nice to see [Amber] embracing her transition and … it seemed like she was feeling herself,” Turpin said.
After chatting with her friends for an hour or so, Amber left to use the bathroom. At the time, Gym Bar had only two single-occupancy restrooms, so there was a line of people waiting to use them. After a few minutes, the line advanced and Amber went into an open restroom.
Soon after entering, Amber said she heard knocking on the bathroom door. She yelled, “Hey, there’s someone in here.” A minute later, the knocking began again. It was a “really rude knock,” Amber said. “So, I felt like I needed to rush through. I felt really uncomfortable.”
For Amber, the situation was especially stressful because of her identity. “I’ve had situations in the past as a trans woman where I have been attacked for using the ‘inappropriate restroom,’” she told the Blade.
Flustered, Amber said she quickly left the bathroom, leaving her purse inside. After exiting, she asked the line of people waiting, “Who was knocking?” she said.
“Me,” she said a man replied while looking down at his phone. He then brushed past her and entered the bathroom while saying, “Get out of my way, tranny,” Amber said. She said she later learned the man’s name was Kyle Brazeal.
Amber was stunned. She had faced transphobia before but not at an LGBTQ bar. Not in West Hollywood.
“I was in a full moment of just frustration, anger,” she said. Amber said she slammed her palm on the bathroom door and stormed off, going back to her friends who were still chatting at their table.
Amber’s friends saw she was upset. “I sat down, and my friends knew something was wrong,” she said. Then Amber told her friends she was called a slur.
“They were, like, wait, what?” she said. “Everybody was in fun-drinking mode, so they didn’t understand what had occurred.”
Amber sat watching the bathroom. As soon as Brazeal exited, she walked over to confront him about what he said.
“What did you call me?” Amber loudly asked him.
At this point, Craven and Turpin heard the yelling coming from the restrooms. The two walked toward the commotion to see what was happening. They saw Amber confronting Brazeal by the door to the bathroom. Craven knew Brazeal beforehand from other community spaces they were both involved with. “I could recognize him right away,” he said. Turpin also said he recognized Brazeal.
Amber said that Brazeal took the purse that she left inside the bathroom and threw it at her, saying, “You left your tranny purse in there.” Craven and Turpin both corroborated Amber’s account of the events, saying that they heard Brazeal use the slur and saw him throw the purse at Amber.
After Brazeal threw the purse and used the anti-trans slur, Amber shoved him and the two got into a shouting match, according to Amber. Craven also recalled seeing “shoving” but did not specify who did what. The two were soon separated by security and staff.
Craven quickly called the owners of Gym Bar, Erik Braverman and Jonathan Cottrell, to inform them of what happened. (Cottrell is also currently running for West Hollywood City Council). Craven had known Cottrell and Braverman for years and considered them friends. The owners then told Gym Bar’s general manager about the incident.
Soon, the general manager spoke with Brazeal and “Kyle was asked to leave the bar,” Craven said. Upon being asked to leave, Brazeal began yelling profanities and “used the word ‘tranny’ toward Amber again,” Craven said. Turpin also recalls Brazeal using the slur as he was asked to leave. “He kept saying ‘tranny,’” according to Turpin.
Video footage taken by Tommy Craven shows Kyle Brazeal outside Gym Bar on Dec. 29, 2024. Craven says the video shows Brazeal after he was asked to leave by security.
The incident left Amber shaken. Afterwards, she sat down with her friends, and Craven and Turpin tried to cheer her up by making jokes about the situation. It didn’t improve her spirits.
“She was jarred; it happened at a bar that she considers a safe space,” Craven said. He described Amber as “a very private person” and said that she was satisfied with how Gym Bar handled the situation and did not file any complaints with law enforcement.
Amber said that time constraints also factored into her decision to not speak to the police. She was living in a housing program with an enforced 10 p.m. curfew, meaning she had to leave the bar soon after the incident occurred to get home in time.
Amber took an Uber to go home and did not see Brazeal again.
‘No throwing of the bag, no hate speech or anti-trans stuff’
But according to Rolandos Liatsos, the incident that evening played out very differently. Liatsos said he went to Gym Bar with Brazeal and a few others to celebrate a friend’s birthday. The two have known each other for more than a decade and are good friends. Liatsos is also Brazeal’s campaign treasurer.
