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Del. Senate candidate sought to ‘cure’ gays

O’Donnell nearly beat Biden in Rehoboth area in ’08 race

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Tea Party favorite Christine O'Donnell's unexpected primary win may end up helping Democrats in November. (Photo courtesy of the candidate)

In what some political observers are calling an ironic twist, the Tea Party-backed Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Delaware, who once headed a group that called for curing homosexuality through prayer, is expected to help Democrats retain control of the Senate.

Christine O’Donnell has a record of so many odd and quirky views, including outspoken opposition to masturbation and alleged campaign finance irregularities that she is expected to lose a Senate race that the moderate GOP candidate she defeated in the Sept. 14 primary was certain to win.

That’s the assessment of both Republican and Democratic political analysts, who say O’Donnell is perceived as being outside the political mainstream and far too conservative for a moderate state like Delaware.

Gay Democratic activist Peter Schott, who heads the statewide LGBT group Delaware Stonewall Democrats, said his group will work hard to turn out LGBT voters and their straight allies to vote for Democratic nominee Chris Coons in the Senate race.

“We will not take anything for granted,” Schott said. “The key will be getting a good Democratic turnout and motivating the voters.”

Schott pointed to Delaware’s 2008 U.S. Senate election in which O’Donnell, who ran against then Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden, came within less than 300 votes of beating Biden in Sussex County, the Delaware shore area that includes Rehoboth Beach, where large numbers of gays live and vacation.

Biden soundly defeated O’Donnell by a statewide margin of 65 percent to 35 percent. His win came at a time when Delaware’s election law allowed him to run for re-election to the Senate at the same time his name was on the ballot as Barack Obama’s vice presidential running mate.

Biden resigned from the Senate after winning the vice presidency.

O’Donnell stunned the nation’s political establishment by defeating Republican Congressman Michael Castle in Delaware’s Republican primary last week. Her support from the Tea Party movement and an endorsement by Sarah Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate, have been credited with helping her secure what most viewed as an upset victory over Castle.

Coons has expressed support for LGBT equality both as a Senate candidate and in his current role as the Castle County, Del., executive. He has been endorsed by Delaware Stonewall Democrats and the Human Rights Campaign.

Castle was considered the overwhelming favorite to win the Delaware Senate seat in the general election in November. A Castle victory was expected to provide the seat needed to enable Republicans to take control of the Senate. With the Delaware seat now expected to go to Coons, Republicans are unlikely to take control of the Senate.

O’Donnell’s record of opposition to LGBT rights surfaced in the 1990s, when she founded an organization called Savior’s Alliance for Lifting the Truth, or SALT. Literature posted on the group’s website stated its mission was to “encourage young people to live a life of chastity.” Under O’Donnell’s direction, the group linked homosexuality to “sexual brokenness” that it said could be cured through prayer.

In statements made while heading the group, O’Donnell denounced masturbation as a form of adultery.

Prior to her involvement with SALT, O’Donnell appeared on a television talk show hosted by comedian and commentator Bill Mahr in which she boasted of having been involved in witchcraft. In an appearance on the Fox News Network this week O’Donnell attributed her dabbling in witchcraft to a youthful indiscretion while in high school.

In subsequent years, while taking on the role of a conservative political commentator, she questioned the use of government funds for AIDS programs. She also emerged as an outspoken opponent of legalized abortion and government funding for stem cell research.

During the Clinton administration in the 1990s, she spoke out against President Clinton’s nomination of gay philanthropist and businessman James Hormel for the post of ambassador to Luxemburg, accusing Hormel of having “ties to the pedophile rights movement.” Hormel called the allegation a complete fabrication.

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New York

Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade

One of the victims remains in critical condition

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The Stonewall National Memorial in New York on June 19, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

On Sunday night, following the annual NYC Pride March, two girls were shot in Sheridan Square, feet away from the historic Stonewall Inn.

