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Gray nominates two transgender women to Human Rights Commission

Lou Chibbaro Jr. — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:33:42 +0000

Earline Budd (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Mayor Vincent Gray has nominated transgender activists Earline Budd and Alexandra Beninda for seats on the D.C. Commission on Human Rights.

If the two are confirmed by the City Council, as expected, they would become the first transgender persons to serve on the 15-member commission, which rules on discrimination complaints brought under the comprehensive D.C. Human Rights Act.

The act bans discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations and other areas based on an individual’s sexual orientation and gender identity and expression as well as other categories such as race, religion, national origin, and ethnicity.

“To be getting one transgender person on the commission would be great, but to be getting two is fantastic,” said Beninda, a systems analyst for a software company and member and former treasurer of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the city’s largest LGBT political group.

“I’m really excited and looking forward to serving,” said Budd while attending Saturday’s LGBT Youth Pride festival in Dupont Circle. “This is important for the entire community.”

Budd released to the Blade an email she received last week informing her of the appointment.

“I am pleased to inform you that Mayor Vincent C. Gray has transmitted your nomination to the Council of the District of Columbia, where it is pending Council consideration,” said Davida L. Crockett, an official with the city’s Office of Boards and Commissions, in the April 26 email to Budd.

“The Office of Boards and Commissions appreciated your willingness to serve the District, and is confident that you will bring a strong and dedicated commitment and leadership to this public service,” Crockett told Budd in the email.

Alexandra Beninda (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Beninda said she received a similar email informing her of her nomination to serve on the commission.

Pedro Ribeiro, director of the Mayor’ Office of Communications, released to the Blade on Monday a letter from Gray to City Council Chair Kwame Brown (D-At-Large) dated April 26 that places Budd’s and Beninda’s names in nomination for the Human Rights Commission appointments. Gray’s letter also places in nomination eleven other people he has designated as appointees to the commission.

Budd currently serves as a treatment and healing specialist for Transgender Health Empowerment (THE), a D.C. based transgender advocacy and services organization that she helped found in 1996.

Budd has been credited with playing a key role in transgender advocacy efforts and HIV prevention efforts targeting the transgender and LGBT youth communities in D.C. for over 20 years. Among her duties at THE is to provide training for D.C. government and private sector employees, including employees at the city’s Department of Corrections, on transgender related issues.

In addition to her association with the Stein Club, Beninda is a member of the board of the D.C. LGBT Community Center and serves as treasurer of the D.C. based All Souls Unitarian Church. She says she’s also an active volunteer with D.C. Democracy, a group that advocates for D.C. voting representation in Congress and greater home rule autonomy for the city.

The Commission on Human Rights is an independent agency within the D.C. Office of Human Rights. The OHR investigates discrimination complaints and sends them to the commission for a ruling if the office finds probable cause that discrimination might have taken place. Commissioners are appointed to three-year terms and don’t receive compensation.

Budd’s and Beninda’s appointments come at a time when the Commission on Human Rights has been operating with just three members, with 12 of its 15 seats vacant since January, according to Garrett King, director of the City Council’s Committee on Aging and Community Affairs, which has jurisdiction over the commission.

King said Councilmember Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), who chairs the committee, was looking forward to receiving the names of nominees to fill the vacant positions and

plans to take steps to move the approval process forward as soon as Council Chair Brown forwards the list of nominees to the committee.

Ribeiro said the list of nominees that Gray just sent to the Council, including nominees of Budd and Beninda, would fill all of the vacant positions on the commission.

Among the three remaining members of the commission pending the new appointments are openly gay appointees Christopher Dyer, who served as director of the city’s Office of GLBT Affairs under former Mayor Adrian Fenty; and Michael Ward, an attorney in private practice.

Dyer has completed two terms and isn’t eligible for re-appointment. A request for Ward’s appointment to a second term is included in the list of nominees that Gray sent to the Council on April 26.

In addition to Barry, the other Council members serving on the committee that will oversee the new commission nominees are Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7), and Vincent Orange (D-At-Large).

King said Barry plans to take steps to move the approval process forward as soon as Council Chair Brown forwards the list of nominees to the committee.

“I congratulate the mayor for his choices,” Graham said in referring to Gray’s nomination of Budd and Beninda.

“Miss Budd is a true pioneer on these issues and having her on the commission makes splendid sense,” Graham said.

The late D.C. gay rights leader Frank Kameny was appointed to the Human Rights Commission in 1975 by former Mayor Walter Washington, becoming the first known openly gay appointee to a D.C. government position. Several gay men and lesbians, in addition to Dyer and Ward, have served on the commission in the ensuing years.

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Corrections officer accused of death threat against trans woman

Lou Chibbaro Jr. — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 22:05:09 +0000

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District police are investigating allegations by a transgender inmate at the D.C. Jail that a correctional officer made death threats against the woman and transgender activist Earline Budd, who conducts sensitivity training for jail personnel.

