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DNC LGBT Caucus mum on call about marriage equality plank
Anonymous sources tell the Blade caucus is divided over the growing demand
Gay Democrat Earl Fowlkes, the only DNC LGBT Caucus member from D.C., told the Blade on March 3 that he believes it’s premature for the caucus to take an official position on the party platform. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Members of the Democratic National Committee’s LGBT Caucus reportedly were divided in an off-the-record conference call on Feb. 27 over whether to take an official position calling for a marriage equality plank in the Democratic Party platform, according to gay Democratic activist Paul Yandura.
Yandura and two other sources, who spoke on condition that they are not identified, said they have heard conflicting reports on which caucus members support or oppose taking a position on a marriage equality plank at this time.
Gay Democratic activist Rick Stafford of Minnesota, who serves as chair of the LGBT Caucus, said on Monday that all of the caucus’s phone conferences are confidential and he could not comment on specific issues discussed during the call.
“The caucus had a call that was the first of many talking about numerous LGBT issues that might be included in the platform as well as an expression of celebration to the many things the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress have accomplished for the LGBT community,” Stafford told the Blade. “I guess that’s about as far as I want to go at this point.”
On Wednesday, Stafford said by email that he personally supports including a marriage equality plank in the party platform. He said the LGBT Caucus plans to “weigh in” on the issue when the Democratic Party Platform Committee begins deliberations on the platform in the coming months leading up to the Democratic Convention in September.
The reports that the DNC’s LGBT Caucus discussed a marriage equality plank for the party platform surfaced shortly after the national same-sex marriage advocacy group Freedom to Marry launched a campaign calling on the party Platform Committee to adopt such a plank.
Calling its campaign, “Democrats: Say I do,” Freedom to Marry is calling on LGBT activists and their straight supporters to sign an online petition urging that the party platform “affirm the freedom to marry.”
In a survey conducted by the Washington Blade, the offices of 22 Democratic U.S. senators last week confirmed that the senators support including a marriage equality plank in the Democratic platform.
The LGBT blog Think Progress reported last week that at least 13 co-chairs of the Obama re-election campaign have publicly endorsed legalizing same-sex marriage.
A White House spokesperson has said repeatedly in recent months the president continues to ‘evolve’ on the marriage issue. At the time he ran for president in 2008, Obama said he supported civil unions over marriage for same-sex couples.
Gay Democrat Earl Fowlkes, the only DNC LGBT Caucus member from D.C., told the Blade on March 3 that he believes it’s premature for the caucus to take an official position on the party platform.
“Not a single member of the platform committee has even been picked,” Fowlkes said.
Maryland House of Delegates member Heather Mizeur (D-Montgomery County) is the only DNC LGBT Caucus member from Maryland. Mizeur did not respond to a Blade inquiry seeking her position on whether the caucus should adopt a marriage equality plank. Mizeur was among the lead sponsors and advocates for the same-sex marriage bill that the Maryland General Assembly approved last month.
LGBT Caucus member Randi Weingarten of New York, an out lesbian who serves as president of the American Federation of Teachers, said she favors adding a marriage equality plank to the party platform. Noting that she is a longtime supporter of marriage equality, she said she helped in the effort to lobby the New York Legislature to pass a same-sex marriage bill last year.
Asked to comment on the LGBT Caucus’s reported discussion on a marriage equality plank, Weingarten said, “The DNC call was an off the record call and I have to honor that.”
LGBT Caucus member Andrew Tobias of New York, who serves as the DNC’s national treasurer, told the Blade in an email that he was unable to participate in the caucus’s Feb. 27 conference call.
“But I believe all of us support marriage equality,” he said. “The exact language of the platform remains to be worked out, but I hope and expect it will be language the community will be proud to support.”
Several additional members of the LGBT Caucus contacted by the Blade via email, in addition to Mizeur of Maryland, didn’t respond by press time this week to a request that they disclose their position on including a marriage equality plank in the platform.
“We should ask each member to publicly state whether they are for or against inclusion of marraige equality in the Democratic Party platform since they are ‘representatives’ of the community and we deserve to know,” Yandura said.
In his statement, Stafford said the LGBT Caucus and the party as a whole would be considering inclusion of a wide range of LGBT issues in the platform.
“The American people, including LGBT Americans, have made it clear that there are many important issues facing our nation today,” Stafford said. “All of these issues, including those raised by the ‘I Do’ campaign, deserve to be considered in the party platform – as do other important issues of equality such as inclusive employment non-discrimination and safe schools.”
District of Columbia
D.C. Latinx Pride celebrates culture and heritage
Your guide to events throughout June
Organizers with the Latinx History Project have planned a host of events this Pride season with parties, poetry, drag and more.
The festivities begin with the DC Latinx Pride 2026 Kickoff at Crush Dance Bar (2007 14th Street, N.W.) on Friday, June 12 from 6-10 p.m. The party will include a coronation ceremony for the 2026 Royal Court: Ms. DC Latinx Pride Vida Rangel and Mx. DC Latinx Pride Steph Niaupari. RSVP at latinxhistoryproject.org. The event is free, though donations are accepted.
An outdoor event is planned for Sunday, June 14 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at Anacostia River Park (1500 Anacostia Dr., S.E.). Cultivating Queer Outdoor Joy is a “peaceful outdoor community event focused on grounding, connection, and queer joy in nature.” The event is free.
