Daniel Villarreal

Over 25,000 LGBTQ+ people attended the Human Rights Campaign’s “Out for Kamala Harris” virtual event last night. During the event, over 40 LGBTQ+ and allied actors, activists, government officials, and drag performers all shared their enthusiasm for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. Together, the attendees and featured guests helped raise over $300,000 for the Harris campaign, and 1,500 attendees signed up to help get out the vote for Harris. 

The event, which was live-streamed via Zoom and YouTube, included queer actors George Takei, Raven Symoné, Sophia Bush, Wilson Cruz, Zachary Quinto, and Jonathan Del Arco; Democratic LGBTQ+ elected officials such as Sen. Laphonza Butler (CA), Rep. Mark Takano (CA), Rep. Becca Balint (VT), Rep. Angie Craig (MN), Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride, and Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta; drag performers Tara Hoot and Veronica Electronika; CNN anchor Don Lemon; Wonder Woman actress Lynda Carter; and various activists and queer members of the Harris campaign.

“We were dedicated supporters of Joe Biden,” Takei said, speaking alongside his husband Brad. “But when he made that magnanimous decision to pass the baton to his vice president… we were enthusiastically for her. Just in that act, Joe Biden made history that has never occurred before, and we’re going to continue making history with Kamala Harris. She is going to be a history maker: the first biracial African American, Asian American candidate for the president of the United States.”

“You can just see it in her big smile and that wonderful guffaw of hers, she brings optimism to the campaign, and that is a winning quality: strength, optimism, and joy. And she is the very personification of diversity. You can see it in her. Her diversity embraces the world, from Jamaica all the way down to South Asia, India, and beyond that what she has done proves her embrace of diversity,” he added, noting that she officiated same-sex marriages as far back as 2004.

When asked why she’s supporting Harris, Black trans activist and author Hope Giselle said, “When I look at what this woman stands for, when I look at where she came from. I see myself, and when I can see myself, I can embody what hope really looks like.” Giselle referred to her own Blackness, queerness, and neurodivergence and said that Harris represents a presence and an advocate for diversity that she never saw while growing up.

“When I think about the other side,” she added, referring to Republicans, “and I think about the exclusivity that they wish to have. I say this all time: ‘Everything exclusive goes on sale at some point.’ And I think that [former President Donald] Trump and the America that he wants have gone on sale so many times that they’re in the bargain bin at Walmart, unable to be fished out by even the most thirsty of grandmothers with a coupon…. We need to remind them of where they belong. We need to remind them of where they will stay.”

Black voices were numerous during the virtual event, including that of Florida’s first gay Black state Sen. Shevrin Jones, who said that anti-LGBTQ+ Republicans and their policies in his home state represent the alternative that awaits if LGBTQ+ people and their allies don’t give their support to Harris.

“We have the opportunity, y’all, we have the opportunity to reshape the future that our children will see. We have the opportunity to reimagine what America can be because we’ve done it before,” Jones said.

“The Republicans are extremely scared, because they know what we have known all the while, and that is that she can win,” Jones added. “And we know she can win, and because they see the fact that she can win, because they see the organizing that’s happening all across this country, they know that they are in trouble.”

Rep. Kenyatta said, “There is nobody more qualified to be our next president” and added that the Republican candidates are “as antagonistic and aggressively backwards as you could possibly be.” However, despite Harris’s strong candidacy, Kenyatta warned, “Candidates don’t win elections — you win elections, the folks who are on this call.”

Kenyatta asked the virtual event’s attendees to think of the person they love best in the world and said, “I want you to think about the world that you think they deserve to live in: a world where hopefully they’re free from the threat of gun violence, a world where hopefully they are able to have a good, family-sustaining job that takes full advantage of their talents and their dreams, a world where they get to be treated with dignity and respect and love who they love, and vote how they want, and be treated with the level of love that you give them every single day. And if you think they are worth all those things, then do what it takes to make sure they have that world. We can build it. We got to do it together.”

Black influencer and entrepreneur RaeShanda Lias-Lockhart noted both the widespread excitement that many Americans felt during former President Barack Obama’s historic 2008 campaign and the pain many felt during former President Donald Trump’s surprise 2016 victory. 

“We are in the middle of history in the making,” Lias-Lockhart said. “We can’t give up on this we can’t. It’s a short fight: 103 days we got, correct? We can do this…. We already have been through so much. We have already endured so much. So all we have to do now is finish.”

