Local
Webb vote leaves many supporters disappointed
Va. senator opposes ‘Don’t Ask’ repeal measure
Many LGBT Virginians are disappointed at U.S. Sen. Jim Webb’s (D-Va.) vote against overturning “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Webb, a former Navy Secretary, was the sole Democrat to vote May 27 against an amendment to defense budget legislation that aims to repeal the military’s ban on open service by gays and lesbians. He’s chair of the Armed Services Committee Personnel Subcommittee.
In a statement released the day of the vote, Webb said he was waiting for the completion of a Department of Defense review on the matter and cited a May 24 White House letter and chiefs of all four military branches who concur that the study should be completed before Congress takes legislative action.
“I see no reason to pre-empt the process that our senior Defense Department leaders put into motion and I am concerned that many members of the military would view such a move as disrespectful to the importance of their roles in this process,” he said in the statement.
But several gay activists in Virginia and beyond who are following the repeal effort didn’t buy Webb’s explanation. Others said they weren’t surprised by the vote, yet found it disappointing.
“This is not totally unexpected,” said Del. Adam Ebbin (D-Va.), the only openly gay member of the Virginia General Assembly. “When Sen. Webb was a candidate, he was candid in that he at that time said he did not support repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ I suppose that his stated willingness to look at the reports demonstrates a small bit of progress, but when conservative Democrats vote to repeal the policy and move forward, it is extremely disappointing that Sen. Webb did not join them.”
Webb has supported other gay rights legislation. He voted for the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which Congress passed last year; he’s signed on as a co-sponsor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act; and he opposes Virginia’s Marshall-Newman amendment, which bans same-sex marriage. He also made an appearance at a gay fundraiser in Arlington by Virginia Partisans when he was running for his Senate seat.
Several observers said there are enough provisions in the legislation regarding implementation that Webb’s concerns were unwarranted.
“We were disappointed with the senator’s vote because we felt the provision addressed all of the possible procedural issues,” said Claire Gastanaga, general counsel for Equality Virginia. “The way this is structured, the vote wasn’t on the process. This was just putting Congress on record that they support the decision. To cite the process is misplaced at this juncture.”
Virginia Partisans members are planning a letter to Webb to express their disappointment.
“This is legalized discrimination,” said Terry Mansberger, the group’s president. “This is a stall tactic. They’ve built into the legislation enough of a timetable to implement the repeal, but Webb is insisting on even longer time and more study. We don’t know what’s going to happen in Congress in November. We have the majority now and a supportive president. It’s time to move and not blow a golden opportunity. We can’t wait.”
The Human Rights Campaign and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network denounced Webb’s vote.
“There were many lawmakers who stood on the right side of history, but Sen. Webb disappointingly voted to maintain the kind of discrimination that hurts our national security,” said Michael Cole, an HRC spokesperson. “If you are interested in giving the military the tools they need to allow for open service, then the right vote would have been to repeal the law now with implementation pending the review.”
And SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis said the White House letter Webb cited is not an acceptable explanation because the legislation stipulates that no repeal action will occur before the Pentagon’s recommendations are reviewed by the House and Senate Armed Services committees.
“We are terribly disappointed in the senator’s vote,” Sarvis said in an e-mail. “He wrapped himself up in the procedure and failed to stand up and do the right thing.”
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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