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Marine Barracks on Capitol Hill (Blade photo by Michael Key)

A Marine charged with fatally stabbing another Marine on a D.C. sidewalk after allegedly calling the victim an anti-gay name told police he acted in self-defense.

A police affidavit released Monday during a court hearing says Michael Joseph Poth, 20, told police he stabbed Marine Lance Cpl. Philip Bushong, 23, on April 21 after Bushong followed him on the sidewalk across the street from the Marine Barracks on Capitol Hill and after Bushong allegedly punched him in the face.

A police homicide detective who prepared the affidavit says in the document that there were no signs of an injury or bruise on Poth’s face or head when police questioned him at the Homicide Branch office a short time after the incident occurred.

Police charged Poth with second-degree murder while armed after Marine guards who witnessed the stabbing apprehended Poth. A police statement says the incident took place about 2:30 a.m. Saturday, April 21, on the sidewalk in front of 727 8th Street, S.E.

The affidavit says police found a blood-stained pocket knife attached to Poth’s pants pocket at the time they took him into custody. The D.C. Medical Examiner’s office says an autopsy found that Bushong died from a puncture wound to the heart caused by a knife penetrating his upper chest.

“Information uncovered during the course of the preliminary investigation indicates that there was a verbal exchange, and during the exchange a homophobic slur was heard from the suspect prior to the stabbing,” a police statement says.

D.C. Superior Court Magistrate Judge Karen Howze ruled at Monday’s presentment hearing that prosecutors provided sufficient evidence to establish probable cause that Poth committed second-degree murder in connection with the case. She ordered him held without bond and scheduled a preliminary hearing for the case on May 15.

No mention was made during the hearing about the police statement that a witness heard Poth make an anti-gay slur at the time Poth and Bushong got into a verbal altercation on the street that turned violent.

A police incident report doesn’t list the murder as a hate crime. Lt. Robert Alder, commander of the Homicide Branch, said a hate crime designation could be added to the report depending upon the findings of an ongoing police investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Liebman, the prosecutor in the case, said during Monday’s hearing that a witness observed someone believed to be Poth walking along 8th Street near where the stabbing took place but between 30 and 60 minutes earlier. He said the witness reported that the person, who fits the description of Poth, stated in an agitated way, “I’m going to stab somebody, or cut their lungs out. They are fucking with the wrong person.”

Liebman also said at the hearing that prior to the incident Marine officials were in the process of discharging Poth under less than honorable circumstances as a result of drug related offenses and “belligerent” behavior toward other Marines.

727 8th Street, S.E. (Blade photo by Michael Key)

David Benowitz, Poth’s attorney, disputed the significance of Poth’s pending discharge to the case at hand. He pointed to the police arrest affidavit’s account by another Marine guard witness who said he saw Bushong retract his arm as if he was about to punch Poth just prior to the stabbing.

Benowitz said the account by the Marine witness supports his contention that Poth acted in self-defense. He told the court that a second-degree murder charge isn’t supported by the facts of the case.

In responding to questions by reporters after the hearing, Benowitz declined to discuss the allegation by one of the Marine witnesses that Poth hurled an anti-gay slur at Bushong shortly before the stabbing.

Gay activists, including officials of the local group Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence (GLOV), had not weighed in as of Monday on whether they agreed with the initial police decision not to list the murder as an anti-gay hate crime.

Friends of Bushong said he was neither gay nor homophobic, according to the Washington Post, which interviewed some of his friends. The Post reported that friends described Bushing as a “warm and sincere young man who loved to read” and “shattered the stereotype” of a Marine rifleman.

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By RICHARD GRENELL

Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart is so easy. If only President Obama had known sooner that a simple dinner invitation for Jonathan meant that he wouldn’t have to deliver changes for gays and lesbians throughout the country. We’re all good now that the president invited Jonathan and his friends over for dinner. After all, the sins of bad public positions can be erased with private niceties, right? If you’re a Democrat they can.

Republicans don’t get that pass. Remember when Jonathan and the other self-appointed gay leaders complimented President Bush for inviting his private gays to his State Dinner? Or remember when Washington’s professional gay leadership celebrated Vice President Dick Cheney for being the first nationally elected sitting leader to support gay marriage? You don’t because Capehart and company only squeal with excitement when Democrats have private pronouncements. Within hours of leaving the White House, Capehart announced in a column, “President Obama is pretty evolved already.”

But has he? Last summer, President Obama reiterated his opposition to gay marriage in New York City one day before New York politicians passed marriage equality for their state. He did it again a few days later at the White House. The president and his political advisers surely must have calculated the con$equences for taking such a timely stand. And they must have decided there was more benefit to opposing gay marriage than supporting it. The president’s calculus isn’t new and shouldn’t be surprising. After all, he was only following Nancy Pelosi’s lead of the last several years by playing politics with gay issues and gay Americans. Obama, Pelosi and Harry Reid had two years of total control in Washington, D.C., and decided they didn’t need to deliver. They’d rather play politics.

