Local
Officers, activists recognized at police liaison reception
LGBT community leaders point to ‘reinvigorated’ GLLU in DC
More than a dozen LGBT community activists and the five officers assigned to the departmentās Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit were awarded by D.C. police officials with a certificate of appreciation Thursday night recognizing their service to community.
Capt. Edward Delgado and Sgts. Carlos Mejia and Matt Mahl, who serve as supervisors for the Dupont Circle headquartered GLLU, handed out the certificates at an open house reception. The event, hosted by the GLLU, attracted more than 50 people from the community and about a dozen police officers and police officials, including Deputy Police Chief Diane Groomes.
āThank you on behalf of the chief,ā said Groomes, referring to Police Chief Cathy Lanier, who was unable to attend the event.
āI know we arenāt perfect. We have a ways to go,ā Groomes said. āBut I think overall, with the support of the community, weāre definitely getting better every day. So I appreciate all of your support for us and I look forward to working with you.ā
Groomes and Delgado told the Blade that Sgt. Mahl, who had been detailed earlier this year to serve as the GLLUās full-time supervisor, was temporarily assigned earlier this month to a special police robbery unit in response to an upsurge in robberies throughout the city, including āsnatch-and-grabā cell phone robberies.
Mahl had worked on robbery investigations prior to his assignment with the GLLU.
The two said Mahl, who is gay, would be returning shortly to the GLLU where he will resume his duties as supervisor.
LGBT activists, including officials with the local group Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence (GLOV), have expressed concern that Chief Lanier several years ago placed the GLLU under the supervision of a sergeant ā Mejia ā who also headed the Latino Liaison Unit, requiring that he divide his time between two important units.
While praising Mejia for doing an excellent job in juggling his time between the two units, a number of LGBT activists called on Lanier to assign a sergeant as the full-time supervisor of the GLLU. Lanier has said limited MPD resources prevented her from doing that until earlier this year, when she said she was able to detail Sgt. Mahl to head the unit.
In response to Groomesā remarks, gay activist Peter Rosenstein told the GLLU reception that he has seen an improvement in both the GLLUās work and the departmentās overall response to LGBT community concerns over the past year or so.
āI speak personally but I think for a lot of the community,ā Rosenstein said. āWe appreciate under this mayor and under your direction and under the unitās direction that there is a reinvigorated look at whatās going on in the LGBT community and once again a reinvigorated GLLU.ā
Rosenstein added, āAs you well know, there was a period of time when the community felt the attention wasnāt being given to the community. But I think most of us now believe that there is a new effort to get together, to work together to make the city a safer place to be. So thank you all from the community for what you all do.ā
A.J. Singletary, the head of GLOV, and Ruby Corado, the transgender activist who operates an LGBT community center with an outreach to the Latino community, said they, too, have seen an improvement in the departmentās and GLLUās activities and communication with the LGBT community.
The current full-time GLLU members stationed at the GLLU headquarters office are Officers Joseph Morquecho, Zunnobia Hakir, Juanita Foreman, Kevin Johnson and Justin Markiewicz.
Among the community activists receiving the police certificate of appreciation were Jason Terry of the D.C. Trans Coalition; Earline Budd, Jeri Hughes and Brian Watson of Transgender Health Empowerment (THE); Ā Singletary of GLOV; Corado of Casa Ruby community center; June Crenshaw of Rainbow Response; and Savannah Wanzer of the Mayorās LGBT Advisory Committee.
According to the MPD website, 91 officers assigned to one of the departmentās seven police districts serve as part-time affiliate members of the GLLU. The affiliate program, created by Lanier, provides training officers assigned to the police districts to enable them to respond to calls on matters related to the GLLU in locations throughout the city.
In addition to the GLLU, the Special Liaison Division includes the Asian Liaison Unit, the Latino Liaison Unit and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Liaison Unit.
Maryland
What Anne Arundel County school board candidates think about book bans
State lawmakers passed Freedom to Read Act in April
BY ROYALE BONDS | Parentsā efforts to restrict content available to students in school libraries has become a contentious issue in Maryland. Conservative parent groups, such as Moms for Liberty, have been working to get books they believe are inappropriate removed from libraries in Carroll and Howard counties, sparkingĀ protests, new policies, and even aĀ state law.