According to Liatsos, after hanging out at the bar, Brazeal went to get in line for the bathroom and was on the phone. Once Brazeal entered the bathroom he saw Amber, whom he had never met before, return to a table with her friends. She seemed very upset.
Brazeal soon exited the restroom, carrying the purse Amber had left. Brazeal walked up to the table and attempted to hand the purse back to Amber but was stopped by her friends who moved to stand between them. Then they started arguing and yelling at each other.
But never at any point did Brazeal throw the purse, according to Liatsos. “There [was] no throwing of the bag, no hate speech or anti-trans stuff,” Liatsos said.
He also claims that he did not see anyone get shoved, or the two parties getting physical in any way. “There was no physical contact,” he said.
After the arguing between Brazeal and Amber’s friends, Gym Bar staff asked Brazeal and his friends to leave. “Good, let’s just go, … let’s defuse the situation,” Liatsos recalled thinking. Soon after, he, Brazeal, and their friends left the bar.
Liatsos later learned from Brazeal that he knocked on the bathroom door as Amber was inside, which he believed upset her. “I see this as a situation escalating from knocking at the door, feeling rushed,” and nothing more, Liatsos said.
He said the claims of transphobic and aggressive behavior were not consistent with what he saw that night and contrary to who he knows Brazeal to be. “I’ve known Kyle for so many years and we’ve been out so many times,” Liatsos said. “I’ve never seen him attacking … any individual.”
Aftermath
The next morning, Dec. 30, Craven sent a text message to a group chat that included Jonathan Cottrell describing what happened and naming the alleged perpetrator as “Kyle (seen in video),” referring to the video that shows Kyle Brazeal outside Gym Bar on Dec. 29.
Screenshot of an excerpt of the message sent by Tommy Craven to a group chat with Jonathan Cottrell on Dec, 30, 2024. Identifying details have been redacted.
Braverman and Cottrell told Craven that Brazeal was banned from Gym Bar. However, both Craven and Turpin claim to have seen him at the establishment multiple times after the incident. Cottrell said in a written statement that “it was a temporary ban,” but would not discuss why or when the ban was lifted because Gym Bar “(doesn’t) share internal incident matters.”
This temporary ban is contradictory to a message from Cottrell’s Instagram account that was sent to Amber on Dec. 30, 2024. In it, he states that he would make sure that the “individuals” involved in the incident “don’t ever come back” to Gym Bar.
Screenshot of a message sent by Jonathan Cottrell’s Instagram account to Amber’s account on Dec. 30, 2024. Identifying details have been redacted.
The race for City Council
Brazeal announced his candidacy for City Council in April 2026. Craven heard about his campaign in June. “I was aware it was the same person,” he said, immediately recognizing him as the man who allegedly berated his friend a year and a half ago.
Later that month, Craven reached out to Braverman and Cottrell, who had recently announced his own campaign for City Council, to inform them that Brazeal was the same man from the night. “They were definitely surprised by it,” Craven said.
After being made aware that Brazeal was allegedly the same man from the transphobic incident at their bar, the owners did not state anything publicly, following Amber’s wishes. Cottrell has not mentioned anything on the campaign trail even as he and Brazeal have been endorsed by some of the same organizations like Equality California and Sunset West Alliance.
“At the time of the incident, our staff asked the woman involved whether she wanted us to take any further action, and she said she did not,” Cottrell said in a written statement. “This was never our story to tell. Gym Bar has always been a safe space for everyone in our community, and that will never change.”
Craven and Turpin waited to talk publicly about the incident because they wanted to keep their friend’s experience private.
“Ricky and I thought … something [else] would be said to kind of give light to the kind of person that Kyle is without us having to use our friend’s story,” Craven said. “But now because it’s closer to the election [and] stuff has not come to light, I feel the community would be safer knowing.”
Amber did not hear about Brazeal’s candidacy for City Council until last week, when she was informed by friends that a reporter for the Los Angeles Blade was investigating allegations of a transphobic incident involving him. These days, she splits her time between the Los Angeles area and other parts of the country so she has not been following local politics closely. But when she looked up his campaign, she instantly realized that this was the same man from that night. “I saw the face and pictures … and I made the connection,” she said.
“This is something that I need to address,” she added. She said that it can feel “impossible” as a trans woman to call out people who express bigotry without facing “repercussions.” Brazeal’s bid for City Council motivated Amber’s decision to speak publicly about the incident. “He is seeking a position of power in the city,” she said. “He needs to understand that this is stuff that just doesn’t go away.”
