Local
D.C. gays mobilize to re-elect Obama
Supporters traveling to help in Colorado, Virginia, Ohio
Crosby Burns will travel to Colorado next week to campaign for President Obama. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
With only a few weeks remaining before Election Day, several members of D.C.’s LGBT community are literally going to great lengths to ensure President Obama wins another four years in the White House.
Opportunities to help push Obama over the edge in battleground states are driving local LGBT supporters to travel to far off places — including Colorado and Ohio — where the results on Nov. 6 could decide the election.
Crosby Burns, 25, a gay D.C. resident, said he agreed to travel to Colorado to help the Obama campaign — an expedition he made during Obama’s first campaign in 2008 — after looking at polls showing a tightening race between Obama and Mitt Romney.
“A couple of weeks ago, I was just looking at polls and seeing Mitt Romney speak, and I was just thinking the president needs us more than ever,” Burns said. “That’s what I did back in 2008, I’m going to do the exact same thing, if not more, to ensure that the president is re-elected and that Colorado stays ‘blue’ for him in 2012.”
Burns, a research associate on LGBT issues at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, said the Obama campaign is sending him Monday to West Denver, Colo. — a predominately Latino area — where he intends to employ his Spanish-speaking skills to help with get-out-the-vote efforts.
“I’m going to be going door-to-door using my Spanish skills and talking with people about the election and making sure they know where their polling place is and making sure they support the president,” Burns said.
Collin Burton, 32, a gay D.C. resident, said he’s taking personal leave from his job to make a similar trip to his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, on Monday to help manage out-of-state volunteers coming into the battleground state to campaign for Obama.
“As we get closer to Election Day, we’ll be running some GOTV operations and helping out with the regional work, so it’ll be good,” Burton said. “We will hopefully get a lot of people through and get a lot of voters contacted, make sure that they know they need to turn out.”
Burton, who handles government relations as an appointee to the Corporation for National & Community Service, estimated that he would manage between 20 and 100 Obama supporters coming into the state from more assuredly Democratic parts of the country, such as D.C., New York and Eastern Pennsylvania.
It’s not the first time Burton has helped with Democratic Party efforts. In 2010 for the mid-term elections, he was designated the LGBT caucus director for the Ohio Democratic Party.
But Burton said he hopes the outcome is different this time around as opposed to the mid-term election, when an anti-incumbent wave swept a sea of Republicans into office, including in Ohio.
“I hope it’s a hell of a lot better, I’ll be honest, because the outcome in 2010 in Ohio was pretty bad,” Burton said. “It went from a wonderfully “blue” state to an incredibly red state. I’m confident that it will [be better this time]. I’m certain that the Obama ground game is up and running and will be rocking it for Ohio.”
Some LGBT Obama supporters in D.C. are taking advantage of opportunities within the area to campaign for the president, especially because the battleground state of Virginia is just across the Potomac River.
Clarence Fluker, 33 and a gay D.C. resident, said he’s been participating in LGBT phone banking each Thursday night at the Democratic National Committee to talk with potential voters — mainly in Virginia — and educate them about Obama’s record.
“Sometimes people say that they’re undecided, but we talk to them and log all of the information from the calls and send it over at the end of the night to the person who’s running the phone bank,” Fluker said.
Clarence Fluker is participating in weekly phone banks at the Democratic National Committee (Photo by Cesar Vence Photography)
Fluker, who works for the D.C. Commission on National and Community Service, said he also plans to make a trip during an upcoming weekend to Virginia to knock on doors and talk about Obama personally with voters.
“I think it’s helpful because this campaign is really going to be won on the ground, and it’s going to be won by reaching out to everyday Americans and asking for their support, educating them about all the wonderful things the Obama administration has done and all the things that we know that they’re going to do in the second term,” Fluker said.
Clo Ewing, an Obama campaign spokesperson, said Obama’s LGBT supporters recognize the president “has done more to advance gay rights than any other president” — citing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal, mandating hospital visitation rights and calling for repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act as among his accomplishments.
