TL;DR
- Army captain Dylan Blaha is challenging a fellow Democrat for her congressional seat in Illinois.
- He says Democrats are rolling over on LGBTQ+ rights and losing their soul.
- His campaign team includes trans and nonbinary volunteers and real policy work.
- He vows to call out his own party when it abandons queer people for political comfort.
- His mission: defend equality with zero apologies — and zero silence.
The Pink Times Rewrite — NY Post Style
A Soldier Says Enough
In Illinois’ 13th District, 32-year-old Army captain and biochemist Dylan Blaha has a message for his own party: Grow a spine. The combat medic–turned–progressive contender is launching a primary challenge against Democratic Rep. Nikki Budzinski — and he’s coming in blazing for queer rights.
“What’s happening right now to trans people — to the LGBTQ+ community — is not OK,” he says, refusing to let his voice drop to the polite whisper some Democrats now use when talking about queer issues. “Somebody needs to stand up.”
Blaha isn’t exactly subtle about where he stands. Raised to believe that “an attack on one is an attack on all,” he says he’s sick of watching drag queens, trans kids, and queer Americans turned into political punching bags. And he’s REALLY sick of his own team shrugging it off.
“They aren’t bad people,” he says of the consultants pushing Democrats to avoid queer-inclusive language. “But that advice? Disgusting. You don’t win by abandoning your values.”
This is coming from a man who literally risked his life defending them — deployed to Afghanistan, later serving in Germany during the Ukraine crisis — learning firsthand that “silence and inaction carry consequences.”
The “Fighter Ally” Energy
Blaha calls himself a “fighter ally” — emphasis on fighter. His campaign isn’t just rainbow-washed merch and vague promises. He’s got trans and nonbinary organizers in the room, shaping policy. Real policy.
“We’re grounding everything in data and expertise,” he explains. “No human should be left behind.”
That line hits especially hard when he talks about housing:
“You can’t separate equality from affordability. The trans woman sleeping in her car because she got fired deserves housing just as much as the single mom who can’t afford rent.”
To Blaha, queer rights aren’t some side quest — they’re the whole game.
Calling Out His Own Party
Budzinski, his opponent, flipped the district blue in 2022 with a more moderate, corporate-friendly approach. Blaha says that approach left queer people behind, especially with her votes on military and immigration bills he sees as harmful.
“People asked, ‘What can we do?’ and were told, ‘Vote next time.’ That’s not enough. People need action now,” Blaha says. He’s not here to smile politely while Democrats “roll over.”
Oof. Spine-check delivered.
He argues the party is losing its moral clarity on queer issues — and everything else, honestly — which is exactly why voters are losing faith. His logic: if Democrats start questioning whether trans people are worth defending? They’ve already lost.
The Veteran With the Comic-Con Heart
Blaha isn’t just military medals and policy talk.
He’s a gamer. A sci-fi nerd. A guy with a Batman tattoo stretched across his upper back reminding him:
“It’s not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me.”
Captain America cosplay? Yes. Six tattoos? Yes. PTSD he manages by running every damn morning? Also yes.
Between knocking on doors and obsessing over policy briefs, his PlayStation has grown dust — but his clarity hasn’t:
“When people ask if I’ll defend trans kids, the answer is yes. Every time.”
Let’s be clear: the LGBTQ+ community deserves leaders who don’t disappear when the polls wobble.
Blaha isn’t chasing votes by watering down dignity. He’s raising the bar — not just for Illinois, but for a Democratic Party that sometimes forgets whose rights are on the line when things get uncomfortable.
Queer Americans have been told forever to wait, to be patient, to take whatever scraps come next election cycle.
Blaha isn’t having it.
He’s not asking for permission — he’s asking for a fight.
And for LGBTQ+ voters tired of being told they’re too inconvenient to defend, that fight can’t come soon enough.