Journalists Peter Alexander (left), Scott Pelley and Rachel Maddow at the 2025 Walter Cronkite Awards in Washington, D.C.
Tina Dela Rosa Photography
On Friday afternoon at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., the 2025 Walter Cronkite Awards for Excellence in Political Journalism unfolded less like a media victory lap than a reckoning. The journalists honored — Rachel Maddow, Jon Stewart, Scott Pelley, Peter Alexander, John Dickerson, Julio Vaqueiro, and a range of local and investigative reporters — gathered amid an unspoken understanding: The work being celebrated is also the work now under the greatest strain.
Presented biennially by USC Annenberg’s Norman Lear Center, the Cronkite Awards recognize political journalism on television and digital platforms that meet the highest standards of rigor and independence. This year, speakers returned repeatedly to the same idea: that journalism is no longer warning about a future democratic crisis. It is documenting one already underway.
MS NOW anchor Rachel Maddow (right) with her longtime partner, Susan Mikula, at the 2025 Walter Cronkite Awards in Washington, D.C., on December 12, 2025.
Tina Dela Rosa Photography
Maddow received one of the afternoon’s top honors for MS NOW’s (formerly MSNBC) The Rachel Maddow Show episode “Everyone, Everywhere, All at Once,” a broadcast that captured more than 1,400 “Hands Off” protests that erupted nationwide on April 7, during the opening months of President Donald Trump’s second term. The episode stitched together footage from cities, suburbs, and rural towns, presenting the demonstrations not as isolated expressions of dissent but as a national political response taking shape in real time. Maddow attended the ceremony accompanied by her longtime partner, Susan Mikula.
In an exclusive interview with The Advocate at the ceremony, Maddow said she remains convinced that the most important political story in the country is not centered in D.C. “Our fate is not going to be determined by what happens in Washington and by what the administration wants to do,” she said. “What’s going to determine what happens to us is the reaction — how the country deals with it and the sort of institutional response.”
Rachel Maddow speaks at the 2025 Walter Cronkite Awards in Washington, D.C.
Tina Dela Rosa Photography
That framework, democracy measured by public resistance rather than executive intent, now runs through much of Maddow’s work across television and podcasting. Earlier this month, she launched Rachel Maddow Presents: Burn Order, a six-part podcast series examining the U.S. government’s incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II and the suppressed evidence that revealed it was unnecessary and rooted in racial hatred.
Maddow described the project to The Advocate as an effort to resist comforting myths about history. “I’m trying to not just make us remember what we did there,” she said, “but trying to make us get real about how we think of that as a very black-and-white moral wrong.” The danger, she explained, is assuming that injustice only happens when villains are obvious, and resistance is easy. “These decisions are hard in the moment,” she said.
Rachel Maddow listens to speakers at the 2025 Walter Cronkite Awards in Washington, D.C.
Tina Dela Rosa Photography
Burn Order traces how an executive order authorized the roundup of innocent Japanese Americans, how internal dissent was ignored or buried, and how a bombshell document, ordered destroyed, eventually exposed the truth. Maddow said she wanted the podcast to function as what she called a “moral mirror,” forcing listeners to confront how ordinary institutions and individuals can capitulate even when they know something is wrong.
Maddow also spoke at length about the podcast’s distinctive score, which she said plays a structural role in the narrative. “In this one in particular, I just feel like it’s so integrated with the vibe of what’s going on in the storytelling,” she said. The score, she explained, is entirely original and was composed by a young student composer the team recruited for the project. When producers asked for adjustments — more tension, a sense of urgency — the composer turned around new material within hours, including music with a literal ticking clock embedded in it. “It’s amazing,” Maddow said.
The themes Maddow explores in the podcast echo her analysis of the present. Americans, she said, are often encouraged to wait for a singular, unmistakable moment when authoritarianism arrives. “That moment is here. It’s happening,” she said. She pointed to the rise of masked, unidentified law enforcement agents patrolling neighborhoods and pulling people off the streets, and the instinctive backlash she has observed from people encountering it. “You don’t need to read a lot of academic books on fascism to know what that looks like.”
MS NOW's Rachel Maddow (left) with NBC News's Kirsten Welker and PBS Newshour's Amna Nawaz at the 2025 Walter Cronkite Awards in Washington, D.C.
