Milwaukee County Juvenile Court Judge Brett Blomme, who was supported by the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund for his appointment, was arrested on seven counts of possession of child pornography. Brett Blomme, 37 years old, is also theformer president of the Cream City Foundation, an LGBTQ+ organisation known for promoting Drag Queen Story Hour, events in which men dressed up in women's clothing read fairy tales to children (are also made in Italy, here an event sponsored by the Municipality of Rome, here another organised by the Catania CGIL, ed.)
The charges against Brett Blomme are serious. Every single charge of child pornography carries a mandatory prison sentence of a minimum of three years and a maximum of 15 years in prison. After spending a night in jail, Blomme was released on a signature requirement that he not use social networking or file-sharing services and have unsupervised contact with children other than his own. Brett Blomme is married to a man and has two adopted children.
The criminal complaint against Blomme states that Up to 27 pictures and videos of child victims of sexual abuse were uploaded on the messaging app Kik. The address of these uploads was found to be the home of Blomme and her husband. in Cottage Grove, Dane County. According to the complaint, the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children informed investigators about the Kik user 'DomMasterbb' who was suspected of possessing and sharing child pornography. Investigators then linked the Kik account to Blomme through his personal and work e-mails.
Brett Blomme was chosen by Milwaukee Democratic Mayor Tom Barret as the candidate for Milwaukee County Circuit Court. Barret urged fellow Democrat and Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers to support Blomme's name for the Milwaukee Country Circuit Court opening in 2019 and spoke of his 20-year relationship with Brett Blomme, but Governor Evers did not nominate him for the position on the court. Until, in 2020, Brett Blomme won the Milwaukee County Court Branch 5 election, the first openly gay man elected to the position.
Brett Blomme's election would not have been possible without a series of endorsements in his favour, the vast majority of them from Democrats. In his campaign, Blomme described himself as a 'progressive alternative' to his opponent. To launch his campaign, Brett Blomme enumerated the endorsements of a number of elected officials, lawyers, and community leaders, the most important of which are Democratic Wisconsin state senator Tim Carpenter.
The next important support for Blomme came from the Democratic US Congressional Representative for Wisconsin's 4th Congressional District Gwen Moore. Moore endorsed Blomme wholeheartedly, saying, "I support Brett because, like me, he is committed to making Milwaukee a better place for all of us. He is a former ombudsman who has dedicated his career to fighting for justice and fairness. Join me in supporting Brett Blomme for Milwaukee County Circuit Court-Branch 5 on Feb. 18. Brett is the change we need to restore our criminal justice system'.
Another important support for Brett Blomme came from the LGBTQ Victory Fund, a national organisation founded in 1991 dedicated exclusively to increasing the number of openly LGBTQ people elected to public office. Blomme's past already President of an LGBTQ+ organisation such as Creamy City Foundation. has further strengthened its credentials as a champion of LGBTQ people.
Brett Blomme also received the endorsement of the local Milwaukee media, the most important of which is Shepard Express. The newspaper's editorial board endorsed Brett Blomme, citing his "strong commitment to serving our community, including his work with non-profit organisations".
Brett Blomme was CEO of the Creamy City Foundation, an LGBTQ+ organisation that organises the controversial ``Drag Queen Story Hour for children in public libraries in and around Milwaukee, and In June 2017 he left, shortly before being elected as a judge. The information is not easily accessible. This is because when the news of Blomme's arrest for child pornography came out. several online web pages linking Brett Blomme to the Creamy City Foundation were deleted. Blomme's LinkedIn profile has been deleted, only a screenshot remains confirming his role as CEO of the existing Creamy City Foundation.
Blomme advocated very progressive positions on gender and sexand has written articles on topics such as 'Cross-Cultural Competence Building'. Several press releases by Brett Blomme himself describe him as CEO of the Creamy City Foundation (see here) so there is no doubt about its role. Here is the link of the Creamy City Foundation's About webpage which mentions Brett Blomme as Past President and CEO of the Creamy City Foundation.
Now that Blomme's serious offences of possessing numerous child pornography images have been revealed, many questions arise about his activities at the Creamy City Foundation. As CEO, Blomme oversaw several events, including the Drag Queen Story Hour, with many children in attendance. If Blomme is convicted, serious questions will be raised about the safety of children during these events, and about how a suspected paedophile was responsible for organising them.
T. Waraich
(the original article heretranslation by Marina Terragni)
