National
Obama campaign courts LGBT support
Donors large and small respond to marriage support
President Obama’s endorsement of marriage rights for same-sex couples has generated a wave of enthusiasm among LGBT people, and while many major donors maxed out their contributions to his campaign prior to the announcement, anecdotal evidence suggests an increase in smaller donations from LGBT supporters who might not be as politically engaged.
Andy Tobias, who’s gay and treasurer of the Democratic National Committee, said supporters had already made significant contributions to the campaign before Obama announced that he had completed his 19-month evolution on same-sex marriage. According to a report in The Advocate, Tobias has raised more than $500,000 as a bundler for the Obama campaign as of late last year.
“Recognizing how much is at stake, the community was already very generous,” Tobias said. “This just added to the enthusiasm.”
Kevin Jennings (official Education Department photo)
Kevin Jennings, who’s gay and formerly headed the Education Department’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, similarly said he saw only a few new donations after the president’s announcement, noting many Obama supporters had already given all they could. The Advocate report says Jennings raised between $50,000 and $100,000 for the campaign as of late last year.
“Because the president already had a strong record of accomplishment on LGBT issues, many of those who donated in 2008 … had already given (in many cases, the maximum amount) by the time of the president’s announcement,” Jennings said. “But I did see a number of new donors jump in — one who told me he gave online with tears running down his face — as well as folks who had not yet given the maximum, but had given something, add to what they had already given.”
Individuals can donate a maximum of $5,000 to a presidential campaign, which can be split between the primary and the general election. But donors can also contribute $30,800 a year to any given national committee and up to $10,000 a year to the “federal account” of state party committees.
Bruce Bastian, a gay Orem, Utah-based philanthropist known for giving to LGBT causes, said he couldn’t legally donate any more money to the Obama campaign after the president came out in support of same-sex marriage. Bastian was among the attendees at a $35,800-a-plate LGBT fundraiser for Obama that took place in D.C. in February and raised $1.4 million for the president.
“I have already contributed to Obama’s campaign as much as I can,” Bastian said. “I am very excited and pleased that the president came out in clear support of marriage equality for all Americans, but it didn’t change my mind in how I support him or to what extent I will support him. I think it is extremely important for the LGBT community to do everything we can to get Obama re-elected.”
The Obama campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment on how Obama’s support for same-sex marriage affected LGBT donations, but two weeks after the announcement on Wednesday, the campaign unveiled a new initiative, titled “Obama Pride: LGBT Americans for Obama,” which aims to integrate LGBT supporters into the campaign as Pride month approaches.
Obama Pride: LGBT Americans for Obama is set to launch with trainings, phone banks and house parties in a number of states including Pennsylvania, Colorado, Nevada and Michigan — which are seen as battleground states in the general election. As part of the effort, the campaign launched the website lgbt.barackobama.com.
Additionally, the White House is set to host a reception celebrating Pride month on June 15. The Obama administration has held Pride celebrations in each of the previous three years of his term. Obama traditionally speaks to attendees at the event, and will likely capitalize on his announcement in support of marriage equality as he addresses LGBT attendees.
While many major donors may have maxed out their contributions to the Obama campaign, anecdotal evidence suggests that Obama’s announcement in favor of same-sex marriage prompted individuals who tend to make smaller donations to open their wallets.
Tommy Rossman, a gay 39-year-old D.C. resident and human resources management systems coordinator, said he donated $100 to the Obama campaign after the president made the announcement, and had donated $300 to the campaign before Obama came out in support of same-sex marriage.
“Basically, I was just excited that he finally did it, and I wanted to make sure that since he took a risk politically to do it, that I’m doing my part to help him out as well,” Rossman said. “There are so many people — especially with progressives and with gays in general — that have really screamed loudly for him to do it and, again, I just want them to jump on board.”
Dan Ingram, 22, a gay Madison, Wis., health care software specialist, said he donated $30 one week after the announcement because he thought the move was politically courageous in the wake of the passage of a constitutional same-sex marriage ban in North Carolina and the failure of civil unions legislation in Colorado.
