Local
Gay man charged with ‘hate crime’
Says he defended himself against basher on 17th Street
Kevin Jaden Perry (Blade photo by Michael Key)
D.C. police Sunday night charged a gay man with a gay-related hate crime following an altercation with a panhandler on the sidewalk outside the 17th Street, N.W. gay bar JR’s.
The United States Attorney’s office dropped the hate crime designation the next day at an arraignment in D.C. Superior Court for Kevin “Jaden” Perry, 35, who says he’s a member of the local group called Radical Faeries.
But based on a police account of what happened, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s office charged him with assault, possession of a prohibited weapon (a chain), and threats to do bodily harm to the panhandler. A judge released him on his own recognizance while he awaits a possible trial.
Perry and two friends who were with him dispute the allegations, saying the panhandler started the incident by calling Perry a faggot and raising his fists near Perry’s face when Perry refused the man’s request for money.
“I never assaulted the guy,” Perry told the Blade at the courthouse after his arraignment. “I called him out for calling me a faggot,” he said. “I was on 17th Street on a gay street and I just wasn’t going to take that.”
A police report filed in court, based on accounts by the panhandler and an unidentified witness, quotes Perry as calling the panhandler a “faggot” at the time Perry allegedly assaulted him.
“I will kill you. You’re a faggot,” the report quotes Perry as saying. “I’m a real faggot, bitch. You don’t want to fuck with a real faggot, bitch. I will fucking kill you.”
When asked about the police report, Perry said he never threatened to kill the panhandler and never physically assaulted him. He said he used the word faggot in the form of a question after the panhandler hurled that word at him.
“What I said was, ‘faggot? I’ll show you a faggot. I’ll whup your ass if you hit me,’” Perry told the Blade. “I never threatened to kill anybody.”
Perry continued, “Had he not thrown the first punch I would have walked away because honestly at that time I just wanted to go the McDonald’s and go … home.
“And he had to throw a punch and that’s when I lost it because I don’t take that shit,” he said. “I refuse to be victimized. You know, if you act like a victim you’re going to be treated like a victim.”
Roy Alexander, one of two friends who were with Perry at the time of the incident, backed up Perry’s version of what happened. He said that while Perry did call the panhandler names as the two “cussed at each other,” he never heard Perry threaten to harm the man.
“I was right there,” Alexander said. “The police talked to me. I told them what happened … The fact that I’m not even mentioned in the police report says something.”
“There’s been a lot of gay bashings in this city, and we seem to get attacked because we come across as weak,” Alexander said. “And now when someone stands up for himself he gets accused of a crime. This is just insane.”
D.C. police initially charged Perry with a bias-related assault with a dangerous weapon (a chain); felony threats; and simple assault after the panhandler and a witness told police Perry attempted to strike the panhandler with a chain he pulled from his pocket and punched the man in the back.
The report says Second District Police Officer La Vida Ellerbe, who is an affiliate member of the police’s Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit, was on the scene and played a role in listing the incident as a hate crime.
The police report says the panhandler and the witness reported that Perry swung his chain at the panhandler and missed hitting him. An attempt to hit someone is considered an assault even if the attempt fails under criminal assault laws.
According to the police report, the panhandler and the witness said the chain fell out of Perry’s hand and landed on the ground and the panhandler picked it up and started to run away. It says Perry chased after the man. It says the panhandler reported Perry punched him in the upper back with a closed fist. The witness reported seeing Perry “throw a punch” toward the panhandler’s back, the police report says.
Perry denies he swung the chain at the panhandler, saying he swung it in the air in a circular motion as a warning that he would use it to defend himself if the panhandler attacked him. Perry said the panhandler swung the chain in the same circular motion but leaned forward toward him when the panhandler picked up the chain after Perry dropped it.
Perry said that in the heat of the moment, after the panhandler raised his fists like a boxer, he may have lunged at the man with his fist “but I never actually made contact.”
