Local
Controversial minister endorses gay D.C. Council candidate
Rev. Wilson called ‘lesbianism’ threat to youth, families
D.C. City Council candidate Clark Ray (center) accepted an endorsement this week from a controversial Baptist minister. (Photo courtesy of Clark Ray for Council)
Gay D.C. City Council candidate Clark Ray drew mixed reactions from the LGBT community this week when he accepted the endorsement of a minister who preached in 2005 that “lesbianism is about to take over our community.”
Ray, who is challenging LGBT-supportive Council member Phil Mendelson, noted that Rev. Willie Wilson, pastor of Union Temple Baptist Church in Anacostia, apologized for the remarks about lesbians and gay men in his widely reported 2005 sermon.
Ray said he and Wilson developed a friendship while meeting regularly over the past two years on a wide range of issues beginning when Ray served as director of the city’s Department of Parks & Recreation.
“What we’re trying to do today and I think what this is an example of is building a bridge,” Ray said at Denny’s Restaurant in Southeast D.C., where Wilson announced the endorsement Wednesday and pledged to work hard for Ray’s election in the Sept. 14 Democratic primary.
“We don’t agree on everything, the reverend and I,” Ray said at the announcement. “And I disagree on a number of topics that we’ve talked about. But the deal is we can talk about it. And I can learn from him and he can learn from me. … So I welcome the endorsement.”
Wilson told the gathering that as parks and recreation director, Ray showed a strong interest in the issues and concerns of residents in wards 7 and 8 and helped Wilson with several projects related to city recreation and senior citizen centers.
“We developed a very close friendship,” Wilson said. “I vigorously support his campaign for at-large member of the D.C. City Council. I will personally canvas my community to get out the vote in support of Clark Ray for at-large Council member.”
Members of the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance criticized Ray for accepting Wilson’s endorsement, triggering a debate on the group’s blog, GLAAforum.org.
Bob Summersgill, a former GLAA president, pointed to published reports and transcripts of Wilson’s 2005 sermon, saying Ray’s acceptance of the endorsement appeared to be “pandering to one group while alienating others.”
In his sermon July 3, 2005, Wilson asserted that black families were being harmed by a growing number of young women who were rejecting men and forming romantic relationships with other women.
“Lesbianism is about to take over our community,” he said. “I’m talking about young girls.”
In remarks that drew expressions of outrage by LGBT activists and women’s rights groups, Wilson recounted how his son had complained that he could not find a date for his high school prom.
“He said, ‘Dad, I ain’t got nobody to take to the prom because all the girls in my class are gay. There ain’t but two of them straight and both are ugly.’”
Wilson continued, “But when you get down to this thing, woman falling down on another woman, strapping herself up with something. It ain’t real. That thing ain’t got no feeling in it. It ain’t natural.”
Turning to his concern about gay men, Wilson told his congregation, “Any time somebody got to slap some grease on your behind, and stick something in you, it’s something wrong with that. Your butt ain’t made for that.”
Following a flurry of news reports about the sermon, which began when the Blade broke the story after obtaining an recorded copy of Wilson’s sermon, Wilson issued an apology that some in the LGBT community said wasn’t sincere.
“Some people in the community were offended by the language I used in my message, which I will admit was intemperate,” Wilson told the Washington Post. “I apologize to anyone who was hurt by the language that I used.”
The Post reported that Wilson added, “I do not apologize for raising a very serious issue concerning our young girls, some as young as 10 and 11 years of age, who are engaging in same-sex relations.”
Three months later, in October 2005, Wilson angered gay activists on a separate matter when he reportedly blocked black gay activist and former Clinton administration official Keith Boykin from speaking at an African American civil rights rally on the National Mall known as the Millions More Movement March. Wilson served as national executive director of the march.
Boykin was scheduled to speak at the event following extensive negotiations between the National Black Justice Coalition, an LGBT group, and organizers of the Millions More Movement. Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, the event’s lead organizer, initially agreed to allow a gay speaker and didn’t object when activists decided Boykin would be a speaker representing the black LGBT community. Wilson objected late to Boykin taking the stage and his appearance was scrapped.
Ray said he believes Wilson has “come a long way” since his 2005 actions. Ray noted that while Wilson personally opposes same-sex marriage on religious grounds, he chose not to become involved with efforts by his fellow ministers to campaign against the city’s same-sex marriage law passed by the City Council in December.
In a statement released this week, Wilson said, “I have enjoyed getting to know and working with Clark. He knows that I support full civil equality for all residents of the District of Columbia — including those who comprise the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Questioning (GLBTQ) Community.”
Ray supporter Joel Lawson, a gay activist and Dupont Circle civic leader, said Ray’s acceptance of the Wilson endorsement was an important conciliatory gesture.
“I think Clark is showing leadership in building a bridge through and across some very uncomfortable territory,” Lawson said. “We have gay marriage now. We’ve won. The question now is do we expand our discussions with one another within this family of D.C. residents.
“They have forged a very improbable connection,” he said of Ray and Wilson’s relationship. “And I think that is progress.”
But in the GLAA blog, Mitch Wood, the group’s president, expressed skepticism about how much Wilson may have changed in his views on LGBT rights.
“I am all for building bridges across cultures and demographics — but anyone from the gay and lesbian community should be exceptionally wary about embracing a ‘man of God’ with such a tarnished and divisive record,” he said.
