Local
O’Malley reiterates marriage pledge
Equality Maryland endorses Maryland governor
Gov. Martin O’Malley told Equality Maryland supporters this week that he would sign a marriage equality bill if re-elected and the legislature passes it. (Washington Blade photo by Brandon Waggoner)
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Equality Maryland officially gave its endorsement to Gov. Martin O’Malley at its ninth annual signature gala Sunday night.
“The governor has a strong record from his days on the City Council, as mayor and as governor,” Morgan Meneses-Sheets, executive director of Equality Maryland, said in endorsing O’Malley in next week’s election. “The choice is clear – the former governor who did not even believe that same-sex couples should be able to visit each other in the hospital or our current governor who has pledged to sign both of our key initiatives?”
O’Malley, a Democrat, who is running for re-election against former Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich, was one of the special guests at the gala, which was held at the Samuel Riggs Alumni Center at the University of Maryland in College Park.
“Two different governors, two different choices,” O’Malley repeated throughout his speech to nearly 400 attendees, referring to policy decisions made by Ehrlich and his decisions on the same topics, such as hospital visitation rights. “I’m running against the alternative.”
Each time O’Malley mentioned his opponent’s name, attendees showed their displeasure by hissing in response. He urged everyone to vote and to make sure their friends and family vote as well.
“Do not believe these polls,” O’Malley said, adding they were only accurate if everyone actually went out and voted.
The governor addressed same-sex marriage during a debate last week with Ehrlich sponsored by the Washington Post.
“I stood with [Attorney General] Doug Gansler on recognizing out-of-state marriages,” O’Malley said. “When the General Assembly passes an equality bill, a bill regardless of labels, that protects equal rights, I will sign it so long as it has religious protections.”
O’Malley has a complicated history on marriage rights. After initially supporting marriage equality, he backtracked in 2007, after the state high court ruled against same-sex marriage in Maryland. That year, he told the Blade in an exclusive interview that he supported civil unions but would sign a marriage equality bill if the legislature passed it. He has reiterated that pledge during this year’s campaign, while maintaining his support for civil unions.
The audience seemed happy about O’Malley’s remarks, cheering and clapping throughout his speech.
“I was pleased. He specifically mentioned his commitment to ensuring that the state’s anti-bullying law is fully enforced, which in light of the tragic deaths of so many young, LGBT people in recent months is more important than ever,” Meneses-Sheets said. “ But most important, he talked about equal treatment under the law for all Marylanders and all families.”
O’Malley mentioned Tyler Clementi in his speech before reminding attendees that he signed a bill creating an anti-bullying policy in 2008, which set standards for all public school systems in the state.
O’Malley did not take questions from the media after his speech.
Gansler followed O’Malley and gave a short speech, saying the governor and his wife are 100 percent behind the issues Equality Maryland is fighting for.
Gansler received a standing ovation when after saying it was great that out-of-state marriages were recognized, added, “It is absurd people can’t get married here in Maryland.”
Lea Gilmore and Scott Davenport were both honored at the gala as part of the program. Gilmore was awarded Ally of the Year and her husband accepted the award, reading an e-mail she sent from Germany.
Davenport, president of Equality Maryland, received the Legacy Award for his work with the organization and outside of it.
“Trust me, everything can be fixed, I know that, I have kids,” Davenport joked when he dropped his award and it broke.
Davenport also donated $20,000 to hire a lobbyist for the upcoming legislative session, on the condition that the organization raise funds to match his donation.
Immediately after this announcement, attendees began shouting out donation amounts, including Meneses-Sheets.
They raised at least $20,500 from those donations. Equality Maryland is still working on figuring out how much was raised from tickets to the event and the silent auction.
Officials from Equality Maryland described the event as a success.
“The room was bursting at the seams,” Meneses-Sheets said. “We had more state and local lawmakers than ever come out and stand with us. We had a great program demonstrating our ties to communities of faith, communities of color, labor and our statewide elected officials. But most important, people had fun and left inspired to keep up the fight.”
Virginia
DOJ seeks to join lawsuit against Loudoun County over trans student in locker room
Three male high school students suspended after complaining about classmate
The Justice Department has asked to join a federal lawsuit against Loudoun County Public Schools over the way it handled the case of three male high school students who complained about a transgender student in a boys’ locker room.
The Washington Blade earlier this year reported Loudoun County public schools suspended the three boys and launched a Title IX investigation into whether they sexually harassed the student after they said they felt uncomfortable with their classmate in the locker room at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn.
The parents of two of the boys filed a lawsuit against Loudoun County public schools in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria. The Richmond-based Founding Freedoms Law Center and America First Legal, which White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller co-founded, represent them.
The Justice Department in a Dec. 8 press release announced that “it filed legal action against the Loudoun County (Va.) School Board (Loudoun County) for its denial of equal protection based on religion.”
“The suit alleges that Loudoun County applied Policy 8040, which requires students and faculty to accept and promote gender ideology, to two Christian, male students in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” reads the press release.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in the press release said “students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate.”
“Loudoun County’s decision to advance and promote gender ideology tramples on the rights of religious students who cannot embrace ideas that deny biological reality,” said Dhillon.
Outgoing Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and outgoing Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares in May announced an investigation into the case.
