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Updates in Betts, Wone murder cases

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Family of slain gay principal pushes hate crime prosecution

Lawyers representing the family of murdered D.C. middle school principal Brian Betts, who was gay, met with officials at the U.S. Department of Justice on Dec. 7 to reiterate an earlier request that the department investigate whether the murder should be declared a federal hate crime.

Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred, who has represented celebrities in high-profile cases, said after the meeting that she and co-counsel Rene Sandler asked members of the DOJā€™s Civil Rights Division to determine whether at least one of the four teenagers charged in the murder violated the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.

Allred noted that defendant Alante Saunders, 19, pled guilty to first-degree felony murder for shooting Betts to death and has been sentenced to 40 years in jail. But she said his use of a gay sex chat line to meet Betts and target him for a robbery could be grounds for initiating a hate crime prosecution.

ā€œIt is clear to us that a person who participates in a male-to-male sex-chat line would be perceived as gay and may be thought to be an especially vulnerable target for a criminal,ā€ Allred said.

Sandler said the Justice Department officials promised to review the case and make a determination in the near future on whether to open a hate crime investigation in the Betts murder case. She said the meeting lasted more than an hour.

Betts was found murdered in his Silver Spring, Md., house in April. In addition to Saunders, two other youths implicated in Bettsā€™ murder pled guilty to lesser charges. A fourth youth is scheduled to stand trial but is said to be considering accepting a plea bargain offer from prosecutors.

The chief prosecutor in the case has said the evidence doesnā€™t support a hate crime prosecution.

Gag order requestĀ denied in Wone case

The judge presiding over a $20 million wrongful death lawsuit filed against three gay men for the 2006 murder of local attorney Robert Wone denied the menā€™s request that all lawyers in the case be barred from speaking to the media.

Lawyers representing Joseph Price, Victor Zaborsky and Dylan Ward argued that remarks made to the press by at least one of the attorneys representing Kathy Wone, wife of the slain attorney, were highly prejudicial and would make it difficult to obtain an impartial jury in the case.

They were referring to a comment by attorney Patrick Regan outside the courtroom earlier this year related to the defendantsā€™ stated plan to invoke the Fifth Amendment to allow them to refuse to answer nearly all questions at their trial next spring.

Regan told members of the media that, ā€œdefendants donā€™t assert their fifth amendment rights if they are not guilty of something.ā€

The defendants are expected to argue that answering questions in the civil trial or during pre-trial depositions could incriminate them in a possible future criminal prosecution.

The three were found not guilty on charges of conspiracy and evidence tampering in connection with the Wone murder in a criminal trial earlier this year. No one has been charged with the murder.

In addition to denying the defendantsā€™ gag order request, Judge Brook Hedge also denied a defense motion to dismiss the entire case.

Hedge denied a third motion by the defense requesting that the defendantsā€™ lawyers rather than the defendants themselves be allowed to recite the Fifth Amendment as grounds for not answering a question each time the plaintiffā€™s lawyers fire questions at the defendants.

Under this ruling, Price, Zaborsky and Ward must state for themselvesā€”while on the witness stand or in pre-trial depositionsā€”that they are invoking their Fifth Amendment right not to answer a question.

Robert Wone was found stabbed to death in a guest bedroom in the Dupont Circle area home of the three men in August 2006. The men have said an unidentified intruder killed Wone after entering the house through a rear door. Police and prosecutors disputed this claim, saying evidence showed that no one entered the home at the time of the murder and that the three men know who the murderer is but are covering up for that person.

A D.C. Superior Court judge, who presided over the non-jury criminal trial, ruled that the government did not provide sufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the three men committed the offenses with which they were chargedā€”obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice and evidence tampering.

Legal experts have said civil cases require a lower threshold of proof, making it possible that the three gay defendants could be found responsible for Robert Woneā€™s death from a civil standpoint. A jury must decide the amount of monetary damages the men would be responsible for if found guilty.

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Comings & Goings

Charles Roth joins board of Pride Bands Alliance

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Charles Roth

The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].Ā 

Congratulations to Charles Roth on his appointment to the board of directors of the Pride Bands Alliance, the national and international organization for LGBTQ bands. On his appointment Roth said, ā€œI am beyond humbled, and excited, to join the Board of Directors of Pride Bands Alliance at the national / international level for LGBTQ+ band organizations.  The mission of promoting diversity, inclusivity, community, and pride through music is something I have always held very close to my heart.  I very much look forward to working with this amazing organization and team, to keep that visibility alive and well, and to help foster and expand it even more across our country.ā€

Roth is the 2025 Guest Drum Major for The Queer Big Apple Corps, and former Marching Band Artistic Director for D.C.ā€™s Different Drummers. Under his leadership, DCDD expanded its presence in and around our nationā€™s capital, featuring high-profile performances including at the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade, Smithsonian Institute, World Pride 2019, and two special appearances at the Naval Observatory, home of Vice President Kamala Harris. He is the Team DC LGBTQ Student Athlete Scholarship Chair, and board member.  He is a band director in Alexandria City Public Schools, and teaches middle school band at a Title I, International Baccalaureate School, where he built an award-winning program.  

