Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Hawaii Democrat who announced last week that she will run for president in 2020, has apologized for her long history of anti-LGBTQ statements and actions.
Gabbard told CNN’s Van Jones last week that she would seek the Democratic nomination in 2020, but almost immediately after her announcement, activists started sharing Gabbard’s history with anti-gay advocacy work.
Particularly during the 1990s and 2000s, Gabbard’s political history is littered with anti-LGBTQ red flags.
While seeking the Hawaii state legislature in 2002, Gabbard told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin that working with her father, State Sen. Mike Gabbard, to pass a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage taught her “that real leaders are willing to make personal sacrifices for the common good.”
Mike Gabbard ran the Alliance for Traditional Marriage (ATM), a political action committee that worked to oppose pro-gay legislation and lawmakers, and helped pass the state’s 1998 constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
The organization labeled homosexuality an “unhealthy, abnormal behavior that should not be promoted or accepted in society,” according to CNN. In addition, ATM reportedly supported conversion therapy, a practice banned by Hawaii last year.
Gabbard herself wrote a 2000 press release for ATM which took aim at the LGBTQ activists who opposed her mother Carol’s attempts to win a seat on the state board of education, saying a “war of deception and hatred” was being waged against her mother “by homosexual activists because they know, that if elected, she will not allow them to force their values down the throats of the children in our schools.”
In 2004, while a state Representative, she opposed civil unions, taking aim at “homosexual extremists.”
“To try to act as if there is a difference between ‘civil unions’ and same-sex marriage is dishonest, cowardly and extremely disrespectful to the people of Hawaii,” Gabbard said. “As Democrats we should be representing the views of the people, not a small number of homosexual extremists.”
But in 2012, while running for Congress, Gabbard did an about-turn and apologized for her past comments.
Arguing that her military career in Hawaii’s National Guard had led to an evolution on her views, she apologized for “statements that I have made in the past that have been very divisive and even disrespectful to those within the LGBT community. I know that those comments have been hurtful and I sincerely offer my apology to you and hope that you will accept it.”
Gabbard has since supported pro-LGBTQ legislation in Congress, including co-sponsoring the Equality Act, and also switched to supporting same-sex marriage and the end of the Defense of Marriage Act.
In 2013, she joined Hawaii’s congressional delegation in supporting marriage equality in Hawaii, saying she disagreed “with a two-tiered, discriminatory government policy of ‘marriage’ and ‘civil unions,'” in a statement.
And Gabbard has apologized once more this week for her past words and actions in a statement to CNN, saying she regretted the positions she once held.
“First, let me say I regret the positions I took in the past, and the things I said,” she said. “I’m grateful for those in the LGBTQ+ community who have shared their aloha with me throughout my personal journey.
“Over the past six years in Congress, I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to help work toward passing legislation that ensures equal rights and protections on LGBTQ+ issues,” she continued, “such as the Equality Act, the repeal of DOMA, Restore Honor to Service members Act, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the Safe Schools Improvement Act and the Equality for All Resolution. Much work remains to ensure equality and civil rights protections for LGBTQ+ Americans and if elected President, I will continue to fight for equal rights for all.”
But that seems to have done little to convince those who can’t forget her record, including Hawaiian Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono, who refused to endorse Gabbard in an interview with MSNBC.
“I wish everyone well,” Hirono said. “But for myself and these times…I want someone who is very much has been on the page in terms of supporting equal opportunity, choice, all of the kinds issues that I have been fighting for for decades.”
Grindr has released its annual Grindr Unwrapped report, offering a snapshot of user trends and profile behaviors across the platform.
The report is split into two sections. The first draws on data from the gay dating app's more than 15 million monthly users, highlighting identity markers, sexual habits, fetishes, dating patterns, and connection styles.
The United States has been dubbed "Daddy Capital of the World" for the sheer number of users who tag themselves as "daddy" or list the subgroup under "My Tribes." Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Canada follow close behind.
Every December, Grindr releases Grindr Unwrapped, an annual report drawing on data from its more than 15 million monthly users to reveal what LGBTQ people consider culturally relevant and how they behave on the app -- from pop-culture tastes to sexual habits, fetishes, and hookup styles.
"With Grindr Unwrapped, you get to see the real diversity in sexual activity, sexual desire, sexual appeal, and see some of the things that are more universal and some that differ culturally between different groups of gay and bisexual men and others using the app," says Zachary Zane, Grindr's sex-and-relationship expert.
December 8 will be a big day for Cheyenne Jackson. That's when he'll take to the fabled stage at Carnegie Hall -- with his mother.
"This is a little scoop," he confides during a recent Zoom call. "My mom and my sister are going to join me on stage, and we're going to sing a trio. We haven't sung together in years. My mom, who's a retired widow living in Southern California, is going to get a gown on, get her hair done. It's going to be a family affair, and I'm so honored they're doing it. It's going to be so emotional."
The show, which Jackson says will feature "an incredible set list -- it's daunting, it's challenging," is deeply personal, reflecting "a lot of themes that come from my life."
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