Local
Conservative Va. church takes aim at Pride event
Bible Holiness launches ‘Stop Elkton Pride’ Facebook page
Rob Johnson is the vice president of an LGBT group in the Shenandoah Valley that has suddenly been receiving a lot of attention.
“It’s just been a whirlwind over the past 24, 48 hours,” Johnson said.
Johnson’s group, the Shenandoah Valley Gay and Lesbian Association, and LGBT employee groups at Merck Pharmaceuticals and MillerCoors near Elkton, Va., have become the target of the Bible Holiness Church and its pastor, Matt Homer. Homer argues that the Pride event the Merck group plans for Oct. 9 does not reflect Elkton’s values.
Though the SVGLA, nor MillerCoors is directly connected to the Festival, both groups have come under fire for expressing their support.
“I don’t know how we would come to an agreement on it,” Homer told the Blade, “We’re not against gay and lesbian people, but also they say it’s a civil rights issue, and that would lead to a marriage issue.”
Johnson said the festival is an opportunity to raise awareness about LGBT issues, not marriage.
“We’ve never said anything about gay marriage in this entire thing,” Johnson said. “No one has mentioned it but him. I think he’s using that as an inflammatory statement to get the community fired up.”
“Basically we’re just looking to get a story out there, trying to garner up some support for the people of this area,” Johnson told the Blade.
Johnson says that the area was once a more difficult place to be out, but that progress is being made.
“A lot of the people here in this area are still closeted to some degree, it’s a lot more open than it was 10 years ago, but a lot of people are afraid to speak out. There are a few that are very vocal — like myself — but a lot of them really aren’t.”
To Johnson, Pride is about not being ashamed of who you are.
“People of the LGBT community as well as their straight friends and family come together in a show of support,” Johnson said. “Just a feeling of togetherness.”
Johnson says that he has had to scale back his involvement in the Shenandoah Valley group because of the controversy.
Though Homer insists the church does not wish to discriminate against gay and lesbian people, his faith forces him to take exception with this group’s planned gathering.
“We believe that the Bible teaches against homosexuality,” Homer told the Blade. “If they were having an event to promote adultery, we would be protesting that as well.”
Last week, Homer urged members of his church to mobilize and use online tools to raise awareness about the group’s position. Homer enlisted the assistance of a parish member, Josh Shifflett, to set up a page on “ipetitions.com” and a “Stop Elkton Pride Day” Facebook Page, which has attracted 277 fans.
“We’ve collaborated on what we could do to raise awareness of the issue,” Homer said. “I didn’t have a Facebook page in my name so we collaborated to raise awareness about the event.”
“As a board member of Shenandoah Valley Gay and Lesbian Association five years in a row, we did a Pride right here in Harrisonburg, right here in the center of the valley, and have never had any problems,” Johnson said.
He says the trouble only started when a group of employees at Merck decided to have a smaller scale Pride event in their own local community after visiting the Pride in Harrisonburg.
“The Facebook phenomenon has really helped, though,” Johnson said, referring to the social networking site that both sides have taken to in order to raise awareness for their cause.
“A lot of people have really jumped on board with their comments and everything,” Johnson said. “They try to comment on the “Stop Elkton Pride” page that the church put up, they’re trying to be cordial and diplomatic about it, not being hateful, as I instructed a lot of them to do. Their comments are remaining on that page for two or three minutes before being deleted off and those people being blocked.”
Pastor Homer claims the only comments deleted have been graphic in nature, contain profanity or are defamatory.
“People haven’t been deleted from the site just for conducting civil conversation,” Homer said.
“The church is censoring everything,” Johnson said of the Facebook fracas. “I put up a page in opposition to the ‘Stop Elkton Pride Page.’ In the description I state, except in the case of profanity, all comments will be left in plain view because I feel that that encourages a dialogue.”
“[Pharmaceutical] company Merck and Miller, probably the two largest local manufacturers in our area, are collaborating with the local Shenandoah Valley Gay and Lesbian Association,” Homer said. “They’re putting on the first annual Elkton Pride day. Well actually the event isn’t in Elkton, it’s on private property outside of Elkton.”
In fact, the alcohol-free event does have an Elkton address, according to the Facebook page, and Johnson confirmed that — while the event is outside of the town limits — the mailing address is still considered Elkton, but the pastor still insists the event does not reflect Elkton values.
“They’re inviting local businesses and inviting children and stuff like that so we felt we have the right to post our objection to it based on our values system,” Homer said. “We’re exercising our rights giving reasons why we disagree with it.”
According to the event’s Facebook page, “There will be free food, children’s activities, music, information booths and more!”
“There’s going to be children at this event,” Johnson said. “These children are children of LGBT people in the community.”
“It’s a nice family get-together,” Johnson continued. “They just don’t want anything being mentioned that pertains to the LGBT community in a positive light whatsoever.”
When asked whether the church has tried reaching out to the organizers to see if there can be any common ground found, Homer said they have.
“We have reached out,” Homer said, but he says the only response they received was a generic statement from Merck.
Johnson said he was unaware of the pastor reaching out to anyone involved in planning the celebration.
“They’ve been demanding that it be canceled,” Johnson said. “Just flat out.”
Delaware
Democrat Maureen ‘Mo’ Madden takes on longtime GOP stronghold in Delaware’s 38th
Out lesbian candidate for state House focused on infrastructure needs, voting rights
Democrat Maureen “Mo” Madden is running for the Delaware House of Representatives in the 38th District, seeking to win a seat that has been held by Republicans for more than two decades.