Reflecting on the incident, Amber said she’s still shocked and upset. “I was floored that he would use that word in that bar,” she said. By speaking out, she hopes to heal some of the pain caused by Brazeal’s alleged actions and regain her confidence.
“Words do matter and they do hurt and the T-word [used] toward me hurt,” Amber said. “Now I’m trying to use my words to share my story.”
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
Victory Institute to honor Nancy Pelosi at D.C. conference
San Francisco lawmaker has championed LGBTQ+ rights throughout her career
House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will receive the Chris Abele Impact Award at the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute’s 2026 conference in D.C. in December.
The Victory Institute, a national nonprofit that works to get LGBTQ+ elected officials and appointed leaders at every level of government, will honor Pelosi for her work supporting the LGBTQ+ community during her nearly 40 years in public office.
Pelosi has a long history of working with the LGBTQ+ community.
As the representative for San Francisco, a city with a long LGBTQ+ history, she directly pushed legislation to help the LGBTQ+ community.
Pelosi led multiple landmark pieces of LGBTQ+ legislation through Congress, including the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and multiple U.S. House of Representatives approvals of the Equality Act. She also played a central role in congressional efforts to combat HIV/AIDS and oppose restrictions targeting transgender Americans.
The award will be presented during the Victory Institute’s International LGBTQ+ Leaders Conference. This year, it will take place Dec. 3-5 at the JW Marriott in D.C. This will mark the 43rd annual International LGBTQ+ Leaders Conference, which includes three days of networking and skills-building to “strategize the year ahead in our movement for equality.”
During her interview with the Washington Blade earlier this year, Pelosi emphasized that it was the community — specifically, those passionate about fighting for LGBTQ+ acceptance and action — that made her work possible on Capitol Hill.
“Anything that we accomplished, whether it was fighting HIV and AIDS, ending discrimination, passing hate crimes legislation, or ending ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ would never have happened without outside mobilization,” Pelosi told the Blade. “Our inside maneuvering was important, but we couldn’t do our best job without the community. Every chance I get, I thank them for their patriotism because they make democracy function.”
She also touched on the importance of codifying marriage rights for same-sex couples in federal legislation in the event that the issue is take up by the conservative U.S. Supreme Court.
“We passed it in the House again and again,” she said. “The Senate is more difficult because of the procedural hurdles, but we’re not stopping. We’ll stick with it until the job is done.”
Last year, the Victory Institute gave the Chris Abele Impact Award to former President Joe Biden for his outspoken acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community well before it became a mainstream part of the Democratic platform.
Registration for the International LGBTQ+ Leaders Conference is open now on the Victory Institute’s website at victoryinstitute.org/conference.
Politics
Ahead of the midterms, Meta has paid at least 29 anti-LGBTQ+ accounts for their posts
Invite-only Facebook Content Monetization program unveiled in 2024
Uncloseted Media published this article on Oct. 14.
This story was reported in partnership with The 19th, a nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics, and policy.
By HOPE PISONI | On Sept. 14, far-right influencer Chaya Raichik, known online as Libs of TikTok, attacked a Washington state high school on Facebook for displaying a Pride flag. “Hey Mercer Island High School, why does your profile photo display a mutilation flag??” she wrote, tagging the school’s account in the post and attaching a photo of the entrance.
A few weeks before, on Aug. 27, neo-Nazi webcomic artist StoneToss posted a strip that used Tim Curry’s death to mock transgender suicide rates. And earlier this month, right-wing political commentator Benny Johnson shared claims that Democrats will “transition your kids while you’re at work” and “hand out gas cards to illegal aliens.”
Meta pays these creators for making posts like these. In 2024, the tech giant unveiled a new invite-only program called Facebook Content Monetization, designed to streamline earnings for creators. Many creators celebrated the move, with some reporting a major increase in their earnings through the program.
However, that program has recently come under scrutiny. In August, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that Meta invited accounts promoting white supremacist and neo-Nazi ideologies.
And after reviewing Meta’s monetization data, Uncloseted Media identified 29 accounts with histories of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric that have been invited to the program. These include the three aforementioned accounts as well as podcaster Candace Owens, who has blamed gay men for child abuse in the Catholic church, and Turning Point USA, which has been connected to an assault on a queer Arizona State University professor. Meta did not respond to Uncloseted Media and The 19th’s requests for an interview or for comment.