“It seems like the politically smart thing to do would have been to stick with his ‘evolution’ thing that he was pitching for a while, which, I think, a lot of liberal people took as code that he’s going to come out for it, but he’s waiting to get re-elected,” Ingram said. “With how those votes went, that might have still been the politically safer bet to make, so, for me, it was a really principled move by him to say that.”
Ingram said he’d donated multiple times to the president’s 2008 campaign, but his donation this month marks the first time he gave to Obama’s re-election bid.
David Wells, a gay 47-year-old D.C. resident and a self-employed software consultant, said he donated $100 to the president about 10 minutes after he endorsed same-sex marriage.
“Over the course of his first term, I kind of felt like he wasn’t doing anything, and lately he’s been coming back around to the LGBT community,” Wells said. “When he finally came out for this, I was like, ‘OK, I’m back in.'”
Other LGBT supporters of Obama have launched larger efforts to encourage other LGBT donors to give to the campaign. Lane Hudson, a gay D.C. Democratic activist, set up a page on the Obama campaign’s website and made an initial contribution of $500. The page had raised $10,000 within 24 hours of the president’s announcement. As of Wednesday, the page had raised $13,088 for the campaign.
“For me, it was a game changer because people like me have spent the last three-and-a-half years — and also the year before during the campaign — to make the case that it was important for our political leaders to court full civil equality,” Hudson said. “That’s what happened when he made this announcement. It really completed an evolution to a position that we need to get all people in all public office to hold.”
CLARIFICATION: The article has been updated to state more clearly that the reason Bruce Bastian couldn’t donate any more to Obama’s campaign is because he’s already reached the legal limit.
Hungary
Vance speaks at Orbán rally in Hungary
Anti-LGBTQ prime minister trailing ahead of April 12 vote
Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday urged Hungarians to support Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in the country’s April 12 elections.
“We have got to get Viktor Orbán re-elected as prime minister of Hungary,” Vance told Orbán supporters who gathered at Budapest’s MTK Sportpark.
Vance and Orbán on Tuesday met before they held a press conference in Budapest. Orbán also spoke at the rally.
The U.S. vice president after he took to the stage called President Donald Trump, who told the crowd he is “a big fan of Viktor” and is “with him all the way.” Vance, as he did during Tuesday’s press conference with Orbán, criticized the European Union.
“We want you to make a decision about your future with no outside forces pressuring you or telling you what to do. I’m not telling you exactly who to vote for, but what I am telling you is that the bureaucrats in Brussels, those people should not be listened to,” said Vance. “Listen to your hearts, listen to your souls, and listen to the sovereignty of the Hungarian people.”
Vance in his speech noted “across the West, we’ve got a small band of radicals” who, among other things, “condemn children to mutilization and sterilization in the name of gender care.” Vance also criticized a “far-left ideology given quarter in university circles, in the media, and in our entertainment industry, and increasingly among bureaucrats on both sides of the Atlantic.”
Vice President JD Vance speaks at MTK Sportpark in Budapest, Hungary, on April 7, 2026
Orbán has been in office since 2010. He and his Fidesz-KDNP coalition government have faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
A Hungarian activist with whom the Washington Blade previously spoke said it is “impossible to change your gender legally in Hungary” because of a 2020 law that “banned legal gender recognition of transgender and intersex people.” Hungarian MPs the same year effectively prohibited same-sex couples from adopting children and defined marriage in the country’s constitution as between a man and a woman.
The European Commission in 2022 sued Hungary, which is a member of the EU, over the country’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law.
Hungarian lawmakers in March 2025 passed a bill that banned Pride events and allowed authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify those who participate in them. MPs later amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.
Upwards of 100,000 people last June defied the ban and marched in Budapest’s annual Pride parade.
Polls indicate Orbán is trailing Péter Magyar and his center-right Tisza party ahead of the April 12 election. Vance at Tuesday’s rally told Orbán supporters that he and Trump “want you to make a decision about your future with no outside forces pressuring you or telling you what to do.”
