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Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner Said to Have Helped Thwart L.G.B.T. Rights Rollback

WASHINGTON — The two most influential social liberals in President Trump’s inner circle — daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner — helped kill a proposed executive order that would have scrapped Obama-era L.G.B.T. protections, according to people familiar with the issue.

A third, Gary D. Cohn, the chairman of the president’s National Economic Council, a Democrat who was brought to the West Wing by Mr. Kushner and reflects the socially liberal and economically conservative views of many Wall Street power brokers, privately told aides to the president that he was disturbed it was even being considered.

The executive order has exposed what is likely to be a persistent schism in Mr. Trump’s paradoxical presidency: He is a cosmopolitan New Yorker who has long operated in an environment where sexual orientation is often an afterthought, but is nonetheless beholden to the social conservatives who backed him overwhelmingly in 2016, despite reports of his crudeness and sexual misdeeds.

Mr. Kushner, a lifelong Democrat, and Ms. Trump, an independent, travel in liberal social circles and have long supported L.G.B.T. rights. Neither had seen the order before details were leaked. They expressed their dissatisfaction to Mr. Trump’s other advisers, and then weighed in directly with the president, who opposes same-sex marriage but has spoken out against discrimination.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/us/politics/lgbt-rights-ivanka-trump-jared-kushner.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytpolitics&smtyp=cur&_r=0

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Finally, a Republican who didn't run away.

More than 200 people took the Republican congressman up on it, packing a Palm Harbor community center on Saturday morning so tightly that late-comers had to park down the street.

The twist: Despite the demographics of the district, which includes all of Pasco and parts of Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, nearly all the guests came to support for the Affordable Care Act, the Obama-era health law now on the chopping block.

There was John Ford, 66, who was once denied coverage for his hip because he had previously had the joint replaced. And Christine Mendonca, 34, who worried that without Obamacare, she could no longer afford to get pregnant.

Evan Thornton, 21, fought back tears describing the congenital heart condition that could cut his life short. The Affordable Care Act had allowed him to have coverage under his parents' plan into his 20s, he said.

"I'm an independent who voted for you," he told Bilirakis. "Please don't take my life away. Please don't let me die."

Only a handful supported efforts by Congressional Republicans to repeal and replace the health law — and one was a Bilirakis employee, case work director Kristen Sellas.

"We have deductibles that I never had before," Sellas said. After Congress began requiring members and their employees to buy Affordable Care Act plans, co-pays for surgeries that were once $350 jumped to $3,000, she said.

Bilirakis, a six-term representative who was recently named to a key health subcommittee, listened more than he spoke. "I wouldn't be a good representative if I didn't hear you out," he said.


http://www.tampabay.com/news/health/a-bilirakis-gathering-turns-out-to-be-strongly-pro-obamacare/2312107

Milo Yiannopoulos to return to Berkeley, determined to give speech

BERKELEY (KRON) — Milo Yiannopoulos made an announcement Saturday morning that may have members of the East Bay up in arms all over again.

He says he is planning on returning to Berkeley to give the speech he was unable to deliver earlier this week when chaos broke out over his appearance.

“I’m planning to return to Berkeley to give the speech I was prevented from delivering,” Yiannopoulos said in a Facebook post. “Hopefully within the next few months. I’ll keep you posted.”

Yiannopoulos is a Breitbart News editor, known for his conservative ideologies.

He was met by violent protesters Wednesday evening before he ever reached the podium, where he was set to speak at University of California at Berkeley.


http://kron4.com/2017/02/04/milo-yiannopoulos-to-return-to-berkeley-determined-to-give-speech/

South Carolina elected its first openly gay lawmaker from a historically deep-red district

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina's first openly gay legislator hails from the unlikeliest of places: an ultra-conservative part of the state that is home to the Christian fundamentalist school Bob Jones University.

Republican Rep. Jason Elliott, a 46-year-old divorce attorney, said his sexual orientation was not an issue in his campaign and is irrelevant to his job at the Statehouse, as his focus will be on improving education, increasing jobs and repairing the state's crumbling roads and bridges. He expects his votes to align with his GOP colleagues.

"Every South Carolinian has equal rights, not special rights, and I believe each part of the constitution is equally important," he said. "In South Carolina, that means respecting other people's viewpoints and protecting religious freedom."

Elliott ousted four-term GOP incumbent Rep. Wendy Nanney, a Bob Jones graduate and daughter of the university's longtime academic dean.


http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-s-carolinas-1st-openly-gay-lawmaker-from-deep-red-district-2017-2

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