With the midterm elections looming, some of the accounts Meta pays through the program have been spreading political misinformation. In the first week of October, for example, Benny Johnson made 14 separate Facebook posts connecting the Democratic Party to election fraud.
Courtney Radsch, director of the Center for Media and Digital Governance at Open Markets Institute, says that promoting hateful rhetoric and misinformation like this is especially dangerous during an election season where the increasingly authoritarian Trump-Vance administration, which Meta has courted since its inauguration, has openly discussed attempts to interfere.
“Amplifying and enabling harassment campaigns and centering fringe conspiracy theories through algorithmic curation and monetization opportunities has led to a dissolution of democracy in America,” Radsch told Uncloseted Media and The 19th. “This administration is dismantling democratic oversight and increasing authoritarian control. … You can’t look at your platform policies on monetization without looking at the context in which this is occurring in the U.S. with rising technofascism.”
What is the program?
Meta launched their Facebook Content Monetization program to incentivize more creators to post on Facebook, which has faced an aging user base and competition from newer apps. Those incentives can be substantial — within the program’s first year, content creators who accepted Meta’s invitation to join reported huge increases in their payouts, with some calling it their most lucrative platform. One creator told The Hollywood Reporter that she consistently earned $20,000 to $30,000 per month, while another said his monthly earnings often hit six figures.
While most accounts aren’t big enough to rake in that amount of money, Meta also motivates smaller accounts to join. Starting in 2025, they launched a side program called “breakthrough bonus” that advertises up to $5,000 and an automatic onboarding into Content Monetization for creators from other platforms if they start posting regularly on Facebook.
SK Smigiel, a content creator who posts about LGBTQ+ education and activism under the username justsaysk, joined the program through the breakthrough bonus initiative in April. They say Meta would offer them payouts for completing certain “missions.” For example, Smigiel says they earned $500 a month for posting 10 reels. They say other missions included using trending hashtags and audio or cross-posting to relevant groups. These incentives initially convinced them to post on Facebook due to their poor earnings on Instagram, but they didn’t stick around.
“When I post on Facebook, I don’t even open the post that I’ve made because I already know that … probably 99 percent of the engagement is negative towards me,” Smigiel told Uncloseted Media and The 19th.
Uncloseted Media identified accounts enrolled in the program via data compiled by What To Fix (WTF), a Dutch nonprofit focused on tech accountability. The Meta Monetization Archive is a searchable database of information collected from disclosures released by Meta.
Belén Luna Sanz, policy manager at WTF, says the program represents a broader shift in industry practices. While advertisers once paid content creators directly with companies like Meta taking a cut, platforms now collect all ad revenue and pay creators themselves.
“They’re only paying you royalties depending on how much engagement you are creating on your content,” Sanz told Uncloseted Media and The 19th.
Jason Hong, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, says that while inflammatory and misleading content may go against Meta’s policies, both the company and the people posting it are financially incentivized to promote it.
“We know that things that get people really angry get a lot of engagement, we know that disinformation and misinformation … also gets lots of engagement,” Hong told Uncloseted Media and The 19th. “[Meta is] at a fork in the road, and one path is about the morals and ethics and well-being of society and democracy, and on the other path is a really big pile of money.”
‘A reckless rollout’
Since Meta launched the program two years ago, WTF has identified over 18 million accounts in the program. But Sanz says the selection process has been opaque and describes the program’s rollout as “reckless.”
“[The program requires] little to no verification of their identity, there are not enough safeguards and their monetization policies are enforced in a very non-transparent way, so it’s hard to tell whether they are enforcing it properly or not,” Sanz says.
Uncloseted Media found numerous posts that seemingly violate Facebook’s content monetization policies, which state that “content may be subject to reduced or disabled monetization if it depicts or discusses [debated social issues] in a polarizing or inflammatory manner.” Those issues include race, religion, sexual orientation, political affiliation and more.
Libs of TikTok, for example, has called the organizers of an LGBTQ+ pride event “sick sick freaks,” accused pro-LGBTQ+ teachers of wanting to “indoctrinate your children” and decried the “lgbtq groomer cult.” Other posts may violate content monetization policies forbidding “derogatory words” and “hateful conduct,” including Raichik calling “sex assigned at birth” a “retarded term.”
Meta also states that misinformation, which they define as “content that has been rated false by a third-party fact checker,” is “ineligible to monetize,” even though the company ended their third-party fact-checking last year, leaving no clear mechanism to enforce the prohibition.