Tina Dela Rosa Photography
Maddow’s meant to make a statement by attending the awards ceremony, she said. She said that she rarely attends awards events, not out of ideology, but out of temperament. “I’m kind of allergic to it,” she admitted, describing a longstanding personal aversion to the ritual of professional self-congratulation. This day, however, felt different.
The Cronkite Award, she said, was not really about her. It recognized coverage of mass protests, work that required building something close to an entirely new reporting apparatus, and she wanted the people who did that work to be seen. “I wanted to be here in part just to acknowledge how hard my staff on my show has worked to make that coverage happen,” Maddow told The Advocate.
Onstage, she used her acceptance remarks to highlight the invisible labor behind that coverage. She described her team’s painstaking process of verifying user-generated protest footage, systematically scanning local newspapers and TV broadcasts, and reaching out directly to newsrooms to ask whether any material had never made it to air. There is no standing national infrastructure to support decentralized civic action at scale, she said, and building one would require extraordinary effort.
The honor, she added, belonged to producers and associate producers who had reshaped their jobs to track political action outside Washington — often without precedent, and with little guarantee the skill set would ever be reusable. That reality, Maddow said, was precisely the problem. In a democracy, she argued, journalism is structurally built to monitor institutions, not movements — even when those movements may ultimately decide the country’s fate.
“There are lots of systems in place to cover the powerful,” Maddow said. “What we don’t have systems for is covering the people — especially when they are acting politically.”
That approach has also translated into audience momentum. According to an MS NOW spokesperson citing Nielsen data, The Rachel Maddow Show has beaten Fox News’s Hannity for five consecutive Mondays among viewers in the key demographic. In the most recent week, the program was up 25 percent in the demo, the spokesperson said.
60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley attends the 2025 Walter Cronkite Awards in Washington, D.C.
Tina Dela Rosa Photography
If Maddow’s award focused on public response, CBS’s Scott Pelley confronted institutional pressure head-on. Pelley accepted a Cronkite Award on behalf of 60 Minutes for “Rule of Law,” an investigation into executive orders targeting law firms deemed hostile to the president. The reporting aired amid corporate upheaval at Paramount, CBS’s parent company, which, following a merger with Skydance, appointed controversial queer conservative journalist Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of the venerated news division, prompting concerns about editorial independence.
60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley discusses the state of journalism after accepting his 2025 Walter Cronkite Award.
Tina Dela Rosa Photography
Pelley brought up those anxieties while offering reassurance. “Last season, all of our stories got on the air,” he said. “We got them all on the air with an absolute minimum of interference.” He also noted the loss of senior newsroom leaders and warned that fear itself has become a growing obstacle to accountability reporting.
NBC News chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander talks about not taking attacks from Donald Trump personally as a reporter at the 2025 Walter Cronkite Awards in Washington, D.C.
Tina Dela Rosa Photography
NBC News chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander was honored for “Holding the Powerful Accountable,” with judges praising his persistence in live questioning despite personal attacks from the president. In remarks that drew knowing laughter and sustained applause, Alexander reflected on the costs of that role, and why he believes it remains essential.
He rejected the idea that journalism’s job is to take sides. “I’m not an advocate for Republicans or for Democrats,” Alexander said. “I’m an advocate for the facts, even and especially when it isn’t easy.” He described being shouted down, insulted, and publicly dismissed during press briefings, moments that viewers often ask him about afterward. His answer, he said, is simple: “My job is the next question.” He added, "Those moments reflect on the other person, not on me."
The Daily Show's Jon Stewart sent a video message accepting his program's 2025 Walter Cronkite Award.
Tina Dela Rosa Photography
Alexander also shared a personal story about his grandmother, Faye, who lived to be 105 and closely followed his work. After one particularly heated exchange at the White House, a critic attacked him online. Faye responded with three words that Alexander said he has never forgotten: “Drop that, Helen.” The room laughed, but the point landed.
“Being a journalist does not mean being popular,” he said. “It means never giving up.”
Comedian and activist Jon Stewart received the inaugural Cronkite Award for comedic news and commentary for The Daily Show, recognizing satire’s role in translating investigative reporting into mass-audience accountability. In a video message, Stewart, who couldn’t attend because of his Broadway debut, joked about being placed anywhere near Walter Cronkite’s legacy, but organizers emphasized that his work rests on deep reporting and has helped reach audiences that traditional news outlets increasingly struggle to engage.
Texas state Rep. James Talarico (L); U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (R)
John Pesina/Shuttershock.com
The Democratic nominee for a U.S. Senate seat in Texas will most likely be a transgender ally regardless of who wins.