When told of the police report’s contents, Alexander said he never saw Perry wield the chain as if to attempt to strike the panhandler. He said he did not hear Perry threaten to assault or kill the panhandler as stated in the report.
At the courthouse, Perry said he feared that the panhandler was about to hit him because he raised his fists and moved toward him as if he were going to assault him.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released by a judge, who agreed to a request by Assistant U.S. Attorney James Perez that Perry be prohibited from returning to the 1500 block of 17th Street., N.W., where JR.’s is located, until the case is resolved. Perry is scheduled to return to court for a hearing on Feb. 14.
William Miller, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office, said he couldn’t immediately determine why prosecutors didn’t classify the charges against Perry as a hate crime. He said that similar to all cases at the arraignment stage, prosecutors could file additional charges at a later date if new information surfaces to warrant such charges.
“These are the initial charges,” he said.
The police report describes Perry’s chain as being between two and three feet long and of “medium gauge.”
In an interview at the courthouse following his arraignment, Perry said the chain was part of the leather-oriented clothes he wore on the night of the incident. He wore the same clothes upon his release at the courthouse: a black leather jacket and military camouflage pants.
Despite his appearance, Perry said he regularly performs in drag and had been involved, before moving to D.C. from San Francisco last year, in a group called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The group consists of men dressed as nuns who perform satirical skits to poke fun at the Catholic Church’s position on homosexuality and gay rights.
He said he had planned to form a Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence group in D.C. but said his arrest this week, which he believes was unjustified, plus his inability to find a job in D.C., has prompted him to decide to move to Baltimore.
District of Columbia
Capital Stonewall Democrats elect new leaders
LGBTQ political group set to celebrate 50th anniversary
Longtime Democratic Party activists Stevie McCarty and Brad Howard won election last week as president and vice president for administration for the Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political organization.
In a Feb. 24 announcement, the group said McCarty and Howard, both of whom are elected DC Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, ran in a special Capital Stonewall Democrats election to fill the two leadership positions that became vacant when the officers they replaced resigned.
Outgoing President Howard Garrett, who McCarty has replaced, told the Washington Blade he resigned after taking on a new position as chair of the city’s Ward 1 Democratic Committee. The Capital Stonewall Democrats announcement didn’t say who Howard replaced as vice president for administration.
The group’s website shows its other officers include Elizabeth Mitchell as Vice President for Legislative and Political Affairs, and Monica Nemeth as Treasurer. The officer position of secretary is vacant, the website shows.
“As we look toward 2026, the stakes for D.C. and for LGBTQ+ communities have never been clearer,” the group’s statement announcing McCarty and Howard’s election says. “Our 50th anniversary celebration on March 20 and the launch of our D.C. LGBTQ+ Voter’s Guide mark the beginning of a major year for endorsements, organizing, and coalition building,” the statement says.
McCarty said among the organization’s major endeavors will be holding virtual endorsement forums where candidates running for D.C. mayor and the Council will appear and seek the group’s endorsement.
Founded in 1976 as the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the organization’s members voted in 2021 to change its name to Capital Stonewall Democrats. McCarty said the 50th anniversary celebration on March 20, in which D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and members of the D.C. Council are expected to attend, will be held at the PEPCO Gallery meeting center at 702 8th St., N.W.
Virginia
Va. activists preparing campaign in support of repealing marriage amendment
Referendum about ‘dignity and equal protection under the law’
Virginia voters in November will vote on whether to repeal their state’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Feb. 6 signed House Bill 612 into law. It facilitates a referendum for voters to approve the repeal of the 2006 Marshall-Newman Amendment. Although the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell ruling extended marriage rights to same-sex couples across the country in 2014, codifying marriage equality in Virginia’s constitution would protect it in the state in case the decision is overturned.
Maryland voters in 2012 approved Question 6, which upheld the state’s marriage equality law, by a 52-48 percent margin. Same-sex marriage became legal in Maryland on Jan. 1, 2013.
LGBTQ advocacy groups and organizations that oppose marriage equality mounted political campaigns ahead of the referendum.
