Local
Gay candidates poised for victory in local races
Catania, Graham favored in D.C.; Md. could see 7 out lawmakers
D.C.’s two gay Council members — David Catania (I-At-Large) and Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) — are considered strong favorites to win re-election, and the number of out gay or lesbian members of the Maryland Legislature is expected to increase from four to seven in Tuesday’s election.
In Virginia, most political observers expect Arlington’s lesbian school board member, Sally Baird, to win a second term on Tuesday in her role as the only out gay or lesbian candidate on the Virginia ballot this year.
“We feel really excited about increasing our numbers in the legislature, not only lesbian and gay members but other members who are supportive on our issues, including marriage equality,” said Morgan Meneses-Sheets, executive director of Equality Maryland, a statewide LGBT group.
Meneses-Sheets noted that the four lesbian or gay incumbent legislators and three challengers who won nomination in the Democratic primary on Sept. 14 are running in strong Democratic districts and are expected to win in the general election Tuesday.
One of the challengers, Mary Washington, is poised to become Maryland’s first out black lesbian to win election to the state legislature and just the second black lesbian to win a state legislature seat nationwide.
Lesbian Democrat Simone Bell became the first to capture that distinction last year when she won a seat in the Georgia House of Representatives from Atlanta.
The incumbent gay or lesbian lawmakers expected to win re-election to the Maryland Legislature on Tuesday include Sen. Richard Madaleno (District 18 in Montgomery County); Del. Maggie McIntosh (District 43 in Baltimore); Del. Heather Mizeur (District 20 in parts of Silver Spring and Takoma Park); and Del. Anne Kaiser (District 14 in parts of Silver Spring, Olney and Damascus). All four are Democrats.
The three Democratic challengers include Washington, who is running in the same House of Delegates District as McIntosh. Most districts in the Maryland Legislature include one senator and three delegate seats, with voters authorized to cast one vote for a senator and three votes for House of Delegates members.
The other challengers include gay Anne Arundel County Assistant State’s Attorney Luke Clippinger, who is running for a House of Delegates seat in District 46, which includes south and southeast Baltimore, including parts of Federal Hill, Fell’s Point and Patterson Park.
Lesbian teacher and National Education Association Foundation official Bonnie Cullison is running for a House of Delegates seat in District 19, which includes the Montgomery County jurisdictions of Gaithersburg, Aspen Hill, Wheaton and Olney.
Another gay challenger in Maryland, consultant Byron Macfarlane, is running for the state post of Register of Wills in Howard County. Macfarlane is a member of the Howard County Democratic Committee and is running against a Republican incumbent, Kay Hartleb. His prospects of winning are less certain, according to Howard County political observers.
In D.C., Catania and Graham have longstanding community ties to a broad constituency and are expected to beat their lesser-known incumbents. They also have strong records on LGBT rights, with Catania writing and Graham co-introducing the same-sex marriage law that the Council passed last December. The two have been endorsed by the Washington Post.
Both received +10 ratings from the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance, the group’s top rating on a scale ranging from -10 to +10.
Graham is being challenged by gay Republican activist Marc Morgan, who has expressed strong support for LGBT issues, including the city’s same-sex marriage equality law. Morgan received a +6.5 rating from GLAA.
Catania is running in a four-candidate race where two at-large seats are lumped together in the same contest under the city’s election law. Also running for re-election to one of the two seats is Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large), who has a strong record in support of LGBT rights. Mendelson played a lead role in advancing the same-sex marriage law in his position as chair of the Council’s Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary.
The two are being challenged in the race by Statehood Green Party candidate David Schwartzman, who received a +6 GLAA rating, and independent candidate Richard Urban, who received a -3.5 GLAA rating score. Urban is a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage equality and is aligned with Bishop Harry Jackson and other gay rights opponents who favor a ballot measure calling for repeal of the same-sex marriage law.