“That record stands in stark contrast to Mitt Romney’s, who promised to be to the left of Sen. [Ted] Kennedy on gay rights and then made clear he would have left ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ in place and is working to enshrine discrimination into the Constitution by passing a federal marriage amendment,” Ewing said. “From grassroots organizing to phone banking to registering voters, LGBT supporters are working hard because there’s too much at stake to sit on the sidelines.”
The Washington Blade was unable to find local LGBT supporters of Mitt Romney’s campaign who are undertaking efforts to help the Republican nominee win the White House.
Each of the Obama LGBT supporters who spoke with the Washington Blade said the president’s work on LGBT issues was deeply personal for them and a motiving factor in helping them decide to contribute to the campaign.
Burton said he was particularly grateful Obama took action to benefit LGBT people through administrative steps, such as the hospital visitation rights memo he issued for same-sex partners.
As a federal employee, Burton took particular note of the memorandum Obama signed in 2009 granting limited domestic partner benefits to government workers.
“Extending those rights, it matters quite a bit, and it’s incredible to see him actually move the pen for that,” Burton said.
Fluker said he was moved when Obama announced in May he had completed his evolution to support marriage equality — particularly because those words came from the nation’s first black president.
“When President Obama talked about his own personal walk, how he got to the point where he also supports same-sex marriage, that meant a lot to me not just as black gay man, but as an American, to have a leader who felt that way,” Fluker said.
For Burns, the president’s announcement that he now supports marriage equality was important, as well as Obama’s other work in advancing gay rights.
“That’s an issue that’s near and dear to my heart and to see him fully evolve on this issue was just very validating as an Obama supporter and as a gay man,” Burns said.
District of Columbia
Capital Stonewall Democrats elect new leaders
LGBTQ political group set to celebrate 50th anniversary
Longtime Democratic Party activists Stevie McCarty and Brad Howard won election last week as president and vice president for administration for the Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political organization.
In a Feb. 24 announcement, the group said McCarty and Howard, both of whom are elected DC Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, ran in a special Capital Stonewall Democrats election to fill the two leadership positions that became vacant when the officers they replaced resigned.
Outgoing President Howard Garrett, who McCarty has replaced, told the Washington Blade he resigned after taking on a new position as chair of the city’s Ward 1 Democratic Committee. The Capital Stonewall Democrats announcement didn’t say who Howard replaced as vice president for administration.
The group’s website shows its other officers include Elizabeth Mitchell as Vice President for Legislative and Political Affairs, and Monica Nemeth as Treasurer. The officer position of secretary is vacant, the website shows.
“As we look toward 2026, the stakes for D.C. and for LGBTQ+ communities have never been clearer,” the group’s statement announcing McCarty and Howard’s election says. “Our 50th anniversary celebration on March 20 and the launch of our D.C. LGBTQ+ Voter’s Guide mark the beginning of a major year for endorsements, organizing, and coalition building,” the statement says.
McCarty said among the organization’s major endeavors will be holding virtual endorsement forums where candidates running for D.C. mayor and the Council will appear and seek the group’s endorsement.
Founded in 1976 as the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the organization’s members voted in 2021 to change its name to Capital Stonewall Democrats. McCarty said the 50th anniversary celebration on March 20, in which D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and members of the D.C. Council are expected to attend, will be held at the PEPCO Gallery meeting center at 702 8th St., N.W.
Virginia
Va. activists preparing campaign in support of repealing marriage amendment
Referendum about ‘dignity and equal protection under the law’
Virginia voters in November will vote on whether to repeal their state’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Feb. 6 signed House Bill 612 into law. It facilitates a referendum for voters to approve the repeal of the 2006 Marshall-Newman Amendment. Although the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell ruling extended marriage rights to same-sex couples across the country in 2014, codifying marriage equality in Virginia’s constitution would protect it in the state in case the decision is overturned.
Maryland voters in 2012 approved Question 6, which upheld the state’s marriage equality law, by a 52-48 percent margin. Same-sex marriage became legal in Maryland on Jan. 1, 2013.
