District of Columbia
Judge releases Ruby Corado seven days after arrest
Former Casa Ruby director charged with fraud, money laundering
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the release of Ruby Corado, founder and former executive director of Casa Ruby, into the custody of her niece in Rockville, Md., after agreeing with arguments by Corado’s defense attorney that she is not at high risk of fleeing to El Salvador.
The decision by U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Robin M. Meriweather to order Corado’s release at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, March 13, came seven days after the FBI arrested Corado shortly after she returned to the U.S. from El Salvador. She has been charged with bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, among other charges, related to allegations that she embezzled at least $150,000 from Casa Ruby that the LGBTQ community services group had obtained from federal COVID-19 relief programs.
Corado had been held in jail since the time of her arrest on March 5. She appeared before Meriweather last Friday, March 8, for a detention hearing in which the judge said she was not ready to rule on whether Corado should continue to be held until the time of her trial or released.
Meriweather scheduled a second detention hearing on Tuesday, March 12, to give Corado’s defense attorney more time to submit a release proposal, which was expected to call for Corado to be released into the custody of a family member that would include conditions assuring that Corado would not be a flight risk.
The niece to whom Corado will be released, Jessica Dieguez, told the court Corado would be staying at her and her husband’s home in Rockville. After being called by the judge to the witness stand to testify, Dieguez said she would do her best to ensure that Corado complies with the terms of her release, which the judge said consists of home detention. The release terms require that while she awaits her trial, Corado must remain at Dieguez’s home except for court appearances or medical related visits to a health care facility.
“Defendant is to be released on 3/13/2024 to a 3rd party custodian,” the court docket for the Corado case states. “Defendant and custodian sworn to conditions of release,” it states. The judge said Corado will be placed on GPS monitoring and will not have access to her passport.
The docket shows Corado’s next court appearance for a status hearing is scheduled for April 12 at 1 p.m. before another judge, Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui.
“The government has failed to set forth sufficient facts to find that Ms. Corado is a serious risk of flight,” Federal Public Defender Service attorney Diane Shrewsbury stated in an amended motion in support of Corado’s pretrial release. “Ms. Corado asks the court to find that there are conditions that will reasonably ensure her appearance and ensure the safety of the community and to release her under those conditions,” Shrewsbury stated in her court memorandum.
Meriweather’s decision came after prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C. called on the judge to order Corado held in custody until the time of her trial on grounds that she would be a flight risk. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Borchert, the lead prosecutor in the case, stated in oral arguments on March 8 and in a 12-page Memorandum in Support of Pretrial Detention, which he later updated, that Corado poses “a unique and serious flight risk.”
Among other things, he said Corado fled to El Salvador in 2022 shortly before Casa Ruby shut down its operations, after news media reports surfaced that Corado was under investigation for financial improprieties at Casa Ruby that led to its shutdown. He also pointed to a criminal complaint and arrest affidavit charging Corado with Bank Fraud, Wire Fraud, Laundering of Monetary Instruments, and Failure to File Report of Foreign Bank Account – all related to allegations that she embezzled funds from Casa Ruby that came from at least two federal COVID pandemic relief programs.
“Without question, the offenses described in the complaint are serious and carry substantial penalties,” Borchert states in his memo in support of pretrial detention. “The amount of federal money stolen by the defendant – at least $150,000 – and deposited into her personal bank accounts in El Salvador is both substantial and troubling, particularly given that these funds were intended for the benefit of District youth in need of housing and other services,” he said, referring to Casa Ruby’s longstanding programs in support of LGBTQ youth.
Shrewsbury argued that a preponderance of factors shows that Corado would not be a flight risk. The attorney disclosed that Corado returned to the U.S. from El Salvador in February 2024 to remain in the D.C. area permanently after having lived in the D.C. area for 35 years. She said Corado went to El Salvador in 2022 to start an international arm of Casa Ruby and did not go there to flee from law enforcement.
“She was prepared to resume her life in the United States when she returned in February,” Shrewsbury states in her court memo. “At the time of her arrest, Ms. Corado did not have a return ticket to go back to El Salvador,” she said. “She was in the process of securing a new job in the United States. Additionally, Ms. Corado has significant family and friends in the D.C. area, including her sisters, her father, her sister-in-law and numerous friends,” the pre-trial release memo continues.