City election rules allow voters to cast ballots for two candidates in the four-candidate race. The candidates with the highest two vote counts win the race.
The fourth out gay candidate running in D.C.’s general election this year is Republican Tim Day, an accountant who is challenging Council member Harry Thomas (D-Ward 5).
Day created a stir two weeks ago when he released records from the IRS and D.C.’s office of corporations showing that a constituent services group for which Thomas has raised money as a non-profit organization did not have an IRS tax exemption. Day also produced city records showing the group has lost its status as a D.C. corporation, prompting Day to accuse Thomas of operating a “fake organization” and a political “slush fund.”
Thomas denied the allegations, saying Day was seeking to turn the matter into a publicity stunt to help his flagging election campaign, where Thomas is considered the odds-on favorite to win. According to Thomas, he never promoted his Team Thomas/SwingAway charitable group as having an IRS non-profit status.
But the Washington Post, which has disagreed with Thomas’ positions on other issues, cited questions about the group as being among its reasons for endorsing Day for the Council seat.
“Mr. Day, an accountant with a record of community service, impresses us with his devotion to the ward and his pragmatic ideas about how to solve some of its more persistent problems,” the Post wrote in its endorsement. The Post endorsement didn’t identify Day as a gay candidate.
GLAA gave Day a +1.5 rating, saying he did not clearly show evidence of involvement in LGBT-related issues. The group noted it docked points from him after he stated on a GLAA candidate questionnaire that he supported an amendment by Council member Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7) seeking to weaken the same-sex marriage law by allowing businesses and non-religious organizations to refuse to provide services related to same-sex weddings if the businesses or groups had objections to gay unions.
Day told the Blade this week that he misinterpreted GLAA’s question about Alexander’s amendment, which lost in a committee vote. He said he would never support an effort to deny services to same-sex couples and should have stated in the questionnaire that he strongly opposed such an amendment.
Thomas voted for the same-sex marriage law and stated on his GLAA questionnaire response that he also opposed the Alexander amendment.
In other D.C. races, all of the remaining Democratic nominees, including mayoral candidate Vincent Gray, City Council Chair candidate Kwame Brown, and D.C. Congressional Del. Eleanor Homes Norton are considered strong favorites to win their respective races. All are supporters of LGBT rights and same-sex marriage equality.
In addition, the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club has identified at least 27 gay or lesbian candidates running for Advisory Neighborhood Commission seats. About half are running unopposed.
Those facing opponents include Ramon Estrada of ANC District 2B09 in Dupont Circle, who is being challenged by attorney and community activist Sunit Talapatra; and Bob Siegel of 6DO7 (Washington Nationals Stadium area), who faces a challenge by neighborhood newcomer and urban design specialist David Garber.
Go here to see the gay ANC candidates.
Arts & Entertainment
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District of Columbia
Imperial Court of Washington drag group has ‘dissolved’
Board president cites declining support since pandemic
The Imperial Court of Washington, a D.C.-based organization of drag performers that has raised at least $250,000 or more for local LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ charitable groups since its founding in 2010, announced on Jan. 5 that it has ended its operations by dissolving its corporate status.
In a Jan. 5 statement posted on Facebook, Robert Amos, president of the group’s board of directors, said the board voted that day to formally dissolve the organization in accordance with its bylaws.
“This decision was made after careful consideration and was based on several factors, including ongoing challenges in adhering to the bylaws, maintaining compliance with 501(c)(3) requirements, continued lack of member interest and attendance, and a lack of community involvement and support as well,” Amos said in his statement.
He told the Washington Blade in a Jan. 6 telephone interview that the group was no longer in compliance with its bylaws, which require at least six board members, when the number of board members declined to just four. He noted that the lack of compliance with its bylaws also violated the requirements of its IRS status as a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c) (3) organization.
According to Amos, the inability to recruit additional board members came at a time when the organization was continuing to encounter a sharp drop in support from the community since the start of the COVID pandemic around 2020 and 2021.
