Patrick Kelleher

Kamala Harris’ chief of staff has been named as Karine Jean-Pierre, a proud Black lesbian and political heavyweight.

Jean-Pierre is a Haitian-American political campaigner, activist and lecturer who has worked on presidential campaigns for John Edwards, Martin O’Malley and former US president Barack Obama.

The political powerhouse was announced as the chief of staff to the vice presidential candidate yesterday (August 11) just hours before it was announced that Harris was officially on the ticket. She becomes the first Black person to serve as chief of staff to a vice presidential candidate.

Confirming the news on Twitter, Jean-Pierre said she was “incredibly proud” to be working to elect Biden and Harris.

“Let’s go!” she added.

Kamala Harris’ chief of staff Karine Jean-Pierre is a powerful LGBT+ advocate.

Karine Jean-Pierre has long been a vocal advocate for LGBT+ rights and equality.ADVERTISING

She is well-known as a political pundit thanks to appearances on NBC News and MSNBC.

Jean-Pierre served as national public affairs officer for progressive policy advocacy group MoveOn, and briefly went viral in June 2019 when, during a campaign event, she protected Kamala Harris from a stage invader.

In 2011 she spoke about her experiences working in politics as an openly gay woman.

Shortly after she left her position in the Obama administration, she told The Advocate: “What’s been wonderful is that I was not the only; I was one of many.

“President Obama didn’t hire LGBT staffers, he hired experienced individuals who happen to be LGBT.

“Serving and working for president Obama where you can be openly gay has been an amazing honour.

“It felt incredible to be a part of an administration that priorities LGBT issues,” she added.

My daughter is going to ask me, ‘What were you doing?’

Jean-Pierre shares a daughter, Soleil, with her partner, CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux. She has credited Soleil with keeping her in politics after the disappointment of Donald Trump’s 2016 election win.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do after Hilary lost,” she told Shondaland.

“At that time, my daughter was two and the only president she knew was Obama, she’s even met him a few times. But when she’s 12, or whenever she learns about the president and wonders how this man got elected, she’s going to ask me, ‘What were you doing at the time?’

“And I want her to know that I fought and worked for an organisation that mobilised hundreds and thousands of people to do calls to actions and to get involved. I want her to know that I didn’t say silent.”

Harris ‘honoured’ to join Biden’s ticket as the vice-presidential candidate.

Harris was confirmed as Biden’s running mate yesterday following months of speculation about who would round out the Democratic ticket.

The decision makes Harris the first Black woman and the first Asian-American to run on a major party’s presidential ticket, despite the fact that she and Biden were briefly fierce rivals for the Democratic nomination.

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“I have the great honour to announce that I’ve picked Kamala Harris — a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants — as my running mate,” Biden tweeted Tuesday (August 11).

He went on to note that Harris had worked closely with his late son, Beau, during her stint as California’s attorney general.

“I watched as they took on the big banks, lifted up working people, and protected women and kids from abuse,” he continued.

“I was proud then, and I’m proud now to have her as my partner in this campaign.”

Harris tweeted: “Joe Biden can unify the American people because he’s spent his life fighting for us. And as president, he’ll build an America that lives up to our ideals.

“I’m honoured to join him as our party’s nominee for vice president, and do what it takes to make him our commander-in-chief.”

The Human Rights Campaign was one of many groups to congratulate Harris, tweeting: “This fall, we have the opportunity to vote for the most historic, pro-equality ticket in history.”

A grandfather who came out as gay at 90 has told other older people who are in the closet that it’s “never too late” to be their authentic selves.

Kenneth Felts kept his sexuality hidden all his life, but that changed when memories of his first love flooded back as he sat down to write a memoir earlier this year.

He went on to come out to his lesbian daughter before revealing his sexuality to the world.

Now, he is urging other older LGBT+ people to consider coming out of the closet.

“I know I’m in an unusual position and I just came out just like that,” Felts told USA Today.

“I hadn’t even planned on it or no, nothing, but I would think that if a person is contemplating coming out, they first need to check on what support systems are available to them.”

Gay grandfather Kenneth Felts discovered the LGBT+ community is full of love.

He said he has been heartened by the wave of love and support he was met with when he came out as gay, and told other older queer people that they should expect the same.

“It’s amazing how much love there is out in the community,” he said.

“And they’re going to share it with you. They’re going to pour it on you by the bucket full.

“I got memo after memo telling me how they are supporting me and they love me. Never expected that. I didn’t expect any kind of response like I’ve been getting.67 Colorized Photos Captured Way More Than ExpectedPromoted by History Daily

“And so I think other people will kind of have the same experience that they might be surprised just how many people support them.”