Silvia Lane, a spokesperson for the D.C. Department of Corrections, which has jurisdiction over the jail, said DOC officials are cooperating with the police investigation and have transferred the officer to another assignment pending completion of the investigation.

“We take this matter very seriously,” Lane told the Blade.

The inmate, Roberta Miller, wrote the complaint by hand on a Department of Corrections complaint form provided to the Blade by transgender activist Jeri Hughes, who has spoken with Miller.

Miller alleges that the corrections officer made death threats against her and Earline Budd, who was not present when the officer made the threats. Budd is known to corrections officers for her work in speaking to the officers and other jail personnel about transgender related issues as part of an official program operated by the DOC.

Miller alleges that the officer has treated her and other transgender inmates in an abusive manner. She states in the complaint that the male officer made the death threats after learning that she had filed an earlier complaint against him for alleged discriminatory treatment against her at the jail and sent a copy of the complaint to Budd.

Hughes said she contacted D.C. police Assistant Chief Peter Newsham about the case after Miller told her about the death threats and asked her for help.

“He took it seriously,” Hughes said.

“We went over to the jail and interviewed a number of people and I think we’re gathering information at this point,” Newsham told WAMU-Radio on Tuesday. “I can’t tell you what the final outcome will be.”

Hughes said police officials told her they believe they have a “solid” case against the officer and were waiting for the United States Attorney’s office to determine whether to move forward with the case.

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Gay man alleging jail beating sentenced to 6 months

Lou Chibbaro Jr. — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:42:47 +0000

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A gay man who has accused guards at the D.C. Jail of handcuffing and beating him was sentenced Jan. 21 to six months in prison after pleading guilty to misdemeanor sexual abuse.

John Burrows, 39, was credited in Superior Court with the time he’s served while awaiting trial and sentencing, allowing him to be released March 16.

A spokesperson for the city’s Department of Corrections, which oversees the jail, has said the department was conducting an internal investigation into Burrow’s report of the jail beating. The spokesperson, Sylvia Lane, said no further information could be released.

Margaret Groat, Burrows’ sister, told DC Agenda that Burrows was treated for a concussion and severe bruises and was experiencing dizzy spells in connection with the reported jail beating. She said Burrows has retained an attorney and is considering filing a lawsuit against the city for damages associated with the reported beating.

Burrows pleaded guilty last month to the misdemeanor sexual abuse charge as part of a plea bargain offered by the U.S. Attorney’s office. Police had charged him with robbing a man and forcing the man to engage in sex at the man’s D.C. apartment in October 2008.

Groat said Burrows told her the sex was consensual and that her brother acknowledged taking money from the man after he refused to fulfill his agreement to pay Burrows for a sexual encounter.

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Man who reported jail beating pleads guilty to reduced charge

Lou Chibbaro Jr. — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 21:14:36 +0000

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A gay man who says guards at the D.C. Jail beat him in a staircase last month pleaded guilty Thursday to a charge of misdemeanor sexual abuse as part of a plea bargain offered by the U.S. Attorney’s office.

John Burrows, a 38-year-old District resident, had been held in the D.C. Jail since September while awaiting trial on charges that he allegedly stole money and sexually abused a 79-year-old man.

His sister, Margaret Groat, said Burrows has denied sexually abusing the man, noting that her brother claims the sex was consensual and a dispute arose when the man refused to comply with a prior agreement to pay for the sex.

Burrows’ jail beating allegation has prompted LGBT activists and D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) to call on the city’s Department of Corrections to give a full account of the incident. Mendelson chairs a Council committee with jurisdiction over the jail.

In letters sent to his mother during the past two weeks, Burrows said jail guards on Dec. 27 handcuffed him and bound his legs, then carried him down three flights of stairs while deliberately knocking his head against the walls and handrails. He told his mother he believed the guards targeted him because he’s gay.

Margaret Groat told DC Agenda that Burrows suffered a concussion, two black eyes and numbness in three fingers as a result of the handcuffs being tightened around his wrists. She said he was awaiting an MRI test to determine the extent of his head injuries after experiencing severe headaches two weeks following the incident.

Sylvia Lane, a Department of Corrections spokesperson, said the department was investigating the incident and had no immediate comment on the matter.

“There is no further information available at this time,” she said.

Groat said she and Burrows’ mother, Judy Burrows, are suspicious that the guards chose to take Burrows into a stairwell to beat him because the location was likely out of the range of the jail’s video cameras.

Devon Brown, director of the Department of Corrections, told a City Council hearing last March that officials had installed more than 600 video surveillance cameras throughout the jail to help ensure “order, safety and security” in the facility.

Mendelson expressed concern that jail and corrections department officials often don’t release information about reports of violence in the jail, including reports of a recent riot by inmates in the jail.

“This is pretty typical of how the Department of Corrections is not responsive,” he said. “We will try to get more information.”

In exchange for pleading guilty, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s office dropped a robbery charge against Burrows and lowered a second charge from felony sexual abuse to misdemeanor sexual abuse. The reduced charge carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail.