Amos and longtime Imperial Court of Washington member and organizer Richard Legg, who uses the drag name Destiny B. Childs, said in the years since its founding, the group’s drag show fundraising events have often been attended by 150 or more people. They said the events have been held in LGBTQ bars, including Freddie’s Beach Bar in Arlington, as well as in other venues such as theaters and ballrooms.
Among the organizations receiving financial support from Imperial Court of Washington have been SMYAL, PFLAG, Whitman-Walker Health’s Walk to End HIV, Capital Pride Alliance, the DC LGBT Community Center, and the LGBTQ Fallen Heroes Fund. Other groups receiving support included Pets with Disabilities, the Epilepsy Foundation of Washington, and Grandma’s House.
The Imperial Court of Washington’s website, which was still online as of Jan. 6, says the D.C. group has been a proud member of the International Court System, which was founded in San Francisco in 1965 as a drag performance organization that evolved into a charitable fundraising operation with dozens of affiliated “Imperial Court” groups like the one in D.C.
Amos, who uses the drag name Veronica Blake, said he has heard that Imperial Court groups in other cities including Richmond and New York City, have experienced similar drops in support and attendance in the past year or two. He said the D.C. group’s events in the latter part of 2025 attracted 12 or fewer people, a development that has prevented it from sustaining its operations financially.
He said the membership, which helped support it financially through membership dues, has declined in recent years from close to 100 to its current membership of 21.
“There’s a lot of good we have done for the groups we supported, for the charities, and the gay community here,” Amos said. “It is just sad that we’ve had to do this, mainly because of the lack of interest and everything going on in the world and the national scene.”
Virginia
LGBTQ groups to join Spanberger inaugural parade
Virginia Pride among more than 25 orgs to march in Jan.17 event
Virginia Gov.-Elect Abigail Spanberger’s inaugural committee announced on Jan. 2 that at least two LGBTQ organizations will be among more than 25 state-based organizations, including marching bands, that will participate in her inaugural parade on Jan. 17.
A statement released by the inaugural committee says the parade will take place immediately after Spanberger is sworn in as Virginia’s 75th governor and delivers her inaugural address in Richmond.
The statement lists the LGBTQ groups Virginia Pride and Diversity Richmond as two groups participating in the parade, although the two groups merged in 2021, with Virginia Pride becoming a project of Diversity Richmond. Among other things, Virginia Pride organizes Richmond’s annual LGBTQ Pride events.
“A display of the impressive talent and beauty of every corner of Virginia, our inaugural parade will be a celebration of all that makes our Commonwealth strong,” Spanberger said in the Jan. 2 statement. “I’m excited for attendees in the stands on Capitol Square and families watching together at home to see this incredible showing of Virginia pride,” she said.
James Millner, who serves as director of Virginia Pride, told the Washington Blade about 75 people are expected to join the Virginia Pride-Diversity Richmond contingent in the parade. He said among them will be members of other Virginia LGBTQ organizations.
“We’re going to invite our staff, our board, our volunteers, and our community partners to join us,” Millner said.
“We are thrilled and honored to have been invited to participate in Abigail Spanberger’s inauguration festivities,” he added. “I think this represents a marked change from the previous administration and demonstrates what she campaigned on – which is she sees the diversity of the Commonwealth as a strength that needs to be celebrated,” he said. “And we are very happy that she has invited us to represent the diversity of the commonwealth.”
Millner appeared to reflect on the sentiment of the large majority of Virginia’s LGBTQ community in its support for Democrat Spanberger over Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in the November 2025 Virginia election and the end of incumbent GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s term in office on Jan. 17.
“After what we’ve been through with the Younkin administration, especially in its treatment of LGBTQ folks, especially transgender and nonconforming folks, I think we are all breathing easy and excited about what opportunities will exist in working with Abigail Spanberger,” he told the Blade.
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