There are Republicans and other Democrats more supportive of gay equality issues than Obama – and some just as tepid – so why are gay leaders putting all their trust into a man that isn’t performing?  The answer is, of course, more politics.

The overwhelming majority of people running gay organizations are Democratic activists that don’t want or believe in bipartisan politics. They just want Democrats to win elections. Capehart and the folks at HRC know that if they can’t deliver the gay votes and money for their Democratic Party candidates then they won’t get bigger jobs, consulting gigs or dinner invites.  They are loyal to their party at the expense of the movement.  It’s politically smart – if you want to further your career within the Democratic Party, that is.

Gay leaders in Washington deserve this duplicitous president. After all, they have protected Obama since 2008 when they ignored his public position against gay marriage but attacked John McCain for having the exact same stance. These and other hypocritical actions by gays and lesbians encouraged Obama to take them for granted. Why would Democratic politicians need to deliver on equal rights if there were no consequences for playing both sides of an issue? Gays were going to support Obama no matter what, so the president, like all politicians, pocketed their support and moved on. There was no threat of losing their support, so why pay attention to their issues?  Especially when there is a plethora of other needy constituencies clamoring for favors.

It’s actually been a smart political strategy to keep the leaders close and feeling important.  They must think they are political masters inside that White House. Not delivering on gay equality risks nothing – Obama can keep the gay base of money and support but reach out to moderate evangelicals and religious activists that still need to be wooed. And the gay liberal media are happy to help keep everyone hyped up and happy – as long as they get their invites.  I can hear Capehart now, “turn up the music and open the bar; they’ll be happy.”

White House reporter Julie Mason of Politico nailed Obama’s political calculation when she said, “[Obama] doesn’t want to alienate some moderates who are not really comfortable with the president taking that strong a stand on gay marriage. So it’s a bit of a political calculation. Also, I’m just not sure he personally believes it.” Maureen Dowd of the New York Times speculates, “Obama fears the disapproval of the homophobic elements within his own party.”

And Jacob Bernstein, from Newsweek admitted, “I mean, there is on one hand this argument, well, the gays have nowhere to go, and that’s probably true.”

If gays are going to win support for their political issues, they better start playing smarter politics. It would be news to most gays that John Bolton, Laura Bush, Cindy McCain and Dick Cheney all disagree with President Obama and support marriage equality. New York State passed gay marriage after Republicans and Democrats worked together to push an issue, not a candidate or a political party. Gay Democratic leaders like Andrew Tobias can argue for more and new taxes, more protections for big labor unions and universal healthcare but they shouldn’t be allowed to turn the gay movement into a wing of the Democratic Party.

However likely or unlikely you think it is for Obama to evolve, giving Obama unequivocal support so early is politically stupid. As my grandpa used to say, “Why buy the cow if you are getting the milk for free?” But a wavering Obama hasn’t stopped gay leaders, gay media and the mainstream media from protecting him and growing their careers. Could the first African-American president not be for total equality for everyone?  Shut up and RSVP, yes. I’m bringing my boyfriend to the White House.

(Richard Grenell served eight years as a political appointee of President George W. Bush. He and his partner were guests of the president and first lady at numerous White House events, including the September 2008 White House State Dinner for President John Kufour of the Republic of Ghana. Reach him via twitter.com/richardgrenell.)

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Chely Wright’s LIKEME foundation has opened a community center in the heart of the Midwest, miles from the Kansas town where Wright grew up. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Chely Wright opens Kansas City youth center

KANSAS CITY — Lesbian country music star Chely Wright has worked with her non-profit foundation to open the LIKEME Lighthouse LGBT community center in Missouri’s largest city.

“This just gives so much hope to these outlying areas, that your major metropolitan area has a gay and lesbian center,” Wright told the Washington Post. “That would have meant everything to me had I been a kid growing up in Wellsville, knowing that there is a beautiful facility in our major city, that that was OK.”

Wright married her long-time girlfriend, LGBT activist Lauren Blitzer, in 2011.

State Dept. condemns anti-gay violence in Iraq

WASHINGTON — On the heels of reports that police in Iraq have been turning their back on honor killings targeting gays and those perceived as gay, advocates are applauding the U.S. Embassy in Iraq and State Department for a rapid condemnation of the killings.

“When NGOs here in Iraq first brought this issue to our attention, we immediately expressed our concern to the Government of Iraq, urged immediate measures to combat this violence, and undertook to try to ascertain the details of these attacks,” a representative from the embassy wrote veteran gay blogger Michael Petrelis, after an inquiry. “Along with the Embassy, the U.S. Department of State strongly condemns the recent violence and killings in Iraq by groups who appear to be targeting individuals based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, or personal expression. These acts of intolerance should have no place in any society.”