The Freedom to Read Act, passed in April, sets standards that books cannot be removed from public and school libraries due to an authorās background. Library staff that uphold the standard are protected under this act. The law, however, does not prohibit removing books deemed āsexually explicit,ā the stated reason local Moms for Liberty chapters challenged school library books.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner website.
District of Columbia
D.C. Council member proposes change for Mayorās Office of LGBTQ Affairs
Parker also seeks increased funding for LGBTQ programs in FY 2025 budget
D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), the Councilās only LGBTQ member, has asked his fellow Council members to support a proposal to change the Mayorās Office of LGBTQ Affairs to become a āstand-alone entity outside the Executive Office of the Mayor to allow for greater transparency and accountability that reflects its evolution over the years.ā
In an April 30 letter to each of his 12 fellow Council members, Parker said he plans to introduce an amendment to the cityās Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Support Act to make this change for the LGBTQ Affairs Office.
His letter also calls for adding to the cityās FY 2025 budget two specific funding proposals that local LGBTQ activists submitted to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser that the mayor did not include in her budget proposal submitted to the Council. One calls for $1.5 million to fund the completion of the build out and renovation for the D.C. Center for the LGBTQ Communityās new building in the cityās Shaw neighborhood and $300,000 in subsequent years to support the LGBTQ Centerās operations.
Parkerās second budget proposal calls for what he said was about $450,000 to fund 20 additional dedicated LGBTQ housing vouchers as part of the cityās existing program to provide emergency housing support for LGBTQ residents and other residents facing homelessness.
āThe Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs currently manages about 90 vouchers across various programs and needs,ā Parker said in his letter to fellow Council members. āAdding an additional 20 vouchers will cost roughly $450,000,ā he wrote, adding that dedicated vouchers “play a crucial role in ensuring LGBTQ+ residents of the District can navigate the complex process of securing housing placements.ā
In her proposed FY ā25 budget, Bowser calls for a 7.6 percent increase in funding for the Office of LGBTQ Affairs, which amounts to an increase of $132,000, bringing the officeās total funding to $1.7 million.
āTo be clear, I support the strong work and current leadership of the Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs,ā Parker says in his letter to fellow Council members. āThis push for change is in recognition of the officeās notable achievements and the significant demands being placed on it, which require a greater level of accountability.ā
Parker told the Blade in an April 30 telephone interview that he believes Japer Bowles, the current director of the Office of L|GBTQ Affairs is doing an excellent job in operating the office, but he believes the office would be able to do more for the LGBTQ community under the change he is proposing.
āMaking it a stand-alone office versus it being clustered within the Community Affairs division of the mayorās office, it will get more attention,ā Parker told the Blade. āThe leadership will have greater flexibility to advocate for the interest of LGBTQ residents, And we will be able to conduct greater oversight of the office,ā he said, referring to the Councilās oversight process.
Parker noted that other community constituent offices in the mayorās office, including the Office of Latino Affairs and the Office of Veterans Affairs are stand-alone offices that he hopes to bring about for the LGBTQ Affairs Office. He said Council member Brianne Nadeau, who chairs the Council committee that has oversight for the LGBTQ Affairs Office, has expressed support for his proposal.
Also expressing support for Parkerās proposal to make the LGBTQ Affairs Office a stand-alone office is the D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commission Rainbow Caucus. Vincent Slatt, the caucusās chairperson, submitted testimony last week before the D.C. Council Committee on Public Works and Operations, which is chaired by Nadeau, calling for making the LGBTQ Affairs Office a stand-alone office outside the Executive Office of the Mayor.
Slatt also stated in his testimony that the office has a āchronic staffing shortageā and recommended that at least three additional staff members be assigned to the office.
Daniel Gleick, the mayorās press secretary, told the Blade the mayorās office is reviewing Parkerās budget proposals, including the proposed change for the Office of LGBTQ Affairs.
