Baldwin seeks tobecome first openlygay U.S. senator
By CHRIS JOHNSONcjohnson@washblade.com
Rep. Tammy Baldwin, who isseeking to become the next U.S.senator from Wisconsin, is warningsupporters that the path to victorywon’t be easy.Baldwin (D-Wisc.), who declaredher candidacy for U.S. Senate onTuesday, described the challenge of her bid to become to first openly gayU.S. senator during a conference callWednesday with LGBT media.“What I do want everyone to knowis this will be a very tough campaign,”Baldwin said. “Wisconsin is a deeplyand evenly divided state. You’ve seenus go and back forth. You’ve seenWisconsin come alive in the past fewmonths in opposition to a group of state leaders who are not listeningto the concerns of the people. But I
After months of speculation, Rep.
TAMMY BALDWIN
made it official this week: She’srunning for U.S. Senate from Wisconsin.
WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY
Time to Vote
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WASHINGTONBLADE.COM
SEPTEMBER 09 2011 VOLUME 42 ISSUE 36 •
OUR COMMUNITY, OUR STORIES SINCE 1969
• WASHINGTONBLADE.COM
By LOU CHIBBARO JR.lchibbaro@washblade.com
Ross Levi, executive director
of New York’s LGBT advocacy
group Empire State PrideAgenda, worked in the group’slower Manhattan office in adifferent staff position at thetime of the Sept. 11, 2001terrorist attack on the WorldTrade Center.In what he describes as thefirst horrifying hours followingthe crash of two hijacked jetliners into both World TradeCenter towers, causing themto collapse, Levi said the ESPA
staff joined other New Yorkers
in helping survivors and victimsany way they could.“We opened the doors toour offices, which were on 12thStreet at the time, to peopleas they were fleeing the WorldTrade Center site and comingdowntown,” he said. “Many of them came right by our officesand so people were coming in just to use the bathroom andget some water and makephone calls,” he said.“And in that way we were
just a member of the New York
family that had to go throughthis horrible event,” Levi said.But Levi and other LGBTactivists observing the Sept. 11events as they unfolded saidthey quickly discovered withina week of the attacks thatsame-sex partners of thosekilled, injured or missing in theWorld Trade Center collapsefaced additional hurdles inobtaining government andprivate sector assistance.
He said ESPA first became
aware that same-sex partnersurvivors were being treateddifferently when the cityand private relief agencieslike the Red Cross set up anemergency station on a pier
along New York’s Hudson River
where people could go to finda family member missing andas yet unaccounted for in theWorld Trade Center carnage.“Literally [gay] people hadto go there, turn around, goback home and get somepaperwork that spousesdidn’t have to get to provea relationship existed,” Levisaid. “You were nervous andscared and sad and then youhad to go through that. Andworse, other people turnedthem away, even with thepaperwork, saying sorry you’renot a family according to ourguidelines.”Activists reflecting on theSept. 11 tragedy this week said
10 years later, assessing impact of attacks onrights of same-sex couples
CONTINUES ON PAGE 14
‘This will be a verytough campaign’
CONTINUES ON PAGE 16
Fall Arts Preview
What does Patti LuPone think of Madonna’s Evita? The answer andmuch more in our look atthe season’s best in entertainment.
PAGE 23
STILL MOURNING A FRIENDPAGE 18REMEMBERING GAY CO-PILOTPAGE 19
02 • SEPTEMBER 09, 2011WASHINGTONBLADE.COM
500 T-CELLS
OR LESS.
IT’S TIME
TO TAKE
ACTION.
750500425250
Talk with your doctor and consider all the factors about starting treatment.
HIV treatment is now recommended for everyone with a T-cell count of 500 or less and shouldbe considered when T-cells are higher than 500, according to the DHHS
*
and the IAS-USA
†
.Starting treatment early may help protect your immune system and vital organs. Today’smedicines may have fewer, more manageable side effects. They may help you live a longer,healthier life. Receive helpful information about living with HIV that you should know. Call tollfree 1-888-497-9638, or visit
TREATHIVNOW.COM
.
*DHHS = Department of Health and Human Services †IAS-USA = International AIDS Society USA.©2011 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. UN9727 07/11
I. :
WASHINGTONBLADE.COM
SEPTEMBER 09, 2011 • 03
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