10/2/24

Hi y'all,

🍎 Authenticity can often be a rare commodity in the fast-paced world of American politics, writes The Advocate's Christopher Wiggins. Yet, as Vice President Kamala Harris’s pick for a running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, enters the national stage, those who knew him as a high school teacher recognize a figure whose public persona mirrors the values he lived by in the classroom. We spoke to some of those students.

🏐 When Jessica Norton became “team mom” for her daughter’s volleyball team, she never expected it might cost her job. She certainly didn’t anticipate becoming the face of a national controversy about transgender children’s place on the athletic field. But that changed when the Broward County School Board announced disciplinary action against administrators at Monarch High School and against Norton, who worked as an information management specialist at the school. District officials said the school and Norton personally had violated Florida’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act for allowing her daughter, who is a trans girl, to play on the girls' team. 🏐

📣 A pro-dictator movement? Of course JD Vance is a fan. Rachel Maddow took the VP nominee to task earlier this week in a segment exploring the Ohio senator's endorsement of the "late-republic" movement.

Onward and upward,

Alex Cooper

Rachel Maddow exposes JD Vance’s endorsement of pro-dictator 'late republic' movement

Paul Marotta/Getty Images; Phil Mistry/Shutterstock

A Florida mom risked her job so her trans daughter could play girls' sports. She won't abandon that fight

shutterstock creative; courtesy human rights campaign

VP debate ignores LGBTQ+ rights as Trump-Vance surrogates pushed anti-trans spin behind the scenes

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

How to help women, children, and LGBTQ+ people impacted by Hurricane Helene

Sean Rayford/Getty Images

NJ Democrat Sue Altman perfectly defends trans athletes: 'We have to respect people'

Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Green New Deal Network

How a historic meeting in 1977 between gay activists and Jimmy Carter's administration paved a way forward

Official White House Photo Courtesy George Raya

Denver's only lesbian bar is closing: 'The world has shifted and so have we'

footage stills via @blushandbludenver

Denver parent's request to put 'straight pride' flags in classrooms denied

Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

Tim Walz's former students rave about lasting ‘love of learning’ Harris's running mate fostered

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Ken Page, gay actor in 'Cats,' 'Torch Song Trilogy,' and more, has died at 70

Walter McBride/Getty Images

New book tracks 50 years of landmark LGBTQ+ legal battles

Courtesy of Lambda Legal

Look, the answer!

Each week, The Advocate newsletter has a little bit of LGBTQ+ trivia. We're a little behind this week, but we have our answer for last week's trivia question.

This week’s question is: What gay political strategist helped on both Harvey Milk's and Kamala Harris's campaigns?

This week's answer is: Jim Rivaldo. Rivaldo worked on Harvey Milk's campaigns as well as served as Kamala Harris's first campaign manager. "Jim would talk about the [LGBTQ+ rights] movement in the early days. And San Francisco, of course, takes great pride in being a birthplace of the movement. And he would talk about how Harvey and he and the leaders at that time thought about what the movement would require for success," Harris said at a campaign event in June.