Those interested in offering their support to the Harris campaign can do so through the HRC’s Out for Kamala Harris’ webpage. Election Day is on November 5.

Attacks on rainbow flags, crosswalks, and other LGBTQ+ symbols occurred in over 40 cities nationwide during Pride Month, according to NBC News. Overall, the attacks occurred in 21 states; a majority occurred in blue states like California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Washington, but some also occurred in red states like Idaho, Montana, Texas, and West Virginia. 

While most of the theft and vandalism of these symbols seem to have been carried out by “lone wolf” individuals rather than coordinated by extremist groups, many local police, news reports, officials, and victims stated that this year’s number of attacks increased from previous years. The attacks have coincided with an increase in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and legislation from Republicans and other conservatives.

“We have seen an increase in hate-motivated violence against the LGBTQI community,” said acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer. “There are many communities that are afraid to report to state or local law enforcement officials, and sometimes those fears are rooted in a history of troubling relationships between those communities and their local law enforcement.”

In Boise, Idaho, an annual display of 60 rainbow flags was vandalized four times through June. Michael Dale, president of the board of directors of Boise Pride, the local LGBTQ+ advocacy group that sets up the display, said, “It happens all the time now. We have to go there and put them back up. But if there’s anything to say about Boise is that we’re resilient. No matter what the cost is, we’re not going to back down.”

One victim of vandalism, Amanda Gentry, said that when she first hoisted a rainbow Pride flag outside of her law firm’s office in rural Warren County, Tennessee, her gay associates warned her, “Do you want rocks thrown through your window?”

She wasn’t intimidated and wanted to show support for LGBTQ+ people in her small town. However, the night after she displayed the flag, a surveillance video camera outside the office caught a man cutting it down. Local news reports of the vandalism compelled some local conservatives to contact Gentry and express their disapproval of anti-LGBTQ+ violence.

“I had people who had never thought about it before — it resonated,” Gentry said. “And to me, that was worth every single bit of it. Period.”

Among the high-profile attacks, someone vandalized over 150 Pride flags outside the Stonewall Monument, a vandal shot a gun through a rainbow flagdisplayed in an Oregon library window, and police arrested three teens who vandalized a Pride crosswalk in Washington state.

These crimes have coincided with the introduction of at least 510 anti-LGBTQ+ bills nationwide by Republican legislators over the last year. More than 30 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have gone into effect in 2024, fewer than the 84 enacted in 2023, according to Human Rights Watch. The bills have predominantly targeted transgender youth, gender-affirming care, and LGBTQ+-inclusive policies in local schools. Concurrently, right-wingers have falsely vilified queer people and allies as “groomers” looking to “indoctrinate” and “sexualize” children.

In May, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued warnings about possible threats against Pride events carried out by foreign terrorist organizations. The State Department issued similar warnings during the same month.

In April 2023, the Leadership Conference Education Fund (LCEF), a national civil rights group, warned that hate crimes would likely spike during the 2024 presidential election, just as they have during each of the last four presidential elections. 

To help counteract such violence during the upcoming election season, the LCEF asked public officials to refrain from and speak out against hate speech. The LCEF also suggested that social media platforms invest in content moderation teams to de-platform sources of hate — even if those sources are political candidates or advertisements.

Additionally, the LCEF said that the federal government should confront and address white supremacist violence through existing civil rights infrastructure and not through federal anti-terrorism agencies, which have historically criminalized already marginalized communities.

A completed draft Texas Republican Party platform refers to homosexuality as “an abnormal lifestyle choice,” gender-affirming care as “child abuse,” and Drag Queen Story Hour as “predatory sexual behavior.” The platform has been voted on by state party delegates and will be formally adopted on Wednesday after a final vote count.

The list of state party priorities calls for an end to legal same-sex marriages, same-sex parenting, all LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination laws, all transgender rights — including gender-affirming care for children and adults — a ban on LGBTQ+ content in schools and libraries, the defunding of all diversity-equity-inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and legal protections for anyone who discriminates against queer people based on “religious or moral beliefs.”

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Furthermore, the Texas GOP platform calls for a complete end to all of the following: pornography, federal welfare programs, minimum wage laws, mandatory sick or family leave policies, net neutrality, removal of Confederate monuments, pro-immigrant sanctuary cities, public education of undocumented children, no-fault divorce, non-abstinence sex education, abortion, birthright citizenship, professorial tenure in colleges and universities, cannabis legalization, anti-climate change legislation, contact tracing for the tracking of communicable diseases, federal regulations ensuring safe farm food production, and U.S. participation in the United Nations and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). 

