What Does Election Of Reince Priebus As GOP Chair Mean For Gay Rights?
What does the GOP’s election this afternoon of Reince Priebus as Chairman mean for gay rights? Not a lot. And yet, as the man who is tasked with rebuilding the foundering Republican Party, which will have to include massive fundraising, and doling out money to candidates, Priebus will get to decide which candidates are “viable,” and which are not. But considering that so very few, if any, Republicans will support LGBT equality, or support any element of gay rights, there’s little he can do directly to make things worse for us. Whatever candidates out there who support gay rights will not get much cash from the RNC, regardless of who the Chair is.
That said, there’s a lot about Priebus that should make every member of the LGBTQ community, and our supporters, heck, everyone on the Left, truly concerned. Here’s why.
The Chair of the GOP — the Republican National Committee — is as much a behind-the-scenes job as it is the face of the RNC. Now-former Chair Michael Steele, who just lost his re-election bid to Wisconsin’s Reince Priebus, never really understood either of those job descriptions.
Amid the usual cries of “take our country back,” and claims the Democratic party wants to “take our country where we don’t want it to go,” the 168 mostly-very-old-and-mostly-very-white members of the GOP today elected Reince Priebus as their Chair for the next two years. Saying “Barack Obama’s agenda is not good for America,” and adding, “We fired Pelosi,” to his list of accomplishments, Michael Steele, after losing the first four rounds of votes, pulled out of the race and urged his supporters to vote for Maria Cino. As usual, they did not follow his advice.
Reince Priebus, 38, fourteen years younger than Steele, in 2007 became the youngest-ever chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party. In today’s voting, Priebus emerged as the early front-runner, though many were surprised his first-round of votes netted him only one more than Michael Steele, who was widely-expected to lose. Priebus won every one of the seven elimination rounds.
Immediately after the final vote that Priebus won with 97 of 168 votes, Priebus’ first words as newly-elected Chair were, “I want to thank God, I want to thank Jesus for this moment. I am so blessed.” He went on to talk about himself as “a little kid growing up in Kenosha,” and, “my first date with my wife, Lincoln Day dinner with Henry Hyde and Jim Sensenbrenner — which should tell you a little bit something about me.”
Indeed it should.
Henry Hyde was a Republican Congressman from Chicago, Illinois, (he died in 2007) who served as the lead House manager during President Bill Clinton’s 1998-1999 impeachment trial. It was during this time news broke that Hyde himself had had a four-year affair, while married himself, with a married woman.
Hyde was an extreme right-wing Republican whose name was given to the Hyde Amendment, a law that bans any federal funds from paying for abortions.
Jim Sensenbrenner, also a long-time House Republican, was also a manager in the House for the impeachment of Bill Clinton. He also introduced the PATRIOT ACT into the House and was a strong supporter of the war in Iraq. He continues to serve in the House, now as the Ranking Republican on the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming, which should scare anyone who has children or hopes to be alive fifty-years from now.
Introducing himself to America, Priebus chose his words and his role models with great care: two extreme right-wing Republican Representatives (not Senators, so he looks more “of the people,”) who were intimately involved with the impeachment of a Democratic president. What could be better?
Priebus, in his acceptance speech, also talked about his “two great kids, Jack and Grace,” and that he could not wait to “rebuild this party.” Saying “the Democrats have taken this country on the wrong path,” he added, “together, we can defeat Barack Obama in 2012.”
Of course, he invoked Ronald Reagan’s “city on a shining hill” quote.
Priebus is staunchly pro-life. He has promised Maggie Gallagher, NOM, and the Susan B. Anthony List that he will support and defend traditional marriage, and he, as you can already tell, talks a lot about God, the bible, religion, and the constitution, such as in his response to the question, “What is your position, how was your position shaped and what experience do you have?”
“I believe we all have to live mission driven lives. Certainly we all try to please God. I’m a 100% Psalm 139 pro-life republican. I support our Republican platform which I think is rock solid on the issue of abortion. I believe Life beings absolutely at the time of conception so every question after that then you believe the Declaration of Independence, the 14th Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause protects that independent human life. If we start there then every single question after that is really easy. That’s where I start when I think of the issue of abortion.
