Local
DP ‘termination’ bill introduced
Would simplify break-up process for couples


D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) told the Blade he introduced the bill after being contacted by a couple who were joined in a civil union in New Jersey and have since separated. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Gay D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) last month introduced a bill that would allow couples joined in domestic partnerships or civil unions in other jurisdictions to terminate those partnerships in D.C. and have the terminations recognized by the other jurisdictions.
The Domestic Partnership Termination Recognition Amendment Act of 2013 was referred to the Council’s Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, which is chaired by Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6). A Wells spokesperson said a public hearing on the bill has yet to be scheduled.
Ten of the Council’s 13 members, including Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large), signed on as co-sponsors for Graham’s bill. Gay Council member David Catania (I-At-Large) and Council member Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) were the only two who didn’t sign on as co-sponsors.
Graham told the Blade he introduced the bill after being contacted by a couple who were joined in a civil union in New Jersey and have since separated, with at least one member of the former couple now living in D.C.
The person living in D.C. told the Blade that due to a legal technicality he and his former partner could not obtain a legal dissolution of the civil union unless one of them returns to New Jersey and becomes a legal resident there for at least one year.
“There was a legal complexity to that, which this bill cuts through,” Graham said. “If you have a civil union or a domestic partnership in another city or jurisdiction you’ll be able to terminate it in the District of Columbia,” he said in describing what his bill would do.
Graham’s bill, among other things, would allow a domestic partnership to be “terminated by judicial decree or judgment” from a court rather than through the non-judicial administrative process available under current D.C. law and which often is not recognized by other states, according to gay activist Bob Summersgill, who has assisted in updating the D.C. domestic partnership law in past years.
D.C. LGBT rights attorney Michelle Zavos, who specializes in gay family law, said the existing D.C. law might allow for the termination of domestic partnerships or civil unions performed in other jurisdictions under certain conditions. But she praised Graham’s bill for making that process “much more clear.”
Graham said he welcomes suggestions from legal experts like Zavos to help him fine-tune the bill when Wells arranges for a hearing on the legislation.
At the time it approved legislation in 2009 to legally recognize marriages for same-sex couples in the nation’s capital, the D.C. Council chose to leave in place the city’s 1992 domestic partnership law, which recognizes partnerships between both same-sex and opposite-sex couples. Separate legislation approved by the Council in subsequent years requires the city to recognize civil unions performed in other states and jurisdictions as domestic partnerships in D.C. if the out-of-state unions provide all of the rights and benefits of marriage.
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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