Local
D.C. Appeals Court hears gay marriage case
City defends law halting effort to repeal same-sex marriage law
In what legal observers called an unusual development, the full nine-judge D.C. Court of Appeals heard oral arguments Monday for a lawsuit seeking to force the city to put its same-sex marriage law before voters in a ballot initiative.
At issue is whether a 1970s amendment to the D.C. City Charter that allows voters to pass or repeal laws through an initiative or referendum can legally include a provision banning such ballot measures if they would take away rights from minorities.
The City Council added the provision to the charter amendment at the request of gay activists. The effort by same-sex marriage opponents to challenge the provision represents the first time it has been seriously questioned in more than 30 years.
All but two of the judges asked pointed questions that appeared to challenge the legal arguments presented by the lawyers on both sides of the case, taking on the role of devilās advocate.
āThe court asked a variety of probing questions, as they should have,ā said Thomas Williamson, an attorney with Covington & Burling, which filed a friend of the court brief on the side of the D.C. government in defense of the law restricting ballot measures.
āBut it seemed that a consistent theme in their questions was a sensitivity to the importance of protecting civil rights of a vulnerable minority, which is really what this case is about here ā the right of same-sex couples to enjoy marriage and have the same status for their marriage as all other citizens of the District,ā Williamson said.
Five of the nine judges, including Chief Judge Eric Washington, were appointed by President George W. Bush. President Bill Clinton appointed the remaining four.
Williamson and local gay rights attorney Mark Levine said itās unusual for the Court of Appeals to hear a case for the first time en banc, or with all of its judges, instead of its usual practice of assigning a three-judge panel to hear a case.
One significant outcome of an en banc case is that the full court has the authority to overturn previous decisions it handed down either en banc or through a three-judge panel if the previous rulings would interfere with its intentions in a current case. Williamson said one possible ruling the court might overturn in the current case over the D.C. same-sex marriage law is the 1990s case known as Dean v. the District of Columbia.
In that case, the appeals court rejected a claim by a gay male couple that the cityās existing marriage law allowed for the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples because of the Human Rights Actās ban on discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation. At that time, the court ruled that the marriage law restricting marriages to opposite-sex couples took precedence over the Human Rights Law.
In recent years, gay rights attorneys and D.C. government officials have argued that the Dean decision was no longer relevant because the City Council had since made sweeping changes to the marriage law, providing extensive rights, including marriage, for same-sex couples.
Austin Nimocks, legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian litigation group, argued the case Tuesday for Bishop Harry Jackson and other local opponents of same-sex marriage who filed the lawsuit seeking a ballot measure to overturn the gay marriage law.
Jackson initially filed his lawsuit before the D.C. Superior Court last fall, after the D.C. Board of Elections & Ethics rejected his application for a voter initiative calling for defining marriage in D.C. as the union between one man and one woman. The board ruled that the initiative would violate the provision added to the referendum and initiative law that bans such ballot measures if they would result in discrimination prohibited by the Human Rights Act.
The effect of the initiative, if approved by voters, would be to repeal the same-sex marriage law that the City Council passed and Mayor Adrian Fenty signed in December. The law took effect March 3 after it cleared a required 30 legislative day review by Congress.
Jackson then filed suit seeking to overturn the election boardās decision. In January, Superior Court Judge Judith Macaluso upheld the election boardās decision, saying the law cited by the city to ban such ballot measures was valid.
Tuesdayās hearing before the D.C. Court of Appeals came about after Jackson and his supporters appealed Macalusoās ruling.
Nimocks sidestepped reportersā questions about the appeals court judgeās comments, including those who challenged his arguments. He said after the hearing that his side is correct in claiming the 30-year-old provision in the D.C. Charter barring certain ballot measures violates the full District of Columbia Charter.
The cityās charter is considered to be equivalent to a state constitution, and legal experts say all laws enacted by the City Council and signed by the mayor must be consistent with any restrictions or limits set by the charter.
Nimocks argued before the court Tuesday that the charter amendment that created the cityās voter initiative and referendum system sets just one restriction on such ballet measures: a ban on voters directly deciding on matters related city funding or taxes.
He said the charter amendment, which the City Council passed and Congress approved, doesnāt allow further restrictions that would prevent a ballot measure seeking to curtail minority rights.
āThe people have a right to vote thatās guaranteed by the District of Columbia Charter,ā he said. āAnd the City Council cannot amend the charter. They cannot do anything to undermine the peopleās right to vote.ā
In his written brief, Nimocks also argued that the Dean case was still a factor that the appeals court should consider.