It's U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett versus state Rep. James Talarico in the fast-approaching March 3 primary election. Crockett filed her paperwork to run on Monday, setting up a showdown for the future of the Democratic Party in both Texas and the United States at large.
Over half (51 percent) of likely Democratic primary voters in the state are already backing Crockett, according to a poll from the Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey center at Texas Southern University, with 43 percent supporting Talarico. Crockett leads among several key demographics, including women (57 percent vs. 36 percent), voters 55 or older (59 percent vs. 34 percent), and Black voters (89 percent vs. 8 percent).
Though they differ in background and experience, both candidates share a platform based around affordability and human rights.
Here's where Crockett and Talarico each stand on LGBTQ+ issues.
What has Jasmine Crockett said about LGBTQ+ rights?
After entering the U.S. House of Representatives in 2023, Crockett quickly gained momentum as a rising star within the Democratic Party for her outspoken criticisms of conservatives, including the GOP's obsession with trans people.
Crockett first made waves for her feuds with Republican firebrands like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Nancy Mace. When Greene made a comment in May, 2024 about Crockett's “fake eyelashes,” Crockett hit back that Greene has a “bleach-blonde, bad-built, butch body.” She later clarified that she did not mean to insult butch lesbians with the comment, writing in a post, "I’ve always & will always stand 10 toes down with the community & meant no harm to anyone in the community."
Mace threatened Crockett with physical violence during a House Oversight Committee meeting in January after Crockett accused her of harping on anti-trans talking points to make money. Mace responded by telling her, “If you want to take it outside, we can do that."
Crockett's criticism doesn't stop with Republicans. Beyond sharply condemning the GOP's wave of anti-trans legislation in a March interview with The 19th, Crockett also denounced Democrats for allowing themselves to become "divided" over the issue.
“In this election, we allowed ourselves to be divided. We allowed them to distract us, and we allowed them to talk about the trans folk," Crockett said. "According to them, the trans kids, they want to play sports. That is the biggest issue that we’ve had. Since when? Since when? Find the little trans child that is ruining your life. I mean, I’m just like, what are we doing? Like, what are we doing?”
Crockett again went viral in May after using her time during a House Oversight subcommittee hearing to play a game of what she called "Trump or trans." Crockett asked National Women’s Law Center President Fatima Goss Graves whether an issue the committee focused on was caused by Trump or trans people, with Graves responding "Trump" each time.
Crockett's website, which includes a list of legislation she's supported, states that she is "determined to file and pass safeguards for the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community" — marriage equality, gender-affirming care, and antidiscrimination policies.
What are James Talarico's views on LGBTQ+ rights?
Talarico, a former public school teacher, has served in the Texas state House of Representatives since 2018. Despite his Christian background, Talarico has positioned himself as a fierce queer ally, even using the Bible to advocate in favor of LGBTQ+ rights as well as separation of church and state.
Talarico went viral in November, 2023 for speaking out against a bill that would have mandated the Ten Commandments be displayed in all state public school classrooms. Talarico asked Republican Candy Nobel, the bill's sponsor, "Why is having a rainbow in a classroom is indoctrination and not having the Ten Commandments in a classroom?"
“Every time on this committee that we try to teach students values like empathy or kindness, we’re told we can’t because that’s the parent’s role,” he said. “Every time on this committee that we try to teach basic sex education to keep our kids safe, we’re told that’s the parent’s role, but now you’re putting religious commandments — literal commandments — in our classroom, and you’re saying that’s the state’s role. Why is that not the parent’s role?”
Upon entering the race for U.S. Senate in September, Talarico responded to a question about his views on trans athletes during an interview with MSNBC by saying, "We need not only the media, but all of us to focus on the real problem at hand."
"I think it's interesting. I've been in this race five days, and I've had a lot of interviews with national media — no one's ever asked me about the cost of housing," Talarico said. "No one's asked me about the cost of prescription drugs. No one's asked me about the cost of child care. The only thing the media wants to ask me about are trans athletes."
"So, what I would say is that the only minority destroying this country is the billionaires," he continued. "Trans people are one percent of the population. Undocumented people are one percent of the population. Muslims are one percent of the population. We are all focused on the wrong one percent. Trans people aren't taking away our health care. Undocumented people aren't defunding our schools. Muslims aren't cutting taxes for themselves and their rich friends. It's the billionaires and their puppet politicians."