But in testimony at a May 1, D.C. Council budget hearing before the Councilās Committee on Executive Administration and Labor, Lindsey Parker, Mayor Bowserās Chief of Staff, appeared to express skepticism over making the LGBTQ Affairs office a stand-alone office. Lindsey Parker expressed her thoughts on the proposed change when asked about it by Councilmember Anita Bonds (D-At-Large), who chairs the committee that held the hearing.
āI would proffer that it doesnāt matter whether the agency is within the EOM [Executive Office of the Mayor] or not,ā Lindsey Parker told Bonds. āThey will still be reporting up into one would argue the most important agency in the D.C. government, which is the one that supports the mayor,ā Lindsey Parker said. āSo, itās the closest to the mayor that you can get,ā she said āSo, you could pull it out and have a different budget chapter. I actually think thatās confusing and convoluted.ā
Lindsey Parker added, āThe Mayorās Office of LGBTQ Affairs, with their six FTEs right now, if they were a stand-alone function they wouldnāt have all the non-personnel services in order to operate. They need to be under sort of the shop of the EOM in order to get those resources.āĀ
By FETs Lindsey Parker was referring to the term Full Time Equivalent employees. Ā
Rehoboth Beach
Former CAMP Rehoboth official sentenced to nine months in prison
Salvator Seeley pleaded guilty to felony theft charge for embezzlement
Salvator āSalā Seeley, who served as an official with the Rehoboth Beach, Del., CAMP Rehoboth LGBTQ community center for 20 years, was sentenced on April 5 by a Sussex County Superior Court judge to nine months in prison and to pay $176,000 in restitution to the organization.
The sentencing took place about five weeks after Seeley pleaded guilty to a charge of Theft in Excess of $50,000 for allegedly embezzling funds from CAMP Rehoboth, a spokesperson for the Delaware Department of Justice told the Washington Blade.
Seeley’s guilty plea came shortly after a grand jury, at the request of prosecutors, indicted him on the felony theft charge following an investigation that found he had embezzled at least $176,000 from the nonprofit LGBTQ organization.
āSalvatore C. Seeley, between the 27th day of February 2019 and the 7th day of September 2021, in the County of Sussex, State of Delaware, did take property belonging to CAMP Rehoboth, Inc., consisting of United States currency and other miscellaneous property valued at more than $50,000, intending to appropriate the same,ā the indictment states.
āThe State recommended a sentence of two years of incarceration based on the large-scale theft and the impact to the non-profit organization,ā Delaware Department of Justice spokesperson Caroline Harrison told the Blade in a statement.
āThe defense cited Seeleyās lack of a record and gambling addiction in arguing for a probationary sentence,ā the statement says. āSeeley was sentenced in Superior Court to a nine-month prison term and to pay a total of $176,000 in restitution for the stolen funds,ā Harrison says in the statement.
Neither Seeley nor his attorney could immediately be reached for comment.
At the time of Seeleyās indictment in February, CAMP Rehoboth released a statement saying it first discovered āfinancial irregularitiesā within the organization on Sept. 7, 2021, āand took immediate action and notified state authorities.ā The statement says this resulted in the investigation of Seeley by the state Department of Justice as well as an internal investigation by CAMP Rehoboth to review its āfinancial control policiesā that led to an updating of those policies.
āAs we have communicated from day one, CAMP Rehoboth has fully cooperated with law enforcement,ā the statement continues. āAt its request, we did not speak publicly about the investigation while it was ongoing for fear it would jeopardize its integrity,ā according to the statement. āThis was extremely difficult given our commitment to transparency with the community about day-to-day operations during the recent leadership transition.ā
The statement was referring to Kim Leisey, who began her job as CAMP Rehobothās new executive director in July of 2023, while the Seeley investigation had yet to be completed, following the organizationās process of searching for a new director. It says Seeley left his job as Health and Wellness Director of CAMP Rehoboth in September of 2021 after working for the organization for more than 20 years.
āMr. Seeleyās actions are a deep betrayal to not only CAMP Rehoboth but also the entire community we serve,ā the statement says.