Todd Kim, the D.C. Solicitor General who argued on behalf of the city, told the court the charter amendment establishing the initiative and referendum system gives the City Council authority to make some changes in the system to carry out its āpurpose.ā
Kim noted that the Council wrote the charter amendment and that part of the purpose in creating it was to place certain restrictions consistent with longstanding city policy, including policies related to rights of minorities. The D.C. Human Rights Act, which was in place at that time, included a ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation, Kim said, indicating the cityās overall policy and purpose was to protect the rights of gays and lesbians along with other minorities.
He also noted that Congress approved the charter amendment through its normal 30 legislative day review, further solidifying its status as a valid law.
In another development that pleased gay activists attending Tuesdayās appeals court hearing, Judge Phyllis Thompson, a Bush appointee, pointed out that D.C. voters approved a statehood constitution in the early 1980s that included a provision banning initiatives and referenda that would take away rights of minorities, including gays.
Thompson appeared to be challenging Nimocksā arguments that voters should have the right to decide on the gay marriage law by noting that D.C. voters approved the ban on ballot measures seeking to take away rights for gays and others.
Legal experts have said the statehood constitution passed by voters had no legal standing because D.C. statehood ā which many D.C. residents favored in the 1980s ā could not come about without approval by Congress. Congress never took the proposal seriously.
But Levine and Williamson said Thompsonās decision to raise the issued shows that she, and possibly a number of her colleagues on the appeals court, are sympathetic to the city law banning ballot measure that would take away rights, including the right of same-sex couples to marry in D.C.
āMarriage equality has already brought critical rights and responsibilities to hundreds of same-sex couples, yet outside forces are determined to undo our progress,ā said Aisha Mills, president of the Campaign for All D.C. Families, one of the local groups that lobbied for a same-sex marriage law.
āAs the courts have uniformly recognized in upholding D.C.ās comprehensive anti-discrimination laws, no one should have to have their marriages ā or any of their civil rights ā put to a public vote,ā she said.
Jackson was among more than a hundred spectators to attend Tuesdayās appeals court hearing. The spectators appeared to be equally divided between same-sex marriage opponents and supporters, with many of the cityās prominent LGBT activists in attendance.
In addition to Washington and Thompson, the appeals court members include Judges Vanessa Ruiz, Inez Smith Reid and Stephen Glickman, who are Clinton appointees, and Judges John Kramer, John Fisher, Anna Blackbourne-Rigsby and Kathryn Oberly, who are Bush appointees.
Court observers say a decision on the marriage case could come anytime between the next several months and more than a year. The losing party could appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, but many legal observers believe the high court would be unlikely to take the case.
District of Columbia
D.C. police investigating anti-gay assault at 14th & U McDonaldās
In separate incident, gay man found unconscious near Florida Avenue bar
D.C. police are investigating an incident in which a group of as many as 15 men and women allegedly assaulted a gay man while some of them called him a āfaggotā at around 1 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 27, at the McDonaldās restaurant at 14th and U Streets, N.W., according to a police report and the victimās husband.
The report, which lists the incident as a suspected hate crime, says the victim, Sebastian Thomas Robles Lascarro, was taken to Howard University Hospital for treatment. A police spokesperson said he was released from the hospital the next day.
A GoFundMe page posted by Stuart West, Lascarroās husband, who said Lascarro goes by his middle name Thomas, states, āMedical bills, therapy costs, and ongoing recovery needs will continue to increase and any help to ensure he gets the care he needs to regain his health and peace of mind will be a blessing.ā
The GoFundMe message adds, āThomas was attacked by a mob who used hateful, derogatory language targeting his identity as a gay man. This horrific hate crime left him hospitalized overnight, facing serious physical injuries and emotional trauma.ā
In response to an inquiry from the Blade about the 14th and U Street incident, a D.C. police spokesperson disclosed that a man whose friends identify him as gay was found unconscious on the ground suffering from a head injuryĀ about 5 a.m. also on Sunday, Oct. 27, at the intersection of 5th and T Streets, N.W. just off Florida Avenue near the gay bar Uproar.
A police report lists the case as a robbery but doesnāt say how the injuries he suffered to his head happened. And like the case of the gay man attacked at the McDonaldās, friends of the man found unconscious posted a GoFundMe page identifying the man.
āBryan Smith (aka the barber) recently suffered immense trauma to his head and will be hospitalized for the foreseeable future,ā it says. āBryan is a dear friend and a pillar in the D.C. queer and nightlife communities,ā the GoFundMe appeal says. āAny amount of donations would be greatly appreciated to go towards the upcoming expenses he will incur.ā
One of the friends who posted the GoFundMe told the Washington Blade they would have no further comment at this time. However, D.C.ās Fox 5 News reports members of Smithās family said he remains in a coma, with D.C. police saying they have video footage of two possible suspects who reportedly took Smithās phone and wallet containing credit cards.