“She is married to a U.S. citizen, who grew up in the D.C. area and continues to have family here,” the memo says. “In approximately 2007, Ms. Corado received legal permanent resident status” in the U.S., it says, further confirming her intention of remaining in the U.S. Shrewsbury said at the time of her arrest, Corado’s passport from El Salvador was confiscated, further ensuring that she would not flee to another country if released.
The attorney also argued that Corado’s status as a transgender woman placed her in danger of possible sexual assault at the D.C. Jail, where she was placed in protective custody in the male housing section of the jail.
Shrewsbury’s motion and memo calling for Corado’s release, first filed in court on March 8, used the male pronouns of “he,” “him” and “his” in four separate pages of the memo to identify Corado. Court records show that on Monday, March 11, one day before the follow-up detention hearing, Shrewsbury filed a second amended version of the memorandum that changed the misgendered pronouns to female pronouns.
After the court hearing on Tuesday, Shrewsbury told the Washington Blade the misgendered pronouns were typographic mistakes as she wrote her motion late at night. She said she was sorry about the mistake, which she said was quickly corrected with the updated document.
Corado, who was escorted into court at both hearings wearing an orange prison jump suit, did not speak at the hearings.
District of Columbia
Hands Off the Arts to form ‘human chain’ around Kennedy Center
Drag performer Tara Hoot among event organizers
An organization called Hands Off the Arts has announced it is holding a protest on Friday, Sept. 18, in which between 400 and 800 participants are expected to create a “human chain” around the Kennedy Center to voice their strong objection to President Donald Trump’s call for possibly demolishing the Kennedy Center.
“Hands Off the Arts is organizing a rally Sept. 18 against the president’s defacing of JFK’s memorial, his removal and censorship of art, and the threat to demolish the center if he can’t remake the site in his image,” a statement released by the group says.
The statement says the event will start with a rally at 6:30 p.m. on the Kennedy Center steps and culminate with a “human chain” around the building. “There will be musical performances, testimonials from current and former employees, along with other special guest speakers,” it says
A separate announcement by the group says longtime D.C. drag performer Tara Hoot, who has performed at the Kennedy Center in past years, was among the organizers of the Sept. 18 protest.
The planned protest follows Trump’s decision last year to use his authority to replace the existing members of the Kennedy Center’s board of directors with new members loyal to him. Over the objection of longtime Kennedy Center supporters, the Trump-appointed board changed the name of the center, at Trump’s request, from the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts to the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
But following the threat of legal action by opponents who pointed out that the name change could not be legally made unless approved by Congress, the name change was cancelled, with Trump saying he would take steps to restore it later.
The Washington Post, meanwhile, reports in a Sept. 13 news story that because of negative publicity related to Trump’s actions, the Kennedy Center was facing “fiscal collapse” and possible bankruptcy and could be forced to shut down as early as this week.
According to the Post report, a 57-page document presented to the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees says the center was facing a financial and structural building crisis, with the recent collapse of part of the building’s inside ceiling, indicating the building was unsafe for employees and the public. Among other things, the document says the Kennedy Center may not be able to make payroll or pay for routine maintenance “within a matter of weeks,” the Post reports.
Some LGBTQ advocates were among those who joined others in boycotting the Kennedy Center to express their objections to Trump’s actions, including a statement by Trump that he objected to the Kennedy Center’s practice of hosting drag performances.
The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington has been among the LGBTQ performing arts groups and artists that have performed at the Kennedy Center.
“With the future still very much uncertain, now more than ever, the Center needs you to stand up for freedom of expression and against authoritarian overreach into arts and culture institutions,” the Hands Off the Arts group says in its announcement of the Hands Around the Kennedy Center protest.
“You have the opportunity to make a difference — show up with Hands Off the Arts and show your power as part of Hands Around the Kennedy Center,” it says.
A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
District of Columbia
Blade welcomes fall intern
Alexis McLean is student at University of North Florida
The Washington Blade this week welcomed Alexis McLean as its fall intern.
Alexis is studying political science at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Fla. She is interning with the Blade as part of a continued partnership with the Washington Center.
“I am looking forward to spending my time in the fall with the Washington Blade, as this is a new experience for me,” said Alexis. “I have not experienced any journalist jobs in the past so this would be my first time, and I am excited to better my writing and communications skills with this internship.”