Burrow’s mother, who attended a court hearing Thursday when the plea agreement was announced, said her son’s lawyer was hopeful that Judge Michael Rankin would sentence him to the four months jail time he has already served in connection with the case.

Rankin scheduled a sentencing hearing for Jan. 21.

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D.C. Jail guards accused of beating gay inmate

Lou Chibbaro Jr. — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:50:13 +0000

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A 39-year-old gay man being held in the D.C. Jail has accused jail guards of severely beating him last month, saying they carried him, handcuffed, down three flights of stairs while deliberately knocking his head against the walls and handrails.

The gay inmate, John Burrows, a D.C. resident, gave a detailed account of the incident to his mother and sister, who released the information this week to the DC Agenda.

“They handcuffed his hands behind his back and handcuffed his feet, picked him up and carried him down three flights of steps and in the process they were banging his head against the railings and into the wall,” said Margaret Groat, Burrows’ sister, in an e-mail.

“[T]hey beat him in the stairwell and choked him,” she said. “I think they were trying to kill him. He has two black eyes, a concussion; he still can’t feel three of his fingers from the handcuffs being so tight.”

A spokesperson for the D.C. Department of Corrections, which oversees the jail, said the Dec. 17 incident was under investigation and the department had no immediate comment.

“Please be advised that this matter is currently under investigation by the Department of Corrections,” said department spokesperson Sylvia Lane in an e-mail to the Agenda. “There is no further information available at this time.”

Groat said Burrows gave a detailed description of the incident in two letters he mailed to their mother, Judy Burrows. She said her brother noted in one of his letters that the beating may have been triggered when he threw a bar of soap at one of the guards after the guard “harassed” him.

According to Groat, jail officials have refused to allow her and her mother to contact John Burrows by phone and informed them that they could not visit him at the jail.

“They said they put him in protective custody and that he can’t have any visitors until Jan. 27 at the earliest,” Groat said.

Lane did not respond by press time to questions by the Agenda about why D.C. Jail officials placed Burrows in protective custody and have refused to allow his sister and mother to visit him.

Mafara Hobson, a spokesperson for Mayor Adrian Fenty, said she would look into the matter. But she added, “Ms. Lane is correct in that the matter is under investigation, so we can’t comment further on the incident.”

When informed about Burrows’ alleged jail beating, D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), who chairs the Council committee that oversees the jail and Department of Corrections, said he, too, would make inquires to learn more about what happened.

Court records show that Burrows is being held in jail without bond on felony charges of first-degree sexual abuse and robbery of a senior citizen in connection with an October 2008 encounter with a D.C. man over age 60. The records show that Burrows was arrested for the two offenses in September while he was incarcerated in an out-of-state prison for an unrelated theft charge, to which he pleaded guilty.

A D.C. Superior Court charging document says the two charges for which Burrows is currently being held were filed against him by a man who told police he engaged in consensual oral sex acts with Burrows on Oct. 5, 2008, in the man’s Northwest Washington apartment. The man, who is listed as the complainant in the case, told police he paid Burrows $100 in cash after the sexual encounter for the purpose of having Burrows use the money to purchase marijuana for the man, according to the charging document.

The next day Burrows returned. But the man said that instead of handing over the marijuana, Burrows grabbed him in a “choke hold,” bound him “by ligatures,” and forced him into his bedroom, according to the charging document. It says the man told police that Burrows then sexually abused the man before stealing $100 in cash and his ATM card. The man told police that Burrows pressured him into revealing the PIN number for the card.

The charging document says police obtained surveillance video from the complainant’s bank showing Burrows making an illegal withdrawal of $500 with the use of the complainant’s ATM card.

Margaret Groat, Burrows’ sister, acknowledged that her brother has a substance abuse problem and a record of arrests on drug and theft-related charges, all of which, she said, were non-violent offenses. Groat said her brother denies assaulting or sexually abusing the complainant in the case pending against him.

Premal Dharia, an attorney with the D.C. Public Defender Service who is representing Burrows, did not return calls seeking comment on the alleged jail beating or the criminal charges pending against her client.

According to Groat, her brother said the sexual encounters between Burrows and the complainant were entirely consensual. She said her brother told her a dispute arose over a prior agreement that the complainant would pay Burrows for the sex and that Burrows may have taken some money for the payment he believed he was owed. She said the complainant had requested to be bound as part of a pre-arranged “bondage” encounter, according to her brother’s account of what happened.

“Whatever he did or didn’t do in terms of his arrest, he didn’t deserve to be beaten in jail,” Groat told the Agenda in a telephone interview. “He’s had problems and issues with the law, but I can tell you that he’s not a violent person.”

Groat said she contacted the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance and the D.C. LGBT community center about her brother’s allegation that he was the victim of a prison beating by guards.

“We have been in touch with the family and we’re following this closely,” said David Mariner, executive director of the LGBT Center. “This raises concerns.”

Court records show that Burrows was scheduled to appear in D.C. Superior Court on Thursday, after the Agenda press deadine, for a status hearing and possible discussion of a plea bargain offer by the government.

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