Although people who knew Smith said he had worked for many years as a hairstylist, the Fox 5 News report says he had recently been serving as a DJ. It points out that police are offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the perpetrators responsible for Smithās robbery and assault.
West, the husband of Lascarro, when contacted by the Blade, said Lascarro, 22, had been at the nearby gay bars Crush and Bunker, and he stopped at the McDonaldās on his way home. West said the assault began inside the McDonaldās, which was crowded with customers. He said the police report correctly states that Lascarro told police the incident began when one of the attackers, a woman, criticized him for not saying āexcuse meā when he walked past her.
āHe ignored her, and he walked away,ā West told the Blade, adding that the woman then called him a faggot and her friends, who were mostly men, blocked the exit door at the McDonaldās, preventing Lascarro from leaving and demanded that he apologize to the woman.
āAnd when he said he was not going to apologize and he raised his hand to try and move the door to get out, thatās when more than 10 individuals started to assault him,ā West said. āAnd so, they started punching him all over his face and body, and it eventually moved to outside the McDonaldās on the D.C. sidewalk, where more people got involved and started hitting him and assaulting him.ā
At one point when Lascarro was sitting on the ground, ābloodied, dazed, and confused, they decided to throw drinks and trash at him,ā West said. He said when two people walking by asked him if he needed help, Lascarro was able to dial 911 on his phone, and an ambulance arrived minutes later, which took him to the hospital.
āThey performed a full CT scan and thankfully there were no critical injuries discovered,ā West said. āSo, the only injuries are bruises and scrapes and cuts and a very sore jaw,ā he said, adding that the head injuries have caused his husband to suffer migraine headaches.
West said he later visited the McDonaldās and asked two supervisors if they would release to him a copy of the video surveillance camera images from their security cameras from the night of the attack. He said the two declined his request but said they were cooperating with the police investigation.
D.C. police officials have said investigators routinely obtain video camera footage from businesses or from city security cameras along public spaces such as parks or streets when investigating crimes.
Police have said anyone with information that could lead to the identification of the perpetrators involved in the crimes targeting Lascarro and Smith should contact police at 202-727-9096.
The GoFundMe pages for the two men are here:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-thomass-recovery-from-hate-crime
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-bryan-smiths-medical-recovery
Polls indicate Prince Georgeās County Executive Angela Alsobrooks is comfortably ahead of former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan in the race to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.).
A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll conducted between Oct. 17-22 found Alsobrooks ahead of Hogan by a 52-40 percent margin. Alsobrooks, a Democrat, was ahead of her Republican rival by a 48-39 percent margin in a poll the University of Maryland Baltimore County conducted between Sept. 23-28.
Alsobrooks during an interview with the Washington Blade before she defeated Congressman David Trone in the May 14 primary said she supports the Equality Act. Alsobrooks also highlighted her support for Marylandās marriage equality law that voters upheld in a 2012 referendum.
Hogan in 2018 signed a bill that banned so-called conversion therapy in Maryland. He criticized Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his stateās āDonāt Say Gayā law during a 2023 interview with CNNās āState of the Union.ā
A bill that created the Commission on LGBTQ Affairs in the Governorās Community Initiatives Office took effect in 2021 without Hoganās signature. Hogan also did not sign a bill that banned the so-called LGBTQ panic defense in Maryland.
Hogan marched in this yearās Annapolis Pride parade.
Campaign spokesperson Blake Kernan on Wednesday referred the Blade to the campaignās final ad it released earlier in the day.
āIām not just another Republican,ā says Hogan. āIāll make your life more affordable, and support a womanās right to choose.ā
Kernan defended Hoganās record on LGBTQ rights in an article the Blade published on Aug. 7. Kernan in a May 22 statement criticized Alsobrooks over her comments about Hoganās abortion rights record.
The Alsobrooks campaign on Tuesday told the Blade it is āready to defend our Democratic Senate Majority, protect our freedoms, and fight for our families.ā
āAngela continues to travel across the state and can feel the enthusiasm and energy from all voters ā from young people concerned about the cost of living, women concerned about access to reproductive freedoms, seniors concerned about the cost of prescription drugs, and all Marylanders who want a future where their families can thrive,ā said the campaign in a statement. āAngela is in this fight for every one of them, for every Marylander.”
Democrat April McClain Delaney is running against former Maryland state Del. Neil Parrott (R-Washington County) in the race to succeed Trone in Marylandās 6th Congressional District.
