Local
New web site targets closeted Catholic priests
A gay activist has launched a web site to collect information about closeted gay Catholic priests assigned to the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., with the aim of “persuading” them to disclose their sexual orientation and speak out against the church’s opposition to same-sex marriage.
Phil Attey, an Internet consultant who coordinated local gay volunteers for the 2008 Obama campaign, said he hopes to identify such a large number of gay priests that a “critical mass” will be reached and church leaders won’t be able to oust them.
“The goal of this campaign is not to hurt any of these Catholic priests,” Attey said. “The goal of this campaign is to create an environment where priests will be able to come out safely to their parishes.”
Attey told D.C. Agenda that his web site could disclose the identity of priests he confirms are gay if they decline to identify themselves.
“We’re hoping it doesn’t come to that,” he said.
“One of the reasons we’re asking for such detailed information is that the more details we have, the more appealing it is for the priest to come out on his own so that all he has to say is that he’s gay rather than have all of the lurid details we may have on them or not have on them come out.”
According to Attey, the response to the web site, www.churchouting.org, has been “overwhelming,” with D.C.-area gay Catholics submitting information about closeted priests about whom they have first-hand information.
He said the information received would be carefully vetted and a priest’s sexual orientation would not be disclosed unless it is verified by two or more people with reliable information.
“Once a story is verified, we will be contacting the priests involved to help them make the right choices,” a message on the web site says.
A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Washington could not be immediately reached for comment.
Bill Donahue, president of the conservative Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, called Attey’s web site a form of “religious cleansing” and a “witch hunt,” according to Christian News Service.
“Are they going to start harassing, intimidating, stalking priests?” CNS quoted Donahue as saying. “This is simply beyond the pale.”
Attey said he expects conservative, anti-gay groups such as Donahue’s organization to level that type of accusation against churchouting.org.
“None of that is true, and people will come to see that as we move forward,” he said.
The site includes a drop-down menu showing the entire roster of 314 priests assigned to parishes throughout the D.C. metropolitan area under the auspices of the Archdiocese of Washington. It also includes directions prompting readers to submit their name and e-mail address along with a narrative identifying a closeted gay priest and a description of how they know the priest is gay.
Attey said recent statements by Archbishop Donald Wuerl, who heads the Archdiocese of Washington, opposing the same-sex marriage bill pending before the D.C. City Council played a role in his decision to launch the web site late last month. He said Wuerl’s decision to sign a document prepared jointly with fundamentalist Christian groups known as the Manhattan Declaration, which calls for using civil disobedience to oppose certain laws that conflict with religious beliefs, including same-sex marriage laws, also prompted him to act at this time.
However, Attey said he had been planning the site for several years, largely as a concerned gay Catholic interested in challenging the church hierarchy’s anti-gay positions and the large number of closeted gay priests who, according to Attey, lend their support to the anti-gay policies by remaining silent.
“This is a site dedicated to every Catholic family who has lost a loved one to suicide or disassociation, needlessly caused by the spiritual pain inflicted by the church hierarchy’s relentless attacks on LGBT people,” Attey wrote on the site.
Gay activists have had mixed views on the use of outing as a means of advancing LGBT rights. D.C. gay activist Michael Rogers, editor of the gay blogs PageOneQ and BlogActive, has received national attention for his stories outing closeted anti-gay politicians. Rogers said he would have no objections to Attey’s outing of priests who actively campaign against gay rights. But he said he was less certain about outing priests who remain silent or who quietly support the LGBT community but don’t take a public stand.
“I don’t know where to draw the line on religious outing,” he said.
Mitch Wood, president of the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance, said an outing campaign against the Catholic Church should be directed at “higher up decision-makers, not rank-and-file clergy.”
GLAA Vice President Rick Rosendall cautioned that indiscriminate outings of priests could backfire and hurt the LGBT rights movement.
“If you had an ordinary priest who was not brave or bold enough to throw his pastoral career into a tailspin by confronting the hierarchy publicly, targeting him would likely turn the main focus back on those doing the outing, and show them to be cruel and fanatical,” Rosendall said.
“Our opponents on the radical religious right already portray themselves as victims,” he said. “We should take care to avoid playing into their hands.”
Father Joseph Palacios, an openly gay Catholic priest who teaches at Georgetown University, said he was ambivalent about the outing web site.