He concluded: “It’s never too late to come out.”

I got memo after memo telling me how they are supporting me and they love me.

Kenneth Felts also opened up about the moment he and his old flame Phillip “hit it off real good” when they were working together.

The pair started “going out for coffee” and then stated dating, before they moved in together.

The couple lived in bliss for nine or 10 months, but the relationship crumbled one Sunday morning when they visited a church.

Felts’ “Christian values” came back to him and he began to wonder if what he was doing was really OK.

Their relationship lasted just one more month, before Felts decided to live as a straight man.

“And I left and have actually been kind of looking for Phillip ever since then.”

His first love Phillip had already passed away by the time Kenneth tracked him down.

Heartbreakingly, Felts’ search for Phillip ended in tragedy last month when he finally tracked him down, only to discover that he had already passed away.

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He told Newsweek in July that a woman who lived on the East Coast contacted him in an effort to track down his first love.

“But she discovered a week or so ago that he had passed away around two years ago. So it’s very difficult and very painful,” Felts said at the time.

“To me, he died less than two weeks ago. I posted what I felt was an obituary for him online and people have been overwhelmingly supportive, saying how sorry they are that I missed seeing him.

“But it still hurts.”

The heartbroken 90-year-old added: “In all the relationships I’ve had since Phillip, nothing has ever measured up to him, and I don’t anticipate that anything ever will.”

He said he is “more concerned” with the “quiet aspects of a relationship” such as holding hands and “being close”.

“I’d like to have a boyfriend; companionship and somebody there when the days get longer,” he wrote.

The Republican Party in North Dakota has been condemned by a raft of party officials after it published vile and offensive remarks about the LGBT+ community.

In the party’s extended policy platform, they claimed that LGBT+ people “recruit children” and “prey” on women.

The policy document refers to bills that would advance LGBT+ rights as “SOGI bills”, meaning “sexual orientation and gender identity” bills.

It also argues that advancements in LGBT+ rights would impact adversely on the rights of straight and cisgender people – an argument queer people hear far too often — and goes on to make wildly offensive statements about the queer community without citing any evidence to back up their claims.

LGBT+ ‘practices’ are ‘unhealthy and dangerous’, according to the Republican Party in North Dakota.

“The Republican Party of North Dakota recognises that arbitrary discrimination is best sorted out in the free market which is invariably unforgiving in instances of unwarranted discrimination,” the platform says.

It then claims that LGBT+ identities – or “compulsions”, as they’re described – are “developed” rather than being genetic.

“SOGI laws empower those practicing LGBT behaviours to assume positions of mentorships of minors often over objection to parents influencing their emotions and thereby recruiting for their lifestyles,” it adds.

It goes on to say that legislative advancements in LGBT+ rights will be used to “attack religious freedom, free speech and livelihood of others”.

“Many LGBT practices are unhealthy and dangerous, sometimes endangering or shortening life and sometimes infecting society at large,” it adds.

“Therefore, be it resolved: The Republican Party of North Dakota opposes the passage of legislation which adds sexual orientation and gender identity to our century code as protected classes.”

Many LGBT practices are unhealthy and dangerous, sometimes endangering or shortening life and sometimes infecting society at large.

The document has been condemned by both Republican and Democrat lawmakers, as well as Republican governor of North Dakota Doug Burgum.

“As I’ve long said, all North Dakotans deserve to be treated equally and live free of discrimination,” he wrote on Twitter Thursday (July 23).

“There’s no place for the hurtful and divisive rhetoric in the NDGOP resolutions. We can respect one another’s freedoms without disrespecting or discriminating against the LGBT members of our state and our party, whom we support.”

North Dakota GOP regrets causing ‘any offence’ – but falls short of apologising.

Corby Kemmer, the executive director of the North Dakota GOP, said in a statement that they regret causing offence.

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“We regret any offence this may have caused, and we will be reconsidering this resolution at a future meeting to bring it more in line with what delegates were attempting to communicate,” he said.

Democrat Josh Boschee, a gay man, told InForum said the arguments put forward in the resolution are harmful and give the state a bad name.

“Statements like this by the majority party don’t help when it comes to workforce recruitment or retaining the students we educate for 12 to 16 years,” he said.

“We see a lot of people leave the state because of bigotry like that.”

Meanwhile, Republican representative Thomas Beadle, who is running for state treasurer, lashed out at the anti-LGBT+ language on Twitter.

He said the party should be “welcoming to others, not discriminatory against people for how god made them”.

Republican senators Ray Holmberg, Curt Kreun and Scott Meyer said in a letter on Wednesday (July 22) that they stand with the LGBT+ community and would try to change the party.

