Local

Md. House committee votes to advance marriage bill

Full House vote final step; governor has pledged support

Published

15 years ago

March 4, 2011

In a dramatic turn of events, the chair of a committee in the Maryland House of Delegates cast the deciding committee vote on Friday for a same-sex marriage bill, keeping the bill alive and allowing it to go the floor of the House for a final vote next week.

Del. Joseph Vallario (D-Prince George’s County), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, indicated earlier that he would likely not vote for the bill. But he cast a “yes” vote on Friday when it became known that another committee member and co-sponsor of the bill, whose support faltered earlier in the week, would vote against it.

The committee voted 12 to 10 to approve the bill and send it to the floor of the House of Delegates.

The vote to approve the bill came after the committee defeated several proposed amendments introduced by opponents aimed at weakening or gutting the bill, including a proposal for civil unions.

“Securing a favorable committee vote was an enormous obstacle – one that we were able to overcome together as thousands of marriage supporters called, emailed, and met with their delegates,” said Morgan Meneses-Sheets, executive director of the statewide LGBT group Equality Maryland.

“But I’m hearing from our elected officials that out-of-state opposition is flooding their offices with slanderous lies about gay and lesbian couples and their families like never before,” Meneses-Sheets said.

She called on LGBT Marylanders and their friends and supporters to redouble their efforts to contact their delegates to ask for their support in the final vote expected next week on the floor of the full House of Delegates.

Vallario’s vote in favor of the Civil Marriage Protection Act in committee on Friday became the deciding vote allowing the measure to pass after Del. Tiffany Alston (D-Prince George’s County), a co-sponsor of the bill, voted against it.

Alston was one of three Democratic co-sponsors of the bill whose support wavered earlier this week.

Alston and Del. Jill Carter (D-Baltimore City) forced Vallario to cancel a scheduled vote on the bill on Tuesday when they failed to show up for the voting session. Both said their initial intent was to pressure the committee and Democratic leaders in the House of Delegates to devote more attention to other bills they believe were equally as important as same-sex marriage.

Following meetings and phone calls with colleagues and constituents, the two agreed to show up for a committee voting session on Friday. Carter said she expected to vote for the bill. Alston, however, told the Baltimore Sun she was praying over how to vote, saying her religious beliefs made her uncomfortable despite her decision earlier in the year to become a co-sponsor of the bill.

Meanwhile, Del. Sam Arora (D-Montgomery County), another co-sponsor of the bill who pledged support for same-sex marriage in his election campaign last fall, stunned LGBT activists earlier in the week when he said he, too, was having strong reservations over the bill based on personal religious beliefs.

Political observers say support for same-sex marriage is strong in his solidly Democratic and liberal-leaning district in Montgomery County.

Arora released a statement Friday morning, shortly before the committee session, saying he had decided to vote for the bill in committee and on the House floor, with the expectation that voters would ultimately decide the issue in an expected referendum next year.

“I have heard from constituents, friends, and advocates from across the spectrum of views and have thought about the issue of same-sex marriage extensively,” he said in his statement.

“While I personally believe that Maryland should extend civil rights to same-sex couples through civil unions, I have come to the conclusion that this issue has such impact on the people of Maryland that they should have a direct say.”

Carter voted for the bill in committee. She has not said how she will vote when the measure reaches the full House next week.

Sources familiar with the committee said one of the proposed amendments called for dropping the same-sex marriage language and converting the legislation into a civil unions bill.

The marriage bill won approval last week in the Maryland Senate.

Supporters were cautiously optimistic that the razor-thin majority of delegates in the House of Delegates who committed to back the bill just a few weeks ago would hold firm and not buckle under a furious campaign to kill the bill by a coalition of conservative religious groups, including the Catholic Archdiocese of Maryland.

Arora’s initial statements that he might not vote for the bill drew a firestorm of protest from LGBT activists and others in Montgomery County, who noted that his pledge of support for the marriage bill played a role in their decision to support him and contribute money to his campaign for his House seat in last November’s election.

“We applaud the Maryland House of Delegates Judiciary Committee for ending attempts to hold our families hostage to political maneuvering,” said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT advocacy group that’s lobbying for the Maryland marriage bill.

