Local
Cuccinelli reaffirms opposition to homosexuality
Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate debated challenger Terry McAuliffe on Saturday
Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli hoped to challenge a ruling that overturned the state’s sodomy law. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
“My personal beliefs about the personal challenge of homosexuality haven’t changed,” the Republican gubernatorial candidate said in response to a question from the PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff during a debate she moderated between him and former Democratic National Committee Chair Terry McAuliffe that took place at the Homestead in Hot Springs, Va. “What I want to do as governor is create an environment — including an economic environment — where every Virginian has opportunity.”
Cuccinelli’s comments come less than a month after he petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s ruling earlier this year that struck down the commonwealth’s anti-sodomy statute.
His campaign last week launched a website that urges the justices to defend what it describes as the commonwealth’s “anti-child predators law.”
The debate, which the Virginia Bar Association sponsored, also took place two days after a gay Norfolk couple filed a lawsuit in federal court that challenges Virginia’s constitutional same-sex marriage ban that voters approved in 2006.
A Quinnipiac University poll released on Thursday noted 50 percent of Virginians support nuptials for gays and lesbians. A survey that Public Policy Polling unveiled on July 11 found 55 percent of commonwealth residents back same-sex marriage.
McAuliffe, who publicly backed marriage rights for gays and lesbians in February, said during the debate that the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ prompted him and his wife Dorothy to evolve on the issue. He also said he would sign a same-sex marriage bill into law if one were to reach his desk, although he conceded it would likely not happen.
“We all know the practical realities,” McAuliffe said, noting there are only 32 Democrats in the Republican-controlled House of Delegates. “[A same-sex marriage ban is] now in our constitution.”
McAuliffe also said he would sign an “early” executive order that would ban anti-gay discrimination against state employees as former Govs. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine did. He criticized Cuccinelli’s 2010 recommendation to Virginia colleges and universities that they remove LGBT-specific provisions from their non-discrimination policies.
“My opponent has continually attacked gay Virginians,” McAuliffe said, noting the defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. threatened to scrap plans to relocate 300 employees to its Virginia headquarters after Cuccinelli issued his directive. “There are consequences to mean-spirited hateful comments.”
Cuccinelli described McAuliffe’s assertion as “laughable if it weren’t so offensive.”
“The only candidate in this race who has chased business out of Virginia is you,” he said, questioning his decision to open a factory for his troubled electric car company in Mississippi — and not the commonwealth. “It’s Terry, not me.”
Gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) criticized Cuccinelli’s statements.
“Ken Cuccinelli’s unapologetic and bizarre views on gay people perpetuate the worst stereotypes and make Virginia look like a hostile backwater,” Ebbin told the Washington Blade after the debate. “Labeling gay people ‘harmful to society’ and calling homosexuality a ‘personal challenge’ puts him out of the mainstream of Virginia thinking.”
“The attorney general’s position is counterproductive to building a stronger and more inclusive commonwealth, and the role of Virginia’s governor has the opportunity to bridge differences,” Equality Virginia Advocates added in a statement. “We are deeply disturbed that Attorney General Cuccinelli will continue to use his power in office as a bully pulpit instead of lifting up all Virginians.”
The Quinnipiac University poll released on Thursday found McAuliffe leads Cuccinelli among likely Virginia voters by a 43-39 percent margin.
MSNBC’s Chuck Todd will moderate the next scheduled debate between McAuliffe and Cuccinelli that is slated to take place in McLean on September 25.
Maryland
A Baltimore theater educator lost jobs at Johns Hopkins and the Kennedy Center
Tavish Forsyth concluded they could not work for Trump
BY WESLEY CASE | Tavish Forsyth had come to a conclusion: They could not work for President Donald Trump.
So the 32-year-old Baltimore resident stripped down, turned on their camera, and lit their career on fire.
“F—— Donald Trump and f—— the Kennedy Center,” a naked Forsyth, an associate artistic lead at the Washington National Opera’s Opera Institute, which is run by the Kennedy Center, said in a video that went viral. The board of the nation’s leading cultural institution had elected Trump just weeks prior as its chairman after he gutted the board of members appointed by his predecessor, President Joe Biden.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
Little Gay Pub to host April 25 celebration of life for Patrick Shaw
School teacher, D.C. resident praised for ‘warmth, humor, kindness’
Co-workers and friends will hold a celebration of life for highly acclaimed schoolteacher and D.C. resident Patrick Shaw beginning at 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 25 at The Little Gay Pub 1100 P St., N.W.
Little Gay Pub co-owner and Shaw’s friend, Dusty Martinez, said Shaw passed away unexpectedly on April 19 from a heart related ailment at the age of 60.
“Patrick touched so many lives with his warmth, humor, kindness, and unmistakable spark,” Martinez said. “He was a truly special soul – funny, vibrant, sassy, and full of life and we are heartbroken by his loss.”
In an Instagram posting, Shaw’s colleagues said Shaw was a second-grade special education teacher at the J.F. Cook campus of D.C.’s Mundo Verde Bilingual Public Charter School.
“Patrick brought warmth, joy, and deep commitment to Mundo Verde,” his colleagues said in their posting. “His daily Broadway sing-alongs, vibrant outfits, and genuine love for his students filled our community with energy and laughter.”
The posted message adds, “Patrick was more than a teacher; he was a light in our school, inspiring us all to show up with heart, humor, and kindness every day. His spirit will be deeply missed.”
The Washington Blade is preparing a full obituary on Patrick Shaw to be published soon.
District of Columbia
D.C. police seek help in identifying suspect in anti-gay threats case
Victim threatened with assault, called ‘faggot’ as he left Capitals game
D.C. police are seeking help from the public in identifying a male suspect whose image was captured by a video surveillance camera after he allegedly shouted anti-gay slurs and threatened to assault a man at 6th and H Streets, N.W. on March 20 at about 9:54 p.m.
A police report says the victim told police the incident took place shortly after he exited the nearby Capital One Arena where he had attended a Washington Capitals hockey game.
The police report says the incident began when the victim saw the suspect yell a racist slur at a person behind the victim and started to berate a valet operator.
“Suspect 1 then turned his attention to Victim 1 and called him a ‘faggot’ among other homophobic slurs,” the report says. It says the victim then used his phone to record the suspect, prompting the suspect to walk away before returning and “snatching” the phone from the victim’s hand.
“Suspect 1 walked several feet as Victim 1 followed, requesting his phone back,” the report continues. “Suspect 1 stopped and turned to Victim 1 and while yelling other obscenities exclaimed ‘if you keep recording, I’m going to kick your ass.’” The report concludes by saying the victim was able to recover his phone.
It lists the incident as a “Threats To Do Bodily Harm” offense that is a suspected hate crime.
“Anyone who can identify this suspect or has knowledge of this incident should take no action but call police at 202-727-9099, or text your tip to the Department’s TEXT TIP LINE at 50411,” according to a separate police statement released April 23.
The statement says police currently offer an award of up to $1,000 to anyone who can provide information that leads to an arrest and indictment of the person or persons responsible for a crime committed in D.C.
D.C. police spokesperson Tom Lynch said the case has been under investigation since the incident occurred on March 20. He said the video image of the suspect, most likely obtained from a security camera from a nearby business, was released to the public as soon as it was obtained and processed through the investigation.
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