Equality Virginia has been involved in advancing LGBTQ rights in Virginia since 1989.
Equality Virginia is working under its 501c3 designation in conjunction with Equality Virginia Advocates, which operates under a 501c4 designation, to plan campaigns in support of repealing the Marshall-Newman Amendment.
The two main campaigns on which Equality Virginia will be focused are education and voter mobilization. Reed Williams, the group’s director of digital engagement and narrative, spoke with the Washington Blade about Equality Virginia’s plans ahead of the referendum.
Williams said an organization for a “statewide public education campaign” is currently underway. Williams told the Blade its goal will be “to ensure voters understand what this amendment does and why updating Virginia’s constitution matters for families across the commonwealth.”
The organization is also working on a “robust media and voter mobilization campaign to identify and turn out voters” to repeal Marshall-Newman Amendment. Equality Virginia plans to work with the community members to guarantee voters are getting clear and accurate information regarding the meaning of this vote and its effect on the Virginia LGBTQ community.
“We believe Virginia voters are ready to bring our constitution in line with both the law and the values of fairness and freedom that define our commonwealth,” said Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman. “This referendum is about ensuring loving, committed couples and their families are treated with dignity and equal protection under the law.”
The Human Rights Campaign has also worked closely with Equality Virginia.
“It’s time to get rid of outdated, unconstitutional language and ensure that same sex couples are protected in Virginia,” HRC President Kelley Robinson told the Blade in a statement.
District of Columbia
D.C. police arrest man for burglary at gay bar Spark Social House
Suspect ID’d from images captured by Spark Social House security cameras
D.C. police on Feb. 18 arrested a 63-year-old man “of no fixed address” for allegedly stealing cash from the registers at the gay bar Spark Social House after unlawfully entering the bar at 2009 14th St., N.W., around 12:04 a.m. after it had closed for business, according to a police incident report.
“Later that day officers canvassing for the suspect located him nearby,” a separate police statement says. “63-year-old Tony Jones of no fixed address was arrested and charged with Burglary II,” the statement says.
The police incident report states that the bar’s owner, Nick Tsusaki, told police investigators that the bar’s security cameras captured the image of a man who has frequently visited the bar and was believed to be homeless.
“Once inside, the defendant was observed via the establishment’s security cameras opening the cash register, removing U.S. currency, and placing the currency into the left front pocket of his jacket,” the report says.
Tsusaki told the Washington Blade that he and Spark’s employees have allowed Jones to enter the bar many times since it opened last year to use the bathroom in a gesture of compassion knowing he was homeless. Tsusaki said he is not aware of Jones ever having purchased anything during his visits.
According to Tsusaki, Spark closed for business at around 10:30 p.m. on the night of the incident at which time an employee did not properly lock the front entrance door. He said no employees or customers were present when the security cameras show Jones entering Spark through the front door around 12:04 a.m.
Tsusaki said the security camera images show Jones had been inside Spark for about three hours on the night of the burglary and show him taking cash out of two cash registers. He took a total of $300, Tsusaki said.
When Tsusaki and Spark employees arrived at the bar later in the day and discovered the cash was missing from the registers they immediately called police, Tsusaki told the Blade. Knowing that Jones often hung out along the 2000 block of 14th Street where Spark is located, Tsusaki said he went outside to look for him and saw him across the street and pointed Jones out to police, who then placed him under arrest.
A police arrest affidavit filed in court states that at the time they arrested him police found the stolen cash inside the pocket of the jacket Jones was wearing. It says after taking him into police custody officers found a powdered substance in a Ziploc bag also in Jones’s possession that tested positive for cocaine, resulting in him being charged with cocaine possession in addition to the burglary charge.
D.C. Superior Court records show a judge ordered Jones held in preventive detention at a Feb. 19 presentment hearing. The judge then scheduled a preliminary hearing for the case on Feb. 20, the outcome of which couldn’t immediately be obtained.
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