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Gay activists missing at Fenty campaign kick-off & more
Gay activists missing at Fenty campaign kick-off
Few gay Democratic activists attended a rally last week that marked the opening of D.C. Mayor Adrian Fentyās re-election campaign headquarters on Georgia Avenue, N.W.
About 300 supporters and volunteers cheered April 10 as Fenty opened his campaign with a speech highlighting his administrationās accomplishments, including reforms in education and crime fighting that he acknowledged werenāt always popular.
āWe did it because it was the right thing to do,ā he said, reciting a litany of policy changes and actions that would make D.C. a āworld-class city.ā
Among the gays seen at the event were Christopher Dyer, director of the mayorās Office of GLBT Affairs, and Joe Martin, director of the mayorās office of constituent services for Ward 4. Also present were gay civic activists John Fanning of Logan Circle and Martin Moulton, the gay president of the Convention Center Community Association.
Fanning, who works for the cityās Department of Parks & Recreation and is a former Advisory Neighborhood Commission member, said he believes Fenty will receive āsolidā support from the LGBT community.
āI think the mayor has made some very tough decisions and has significantly improved city services and the delivery of them in many areas,ā he said. āThe mayor has always been a longtime supporter of the LGBT community and I believe that he remains very sensitive to our causes and issues.ā
Don Colodny, a member of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the cityās largest LGBT political group, was one of the few club members present. He said the lack of a large gay presence at the event was not a sign that gays wonāt vote for Fenty.
āIt was held at 10 in the morning on a Saturday in the far side of the city,ā he said, noting that the location and early hour most likely discouraged gays from attending the event. Other people noted that the event wasnāt widely publicized in the LGBT community.
In his speech at the rally, Fenty did not mention LGBT issues or the cityās same-sex marriage bill, which he signed into law in December. He also did not reference two recent city studies that show record high numbers of HIV infections among city residents, including African Americans and men who have sex with men.
He instead pointed to the more positive findings of the AIDS studies showing that the cityās aggressive programs to administer HIV testing over the past several years ā and placing people who test positive into city-funded treatment ā has reduced the number of AIDS cases.
āWe knew we had to fight the spread of AIDS,ā Fenty said. āThe number of new AIDS cases, ladies and gentlemen, declined 33 percent between 2004 and 2008. We have doubled the amount of testing, distributed three-and-a-half million free condoms, [and] removed 350,000 needles from our streets.ā
DC Agenda boxes stolen in Georgetown
Boxes used to distribute the DC Agenda at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street, N.W., in Georgetown were discovered to be missing on three occasions in March, prompting the paperās publisher to file a stolen property report with D.C. police.
The boxes were positioned on the sidewalk on Wisconsin Avenue in front of the United Colors of Benetton clothing store, next to distribution boxes for Politico, The Hill and Washington City Paper.
Publisher Lynne Brown said that when the first DC Agenda box disappeared at the Georgetown location, the newspaperās distribution company quickly replaced it with another box. When that replacement box disappeared a short time later, a heavier metal box was installed, Brown said.
She noted that that box disappeared sometime before DC Agendaās delivery person arrived to deliver the subsequent issue. Because the DC Agenda is distributed free of charge, Brown said she concluded someone appears to be taking the boxes and the newspapers inside with the intent of stopping their distribution at that location.
Brown is asking that anyone with information that might lead to the identification of the person or people responsible for stealing the boxes contact the DC Agendaās distribution department at 202-747-2077, ext. 8080.
Virginia man sentenced for hate crime
A 27-year-old Virginia man has been sentenced to 120 days in jail after pleading guilty to assaulting a group of lesbians on a sidewalk in Adams Morgan in September, a crime that police listed as a hate crime.
D.C. Superior Court Judge Craig Iscoe handed down the sentence April 5 against Christopher McDonald, who pleaded guilty to charges of simple assault and bias-related threats to do bodily harm.
The United States Attorneyās office, which prosecuted the case, dropped separate charges of possession of a prohibited weapon ā a knife ā and a second count of bias-related threats to do bodily harm in exchange for McDonaldās agreeing to plead guilty in February.
According to prosecutors, McDonald admitted to āconfronting the women about their sexual orientation and made derogatory, profanity-laced remarks about their appearance and sexual orientation.ā
In an unprovoked action, McDonald, who was born in Jamaica, āpulled out a knife and began advancing toward one of the women, saying āif we were in Jamaica Iād shoot you in the face for being gay,āā says a statement released by prosecutors.
Police said the incident took place on the 2400 block of 18th Street, N.W., on Sept. 7.
Under the terms of his sentencing, McDonaldās incarceration will be followed by a two-year period of supervised probation. He must also complete 50 hours of community service, obtain substance abuse treatment, and ācomplete courses in anger management and sensitivity to issues of sexual orientation,ā according to the prosecutorsā statement.
Attorneys spar over evidence rules in Wone murder case
Attorneys are still arguing over procedures and rules for the submission of evidence at the upcoming trial of three gay men charged in connection with the August 2006 murder of Washington attorney Robert Wone.
