Gabriel Rothblatt

Gabriel Rothblatt, born October 5, 1982 is a technoprogressive political activist, a 2014 congressional candidate, and a writer and speaker in the futurist and transhumanist movements.

Rothblatt speaks at the Mormon Transhumanist Association in 2013

Early life and education

Born to Bina and transgender businesswoman Martine Rothblatt, Rothblatt is Black, Jewish, and comes from a LGBTQ family.[1][2] His parents founded Sirius Satellite Radio and United Therapeutics and other companies.[3] After graduating from high school, he earned a degree in political philosophy at the University of Vermont.[2] He works for MIO, LLC as a property manager and has previously managed a restaurant franchise and worked as an insurance broker.[2] His great grandfather, Isadore Rothblatt, was a union organizer and was beaten to death by anti-union thugs because of his union activities with the Leatherworker's Union of Chicago.[4] Rothblatt is married to Taj Rothblatt, and they have four children together.[4]

Activism

Human rights

Rothblatt is an outspoken advocate for human rights. In his 2014 congressional campaign, he was endorsed by the National Organization for Women,[5] the Teamsters Local Union 769.[6] He also was a featured speaker at the South Brevard NAACP's banquet dinner.[7] He is a Member Delegate of the Space Coast Progressive Alliance and Vice President of the Brevard Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.[8]

Space

Rothblatt is an advocate for space, public speaker on the advantageous of investing in space settlements, and President of the Florida Space Development Council, the National Space Society's local chapter.[9] In a talk hosted by students from SEDS, at the University of Michigan, Rothblatt advocated that space exploration should not resemble the space race but should be an endeavor of international collaboration.[1] In a congressional debate, Rothblatt stated that he believes missions to the moon, mars, and asteroids should be a priority, and under the right plan a 1,000 people could be in space within a decade.[10] Space was such a significant part of Rothblatt's campaign BBC News ran a story covering both candidates position on space and titled it Florida's space race: The politicians battling over the cosmos.[11] Lisa Miller, from New York magazine, wrote that the first item on Rothblatt's platform is "space."[12] Rothblatt has written on various space topics including spacesteading[13] and panspermia.[14]

Transhumanism

Rothblatt is a Pastor, Community Organizer, and member of the Board of Directors with the Terasem Movement.[15][16] Rothblatt writes and speaks on transhumanist topics, such as seasteading,[17][18] cryonics,[19] religion,[20] mind uploading,[21] and technological discrimination.[22][23]

Political campaigns

During the 2014 Midterm elections, Rothblatt ran as a Democratic Party candidate against incumbent Bill Posey in Florida's 8th congressional district.[24] Rothblatt qualified for the ballot by gathering 4,936 signatures; the minimum required was 4,834.[25] Issues of concern to him were technological unemployment, protecting family values, promoting education, protecting the environment, developing space, and human rights.[4][26] His belief in transhumanism and his family ties were both regularly covered by the media. Jessica Roy, from Time, commented that his status as a member of Terasem may be just as difficult for his campaign as being a Democrat in the Republican majority district.[27] During a campaign event, gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist introduced him by saying "Gabriel is the messenger that God sent."[28]

Others were critical of Rothblatt's campaign. Katie Prill, from the National Republican Congressional Committee, wrote that "his radical ideas are too extreme for Florida families."[26] Posey's spokesman, George Cecala, stated that, "It all comes down to the real issue, and that is Bill Posey is a conservative and Gabriel Rothblatt is a liberal.[26] Posey won the election, but Neely Tucker at the Washington Post called his campaign "a respectable debut,"[29] and Dustin Ashley wrote that his campaign "opens the door for other transhumanists to become part of the political action."[30]