Meta states that “repeated violations of [content monetization policies] could lead to a temporary or permanent ban on your Page or profile’s ability to use our monetization tools.” However, as of the Monetization Archive’s most recent update on Sept. 15, all of the accounts discussed above are actively enrolled in the program.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated several individuals in Meta’s program as extremists. These include Tucker Carlson, who has agreed with claims that gender-affirming care allows adults to “basically molest and abuse children”; James Lindsay and Jack Posobiec, who helped popularize “groomer” rhetoric against LGBTQ+ people; and Alex Jones, whose infamous conspiracy show InfoWars received an invitation prior to its acquisition by The Onion. It also includes Libs of TikTok, which is known for stoking anti-LGBTQ+ harassment — 2024 reports by NBC News and The Washington Post cumulatively found over 80 instances of violent threats against institutions like schools and businesses connected to its posts.
“There does need to be discussion and diversity of opinion allowed in the public sphere,” Radsch says. “However, there is a difference between rational debate and harassment.”
Reports from WTF suggest that Meta doesn’t consistently uphold the program’s other rules either. Despite Meta’s policies stating that “political and government entities are ineligible for monetization,” including “current elected and appointed government officials” and “political parties,” WTF found hundreds enrolled. In addition, Uncloseted Media confirmed membership of at least eight official Republican Party pages, including the Republican Party of Georgia.
A danger to democracy
In recent years, Meta has courted the Trump-Vance administration and its far-right allies, including influencers. Last August, the company hired Robby Starbuck, an anti-DEI campaigner who has promoted conspiracy theories claiming that pesticides turn children gay, as an adviser on preventing “political bias” in their AI systems. And in April, Meta sponsored a party celebrating Isabel Brown, a Daily Wire host who has advocated for people to leave their LGBTQ+ “lifestyles.” Brown and Starbuck are both enrolled in the content monetization program.
Radsch says that being able to control who gets monetized grants Meta significant power over political narratives.
“That can be problematic because it means that they can pick winners and losers, they can pick ideologies, they can discriminate at will, and we have very little way to know whether that’s happening,” Radsch says.
The stakes are high given the upcoming midterms. Misinformation that the 2020 presidential election was rigged inspired the Jan. 6 insurrection. Still, Meta monetizes accounts which spread similar claims. Libs of TikTok has said, “Democrats want to cheat in the elections,” and Johnson responded to reports of new plague cases in Russia by implying that Democrats would use them to rig the election.
“There’s a level of commitment with trying to preserve electoral integrity that needs to be present, especially when there are very delicate elections coming up,” Sanz says. “Disinformation should not be rewarded financially — this is something that even they have in their own policies for monetization.”
What can be done?
Sanz has a “wish list” of new accountability policies that could push back against the anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and political disinformation being disseminated through this program. These include labeling monetized accounts and adding mechanisms for users to report monetization policy violations.
Hong adds that platforms should restructure their algorithms and monetization systems to consider factors other than engagement.
“I wish that Facebook would have more kinds of metrics, like societal or individual well-being,” Hong says. “These are kinds of things that would be far better for society, but it is a corporation and this is what they’re trying to do because this is the mandate from the top.”
While Meta is protected from many forms of legal action in the U.S., there may be a path to legal accountability in other jurisdictions. In 2022, the European Union passed the Digital Services Act (DSA), which, among other provisions, requires large online platforms like Facebook to mitigate the potential harms of content disseminated on their platforms. WTF filed a complaint against Meta in European courts last month arguing that by monetizing 11 accounts sanctioned by the E.U. for alleged involvement in pro-Russia propaganda campaigns, the company failed to meet the DSA’s risk mitigation obligations.
Perhaps most importantly, Sanz emphasizes that social media monetization needs more public attention.
“Creator monetization is a very ill-explored area,” she says. “Although there is a good amount of legislation here in the E.U. that gives us a playground to try to incorporate much more responsibility when it comes to monetization, I do think that globally this needs to be the case.”
Jones and Raichik did not respond to requests for comment.
Politics
JD Vance takes swipe at James Talarico’s sexuality during Texas rally
Homophobic joke made during Ken Paxton event
Vice President JD Vance joked that Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is gay on Tuesday.
While campaigning for Ken Paxton, the Republican Senate candidate and current Texas attorney general, Vance made a joke that seemed to call into question Talarico’s sexuality during a stop in Tyler, Texas.
