LISA KEEN | Keen News Service
LisaKeen@mac.com
With the LGBTQ+ community seemingly under constant attack these days, and with court battles and discriminatory policies, executive orders and legislation getting the lion’s share of the public’s attention, here is a brief round-up of the latest information on some high-profile LGBTQ+ people in the public and corporate realms. This will be a regular feature in Dallas Voice.
Tina Kotek
Tina Kotek, the lesbian governor of Oregon: shared in a Sept. 27 Instagram post: “In my conversations directly with President Trump and [Homeland Security] Secretary [Kristi] Noem, I have been abundantly clear that Portland and the State of Oregon believe in the rule of law and can manage our own local public safety needs. There is no insurrection. There is no threat to national security. There is no need or legal justification for military troops in our major city. Military service members should be dedicated to real emergencies.”
Kotek was responding to Trump’s announcement that he would send federal troops to what he called “war-ravaged” Portland. Why Portland? “Portland is an obvious exemplar of what Mr. Trump argues is wrong with liberalism in the United States,” said the New York Times report on Sunday. “The city has a long history of political protest, a large and active L.G.T.B.Q. community and a legislative penchant for tweaking the federal government in the name of home rule, including municipal laws that limit how much the city’s police can cooperate with federal antiterrorism efforts and immigration enforcement.”
Ric Grennell
Ric Grenell, gay Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions, is currently serving the president in two very different capacities: as president of the Kennedy Center and as special envoy to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. In an interview Sept. 25 on CBS Mornings, Grenell said the administration has not banned any performer, including gay actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein.
Grenell’s attention is likely to be shifted dramatically now as hostilities between Trump and Maduro escalate. Madura has identified Grenell as a trusted “channel” in his communications with President Trump. And several news publications credited Grenell with securing the release of six Americans from Venezuela in February. These communications have taken on a critical role since the U.S. has bombed boats heading from Venezuela to the U.S., saying they were laden with illegal drugs. The U.S. has positioned several military aircraft carriers off the coast of Venezuela and is said to be preparing to bomb illegal drug sites inside the country. In a Sept. 6 letter to Trump, Maduro said he would be interested in “a direct and frank conversation with your special envoy.”
Patrick Bumatay
Patrick Bumatay, the openly gay judge on the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, interviewed Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett Sept. 26 during a SCOTUSBlog.com preview of the upcoming Supreme Court session. Bumatay, like Barrett, is a Trump appointee.
Bumatay was the lone dissent in a recent federal appeals panel decision that held President Trump could not unilaterally end birthright citizenship, though his dissent was based on procedural matters, not the constitutionality of Trump’s action. Several conservative court watchers have begun to include Bumatay’s name on a short list for Supreme Court nominee should Trump have an opportunity to make another appointment.
Scott Bessent
Scott Bessent, the gay U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, recently labeled former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg as possibly “ the worst transportation secretary in history.” Bessent made his remarks in an interview on Fox Business, reacting to a statement by former Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris that she had wanted to name Buttigieg as her running mate in 2024 but felt it was too big an ask at the same time the party was hoping Americans would accept a black woman as president.
Pete Buttigieg
Pete Buttigieg, the gay former U.S. Secretary of Transportation, who ran a surprisingly strong campaign for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, was asked by an audience member at Duke University on Thursday, Sept. 25, whether he might run again for president in 2028. Buttigieg said he doesn’t know yet.
Maura Healey
Maura Healey is the lesbian governor of Massachusetts, and 55 percent of 1,000 adults polled in Massachusetts said they approve of Gov. Healey’s performance in office thus far. Healey, who in 2022 became the first openly lesbian candidate to be elected to a governor’s office, has indicated she will run for re-election next year. In July, she won a seat on the executive committee of the Democratic Governors’ Association, as chair of the Women Governors Fund and a seat on the nine-member executive committee of the National Governors Association.
Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel, is a gay billionaire and Trump supporter. Several news sources reported Sunday, Sept. 28, that Thiel’s name is on daily schedules of convicted — and now dead — pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Axios says Thiel was not identified as having potentially broken any laws.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal technology newsletter reported, also on Sunday, Sept. 28, that Thiel is halfway through a four-part series of closed-door lectures in San Francisco. His topic is his belief, as a Christian, that the end of the world will soon be upon us. Among other things he thinks a single totalitarian government will rule the world.