Local
Local news in brief: March 18
Ethics complaint dismissed against Beyer and more
Dana Beyer, center. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Ethics complaint dismissed against Beyer
The Montgomery County Ethics Commission on March 8 dismissed a complaint against retired eye surgeon and transgender activist Dana Beyer that alleged Beyer violated county ethics rules in 2008 by improperly campaigning against a proposed referendum to overturn a transgender non-discrimination law.
The complaint was filed by Ruth Jacobs, president of the Maryland Citizens for a Responsible Government, an anti-LGBT group. The group filed petitions calling for a voter referendum to overturn a transgender non-discrimination law passed by the Montgomery County Council in November 2007.
The referendum never made it to the ballot because supporters failed to gather the required number of petition signatures.
Beyer had been working at the time on the staff of County Council member Duchy Trachtenberg, an at-large Democrat, who authored the law. The law bans discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations and other areas based on a person’s gender identity.
Jacobs alleged in her complaint that Beyer and others opposed to the referendum improperly interfered with efforts by her group to gather signatures outside various Giant Food stores by, among other things, “yelling and screaming” at petition circulators and potential signers of the petitions. Jacobs also charged that Beyer abused her role as an employee of the County Council by allegedly telling the manager of one of the Giant stores that he would have “problems” with the county if he allowed the petitions to be circulated on store property.
Beyer denied the allegations, saying they were fabricated by Jacobs and others as a means of retaliating against legitimate efforts by supporters of the non-discrimination law to campaign against the referendum.
“In order for [the ethics code] to be violated, the employee’s conduct must be on the job, include self-identification as a public employee, or otherwise entail the prestige of office,” the Ethics Commission said in its ruling. “Assuming that Dr. Beyer did confront MCRG volunteers, Giant Food managers, and patrons, there is no credible evidence that she invoked her county position while doing so.”
In a statement Beyer hailed the decision to dismiss the case but expressed concern that the commission’s earlier decision to find probable cause that she may have violated ethics rules indicates the county’s ethics process is flawed.
“After having failed to defeat anti-discrimination protections for transgender citizens in the County Council, and then failing to get their referendum on the ballot, a small group of narrow-minded, political motivated individuals tried to obstruct justice a third time by going after me personally,” she said.
Jacobs could not be immediately reached for comment.
Murder trial opens in anti-gay ‘hate’ case
A trial began this week for a 26-year-old D.C. man charged with first-degree murder while armed in connection with the November 2009 stabbing death of a man that prosecutors have classified as an anti-gay hate crime.
In charging documents filed in D.C. Superior Court, police and prosecutors said Justin L. Navarro, 26, stabbed D.C. resident Kevin Massey at least 18 times inside Massey’s apartment in the 4200 block of 2nd St., N.W., on Nov. 6, 2009.
The court documents say an eyewitness told police the witness saw Navarro enter Massey’s bedroom after asking the witness, “Where is the faggy ass nigger?”
“Witness 1 observed the defendant armed with a large kitchen knife which the defendant used to thrust into the decedent’s body,” a police arrest affidavit says. “Witness 1 stated that it observed the defendant thrust the knife into the decedent’s body twice before Witness 1 fled the apartment for its safety,” the affidavit says.
An eight-count grand jury indictment of Navarro charges that, “the murder demonstrated the prejudice of Justin L. Navarro…based on the actual or perceived sexual orientation of Kevin Massey.”
A law enforcement source said Navarro allegedly stabbed Massey because he incorrectly believed that Massey had made a pass at him weeks before the murder and that “rumors were spreading about the two men.”
Prosecutors filed a motion last September objecting to plans by the defense to argue that Navarro committed the stabbing in self-defense. An attorney representing Navarro could not be immediately reached for comment.
The trial before Judge Lynn Leibovitz was expected to last through this week.
San Fran mayoral candidate seeks support in D.C.
A gay candidate running for mayor in San Francisco, who served for eight years on that city’s Board of Supervisors, is scheduled to hold a fundraiser in D.C. on March 21.