“My Christian faith is the foundation of my view on the issue of abortion. My opinion and view of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution shapes my opinion on the issue of abortion. I was involved in a Care Net crisis pregnancy center in Kenosha, WI. I helped them get implemented in a town called Racine, WI all in the SE area of Wisconsin which I think is a great place and a safe harbor for women facing difficult situations where pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, food and diapers and an opportunity to share the love of Christ with people who are in real trouble and making some tough decisions.”
On marriage, Priebus told Maggie Gallagher, “It’s foundational in our lives… I don’t believe anybody should be denied dignity in this discussion, everyone should be loved. But at the end of the day, I believe that marriage — through the sanctity of marriage — should be between one man and one woman,” because, “Children are better off with a mom and a dad.”
The two LGBT Republican organizations, of course, are thrilled. Both released glowing and hollow statements.
Via Log Cabin Republicans: “As Chairman Priebus stated ‘we must come together over common interests. We must unite'” said R. Clarke Cooper, Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director.  “I look forward to continuing our successful partnership with the Republican National Committee, and urge Chairman Priebus to continue the Committee’s strong record of coalition-building which was an important part of GOP success in 2010.  Inclusion wins and our party is strongest when we embrace a big tent philosophy centered on the core principles that unite us as Republicans. It is onward and upward to win back the White House.”
GOProud says, “Today is a good day for conservatives and for the Republican Party. The election of Reince Priebus marks the end of Michael Steele’s disastrous tenure at the RNC.
“Last July, GOProud joined with other foreign policy conservatives in calling on Chairman Steele to resign after his reckless and outrageous comments about the war in Afghanistan. In December, after Steele chose to seek re-election, we urged RNC members to replace him.
“Michael Steele’s tenure as Chairman can only fairly be characterized as an unmitigated disaster. Were it not for the hard work of outside groups, who were forced to step in to fill the void left by an ineffective RNC, success at the ballot box in November would never have occurred.
“The election of Reince Priebus marks a changing of the guard. Finally we will have an RNC Chair who understands that his or her role is to raise money and build party infrastructure, not to sell books, hire friends and family, and pontificate on policy.â€
Blah, blah, blah. Gay Republicans will support anti-gay Republicans any day of the week. (Party First! Which, if you look at GOProud’s Facebook page, seems to have several meanings, but I digress…) Oh, and they seem to prefer the GOP to not take a stand on LGBTQ issues. How they get to that point is beyond me, but, whatever.
Oh, and by the way, Priebus owns five guns. In GOP terms, just enough to win the Chair, though one candidate had sixteen. The one with none lost.
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Maine Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner is under fire after releasing a video declaring that new allegations against him are false, yet he is “taking time to reflect” on a path forward.
Politico on Monday afternoon reported that a woman who dated Platner, Jenny Racicot, “says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies.”
“Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner,” Politico reported, “for more than two years before he entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.”
In a video posted to social media eleven minutes after the Politico story dropped, Platner says, “I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.”
He said he and his supporters “were united in a love of Maine, a belief that our politics must change, in a focus on defeating Susan Collins.”
“So, regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful the political reality will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”
“Those were the goals when we launched this campaign. And they remain my goals today.”
“Throughout it all, you never turned your back on me. And I will not turn my back on you now. Every one of you deserves to see that vision come to fruition and see Susan Collins defeated. And we will use every tool at our disposal to do so.”
The Bulwark’s Tim Miller, a political commentator who served as the communications director for the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign, blasted Platner.
“I’m sorry but ‘we are taking time to reflect on the best path forward’ is not an option on the table,” Miller wrote. “Either it’s false and you campaign with vigor or it’s true and you get out / apologize to everyone you let down.”
Journalist Ryan Grim, commenting on Platner’s video, noted that Platner “strongly suggests he is considering dropping out. Already Troy Jackson and Chellie Pingree, both gubernatorial candidates, are being kicked around in Maine circles as potential replacements.”