Congratulations also to Amira McKee and Chinanu Okoli, named by The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists as recipients of the 2024 Phillips-Green Family Scholarship. These scholarships provide financial assistance to two CONNECT participants to support their participation in the CONNECT Student Journalism Training Project, and help launch their careers as young journalists.

“We are so excited to be partnering with the Phillips-Green Family Fund,” said NLGJA Executive Director Adam Pawlus. “Thanks to their generosity, we are thrilled to continue our support for young journalists whose work exemplifies our mission of creating a fairer and more diverse field of journalism.” 

The CONNECT Student Journalism Training Project provides real-world, hands-on experience to students or recent graduates pursuing a career in journalism. The Phillips-Green Family Fund aims to provide organizations with financial assistance that work toward the education and well-being of women, children, and families. Their support helps make it possible for students in financial need to participate in our CONNECT program.

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District of Columbia

A D.C. AIDS story: ā€˜I couldnā€™t have survived without you guysā€™

Old friends reunite as mystery of Kilbourne Place memorial stones is solved

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Three gay men are memorialized in stones placed along Kilbourne Place in Mount Pleasant. (Blade photo by Michael Key)

ā€˜Red Reminds Meā€™
Seven videos reflecting the spectrum of living with HIV
Sunday, Dec. 1, 4-9 p.m.
David Bethuel Jamieson Studio House at Walbridge
3229 Walbridge Place, N.W.
Washington, D.C.
Reserve free admission on Eventbrite

In the tradition of my family, funerals are not somber affairs cloaked in black garb. We call them ā€œcelebrations of lifeā€ where through our tears we laugh and reminisce about the dead. At the end, we all gather either in the basement of a church or a matriarchā€™s house where over a spread of rich, decadent food, we rejoice in the fact that our dead relative shed the chains of their flesh and transcended to the next phase. With bellies full, the kids run outside and play with each other and the adults would drink and trade stories. The repast is my fondest memories of childhood. It was a time when I could see family members separated by distance and eat collard greens simmered in smoked turkey and mac and cheese so cheesy that it solidified into a brick when cold. 

Never would I have imagined that a repast would occur at Don Juanā€™s on the corner of Mt. Pleasant and Lamont. Instead of collard greens and mac and cheese, I dined on cheese pupusas with curtido. This occasion solidified the importance of a chosen family. While none of us were related by blood, we were related through one thread: AIDS. The story of the Kilbourne Memorial Stones is an AIDS story in which through unraveling the lives of Robert Rockershousen, Jakob Efsen, and Charles Winney, we received a glimpse into the impact of AIDS within D.C.ā€™s gay community. A community that is often overshadowed by New York City and San Francisco when the early years of the epidemic are discussed.

When the Blade published my story ā€œUnraveling mystery of the Kilbourne Place memorial stonesā€ in August of 2023, Charles Winneyā€™s story was still untold. What I did find out about him was through scouring public records but, no one stepped up to eulogize him. My friend, Peter Stebbins, knew of my struggles to locate a source for Charles and motivated me to continue fighting for him. In June of this year, I told Peter that I knew of Charlesā€™s partner, Larry Martin, who lives in Provincetown, Mass. Between the years of 2022 and 2023, I reached out to Larry through multiple means, but I received no response. Peter being a Provincetown regular since the 1980s, was adamant that he knew someone who knew Larry and could get him in contact with me. I cautioned Peter that this might not have been a good idea. I interpreted Larryā€™s silence as not wanting to reopen an old wound.

Undeterred, Peter found a mutual friend on Facebook and reached out to Larry; 48 hours later, a relationship formed between Larry and me. Through phone conversations and in-person interviews, he brought me into the world of Larry & Chuck (Charles). From their beginnings as a young couple in Baltimore through their years on 1747 Kilbourne Place, they built an intricate and intimate web of community that reminded me of the communal affection I received from my family. There was this sense of ā€œthrough thick and thinā€ that allowed them to stand in the gap for others within their community that were affected by AIDS. Larry told of how he and Chuck used to host dinners and care for those who were dying. They did it because they cared, and it was important to their identity as gay Christians to be of service of others.

In our many conversations, Larry alluded to the identity of who placed the stones. He hinted at the fact that it was a communal effort, and it wasnā€™t some lone solitary figure. Excitedly, I wanted to immediately put the story out, but he suggested for me to wait until he brought in his two friends, Mark Lambert and John Koran. Mark was Chuck and Larryā€™s roommate on Kilbourne Place. He was one quarter of the ā€œGolden Girls,ā€ which consisted of Mark, his friend Robbie, Larry, and Chuck. Together, they hosted large parties on the property that included parties for Pride. John was Robertā€™s best friend and roommate. Like Larry, I reached out to John through multiple avenues, but we did not connect.