The Virginia Department of Education in 2023 announced the new guidelines for trans and nonbinary students for which Youngkin asked. Equality Virginia and other advocacy groups claim they, among other things, forcibly out trans and nonbinary students.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in February launched an investigation into whether Loudoun County and four other Northern Virginia school districts’ policies in support of trans and nonbinary students violate Title IX and President Donald Trump’s executive order that prohibits federally funded educational institutions from promoting “gender ideology.”
District of Columbia
Capital Pride announces change in date for 2026 D.C. Pride parade and festival
Events related to U.S. 250th anniversary and Trump birthday cited as reasons for change
The Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C. based group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, has announced it is changing the dates for the 2026 Capital Pride Parade and Festival from the second weekend in June to the third weekend.
“For over a decade, Capital Pride has taken place during the second weekend in June, but in 2026, we are shifting our dates in response to the city’s capacity due to major events and preparations for the 250th anniversary of the United States,” according to a Dec. 9 statement released by Capital Pride Alliance.
The statement says the parade will take place on Saturday, June 20, 2026, with the festival and related concert taking place on June 21.
“This change ensures our community can gather safely and without unnecessary barriers,” the statement says. “By moving the celebration, we are protecting our space and preserving Pride as a powerful act of visibility, solidarity, and resistance,” it says.
Ryan Bos, the Capital Pride Alliance CEO and President, told the Washington Blade the change in dates came after the group conferred with D.C. government officials regarding plans for a number of events in the city on the second weekend in June. Among them, he noted, is a planned White House celebration of President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday and other events related to the U.S. 250th anniversary, which are expected to take place from early June through Independence Day on July 4.
The White House has announced plans for a large June 14, 2026 celebration on the White House south lawn of Trump’s 80th birthday that will include a large-scale Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event involving boxing and wrestling competition.
Bos said the Capital Pride Parade will take place along the same route it has in the past number of years, starting at 14th and T Streets, N.W. and traveling along 14th Street to Pennsylvania Ave., where it will end. He said the festival set for the following day will also take place at its usual location on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., between 2nd Street near the U.S. Capitol, to around 7th Street, N.W.
“Our Pride events thrive because of the passion and support of the community,” Capital Pride Board Chair Anna Jinkerson said in the statement. “In 2026, your involvement is more important than ever,” she said.
District of Columbia
Three women elected leaders of Capital Pride Alliance board
Restructured body includes chair rather than president as top leader
The Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C.-based group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, announced it has restructured its board of directors and elected for the first time three women to serve as leaders of the board’s Executive Committee.
“Congratulations to our newly elected Executive Officers, making history as Capital Pride Alliance’s first all-women Board leadership,” the group said in a statement.
“As we head into 2026 with a bold new leadership structure, we’re proud to welcome Anna Jinkerson as Board Chair, Kim Baker as Board Treasurer, and Taylor Lianne Chandler as Board Secretary,” the statement says.
In a separate statement released on Nov. 20, Capital Pride Alliance says the restructured Board now includes the top leadership posts of Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary, replacing the previous structure of President and Vice President as the top board leaders.
It says an additional update to the leadership structure includes a change in title for longtime Capital Pride official Ryan Bos from executive director to chief executive officer and president.
According to the statement, June Crenshaw, who served as acting deputy director during the time the group organized WorldPride 2025 in D.C., will now continue in that role as permanent deputy director.
The statement provides background information on the three newly elected women Board leaders.
• Anna Jinkerson (chair), who joined the Capital Pride Alliance board in 2022, previously served as the group’s vice president for operations and acting president. “A seasoned non-profit executive, she currently serves as Assistant to the President and CEO and Chief of Staff at Living Cities, a national member collaborative of leading philanthropic foundations and financial institutions committed to closing income and wealth gaps in the United States and building an economy that works for everyone.”
• Kim Baker (treasurer) is a “biracial Filipino American and queer leader,” a “retired, disabled U.S. Army veteran with more than 20 years of service and extensive experience in finance, security, and risk management.” She has served on the Capital Pride Board since 2018, “bringing a proven track record of steady, principled leadership and unwavering dedication to the LGBTQ+ community.”
• Taylor Lianne Chandler (Secretary) is a former sign language interpreter and crisis management consultant. She “takes office as the first intersex and trans-identifying member of the Executive Committee.” She joined the Capital Pride Board in 2019 and previously served as executive producer from 2016 to 2018.
Bos told the Washington Blade in a Dec. 2 interview that the Capital Pride board currently has 12 members, and is in the process of interviewing additional potential board members.
“In January we will be announcing in another likely press release the full board,” Bos said. “We are finishing the interview process of new board members this month,” he said. “And they will take office to join the board in January.”
Bos said the organization’s rules set a cap of 25 total board members, but the board, which elects its members, has not yet decided how many additional members it will select and a full 25-member board is not required.
The Nov. 20 Capital Pride statement says the new board executive members will succeed the organization’s previous leadership team, which included Ashley Smith, who served as president for eight years before he resigned earlier this year; Anthony Musa, who served for seven years as vice president of board engagement; Natalie Thompson, who served eight years on the executive committee; and Vince Micone, who served for eight years as vice president of operations.
“I am grateful for the leadership, dedication, and commitment shown by our former executive officers — Ashley, Natalie, Anthony, and Vince — who have been instrumental in CPA’s growth and the exceptional success of WorldPride 2025,” Bos said in the statement.
“I look forward to collaborating with Anna in her new role, as well as Kim and Taylor in theirs, as we take on the important work ahead, prepare for Capital Pride 2026, and expand our platform and voice through Pride365,” Bos said.
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