Local
Church groups are biggest donors to D.C. marriage ban effort
Two religious groups linked to Bishop Harry Jackson’s church in Beltsville, Md., have provided more than $102,000 in contributions to his campaign to ban same-sex marriage in D.C.
Contributions from the High Impact Leadership Coalition and Christian Hope Ministries-High Impact comprise slightly more than half of the $199,530 raised as of Jan. 31 to fight the city’s same-sex marriage law, according to reports filed with the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance.
Nearly all of the $97,338 that reports show were contributed by other donors came from national anti-gay groups, including Focus on the Family, Family Research Council Action, the group’s political arm and the National Organization for Marriage.
The reports show Jackson gave $100 of his own money to two of the three committees he formed to ban same-sex marriage in the District. FRC official Chuck Donavan of Manassas, Va., and NOM executive director Brian Brown of Great Falls, Va., each made individual contributions of $50 to one of the three committees.
“No donations are from D.C. residents, unless you believe Harry Jackson actually lives in D.C.,” said gay activist Bob Summersgill, one of the leaders of the city’s same-sex marriage effort.
Summersgill was referring to allegations that Jackson and his wife continue to live in their home in Silver Spring, Md., and use a rented apartment in Southeast D.C. near the Washington Nationals stadium as an address to maintain D.C. residency.
City records show that Jackson registered to vote in the District for the first time on April 22, shortly before he filed papers for the first of three ballot measures he has proposed to ban same-sex marriage in D.C.
In response to a complaint challenging his city residency, local officials ruled last year that Jackson’s D.C. apartment and his D.C. driver’s license, among other factors, were sufficient proof that he met the requirements for city residency.
Neither Jackson nor a spokesperson for his church returned calls this week seeking comment for this story.
The Office of Campaign Finance reports show that one of the committees established by Jackson, Stand for Marriage D.C. Initiative, sought to place a voter initiative on the ballot that would ban same-sex marriage. The second committee, Stand for Marriage D.C. Referendum, sought a voter referendum on the issue, and the third one, Stand4MarriageDC, sought to prevent the City Council from passing a same-sex marriage bill.
Finance reports show the three committees spent a total of $146,499 as of Jan. 31 in those efforts. According to the reports, the money was partly used to hire two prominent public relations firms to build support for a ballot measure and to retain a law firm to challenge rulings against a ballot measure.
One of the public relations firms, Schubert Flint Public Affairs, worked on the 2008 Proposition 8 campaign in California, which succeeded in banning gay marriage. It also assisted the successful ballot measure campaign in Maine in November, which resulted in overturning that state’s gay marriage law.
Summersgill and other local activists were quick to note that Jackson and his supporters have so far lost on all three fronts, with the D.C. Council passing the Religious Freedom & Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009 in December and the D.C. Board of Elections & Ethics and two judges ruling against Jackson’s call for a ballot measure.
The same-sex marriage bill the City Council passed and Mayor Adrian Fenty signed is expected to clear its congressional review and become law the first week of March.
“What’s Harry Jackson getting for his money?” Summersgill asked on the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance blog, GLAA Forum. “All of his efforts have been for nothing.”
Jackson and his supporters have argued the campaigns opposing same-sex marriage have galvanized city residents who are said to be outraged that they’ve been unable to directly decide on the issue through a ballot measure.
A Washington Post poll released two weeks ago appears to partially support the claim. While the poll shows that 56 percent of city residents surveyed support legalizing same-sex marriage in the District, it also shows that 59 percent favor allowing voters to decide on the issue through a ballot measure.
Last year, Jackson and his local supporters disputed claims by marriage equality advocates that same-sex marriage opponents are dominated by non-D.C. residents. Jackson and his backers have said a large number of D.C. residents, including many of the city’s black clergy, have joined the campaign to allow the city’s voters to decide directly whether gay marriage should be legal.
LGBT activists have argued, however, that many of the clergy helping Jackson are from the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. They note that more than 100 D.C. clergy members have joined forces to support the same-sex marriage bill.
The election board has ruled three times since last spring that a ballot measure seeking to ban same-sex marriage in the city cannot be held because it would violate the D.C. Human Rights Act, which bans discrimination based on sexual orientation. Two D.C. Superior Court judges have upheld the board’s rulings.
The board considered Tuesday yet another proposed ballot measure — this time an initiative seeking to ban gay marriage proposed by Ward 8 civic activist Joyce Little. It was not immediately clear when the board would rule on the issue.
High Impact Leadership Coalition and Christian Hope Ministries-High Impact are components of the Beltsville-based Hope Christian Church, where Jackson serves as senior pastor. His wife, Vivian Michelle Jackson, is listed on the church web site as executive pastor.
The church’s web site describes the High Impact Leadership Coalition as a non-profit, tax-exempt group that “exists to protect the moral compass of America and to be an agent of healing to our nation by educating and empowering churches, community and political leaders.”
The web site does not disclose the tax status of Christian Hope Ministries-High Impact, but its listing as an arm of the church suggests that it also has a tax exemption under the Internal Revenue Service 501(c)(3) provision.
IRS rules prohibit tax-exempt religious organizations from engaging in partisan political campaigns on behalf of candidates running for public office. But the rules allow religious groups to become involved in some lobbying for or against proposed laws — including voter initiatives or referenda — as long as the lobbying is not a “substantial” part of their overall activity or expenditure of funds.