“I’m not telling you exactly who to vote for, but what I am telling you is that the bureaucrats in Brussels, those people should not be listened to,” said Vance. “Listen to your hearts, listen to your souls, and listen to the sovereignty of the Hungarian people.”
“Unlike some of the leadership of Brussels, I’m not threatening you or telling you that we’re going to withhold funds to which you’re legally entitled,” he added. “You will make the decision about Hungary’s future.”
Magyar on Tuesday appeared to dismiss Vance’s comments.
“No foreign country may interfere in Hungarian elections. This is our country. Hungarian history is not written in Washington, Moscow, or Brussels — it is written in Hungary’s streets and squares,” said Magyar on his X account.
The White House
White House ends protections for trans students in multiple school districts
Cape Henlopen School District in Delaware among administration’s targets
The Department of Education has terminated agreements with five school districts and a college aimed at protecting the rights of transgender students, backtracking requirements made in prior administrations, according to the Associated Press.
Allowing the reversal of these federal obligations removes formerly mandatory measures, including faculty training on responding to a student’s preferred name and pronouns, and policies allowing trans children to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
This policy change is a major shift from past democratic-led administrations, and will impact Delaware Valley School District in Pennsylvania, Sacramento City Unified School District in California, Cape Henlopen School District in Delaware, Fife School District in Washington, and La Mesa-Spring Valley School District, as well as Taft College in California.
Delaware Valley School District received notice from the Trump-Vance administration in February and has since voted to roll back anti-discrimination protections. Other schools, like Sacramento City Unified School District, said the change in minimum protections a district must offer will not affect their policies because it “remains committed to the support of our LGBTQ+ students and staff.”
This is part of a wider wave of anti-trans actions taken by the Trump-Vance administration. This White House has penalized schools attempting to accommodate students’ gender identity, filed lawsuits in California and Minnesota over state policies allowing trans students to participate in interscholastic sports, and opened civil rights investigations into multiple schools and universities over their policies on trans students.
Kimberly Richey, the Department of Education’s Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, said the action underscored the administration’s efforts to prevent trans students from participating in girls’ and women’s sports teams and accessing shared locker rooms.
“Today, the Trump administration is removing the unnecessary and unlawful burdens that prior administrations imposed on schools in its relentless pursuit of a radical transgender agenda,” she said in a written statement.
According to the AP, this is just one instance of the administration rescinding civil rights protections in education. Last year, the Department of Education terminated two agreements: one involving the removal of books from a school library in Georgia, and another addressing harsh discipline and unequal education opportunities for Native students in the Rapid City Area School District in South Dakota.
Shiwali Patel, the senior director of education justice at the National Women’s Law Center, issued a statement in response to the removal of protections for trans students, saying the rollback will negatively impact all students — not just trans ones.
“There is absolutely no basis for what the Department of Education is doing, and it is unimaginably cruel. Title IX exists to ensure that students are protected from discrimination and treated with dignity so that they can learn and thrive in our schools,” Patel said. “It’s what students, families, lawmakers, and advocates fought for when Title IX was passed decades ago. But the Trump administration’s Department of Education has spent its limited resources to strip Title IX of that very purpose.”
She continued, highlighting the issues that will arise from the agreement removals in schools.
“Real complaints of discrimination and sexual assault are going unanswered by the Department of Education while conservative lawmakers continue to escalate their attacks on a small minority of students,” the nationally recognized Title IX expert and advocacy leader for gender-based harassment added. “Parents, teachers, and students need the Department to focus on addressing real harms on campuses instead of rolling back policies that keep all students safe.”
The schools that had their agreements terminated vary, but stem from the same issue: treating trans students with the same protections from harassment as their cisgender peers.
In 2023, Taft College, a community college in California’s Central Valley, became one of the few schools to settle a case with the Department of Education’s Civil Rights Office after a student accused faculty of discrimination, including refusing to use the student’s preferred pronouns. The college agreed to faculty training on Title IX protections and revised its policies to clarify that refusing to use a person’s preferred name and pronoun can constitute harassment.