A Gonzales Research and Marketing Strategies poll conducted between Aug. 24-31 found Parrott ahead of Delaney by a 41-39 percent margin. A Public Opinion Strategies poll conducted between Aug. 6-11 found Delaney ahead of Parrott by a 42-40 percent margin.
Delaney, a former Commerce Department official who is married to former Maryland Congressman John Delaney, in her campaign ads has noted Parrott in 2005 said people who test positive for HIV should be tattooed. Parrott in 2014 led an unsuccessful effort to prompt a referendum on Marylandās transgender rights law that then-Gov. Martin OāMalley signed.
In Virginia, state Sen. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Loudoun County) is running against Republican Mike Clancy in the stateās 10th Congressional District. The winner will succeed Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton, who announced last September she would not seek re-election after doctors diagnosed her with an aggressive form of Parkinsonās disease.
āWhen I think about who will best continue my legacy and deliver real results for us in Congress, I can think of no one better than state Sen. Suhas Subramanyam,ā said Wexton in an Oct. 16 press release in which she and former U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) endorsed Subramanyamās campaign.
Democrat Eugene Vindman is running against Republican Derrick Anderson for outgoing Congresswoman Abigail Spanbergerās seat in Virginiaās 7th Congressional District.
Spanberger is running for governor in 2025.
In Delaware, state Sen. Sarah McBride is poised to become the first transgender person elected to Congress. Democratic Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester is also likely to become the first Black person to represent Delaware in the U.S. Senate.
“There’s no one better to represent us in Washington, D.C., and in the United States Senate than Lisa Blunt Rochester,” said President Joe Biden in a recent endorsement.
District of Columbia
46 known LGBTQ candidates running for D.C. ANC seats
32 running unopposed on ballot, 22 are incumbents
At least 46 known LGBTQ candidates are running for seats on the cityās Advisory Neighborhood Commissions in the Nov. 5 D.C. election, with a half dozen or more LGBTQ candidates running in each of the cityās wards except for Ward 3, where just two known LGBTQ candidates are running.
Among the 46 known LGBTQ candidates, 22 are incumbent ANC commissioners seeking re-election to another four-year term. The ANC Rainbow Caucus, which consists of LGBTQ ANC members, shows on its website it currently has 27 incumbent commissioners, most of whom are running for re-election.
That appears to indicate the percentage of LGBTQ ANC members seeking to run for re-election is greater than the percentage of the overall number of ANC members running for another term. According to reports by the Washington Post and other media outlets, many ANC members have chosen not to run for re-election this year, based in part on the stress that goes with the job
Under the D.C. Home Rule Charter, Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners serve as unpaid elected officials charged with making recommendations to the city government on a wide range of neighborhood issues, including the approval of liquor licenses for bars and restaurants and zoning regulations. City officials are required to give āgreat weightā to the ANC recommendations, but government officials are not required to accept the recommendations.
The official list of ANC candidates on the D.C. election ballot released by the D.C. Board of Elections shows that 51 of the 345 ANC Single Member Districts, or SMDs, do not have a candidate running on the Nov. 5 election ballot. The Board of Elections has released a separate list of registered write-in candidates that includes several ANC candidates.
The Board of Elections list shows there are a far larger number of ANC single member districts in which a single candidate is running unopposed. Among the 46 LGBTQ ANC candidates, 32 have no opponent on the election ballot.
Gay ANC commissioner Vincent Slatt, who represents the Dupont Circle ANC district 2B03, and who serves as chair of the ANC Rainbow Caucus, said ANC members face a considerable amount of stress.
āANCs are volunteer, uncompensated positions that we do in addition to our day jobs,ā Slatt told the Washington Blade. āThere is an extremely high turnover rate due to the lack of support we receive from the executive agencies, and the perception of our neighbors that we provide constituent services that our Council members provide,ā he said.
Slatt added that residents sometimes lack full understanding of the role of ANC members, which āhas created a large amount of turnover, and the problem is getting worse.ā
The Blade obtained its list of known LGBTQ ANC candidates in part from the ANC Rainbow Caucus, which compiled its own list of LGBTQ candidates, and from the LGBTQ Victory Fund, the national group that supports LGBTQ candidates for elective office, which released a list of 13 Victory Fund āapprovedā ANC candidates. The Blade obtained a few additional names of LGBTQ ANC candidates not on the Rainbow Caucus or Victory Fund lists from people who knew the candidates.
Also, among the known LGBTQ ANC candidates, in just two single member districts, two LGBTQ candidates are running against each other. One is in district 1B03 in the Columbia Heights neighborhood in which J. Swiderski is challenging incumbent Jamie S. Sycamore.