A panel discussion is planned for The Festival Center (1640 Columbia Rd., N.W., 2nd floor) on Monday, June 15 from 6-8 p.m. La Plática: The Future of 2 Spirits and Trans Natives will focus upon the “stories, leadership and vision of Two-Spirit, Indigiqueer and Trans Native people.” RSVP to the free event at latinxhistoryproject.org.
A sex-positive poetry workshop, “Hoetry: Writing Erotic Poetry,” is planned for Wednesday, June 17 from 6-8 p.m. at The Festival Center (1640 Columbia Road, N.W.). The event is free.
The workshop So You Wanna Do Drag? is planned for Thursday, June 18 from 5:30-8 p.m. at The Festival Center (1640 Columbia Road, N.W.). Featured guests Ricky Rose and Mari Con Carne will hold a style showcase to discuss the basics of developing a drag persona. RSVP to the free event at latinxhistoryproject.org.
The Latinx History Project is collaborating with Rumba Queer DC to produce an official Latinx Pride Party: Sin Vergüenza. The event is at the multi-level venue, Transmission (1353 H Street, N.E.) on Thursday, June 18 from 7 p.m.-1 a.m. There are dance lessons, vendors and three different music experiences in the sprawling venue. There will also be a drag showcase from 10-11 p.m. The event is 21+ and tickets are available at shotgun.live/en/events/sin-verguenza. Tickets are $15 for entry into the party. Tickets to participate in the dance lesson are $29.98. Participants may choose between a bachata lesson or a salsa lesson from 7-8 p.m.
La Fiesta: Official DC Latinx Pride Party is planned for Friday, June 19 from 10 p.m. – 2 a.m. at Bunker (2001 14th Street, N.W.). Serena Morena from “Drag Race México” and “Drag Race UK vs The World” is slated to headline the 21+ event. Early tickets are available for $15 (plus $0.38 service fee) until June 16. The door cover charge without early tickets is $20. Attendees can also purchase a meet and greet experience with Serena Morena for $30. Tickets are available at latinxhistoryproject.org.
The Latinx History Project plans to march in the Capital Pride Parade on Saturday, June 20 and to have a table at the Capital Pride Festival on Sunday, June 21. Visit latinxhistoryproject.org to register to march alongside LGP in the parade or to staff the table at the festival.
The DC Latinx Pride 2026 Closing Event is scheduled for Friday, June 26 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Mexican Cultural Institute (2829 16th Street, N.W.). The free event is a panel discussion “centering the experiences of immigrants who have lived in Latin America and now call the United States home.”
Visit latinxhistoryproject.org for more information.
District of Columbia
JR.’s hosts meet & greet for mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George
Event organized by Capital Stonewall Democrats, Queers for Janeese
D.C. mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George spoke to a crowd of LGBTQ supporters on June 1 at a meet & greet event held at JR.’s on 17th Street in the Dupont Circle neighborhood.
The event, organized by Capital Stonewall Democrats, which has endorsed Lewis George for mayor, with support from a group called Queers for Janeese, was followed by a “get out the vote” canvassing endeavor in which several of those attending the meet & greet visited the homes of nearby residents known to be Lewis George supporters.
The purpose of the canvassing was to remind Lewis George supporters to return their mail-in ballots or go to the polls on June 16 to elect Lewis George as the city’s next mayor, according to Matthew Kavanagh, one of the leaders of Queers for Janeese who attended the meet & greet event at JR.’s.
Local political observers consider Lewis George, a Ward 4 D.C. Council member, and former At-Large D.C. Council member Kenyan McDuffie, to be the two leading candidates in this year’s race for mayor. The two are among seven mayoral candidates competing in the city’s June 16 Democratic primary.
Lewis George told those attending the meet & greet, which was held on the JR.’s outdoor patio, that she has a long record of advocating for and initiating city polices and laws in support of the LGBTQ community. She said large corporate donors were backing her opponents and urged her LGBTQ supporters to help raise funds for her in the remaining days of the campaign.
Among those attending the meet & greet was gay longtime Dupont Circle civic activist Randy Downs who last November opened a nearby eatery called Protest Pizza. “I am queer and I am a Janeese supporter,” Downs told the Blade.
Stevie McCarty, president of Capital Stonewall Democrats, who also spoke at the meet & greet event, said his group would organize events in support of Lewis George in the remaining days of the campaign. Among them, he said, was an LGBTQ bar crawl in which supporters of Lewis George, including the candidate herself, would visit LGBTQ bars to promote her candidacy.
Virginians for Marriage Equality on Monday launched a campaign in support of repealing Virginia’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman, former state Sen. Adam Ebbin, former state Del. Mark Sickles, and American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia Executive Director Mary Bauer are among those who spoke at the launch that took place in Richmond. State Del. Kirk McPike (D-Alexandria), who co-chairs the campaign, also participated.
“This amendment is about making clear that the government has no business deciding which marriages or which families are worthy of recognition,” said Bauer. “The ACLU of Virginia has been fighting for Virginians’ right to marry who they love since the landmark case, Loving v. Virginia, which struck down the ban on interracial marriage. Now we are proud to carry that legacy forward by standing with our coalition partners in the fight to pass this amendment and finally enshrine the right to marriage equality in the commonwealth’s constitution.”
Voters in 2006 approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment.
Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is a Republican, in 2024 signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.
Two successive legislatures must approve a proposed constitutional amendment before it can go to the ballot.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger in February signed a bill that finalized the referendum’s language.
The referendum will take place on Nov. 3.
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