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The platform also calls for fertilized human egg cells to be legally recognized as people, the passage of a “state electoral college-style” law that would make it nearly impossible for Democrats to win statewide office, a ballot measure for Texas to secede from the United States, the invalidation of all federal laws not approved of by county sheriffs, and for Christianity to be inserted into public schools and government buildings.

“We believe the Obergefell v. Hodges decision, overturning the Texas law prohibiting same-sex marriage in Texas, has no basis in the Constitution and should be nullified. We support the definition of marriage as a God-ordained, legal, and moral covenant only between one biological man and one biological woman,” says the platform, which was voted on by party delegates last Friday.

“Homosexuality is an abnormal lifestyle choice,” it continues. “No one should be granted special legal status based on their LGBTQ+ identification…. We are opposed to same-sex parenting, intentionally subjecting a child to the loss of their biological father or mother, and other non-traditional definitions of family.”

“We oppose all efforts to validate transgender identity,” it adds. “There shall be no attempt to engage in so-called ‘gender affirming’ medical or mental health intervention for persons between the ages of 18 and 26,” including the use of names and pronouns associated with trans people’s genders. The platform would require health insurance companies covering gender-affirming care to also fully fund de-transitional procedures.

The platform says that any professionals who aid a minor’s gender transition in any way should face professional, civil, and criminal penalties, as well as lawsuits from anyone affected by their behavior. Furthermore, it calls for all gender-segregated facilities in prisons, schools, and government buildings to only be accessible to people based on their biological sex assigned at birth.

“We support affirmation of God, including prayer, the Bible, and the Ten Commandments being returned to our schools, courthouses, and other government buildings,” the platform notes. “All persons and legal entities have the right of conscience and shall be protected under Texas law if they conscientiously object to participate in practices that conflict with their moral or religious beliefs.”

The law calls for increased taxpayer funding of homeschooling, private, and charter schools while opposing any government oversight of them. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has used anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric to push for these school privatization policies. Critics say these policies look to defund public schools while benefitting students from wealthier families.

The platform also calls for the state to ignore any federal laws or rules that conflict with state laws. This would include new rules on Title IX and Title VII that forbid anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in workplaces and schools. Texas is one of 13 Republican-led states suing the administration of President Joe Biden over these rules. 

It also calls for laws prohibiting the exposure of minors to “social transitioning” (that is, exploration of a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth), “predatory sexual behaviors” like Drag Queen Story Hour, and “the desensitization of children to sexual topics.”

However, federal courts have blocked Texas’s law prohibiting children at drag events as a violation of the First Amendment’s right to free speech and assembly. Furthermore, a federal court has also blocked a Texas state law requiring booksellers to rate titles based on their sexual and LGBTQ+ content. Laws defunding DEI initiatives have also disrupted LGBTQ+-inclusive training, advocacy centers, and awareness campaigns in schools and businesses, raising other free-speech concerns.

Though Republicans have controlled the state legislature and governorship for two decades, the party has still struggled to pass the key priorities in its platform, The Texas Tribune noted.

Police in Indianapolis have identified a 12th body buried on the estate of now-deceased wealthy Republican businessman Herbert Baumeister, a closeted gay man who is believed to have murdered over 20 men and boys that he met in Indianapolis gay bars during the mid-1980s and ’90s.

DNA and forensic genetic genealogy testing helped police determine that a bone found on Baumeister’s 18-acre Fox Hollow Farm estate in Westfield belonged to Jeffrey Jones. Jones lived in Fillmore, Indiana — a city located 63 miles southwest of Westfield — when he mysteriously disappeared in 1993. A team of law enforcement and forensic investigators identified Jones’ remains using DNA samples and bone fragments, Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison said.

“Because many of the remains were found burnt and crushed, this investigation is extremely challenging; however, the team of law enforcement and forensic specialists working the case remain committed. A special thanks goes to the very talented and hardworking people at the FBI, Indiana State Police Laboratory, Dr. Krista Latham of the Biology & Anthropology Department at the University of Indianapolis, and DNA experts from Texas based Othram Laboratory.” said Coroner Jellison.