The New York Times reported this week that death squads in Iraq were targeting not only gays but also those being described as “emos” and “goths.” Reuters confirmed with hospitals the deaths of 14 under such circumstances with rights groups putting the number closer to 40.

North Carolinians oppose anti-gay amendment

RALEIGH, N.C. — A new Elon University poll released this week shows that a 54.2 percent of respondents in North Carolina either oppose or strongly oppose the proposed constitutional amendment that would bar recognition of same-sex couples, LGBT website Pam’s House Blend reported.

On the question of specifically banning civil unions and domestic partnerships, which the amendment would compel the state to do, the number opposed rises to 56.9 percent. The poll found that only 37.8 percent of respondents supported the amendment, indicating support for the ballot measure is still tenuous.

Anti-gay groups behind ‘Kony 2012’ video

LOS ANGELES — Though the video racked up tens of millions of views, and become a subject of concern among socially conscious celebrities, Alternet has reveled that the foundation funding the ‘Kony 2012’ viral video campaign about Ugandan strongman Joseph Kony, is an anti-gay organization with ties to California’s anti-gay amendment, Proposition 8.

The group Invisible Children produced the sleek video about the leader of anti-government guerrilla group Lord’s Resistance Army and its use of rape, murder and forced enlistment of child soldiers in his rebellion against the government of Uganda.

Alternet reveals that the producers of the film are funded by a group called The Caster Family Foundation, one of the biggest financial backers of the efforts to pass Prop 8. Invisible Children is also connected to other anti-gay groups, such as Lou Engle’s ‘The Call,’ Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, and others, some specifically tied to what has become known as Uganda’s “kill the gays” bill.

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Washington Adventist Hospital (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The president of the Takoma Park, Md., based Washington Adventist Hospital has apologized for what she says was a “miscommunication” that led to a delay by the hospital in allowing a woman to visit her same-sex partner following the partner’s admission to the emergency room.

But hospital president Joyce Newmyer disputes claims by the two women and the Human Rights Campaign that an initial denial of a request to visit the partner was due to discrimination. Instead, she says it was based entirely on a policy of barring anyone from visiting emergency room patients undergoing initial treatment and evaluation.

Newmeyer’s assessment of the matter is at odds with an account by Takoma Park residents Kathryn Wilderotter and Linda Cole, who have been partners for eleven years and were legally married in Canada in 2004.

The Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBT advocacy group, released a statement saying a hospital staff member declined to allow Cole to visit Wilderotter shortly after Wilderotter was taken by ambulance on Nov.13, 2011 to the hospital’s emergency room because Cole “was reportedly not recognized as a family member.”

Wilderotter told the Blade she suffered a seizure while driving her car, resulting in a crash that led to an injury. She said a female staff member sitting at the front desk at the emergency room entrance declined to allow Cole to visit Wilderotter after Cole told the woman she was Wilderotter’s partner and spouse.

According to Wilderotter, Cole called Wilderotter’s sister, Kristin Biggs, who arrived at the hospital about 20 minutes later. When Biggs approached the same emergency room staff member she introduced herself as Wilderotter’s sister, Wilderotter told the Blade.

The female staff member then replied, “Oh, we have family here now. You can go in,” Wilderotter quoted her partner as informing her.

HRC announced in its Jan. 19 statement that Cole and Wilderotter have filed separate complaints of discrimination over the incident with a joint federal commission that regulates hospitals and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“Discrimination during a medical emergency may be one of the worst forms of discrimination LGBT people face,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Recognizing this problem, federal regulations were put in place to end discrimination in healthcare settings and allow all people to be with their loved ones during their most critical moments.”

Solmonese was referring to the implementation in January 2011 of new federal regulations initiated by the Obama administration that require all hospitals participating in Medicaid and Medicare programs to allow patients to designate the persons they wish to see as visitors. The regulations prohibit discrimination in hospital visitation based on sexual orientation and gender identity among other categories.

Since nearly every U.S. hospital participates in Medicaid or Medicare programs the new regulations are said to apply to nearly all hospitals in the country, including Washington Adventist Hospital.

Meanwhile, HRC said in its statement that Washington Adventist Hospital has not responded to its annual survey of healthcare providers, which it uses to publish the HRC Healthcare Equality Index. The index assesses and discloses the policies and practices of hospitals related to LGBT patients and their families.

Newmyer told the Blade on Monday that she didn’t know why the hospital hasn’t returned the HRC survey in past years but said hospital officials were currently working on it and would be sending it to HRC shortly.

In a phone interview with the Blade on Monday, Wilderotter said a hospital executive called the couple six weeks later to say the incident was caused by a new employee unfamiliar with hospital policies and that the hospital apologized for what happened.

Newmyer posted a statement on the hospital website on Jan. 20 saying she was troubled over news media stories reporting the initial denial of visitation was due to discrimination.