D.C. area supporters of Bevan Dufty say Dufty has the “drive, energy, responsiveness and effectiveness” to be an excellent mayor and are calling on local activists to contribute to his campaign. Dufty is a former D.C. resident who started his career as a staff member to former U.S. Reps. Shirley Chisholm and Julian Dixon, both Democrats.
He is the only gay candidate in a field of eight competing for the mayoral post in the Nov. 8 election.
Dufty’s campaign announced earlier this year that he reversed an earlier decision to limit the amount of campaign contributions he would accept to $200 rather than the legal limit of $500. He also initially vowed not to accept contributions from donors outside San Francisco. Those restrictions hurt his campaign, according to political pundits, who noted he had fallen behind most of his competitors in funds raised.
In addition to seeking support from individual donors in D.C., Dufty is applying for the endorsement of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, a national group that supports openly LGBT candidates for public office.
Information about the D.C. event, set to take place at a private residence near Dupont Circle, can be obtained by contacting Jill McCarthy at 202-316-8006 or [email protected].
Virginia
DOJ seeks to join lawsuit against Loudoun County over trans student in locker room
Three male high school students suspended after complaining about classmate
The Justice Department has asked to join a federal lawsuit against Loudoun County Public Schools over the way it handled the case of three male high school students who complained about a transgender student in a boys’ locker room.
The Washington Blade earlier this year reported Loudoun County public schools suspended the three boys and launched a Title IX investigation into whether they sexually harassed the student after they said they felt uncomfortable with their classmate in the locker room at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn.
The parents of two of the boys filed a lawsuit against Loudoun County public schools in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria. The Richmond-based Founding Freedoms Law Center and America First Legal, which White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller co-founded, represent them.
The Justice Department in a Dec. 8 press release announced that “it filed legal action against the Loudoun County (Va.) School Board (Loudoun County) for its denial of equal protection based on religion.”
“The suit alleges that Loudoun County applied Policy 8040, which requires students and faculty to accept and promote gender ideology, to two Christian, male students in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” reads the press release.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in the press release said “students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate.”
“Loudoun County’s decision to advance and promote gender ideology tramples on the rights of religious students who cannot embrace ideas that deny biological reality,” said Dhillon.
Outgoing Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and outgoing Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares in May announced an investigation into the case.
The Virginia Department of Education in 2023 announced the new guidelines for trans and nonbinary students for which Youngkin asked. Equality Virginia and other advocacy groups claim they, among other things, forcibly out trans and nonbinary students.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in February launched an investigation into whether Loudoun County and four other Northern Virginia school districts’ policies in support of trans and nonbinary students violate Title IX and President Donald Trump’s executive order that prohibits federally funded educational institutions from promoting “gender ideology.”
District of Columbia
Capital Pride announces change in date for 2026 D.C. Pride parade and festival
Events related to U.S. 250th anniversary and Trump birthday cited as reasons for change
The Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C. based group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, has announced it is changing the dates for the 2026 Capital Pride Parade and Festival from the second weekend in June to the third weekend.
“For over a decade, Capital Pride has taken place during the second weekend in June, but in 2026, we are shifting our dates in response to the city’s capacity due to major events and preparations for the 250th anniversary of the United States,” according to a Dec. 9 statement released by Capital Pride Alliance.
The statement says the parade will take place on Saturday, June 20, 2026, with the festival and related concert taking place on June 21.
“This change ensures our community can gather safely and without unnecessary barriers,” the statement says. “By moving the celebration, we are protecting our space and preserving Pride as a powerful act of visibility, solidarity, and resistance,” it says.
Ryan Bos, the Capital Pride Alliance CEO and President, told the Washington Blade the change in dates came after the group conferred with D.C. government officials regarding plans for a number of events in the city on the second weekend in June. Among them, he noted, is a planned White House celebration of President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday and other events related to the U.S. 250th anniversary, which are expected to take place from early June through Independence Day on July 4.