At a status hearing in D.C. Superior Court on April 5, Judge Lynn Leibovitz acted as a taskmaster to facilitate agreement between the two sides on how to deal with a mountain of evidence. Among the items of evidence is a knife that the three defendants claim an unidentified intruder used to stab Wone to death while he was asleep in a guest bedroom at their Dupont Circle home.
The defendants, Joseph Price, Victor Zaborsky and Dylan Ward, have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice and evidence tampering. No one has been charged with Woneās murder.
Prosecutors have alleged in a detailed arrest affidavit that the three men, among other things, cleaned Woneās blood off a kitchen knife they say they found beside Woneās body as part of a conspiracy to prevent investigators from determining who killed the prominent Asian-American attorney.
Prosecutors have said they believe the actual knife used to stab Wone may have been part of a three-knife cutlery set found in Wardās bedroom. One of the knives was missing upon police inspection.
Leibovitz scheduled another status hearing for April 23. The trial in the case is scheduled to begin May 10.
Richmondās gay center hosts musical, comedy shows
The Gay Community Center of Richmond in Virginia is hosting three musical and comedy shows in coming weeks.
Musicians Gaye Adegbalola and Roddy Barnes will be in concert together at the Centerās event hall at 8 p.m. April 24. Gregg Johnson, a Center director, said the joint performance is expected to be āone hell of a show.ā
āGaye Adegbalola embraces and redefines the classic style of the great blues divas of the 1920s and 1930s, those of 10 fiercely independent wild women who were unashamed to lay their souls bare and unafraid to give advice,ā he said. āShe invokes the spirit and addresses the lyrics and improvisational techniques of the classic blues women and brings history to life.ā
Johnson said Adegbalola was a founding member of Saffire the Uppity Blues Women, and is ātruly the epitome of uppity.ā
āRoddy Barnes is a classically trained pianist and can play any genre, but excels in the old-timey sound that works best with this music,ā he said. āExperience the dynamic and compelling performance of Adegbalola and Barnes as they conjure up another era and put on one hell of a show.ā
Tickets for the event are $10 and can be purchased at the Center or online by following a link at GayRichmond.com.
On April 25, students from Virginia Commonwealth University will stage a comedy and improvisation show at the Centerās event hall. Tickets to the three-hour event that begins at 7 p.m. are $3 and available at the door.
And early next month, Johnny Blazes will stage his āwo(n)man showā at the Center. Johnson described the performance as blending ācabaret arts with theater to create a series of vignettes that are a humorous look at gender stereotypes that pervade our world.ā
Blazes has a background in theater, clowning and drag. Tickets to the 8 p.m. show May 5 are $10 and available at the door.
The Gay Community Center of Richmond is located at 1407 Sherwood Ave. in Richmond.
LGBT elder group opens D.C. office
The New York-based Services & Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders, also known as SAGE, has opened an office in Washington, D.C., to strengthen its advocacy for LGBT elders with the federal government, the group said in a statement.
With the Washington office in place this month, SAGE āwill ensure that the needs of LGBT older people are addressed in public policy and public discussion across the country,ā said Michael Adams the groupās executive director.
John Johnson, the groupās director of federal government relations and currently the sole staff person in the Washington office, said the office is operating out of space rented from the National Caucus & Center on Black Aged at 1220 L St., N.W., Suite 800.
The opening of the Washington office comes after the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services awarded SAGE a contract to create and help operate an LGBT Elder National Technical Assistance Resource Center. SAGE will manage the center with a network of partners, including the American Society on Aging and the National Council on Aging.
Johnson, however, said the SAGE Washington office will be involved solely in advocacy work and wonāt take part in operating the new elder center.
Since its founding in 1978, SAGE and its affiliate member groups have expanded significantly their support services for older LGBT people across the country, according to the groupās statement.
Virginia
Man went on āhomophobic rantā inside Va. pub that displayed Pride flags
Suspect arrested on charges of public intoxication, assaulting police officer
The Hawk & Griffin British Pub located in Vienna, Va., posted a message on Facebook last week saying a man was arrested after going on a āhomophobic rantā inside the pub on June 28 when he saw that LGBTQ Pride flags were displayed at the pub for Pride month.
āLast night we had an incident here at the pub when a man came off the street to accost patrons in our beer garden because of our flags displayed for pride month,ā the Hawk & Griffin Facebook posting says. āHe then spit on our windows and came inside to confront our staff and patrons with homophobic rants,ā the posting continues.
āOur manager and staff handled the situation very professionally and police were called to investigate and later arrested a man a couple of blocks away,ā the message says. āWe want to thank the Vienna Police Department for their quick response. We are and will continue to be community focused and we will never stop working to create and maintain a place of inclusion and tolerance,ā the statement concludes.
Vienna police charged Justin Wayne Hendricks, of no known address, with misdemeanor counts of being ādrunk in publicā and providing false identification to a police officer and with a felony count of assault on a police officer. A police spokesperson said Hendricks was also found to be in violation of an outstanding arrest warrant from Alexandria, Va., related to a prior charge of failing to register as a sex offender.
The spokesperson, Juan Vazquez, said Hendricks is currently being held without bond at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. Online records for the Fairfax County General District Court show that Hendricks is scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing on Oct. 9.