“First, I want to express my deepest apologies to Ms. Wilderotter and Ms. Cole for feeling anything less than valued at our hospital,” she said in the statement. “As a policy and a practice, our hospital does not discriminate against anyone regardless of their race, ethnicity, faith, sexual orientation or ability to pay,” she said.

Newmyer told the Blade on Monday that a hospital investigation into the incident shows that a “perfect storm” of miscommunication and coincidence may have led Cole and Wilderotter to believe they were singled out for discrimination.

According to Newmyer, when Cole arrived at the hospital doctors and emergency room attendants were treating Wilderotter and evaluating her condition. She said the hospital has a policy that prohibits anyone from visiting an emergency room patient at this “critical” stage of treatment.

She could not determine exactly what the hospital staff person told Cole at this time, Newmyer said, but she is certain that the denial of the visit would have been issued to anyone arriving at that time. In what she called an unfortunate coincidence, Newmyer said the attending doctors and staff completed their initial evaluation of Wilderotter and cleared her to receive visitors just as Wilderotter’s sister arrived.

When the sister was allowed to enter the emergency room treatment area, Cole understandably could have concluded that her initial denial was due to discrimination rather than the across-the-board policy of delaying visitation during the early stage of treatment, Newmyer said.

Wilderotter said the emergency room staff member’s comment referring to her sister as “family” and saying the sister could enter the area where she was being treated suggests that the staff member believed the sister rather than Cole should be allowed to enter the treatment area for a visit. Wilderotter said she has also heard from friends and others familiar with Washington Adventist Hospital that family members are sometime allowed in to visit a loved one in the emergency room even during the early stage of treatment by doctors and nurses.

“My sister took Linda by the hand and led her in,” said Wilderotter, who noted that she was comforted to see the two of them arrive at her side. Wilderotter said the staff member at the emergency room entrance didn’t attempt to stop Cole from entering the treatment area with her sister.

Catherine Holroyd, a Hyattsville, Md., resident contacted the Blade on Monday to report that she and her lesbian partner have been treated with respect and were fully recognized as a same-sex couple when the two have been admitted to Washington Adventist Hospital on separate occasions as patients.

“I’m a retired nurse,” Holroyd said. “I can tell you that we’ve been treated well at that hospital and so have other gay couples.”

HRC spokesperson Paul Gueguierre said Cole and Widerotter’s discrimination complaint has merit.

“Linda Cole was denied access to her partner during a time of great need,” he said. “Regardless of whether it was a simple communications problem, this was unfortunately a case of healthcare discrimination,” he said.

“We are encouraged by recent statements by hospital administrators that they do not discriminate and will take steps to prevent this from happening again in the future,” Guequierre said. ”We look forward to their participation in the Healthcare Equality Index. The HEI is designed to prevent cases like this one.”

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Gay activists in Ward 5 have expressed skepticism over a candidate for the ward’s Council seat who says he no longer opposes the city’s same-sex marriage law.

Council candidate Delano Hunter, a Democrat, told the Blade last week that he no longer believes the marriage equality law should be subjected to a voter referendum, reversing his position from 2010 when he unsuccessfully ran for the Ward 5 seat against incumbent Harry Thomas (D).

The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics officially declared the Ward 5 seat vacant on Tuesday, nearly two weeks after Thomas resigned shortly before pleading guilty to embezzling more than $300,000 in city funds. The board scheduled a special election on May 15 to fill the seat.

Meanwhile, since Hunter told the Blade he’s changed his position on the marriage bill, rival Ward 5 candidate Kenyan McDuffie, also a Democrat, joined gay activists in the ward to question Hunter’s sincerity, noting that Hunter stressed strong support for “traditional marriage” during his campaign for the Council seat in 2010.

McDuffie sent a statement to the Blade pointing out that he declared his full support for same-sex marriage when he, too, ran for the Ward 5 Council seat against Hunter and Thomas in the September 2010 Democratic primary.

“Undeniably, Mr. Hunter’s position on gay marriage today runs counter to the views he espoused on the campaign trail merely 15 months ago,” McDuffie said in his statement. “This is a classic case of a candidate analyzing voter returns and making a calculated decision to appeal to a constituency that he previously had written off.”

McDuffie added, “On the other hand, my record demonstrates my unwavering support for the LGBT community as well as my firm belief that tolerance and open-mindedness must pervade even where differing opinions collide.”

Political observers say both candidates have impressive credentials that could make them attractive to Ward 5 voters. Hunter, a native D.C. resident, worked as a company diversity specialist with the Nike Corporation in Oregon before returning to D.C. to become a Ward 5 community organizer. McDuffie, an attorney, worked in the Justice Department’s civil rights division as a trial lawyer.

In its candidate ratings for the 2010 Democratic primary, the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance gave Hunter a score of -2 on a scale of +10 to -10. GLAA gave McDuffie a score of “0.” The group said the two were given low ratings because neither of them returned a GLAA questionnaire that asks candidates about their positions on a wide range of LGBT-related issues.