“A gay priest leading a double life and working overtly or covertly against gay rights is working against his own self interests and that of the gay community that he participates in,” Palacios said. “This kind of hypocrisy should be brought to light – just as should be done to straight priests living double lives.”
He said a gay priest generally should be “personally encouraged to look at himself and make the decision to live the truth of his sexuality.”
Attey said he doesn’t expect his web site to disclose the names of gay priests in the immediate future.
“I’m not looking at this as a short-term project,” he said.
Baltimore
Ron Singer, owner of popular Mount Vernon gay bar Leon’s, dies
66-year-old’s funeral to take place Friday
By CAYLA HARRIS | Ron Singer, the owner of Baltimore’s popular gay bar Leon’s Backroom, died Tuesday, the venue announced in a social media post. He was 66.
“For more than 20 years, Ron made Leon’s a place so many people were proud to call home,” the post reads. “He will be deeply missed.”
The Mount Vernon bar, typically open from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily, is still open Thursday, but doors will close at midnight so staff can attend his funeral Friday morning. Services are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. at Sol Levinson’s Chapel.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
Mary’s House founder, CEO retires
Dr. Imani Woody played leading role in opening DC’s first home for LGBTQ seniors
The board of directors for Mary’s House for Older Adults, DC’s first official home dedicated to providing affordable housing for LGBTQ seniors, announced on July 7 that its founding president and CEO, Dr. Imani Woody, has retired.
Woody, who holds a PhD in Human Services, is credited with playing a leading role over many years in arranging both city and private funding needed to construct and operate the Mary’s House three-story building located at 401 Anacostia Road, S.E., in the city’s Fort Dupont neighborhood.
The house, which opened in March 2025, with a grand opening ceremony held in May 2025, includes 15 single-occupancy residential units and more than 5,000 square feet of shared communal living space.
“It is with profound gratitude and hearts full of celebration that the board of directors of Mary’s House for Older Adults, DC (MHFOA) announces the retirement of our visionary founder, Dr. Imani Woody, from her role as president and CEO,” the Mary’s House board says in a statement.
“Dr. Woody’s journey with Mary’s House began with her vision and a kitchen table gathering of women with a bold, urgent, and loving vision: to create safe, affirming, affordable housing for LGBTQ/SGL older adults in Washington, DC,” the statement says.
It adds, “What started as a dream has grown into DC’s first affordable LGBTQ+/SGL affirming communal living space for adults 60 and over, a 15-room community residence at 401 Anacostia Road in Southeast Washington.”
The statement says Woody will continue to serve on Mary’s House board.
“The board will be sharing information about the leadership transition process in the coming weeks,” the statement continues. “We are committed to honoring Dr. Woody’s legacy by ensuring Mary’s House continues to thrive and grow in faithful service to LGBTQ/SGL elders experiencing housing insecurity and isolation.”
Maryland
Va., Md., advocates brace for next fight after Supreme Court sports ruling
Neither state has statewide ban on trans student athletes
On June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for states to enforce laws barring transgender students from participating on school sports teams consistent with their gender identity, a decision LGBTQ advocates say could encourage additional restrictions across the country.
While neither Maryland nor Virginia currently has a statewide ban on trans student athletes, advocates say the decision could reshape future legislative battles and school policies throughout the region.
Directly following the case, attorneys for trans student athletes spoke out about the case and how detrimental it could be to students.
“This ruling is deeply harmful for transgender women and girls who only asked for the ability to participate in sports with their peers,” said Sasha Buchert, senior attorney and director of the Nonbinary and Transgender Rights Project for Lambda Legal, in a press release from the American Civil Liberties Union.
The next step is figuring out how states will move forward, specifically in Maryland and Virginia.
As of right now, neither state has bans on trans athletes in schools. The new Supreme Court decision also does not require states to enact bans, only that bans are allowed if states or school districts choose to enforce them.
According to the ACLU, 27 states have banned trans youth from participating in school sports since 2020. Most of these states also require sex testing, which the organization says is invasive for all female athletes.
Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman said that while she has heard a lot of frustration following the decision, people are ready to take action.
“Families, parents and youth have lived through disappointing changes to the Virginia Department of Education’s model policies for the treatment of transgender students, and the Virginia High School League’s decades-old policy that allowed transgender students an opportunity to play sports with their friends,” Rahaman said in a statement to the Washington Blade.
