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Catania earns top GLAA rating

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D.C. Council member David Catania (I-At-Large) received a +10 rating from the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance on LGBT issues, placing him alongside fellow Council members Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) and Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who also received a +10, the group’s highest possible rating.

GLAA released its ratings Wednesday for candidates running in the city’s Nov. 2 election.

Catania, who is gay, and Mendelson are competing in a four-person race for two at-large seats where the highest two vote getters win under the city’s election rules. The other two candidates competing for the seats are David Schwartzman, the Statehood-Green Party nominee, who received a GLAA rating of +6, and same-sex marriage opponent and religious right figure Richard Urban, who received a GLAA rating of -3.5. Schwartzman, a strong supporter of LGBT equality, said he is challenging Catania on economic issues.

The group gave City Council Chairman and mayoral candidate Vincent Gray (D-At-Large) a +8.5 rating, the same rating the group gave Gray for the Sept. 14 Democratic primary, in which he defeated Mayor Adrian Fenty.

GLAA gave a “0” rating to each of the three candidates running against Gray in the general election — independent Carlos Allen, Statehood-Green Party Candidate Faith, and Socialist Worker Party candidate Omari Musa. GLAA said the three failed to return a candidates questionnaire and their records on LGBT issues were unknown to the group, a development that automatically results in a “0” rating under the group’s rules.

In the race for City Council Chairman, Democratic nominee Kwame Brown received a +5.5. His sole opponent, Statehood-Green Party candidate Ann Wilcox, received a “0” for not returning the questionnaire.

Graham, who’s also gay, maintained the +10 rating he received during his campaign for the Sept. 14 primary. Marc Morgan, a gay Republican running against Graham for the Ward 1 Council seat, received a +6.5 rating on Wednesday, an increase from the +3 rating Morgan received for the primary campaign. GLAA said the increase was due to a revised questionnaire that Morgan submitted that provided far more details on his LGBT rights record, which GLAA said was significant.

The third out gay candidate running in the election, Ward 5 Republican Tim Day, received the same +1.5 rating he received in the primary. He’s running against Council member Harry Thomas (D-Ward 5), who received a GLAA rating of +6. Thomas voted for the same-sex marriage bill last year and is a strong supporter of LGBT rights. GLAA said he lost points by opposing a bill that allowed gay and non-gay adult clubs displaced by the new baseball stadium to relocate in other non-residential areas.

Ward 5 independent candidate Kathy Henderson, who is also running for Thomas’s seat, received a +2 rating.

In other races, GLAA gave a +8.5 score to Council member Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) and a “0” Republican challenger Dave Hedgepeth, who failed to turn in a questionnaire. In the Ward 6 Council race, GLAA gave incumbent Council member Tommy Wells (D) a +8.5 rating. His GOP opponent, Jim DeMartino, received a -0.5 rating.

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Virginia

Hashmi to face Reid in Va. LG race

State senator won Democratic primary on Tuesday

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Ghazala Hashmi (Screen capture via One Vote At A Time/YouTube)

State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D-Chesterfield) will face John Reid in the race to become Virginia’s next lieutenant governor. 

Hashmi won the Democratic primary with 27.49 percent of the vote. She defeated former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, state Sen. Aaron Rouse (D-Virginia Beach), Babur Lateef, Victor Salgado and Alexander Bastani.

“Tonight, Virginians made history,” said Hashmi in a statement. “We didn’t just win a primary, we sent a clear message that we won’t be bullied, broken, or dragged backward by the chaos in Washington.”

Reid, a gay conservative talk show host, in April won the Republican nomination to succeed Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who is running to succeed Gov. Glenn Youngkin. 

The incumbent governor days after Reid secured the nomination called for him to withdraw his candidacy amid reports that a social media account with his username included “pornographic content.” Reid, who would become the first openly gay person elected to statewide office in Virginia if he wins in November, has strongly denied the reports.

Former state Del. Jay Jones defeated Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor in Democratic attorney general primary. Jones will face Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares in November.

