Former Republican, now Democratic State Rep. Cyrus Javadi – Photo: Facebook
Oregon State Rep. Cyrus Javadi announced last Friday that he’s switching from the Republican to the Democratic Party, blasting GOP leaders for obstructing legislation that would have benefited his constituents and for pursuing an anti-LGBTQ agenda that “isolates minority communities when politically convenient.”
Javadi, who confirmed on Substack he will seek re-election next year as a Democrat, boosts his new party’s margin in the Oregon House to 37 seats out of 60.
In his Substack post, Javadi said Republicans blocked his efforts to help his district at every turn, prioritizing opposition to Democratic bills as a strategy rather than judging proposals on their merits.
“For months now, the Republican Party’s message has been simple: we don’t care what the problem is, just vote no, or else,” he wrote. “And for me, that’s a problem. Because I didn’t run for office to be a rubber stamp. I ran to solve problems. To fill potholes. To keep hospitals open. To build housing families can actually afford. To keep our homes and neighborhoods safe….
“It’s not about governing,” Javadi continued of the Republican Party’s approach. “It’s about burning things down. It’s about isolating minority communities when politically convenient. It’s about waving the Constitution when it helps your argument and ignoring it when it doesn’t. That’s not conservative. That’s opportunistic. And it corrodes everything it touches.”
Javadi angered his party on social issues, becoming the only Republican to support a bill preventing school library books from being banned for their viewpoint or “controversial” content, including LGBTQ characters and themes.
He said he backed the bill, later signed into law by Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek, because books helped his gay son understand and accept his identity. Javadi also emphasized that the law still allows parents to challenge books they consider overly graphic or age-inappropriate.
“You can remove a book if the content is too graphic,” Javadi argued on the House floor. “You can remove it if it’s not age-appropriate, but you can’t remove it just because the author is gay or Muslim or Black or because the story centers on someone that makes you uncomfortable. Let’s not teach our kids that their stories are too controversial to belong on the shelf.”
Javadi acknowledged that many conservatives were angered by his vote but said he stands by it.
“Opposing this kind of censorship isn’t about being ‘woke,'” he wrote on Substack. “It’s about being American. The First Amendment doesn’t exist to protect the majority view; it exists to protect the minority, the unpopular, the voices some people would rather not hear. Conservatives used to understand that silencing ideas is the first step toward the tyranny of the majority. I haven’t forgotten.”
He further inflamed social conservatives by supporting a resolution honoring Black drag performers.
As a result of his votes bucking Republican orthodoxy, some of Javadi’s constituents filed a recall petition to remove him from office. He called the effort a demand for “obedience” to party lines rather than a reflection of his district, noting the petition cited his votes on the anti-book ban bill and the drag resolution.
Javadi also said Republicans have fiercely attacked him since his defection, sending threatening emails and even smashing a window at his dental clinic — an act he believes was tied to his switch. He added that he expected the backlash, noting the GOP caucus in the Oregon House has become fixated on blocking Democrats’ agenda.
Despite his party switch, Javadi does not consider himself a liberal, stating that his core principles and beliefs have not changed. He notes that while Democrats have their flaws, at least in Oregon, “they’re acting like a governing party,” being willing to debate ideas on their merits, defend constitutional principles, and protect the rights of minority communities.
“I still believe in limited government, free speech, fiscal responsibility, individual liberty, and the rule of law. I still believe your rights don’t come from the state but from something higher,” he said. “But I also believe government has to work, not just posture.”
Authorities in Morocco have arrested Ibtissame "Betty" Lachgar, a prominent feminist and human rights activist, over a T-shirt reading, "Allah is lesbian."
The slogan echoes the phrase "God is a Lesbian," first published in the 2013 book The Perils of Pedagogy: The Works of John Greyson. The phrase has appeared on T-shirts as both satire and religious critique, according to The New Arab, a London-based pan-Arab news outlet.
In an X post sharing a photo of the shirt, Lachgar wrote, "In Morocco, I walk around with T-shirts bearing messages against religions, Islam, etc. You tire us with your sanctimoniousness, your accusations. Yes, Islam, like any religious ideology, is fascist, phallocratic and misogynistic."
In her first televised interview since her 2020 confirmation, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett appeared on CBS Sunday Morning to promote her new book, offering only vague commentary to host Norah O’Donnell in defense of the Court’s legitimacy when asked whether justices might overturn Obergefell v. Hodges.
Barrett was pressed on recent remarks from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who told the Raging Moderates podcast that the Court will likely “do to gay marriage what they did to abortion” and “send it back to the states.”
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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