Rehoboth Beach
Auction of Rehoboth’s Blue Moon canceled
Details on sale of iconic bar, restaurant not disclosed
The Blue Moon in Rehoboth Beach, Del., has been an iconic presence in the local LGBTQ community for four decades but its status remains murky after a sheriff’s auction of the property was abruptly called off on Tuesday.
The property was listed for sale in December. At that time, owner Tim Ragan told the Blade that he is committed to preserving its legacy as a gay-friendly space.
“We had no idea the interest this would create,” Ragan said in December. “I guess I was a little naive about that.”
Ragan explained that he and longtime partner Randy Haney were separating the real estate from the business. The two buildings associated with the sale were listed by Carrie Lingo at 35 Baltimore Ave., and include an apartment, the front restaurant (6,600 square feet with three floors and a basement), and a secondary building (roughly 1,800 square feet on two floors). They were listed for $4.5 million.
The bar and restaurant business is being sold separately; the price was not publicly disclosed.
But then, earlier this year, the Blue Moon real estate listing turned up on the Sussex County Sheriff’s Office auction site. The auction was slated for Tuesday, April 21 but hours before the sale, the listing changed to “active under contract” indicating that a buyer has been found but the sale is not yet final. As of Wednesday morning, the listing has been removed from the sheriff’s auction site.
Ragan didn’t respond to Blade inquiries about the auction. Back in December, he told the Blade, “It’s time to look for the next people who can continue the history of the Moon and cultivate the next chapter,” noting that he turns 70 this year. “We’re not panicked; we separated the building from the business. Some buyers can’t afford both.”
The identity of the buyer was not disclosed, nor was the sale price.
Delaware
Delaware school district remains supportive after Trump attacks on trans students
Cape Henlopen has gender identity nondiscrimination policy
The Cape Henlopen School District in Delaware, one of five school districts in several states where the U.S. Department of Education earlier this month rescinded agreements protecting the rights of transgender students, says it will continue to provide a “safe and supportive learning environment” for all students.
In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for the Cape Henlopen district sent the Washington Blade a short statement on its response to the federal Education Department’s action under orders from the Trump administration that ended what were called school district “resolution agreements” put in place under the administration of President Joe Biden.
Among other things, the federally initiated agreements required schools to train faculty on responding to a student’s preferred name and pronouns and to implement policies that allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity.
“The Cape Henlopen School District has received correspondence from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights regarding the resolution agreement entered in March 2024,” the Cape Henlopen School District’s statement says. “As always, we are committed to providing a safe and supportive learning environment where all students can succeed,” it says.
“We will continue to work collaboratively to ensure our practices and programs support the well-being, growth, and achievement of every student in our District,” the statement concludes.
Although it did not respond specifically to the Trump-initiated action ending federal protections for trans students, a statement on the Cape Henlopen School District’s website says the district has a policy of non-discrimination based on a wide range of categories, including race, religion, creed, gender, and “sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The Trump administration’s latest action does not take away nondiscrimination policies put in place by school districts on their own.
The Cape Henlopen district is in Sussex County, a short distance from Rehoboth Beach, a Delaware resort town with many LGBTQ residents and summer visitors.
The other school districts for which the U.S. education department ended the trans nondiscrimination agreements include the Delaware Valley School District in Pennsylvania, Sacramento City Unified School District in California, Fife School District in Washington State, and La Mesa Spring Valley School District also in California.
Kimberly Richey, the Department of Education’s Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, said in a statement that the decision to terminate the school agreements highlighted the Trump administration’s efforts to prevent trans students from participating in girls’ and women’s sports teams and accessing shared locker rooms.
“Today, the Trump administration is removing the unnecessary and unlawful burdens that prior administrations imposed on schools in its relentless pursuit of a radical transgender agenda,” she said in her statement.
Shiwali Patel, an official with the National Women’s Law Center, said in a statement that the action removing protections for trans students would negatively impact all students.
“There is absolutely no basis for what the Department of Education is doing, and it is unimaginably cruel,” she said. “Parents, teachers, and students need the Department to focus on addressing real harms on campuses instead of rolling back policies that keep all students safe.”
Virginia
Va. voters approve HRC-backed redistricting plan
10 of state’s 11 congressional districts now favor Democrats
Virginia voters on Tuesday narrowly approved a congressional redistricting plan ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The referendum passed by a 51-48 vote margin.
Virginia’s last Census happened in 2020. The next time maps would have been redrawn was intended for 2030, but the referendum results allow for redistricting to happen this year, while allowing the standard district procedures to resume after the 2030 Census.
Many congressional maps have been redrawn since the Trump-Vance administration took office, adding seats for both Republicans and Democrats. Ten of 11 of Virginia’s congressional districts will now favor Democrats.
The Human Rights Campaign PAC supported the referendum.
“Virginians made their voices heard today, rebuking Republicans’ attempts to stack the deck in their favor in the 2026 midterm elections and beyond,” said Human Rights Campaign PAC President Kelley Robinson in a statement. “This year, we’re going to take Congress back from the fringe extremists who have bent the knee to President Trump’s historically unpopular agenda at every turn.”
“Virginians just put anti-equality, anti-democracy, and anti-freedom lawmakers on notice — together, we are fighting for a future where every single American’s vote matters and where every elected official must earn their constituents’ trust,” she added.
Auction of Rehoboth’s Blue Moon canceled
Delaware school district remains supportive after Trump attacks on trans students
Va. voters approve HRC-backed redistricting plan
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