Adam Schiff (L), Letitia James (C), and James Comey (R) — all political opponents of Trump indicted or investigated on dubious accusations.
Sheila Fitzgerald/Shuttershock.com; lev radin/Shuttershock.com; mark reinstein/Shuttershock.com
Investigated, indicted, and intimidated
Adam Schiff (L), Letitia James (C), and James Comey (R) — all political opponents of Trump indicted or investigated on dubious accusations.Sheila Fitzgerald/Shuttershock.com; lev radin/Shuttershock.com; mark reinstein/Shuttershock.com
Donald Trump may love to throw charges at his political opponents — but so far none of them have stuck.
The Department of Justice's cases against James Comey and Letitia James were thrown out last week after U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie determined that the appointment of lead prosecutor Lindsey Halligan was illegal. That spells tough luck for the Trump administration, as Halligan has so far been the only attorney willing to pursue the charges.
Several federal prosecutors initially declined to indict Comey or James, citing insufficient evidence. U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Erik Siebert refused to file charges in September, leading to the Trump administration threatening to fire him. Before he could be officially terminated, Siebert instead resigned.
While the cases against Comey and James have been dismissed — at least until another prosecutor decides to take them on — there are several other ongoing indictments or investigations against political figures that have stood against Trump.
Here's a breakdown of all the cases, and why Trump would want to target them.
Letitia James
New York Attorney General Letitia James announces indictment against Donald Trump (May 26, 2022).
lev radin/Shuttershock.com
New York Attorney General Letitia James led the 2022 civil lawsuit and criminal investigation against Trump that last year resulted in him being banned from operating a business in the state for three years and fined $355 million. The fee was voided by an appeals court in August this year as excessive.
James was indicted in October on one count of bank fraud and one count of making false statements to a financial institution. The charges claimed that James was using a house she bought in Virginia as a rental property rather than a place of residence. James' grandniece testified before a grand jury in Alexandria that she had been living in the house, and was not charged rent.
James was indicted by a separate grand jury in Norfolk, which did not hear her grandniece's testimony. The case against James was thrown out in late November, with a federal judge determining that Halligan's appointment was invalid.
James Comey
James Comey testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee (June 8, 2017).
mark reinstein/Shuttershock.com
James Comey is the former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) who investigated Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Trump fired Comey shortly after he confirmed the investigation in May, 2017.
Comey was indicted in September this year on one count of making a false statement to Congress, and one count of obstructing a congressional proceeding, stemming from his September, 2020 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee about the 2016 Trump presidential campaign's ties to Russia.
The charges were filed five days before the statute of limitations expired. Siebert, the Virginia federal prosecutor, also refused to bring charges against Comey. Only Halligan would, resulting in the case against Comey being dismissed in November as well when her appointment was determined invalid.
John Bolton
John Bolton speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) (March 6, 2014).
Christopher Halloran/Shuttershock.com
John Bolton served as a national security advisor to Trump in 2018 and 2019, with his brief tenure marked by several disagreements between him and the president, particularly over U.S. involvement in Iran. Bolton published a memoir in 2020 detailing his time in the White House, which the Trump administration attempted to block by claiming it contained classified information as well as violated his nondisclosure agreements.
FBI agents conducted a raid on Bolton's home in August this year in a search for classified materials, though no arrest was made. Bolton was indicted in October on eight counts of unlawful transmission of national defense information, and 10 counts of unlawful retention of national defense information — similar charges to those brought against Trump for improperly storing classified documents.
Bolton has pleaded not guilty to all 18 counts, with his trial beginning in late November.
Mark Kelly
U.S. Senator from Arizona Mark Kelly speaks at Democratic National Convention (July 27, 2016).
mark reinstein/Shuttershock.com
Democratic U.S. Senator from Arizona Mark Kelly, a former astronaut and naval aviator, has long been an outspoken critic of Trump. Kelly was one of the Senate votes in favor of convicting Trump for incitement of insurrection during his second impeachment trial in 2021 after the January 6 capitol riot.
Kelly and five other veteran Democrats recently released a video in light of the Trump administration's strikes on civilian boats in Venezuela and deployment of the National Guard in U.S. cities, reminding active service members that "you can refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution."
The Department of Defense said in November that it would be investigating "serious allegations of misconduct" against Kelly over his statements in the video. In an erratic series of posts on social media, Trump claimed that the actions of Kelly and the other Democrats are "SEDITION AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL" and "punishable by death."