“Maryland is at the forefront in the fight for equality and will go down on the right side of history,” he said. “We ask the full House to swiftly move forward to bring full equality to Maryland families.”

Marc Solomon, national campaign director for the LGBT advocacy group Freedom to Marry, also praised the action of the committee but cautioned supporters to continue to push hard with lawmakers in the days before the final vote.

The National Organization for Marriage, which is leading efforts to defeat the bill, has said it would take immediate steps to place the same-sex marriage law before the voters in a referendum if it passes in the legislature and Gov. Martin O’Malley signs it, as he has said he would.

If opponents succeed in obtaining the required number of petition signatures, such a referendum would appear on the ballot in November 2012 in the midst of the U.S. presidential election campaign.

Related Topics:gay marriage marriage equality Maryland same-sex marriage

Up Next

EXCLUSIVE: Md. lawmaker comes out

Don't Miss

‘Political reality’ forces changes to Md. trans bill

FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM

Virginia

DOJ seeks to join lawsuit against Loudoun County over trans student in locker room

Three male high school students suspended after complaining about classmate

Published

8 hours ago

December 12, 2025

Staff reports

Loudoun County Public Schools building. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Justice Department has asked to join a federal lawsuit against Loudoun County Public Schools over the way it handled the case of three male high school students who complained about a transgender student in a boys’ locker room.

The Washington Blade earlier this year reported Loudoun County public schools suspended the three boys and launched a Title IX investigation into whether they sexually harassed the student after they said they felt uncomfortable with their classmate in the locker room at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn.

The parents of two of the boys filed a lawsuit against Loudoun County public schools in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria. The Richmond-based Founding Freedoms Law Center and America First Legal, which White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller co-founded, represent them.

The Justice Department in a Dec. 8 press release announced that “it filed legal action against the Loudoun County (Va.) School Board (Loudoun County) for its denial of equal protection based on religion.”

“The suit alleges that Loudoun County applied Policy 8040, which requires students and faculty to accept and promote gender ideology, to two Christian, male students in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” reads the press release.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in the press release said “students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate.”

“Loudoun County’s decision to advance and promote gender ideology tramples on the rights of religious students who cannot embrace ideas that deny biological reality,” said Dhillon.

Outgoing Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and outgoing Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares in May announced an investigation into the case.

The Virginia Department of Education in 2023 announced the new guidelines for trans and nonbinary students for which Youngkin asked. Equality Virginia and other advocacy groups claim they, among other things, forcibly out trans and nonbinary students.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in February launched an investigation into whether Loudoun County and four other Northern Virginia school districts’ policies in support of trans and nonbinary students violate Title IX and President Donald Trump’s executive order that prohibits federally funded educational institutions from promoting “gender ideology.”

District of Columbia

Capital Pride announces change in date for 2026 D.C. Pride parade and festival

Events related to U.S. 250th anniversary and Trump birthday cited as reasons for change

Published

14 hours ago

December 12, 2025

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

A scene from the 2024 Capital Pride Festival. (Washington Blade file photo by Emily Hanna)

The Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C. based group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, has announced it is changing the dates for the 2026 Capital Pride Parade and Festival from the second weekend in June to the third weekend.

“For over a decade, Capital Pride has taken place during the second weekend in June, but in 2026, we are shifting our dates in response to the city’s capacity due to major events and preparations for the 250^th anniversary of the United States,” according to a Dec. 9 statement released by Capital Pride Alliance.

The statement says the parade will take place on Saturday, June 20, 2026, with the festival and related concert taking place on June 21.

“This change ensures our community can gather safely and without unnecessary barriers,” the statement says. “By moving the celebration, we are protecting our space and preserving Pride as a powerful act of visibility, solidarity, and resistance,” it says.

Ryan Bos, the Capital Pride Alliance CEO and President, told the Washington Blade the change in dates came after the group conferred with D.C. government officials regarding plans for a number of events in the city on the second weekend in June. Among them, he noted, is a planned White House celebration of President Donald Trump’s 80^th birthday and other events related to the U.S. 250^th anniversary, which are expected to take place from early June through Independence Day on July 4.