SpacePAC

Rothblatt was supported by SpacePAC, a Political Action Committee (PAC) founded by his parents.[26] Under campaign finance laws, PACs are not permitted to collaborate with the candidate.[26] Due to these restrictions, the Rothblatts were not permitted to discuss the campaign together until the election was over.[26] The New York Times criticized the PAC because it was run by his parents.[31] USA Today reported that Rothblatt was unaware of his parents PAC until he saw yard signs promoting his candidacy.[32] According to William Patrick, from Watchdog.org, Posey knew of the family relationship between Rothblatt and the PAC, but Posey declined to comment.[33] Dave Berman, from Florida Today, noted that even with the support of SpacePAC, Posey's campaign had far more funds than Rothblatt's campaign.[34] Alex Leary, from the Tampa Bay Times reported that SpacePAC was not the first PAC to be set up by a wealthy parents to support their child's campaign.[35]

References
  1. Nabeel Chollampat (December 4, 2014). "Space exploration faces future funding hurdles". The Michigan Daily. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  2. "Biography Gabriel Rothblatt for Congress". Gabriel Rothblatt For Congress. Archived from the original on July 9, 2016. Retrieved March 14, 2015.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. Fredreka Schouten (July 18, 2014). "House bid a stepping stone for space-focused candidate". USA Today. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  4. "Americans for Gabriel Rothblatt". Democracy For America. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  5. "Meet the Dudes". Women's Center in Brevard. Archived from the original on December 31, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  6. "Teamsters Local Union 769" (PDF). Teamsters Joint Council 75. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  7. Sara Paulson (October 16, 2014). "Brevard NAACP chapters set plans for annual banquets". Florida Today. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  8. "Annual Elections Jan. 8, 2015". Space Coast Progressive Alliance. Jan 3, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  9. James Dean (March 8, 2015). "NASA's MMS mission set to continue busy month at Cape". Florida Today. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  10. Dave Berman (October 14, 2014). "Posey, Rothblatt take their shots at congressional debate". Florida Today. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  11. Debbie Siegelbaum (October 19, 2014). "Florida's space race: The politicians battling over the cosmos". BBC. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  12. "The Trans-Everything CEO". New York Magazine. September 17, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  13. Gabriel Rothblatt (July 15, 2012). "Spacesteading – May the Meek Inhabit the Cosmos". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  14. Gabriel Rothblatt (August 24, 2012). "Are We Panspermia or Not? Does Knowing Matter?". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  15. "Advisory Board". Lifeboat Foundation. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  16. "Gabriel Rothblatt". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  17. Gabriel Rothblatt (June 9, 2012). "How Can Seasteading End Somali Piracy?". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  18. "The Seasteading Conference". The Seasteading Institute. 2012. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  19. Gabriel Rothblatt (April 6, 2012). "Don't Go To Sleep In The Cold!". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  20. Gabriel Rothblatt (June 7, 2012). "Is Transhumanism a Religion?". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  21. Gabriel Rothblatt (April 20, 2012). "Will We Have Multiple "Selves" in the Future?". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  22. Gabriel Rothblatt (July 20, 2012). "Steve Mann Assaulted at French McDonald's in world's first "Cybernetic Hate Crime". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  23. Gabriel Rothblatt (June 13, 2012). "Is the term "Transhumanism" a misnomer?". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  24. "Florida's 8th Congressional District". Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  25. "Candidates Petition Signatures, 2014 General Elections". Florida Division of Elections. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  26. Scott Powers (August 18, 2014). "Congressional candidate has faith in technology". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  27. Jessica Roy (April 17, 2014). "The Rapture of the Nerds". Time. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  28. Dave Berman (September 25, 2014). "Charlie Crist goes on the offensive in Melbourne". Florida Today. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  29. Neely Tucker (December 12, 2014). "Martine Rothblatt: She founded SiriusXM, a religion and a biotech. For starters". Washington Post. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  30. "Gabriel Rothblatt Lost the Race". transhumanity.net. November 5, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  31. "The Custom-Made 'Super PAC'". New York Times. August 3, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  32. Fredreka Schouten and Christopher Schnaars (July 18, 2014). "Some candidates' super PACs are a family affair". USA Today. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  33. William Patrick (July 29, 2014). "Democratic candidate gets $225,000 boost from sole super PAC donor, his dad". Watchdog.org. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  34. Dave Berman (October 10, 2014). "Numbers don't look good for Brevard Democrats". Florida Today. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  35. Alex Leary (October 28, 2014). "Florida congressional candidate gets Super PAC boost". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
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