Local
O’Malley, Hoyer attend pro-Question 6 rally
Roughly 200 students joined elected officials and others in College Park
Governor Martin O’Malley speaks at a pro-Question 6 rally at the University of Maryland in College Park on Nov. 5 (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
COLLEGE PARK, Md.—Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley on Monday urged young people to vote for the state’s same-sex marriage law on Election Day.
“Tomorrow we’re going to put the ‘for’ in forward,” he told roughly 200 people who attended a pro-Question 6 rally at the University of Maryland. The governor also spoke at a similar event earlier in the day in Baltimore. “As a country we move forward and not back. I have four kids — and my daughters are no longer kids, they’re your age. They’re 21 and 20. And when it comes to Question 6, they look at some of us older people — that is to say those over 40 — and they say, what is wrong with you guys? What about this thing do you not get? Every person should be treated fairly and equally under the law. That’s what it means to be an American, isn’t it?”
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.,) whose daughter Stefany came out to the Washington Blade in an interview in June, pointed out the first bill for which he voted in the Maryland state Senate was the measure that repealed the state’s ban on interracial marriages. He said marriage rights for gays and lesbians upholds the promises of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness outlined in the Declaration of Independence.
“There is zero doubt in my mind that who you love or others love will not impede on who I love or who I have a relationship with or the values that I hold,” said Hoyer. “This is about the substance of America and every individual is endowed not by their government but by their God with certain unalienable rights.”
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer speaks at pro-Question 6 rally at the University of Maryland in College Park on Nov. 5. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
Kiese Hanson of the University of Maryland Student Government Association also urged her classmates to vote for Question 6.
“My parents raised me to believe that there should not be boundaries put on love, and I learned that everyone should be treated fairly and equally,” she said. “The best quality of the human race is our ability to love. Why would we restrict those from demonstrating this quality of our existence? Maryland has the opportunity to do something special to be the first state to pass marriage equality at the ballot and guarantee that no one in our state is restricted from loving who they want to love.”
A Goucher College poll released on Oct. 29 found 55 percent of Marylanders support marriage rights for same-sex couples in the state, compared to 39 percent who oppose them. A Washington Post survey published on Oct. 18 noted 52 percent of Maryland voters support Question 6, compared to 42 percent who said they oppose it.
A third poll the Baltimore Sun conducted between Oct. 20-23 noted only 46 percent of respondents would vote for the law O’Malley signed in March.
Question 6 opponents continue to maintain the same-sex marriage law O’Malley signed in March does not protect religious freedom. Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council and others argue marriage between one man and one woman is necessary to produce children.
“As a pastor, I cannot stand on the side of those who would attempt to justify legalized discrimination under the guise of religious belief,” said Rev. Delman Coates of Mount Ennon Baptist Church in Clinton. “The denial of rights to some based upon religious beliefs sets the precedent for the denial of rights to others based on religious belief. And that is a very dangerous public policy precedent to establish in America. As a Christian and as an American, I believe my charge is to live in my faith, not to legislate it. And I therefore urge Marylanders to vote for Question 6 because it does not force any religious institution or any clergyperson to perform any union that is against their religious beliefs or practices.”
State Sen. Allan Kittleman (R-Howard and Carroll Counties) stressed he feels nuptials for gays and lesbians is increasingly becoming a bi-partisan issue. He is one of two GOP lawmakers who voted for the same-sex marriage bill in Annapolis earlier this year.
“I see it as a very Republican principle,” said Kittleman. “I believe conservative principles mean that gov’t should not be intruding on your personal freedoms.”
Maryland voters on Election Day will also consider three other ballot questions that would allow undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities, expand gambling and approve redrawn congressional districts.
O’Malley’s office did not return the Washington Blade’s request for comment on a state campaign finance report that indicates the company behind the development of National Harbor in Prince George’s County donated $271,515 to a group opposed to both Question 6 and the Dream Act. The governor continues to maintain expanded gambling in the state would generate more jobs and money for education.
Back at the University of Maryland, gay state Sen. Rich Madaleno (D-Montgomery County) thanked O’Malley for his efforts in support of Question 6.
“He has worked day and night to make sure not only Question 6, but all of the ballot questions succeed tomorrow in Annapolis,” he said. “I can’t tell you on behalf of my family, my kids, all the gay and lesbian families of our state, your work has been truly amazing. And we will never adequately express our gratitude for you.”
Lesbian state Del. Heather Mizeur (D-Montgomery County) and Bob Ross, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Prince George’s County Branch were among those who also attended the rally.
“We’re here because it’s time to right a wrong,” said NAACP Washington Bureau Director Hilary Shelton. “It’s time for us to take the issue on head first.”
District of Columbia
Wanda Alston Foundation announces passing of founding executive director Brian Watson
D.C. activist praised as “passionate advocate” for homeless LGBTQ youth
The Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides housing and support services for homeless LGBTQ youth in the D.C. metro area, announced on July 20 that its founding executive director, Brian Watson, has passed away.
In a statement the Alston Foundation called Watson “one of Washington, D.C.,’s most passionate advocates for LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness.”
Neither the statement nor others who knew Watson have disclosed the cause of death or his age. Longtime LGBTQ community activist Rayceen Pendarvis said she heard only that Watson’s passing followed “a long time illness.”
“The origins of the Wanda Alston Foundation can be traced to a meeting convened by then-Mayor Anthony Williams at the request of Wanda Alston, the Mayor’s Director of LGBTQ Affairs,” the statement says.
“During that meeting, Brian spoke powerfully about the growing crisis of homelessness among LGBTQ+ youth in the District of Columbia and the urgent need for dedicated housing and support services,” it says. “His advocacy helped crystalize a vision that every young person deserves a safe place to call home.”