Failure to return the questionnaire results in an automatic “0” rating unless the group has information about a candidate’s record on LGBT issues, GLAA officials have said. In this case, the group only knew of Hunter’s call for a referendum to overturn the marriage bill and of support he received from anti-gay groups, information considered hostile to LGBT rights.

Hunter told the Blade his campaign’s failure to return the GLAA questionnaire was an “oversight.” A McDuffie campaign spokesperson noted that McDuffie returned a questionnaire to the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the city’s largest LGBT political group, and expressed strong support for LGBT rights in his answers. He sent a copy of his answers to the Blade.

In an interview with the Blade last week, Hunter disputed claims by critics that his call for a referendum on the gay marriage bill was the focus of his 2010 campaign. He acknowledged that anti-gay groups opposed to the marriage equality bill endorsed him and spent large sums of money attacking incumbent Thomas, who voted for the same-sex marriage bill.

But Hunter noted that the anti-gay groups released ads attacking Thomas through an independent expenditure campaign over which he had no control.

He declined to say whether he would have voted for or against the marriage equality bill if he had been on the Council in 2009 when the Council approved the measure.

“I would like him to not only say he won’t overturn it but to say he supports it,” said gay Democratic activist Peter Rosenstein. “He should also state that he will not seek or take support from homophobic groups like the National Organization for Marriage if we are truly to believe this conversion in his beliefs.”

Ward 5 gay Democratic activist Barrie Daneker said Hunter would have to put forward specific proposals for supporting and advancing LGBT rights in the city before he can count on support from the LGBT community.

“Taking a new position at the 11th hour in order to appeal to a wider base of Ward 5 voters will do nothing for his campaign,” Daneker said. “We need concrete accomplishments and plans prior to giving support to a so-called ‘reformed anti-gay’ candidate,” he said.

Ward 5 political observers have said as many as seven or eight other candidates were considering entering the Ward 5 special election contest. Among them are Anita Bonds, the LGBT supportive chair of the D.C. Democratic State Committee, and Tim Day, the gay Republican who ran and lost against Thomas in the November 2010 general election.

According to Washington Post political analyst Mike DeBonis, Day made a comment likely to startle the city’s gay Republican leaders when responding to DeBonis’s question of whether he planned to run for the Ward 5 seat as a Republican in the May special election. “That’s an interesting question,” DeBonis quoted him as saying.

Many political observers have praised Day, an accountant, as a highly qualified candidate who would have little or no chance of winning election as a Republican in a Ward with an overwhelming majority of Democratic voters. Day lost to Thomas by a lopsided margin in 2010. But should Day change party affiliation to become a Democrat or an independent, his chances of becoming the Council’s third out gay member would increase in the eyes of some political observers.

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Washington Post ombudsman Patrick Pexton penned a column earlier this month in the newspaper’s Sunday Outlook section titled “D.C. Activists: Help Us, Post” in which he detailed complaints by the Federation of Citizens Associations of the District of Columbia regarding coverage of local neighborhood and citywide issues.

The criticism by member groups centered on a self-perceived inability to “hold their city government accountable without The Post behind them.” These controversial and increasingly insular groups now appear to come hat-in-hand seeking assistance in advancing the objectives they are unable to achieve as a result of developing popular support among residents.

Missing from Pexton’s review of a meeting with the group of self-proclaimed “citizen representatives” was any reflection on the standing such groups actually command in their so-called “jurisdictions” on issues of importance to local residents. The legitimacy of their public positions is highly questionable when viewed a little closer to the ground than the altitude of a respected national newspaper with a long history of being criticized for a dearth of in-depth or robust reporting on local issues.

The Post’s ombudsman illustrated only how seemingly distant the publication is from understanding the growing irrelevance of these groups in their respective communities – especially in the context of neighborhood economic development and the availability of local commercial community amenities.

The resulting one-sided and dismaying portrayal of the representative authenticity of these small groups harkens back to a former Washington Post subscription sales advertising tag line: “If you don’t get it, you don’t get it.” The same, of course, could be said of the groups clamoring for help in promoting their signature anti-business and anti-development agendas.

Local community blogs and news publications examining community issues in greater detail and enjoying robust reader dialogue on such matters often demonstrate that these groups do not represent much more than the opinions of a tiny participating membership.

These organized antagonists are well known to readers of the Washington Blade due to extensive coverage of their mischief-making over the years battling local community businesses, including gay-owned and gay-patronized enterprises. In neighborhoods throughout the city, tumultuous and lengthy fights engendered by these groups over licensing, zoning and operational issues have become a part of common lore.

Notorious neighborhood obstructionists such as the Kalorama Citizens Association (KCA), Citizens Association of Georgetown (CAG), Cleveland Park Citizens Association (CPCA), Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Alliance (MPNA) and the Dupont Circle Citizens Association (DCCA) have interjected themselves into nearly every conceivable business regulatory application and economic development proposal in their respective high-profile commercial and residential areas.

