Local
Baltimore lawmaker could be deciding vote
State Senate debate on same-sex marriage bill expected to start Feb. 22
A Maryland State senator from Baltimore has said she would cast the deciding vote in favor of a same-sex marriage bill if supporters are just one vote short of passing the measure, according to sources familiar with the legislation.
Sen. Joan Carter Conway (D-Baltimore City) has emerged as the likely deciding vote, even though she has yet to publicly disclose how she would vote on the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, which calls for allowing lesbian and gay couples to marry in Maryland.
“She made a statement earlier saying that she would cast the deciding vote if the votes were there,” Josh Hastings, Conway’s legislative assistant, told the Blade Friday. “But she didn’t think the votes were there. That was like two weeks ago.”
Sources familiar with the legislation say the number of confirmed votes for the bill reached 23 on Thursday, when Sen. Jim Brochin (D-Baltimore County) disclosed he would vote for the measure. Twenty-four votes are needed to pass legislation in Maryland’s 47-member Senate.
Conway shares the same legislative district as lesbian House of Delegates member Maggie McIntosh (D-Baltimore City).
Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-Montgomery County), a co-sponsor of the marriage bill, told the Blade Friday that he heard Conway say she would vote for the bill if her vote was needed to secure its passage.
Raskin said the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, which held an all-day hearing on the bill on Tuesday, was scheduled to vote on the bill Feb. 17. He said the committee could also vote on amendments to the bill on the same day if committee members decide to introduce one or more amendments.
He said the full Senate was expected to begin debating the bill on Feb. 22, with a vote likely to take place the next day following two full days of debate.
According to Raskin, it has been more difficult for the bill’s supporters to line up the 24 votes needed to pass the bill than it has for obtaining the 29 votes needed to stop an expected filibuster.
“What’s interesting is it’s really been easier for us to get to 29 than to get to 24,” he said. “There are a number of senators who on principle feel that legislation should not be blocked by filibuster. There are also a number of moderate Democrats who, for whatever reason, cannot bring themselves to vote for marriage but are able to tell pro-marriage constituents that they will not stand in the way of a vote.”
Senate President Thomas V. “Mike” Miller (D-Prince Georges and Calvert Counties) has taken such a position, saying he will vote against the marriage bill while voting for cloture to end a filibuster.
“I think he will bring a number of other senators with him in his wake,” Raskin said.
Political observers in the state capital in Annapolis have said support for the marriage bill is stronger in the House of Delegates, which is expected to pass the bill by a wider margin in March. Gov. Martin O’Malley has said he would sign the measure.
In a related development, the Judicial Proceedings Committee Thursday released a list of witnesses who signed up to testify for or against the marriage bill at a packed public hearing in Annapolis on Tuesday.
The list shows that a total of 124 people signed up to testify on the morning of the Feb. 8 hearing, with 67 indicating they oppose the marriage bill and 57 checking a box saying they support the measure.
A committee aide said the committee did not keep track of the number of people who signed up but did not appear when called to testify during the hearing, which lasted nearly seven hours.
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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Federal Government5 days agoTrump-Vance administration removes LGBTQ, HIV resources from government websites
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District of Columbia2 days agoCapital Pride board member resigns, takes role as Trump’s acting Sec’y of Labor
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Virginia4 days agoVa. Senate approves resolution to repeal marriage amendment
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