The statement points out that following Alston’s untimely death, Watson joined other community leaders “to transform that vision into reality by establishing the Wanda Alston Foundation in her memory.”
It says that today the Alston Foundation “proudly carries forward the mission Brian helped create by providing emergency and transitional housing, counseling, workforce development, life-skills training, and other supportive services that empower LGBTQ+ youth to achieve stability, independence, and hope for the future.”
Watson’s LinkedIn page says he served as executive director of the Alston Foundation from July 2013 to March 2014. The Washington Blade reported in April 2014 that the Alston Foundation announced in a March 11, 2014, statement that Watson had resigned to “pursue other opportunities.”
His LinkedIn page shows he worked for or with in a supporting role three local nonprofit organizations since leaving the Alston Foundation, including serving from February 2019 to November 2019 as a Methamphetamine Services Specialist for the D.C. group HIPS, which provides services for drug users and sex workers.
According to his LinkedIn page, from October 2014 to “present,” he also served as Chief Innovation Officer for the Propel Foundation, Inc., which he described as a “501c3 nonprofit organization founded in D.C. that works to strengthen nonprofit organizations through fiscal sponsorship and capacity building.”
A Facebook posting by his brother, Vidale Watson, says his family will be making arrangements for a memorial service and will share the date, time, and location once the details have been finalized.
“There are no words to describe the heartbreak our family is feeling,” Vidale Watson wrote. “While we are grateful for every prayer, kind word, and act of support we’ve received over the past week, this loss is still incredibly fresh.”
Baltimore
The government pressured USA Rugby to ban transgender women. A Baltimore team refused to comply.
Ferals is a women’s-plus team within the Flamingos
By KYLE GOON | It was midmorning, and the March winds lashed against the faces of the players on the Ferals rugby team as they suited up at a park in Frederick. The turf was frozen.
Harper Ockert, 24, wrapped her left knee with tape, stabilizing her joint for the jarring hits to come. She had struggled to sleep the night before, but her anxiety was not strictly about the game.
She and her teammates were preparing to defy newly enacted rules set by the sport’s governing body. A nervous energy thrummed in her chest as she considered what her defiance meant.
Ockert is a transgender woman who plays for the Ferals — the women’s-plus team within the Baltimore Flamingos rugby club. Three of her teammates are trans women, too. They had played games for the Ferals before, but this match at Walnut Ridge Park was the team’s first since USA Rugby had shifted its policy to allow only people assigned female at birth to play women’s rugby.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
Virginia
LGBTQ community center opens in Leesburg, Va.
Equality Loudoun holds ribbon-cutting ceremony at new space
A group of supporters crowded inside of the new Equality Loudoun Community Center in Leesburg, Va. on Saturday for an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony. Air quality issues stemming from the wildfires in Canada required the ceremony to be held indoors. Local elected officials were joined by LGBTQ community organizers and supporters to mark the occasion.
The Virginia LGBTQ organization Equality Loudoun was founded in 2003 and organized the first Loudoun Pride Festival in 2022. The Equality Loudoun Community Center, located in the Village at Leesburg shopping area (1507 Dodona Terrace SE, Suite 105, Leesburg, Va.), will now house the organization’s community and youth programming.
“This is a day that we have anticipated for some time,” said Sean Murphy, Equality Loudoun vice president. “Equality Loudoun was founded in 2003 and has been migrating from place to place to wherever will have us to host our meetings, to host our gatherings. We are so grateful to our many, many allies that have provided space for us.”
Murphy continued, “We really have believed for a long time that it’s important for us to have a home, a place to anchor the community, a place for people to feel belonging, and a place for people to find one another, and find people who are like them and have something in common.”
Attendees of the ceremony included Leesburg Mayor Kelly Burk, Leesburg Vice Mayor Todd Cimino-Johnson, Leesburg District Supervisor Kristen C. Umstattd of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, and U.S. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.).
“I wish that there was a place like this when I was teaching,” Mayor Burk, a retired Loudoun County Public Schools special education teacher, told the crowd. “So often, I’d have a student, and there was nowhere to send them. They were looking around, trying to see: ‘who’s like me, where can I go, where can I relate, what is happening?’ Middle school is terrible for everybody. But it’s especially terrible if you’re different. And so, I congratulate you on the fact that you had the initiative to do this, the guts to continue it, and the tenacity to make it happen.”
Programming at the LGBTQ community center will include youth programming, game nights and support groups, according to Equality Loudoun Executive Director Katie Cash.
Cash told the Blade, “That’s actually a new thing that we’re branching into that we received a grant this year for: to focus on youth activities. So we’ll have youth support groups that we’re going to work with the Ryan Bartell organization on. Additionally, we’ll have other peer support groups that are run by organizations that are in the space. We’ll have craft nights, we’ll have activity nights, so it’ll be open for drop-in hours on different days as well. On top of normal programming that we’ve been doing as an organization, which can be a series of different craft [activities], social activities, game nights, movie nights, that we’ve been doing for years. Instead of hunting for locations.”
Equality Loudoun is primarily funded through donations, according to Cash. Those interested in supporting the work of the organization and community center can visit eqloco.org for more information.
When asked about future programming at the center, Cash told the Blade that they are seeking feedback from the community.
“We have all the dreams that we have for the space,” Cash said. “But everything’s built off of what kind of resources, what kind of events does the community want hosted? What will they come out for? What do they care about coming out for, and making sure that happens for them.”
Rep. Subramanyam told the Blade, “I’m just so excited about this community center. Equality Loudoun has been so instrumental to so many people in our community. And for them to finally have this center — and it’s been part of their vision for a long time — just is an incredible experience. So I’m so proud to be a supporter of them and I look forward to the center being a sanctuary and a place for people to turn to for many years to come.”
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