While acknowledging that The Post can’t cover every neighborhood dispute as extensively as hyper-local sources, enhancing coverage of community issues is a laudable goal. However, failing to recognize that self-anointed guardians of fiefdoms mostly produce a deluge of spit-sputtering amazement and anger from the vast majority of local residents is to miss the real story.

Zipcar banner generates complaint

Washington Post reporter Mike Debonis highlighted a link to a WUSA-TV video report last Friday on his widely read and well-regarded local news blog. The Channel 9 News report was reportedly prompted by a neighborhood resident complaining about a Zipcar banner displayed at one of the company’s car retrieval and return parking lots at 14th and Corcoran streets, serving the Logan Circle area.

The signage, prominently hung at the center of the lot and facing heavily trafficked 14th Street, features a yellow MINI Cooper with a rainbow license plate and is emblazoned with the slogan “Some of our best cars are gay.”

The reporter filmed reactions to the banner from several passersby. Although no one identified their sexual orientation on-camera, most considered it a benign commercial pitch. There was, however, a notable generational divide, with an older resident finding the message “very offensive” and predicting it would prove counterproductive within the LGBT community.

Although unreported by WUSA-TV News, the banner was a Zipcar affinity marketing effort in support of the first annual 14th Street “Homo Holiday Shop Hop” held the previous weekend on Dec. 3, sponsored by the Capital Area Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (CAGLCC) and involving numerous participating retailers on the commercial corridor.

Zipcar’s specialized slogan is apparently not one that everyone “gets” – although it remains proudly on display.

Mark Lee is a local small business manager and long-time community business advocate. Reach him at OurBusinessMatters@gmail.com.

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Since Dan Savage started his “It Gets Better” campaign, it has seen a surprising amount of support in the media and from unexpected sources. It seems nearly each day, a new video makes headlines because of the high-profile person who appears in it — athletes, celebrities, politicians. The vast majority of these news-making videos come from straight people, many of whom might not have been expected to come out in support of gay youth in the past.

But for some time now, it has seemed that these videos have failed to live up to everything that made the “It Gets Better” campaign so powerful when it began, and have instead become a publicity tool for making straight public figures look good.

Why did “It Gets Better” seem like such a noble cause in the beginning? Because it achieved a very specific goal: It gave LGBT youth who are feeling scared, confused, uncomfortable about their feelings and their futures a hopeful voice to listen to. As difficult as it is for LGBT kids to find peers who understand them and are going through the same thing, it can be nearly impossible for them to have a direct talk with someone who has already been through it, who has grown up, understands what they’re going through from personal experience, and can say that it really does get better.

As a kid, it can be difficult to see beyond your current situation, and this is amplified for LGBT youth who often have no one they can talk to about what they are going through. What these kids need more than anything else is to be told that they have a future. The first “It Gets Better” videos seemed to be about just that.

Then straight people made videos. They couldn’t say they’d been in the intended audience’s shoes, but they had good intentions and wanted to provide moral support. The president of the United States made one, and that was historic so it made headlines. It was a nice gesture, but also vague and less personal because President Obama couldn’t really say he knew what it was like to grow up gay. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a video, which was historic as well, given the State Department’s own “bullying” of its gay employees during the Cold War. It was important, notable, newsworthy, but again didn’t do any of the things a heart-to-heart conversation between an out gay adult and a confused, scared, closeted teen was supposed to do.

Bullying and gay teen suicide became mainstream news stories in 2011, and they were generally the focus of the “It Gets Better” videos, despite the fact that direct bullying is just one of the factors that can make life miserable for gay teens (loneliness, pressure for most to stay closeted, fear that they’ll never find people who are like them are other factors). As more straight celebrities, politicians and athletes made videos, they began to focus primarily on the general idea of “being picked on.” Congressman Jim Moran’s video is uncomfortable to watch because, having no experience to relate to troubled gay teens with, he resorts to talking about how he was a “shy kid” growing up. He looks like he doesn’t know what else to say, and how could he? He never grew up with the broad, institutional persecution that LGBT youth face. But with so many other politicians making similar videos, his office must have felt that it needed to make its own.

Perhaps the new “It Gets Better” video from the United States congressional delegation from New Jersey, which features several politicians who have voted against pro-gay legislation in Congress, marks the point when this campaign has truly jumped the shark. As reported by Elizabeth Flock of the Washington Post, Rep. Leonard Lance, who appears in the video, voted against repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Rep. Frank LoBiondo, who says in the video, “There are actions we can take to make things better now,” voted against repeal of DADT and for the Marriage Protection Act, which would prohibit federal courts from hearing cases that involve challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act. Rep. Jon Runyan appears in the video and has said in the past that he supports civil unions but that gay people should not be allowed to be married. The congressmen may tout their disapproval of classic schoolyard bullying, and yet they are contributing to a public culture that enshrines discrimination against LGBT people into law.