She believes they are not ready to give up this fight quite yet.
As of now, trans and nonbinary students are protected under Virginia law, and Rahaman wants that to continue.
“This ruling will likely embolden right-wing members of the General Assembly to pursue trans athlete bans, and we will continue to defeat every bill like we have the past five legislative sessions. Now is our time to be proactive,” Rahaman said.
She also calls upon Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger to defend trans youth in Virginia from what she describes as bullies and to continue to stand up to federal attacks on the trans community in general.
For trans students, Rahaman wants to ensure that they continue to know that they belong and have a place in school sports.
“To the transgender young people watching this decision unfold: you belong on your team, in your school, in your community, and here in Virginia. This ruling does not change that. A single Supreme Court decision cannot define your worth or your future,” Rahaman said.
For people who may be outside the community but want to help, she encourages them to speak with trans and nonbinary people in their community, befriend the families of youth to show their support, and continue to speak up on these issues when needed.
According to ACLU of Virginia, high schooler Eliza Munshi was told she could not compete on the girls’ track team because she was trans. To prove a point, she decided to compete with the boys.
She had previously competed on the girls’s track team before her Virginia school decided to enforce the ban demanded by President Donald Trump. With pink hair and pink makeup, she decided to continue her love for the sport alongside boys. According to Munshi, her entire community rallied for her.
“I did it to prove a point. I knew I could do it. I knew it wouldn’t phase me. My gender itself and that label has been the least important part of my transition: I want to look how I want to look. I want to dress how I want to dress. If you don’t like that, then that’s not my business,” Munshi said.
DOE has launched Title IX probe against Md. school districts
In the weeks leading up to the ruling, multiple Maryland school districts were included in a Title IX probe stating that not enforcing sex-based protections guaranteed by federal law. Currently, there have been no updates on the lawsuit or the district’s decisions.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, the federal probe is based on parent complaints that the school districts were violating a specific Trump-Vance administration addition to Title IX, stating it aligned the sex-based protections “with biological reality, not ideological fantasy.”
According to FreeState Justice, an LGBTQ advocacy group in Maryland, while this is a disappointing ruling to see, they will continue to fight for trans student-athletes in Maryland and want trans youth to know that they belong.
“Every young person deserves the opportunity to participate in school and community life without being singled out because of who they are. These decisions send a harmful message to transgender youth that they are somehow less deserving of that opportunity,” said Phillip Westry, the group’s executive director.
Westry wants to make sure the community knows that their commitment to the organization has not changed and will continue to provide the same legal services they have prior and to advance policy solutions, to ensure “every LGBTQ+ Marylander can live with dignity, safety, and equal opportunity.”
Another issue brought up by trans advocates is the issue of testing women to determine whether they are biologically female or not.
According to Human Rights Watch, as of 2023, World Athletics required cis women with increased testosterone levels to undergo medical procedures to have it reduced to avoid advantages. Other forms of “sex verification” may include genetic testing, screenings of an athlete’s anatomy or chromosomes.
However, this can become detrimental because not all women have ovaries, a uterus, or XX chromosomes, meaning cisgender women could potentially be included in these bans, depending on how the specific state plans to enforce them.
Gay librarian to discuss new novel at Green Lantern
Calendar: July 10-16
Gay Fla. Democrat Elijah Manley sees opportunity in Trump’s second term
Ron Singer, owner of popular Mount Vernon gay bar Leon’s, dies
Egyptian authorities refuse to allow gay cruise to dock in country
‘My Favorite Sociopath’ debuts at Shepherdstown’s CATF
Under-the-radar Delaware beach towns smart buyers are targeting
In Trump’s divided America, Michael Weinstein’s AHF responds
Turkish authorities refuse to allow gay cruise to dock in country
When a church fears the rainbow
-
Theater5 days ago‘My Favorite Sociopath’ debuts at Shepherdstown’s CATF
-
Real Estate5 days ago
Under-the-radar Delaware beach towns smart buyers are targeting
-
Politics4 days ago
In Trump’s divided America, Michael Weinstein’s AHF responds
-
Turkey4 days ago
Turkish authorities refuse to allow gay cruise to dock in country
