Local
Guide to D.C. primary races
Council, shadow seats up for grabs on April 1
D.C. Council Chair
Incumbent Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large), a longtime supporter of LGBT rights, is being challenged in the primary by former federal government auditor and civic activist Calvin Gurley. Most political observers consider Mendelson the strong favorite to win re-election.
Mendelson received a +10 rating from GLAA and received the Stein Club endorsement. Gurley received a +1 GLAA rating. GLAA said Gurley expressed support for the city’s same-sex marriage law when it came up for a vote in 2009, but said he expressed disagreement with a number of LGBT-related proposals in his responses on the GLAA candidate questionnaire.
Mendelson has been credited with acting as the lead advocate for the same-sex marriage law during his tenure in 2009 as chair of the Council’s Judiciary Committee, which had jurisdiction over the measure.
At-Large Council Seat
Incumbent Council member Anita Bonds (D-At-Large), another longtime supporter of the LGBT community, is being challenged by three opponents who have also expressed strong support for LGBT equality.
The challengers are attorney and adjunct law professor Nate Bennett-Fleming, who currently serves as one of two shadow U.S. Representatives; businessman and civic activist John Settles; and federal government contract specialist and Latino community activist Pedro Rubio.
Bennett-Fleming, who won the Stein Club endorsement in the past when running for his shadow House seat, received the highest vote count in the club’s Council endorsement meeting last month but fell short of obtaining the 60 percent threshold needed for the endorsement. He received a +7 GLAA rating compared to a +6 rating GLAA gave to Bonds.
Rubio received a +3 GLAA rating and Settles received a +2.5.
Each of the candidates, including Rubio and Settles, has expressed strong support for LGBT-related issues.
Gay civic activist and Ward 1 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Marc Morgan is running unopposed for the at-large seat in the Republican primary also scheduled for April 1.
Ward 1 Council Seat
Sixteen-year incumbent Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who is one of two openly gay members of the Council, is being opposed by public relations executive Brianne Nadeau.
GLAA gave Graham a rating of +7.5 compared to the +5 rating it gave to Nadeau. The Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the city’s largest LGBT partisan political group, didn’t make an endorsement in the Ward 1 race because neither candidate obtained a required 60 percent of the vote from club members needed to endorse.
However, Nadeau beat Graham by a vote of 70 to 64 in the endorsement race, a development that Nadeau’s LGBT supporters said was a sign that she has widespread support in the LGBT community. Graham is being backed by many of the city’s prominent LGBT activists and received endorsements from most of the city’s labor unions.
Ward 3 Council Seat
Incumbent Council member Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), a longtime supporter of LGBT rights, is running unopposed in the primary. She won the endorsement of the Stein Club and received a rating of 8.5 from GLAA.
She’s considered the strong favorite to win the general election in November against Libertarian Party candidate Ryan Sabot, who’s running unopposed in the Libertarian primary on April 1.
Ward 5 Council Seat
Incumbent Council member Kenyan McDuffie, who has expressed strong support for LGBT rights, is being challenged by Ward 5 civic activists Kathy Henderson, an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner; and Carolyn Steptoe. McDuffie, who was endorsed by the Stein Club, is considered the strong favorite to win re-election.
McDuffie received a +4.5 rating from GLAA. Henderson received a “0” GLAA rating and Steptoe received a -2, the lowest rating GLAA has issued for any of the candidates running in the April 1 primary.
Henderson has told the Blade she considers herself a strong supporter of LGBT equality. GLAA said it gave her a 0 rating because she expressed opposition to a number of issues on the questionnaire deemed important by the group.
Ward 6 Council Seat
The Ward 6 seat is being vacated by incumbent Tommy Wells, who’s running for mayor. Wells’ former chief of staff, Charles Allen, is running for the seat in the Democratic primary against Darrel Thompson, a former deputy chief of staff for U.S. Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
Both have expressed strong support for LGBT rights and say they addressed LGBT issues as part of the duties of their previous jobs. GLAA gave Allen a +8.5 rating, the highest rating it awarded this year for a non-incumbent.
Thompson received a +3 rating. GLAA said he submitted a “weak questionnaire” but was given credit for the LGBT-related issues he worked on when serving on the staff of Reid as well as on the staff of former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) and then U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).
The Stein Club didn’t endorse in the Ward 6 race because neither candidate received the 60 percent threshold needed for an endorsement.
Shadow Senate Seat
Incumbent Paul Strauss, an attorney, who has held the shadow seat for 17 years, is being challenged by retired Army Capt. Pete Ross in the Democratic primary. Neither one obtained sufficient votes to receive the Stein Club endorsement. GLAA does not rate candidates running for the shadow seats.
The seats were created as positions of advocacy for D.C. statehood and voting representation in Congress. They are unpaid positions without any powers or duties from the Congress.
Strauss and Ross have been longtime supporters of the LGBT community.
Shadow House Seat
Latino community activist Franklin Garcia is running unopposed for the seat.
Maryland
Montgomery County police chief discusses arrest of trans student charged with planned school shooting
County executive tells news conference student’s trans identity is irrelevant to criminal charge
Montgomery County, Md., Police Chief Marcus Jones joined other county and law enforcement officials at a news conference on Friday, April 19, to provide details of the police investigation and arrest of an 18-year-old high school student charged two days earlier with threats of mass violence based on information that he allegedly planed a mass shooting at the high school and elementary school he attended in Rockville, Md.
In charging documents and in a press released issued on April 18, Montgomery County Police identified the arrested student as “Andrea Ye, of Rockville, whose preferred name is Alex Ye.”
One of the charging documents states that a friend of Ye, who police say came forward as a witness who played a crucial role in alerting authorities to Ye’s threats of a school shooting, noted that Ye told the witness that Ye identified as the transgender student he wrote about as a character in a 129-page manifesto outlining plans for a school shooting. Police have said Ye told them the manifesto was a fictional story he planned to publish.