Youngkin cannot run for a second, consecutive term.

Former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger will face off against Earle-Sears in November. The winner will make history as the first woman elected governor in the state’s history.

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Baltimore

More than 15K people attend Baltimore Trans Pride

Baltimore Safe Haven organized annual event

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(Bigstock photo)

More than 15,000 people attended Baltimore Safe Haven’s annual Trans Pride on Saturday.

“Last year we had maybe 2,500, and the year before that, we had 5,000,” Renee Lau, administrative assistant for special projects coordinator for Baltimore Safe Haven, said. “In today’s political climate, it’s absolutely amazing.”

Lau said allies and other groups “went into hiding” for about a month or two after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, but then all at once, different organizations started to reach out. 

“The community has really come together to support us,” Lau said. “It was a fun, exciting day.” 

Baltimore Safe Haven Executive Director Iya Dammons in a press release said the “historic turnout” showed the transgender community’s strength, as well as their unity to fight for justice and equality for all LGBTQ people.

At the event, attendees were seen waving flags and shouting “Trans Lives Matter,” showing their support for the community. 

On Friday, before Trans Pride, Baltimore Safe Haven opened their new building to the public, gathering notable attendees like the Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohan, Council Member Antonio Glover, and representatives from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation.

“(It) was historic in itself because … we’re the only direct service providers for people in the LGBT community,” Lau said.

Providing housing for 18- to 24-year-olds, Lau said the new building also serves as a community hub and has office spaces for workers. 

With only a few hiccups of arguments between attendees and fixing street blockades during Trans Pride, Lau said the event showed what the community can do. 

“It was amazing that so many people came out and had that much fun. We were all giddy by Sunday morning,” Lau said. “(It gave) Safe Haven exposure and continuity. We are not just an LGBT organization, we are an organization that supports the entire community.”

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District of Columbia

Juvenile arrested for anti-gay assault in D.C.

Police say suspect targeted victim in house with Pride flags

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The gay man who was hit in the face by a rock thrown through the front window of his house, shown here, by the juvenile who was arrested told the Blade he and his husband covered the now boarded up window with a large Pride flag. (Washington Blade photo by Lou Chibbaro, Jr.)

D.C. police announced on June 16 that they have arrested a 13-year-old juvenile male on a charge of Assault With Significant Bodily Injury for allegedly throwing a rock through the window of a house in Northeast D.C. and “striking the victim in the face.”

In a statement announcing the arrest, police said the incident took place on Friday, June 6, and  “LGBTQ+ flags were displayed at the front of the home.”

A separate D.C. police incident report obtained by the Washington Blade states, “Victim 1 reports he was sitting in his living room at the listed location watching television when a rock came through the front window and struck him about his left eye. Victim 1 suffered a laceration under his left eye.”

The report adds, “Victim 1 states he observed Suspect 1 running away.”

According to the June 16 statement issued by police, “On Sunday, June 15, 2025, officers located the suspect and placed him under arrest. [A] 13-year-old juvenile male of Northeast D.C., was charged with Assault With Significant Bodily Injury (Hate/Bias).”

The statement says the house where the incident occurred is located on the 400 block of 20th Street, N.E.

Similar to statements D.C. police have issued regarding LGBTQ bias-related cases in the past, the statement announcing this case says that while the case is being investigated as being potentially motivated by hate or bias, that designation could be changed at any time during the investigation.

It adds that a hate crime designation by D.C. police may not be prosecuted as a hate crime by prosecutors. Under D.C. law, juvenile cases are prosecuted by the Office of the D.C. Attorney General. 

Since court records for cases involving juveniles are sealed from public access, the Blade could not immediately determine whether prosecutors designated the case as a hate crime.

It also could not immediately be determined if the juvenile charged in the case was being held in detention while awaiting trial at juvenile court or whether he was released to a parent or guardian and whether a judge set any conditions for release.

The police statement concludes by saying that the department’s Special Liaison Branch, which includes the LGBT Liaison Unit, is assisting with the investigation. 

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