News
LGBT group joins call to ‘honor with action’ victims of gun violence
Family of victims tell stories day after House passes concealed carry bill
Rep. John Larson is joined y gun control advocates at a news conference (Washington Blade photo by Chris Johnson)
One day after the U.S. House approved legislation allowing concealed carry of firearms across state lines, gun control advocates — including an LGBT group — took to Capitol Hill to decry the move and to “honor with action” the lives of Americans lost to ongoing gun violence.
Representing an LGBT voice at the news conference Thursday was Taylor Houston, communications director for the Pride Fund to End Gun Violence.
Houston recalled the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., was once the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, but things have changed with the mass shooting in Las Vegas, which this year surpassed the death toll in Orlando, as well as other incidents.
“America is the only developed country in this entire world that faces this public health crisis,” Houston said. “We’re supposed to be leading the world when it comes to the quality of life that we ensure our citizens.”
Houston said the United States has experienced 1,500 mass shootings since the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012 and 142 of them have been school shootings.
“So we’re fighting here with Pride Fund, we’re fighting with gun safety measures everyday with everything that we have,” Houston said. “We’re doing it for the 20 children that were gunned down an six staffers in the room of Sandy Hook, we’re doing it for the Pulse victims and 58 Las Vegas and the other 33,000 Americans who will lose their lives this year.”
During a somber portion of the news conference, family and friends of the victims of gun violence stood up to the podium one by one to name the victim they knew and called on Congress to “honor with action” their memory.
Among them were parents who lost their daughter at the 2012 theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., individuals who lost loved to suicide by gun death, a parent whose daughter was shot in the heart in a mass shooting, parents whose daughter who shot several times during a 2010 home invasion in Portland, Maine, a pastor whose mother was shot and killed in front her other daughters and whose niece was lost to gun violence, and a mother who lost her son to gun violence while he out celebrating graduation from paramedic school.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who has made gun safety a signature issue, the stories were an “impossible act to follow,” but took the opportunity to lament legislative inaction and accused Congress of letting the violence happen.
“Congress has unfortunately become complicit in these murders because our silence has started to look like an endorsement,” Murphy said. “People notice when the leaders of this country do nothing in the face of slaughter, after slaughter, after slaughter.”
But Murphy cited a number of factors which he said indicate things are changing, such as Democratic victories on Election Day 2017 in Virginia after voters cited gun violence as their No. 2 reason for going to the polls.
On Tuesday, the House passed legislation, 231-198, that would allow people with permits for carrying concealed handguns to do so in other states that allow concealed weapons. The interstate concealed carry would require an individual to carry a valid government-issued photo ID and be lawfully licensed to possess a concealed handgun.
The package also contained a measure that would ensure authorities report criminal history records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, penalizing agencies that don’t report them to the FBI.
Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.) spoke angrily about the passage of the House bill, saying it amounts lawmakers having “dishonored with action” the victims of gun violence.
“The House leadership chose to bring up a bill which we might as well rename ‘The Guns Anywhere, Anytime by Anyone,'” Esty said. “It is wrong, and the American people need to stand up.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) asserted the House-passed legislation “will not pass the United States Senate” and anticipated separation of the bill into parts — one expanding checks, one for concealed carry — because that was the “good faith” agreement with Senate leadership and Republican.
“That’s sort of the bare minimum,” Blumenthal said. “It’s barely progress. What we need to extend those background checks to all purchases, to make sure we ban assault weapons, to ban high capacity magazines.”
Blumenthal added “we will prevail” because of gun control advocates “are breaking the vice-like grip of the NRA and the gun lobby.”
Other lawmakers who spoke were Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.), Jim Himes (D-Conn.), Brent Thompson (D-Calif.). Joining them were from Po Murray, chair of Newtown Action Alliance; Avery Gardiner, co-president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence; Victoria Coy, national director of States United to Prevent Gun Violence; and Robin Lloyd, director of government affairs for Giffords.
The news conference took place hours before another shooting in Aztec High School in New Mexico that left two students and the suspect dead.
District of Columbia
Gay D.C. police lieutenant arrested on child porn charges
Matthew Mahl once served as head of LGBT Liaison Unit
D.C. police announced on April 14 that they have placed one of their lieutenants, Matthew Mahl, on administrative leave and revoked his police powers after receiving information that he was arrested in Maryland one day earlier.
Although the initial D.C. police announcement doesn’t disclose the reason for the arrest it refers to a statement by the Harford County, Md. Sheriff’s Office that discloses Mahl has been charged with sexual solicitation of a minor and child porn solicitation.