Alexis’s internship with the Blade ends in early December.
District of Columbia
‘People don’t see me. They see a trend’
New popularity of all things Asian warps view of multiple cultures
As I was growing up, my parents often shared stories about how they were bullied when they were my age, just for being Asian. My mom is Cambodian and my dad is “Wasian,” Chinese and white. Students teased them for their looks, their homemade lunches, and treated their traditional holidays as jokes.
I once asked my mom when I was little if she could pack me dumpling leftovers for lunch. “Yes,” she said with a surprised look, adding, “I would have never wanted to bring dumplings to school when I was your age because I would always get bullied for them. I’m glad times have changed.”
At the time, I was confused. Whenever I brought a homemade Asian dish to school for lunch, I was happy to hear intriguing and curious questions from the other kids. It felt good to have my meal be popular and different from the Lunchables everyone else had.
Though times have changed, racism still continues. It just has a new face. Today, social media pretends to flatter our cultures in an insincere way trying to gain popularity just for clicks. Think anything from K-pop to Japan’s surge in international tourism. Even Starbucks has added drinks with the flavor of ube yam, native to the Philippines, onto its menu.
I feel that now when people see me, they don’t see me, they see a trend.
For years, Asian people have been portrayed as foreign or exotic. The new embrace of foods and fashion at first felt good. Asians have never been represented as much as they’ve deserved.
But this new popularity warps what non-Asians see. Instead of the blunt and direct racism my parents faced, everything now is a gray area, more discreetly hidden behind some TikTok video. It actually normalizes racism and stereotypes.
Whitewashing my culture
As a 15-year-old Asian American who lives in D.C., I’ve always been one of the few Asian kids in school; my high school today counts less than 2 percent of students as being of Asian descent. I remember always being called “that one Asian girl” or some slur a kid learned from their parents. Every time I search for something related to Asian culture, such as a recipe or maybe a holiday, it’s always the same thing: some white person whitewashing my culture.
Social media is the main culprit, of course. I realized this when I entered high school and got a phone and was introduced to the internet. That is when I realized how messed up the new stereotypes around Asians are.
One pattern I started to notice was people wanting to be Asian just because it was popular. It was hurtful, patronizing, and annoying. They made assumptions about our race and then only found us “cool” because we were trending. How can people go from hating us or finding us weird, to then only liking us because we’re popular?
There was a trend going around on TikTok called “race change to another” or RCTA. It is this trend of people manifesting certain physical traits to change their appearance in order to change races. According to journalist Emi Tran, writing then as an intern for NBC Digital, the trend started when a white woman wanted to be Japanese. The woman began posting TikTok videos of herself wishing for different features such as monolids. Tran wrote in that 2023 article that “the overwhelming majority of the RCTA community wants to be East Asian.”
People also look up to K-pop culture, idolizing the pop groups pulled together by big entertainment companies. Most people expect all Koreans to be K-pop fans. Korean friends are asked about K-pop all the time even though they are not into the South Korean music genre.
Although I am not South Korean — I am half Cambodian and Chinese — I still get asked, almost like I’m expected, “You’re really into this group, right?” or “Can you tell me how to pronounce this member’s name?”
I was asked even worse questions during COVID-19. Suddenly, discrimination and violence were increasing specifically toward Asians everywhere. Suddenly, almost everyone was blaming Chinese people for spreading and causing COVID-19.
I remember going to school for one of the last times before quarantine had started and hearing kids whisper, “Oh, she’s going to give us the Coronavirus.” President Donald Trump had publicly posted his opinions about the situation on social media, blaming China for the pandemic, even calling it the “Chinese Virus” or the “Wuhan Virus.” According to NPR, anti-Asian hate crimes in U.S. cities surged 149 percent that year.
The topic of Asians in the media has always been complicated. One moment people can hate us for being weird and different and the next we’re suddenly popular and cool for the same reasons.
I feel conflicted on whether I should feel happy that we’re being represented or angry that it’s all for the wrong reason and has the wrong effects.
Lily Brugman is a sophomore at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School, one of Youthcast Media Group’s journalism class partners. She worked with YMG volunteer and Professor Emerita in journalism at American University Amy Eisman on this piece.
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Comings & Goings