"If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won't work," Kelly responded in a post on X. "I've given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies who care more about their own power than protecting the Constitution."
Jack Smith
Special Counsel Jack Smith announces unsealed indictment with four felony counts against Donald Trump (August 1, 2023).
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Jack Smith was the DOJ special counsel appointed to oversee two criminal investigations into Trump: his incitement of the January 6 capitol insurrection, and his handling of classified government documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Smith resigned before Trump's second term began in January, but not before releasing a 137-page document detailing Trump's involvement in election subversion during the insurrection.
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel has launched a probe into Smith for supposedly violating the Hatch Act through his investigations. The 1939 law prevents civil service employees in the federal government's executive branch from engaging in political activities.
Republican House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan sent a letter to Smith in October calling on him to testify before the committee as it investigates "the full extent to which the Biden-Harris Justice Department weaponized federal law enforcement."
Smith's attorneys wrote in response to the complaint, "A review of the record and procedural history demonstrates the opposite — Mr. Smith was fiercely committed to making prosecutorial decisions based solely on the evidence, he steadfastly followed applicable Department of Justice guidelines and the Principles of Federal Prosecution, and he did not let the pending election influence his investigative or prosecutorial decision-making."
Adam Schiff
Adam Schiff speaking at the CADEM Endorsing Convention General Session Senate Candidate Interviews Saturday afternoon (November 18, 2023).
Sheila Fitzgerald/Shuttershock.com
Democratic U.S. Senator from California Adam Schiff led the first impeachment trial of Trump in 2019 over his pressuring Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 presidential election. He also led the 2021 impeachment investigation over Trump's incitement of the January 6 insurrection.
The DOJ is currently investigating Schiff for alleged insurance fraud related to a property he owns in Maryland, though no evidence has yet been produced to bring charges.
Schiff’s attorney Preet Bharara said in an October statement, “It seems pretty clear that a team of career prosecutors have thoroughly reviewed the politically-motivated allegations against Senator Schiff and found they are unsupported by any evidence and are baseless.”
Eric Swalwell
U.S. Rep. from California Eric Swalwell speaks at a news conference at the U.S Capitaol (July 28, 2022).
Phil Pasquini/Shuttershock.com
U.S. Representative from California Eric Swalwell was a prosecutor during Trump's second impeachment trial. He also filed a lawsuit in March, 2021 against Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Republican Rep. Mo Brooks, and Rudy Giuliani over their role in inciting the January 6 insurrection.
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte issued Swalwell a criminal referral in October this year for mortgage fraud, accusing him of misrepresenting his primary place of residence. Swalwell maintains that he misrepresented nothing, and that his primary residence in California while his wife's primary residence is at their home in Washington, D.C.
Swalwell filed a lawsuit against Pulte in late November, asserting that the director committed a "gross abuse of power" by “scouring databases” in order to acquire his private mortgage records. The suit also accused Pulte of violating Swalwell's First Amendment rights by engaging in "viewpoint-based retaliation.”
“Director Pulte has combed through private records of political opponents. To silence them,” Swalwell said in a statement. “There’s a reason the First Amendment — the freedom of speech — comes before all others.”
Lisa Cook
Lisa Cook takes the oath of office to serve as a member of the Board of Governors at the Federal Reserve System (May 23, 2022).
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Lisa Cook is one of the Federal Reserve board of governors members that Trump has pressured throughout his second term to lower interest rates on his demand, which it has refused to do. Cook was the third political opponent of Trump's to be accused of mortgage fraud by Pulte.
Pulte submitted a criminal referral to the DOJ in August, accusing Cook of claiming primary residence at her home in Michigan as well as her home in Georgia. She has not been indicted to date, yet Trump used the opportunity to attempt to fire Cook in a letter posted online. It marked the first instance in the Federal Reserve's 112-year history that the president tried to fire a governor.
Cook soon after filed a lawsuit against Trump, maintaining that he does not have the authority to fire her. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed in October to hear the case, and allowed Cook to remain in her position in the interim.
This year’s honoree was Congresswoman Maxine Waters, the CaliforniaDemocrat, who received the PFLAG National Champion of Justice Award. The honor places Waters in a lineage that includes the late Maryland Rep. John Lewis; Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin; then-Rep., now Colorado Gov. Jared Polis; former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; and fellow Californian Rep. Barbara Lee, who received last year’s award during a gathering on Capitol Hill. That event, held in September, before the 2024 election, also honored AFT President Randi Weingarten with the PFLAG National Flag Bearer Award for her work on inclusive education and opposition to book bans.