US representative Kelly Armstrong said the party needs to do “a lot better”and must wipe out “hateful and divisive rhetoric”.

Students at the University of North Texas (UNT) are trying to get a “Young Conservatives” group banned from campus due to “racism, transphobia and homophobia”.

The Young Conservatives of Texas is a state-wide organisation that has chapters in 20 universities.

A petition calling for the group to be removed from campus has already received more than 2,600 signatures.

Ryan Semegran, president of the university’s LGBT+ alliance organisation GLAD UNT, was one of the students who started the petition.

Semegran told PinkNews that they want the Young Conservatives chapter removed from campus due to “blatant homophobia, transphobia, and racism” towards students.

The petition links to a tweet posted by the UNT chapter of Young Conservatives in September of 2019 that said: “Pronouns in your twitter bio isn’t a personality trait”.

During the same month, the group told UNT GLAD in a since-deleted tweet that their group was based on “having HIV”.

In October of last year, the group tweeted: “It’s #NationalComingOutDay so come to the fountain mall today at 12pm to come out as a conservative – and get snacks.”

Semegran’s petition said the tweet “dismissed the countless LGBT+ individuals who bravely come out and publicly express their gender identity and sexual orientation”.

The students have also accused the group of racism over a bake sale in 2016where the price list charged people different amounts based on their gender and ethnicity.

LGBT+ students and people of colour are being made to feel ‘unsafe’ by Young Conservatives at the Texas university.

“UNT is a minority serving university that prides itself on its diversity and inclusivity but seems to turn a blind eye when those minority students feel unsafe on campus with an organisation like Young Conservatives of Texas there,” Semegran said.

“They claim we are attacking their conservative values when it isn’t that at all. We are speaking out against their blatant hateful actions that they do not take accountability for.”

Semegran said the Young Conservatives group is a hate group disguised as a conservative organisation.

“Students of colour, queer students and international students go to find refuge at universities like UNT,” they added.

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“It champions freedom of speech; however under UNT’s own policy, this is not applicable to hateful speech that makes students feel unsafe or is strenuous on their health/wellbeing.”

Semegran said they have received “countless testimonies” from queer students, past and present, as well as their family members, claiming that they have been made to feel unsafe on campus by the Young Conservatives group.

LGBT+ students should feel safe to be who they are without being harassed online or on campus grounds. It’s basic human decency.

“If this is how a group thinks they can act towards the LGBT+ community and to people of colour on campus, this is probably how they are going to act once they are out of college.”

Semegran said the comments made by the UNT chapter of the Young Conservatives about the LGBT+ community and about people of colour have been “downright scary”.

“At the end of the day this is ultimately a campus safety issue,” Semegran said.

“LGBT+ students should feel safe to be who they are without being harassed online or on campus grounds. It’s basic human decency.”

PinkNews has contacted the University of North Texas, the Young Conservatives chapter at UNT and the Young Conservatives of Texas for comment.

A gay man from Massachusetts has recounted the terrifying moment he was punched by a complete stranger on his own front lawn for flying a Pride flag.

The incident occurred at the end of June when Tom Anderson and his husband Jacob put a Pride flag up outside their home, Boston25News reports.

The Taunton residents had the flag up for just an hour when a man driving past stopped, got out of the car and attacked Tom.

The attacker swore at him, called him a name and punched him in the face before getting back into his car and driving away.

The Massachusetts gay man was shocked when he was punched for putting up a Pride flag.

“I was kind of in a state of disbelief, like really, I’m in my own yard,” Tom told the local news station.

The gay man was left without his two front teeth and in need of stitches after the incident.

I was kind of in a state of disbelief, like really, I’m in my own yard.

Jacob, who witnessed the attack, said its as “definitely a hate crime just based on the words he used”.

The couple contacted police and filed a report, but the man has not yet been found. They are hoping police will be able to track down the assailant.

“I’m more worried about him getting away with it and thinking, ‘Oh this is OK to do,’” Tom said.

The couple has received gifts from friends and strangers since the incident.

The couple have been heartbroken since the attack, but the local community has rallied around them in an effort to show them that they are loved and accepted.

Tom and Jacob have received gifts from friends and strangers, with somebody even gifting them a home security system.

They originally hung the Pride flag outside their home as it was approaching the end of Pride Month – but the attack has inspired them to keep it up even longer.

“I want to just keep it up all year long now,” Tom said.

He added: “It’s not just gay people, it’s so many different people are just targeted because of who you are.”

Local police have said they are investigating the incident but the attacker has not yet been found.