According to a video uploaded by C-SPAN, Vance responded to a man in the crowd who shouted, “I love you,” at the vice president.
“I love you, too, sir. In a totally platonic way, to be clear. I’m the vice president, not James Talarico,” Vance joked while standing in front of Air Force Two during the rally.
The joke has received negative press coverage and sparked backlash online against the second-in-command at a time when Republicans are struggling to win seats that, months earlier, were widely imagined to be all but entirely theirs.
Talarico, who confirmed he is in a long-term relationship of four years with Brianna Menard, a woman who served as his chief of staff during his time as a Texas state representative, has been an outspoken supporter of LGBTQ+ rights in the Lone Star State, often drawing criticism from right-wing personalities.
Billy Binion, a reporter for Reason, called out the homophobic joke made by the vice president on X, saying, “I remain amazed and mystified that some of the most powerful people in the world think ‘James Talarico seems gay!!’ is a compelling critique. It’s so desperate and small.”
Directly under a repost of the video, another person posted an old, widely circulated image of Vance in drag wearing a long blond wig, with the caption, “For the record James Talarico has never done this.” The post now has more than 62,000 views and more than 3,000 likes.
The comment is also drawing criticism of Vance over his past anti-LGBTQ+ actions while in the U.S. Senate. During his two years as a senator prior to Trump’s selection of him as vice president, Vance opposed the Respect for Marriage Act, which codified marriage rights for same-sex couples in federal law. He also co-authored the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, which would have made providing gender-affirming care to minors a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Vance has also advocated for banning transgender troops from the military, which has become a defining characteristic of the current administration’s efforts to curb diversity and inclusion in the U.S. armed forces.
Additionally, Vance repeatedly referred to opponents of those actions as “groomers,” including in an April 2022 post on X.
“I’ll stop calling people ‘groomers’ when they stop freaking out about bills that prevent the sexualization of my children,” he wrote at the time.
These actions and the vice president’s homophobic rhetoric contrast with Talarico’s official stance on LGBTQ+ issues. Talarico has been a vocal supporter of LGBTQ+ rights but is facing recent criticism for backtracking on his support for trans girls and women participating in sports.
Under the “Freedom, Family, and Faith” section of his campaign website, Talarico states that one of his goals is to “protect the legality of gay marriage and defend our LGBTQ+ neighbors from government overreach.”
Paxton’s website, on the other hand, directly calls for Texans to vote for him so he can “defeat the radical transgender movement that’s desperate to put men in girls’ sports and woke indoctrination in our classrooms.”
The Los Angeles Blade reached out to the White House, Talarico’s press office, and Paxton’s office for comment on the story but had not heard back by publication time.
Congress
Annie Andrews denounces trans athletes after Trump targets her
President used anti-trans slur to describe SC Senate candidate
Days after President Donald Trump called Annie Andrews, the cisgender Democratic nominee for South Carolina’s U.S. Senate seat, an anti-transgender slur on social media, Andrews came out against transgender girls and women participating in sports.
Trump called Andrews a “trannie” on Truth Social while attempting to garner support for her opponent, U.S. Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.), the incumbent seeking reelection in South Carolina.
After the president’s use of the slur was widely reported, the incident provided an opportunity for Andrews to explain her position on the ongoing trans debate that has shaped political discourse in the 2020s, despite trans people making up only 1 percent of the U.S. population, according to the Williams Institute.
She used the opportunity to denounce trans rights and pointed out that, as a physician, she had never performed gender-affirming surgery on minors.
“I want you to hear me loud and clear: I don’t support biological men playing women’s sports, and I don’t support and haven’t ever performed gender surgery for minors,” Andrews said in a political ad.
Despite these recent developments, Andrews has previously voiced support for trans South Carolinians. In 2022, she posted on her X account, criticizing the Save Women’s Sports Act, which was signed into law by Republican Gov. Henry McMaster and restricts trans girls from participating on girls’ sports teams.
“This is shameful legislation that does nothing to protect or support women or children in SC. In fact, it is actively harmful. I will always support trans youth,” Andrews wrote in after the legislation passed.
The Los Angeles Blade reached out to Andrew’s campaign about the comments, and asked if she supports trans rights but did not receive a response.
Politics
On Republican Long Island, gay Democrat Chris Gallant bets on public service over politics
Congressional candidate recently spoke with the Blade
New York’s Long Island, which is just 50 miles from the Stonewall Inn, is a reliably red enclave where President Donald Trump won easily in 2024.