The fact that a YouTube video can be seen as more important than an anti-gay congressional record signifies that the “It Gets Better” campaign has now become just as shallow as our political discourse.

Direct bullying is not the only thing that pressures gay kids to either stay closeted or risk facing social consequences. Public disapproval on a broad level can make a gay teenager’s situation seem more hopeless, and it can make traditional “bullying” seem supported by society – in the eyes of both the bully and the person being bullied. This type of bullying is more pervasive and can cause deep damage to self-esteem.

What these kids need is love, respect, and for somebody to tell them that they’ve been where they are and know what it’s like. It is still too early to tell how the intended audience is being affected by the “It Gets Better” campaign. We can only hope that when they are older and when they can answer back and tell us about what they went through, they will say that they were inspired by the campaign, that it didn’t seem like a cynical ploy for people to grab media attention by feigning tolerance, and a tool for politicians to conceal their hypocrisy.

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Growing awareness of anti-gay bullying

WASHINGTON — After a year of high-profile bullying-related teen suicides, increased media attention is spurring greater awareness of anti-gay bullying, according to the Washington Post.

“Awareness of anti-gay bullying is increasing as acceptance of gay people has grown in society,” reads the Post piece. “Gay marriage is legal in several states, gays are now permitted to serve openly in the military and, in California, schools will soon have to teach gay-rights history.”

Part of that growing awareness generated a campaign last year to encourage advocates and allies across the country to wear purple on Oct. 20 to raise awareness about anti-gay bullying. Media companies like CNBC, journalists like Katie Couric and politicians like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton supported the campaign.

This year, with a blitz of promotion by media watchdog group Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, hundreds of media companies, reality TV stars, network news anchors, sports stars and commentators, and politicians from across the nation and even President Obama wore purple on Oct. 20 for “Spirit Day,” advocating for schools to work harder to tackle bullying.

N.H. House to vote on marriage repeal in 2012

CONCORD, N.H. — Despite a vow by Gov. John Lynch to veto any bill that repeals marriage equality in New Hampshire, the state House Judiciary Committee passed language 11-6 that would do just that.

The bill’s author, Rep. David Bates (R-Windham) says that although marriage should be restricted to a man and a woman, civil unions would still be allowed for same-sex couples. “We have heard for a number of years that the government needs to get out of peoples’ bedrooms,” Bates told the Nashua Telegraph. “This does not contemplate the sexual relationship of the parties involved.”

Lawmakers would vote early next year on the bill, and would have to garner enough support to override a governor’s veto to suspend new same-sex marriages in the state. The proposed language would also leave intact the marriages of those couples who have already married in New Hampshire.

Seattle paper publishes Ref. 71 petition names

SEATTLE — Despite a court order preventing the state from releasing the names of signers of a petition to roll back Washington State’s comprehensive domestic partnership law, Seattle Weekly has published the image files of the actual petition documents.

The documents were public for five days prior to the injunction being issued, allowing the publication to get a copy of the 2.7GB file and make it available for download from its website.

The group that sponsored the failed measure, Protect Marriage Washington, used the petition pages to collect more information from signers than is required by law, including email addresses, many of which are now visible to anyone who downloads the file, according to the blog Pam’s House Blend. Many observers have speculated that the email addresses were requested in an effort to use the petition drive to build Protect Marriage Washington’s email list.

Chaz Bono voted off ‘Dancing’

HOLLYWOOD — Chaz Bono left ABC television’s ‘Dancing With The Stars,’ on Tuesday, after six weeks of surviving the judges’ scrutiny.

After dancing a tango to the theme of “Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway night, the judges panned the performance by the 42-year-old transgender son of superstar Cher and her late ex-husband, Sonny Bono.

“It was like watching a cute little penguin trying to be a big, menacing bird of prey,” “Dancing” judge Bruno Tonioli said of Bono’s performance, which drew some boos from the audience, according to ABC.com.

Cher — an avid online social network user — tweeted about the result, “I Have Got 2Hold my TEMPER ! MY Tears R OK ! Congratulations Chaz I’m SO PROUD OF U ! This was YOUR Quest…& u Followed your Star.”

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More than 20 members of Check It, a group of local gay youth that D.C. police have listed as a gang, turned out Monday night for a town hall meeting on problems faced by the city’s LGBT youth.

Lesbian activist Treona Kelty, whose organization Beautiful U – Yes U organized the event, said two Check It members told more than 100 people who turned out for the town hall that they consider their organization an extended “family” of mostly gay and bisexual men who have been ostracized by their parents and schools and misunderstood by police.

The town hall was held at the Metropolitan Community Church on Ridge Street, N.W., which has a mostly LGBT congregation.

