Anti-Gay Iowa Lawmaker Says He’s Sick Of Reading About How Anti-Gay He Is
State Rep. Bobby Kaufmann Jokingly Denies Being In ‘Homosexual Relationship’ With Colleague
An anti-gay Iowa lawmaker is sick of reading about how anti-gay he is on “blogs.â€Â
As we reported last week, GOP state Rep. Bobby Kaufmann has launched an investigation into the annual Governor’s Conference on LGBTQ Youth, in response to allegations from Bob Vaander Plaats‘ anti-gay Family Leader group that the event included inappropriate content last year.Â
In an apparent effort to ensure the investigation is biased, Kaufmann has appointed Republican Rep. Greg Heartsill, an outspoken critic of the conference, to a two-person committee charged with investigating the allegations.Â
Supporters of the conference, put on by the nonprofit Iowa Safe Schools, have characterized the investigation as a witch hunt and political stunt. They note that because the conference isn’t funded by taxpayers, lawmakers don’t have the authority to regulate it.Â
Nevertheless, a committee held its first hearing Wednesday, and Kaufmann lashed out at people who’ve criticized him for the investigation via email and on social media, including one who apparently accused him of being Heartsill’s lover, according to The Des Moines Register.Â
“I am here to announce that Rep. Heartsill and I are not in a homosexual relationship,†Kaufmann said, apparently joking. “I am getting sick of reading all the crap that is on the blogs.â€
Democratic state Rep. Mary Wolfe responded that putting up with criticism is part of being a legislator, and Nate Monson, executive director of Iowa Safe Schools, took offense to the implication that being in a gay relationship would be a bad thing.Â
“That was just really painful to hear because LGBTQ kids are made fun of constantly and I would expect more from our legislators,†Monson said.
Of course, if Kaufman is tired of reading about the investigation, the obvious solution would be for him to call it off, but it doesn’t sound like that’s going to happen.Â
“I don’t care if 20 million people write us letters saying that this conference is the best thing since sliced bread, I am not going to say that this is OK,†Kaufmann said during Wednesday’s hearing.
On the other hand, a letter criticizing the conference has become Exhibit A in the investigation.Â
Heartsill read the letter during the hearing from Jamie Ehlert, a teacher at West Des Moines Valley High School who attended the conference and claims to be an LGBT ally.Â
“We take these allegations very seriously,†Heartsill said. “There is no reason to question the credibility and truthfulness of this statement.â€
RELATED:Â Anti-Gay Iowa Republican Partners With Anti-Gay Christian Group To Bully Anti-Bullying LGBTQ Group
According to a copy of her letter provided to The New Civil Rights Movement by Monson, Ehlert wrote that her anti-bullying group won’t be attending the conference this year, due to “extremely vulgar language and X-rated material†at last year’s event. She specifically objected to two presentations featuring comedian and LGBT ally Sam Killermann, during which he answered questions related to sexual health that were submitted via social media.
Ehlert said Killermann gave information about finding “orgies†and porn on the Internet, as well as how to safely practice bondage. She also took issue with a closing presentation from drag queen Coco Peru, who allegedly sang about how “the bullies should be poisoned and fucking die.â€Â
In a letter responding to Ehlert’s concerns, Monson wrote that Iowa Safe Schools doesn’t intend to alter the content of the conference, now in its 11th year. Â
“I am sorry to hear an anti-bully group is missing the purpose of this important event for LGBTQ students and their families,” Monson wrote, adding that an LGBTQ teen takes his or her life every five hours in the US. “This is due to isolation and discrimination they face on an ongoing basis. This Conference continues to serve as the one place these students can go to feel supported.â€Â
Killermann also responded to Ehlert’s concerns in an interview with KCCI-TV.Â
“Anything sex education and providing information on sexual health, any answer can be twisted and turned into something salacious. That is what is happening here,†Killermann said. “What we were doing was responding to kids’ questions that they don’t get to ask people typically.â€
Wolfe, the Democratic lawmaker, questioned the point of the investigation given that Kaufmann has said it’s not his intent to shut down the conference.Â
“I don’t understand why we are doing this and I don’t understand what the end game is,†Wolfe said. “I’m also sure we can get hundreds, if not thousands, of letters from people who have attended this presentation, and it’s saved their lives it meant so much to them.”Â
Monson told The Des Moines Register that the investigation has only served to exacerbate the underlying problem.Â
“After this conference and after this investigation started, we received numerous emails very threatening and very intimidating, probably hundreds of them, that were very disgusting and very disturbing,†Monson said. “So our concern is safety of students and I hope that Rep. Kaufmann will understand that has just simply sensationalized this conference and is putting LGBTQ youth at risk.â€
The committee reportedly plans to continue its investigation by calling Monson to testify in a few weeks.Â
Meanwhile, Iowa GOP Gov. Terry Branstad has left out funds for a bullying prevention office in his budget recommendations for the coming year.Â
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EARLIER:
Anti-Gay Lawmakers Revive ‘Witch Hunt’ Against LGBTQ Youth Conference
Top Anti-Gay Activist Demands Schools Teach Gays They Can Never Have Sex
‘We’ve Always Been Married In Our Hearts’: Iowa Women Talk About Their 72 Years Together (Video)
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This article has been updated to reflect Sam Killermann is an LGBT ally, not LGBT
Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license
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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