At the news conference on Friday, Police Chief Jones and other law enforcement officials, including an FBI official and Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, referred to the student as Alex Ye and Mr. Ye. None of the officials raised the issue of whether Ye identified as a transgender man, seven though one of the police documents identifies Ye as a “biological female.”
County Executive Elrich appeared to express the views of the public officials at the news conference when one of the media reporters, during a question-and-answer period, asked Elrich why he and the others who spoke at the news conferment failed to “admit that this individual was transgender.”
“Because it’s not a lead,” Elrich replied, asking if the press and law enforcement authorities should disclose that someone arrested for murder is “a white Christian male who’s heterosexual.” Elrich stated, “No, you don’t – You never publish somebody’s sexual orientation when we talk about this. Why you are focusing on this being a transgender is beyond me. It’s not a news story. It is not a crime to be transgender.”
The reporter attempted to respond but was cut off by the press conference moderator, who called on someone else to ask the next question.
In his remarks at the press conference Chief Jones praised the so far unidentified witness who was the first to alert authorities about Ye’s manifesto appearing to make threats of a mass school shooting.
“Now, this is a situation that highlights the critical importance of vigilance and community involvement in preventing potential tragedies,” Jones said. “I commend the collaborative efforts of the Montgomery County Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Rockville City Police Department, and the Montgomery County Public Schools, as well as Montgomery County Health and Human Services,” he told the gathering.
“Thanks to their swift action and cooperation a potentially catastrophic event was prevented,” Jones said.
Jones pointed out that during the current school year, police have received reports of 140 threats to the public schools in Montgomery County. He said after a thorough investigation, none of them rose to the level where an arrest was made. Instead, police and school officials took steps to arrange for the student making the threats and their parents to take remedial action, including providing mental health services.
“But this case is different,” Jones said. “This case is entirely different that takes it to a different level. It was a concerned witness who brought this matter to light by rereporting the suspect’s manifesto to the authorities. This underscores the value of community engagement and the ‘see something say something’ approach,” he said.
Jones mentioned at the press conference that Ye was being held without bond since the time of his arrest but was scheduled to appear in court for a bond hearing on Friday shortly after the press conference took place to determine whether he should be released while awaiting trial or continue to be held.
In his manifesto obtained by police, Ye writes about committing a school shooting, and strategizes how to carry out the act. Ye also contemplates targeting an elementary school and says that he wants to be famous.
In charging documents reported on by WJLA 7 and WBAL 11, the 129-page document, which Ye has referred to as a book of fiction, included writings that said, in part:
“I want to shoot up a school. I’ve been preparing for months. The gun is an AR-15. This gun is going to change lives tomorrow … As I walk through the hallways, I cherry pick the classrooms that are the easiest targets. I need to figure out how to sneak the gun in. I have contemplated making bombs. The instructions to make them are surprisingly available online. I have also considered shooting up my former elementary school because little kids make easier targets. High school’s the best target; I’m the most familiar with the layout. I pace around my room like an evil mastermind. I’ve put so much effort into this. My ultimate goal would be to set the world record for the most amount of kills in a shooting. If I have time, I’ll try to decapitate my victims with a knife to turn the injuries into deaths.”
Maryland
Rockville teen charged with plotting school shooting after FBI finds ‘manifesto’
Alex Ye charged with threats of mass violence
BY BRETT BARROUQUERE | A Montgomery County high school student is charged with what police describe as plans to commit a school shooting.
Andrea Ye, 18, of Rockville, whose preferred name is Alex Ye, is charged with threats of mass violence. Montgomery County Police and the FBI arrested Ye Wednesday.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
New D.C. LGBTQ+ bar Crush set to open April 19
An ‘all-inclusive entertainment haven,’ with dance floor, roof deck
D.C.’s newest LGBTQ+ bar called Crush is scheduled to open for business at 4 p.m. on Friday, April 19, in a spacious, two-story building with a dance floor and roof deck at 2007 14th St., N.W. in one of the city’s bustling nightlife areas.
A statement released by co-owners Stephen Rutgers and Mark Rutstein earlier this year says the new bar will provide an atmosphere that blends “nostalgia with contemporary nightlife” in a building that was home to a popular music store and radio supply shop.
Rutgers said the opening comes one day after Crush received final approval of its liquor license that was transferred from the Owl Room, a bar that operated in the same building before closing Dec. 31 of last year. The official opening also comes three days after Crush hosted a pre-opening reception for family, friends, and community members on Tuesday, April 16.
Among those attending, Rutgers said, were officials with several prominent local LGBTQ organizations, including officials with the DC Center for the LGBTQ Community, which is located across the street from Crush in the city’s Reeves Center municipal building. Also attending were Japer Bowles, director of the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, and Salah Czapary, director of the Mayor’s Office of Nightlife and Culture.
Rutgers said Crush plans to hold a grand opening event in a few weeks after he, Rutstein and the bar’s employees become settled into their newly opened operations.
“Step into a venue where inclusivity isn’t just a promise but a vibrant reality,” a statement posted on the Crush website says. “Imagine an all-inclusive entertainment haven where diversity isn’t just celebrated, it’s embraced as the very heartbeat of our venue,” the statement says. “Welcome to a place where love knows no bounds, and the only color or preference that matters is the vibrant tapestry of humanity itself. Welcome to Crush.”
The website says Crush will be open Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m., Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., Fridays from 4 p.m. to 3 a.m., Saturdays from 2 p.m. to 3 a.m., and Sundays from 2 p.m. to 12 a.m. It will be closed on Mondays.
Crush is located less than two blocks from the U Street Metro station.
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