LGBTQ advocacy groups and organizations that oppose marriage equality mounted political campaigns ahead of the referendum.
Equality Virginia has been involved in advancing LGBTQ rights in Virginia since 1989.
Equality Virginia is working under its 501c3 designation in conjunction with Equality Virginia Advocates, which operates under a 501c4 designation, to plan campaigns in support of repealing the Marshall-Newman Amendment.
The two main campaigns on which Equality Virginia will be focused are education and voter mobilization. Reed Williams, the group’s director of digital engagement and narrative, spoke with the Washington Blade about Equality Virginia’s plans ahead of the referendum.
Williams said an organization for a “statewide public education campaign” is currently underway. Williams told the Blade its goal will be “to ensure voters understand what this amendment does and why updating Virginia’s constitution matters for families across the commonwealth.”
The organization is also working on a “robust media and voter mobilization campaign to identify and turn out voters” to repeal Marshall-Newman Amendment. Equality Virginia plans to work with the community members to guarantee voters are getting clear and accurate information regarding the meaning of this vote and its effect on the Virginia LGBTQ community.
“We believe Virginia voters are ready to bring our constitution in line with both the law and the values of fairness and freedom that define our commonwealth,” said Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman. “This referendum is about ensuring loving, committed couples and their families are treated with dignity and equal protection under the law.”
The Human Rights Campaign has also worked closely with Equality Virginia.
“It’s time to get rid of outdated, unconstitutional language and ensure that same sex couples are protected in Virginia,” HRC President Kelley Robinson told the Blade in a statement.
District of Columbia
D.C. police arrest man for burglary at gay bar Spark Social House
Suspect ID’d from images captured by Spark Social House security cameras
D.C. police on Feb. 18 arrested a 63-year-old man “of no fixed address” for allegedly stealing cash from the registers at the gay bar Spark Social House after unlawfully entering the bar at 2009 14th St., N.W., around 12:04 a.m. after it had closed for business, according to a police incident report.
“Later that day officers canvassing for the suspect located him nearby,” a separate police statement says. “63-year-old Tony Jones of no fixed address was arrested and charged with Burglary II,” the statement says.
The police incident report states that the bar’s owner, Nick Tsusaki, told police investigators that the bar’s security cameras captured the image of a man who has frequently visited the bar and was believed to be homeless.
“Once inside, the defendant was observed via the establishment’s security cameras opening the cash register, removing U.S. currency, and placing the currency into the left front pocket of his jacket,” the report says.
Tsusaki told the Washington Blade that he and Spark’s employees have allowed Jones to enter the bar many times since it opened last year to use the bathroom in a gesture of compassion knowing he was homeless. Tsusaki said he is not aware of Jones ever having purchased anything during his visits.
According to Tsusaki, Spark closed for business at around 10:30 p.m. on the night of the incident at which time an employee did not properly lock the front entrance door. He said no employees or customers were present when the security cameras show Jones entering Spark through the front door around 12:04 a.m.
Tsusaki said the security camera images show Jones had been inside Spark for about three hours on the night of the burglary and show him taking cash out of two cash registers. He took a total of $300, Tsusaki said.
When Tsusaki and Spark employees arrived at the bar later in the day and discovered the cash was missing from the registers they immediately called police, Tsusaki told the Blade. Knowing that Jones often hung out along the 2000 block of 14th Street where Spark is located, Tsusaki said he went outside to look for him and saw him across the street and pointed Jones out to police, who then placed him under arrest.
A police arrest affidavit filed in court states that at the time they arrested him police found the stolen cash inside the pocket of the jacket Jones was wearing. It says after taking him into police custody officers found a powdered substance in a Ziploc bag also in Jones’s possession that tested positive for cocaine, resulting in him being charged with cocaine possession in addition to the burglary charge.
D.C. Superior Court records show a judge ordered Jones held in preventive detention at a Feb. 19 presentment hearing. The judge then scheduled a preliminary hearing for the case on Feb. 20, the outcome of which couldn’t immediately be obtained.
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