Chris Gallant, an openly gay Democrat running for New York’s 1st Congressional District, which includes Nassau and Suffolk Counties, is trying to capitalize on what he sees as growing frustration with the Republican Party and its ability to deliver for everyday Americans.
The Los Angeles Blade sat down with Gallant to discuss his move from civil servant to the fight for public office, how he has been personally impacted by the changes from the Trump administration, and the recent release of photos from his past that have brought the national spotlight his way.
Gallant has a long record of public service that, on paper, would make him an unconventional but compelling candidate for a heavily Republican district. His résumé includes New York Army National Guard service that began when he was 17, multiple overseas deployments, including multiple tours in Kuwait, work as an FAA air traffic controller, union leadership and service as a volunteer firefighter.
That record of service is central to how Gallant describes himself — particularly as he navigates the unusual combination of being an openly gay candidate, a military veteran, and a Democrat running in a district where Republicans have historically held the advantage.
“My fiancé and I both serve in the military and we built our relationship through trust, timing, and a lot of miles between us,” his campaign website says, highlighting the idea of family values that has become a central part of winning the area. “I’ve been openly gay in the military since just after ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ ended, and I’ve learned to speak plainly, hold the line, and back up what I say. I’ve also learned how to listen — and how to bring people with very different views to the table and actually make progress.”
Gallant said that record, rather than his sexual orientation, is what should define his candidacy.
“I think who I am as a person is an asset,” he told the Blade when asked if his sexuality has played any role in his decision to run. “I’m not running because I’m gay. I’m running, and,’Oh, I’m gay.’ It’s part of my identity. It’s just a part of who I am. But it’s not necessarily on the table because that shouldn’t make a difference on how I’m going to respond in Congress or how I’m going to run into a burning building. I don’t think those things necessarily matter so much.”
For Gallant, the campaign is ultimately about something broader than identity politics. He said he is running because he wants to restore Americans’ confidence in a government that he says has become less about its people and more about the wealthy leaders in charge.
“I’ve always said that part of the reason why I am running for Congress is because I want to restore faith in our government,” he said. “We’re all drastically exhausted with what’s going on in this world, and particularly with Donald Trump being in office, [his] type of politics, and the way he works, essentially. When Biden got into office after Trump won, it was like the release of a pressure cooker… the pressure cooker is just even worse now this second time around.”
He also explained that his experience working inside the federal government has shaped how he believes Washington should approach its problems. Gallant pointed specifically to the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the size of government and the role of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), arguing that cutting government spending should not mean indiscriminate cuts.
“I understand that we as a nation need to save money, or at least fix the budget or balance it. We are getting further and further in debt … The budget is always a huge issue and something that we definitely 100% need to fix. But we need to do it with experts and, you know, attack these issues with a scalpel, not a chainsaw.”
The chainsaw Gallant mentioned is a clear reference to controversial Trump supporter Elon Musk, who announced he would be heading the highly politicized DOGE agency, where he, the first-ever trillionaire, brandished a shiny chainsaw symbolic of them cutting government spending with no regard for the impact on everyday Americans.
That philosophy, of scalpel over chainsaw, is also part of Gallant’s argument to voters who may be more accustomed to voting Republican. He does not present himself as a traditional politician, but rather as someone whose career outside politics could be an asset in Congress.
“I’m not a politician. This is my first foray into politics, and I think that’s what our politics need. We need fresh new faces, not career politicians. Someone who has brand new ideas, not tainted by politics. So I would say, give me the opportunity to prove myself, because, you know, until I actually get there and I can actually do a job, we won’t know.”
Gallant also shared signs that the political landscape on Long Island may be shifting. He pointed to gains Democrats made across the district last November and said economic concerns could further erode Republican support.
“Last November, in this district we [Democrats] gained 13 and 14 points across the district..And this district lost by 10 points last year. So even just in one year, you can tell that there’s a difference.”
The swapping of support from the Republican side to Democratic reflects the real concern voters have about the economy — impacted by the war in Iran, tariffs, and growing inflation.
“People are feeling it here in their pockets. The cost of living here on Long Island is already high, and things are just getting worse. There’s a lot of promises that were made with this administration that weren’t kept.”
Gallant said that frustration has directly translated into support from some voters who previously backed Trump.