āOn Friday, June 28, around 9:28 p.m. the Vienna Police Department responded to reports of an intoxicated individual threatening customers of the Hawk & Griffin,ā a Vienna police statement says. āUpon the arrival of the officers the individual had already left the premises but was promptly located at an address nearby,ā according to the statement.
The statement adds that Hendricks was subsequently charged with being drunk in public, providing false information about his identity to police, and assault on a police officer along with being served with the outstanding warrant related to the prior charge in Alexandria of failing to register as a sex offender.
Details of the prior sex offender charge couldnāt immediately be obtained from online court records. However, the online records show that Hendricks has at least a dozen or more prior arrests between 2014 and 2023 on charges including public intoxication, trespassing, and failing to register as a sex offender.
Police spokesperson Vazquez said it would be up to prosecutors with the office of the Fairfax County Commonwealthās Attorney to determine if a subsequent hate crime related charge would be filed in the case.
Virginia
Parades, community events held to mark Pride Month in Va.
Upwards of 30,000 people attended PrideFest in Norfolk on June 22
Activists across Virginia last month held a series of events to mark Pride Month.
Hampton Roads Pride, a volunteer-run organization founded in 1997, held 37 different Pride events throughout the region in June.
Their biggest event, PrideFest, which is part of their larger three day event, Pride Weekend, celebrated its 36th anniversary on June 22. Pride Weekend took place from June 21-23 and began with a block party at NorVa in Norfolk.
PrideFest took place at Town Point Park, and an estimated 30,000 people attended. More than 70 venders participated, while Todrick Hall and Mariah Counts are among those who performed.
Another PrideFest event with a DJ in the afternoon and live music at night took place in Virginia Beach on June 23. Congressman Bobby Scott and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) are among those who attended Pride events in Suffolk on June 30.
Norfolk Mayor Kenneth Alexander, along with members of the Norfolk and Virginia Beach City Councils, also attended the Pride events in their respective cities. Jamar Walker, the first openly gay federal judge in Virginia, also took part.
āYou know people all throughout Pride Month, at all of our various events, tell me all kinds of stories about their own experiences and the past of this community … and some of our older folks especially, remember when we couldn’t have this,ā Hampton Roads Pride President Jeff Ryder told the Washington Blade on Monday during a telephone interview.
āIt was a great year,ā he added. “It was a big achievement for us to have unique celebrations in each of our seven communities. Each of these cities is so different from one another, but to be able to create a Pride celebration that’s unique in each of those places was really great, and I think really well received by folks who may not have felt represented previously. We’re always trying to do better, to embrace every aspect of our community, and take a big step forward there this year.ā
State Dels. Adele McClure (D-Arlington County) and Alfonso Lopez (D-Arlington County) are among those who spoke at Arlington Pride that took place at Long Bridge Park on June 29. The Fredericksburg Pride march and festival took place the same day at Riverfront Park in Fredericksburg.
Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on June 10 hosted a Pride Month reception in Richmond.
Youngkin in previous years has hosted Pride Month receptions, even though Equality Virginia and other advocacy groups have criticized him for supporting anti-LGBTQ bills.
The Republican governor in March signed a bill that codified marriage equality in Virginia. Youngkin last month vetoed a measure that would have expanded the definition of bullying in the state.
Baltimore
Baltimore street named in honor of trans activist
Iya Dammons is founder of support groups Safe Haven in Baltimore, D.C.
Baltimore city officials and LGBTQ activists participated in a ceremony on June 29 officially dedicating the renaming of a street in honor of transgender woman Iya Dammons, who founded and serves as executive director of the LGBTQ services organization Maryland Safe Haven.
A section of Baltimoreās 21st Street at the intersection of North Charles Street, where the Maryland Safe Haven offices are located, has been renamed Iya Dammons Way.
The ceremony took place six years after Dammons founded Maryland Safe Haven in 2018 and one year after she launched a Safe Haven operation in D.C.in 2023 located at 331 H St., N.E.
A statement on its website says Safe Haven provides a wide range of supportive services for LGBTQ people in need, with a special outreach to Black trans women ānavigating survival modeā living.
āThrough compassionate harm reduction and upward mobility services, advocacy support, and community engagement, we foster a respectful, non-judgmental environment that empowers individual agency,ā the statement says. āOur programs encompass community outreach, a drop-in center providing HIV testing, harm reduction, PrEP, medical linkage, case management, and assistance in accessing housing services,ā it says.
Among those participating in the street renaming ceremony were Baltimore City Council member Zeke Cohen, interim director of Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scottās Office of LGBTQ Affairs Alexis Blackmon, and Dominique Morgan, an official with the national foundation Borealis Philanthropy, which provides financial support for transgender supportive nonprofit organizations, including Safe Haven.
āThis is a significant achievement and historic moment for our city,ā a statement by Maryland Safe Haven announcing the ceremony says. āIya Dammons has been a tireless advocate for transgender rights and has worked tirelessly to provide safe spaces and resources for transgender individuals in our city,ā it says. āThis honor is well-deserved, and we are thrilled to see her contributions recognized in such a meaningful way.ā
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