A Conversation with Senator Tammy Baldwin

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At a recent fundraiser for Senator Tammy Baldwin hosted by the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, her campaign offered me the opportunity to have a brief conversation with the senator. While Wisconsin’s senatorial race have focused on major national issues like immigration, reproductive rights and challenger California banker Eric Hovde’s insistence that he is actually from Wisconsin, I asked Sen. Baldwin about LGBTQ issues. They may not be at the forefront of the political discussion at the moment, but they are certainly of great consequence to LGBTQ+ Wisconsinites who will be in the crosshairs should Republicans be victorious in the upcoming election.

I began the conversation asking about the Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA). Co-authored by Baldwin and passed by the U.S. Congress in December 2022, the act provides a safeguard to protect same-sex marriage as defined under the Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision of June, 2015. RFMA also repealed the Defense of Marriage Act passed in 1996 that defined marriage as between one man and one woman.  

Still, in Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion upon the Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v Wade in 2022, he essentially predicted future challenges to prior decisions made by the Court, including the Obergefell decision establishing marriage equality. Given Wisconsin’s 2006 constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between one man and one woman, I asked Senator Baldwin where Wisconsin stands in such a scenario in which marriage equality, like abortion rights, is returned to the states and the state’s constitutional amendment would again be valid.

Coming After Rights

“With the Dobbs, the court made it clear they are coming after other rights like contraception and to re-litigate Obergefell. We looked at cases relevant to the right to privacy,” Baldwin said. Noting that, absent the RFMA, overturning Obergefell would have enacted individual state’s ability to deny recognition of certain marriages. Now, she explained, regardless of the type of marriage it must be recognized because the RFMA would preempt the Wisconsin amendment. “As long as a marriage is valid, it is protected. Should marriage equality be reversed, and the Wisconsin amendment is again in force, marriages would have to take place outside of Wisconsin in a state or country where it is allowed. The marriage license would be recognized In Wisconsin, minimizing the damage the Supreme Court could do,” Baldwin said, adding, “It is important to note that the RFMA repealed DOMA. It’s law now. DOMA is gone.”

I then raised a question about the Republican’s 2006 attempt to create a Federal same-sex marriage ban. It failed at the time but given the momentum of the right and its focus on abrogating LGBTQ rights, I asked Baldwin if it could be revisited. “Passing RFMA is a recent victory. To reverse it and restore a federal level barrier would be a losing proposition. But we must remain vigilant. There are always people who would take away our rights and freedoms,” she said.

That brought us to the Senator’s current campaign and her conservative Republican opponent, Eric Hovde. I asked about his attacks on her based on his misrepresentation of her earmarked request for $400,000 to fund Wisconsin’s Briarpatch Youth Services for “counseling services for at-risk youth.” It was part of a $1.2 trillion bipartisan spending package it recently passed in the Senate by a 74-24 vote. Hovde asserted Baldwin’s earmarked funds are directed to transgender affirming programs. Baldwin clarified her opponent’s complaint. “We secured funds to help provide including mental health. Hovde pointed out they help LGBTQ youth and insinuated my help for LGBTQ kids was not appropriate. I’m very proud to support Briarpatch. It’s not uncommon for LGBTQ kids to be thrown out of their homes and we need to stand up for them,” Baldwin said.

This Republican strategy of attacking anything that might have a positive impact on LGBTQ+ lives is one very familiar to Baldwin who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Under the previous administration, then Vice President Pence established an organization to scour funding programs to find LGBTQ and reproductive health care beneficiaries. “They created an atmosphere which made it difficult to fund in these communities. Previous funding had gone through,” Baldwin said.

LGBTQs Targeted

Asked why she thought the LGBTQ community was being targeted, Baldwin replied, “Too often the Republicans focus on fear. They find politically they can raise funds by dividing people.” The strategy, however cynical, seems to work. In fact, a recent campaign ad features Valentina Gomez, Republican candidate for Missouri secretary of state, featured her wearing a tactical vest and holding an assault rifle vowing to take action against LGBTQ+ affirming churches that would land her in jail.

Since my conversation with Baldwin, the Republican National Convention with its speeches full of anti-LGBTQ applause lines, the selection of homophobe J.D. Vance as the GOP’s vice-presidential candidate and the close scrutiny finally given to right-wing Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” blueprint for dismantling our democracy, have all served to underscore the importance of Baldwin’s reelection. The ascent of Vice President Kamala Harris as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has provided an energetic and enthusiastic response among those of us most threatened by the specter of a Republican victory in November. Now it remains for the LGBTQ+ community to vote.