The now-canceled agreement with Sacramento City Unified School District stemmed from a 2022 complaint brought by a student after a teacher refused to use the student’s preferred pronouns and/or refused to allow the male-identifying student to work in a boys’ group for a class activity. The 2024 resolution agreement had mandated training for employees on civil rights law, sexual harassment, and how to handle formal complaints.
Under a settlement the Delaware Valley School District reached with the Obama-Biden administration, the district was required to permit students to use bathrooms aligned with their gender identity. In February, the Trump-Vance administration sent the district a letter rescinding the settlement and requiring the rollback of antidiscrimination protections for trans students. The school board voted in late March to change its policies accordingly.
This move is part of a broader pattern of anti-trans actions from the White House since Trump returned to office.
In addition to restricting protections in federally funded education spaces, the administration has attempted to end trans girls’ and women’s participation in sports competitions and has sued states that have not complied. It has also blocked trans and nonbinary people from choosing sex markers on passports and attempted to stop those under 19 from receiving gender-affirming medical care.
South Carolina
Man faces first S.C. ‘hate intimidation’ charge
Timothy Truett allegedly shot at gay club in Myrtle Beach on April 1
A South Carolina man remains in custody on a more than $300,000 bond after he allegedly opened fire at a Myrtle Beach nightclub on April 1, according to WMBF.
Reports say 37-year-old Timothy James Truett Jr., of Clover, S.C., was detained by the Myrtle Beach Police Department after the April 1 incident outside Pulse Ultra Club. He was later arrested and charged with possession of a weapon during a violent crime, discharging a firearm into a dwelling, discharging a firearm within city limits, malicious injury to real property valued over $5,000, and assault or intimidation due to political opinions or the exercise of civil rights.
At 10:57 a.m. on April 1, officers responded to a call about a possible shooting at Pulse Ultra Club, located in the 2700 block of South Kings Highway.
In an affidavit released later, the club’s owner, Ken Phillips, said he was doing paperwork that morning when he heard “five or six” gunshots. He went outside and found a window and the windshield of his SUV shattered by bullets. An SUV with blue plastic covering one window was left at the scene.
Police later reviewed footage that showed a silver vehicle stopping in the middle of the road. The video appeared to capture muzzle flashes coming from the passenger-side window.
According to the affidavit, an officer later pulled over a vehicle driven by Truett and found spent shell casings in the back seat, along with a gun.
Documents do not detail why Truett was ultimately charged under the state law covering assault or intimidation tied to political opinions or the exercise of civil rights.
As of April 1, records show Truett is being held in Horry County on a combined bond of more than $312,000.
WMBF spoke with Phillips after the incident and asked whether there was any prior conflict that might have led to the shooting.
“I don’t know if it’s personal, I don’t know if it’s related to being gay, I don’t know if it’s related to the bar issues,” Phillips told WMBF. “Anybody with a mindset of pulling out a weapon in broad daylight is not right.”
“My primary concern has and always will be the safety of my community and my customers,” he added. “It’s given me great concern … as to how far people will go.”
WMBF also spoke with Adam Hayes, vice chair of Myrtle Beach’s Human Rights Coalition, who was involved in pushing for the ordinance. He said that while the incident itself is troubling, it shows the policy is being put to use.
The ordinance is intended to deter “crimes that are motivated by bias or hate towards any person or persons, in whole or in part, because of the actual or perceived” identity, in the absence of a statewide hate crime law.
“It’s nice to see that something we put into policy is not just a piece of paper, that it’s actually being used,” said Hayes.
He said the shooting underscores the need for a statewide hate crime law in South Carolina and added that the incident has left the local LGBTQ community shaken.
South Carolina and Wyoming are the only two states in the U.S. without a comprehensive statewide hate crime law.
Truett remains in jail as of publication.
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White House ends protections for trans students in multiple school districts
Amendments to India’s transgender rights law criticized
Cuba under pressure and without answers
Belarusian lawmakers approve bill to crackdown on LGBTQ rights
How new barriers to health care coverage are hitting D.C.
Kenyan advocacy groups launch LGBTQ voter mobilization campaign
Calendar: April 3-9