“I know a lot of people who have voted for Donald Trump that have my lawn sign on their front lawn today. If that’s the change that they’re looking for, I’m going to provide it.”
But Gallant’s campaign has been complicated by a very different kind of political issue: the publication of photos from his past that have become a national story.
The photos, which include pictures of Gallant wearing various fetish gear for Mr. S Leather — including a harness and a collar — were shared with the New York Post.
Gallant has consistently rejected the idea that he should be ashamed of the images or that they undermine his qualifications for public office since their Sept. 13 publication. Instead, he has argued that his record of service should be considered alongside a private chapter of his life from 15 years ago.
“I mean, look, I’m totally not ashamed of who I am as a person. Those pictures were taken in my private life. I can still run into a burning building faster than most people. I can still fly a helicopter. And those are from 15 years ago, right? I built an entire life based around my commitment to the military and the Army National Guard.”
Rather than allowing the controversy to define him, Gallant said he hopes it can become part of a broader conversation about privacy and the consequences of living in a digital age — and indicated that this sort of scenario would become something semi-regular for those who grew up with technology.
“The reality is that we live in a digital age.This is what our generation is going to be stuck with. I laugh all the time because this is the reason why Congress and the Senate are about to die in their chairs. They didn’t have cameras and pictures and photos like that.”
“If I have to be the person to wave the banner now to fight and advocate for not only our community but anybody that could be put in this situation, that realizes now that we’re living in a digital age and this is what the future is going to be. It’s, you know, everything’s left online now.”
That argument extends beyond his own campaign. Gallant said he worries that the prospect of having a digital footprint scrutinized could discourage highly qualified and passionate potential public servants from seeking office.
“I understand that getting into public life means that the rest of your life becomes public. I get it, I do. But I also feel bad because there’s a lot of good people out there wanting to do a job in the public world, and they’re just afraid of what their digital footprint might have on them or might — what might exist because we’ve done things when we’re 12 or 15, or 20, or 30, or whatever.”
“I think living in this digital world, I would love to advocate for people to say, ‘How do we prevent some of these things from coming out into the public view so people can still maintain some kind of a private life?’”
For an openly gay candidate, the issue also carries a particular significance. Gallant said his experience has made him more interested in advocating for other LGBTQ+ people who may hesitate to enter public life because of what could eventually surface online.
His own LGBTQ+ policy priorities are relatively focused. He said adding further protections for same-sex marriage in federal law would be one of the issues he would want to pursue if elected, particularly as questions about the Supreme Court’s future approach to marriage equality continue to loom.
“My partner, who’s my fiancé, is currently deployed. We got engaged before he left in December because if the question came up to the Supreme Court — whether gay marriage was going to be a thing — we had to question whether, when he got back from deployment after Christmas this year, whether we were actually going to be able to legally get married.”
“I mean, these are questions that shouldn’t even be questions anymore. So if we can put something like [codifying same-sex marriage] into law, where it’s just not a Supreme Court decision and it can get overturned, like Roe v. Wade, then let’s do it.”
Gallant’s opponent, Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), is the two-term incumbent and has a mixed record on LGBTQ+ rights. LaLota has been vocal in his opposition to overturning Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court case that established the constitutional right to same-sex marriage, but he has also been outspoken in his opposition to transgender rights. He co-sponsored and voted for H.R. 28, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which would restrict participation in women’s sports based on sex assigned at birth rather than gender identity.
Gallant, on the other hand, has few official positions on LGBTQ+ issues but assured the Blade that, if elected, he would become “an advocate, particularly for the LGBTQ community.”
He also said he believes same-sex marriage should be codified into law and that nondiscrimination protections should be expanded. “I would definitely be pushing no discrimination against anyone for any reason — and that should not have any place in any workplace — especially on the federal government level.”
For Gallant, however, LGBTQ+ rights are only one part of a broader platform centered on public service, affordability and restoring trust in government.
He repeatedly returned to the idea that a member of Congress should be accessible to the people they represent — something he believes his experience holding town halls and working directly with members of his community demonstrates.
“I always find that a record of service and showing up every day at work and in our communities is what’s going to be key and important. And I think that’s what a representative needs to do. As a representative you’re supposed to represent and work with the people that elect you to office. And so that’s what I’m going to make sure I start today.”
Current prediction markets give LaLota a significant advantage over his challenger, with the incumbent holding an 81 percent chance of winning compared with Gallant’s 19 percent.
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