by Joe Siegel

With less than a month before the presidential election, LGBTQ media outlets are covering the candidates from their home states.

Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, has drawn a fair share of criticism for his divisive campaign rhetoric.

The Buckeye Flame, which serves the state’s LGBTQ community from its base outside Cleveland, ran a September 23 story about false claims regarding Haitian immigrants on social media.

“In a September 13 post on X, Vance falsely tweeted that ‘communicable diseases — like TB and HIV – have been on the rise’ in Springfield (Ohio) since the Haitians’ arrival,” reporter Ben Jodway wrote. “Communicable diseases are not on the rise, Chris Cook, the health commissioner of Clark County, told NBC News on Sept. 13. In fact, all communicable diseases except COVID in Clark County are at their lowest rate since 2016.”

LGBTQ organization Equality Springfield condemned Vance’s HIV claims in a written statement shared in conjunction with a press release from GLAAD on that national organization’s website.

“Equality Springfield unequivocally denounces the dangerous and baseless claims that our Haitian population has led to ‘skyrocketing’ cases of HIV in Springfield. We are steadfast in our commitment to end the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS and call on all media outlets to promote facts and debunk falsehoods,” the statement read.

According to Ken Schneck, editor of the Buckeye Flame, the news outlet “covers the presidential campaign insofar as stories which directly involve LGBTQ+ Ohioans. As our colleagues in other national newsrooms are more resourced than our scrappy queer newsroom, we leave more of the national coverage to them.”

The Buckeye Flame also ran a September 26 op-ed with the headline, “Three Lessons for the LGBTQ Community from Springfield, Ohio. Rev. Dr. Ben Huelskamp, a queer social justice activist, wrote, “One would need to be immensely foolish to call the situation in Springfield ‘good,’ but good can come from it. Unless I have underestimated Sen. Vance, I doubt he knew that his heinous statements would encourage the level of support for the immigrant community in Springfield, or how the media and others would begin to tell the story of this large group of people who, fleeing desperate situations, would come to western Ohio and help revive a struggling community.”

Focusing on the top of the Democratic ticket, San Francisco’s Bay Area Reporter (BAR) ran an October 3 story by John Ferrannini, the newspaper’s assistant news editor, about the city’s LGBTQ community rallying support for Harris, an Oakland native who served as California’s attorney general and U.S. senator before becoming vice president.

“If they’re seeking to help hometown favorite Kamala Harris’ campaign for president of the United States, denizens of overwhelmingly Democratic San Francisco need look no further than the vacant old Nordstrom Rack on Market Street — now decorated with hand-drawn poster board signs and featuring an abundance of cookies and candy bars,” the BAR reported. “And it isn’t the only way San Franciscans who want to see former President Donald Trump lose his bid to return to the White House can get involved in national politics. One gay man is organizing trips to Nevada, a swing state, while another is helping coordinate volunteers to make phone calls in support of Democratic candidates.”

While in Trump’s backyard (he now calls West Palm Beach, Fla., home), Wilton Manors-based OutSFL recently ran a cover with Harris’ picture and the words, “Let’s Win This, You Got this, Girl!”

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Volume 26
Issue 8