The White House has announced plans for a large June 14, 2026 celebration on the White House south lawn of Trump’s 80th birthday that will include a large-scale Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event involving boxing and wrestling competition.
Bos said the Capital Pride Parade will take place along the same route it has in the past number of years, starting at 14th and T Streets, N.W. and traveling along 14th Street to Pennsylvania Ave., where it will end. He said the festival set for the following day will also take place at its usual location on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., between 2nd Street near the U.S. Capitol, to around 7th Street, N.W.
“Our Pride events thrive because of the passion and support of the community,” Capital Pride Board Chair Anna Jinkerson said in the statement. “In 2026, your involvement is more important than ever,” she said.
District of Columbia
Three women elected leaders of Capital Pride Alliance board
Restructured body includes chair rather than president as top leader
The Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C.-based group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, announced it has restructured its board of directors and elected for the first time three women to serve as leaders of the board’s Executive Committee.
“Congratulations to our newly elected Executive Officers, making history as Capital Pride Alliance’s first all-women Board leadership,” the group said in a statement.
“As we head into 2026 with a bold new leadership structure, we’re proud to welcome Anna Jinkerson as Board Chair, Kim Baker as Board Treasurer, and Taylor Lianne Chandler as Board Secretary,” the statement says.
In a separate statement released on Nov. 20, Capital Pride Alliance says the restructured Board now includes the top leadership posts of Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary, replacing the previous structure of President and Vice President as the top board leaders.
It says an additional update to the leadership structure includes a change in title for longtime Capital Pride official Ryan Bos from executive director to chief executive officer and president.
According to the statement, June Crenshaw, who served as acting deputy director during the time the group organized WorldPride 2025 in D.C., will now continue in that role as permanent deputy director.
The statement provides background information on the three newly elected women Board leaders.
• Anna Jinkerson (chair), who joined the Capital Pride Alliance board in 2022, previously served as the group’s vice president for operations and acting president. “A seasoned non-profit executive, she currently serves as Assistant to the President and CEO and Chief of Staff at Living Cities, a national member collaborative of leading philanthropic foundations and financial institutions committed to closing income and wealth gaps in the United States and building an economy that works for everyone.”
• Kim Baker (treasurer) is a “biracial Filipino American and queer leader,” a “retired, disabled U.S. Army veteran with more than 20 years of service and extensive experience in finance, security, and risk management.” She has served on the Capital Pride Board since 2018, “bringing a proven track record of steady, principled leadership and unwavering dedication to the LGBTQ+ community.”
• Taylor Lianne Chandler (Secretary) is a former sign language interpreter and crisis management consultant. She “takes office as the first intersex and trans-identifying member of the Executive Committee.” She joined the Capital Pride Board in 2019 and previously served as executive producer from 2016 to 2018.
Bos told the Washington Blade in a Dec. 2 interview that the Capital Pride board currently has 12 members, and is in the process of interviewing additional potential board members.
“In January we will be announcing in another likely press release the full board,” Bos said. “We are finishing the interview process of new board members this month,” he said. “And they will take office to join the board in January.”
Bos said the organization’s rules set a cap of 25 total board members, but the board, which elects its members, has not yet decided how many additional members it will select and a full 25-member board is not required.
The Nov. 20 Capital Pride statement says the new board executive members will succeed the organization’s previous leadership team, which included Ashley Smith, who served as president for eight years before he resigned earlier this year; Anthony Musa, who served for seven years as vice president of board engagement; Natalie Thompson, who served eight years on the executive committee; and Vince Micone, who served for eight years as vice president of operations.
“I am grateful for the leadership, dedication, and commitment shown by our former executive officers — Ashley, Natalie, Anthony, and Vince — who have been instrumental in CPA’s growth and the exceptional success of WorldPride 2025,” Bos said in the statement.
“I look forward to collaborating with Anna in her new role, as well as Kim and Taylor in theirs, as we take on the important work ahead, prepare for Capital Pride 2026, and expand our platform and voice through Pride365,” Bos said.
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