Jacob Reitan – Photo: MSNBC Screenshot, Gwen and Tim Walz – Photo: TMZ Screenshot
A gay man who attended the high school where Tim Walz and his wife, Gwen, worked as teachers is praising the Minnesota governor and Democratic vice presidential candidate’s longstanding support for LGBTQ individuals.
Jacob Reitan, who, in 1999, became the first out gay student at Mankato West High School, recently spoke with former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki for a segment during the August 7 edition of her MSNBC show, Inside with Jen Psaki.
Reitan, who was one of Gwen Walz’s English literature students in 1997, recalled how, on the first day of class, she informed students that her classroom would be a “safe space” for LGBTQ students. Tim Walz, meanwhile, would go on to serve as the faculty sponsor of the school’s first gay-straight alliance club, which Reitan helped start.
“Both Tim and Gwen were incredibly supportive of their gay students,” Reitan told Psaki.
“They modeled values of inclusivity and respect. And that helped not just me — I was bullied in high school — but it also, I think, helped the bully. It showed the bully a better path forward.
“And I can think of no one better than Tim Walz, to to show that better path forward for America.”
Reitan continued, “We have had with President Trump, a bully president. It’s a one-act show with this president. And, all he knows how to do is the politics of the bully. And, Tim Walz will show us a better way forward.”
Reitan had previously told The Washington Posthow Walz had, at his request, agreed to sponsor the gay-straight alliance even while serving as a football coach at Mankato West — a story that the Harris-Walz campaign has trumpeted on the campaign trail in an effort to appeal to Democratic and left-leaning voters while highlighting Walz’s likability.
“He set an example not just for LGTBQ students, but for football players in the locker room, at a time where gay people were not well understood. He made the school a safe place for everybody,” Reitan told the newspaper.
Psaki asked Reitan about a comment he made to the Post, in which he claimed Walz has an ability to “sell seemingly progressive ideas to seemingly not-progressive crowds.”
Noting that Walz supported marriage equality when he first ran for Congress in 2006 — even though many politicians saw this position as detrimental to their campaigns — Reitan told a story of how Walz sold the idea of gay marriage, from the point of view that the government should stay out of people’s private lives, to a Harley-Davidson biker rally.
“They ask him about helmet laws, and they say, ‘Are you for or against helmet laws?’ And he says, ‘Well, I think it’s stupid not to wear a helmet, but I believe in personal freedom. I’m not for helmet laws. [It’s] probably stupid for me to be eating as many cheeseburgers as I eat, but I’m not for the government telling me how many cheeseburgers to eat. But if the government shouldn’t tell you not to wear a helmet, and if they shouldn’t tell me how many cheeseburgers I should eat, it also shouldn’t be able to tell your neighbor that they can’t get married.’
“That’s just his skill,” Reitan continued. “He has the ability to talk about progressive issues and make them in a way that all of us can understand. And he’s a remarkable individual.”
Reitan isn’t the only former student to sing Walz’s praises.
Josh Jagdfeld, a former student of both Tim and Gwen Walz, and who was a member of the football team that Walz helped coach from a 0-27 record to winning a state championship three years later, credited Walz with having “helped to create an inspirational environment for us young men to feel confident and work hard.”
“He’s warm, engaging, cares about everybody he talks to,” Jagdfeld said.
Another student, Noah Hobbs, remembered Walz as an “authentic” and “high-energy” person, noting that “the level of care that he gave to all students — not just the kids getting 4.0 [GPAs] — was really impactful for me as a young kid.”
Andry José Hernández Romero, deported in Trump’s immigration crackdown, was freed from El Salvador’s CECOT prison in a prisoner swap but still faces danger.
Gay asylum seeker Andry José Hernández Romero, a makeup artist and costume designer deported to El Salvador’s notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) maximum-security prison, was released on July 18 as part of a prisoner swap, NBC News reported.
The swap was brokered by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, who agreed to free more than 200 Venezuelans from CECOT in exchange for Venezuela releasing 10 American political prisoners.
Most released detainees had been deported from the U.S. after Trump invoked the rarely used Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to justify removing hundreds of undocumented immigrants, alleging ties to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which constituted an "invading force" whose members were committing serious crimes.
Graeme Reid will continue as the U.N.'s expert on LGBT rights for another three years, as 29 nations back the mandate despite opposition from China, Pakistan, and others.
The U.N. Human Rights Council has voted to extend the mandate of its LGBT rights expert, ensuring continued global oversight of anti-LGBTQ human rights violations for another three years.
Under the mandate, the U.N.'s Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity is tasked with identifying the root causes of anti-LGBTQ violence and discrimination, and advising U.N. member states on how to better protect LGBTQ communities.
The current independent expert, South African scholar Graeme Reid, will continue in the role for another three years. Reid is the third person to hold the position since it was established in 2016.
An Islamic court in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province -- which enforces Sharia law -- sentenced two men to 80 lashes each for hugging and kissing, acts the court deemed "sexual." The closed-door trial at the Islamic Shariah District Court in Banda Aceh was opened to the public only for the verdict.
The two defendants, ages 20 and 21, were arrested in April after residents saw them enter the same bathrooms at Taman Sari city park and alerted police. Officers broke into the stall and saw the men kissing and hugging, reports the Associated Press.
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