The White House has announced plans for a large June 14, 2026 celebration on the White House south lawn of Trump’s 80th birthday that will include a large-scale Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event involving boxing and wrestling competition.

Bos said the Capital Pride Parade will take place along the same route it has in the past number of years, starting at 14^th and T Streets, N.W. and traveling along 14^th Street to Pennsylvania Ave., where it will end. He said the festival set for the following day will also take place at its usual location on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., between 2^nd Street near the U.S. Capitol, to around 7^th Street, N.W.

“Our Pride events thrive because of the passion and support of the community,” Capital Pride Board Chair Anna Jinkerson said in the statement. “In 2026, your involvement is more important than ever,” she said.

District of Columbia

Three women elected leaders of Capital Pride Alliance board

Restructured body includes chair rather than president as top leader

Published

4 days ago

December 9, 2025

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Capital Pride Alliance announced three women will lead its board. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

The Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C.-based group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, announced it has restructured its board of directors and elected for the first time three women to serve as leaders of the board’s Executive Committee.

“Congratulations to our newly elected Executive Officers, making history as Capital Pride Alliance’s first all-women Board leadership,” the group said in a statement.

“As we head into 2026 with a bold new leadership structure, we’re proud to welcome Anna Jinkerson as Board Chair, Kim Baker as Board Treasurer, and Taylor Lianne Chandler as Board Secretary,” the statement says.

In a separate statement released on Nov. 20, Capital Pride Alliance says the restructured Board now includes the top leadership posts of Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary, replacing the previous structure of President and Vice President as the top board leaders.

It says an additional update to the leadership structure includes a change in title for longtime Capital Pride official Ryan Bos from executive director to chief executive officer and president.

According to the statement, June Crenshaw, who served as acting deputy director during the time the group organized WorldPride 2025 in D.C., will now continue in that role as permanent deputy director.

The statement provides background information on the three newly elected women Board leaders.

• Anna Jinkerson (chair), who joined the Capital Pride Alliance board in 2022, previously served as the group’s vice president for operations and acting president. “A seasoned non-profit executive, she currently serves as Assistant to the President and CEO and Chief of Staff at Living Cities, a national member collaborative of leading philanthropic foundations and financial institutions committed to closing income and wealth gaps in the United States and building an economy that works for everyone.”

• Kim Baker (treasurer) is a “biracial Filipino American and queer leader,” a “retired, disabled U.S. Army veteran with more than 20 years of service and extensive experience in finance, security, and risk management.” She has served on the Capital Pride Board since 2018, “bringing a proven track record of steady, principled leadership and unwavering dedication to the LGBTQ+ community.”

• Taylor Lianne Chandler (Secretary) is a former sign language interpreter and crisis management consultant. She “takes office as the first intersex and trans-identifying member of the Executive Committee.” She joined the Capital Pride Board in 2019 and previously served as executive producer from 2016 to 2018.

Bos told the Washington Blade in a Dec. 2 interview that the Capital Pride board currently has 12 members, and is in the process of interviewing additional potential board members.

“In January we will be announcing in another likely press release the full board,” Bos said. “We are finishing the interview process of new board members this month,” he said. “And they will take office to join the board in January.”

Bos said the organization’s rules set a cap of 25 total board members, but the board, which elects its members, has not yet decided how many additional members it will select and a full 25-member board is not required.

The Nov. 20 Capital Pride statement says the new board executive members will succeed the organization’s previous leadership team, which included Ashley Smith, who served as president for eight years before he resigned earlier this year; Anthony Musa, who served for seven years as vice president of board engagement; Natalie Thompson, who served eight years on the executive committee; and Vince Micone, who served for eight years as vice president of operations.

“I am grateful for the leadership, dedication, and commitment shown by our former executive officers — Ashley, Natalie, Anthony, and Vince — who have been instrumental in CPA’s growth and the exceptional success of WorldPride 2025,” Bos said in the statement.

“I look forward to collaborating with Anna in her new role, as well as Kim and Taylor in theirs, as we take on the important work ahead, prepare for Capital Pride 2026, and expand our platform and voice through Pride365,” Bos said.