Local
Va. lawmakers introduce anti-bullying bills
Ebbin, Englin plan legislation to toughen state’s existing laws
Two members of the Virginia House of Delegates — one gay, one a straight ally — have introduced two anti-bullying bills that, if successful, will be major accomplishments in the coming legislative session considering how difficult activists and elected officials there have found getting pro-LGBT legislation passed.
Del. Adam Ebbin, who represents Virginia’s 49th House District, which includes parts of Arlington County, Alexandria and Fairfax County, has introduced legislation that would make bullying a class one misdemeanor, give victims the right to sue bullies who are sanctioned or found guilty, provide for expulsions for bullies and require that any bullying that causes injury be reported to the state’s attorney. Ebbin is the only openly gay member of the House of Delegates.
Del. David Englin, who represents the state’s 45th House District which includes parts of Arlington and Fairfax counties and Alexandria, has introduced the “Anti-Bullying Responsibility Act,” which would add specificity to the codes of student conduct already required of state school districts, require schools to have procedures in place to separate victims from bullies, make bullying intervention a requirement for teachers, require incidents to be reported to superintendents and hold administrators responsible for their local policies.
“No child should be afraid to go to school and every child has a right to a safe learning environment,” Ebbin said. “We need to make sure that school is a safe environment for all our children.”
Forty-seven states have anti-bullying laws in place and 35 states have taken action against cyber bullying, including Virginia. Ebbin said these new laws, if passed, would “add teeth” to existing laws.
Englin’s bill, for instance, adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the definition of bullying even though some districts, such as his, already have that specified. He said having those areas identified is important because in some parts of the state, educators don’t take anti-gay bullying seriously.
“Even some teachers have been known to use anti-gay epithets in class,” Englin said. “This law would make it so that even in areas where there isn’t a strong policy that makes it clear that’s not OK, this would.”
Ebbin said he was inspired to introduce the legislation in part because of the late Christian Taylor, a 16-year-old freshman at Grafton High School in Yorktown, Va., who committed suicide last May after enduring months of bullying. He hung himself in his bedroom. His mother told reporters they had reported the bullying to school administrators and police but nothing was done. Police said they looked into the situation but turned it over to the school when they determined no crime had been committed.
Ebbin said one bully told Taylor, “you need to just go commit suicide and get it over with.”
Englin admitted, considering Virginia’s poor track record of passing LGBT-friendly laws, the sexual orientation and gender identity provisions in his bill could hinder it but he said it’s still important to try to get it passed that way.
Equality Virginia, of course, supports the legislation but said its staff and lobbyists have yet to finalize their legislative priorities for the year. The board of its lobbying arm is meeting this weekend to decide its members’ goals.
“We haven’t finalized anything but obviously a law protecting LGBT employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity has been on the top of our wish list for about three years,” said James Parrish, the organization’s deputy director.
Parrish also said provisions for partners of gay state employees and having sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes in the state’s human rights act will likely top the organization’s “wish list.”
And if Del. Bob Marshall introduces a bill — which he said he’s drafting — to ban gays from serving in the Virginia National Guard, Parrish said defeating it would be among his group’s top goals.
District of Columbia
Capital Pride board member resigns, takes role as Trump’s acting Sec’y of Labor
Vince Micone asserts ‘DEIA programs resulted in shameful discrimination’
On his first day in office President Donald Trump on Jan. 20 named Vince Micone, who’s gay, as Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor.
Micone, who has worked in high-level positions in federal government agencies for at least 30 years, has served on the board of directors of D.C.’s Capital Pride Alliance, which organizes most of D.C.’s LGBTQ Pride events, for 15 years. But Micone resigned from the board this week, just months before the city’s WorldPride celebration that is expected to draw 2+ million visitors to D.C. in May and June.
Micone most recently served as head of the Department of Labor’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management, according to a report by Reuters. But his tenure as Secretary of Labor will be a short appointment.
Trump has nominated former U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a Republican from Oregon, to be the permanent Secretary of Labor. Her nomination is expected to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate in the next week or two.
Micone’s appointment as acting Secretary of Labor became Trump’s second appointment of an out gay man to a U.S. Cabinet position. In November, shortly after his election as president, Trump nominated gay hedge fund executive Scott Bessent to be U.S. Treasury Secretary.
The Senate Finance Committee this week voted to approve Bessent’s nomination and to send it to the full Senate for final approval.
Micone couldn’t immediately be reached by the Washington Blade for comment. Ashley Smith, chair of the Capital Pride Alliance board, said Micone informed the board he was stepping down this week as a board member due to his new duties as Acting Secretary of Labor.
The Capital Pride Alliance website includes a short biography of Micone that says he has served on the organization’s board since 2010 and until his resignation this week served as Vice President of Operations and Treasurer.
“Vince serves as co-chairperson of the Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area, which has raised $732 million for charities in our community, across the nation, and around the world under his leadership,” the Capital Pride write-up says.
“Vince has served as an elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in D.C, a member of the Mayor’s LGBT Commission, and Chairperson of the D.C. Commission on National and Community Service,” according to the write-up. “He has participated in many LGBTQ+ organizations, is a DC Front Runner, and served as a fierce advocate for HIV programming and quality for our community,” it says.
The Reuters report says that prior to working at the Department of Labor, Micone held positions with the Department of Commerce, Department of Treasury, and Department of Homeland Security. Reuters also reported that Micone served on Trump’s 2016 presidential transition team.
On Thursday, Micone sent an email to all Labor Department staffers informing them that, “We are taking steps to close all agency [Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility] offices and end all DEIA-related contracts in accordance with President Trump’s Executive Orders … These programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination.”
The email, which bears Micone’s name and title, goes on to threaten any department employees who “disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language.”
The same letter has been sent to other federal agencies.
Virginia
Va. Senate committee tables three anti-transgender bills
Measures targeted trans student athletes, gender-affirming care for minors
Virginia lawmakers this week killed three anti-transgender bills.
The Virginia Senate Health and Education Committee on Thursday tabled Senate Bill 749, which would have banned trans athletes from school sports teams that correspond with their gender identity. The same committee on Thursday tabled a similar measure, Senate Bill 1079.
The committee on Thursday also tabled Senate Bill 1074, which would have made it “unlawful for any individual to provide gender transition procedures, defined in the bill, for minors and prohibits the use of public funds for gender transition procedures.”
“All students deserve to play and to have access to essential healthcare,” said the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia on Thursday in a social media post.
Maryland
Originally charged with hate crimes, Salisbury University students now face misdemeanor charges
Suspects allegedly attacked man they met on Grindr
The first three Salisbury University students charged in an attack on a man they allegedly lured to an off-campus apartment using a dating app are set to stand trial this week.
Dylan Pietuszka, 20, Logan Clark, 20, and Sean Antone, 19, are among the 15 Salisbury students who in early November were taken into custody in connection with the attack and charged with hate crimes.
All three men standing trial this week are only facing two charges: Second degree assault and false imprisonment, which are both misdemeanors.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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