“On Tuesday, the Harford County Sheriff’s Office contacted MPD’s Internal Affairs Division shortly after arresting Lieutenant Matthew Mahl,” the D.C. police statement says.
“The allegations in this case are extremely disturbing, and in direct contrast to the values of the Metropolitan Police Department,” the statement continues. “MPD’s Internal Affairs Division will investigate violations of MPD policy once the criminal investigation concludes,” it says.
“MPD is not involved in the criminal investigation and was not aware of the investigation until yesterday,” the statement adds.
Mahl served as acting supervisor of the MPD’s then Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit in 2013 when he held the rank of sergeant. D.C. police officials placed him on administrative leave and suspended his police powers that same year while investigating an undisclosed allegation.
A source familiar with the investigation said Mahl was cleared of any wrongdoing a short time later and resumed his police duties. Around the time he was promoted to lieutenant several years later Mahl took on the role as chairman of the D.C. Police Union, becoming the first known openly gay officer to hold that position.
NBC 4 reports that Mahl, 47, has served on the police force for 23 years and most recently was assigned to the department’s Special Operations Division.
Records related to Mahl’s arrest filed in Harford County District Court, show Sheriff’s Department investigators state in charging documents that he allegedly committed the offenses of Sexual Solicitation of a Minor and Child Porn Solicitation on Monday, April 13, one day before he was arrested on April 14.
The court records show he was held without bond during his first appearance in court on April 14. A decision on whether he would be released while awaiting trial or continue to be held without bond was scheduled to be determined during an April 15 bond hearing. The outcome of that hearing could not be immediately determined.
National
Demonstrators disrupt OMB director hearing over PEPFAR
Capitol Police arrested five protesters
A group of protesters interrupted Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought during his testimony before Congress on Wednesday.
Vought was at the Cannon House Office Building to give testimony to the House Budget Committee.
Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) began the hearing by touting what he described as economic accomplishments of the Trump-Vance administration’s economic accomplishments. Ranking Member Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) disputed those claims in his opening statement.
Boyle went on to admonish Vought for not attending a committee hearing in the previous year.
Vought, the “Project 2025” architect, was invited to speak after Arrington and Boyle made their statements.
Shortly after Vought began reading his statement, Housing Works CEO Charles King stood up in the gallery and began shouting, “PEPFAR saves lives: spend the money!”
The U.S. Capitol Police moved quickly to escort King from the room. Other activists began chanting with King as they unfolded signs bearing a picture of Vought’s face and statements such as, “Vought’s cuts kill people with AIDS,” and “Protect PEPFAR from Vought.”
The group of HIV/AIDS activists included independent activists, former U.S. Agency for International Development and PEPFAR staff, members of Health GAP, Housing Works, and the Treatment Action Group. Six activists were escorted from the hearing and the U.S. Capitol Police detained five of them.
The HIV/AIDS treatment activists protested at the hearing in response to the dismantling of global health programs, including PEPFAR, a federally-funded program credited with saving millions of lives from HIV/AIDS, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Russell Vought is directly responsible for illegally withholding Congressionally appropriated funds for PEPFAR and related global health initiative,” King said in a statement provided to the Washington Blade. “These funding disruptions have already contributed to preventable deaths and threaten to reverse decades of progress in the fight against HIV worldwide. Enough is enough. Congress must ensure Vought stops this deadly sabotage.”
National
HIV/AIDS group NMAC is ‘destabilized’ and in financial crisis: sources
Organization disputes allegations of mismanagement by new CEO
A statement sent to the Washington Blade by an anonymous source claiming to be a current staff member at NMAC, formerly known as the National Minority AIDS Council, alleges that the prominent HIV/AIDS advocacy organization is facing “a rapid and systemic collapse of leadership, governance, and ethical standards.”
The three-page detailed statement sent on April 4 by someone identifying himself only as “John Doe” includes multiple specific allegations that NMAC CEO Harold Phillips, who began his position in October 2025, “has destabilized the organization at every level,” including hiring nine new high-level appointees with salaries of $220,000 each who are performing “duplicative and unjustifiable roles.”
The Blade was able to corroborate some of the allegations by talking to two other knowledgable sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. Those sources said they had received the John Doe statement and believed many, if not most, of its allegations were accurate.
With a total staff of about 30 to 35 employees, the John Doe statement claims the high salaries of the nine new staff members have added to financial problems NMAC has been facing in recent years. It says that at least two NMAC staffers who raised concerns about Phillips’s actions were terminated on grounds of insubordination.