But this year’s reception unfolded under a dramatically darker national climate, with speakers repeatedly invoking the second Trump administration’s policies and the fear reverberating through families, schools, and statehouses.
“My heart breaks for LGBTQ+ kids and their families now.”
PFLAG National Board Chair Edith Guffey spoke through the lens of a mother who raised a nonbinary child in the Midwest. “My heart breaks for LGBTQ+ kids and their families now and how they’re having to navigate such ugly stuff that’s happening in our country,” she said. PFLAG, she emphasized, exists to “provide support, education, and sometimes these days, most important, advocacy” to families navigating fear and misinformation.
PFLAG National CEO Brian K. Bond and Edith Guffey, chair of the PFLAG National board of directors.Paul Morigi/Getty Images for PFLAG National
She then introduced Frank as “a longtime champion” whose leadership helped shape the civil rights landscape for families like hers.
Waters “has done more to keep us together” against bigotry
Frank, 85, took the stage with the mix of wit, political clarity, and historical memory that has made him one of the movement’s most enduring voices. Sitting in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank, he began by thanking PFLAG “for the enormous good work you do,” joking about aging, “losing a body part here for the last few years,” and quipping that he would likely outlive “two of the things that have sustained me for most of my life — newspapers and my spine.” But his humor was the prelude to a deeper assessment of the political alliances that have shaped LGBTQ+ rights for decades.
He positioned Waters not merely as an ally but as a structural force within a multiracial, cross-community coalition that has repeatedly held under conditions meant to shatter it.
“There has been no more effective force in refuting the effort of the bigots to drive us apart,” Frank, who served in Congress from 1981 until 2013, said. “Nobody has done more to keep us together and to make it clear that we are in a common cause.”
Former Massachusetts U.S. Rep. Barney Frank addressing a crowd at a PFLAG event.Paul Morigi/Getty Images for PFLAG National
Frank, who came out publicly in 1987, reflected on the historic alignment between Black lawmakers and LGBTQ+ rights, noting that Black members of Congress consistently held the strongest pro-LBGTQ+ voting records.
“If you only look at the gay members,” he added, “then they’re better, because then you get into the [closeted] gay Republican and they bring the average way down.”
Frank also invoked their shared battles during the Clinton impeachment era, captured in the documentary Let’s Get Frank, joking that Waters “stole” the film from him with an especially eloquent speech defending constitutional norms.
A later Saturday Night Live sketch even parodied the pair, cementing their visibility as two of Congress’s most outspoken defenders of civil rights, he said.
He then turned to policy, spotlighting Waters’ imprint on the 2010 Dodd–Frank Act, which created new banking protections in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. When they served together on the House Financial Services Committee, Waters insisted that discrimination in the sector be addressed as part of financial reform. She recognized, Frank said, that bias functioned “in two ways”: in hiring “a very undiverse workforce” and in lending, where decisions made by overwhelmingly white boards and officers reproduced the same inequities.
Waters authored a diversity-focused provision that required federal attention to discriminatory patterns in both employment and access to loans. Republicans attempted to remove the amendment, sending “a woman — they figured she could get away with it better than others” — to offer the strike. Instead, Frank said, “everybody piled on.” Most significantly, because Waters’ provision is written into statute rather than regulation, “not even this Supreme Court” can erase it, he said.
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters talks about her relationship with former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank.Paul Morigi/Getty Images for PFLAG National
In one of the night’s most intimate moments, Frank described how his mother joined PFLAG after he came out late in life, and how other elderly parents confided in her because she had helped them find the strength to support their own children. “That was one of the most important factors in helping turn this around,” he said.
He closed by returning to Waters: “We are much better off for her service.”
“I will not be silent. Not on my watch.”
“This is a difficult and dangerous time across the country,” Waters, 87, said when accepting the award. “Let me be very clear tonight. I see what they’re doing, and I will not be silent. I will not sit by while they attack our children. Not on my watch.”
She retold the early days of her HIV and AIDS advocacy in Los Angeles, including a formative visit to Jewel Thais-Williams’ Catch One nightclub, where she met young gay men abandoned by their families.
“It was kind of that moment that helped me to understand. I really got it,” she said.