Within a week, we were sitting at Don Juanā€™s drinking and breaking bread. While it was my intention to keep the group interview as formal as possible, I became enraptured in the camaraderie and nostalgia that permeated the air. Among these men with their graying hair and wrinkles, I again felt like that kid at the repast listening in on the adults. Larry officiated in a manner that was reminiscent of a patriarch. He corralled us all together in a group chat and laid the foundation for us to gather. Although the initial goal was to find out more information about Chuck, that moment laid bare the reality that these men belonged to a fraternity where they were hazed by the devastation of the AIDS epidemic. They are AIDS survivors.

Allowing these men to convene and break bread in fellowship was a way to finally eulogize Chuck and also a way for them to have a repast for Jake and Robert. Their banter and inside jokes brought forth a youthfulness and exuberance that almost moved me to tears on a few occasions. They became the adults in my family who drank their liquor and slapped their knees in laughter as they reminisced about the good olā€™ days. While the men gave their eulogies, it was revealed that Larry, John, and a few others decided to lay down the Kilbourne Memorial Stones. It was decided that now that these men were together, we should walk down to the stones and take photos. 

The men stood in front of the stones and on the porch of 1747 Kilbourne Place and they continued to laugh and tell stories while I snapped photos. We eventually parted ways and as I waited on the corner for a car to pass, I turned around and looked at the men for what may be the very last time. They were walking with their arms wrapped around each other like brothers. The scene reminded me of a discussion that was had at the dinner table less than an hour before. I asked the men if they believed their lives as gay men would be different during the epidemic if they didnā€™t have the support of each other. They all agreed in unison that their friendship was instrumental in their survival and Larry said among the nodding of heads, ā€œI couldnā€™t have survived without you guys.ā€

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District of Columbia

D.C. Health Link insurance program makes care for people with HIV free

Deductible, co-payments eliminated under new policy

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D.C. Health Link insurance plans already cover PrEP but a new plan will make all HIV care free. (Photo by Bowonpat/Bigstock)

The executive board of the D.C. Health Benefit Exchange Authority, which arranges for D.C. residents and nonresidents employed in D.C. to obtain health insurance coverage, voted unanimously on Nov. 19 to make the treatment and long-term care of people with HIV free of charge if they are enrolled in one of the authorityā€™s health insurance plans.

D.C. Health Link, an independent D.C. agency created by the Health Benefit Exchange Authority to carry out its health insurance program, announced the new HIV care policy in a Nov. 20 statement.

ā€œMaking HIV care free ā€“ meaning no deductibles, no co-insurance, no copays ā€“ will save lives,ā€ said Diane C. Lewis, chair of the Health Benefit Exchange Authorityā€™s board in the statement.

ā€œStarting in Plan Year 2026, residents enrolled in a D.C. Health Link Essential Plan can get free primary care visits, free laboratory tests, and free generic HIV medication,ā€ the statement says. ā€œVisits that would otherwise cost up to $45 per visit and $55 per lab test will be free,ā€ it says.

ā€œMaking primary care for HIV free will improve health outcomes,ā€ the statement continues, noting that HIV disproportionately impacts communities of color. It points out that in D.C., 71 percent of people living with HIV are Black and 8 percent are Latino.

The statement also points out that nationwide at the end of 2022, ā€œonly 64 percent of the Black population with HIV was linked to care and 53 percent were virally suppressed, meaning their HIV was suppressed through treatment.ā€

In contrast, according to the statement, ā€œ70 percent of the white population with HIV was linked to care and 63 percent were virally suppressed.ā€  

The statement also notes that Whitman-Walker Health, the D.C.-based LGBTQ supportive health care provider and research facility, played an important role in helping the D.C. Health Benefit Exchange Authority develop the free HIV care program.

Mila Kofman, executive director of the D.C. Health Benefit Exchange Authority, explained that the authority created D.C. Health Link as part of D.C.ā€™s participation in the federal healthcare program established by the U.S. Affordable Care Act, which was approved by Congress during the administration of President Barack Obama.

Kofman noted that like programs established by states under the Affordable Care Act, D.C. Health Link arranges for D.C. residents or non-residents who work in D.C. to obtain health insurance plans from private health insurance companies. Among those participating in the D.C. program are United Healthcare, Blue Cross-Blue Shield, and Kaiser Permanente, Kofman said.

Like all private health insurance plans, Kofman said people participating in the plans arranged by D.C. Health Link must pay a monthly premium for their plan. She said the premiums vary based on the amount of coverage participants select in choosing a specific plan and reduced premiums are available for people depending on their income.  

She said that due to the highly complex process for making policy changes for health insurance, which includes a review and approval by the D.C. Insurance Commissioner, the process takes a little over a year to complete. Thus, the new ā€œfreeā€ HIV care coverage will begin Jan. 1, 2026.

According to Kofman, existing D.C. Health Link insurance plans already cover the HIV prevention medication known as PrEP.

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