“Because many of the remains were found burnt and crushed, this investigation is extremely challenging,” Jellison wrote in a May 21 Facebook post. Jellison said that four additional DNA profiles have not yet been identified but will be sent to the FBI for genetic genealogy investigation.

The effort to identify the victims has been complicated by the fact that many of the bones recovered from the Baumeister’s estate had been burned or crushed, “probably the two worst things that you can do to remains,” Jellison said.

Baumeister was a married father of three and the founder of the local Sav-A-Lot thrift stores that made him wealthy. His wife of 25 years said that she and Baumeister only had sex six times during their marriage and that she never saw him nude. In 1994, his 13-year-old son found a partly buried human skeleton on the estate, but Baumeister said the cadaver had belonged to his father who was a doctor.

In the early 1990s, when Indiana State Police began investigating the murders of gay men who had last been seen at Indianapolis gay bars, one man identified Baumeister as a person who nearly suffocated him to death during a sexual encounter at Baumeister’s estate. Concerned about Baumeister’s increasingly erratic behavior, Baumeister’s wife allowed police to search the family’s estate while he was out of town.

Police initially found evidence of 11 bodies on the estate’s grounds and issued a warrant for his arrest. In response, Baumeister lethally shot himself in the head at Pinery Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada.

Police also suspect that Baumeister may have been the “I-70 Strangler,” a serial murderer who dumped his naked or partially clothed victims’ bodies near Interstate 70 during the late 1980s. Though the serial killings remain officially unsolved, in April 1999, police named Baumeister as their prime suspect in the case, noting that bodies stopped appearing on the interstate after Baumeister purchased his estate in 1991. Baumeister’s victims ranged in age from 14 to 45.

Jellison said that he found it “unacceptable” that human remains have been sitting on a shelf for decades without being identified. “These remains represent people. These people are someone’s son, someone’s brother, someone’s father. They’re not just a box of bones. They’re people and we have to pursue it,” he said.

This week, Congress will replace a statue of a white supremacist with one of a queerphobe… and its unveiling ceremony on Thursday will likely be attended by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R), who has ties to anti-LGBTQ+ Christian nationalists.

A statue of influential anti-LGBTQ+ evangelical Christian Rev. Billy Graham statue will replace one of former North Carolina Gov. Charles Aycock (D). Aycock was an early 20th-century education advocate and slave owner who sought to permanently disenfranchise and subjugate Black voters. He said Black people contributed nothing to society, despite America’s wealth being built on the backs of unpaid Black labor.

The 7-foot-tall bronze statue of Graham will depict him gesturing toward an open Bible in his hand. Its base will have an inscription of two Bible verses that highlight his evangelistic ministry — John 3:16 and John 4:16 — the Associated Press reported. The $650,000 statue was paid for by The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

The statue will be installed as part of the Capitol’s National Statuary Hall Collection. Its installation occurred, in part, because of a 2015 bill approved by North Carolina’s General Assembly asking for Graham to replace Aycock. Such replacements occur occasionally.

Graham — who had the rare honor of having his body lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda when he died in 2018 at the age of 99 — considered homosexuality to be a “sinister form of perversion” and AIDS as an anti-gay punishment from God (though he later walked back the latter comment).

He also mixed fire-and-brimstone faith and politics that paved the way for the religious right’s increased influence in mainstream politics. The powerful evangelical coalition that he helped create has only grown increasingly anti-LGBTQ+ over time.

“We traffic in homosexuality at the peril of our spiritual welfare,” Graham once said. In 2012, he urged North Carolina voters to support a ballot measure to ban same-sex marriage. He also once told then-President Richard Nixon that the media is run by Jews, adding, “This stranglehold [that Jews have] has got to be broken or this country is going down the drain.”

In addition to Johnson, the statue’s unveiling ceremony will be attended by other Republicans and some of Graham’s family members. Graham’s son, Franklin Graham, took over his father’s ministry and has made it much more actively anti-LGBTQ+.

Not only does Johnson have many deep ties to the anti-LGBTQ+ Christian Nationalist movement, but he also worked for the anti-LGBTQ+ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). While there, he argued that gay sex should be illegal. He has said that same-sex marriage will lead to “chaos and sexual anarchy,” people trying to marry their pets, and “pedophiles” seeking legal protections for having sex with kids. He has also said, “Homosexual relationships are inherently unnatural… ultimately harmful and costly for everyone” and that America is “dark and depraved” because there are too many LGBTQ+ people. He’s also a proponent of debunked attempts to turn gay people straight.