One of the two anonymous sources who spoke to the Blade said one of the dismissed staff members was considering filing a lawsuit against NMAC in response to the firing.
“An external firm was recently brought in to assess the organizational health,” the John Doe statement to the Blade says. “The findings were staggering — more than 50% of staff reported they are actively seeking employment elsewhere,” it says.
The Blade sent the John Doe statement to NMAC this week and asked for a response to the allegations.
NMAC spokesperson Jennifer Moore Phillips, who serves as chief strategy officer and who is not related to Harold Phillips, sent the Blade a short statement calling the John Doe allegations “false and purposefully misleading,” but which did not comment on each of the specific allegations.
“A recent anonymous letter containing unfounded allegations about NMAC makes claims that are simply false and purposefully misleading,” the NMAC statement says. “Evidenced by our new strategic plan and recent successful Biomedical HIV Prevention Summit in Chicago, NMAC’s new leadership is laser focused on delivering on our mission serving the HIV community with renewed energy and vision,” the statement concludes.
The Biomedical HIV Prevention Summit referred to in the statement, which took place in Chicago April 8-10 of this year, is one of the two largest HIV/AIDS related conferences that NMAC organizes each year. Jennifer Phillips said more than 1,400 people attended the event.
The largest NMAC event, the United States Conference on HIV/AIDS, the most recent of which was held in D.C. Sept. 4-7, drew more than 2,400 participants and was hailed by AIDS activists as a highly successful gathering of a diverse group of experts seeking to push for the end to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
One of the keynote speakers at that conference was Paul Kawata, who served as executive director and CEO of NMAC for 36 years and who delivered his farewell address at the conference following the announcement that he would retire on Oct. 7, 2025.
Many of the conference speakers praised Kawata, who became NMAC’s leader two years after its founding in 1987, as the leading force behind its growth and evolution into one of the nation’s leading HIV/AIDS advocacy organizations with a special outreach to people of color.
It was at that time that Harold Phillips, who served as director of the White House Office of AIDS Policy under then-President Joe Biden and who later joined NMAC as deputy director before the NMAC board named him Kawata’s successor as CEO, emerged as NMAC’s next leader.
“The Board has exuberantly elected Harold Phillips as our new CEO,” said Lance Toma, chair of the NMAC Board of Directors at the time Phillips’s appointment was announced. “In this unprecedented moment, there is no one more strategically positioned and experienced to lead our movement through what we know will be some of the most tumultuous and complicated times ahead,” the statement said.
The John Doe statement raising questions about Phillips’s actions and leadership says NMAC staff members formally appealed to the board of directors to intervene.
“The Board has remained silent, while Harold arrogantly told the staff that ‘the board has my back,’” the statement says.
The Blade has also attempted to reach out to Kawata by email for comment on how he feels NMAC is doing six months after his retirement. As of April 14, Kawata had not responded to the Blade’s inquiry.
According to the John Doe statement, NMAC officials have recently “sought external financial rescue,” including a visit by an NMAC official to California to request assistance from the pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences. “Without such intervention, layoffs seem imminent,” the statement says.
“This is not a functioning nonprofit,” the John Doe statement concludes. “It is an organization in crisis – bleeding resources, hemorrhaging staff, and operating without transparency, accountability, or governance,” it says, adding, “The communities NMAC serves, the donors who fund its mission, and the public at large deserve to know what is happening behind closed doors.”
By contrast, the NMAC website describes the organization as a highly functioning nonprofit continuing to lead the fight against HIV/AIDS.
“Launched in 1987 during the early years of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the United States, NMAC is a national HIV organization that offers capacity building, leadership development, policy education, and public engagement to end the HIV epidemic among communities most impacted in the United States,” a statement on the NMAC website says.
“In 2026, we mark 45 years of the HIV movement,” the statement adds. “NMAC continues to pivot to center the needs of people of color impacted by HIV by responding to political challenges that threaten federal funding and programs that have provided an essential survival safety net,” it says. “Simultaneously, as HIV treatment allows people to age with HIV, our whole-person approach extends to achieving optimal quality of life beyond attaining viral suppression.”
In its most recent action, NMAC issued a detailed press release on April 14 criticizing President Donald Trump’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget provisions that call for cutting more than $1.5 billion in HIV prevention, substance use, housing and other programs. The release provides details on how the cuts would negatively impact important HIV prevention programs and urges Congress to reject the proposed cuts.
Gay D.C. police lieutenant arrested on child porn charges
Demonstrators disrupt OMB director hearing over PEPFAR
HIV/AIDS group NMAC is ‘destabilized’ and in financial crisis: sources
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