Several others, including Puck News’ Peter Hamby, predicted Platner will be dropping out.
Platner had postponed several campaign events before the Politico story was published.
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 6, 2026
President Donald Trump is facing backlash after posting a video of children — including showing their unblurred faces — graduating from kindergarten, with some of the girls purportedly wearing hijabs.
“President Trump posted a captionless video of graduating kindergarteners on Truth Social on Monday, goading his supporters into verbally attacking little children simply for being Muslim,” The New Republic reported. “The clip is from Gateway STEM Academy, a majority-Black K-8 public charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota. It shows about 21 children in caps and gowns on stage singing a song together. Most of the girls are wearing hijabs.”
The original post of the video which Trump reposted reads: “Public school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.”
Trump did not add any comments. TNR called the post “Islamophobic, weird, and creepy,” while noting that the comments section of Trump’s post was filled with calls “by racist, xenophobic MAGA supporters” to “deport the children and ban hijabs.”
TNR also noted that it “should come as no surprise that Trump isn’t above attacking children who just learned how to read, but this post is still particularly discomforting—and will certainly contribute to the already potent level of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. and in Minnesota.”
Critics blasted Trump.
“There is something deeply unsettling about the president of the United States—the most powerful person in the world—going after kindergarten schoolchildren in Minnesota because they wore hijabs, as Trump has done this morning on his website,” The Bulwark’s Sam Stein wrote.
One social media commentator wrote, “Trump posted an unblurred video of more than a dozen Muslim kindergartners to Truth Social, exposing the children’s faces while targeting them for their religion.”
Another added, “Trump is a bigot. The president took to Truth Social to attack kindergarteners in hijabs. These are little kids. The president isn’t just a bigot, he’s also a coward.”
The original video was posted to the X social media platform in June.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) at the time commented, “If you are in a public school in America, you should be speaking english.”
Image via Reuters
President Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to delay releasing the $5.8 million civil judgment to E. Jean Carroll are being met with a warning by the journalist’s legal team, who suggest there could be a legal maneuver for Trump to employ to forgo paying the judgment in either of the two cases he lost.
According to The Guardian, on July 4, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Trump to release the $5.8 million judgment, which is in escrow, to Carroll by this coming Tuesday — or explain why he would not do so.
Carroll’s attorneys think Trump may be trying to buy time to mount another legal strategy, telling the judge that Trump’s request for an extension “appears to be little more than yet another play for time.”
“The case is separate from Trump’s appeal of a Manhattan civil jury’s 2024 award of $83.3m to Carroll for defamation,” The Guardian explains. “But her lawyers have suggested a legal scenario in which the president might seek to conjoin the cases and further delay payment of both.”
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan (no relation to the judge) wrote, “We can only assume that defendant is seeking … to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying plaintiff presumably in connection with his forthcoming petition and motion for a rehearing.”
Trump’s former attorney, Justin Smith, in one of his final acts, wrote to the Supreme Court suggesting that his client would be appealing the $83.3 million civil judgment.
Smith argued that the Supreme Court “may wish to consider the petitions together,” given they involve the same parties.
The larger judgment case involves possible questions of presidential immunity, and that has Carroll’s attorneys concerned.
“A conjoined case, Carroll’s lawyers fear, could result in both judgments being wiped out,” The Guardian reports.
The president has also made clear he is no fan of Judge Kaplan, after the jurist made several rulings that “angered” Trump.
“What else can you expect from a Trump Hating, Clinton appointed judge, who went out of his way to make sure that the result was as negative as it could possible be,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in 2023, “speaking to, and in control of, a jury from an anti-Trump area which is probably the worst place in the US for me to get a fair ‘trial’.”
Image via Reuters
Platner Scorched Over ‘Taking Time’ Video After New Accusation
Trump Sparks Fury Online After Posting Unblurred Video of Muslim Kindergartners in Hijabs
One Legal Maneuver Threatens to Undo Everything E. Jean Carroll Won
Inside the Group Helping MAGA Voters Walk Away — And What Finally Pushed Them