Neither Jackson nor a spokesperson for High Impact Leadership Coalition or Christian Hope Ministries group could be reached this week to determine the size of the two groups’ budgets or expenditure of funds. Neither group is listed by the non-profit watchdog organization Guidestar.org as having filed an IRS 990 public disclosure form that is required for most, but not all, tax-exempt organizations.
Without knowing the overall budget of the two groups, it could not be determined whether they are in compliance with or in violation of the IRS rules barring “substantial” lobbying activity by such groups. IRS rules stipulate that any “religious organization that engages in excessive lobbying activity over a four-year period” could lose its tax-exempt status.
Summersgill said he was considering filing a citizen request with the IRS calling for an investigation into the two groups.
Virginia
Gay Va. State Sen. Ebbin resigns for role in Spanberger administration
Veteran lawmaker will step down in February
Alexandria Democrat Adam Ebbin, who has served as an openly gay member of the Virginia Legislature since 2004, announced on Jan. 7 that he is resigning from his seat in the State Senate to take a job in the administration of Gov.-Elect Abigail Spanberger.
Since 2012, Ebbin has been a member of the Virginia Senate for the 39th District representing parts of Alexandria, Arlington, and Fairfax counties. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Alexandria from 2004 to 2012, becoming the state’s first out gay lawmaker.
His announcement says he submitted his resignation from his Senate position effective Feb. 18 to join the Spanberger administration as a senior adviser at the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority.
“I’m grateful to have the benefit of Senator Ebbin’s policy expertise continuing to serve the people of Virginia, and I look forward to working with him to prioritize public safety and public health,” Spanberger said in Ebbin’s announcement statement.
She was referring to the lead role Ebbin has played in the Virginia Legislature’s approval in 2020 of legislation decriminalizing marijuana and the subsequent approval in 2021of a bill legalizing recreational use and possession of marijuana for adults 21 years of age and older. But the Virginia Legislature has yet to pass legislation facilitating the retail sale of marijuana for recreational use and limits sales to purchases at licensed medical marijuana dispensaries.
“I share Governor-elect Spanberger’s goal that adults 21 and over who choose to use cannabis, and those who use it for medical treatment, have access to a well-tested, accurately labeled product, free from contamination,” Ebbin said in his statement. “2026 is the year we will move cannabis sales off the street corner and behind the age-verified counter,” he said.
Maryland
Steny Hoyer, the longest-serving House Democrat, to retire from Congress
Md. congressman served for years in party leadership
By ASSOCIATED PRESS and LISA MASCARO | Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the longest-serving Democrat in Congress and once a rival to become House speaker, will announce Thursday he is set to retire at the end of his term.
Hoyer, who served for years in party leadership and helped steer Democrats through some of their most significant legislative victories, is set to deliver a House floor speech about his decision, according to a person familiar with the situation and granted anonymity to discuss it.
“Tune in,” Hoyer said on social media. He confirmed his retirement plans in an interview with the Washington Post.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
Kennedy Center renaming triggers backlash
Artists who cancel shows threatened; calls for funding boycott grow
Efforts to rename the Kennedy Center to add President Trump’s name to the D.C. arts institution continue to spark backlash.
A new petition from Qommittee , a national network of drag artists and allies led by survivors of hate crimes, calls on Kennedy Center donors to suspend funding to the center until “artistic independence is restored, and to redirect support to banned or censored artists.”
“While Trump won’t back down, the donors who contribute nearly $100 million annually to the Kennedy Center can afford to take a stand,” the petition reads. “Money talks. When donors fund censorship, they don’t just harm one institution – they tell marginalized communities their stories don’t deserve to be told.”
The petition can be found here.
Meanwhile, a decision by several prominent musicians and jazz performers to cancel their shows at the recently renamed Trump-Kennedy Center in D.C. planned for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve has drawn the ire of the Center’s president, Richard Grenell.
Grenell, a gay supporter of President Donald Trump who served as U.S. ambassador to Germany during Trump’s first term as president, was named Kennedy Center president last year by its board of directors that had been appointed by Trump.
Last month the board voted to change the official name of the center from the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts to the Donald J. Trump And The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts. The revised name has been installed on the outside wall of the center’s building but is not official because any name change would require congressional action.
According to a report by the New York Times, Grenell informed jazz musician Chuck Redd, who cancelled a 2025 Christmas Eve concert that he has hosted at the Kennedy Center for nearly 20 years in response to the name change, that Grenell planned to arrange for the center to file a lawsuit against him for the cancellation.
“Your decision to withdraw at the last moment — explicitly in response to the Center’s recent renaming, which honors President Trump’s extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure — is classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit arts institution,” the Times quoted Grenell as saying in a letter to Redd.
“This is your official notice that we will seek $1 million in damages from you for this political stunt,” the Times quoted Grenell’s letter as saying.
A spokesperson for the Trump-Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to an inquiry from the Washington Blade asking if the center still planned to file that lawsuit and whether it planned to file suits against some of the other musicians who recently cancelled their performances following the name change.
In a follow-up story published on Dec. 29, the New York Times reported that a prominent jazz ensemble and a New York dance company had canceled performances scheduled to take place on New Year’s Eve at the Kennedy Center.
The Times reported the jazz ensemble called The Cookers did not give a reason for the cancellation in a statement it released, but its drummer, Billy Hart, told the Times the center’s name change “evidently” played a role in the decision to cancel the performance.
Grenell released a statement on Dec. 29 calling these and other performers who cancelled their shows “far left political activists” who he said had been booked by the Kennedy Center’s previous leadership.
“Boycotting the arts to show you support the arts is a form of derangement syndrome,” the Times quoted him as saying in his statement.
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