The other is in district 2G01 in the Shaw neighborhood in which Howard Garrett, the recently elected president of the Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.ās LGBTQ Democratic group, is running against community activist Parker Griffin. The two are competing for an ANC seat in which the incumbent is not running for re-election.
Similar to past election years, the largest number of known LGBTQ ANC candidates are running this year in districts in Ward 2, including the Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, and Shaw neighborhoods. However, more LGBTQ candidates this year are running in Wards 4, 5, and 8 than in past years.
Gay former ANC commissioner Kent Boese, who until 2022 had represented the Ward 1 SMD in the Park View neighborhood, continues in his current role as director of the D.C. Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, to which he was appointed in October 2022. Among his duties is to oversee fiscal and administrative operations of ANCs across the city.
Following is a list of the LGBTQ ANC candidates and the single member districts and neighborhoods in which they are running.
1A04 ā (Columbia Heights)
Jeremy Sherman, he/him
1A07 ā (Columbia Heights)
Mukta Ghorpadey, she/her
1A10 ā (Columbia Heights)
Billy Easley, he/him
1B03 ā (Columbia Heights/U Street)
J. Swiderski, they/he
Jamie S. Sycamore, he/him
1B06 ā (Columbia Heights/Meridian Hill)
Miguel Trindade Deramo, he/him
1B07 ā (U Street)
Matthew Holden, he/him
1D01 ā (Mount Pleasant)
Jay Falk, she/her
1E01 ā (Park View)
Brad Howard, he/him
1E07 ā (Howard University/Pleasant Plains)
Brian Footer, he/him
2A05 ā (Foggy Bottom)
Luke Chadwick, he/him
2B02 ā (Dupont Circle)
Jeffrey Rueckgauer, he/him
2B03 ā (Dupont Circle)
Vincent Slatt, he/him
2B09 ā (Dupont Circle/U Street)
Christopher Davis, he/him
2C01 ā (Penn Quarter)
Michael D. Shankle, he/him
2F05 ā (Logan Circle)
Christopher Dyer, he/him
2F06 ā (Logan Circle)
John Fanning, he/him
2F07 ā (Logan Circle)
Kevin Cataldo, he/him
2G01 ā (Shaw)
Parker Griffin, he/him
Howard Garrett, he/him
2G02 ā (Shaw)
Alexander āAlexā Padro, he/him
2G04 ā (Shaw)
Steven McCarty, he/him
3B06 ā (Wesley Heights)
S. Robert Rodriquez, he/him
3F05 ā (Van Ness/Cleveland Park)
Adrian Jesus Iglesias, he/him
4B01 ā (Takoma)
Doug Payton, he/him
4B10Ā ā (Lamond Riggs)
Jinin Berry, she/her
4C06 ā (Petworth)
Christen Boss Hayes, they/them
4E02 ā (16th Street Heights)
Vince Micone, he/him
5B02 ā (Brookland)
Nandini Sen, she/her
5B04 ā (Brookland)
Ra Amin, he/him
5B05 ā (Brookland)
MĆ³nica MartĆnez LĆ³pez, she/her
5D05 ā (Trinidad)
Salvador Sauceda-Guzman, he/him
5D06 ā (Trinidad/Carver)
Charquinta (Char) McCray, she/her
5E05 ā (Bloomingdale)
Tyler Lopez, he/him
5F06 ā (Eckington)
Joe Bishop-Henchman, he/him
6B03 ā (Capitol Hill)
David Sobelsohn, he/him
6B09 ā (Capitol Hill/Barney Circle)
Karen Hughes, she/her
7B05 ā (Hillcrest)
Elizabeth Reddick, she/them
7C01 ā (Deanwood)
Brian Glover, he/him
7C03 ā (Lincoln Heights)
Carlos Richardson, he/him
7C08 ā (Capitol View)
Brandon M. Scott, he/him
7E06 ā (Benning Ridge)
Ravi K. Perry, he/him
8A01 ā (Fairlawn)
Tom Donohue, he, him
8B05 ā (Garfield Heights)
Marcus Thomas Hickman, he/him
8C08 ā (Douglass)
Elizabeth Carter, she/her
8F04 ā (Navy Yard)
Edward Daniels
-
Opinions5 days ago
Wash Post canāt recover from endorsement debacle ā Bezos must sell it
-
District of Columbia5 days ago
D.C. votersā guide: Council, school board, Initiative 83 on ballot
-
District of Columbia3 days ago
D.C. police investigating anti-gay assault at 14th & U McDonaldās
-
Politics3 days ago
Meet the LGBTQ candidates running in key races from U.S. Senate to state houses