According to an NYPD report, the two girls, aged 16 and 17, were shot around 10:15 p.m. as Pride festivities began to wind down. The 16-year-old was struck in the head and, according to police sources, is said to be in critical condition, while the 17-year-old was said to be in stable condition.

The Washington Blade confirmed with the NYPD the details from the police reports and learned no arrests had been made as of noon Monday.

The shooting took place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, mere feet away from the most famous gay bar in the city — if not the world — the Stonewall Inn. Earlier that day, hundreds of thousands of people marched down Christopher Street to celebrate 55 years of LGBTQ people standing up for their rights.

In June 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, members of the LGBTQ community pushed back, sparking what became known as the Stonewall riots. Over the course of two days, LGBTQ New Yorkers protested the discriminatory policing of queer spaces across the city and mobilized to speak out — and throw bottles if need be — at officers attempting to suppress their existence.

The following year, LGBTQ people returned to the Stonewall Inn and marched through the same streets where queer New Yorkers had been arrested, marking the first “Gay Pride March” in history and declaring that LGBTQ people were not going anywhere.

New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, whose district includes Greenwich Village, took to social media to comment on the shooting.

“After decades of peaceful Pride celebrations — this year gun fire and two people shot near the Stonewall Inn is a reminder that gun violence is everywhere,” the lesbian lawmaker said on X. “Guns are a problem despite the NRA BS.”

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New York

Zohran Mamdani participates in NYC Pride parade

Mayoral candidate has detailed LGBTQ rights platform

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NYC mayoral candidate and New York State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani (Screen capture: NBC News/YouTube)

Zohran Mamdani, the candidate for mayor of New York City who pulled a surprise victory in the primary contest last week, walked in the city’s Pride parade on Sunday.

The Democratic Socialist and New York State Assembly member published photos on social media with New York Attorney General Letitia James, telling followers it was “a joy to march in NYC Pride with the people’s champ” and to “see so many friends on this gorgeous day.”

“Happy Pride NYC,” he wrote, adding a rainbow emoji.

Mamdani’s platform includes a detailed plan for LGBTQ people who “across the United States are facing an increasingly hostile political environment.”

His campaign website explains: “New York City must be a refuge for LGBTQIA+ people, but private institutions in our own city have already started capitulating to Trump’s assault on trans rights.

“Meanwhile, the cost of living crisis confronting working class people across the city hits the LGBTQIA+ community particularly hard, with higher rates of unemployment and homelessness than the rest of the city.”

“The Mamdani administration will protect LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers by expanding and protecting gender-affirming care citywide, making NYC an LGBTQIA+ sanctuary city, and creating the Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs.”

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U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court upholds ACA rule that makes PrEP, other preventative care free

Liberal justices joined three conservatives in majority opinion

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The U.S. Supreme Court as composed June 30, 2022, to present. Front row, left to right: Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., and Associate Justice Elena Kagan. Back row, left to right: Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Photo Credit: Fred Schilling, the U.S. Supreme Court)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a portion of the Affordable Care Act requiring private health insurers to cover the cost of preventative care including PrEP, which significantly reduces the risk of transmitting HIV.

Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the majority opinion in the case, Kennedy v. Braidwood Management. He was joined by two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, along with the three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown-Jackson.

The court’s decision rejected the plaintiffs’ challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s reliance on the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force to “unilaterally” determine which types of care and services must be covered by payors without cost-sharing.

An independent all-volunteer panel of nationally recognized experts in prevention and primary care, the 16 task force members are selected by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to serve four-year terms.

They are responsible for evaluating the efficacy of counseling, screenings for diseases like cancer and diabetes, and preventative medicines — like Truvada for PrEP, drugs to reduce heart disease and strokes, and eye ointment for newborns to prevent infections.

Parties bringing the challenge objected especially to the mandatory coverage of PrEP, with some arguing the drugs would “encourage and facilitate homosexual behavior” against their religious beliefs.

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