Two Check It members were joined on a panel by Jeffrey Richardson, director of the Mayor’s Office of GLBT Affairs; Sharon Lettman-Hicks, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition; Amena Johnson of D.C.’s Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL); and Brian Watson of Transgender Health Empowerment.

Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy drew citywide attention to Check It when he wrote about the group and its founder, Tayron Bennet, 21, in a Sept. 27 column. Bennet, who attended the LGBT youth town hall Monday night, told Milloy he formed the group after being targeted for anti-gay bullying and harassment at Hine Junior High School, which is located less than a block from the SMYAL offices and drop-in center.

Police have said Check It members often congregate in Chinatown near the Gallery Place Metro station and allegedly have gotten into fights with rival youth gangs. Milloy quoted Bennet as saying some members of the group “started carrying mace, knives, brass knuckles and stun guns” as a means of fighting back when members of the group were attacked or harassed for being gay.

“We’re not a gang,” Kelty quoted a Check It member who identified himself only as Trey, as saying. “He said we have been ostracized by our families. We have been kicked out. So we consider ourselves just family,” Kelty quoted him as saying. “I’m so tired of people calling us a gang,” she quoted the youth as saying.

According to Kelty, Deputy D.C. Police Chief Diane Groomes, who attended the town hall gathering, asked Kelty and Beautiful U – Yes U to help police put together a mediation meeting in which police and Check It members can work together to resolve police-related issues. Kelty said Groomes told the gathering that she would arrange for the department’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit to take the lead role in the mediation session.

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Michael Kahn & Chelsea Clinton attend the Shakespeare Gala. (Photo by Peter Rosenstein)

On Monday night the lights were ablaze and the stars shined at the Shakespeare Theatre GALA honoring Michael Kahn’s 25 years as Artistic Director. Michael was hired when they were struggling to stay alive at the Folger Library. Michael’s vision not only built the Shakespeare Theatre into the world renowned company it is today but also led the renaissance of downtown D.C. He moved the company to the Lansburgh theatre before anyone else saw the potential of that area and today its home includes the glittering Harman Hall.

Tributes from Edward Albee to Terrance McNally told of his brilliance and contributions to the arts and to their careers. McNally told stories about he and Michael’s time at Columbia University including the plays they did there and Michael finding this young first time set designer to work with them by the name of Andy Warhol. McNally told of Michael being the gay blade about town even back then. Watching Michael take a play and work with actors to mold it to perfection is quite a thrill.

Michael was head of the drama department at Julliard and still returns to NY to teach master classes. He has directed productions around the world including Elizabeth Ashley on Broadway in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and a recent Dallas Opera Company production of Romeo and Juliet.

Beautiful Harman Hall was aglow with the stars who saluted Michael. They included Stacy Keach, Pat Carroll, Rene Auberjonois, Nancy Robinette, Denyse Graves, Harry Hamlin, Patrick Stewart, Kelly McGillis, Floyd King, Richard Thomas, Bradley Whitford, and a favorite of mine the very  hot and charming Jeffrey Carlson who played Hamlet at the Shakespeare in 2007. There were a host of other celebrities including Chelsea Clinton who spoke movingly of what Michael and the Shakespeare Theatre meant to her during her high school years in DC and still today. Donald Graham, Chairman and CEO of the Washington Post Company spoke and then read a proclamation from the Mayor declaring October 17^th Michael Kahn Day in the District of Columbia. Former Congresswoman Jane Harman spoke of what the theatre meant to her late husband Sidney, and how he loved Harman Hall, and there was a short film of Sidney himself talking about his love of the Arts.

The actors performed in a 90 minute production which included Joffrey Ballet leading dancers Fabrice Calmals and April Daly who did a breathtakingly beautiful piece from Othello, A Dance in Three Acts. The entire performance was directed by the talented Alan Paul.

Seen at the reception prior to the show, and at the dinner dance afterwards held at the beautiful building museum were; Supreme Court Justices, Alito, Scalia, Kagan and former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Also there were former Congressman Phil Sharp (D-IN), Tom Downey (D-NY) and his beautiful wife the Hon. Carol Browner (former Clinton Administration EPA Administrator and Environmental Czar for President Obama), Williams and Connolly senior partner Dan Katz, Orrick Attorney and Shakespeare Theatre Board member Pauline Schneider, Former Mayor Anthony Williams, Governor William Weld and Leslie Marshall, and DC City Councilmembers’ Jack Evans and Tommy Wells. Being thanked from the stage by Michael were his friend and former assistant of ten years  Steven Mazzola who was there with his partner Dr. Jeffrey Akman, and Michael’s best friend John Hill. Michael made sure that the youth were well represented and invited many of the young actors including the 7 new acting fellows to the building museum to join in the festivities.

The GALA is the theatre’s biggest benefit of the year and supports their education programs. It was chaired by Miguel and Patricia Estrada and Anita Antenucci. It was truly a night to remember.