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters accepting a PFLAG award.Paul Morigi/Getty Images for PFLAG National
She also recalled voting against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 “when many in my own party went the other way” and emphasized that LGBTQ+ equality is inseparable from economic equality. “When a transgender person cannot open a bank account without harassment, that is a financial justice issue.”
Waters then brought longtime aide Kathleen Sengstock, who has worked in the congresswoman's office for 26 years, to the stage, calling her “a godsend” and one of her office’s most knowledgeable voices on LGBTQ+ issues. Sengstock wore a “little punk staffer” button Frank once distributed in protest of Republican criticism of congressional aides.
The Advocate spoke with two of PFLAG’s top leaders, who described an organization that is rapidly mobilizing as families seek grounding, clarity, and community.
PFLAG National Vice President of Advocacy Katie Blair said the event underscores a dimension of PFLAG many don’t always see: its advocacy muscle.
“We’re known for the amazing support we offer families, but coming together as fierce advocates for justice, we don’t get to do that all the time,” Blair said. The event, she explained, amplifies the organizations and lawmakers “who are in support of our PFLAG families,” especially as many feel isolated in hostile communities.
Former Rep. Barney Frank and Kathleen Sengstock.Paul Morigi/Getty Images for PFLAG National
Blair said local chapters, founded largely by parents of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth, have been transformed as more families of transgender youth seek help. “Our chapters were mainly LGB families, and as families of trans folks came to the table, they were able to shift hats and remember where they were 20 years ago,” she said. “It’s been beautiful to see them welcome trans parents into the fold.”
She said PFLAG’s unique strength is its ability to have conversations in communities where LGBTQ+ visibility is limited. “We can’t exist in hard spaces without having those conversations,” she said. “We kick off rooted in the love we have for our families, our kids, and we get very far that way.”
Blair said chapter growth has surged as families seek connection and information. For newcomers, she emphasized, “We can meet you wherever you are on your journey.”
In a separate interview, PFLAG National CEO Brian Bond described the deep anxiety many families felt after the Trump administration’s return — especially as anti-LGBTQ+ policies expand from statehouses to the federal level.
“The first reaction is terrified,” Bond said. But in many places, he added, communities were already under siege by their states, and now “it’s just been nationalized into fear.” That fear, he said, is transforming into “rage and the need for community and for organizing.”
Rep. Maxine Waters and PFLAG National CEO Brian K. Bond.Paul Morigi/Getty Images for PFLAG National
Since the 2024 election, he said, PFLAG has seen an explosion of new chapters — 45 so far — “most of them in smaller communities” like Monroe, Michigan, and Lloyd, Virginia. “People are resilient. They want to survive. They want to thrive.”
Bond emphasized that trans people “have always been here,” and visibility is a strength even as disinformation grows. More than half of families seeking support now are parents of transgender or nonbinary youth. “Most are coming saying, ‘How can I help?’” he said. “We will ultimately win this, because it’s worth fighting for.”
Bond also addressed the steep drop in corporate giving amid anti-DEI pressure. “We’ve taken a significant hit in our corporate funding,” he said, though he praised companies that “stayed true to their values.” He added that LGBTQ+ employees and their families remain central to workplace culture. “If you can bring your authentic self to work, then you are a productive employee,” he said.
Returning to the podium to close the event, Bond delivered one more charge to the room: “We refuse to sit on the sidewalks as they come for us or our kids or our families.” As the 2026 elections approach, he said, the fight is everywhere: “school boards, city councils, state capitols.” And PFLAG, he promised, “will never back down.”
Adam Schiff (L), Letitia James (C), and James Comey (R) — all political opponents of Trump indicted or investigated on dubious accusations.Sheila Fitzgerald/Shuttershock.com; lev radin/Shuttershock.com; mark reinstein/Shuttershock.com
PFLAG National CEO Brian K. Bond and Edith Guffey, chair of the PFLAG National board of directors.Paul Morigi/Getty Images for PFLAG National
Former Massachusetts U.S. Rep. Barney Frank addressing a crowd at a PFLAG event.Paul Morigi/Getty Images for PFLAG National
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters talks about her relationship with former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank.Paul Morigi/Getty Images for PFLAG National
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters accepting a PFLAG award.Paul Morigi/Getty Images for PFLAG National
Former Rep. Barney Frank and Kathleen Sengstock.Paul Morigi/Getty Images for PFLAG National
Rep. Maxine Waters and PFLAG National CEO Brian K. Bond.Paul Morigi/Getty Images for PFLAG National