The race opened up after Republican state Rep. Ron Gray announced in April that he would not seek reelection after seven terms in the General Assembly.
Gray was first elected in 2012 and represents communities including Bethany Beach, Fenwick Island, Selbyville and Ocean View. Madden, a Dagsboro resident, filed to run for the seat in 2025.
Madden is a retired federal civil servant who spent nearly 23 years at NASA and more than seven years at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She holds a master’s degree in physics and previously worked in leadership at NOAA.
She said her professional experience taught her the importance of working collaboratively, something she believes would translate to the legislature.
“Advocating, negotiating, and collaborating are all skills that a legislator needs,” she said. “You learn to collaborate. You learn to negotiate. You learn to advocate for your budget, for your team, and for your projects.”
Madden said her decision to run began after she and her wife moved to the area and she noticed the lack of Democratic candidates on the ballot in her district.
“Somebody’s got to do it, and I’ve got time. I’m retired,” said Madden.
She acknowledged the difficulty of running as a Democrat in the district, which has been represented by Republicans since 2002.
Madden said one of the biggest concerns she hears from residents is the rapid growth of Sussex County.
“We have a massive amount of growth and a massive amount of development,” said Madden.
Madden said the growth has placed additional pressure on roads, schools, emergency services, as well as water and sewer infrastructure.
“We need to find a way to bring more money down here for the school system and for the infrastructure that we need,” she said.
She also raised concerns about the impact of new developments on existing neighborhoods, particularly in regard to flooding and drainage.
“Something needs to be done,” said Madden.
Madden also pointed to climate change as a factor affecting the region.She said the state will need to work on both addressing development and preparing communities for increasingly severe weather.
“We have to work both sides of it,” Madden said.
Madden said improving infrastructure would be a priority if she is elected, particularly roads and other infrastructure that affect residents’ daily lives.
“I want to increase the safety of my neighbors,” she said.
Madden also said she wants to address infrastructure needs related to water and sewer service, as well as the availability of health care in the rapidly growing coastal region.
Madden said protecting voting rights would be another priority in the legislature.
“The right to vote is one of the biggest things that we have here in a democracy,” she said.
She said that she supports early voting, mail-in voting, and same-day registration, as well as restoring voting rights to people who have completed felony sentences.
“You should not lose a constitutional right because you’ve been in jail,” said Madden.
“Protecting the right to vote is how I will defend democracy when I get to the state House,” she said.
Madden said she would also support efforts to enshrine certain rights in the Delaware Constitution, including reproductive rights, voting rights, and the right to marriage.
“Those three protections of our freedoms that are right now under attack need to be more secure in the Delaware State Constitution,” she said.
As an openly lesbian candidate, Madden said LGBTQ+ rights are important to her, particularly the treatment of young transgender people.
She said she is concerned about efforts to restrict transgender students’ participation in sports and other policies affecting transgender people.
“They are picking on the most vulnerable of the most vulnerable,” said Madden.
She said she hopes voters will view LGBTQ+ people as part of their communities rather than as fundamentally different from their neighbors.
“We’re your neighbors. We’re your friends. We’re your family,” she said.
Madden will face Republican Carlie Carey in the general election on Nov. 3.
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].
It is exciting to write about Nick Tsusaki, the founder and owner of Spark Social, 2009 14th St., N.W. Tsusaki just announced the official opening, on Sunday, Aug. 23, of a new daytime event, called Spark Coffee Club, a great opportunity to meet up with friends, or meet new ones. It is in partnership with Go Gay DC and runs 12-1 p.m., every Sunday. If you are new to D.C., you can browse more than 180 local LGBTQ+ community groups Tsusaki has listed on the community tab of his website: spark-dc.com/community.
“I’ve been out for most of my life, but it wasn’t until I started working in queer spaces, surrounded by queer people, that I really felt proud, even lucky, to be gay,” he said. “I hope Spark is a place where more people come to that same realization.”
Tsusaki went to Georgetown for his undergraduate studies, and spent four years doing Navy ROTC, then went into the Navy. He told me, “Town was the first gay bar I ever went to. It was always such a liberating and euphoric experience, I knew I wanted to come back to D.C. permanently, after the Navy.”
During his eight years in the Navy, Tsusaki spent time in among other places, Bahrain, and Korea. He was D.C. operations manager, where he managed large, diverse teams, across multiple countries, supervising logistics, scheduling, safety protocols, and daily operational readiness. He also directed emergency response and crisis management operations, including White House support, COVID-19 response planning, and major safety and security protocols protecting tens of thousands of personnel.
Tsusaki recounted, “When I left the Navy in 2023, I applied to every gay bar in the city. Fortunately, Shakers, was just opening at that time, and I started as a barback on the opening team. My appreciation for the D.C. LGBTQ+ community, and LGBTQ+ spaces only grew as I worked with and met some of the most hilarious, talented, proud, diverse, and supportive people in my life. After just a year in the industry, my passion had grown so strong I decided I wanted to open my own venue.”
Tsusaki then built Spark Social, and now supervises a 20-person team across café, bar, retail, and nightlife operations, ensuring strong safety standards, clear procedures, and consistent guest experience. He has developed a deeply trusted neighborhood presence through strong community partnerships, resulting in a 4.9 Google rating with 120+ reviews. He created an innovative 1-for-1 cocktail menu offering alcoholic and non-alcoholic options, with equal quality and presentation, and promotes an inclusive nightlife for non-drinkers. He has established Spark as a unique market leader in LGBTQ+ hospitality, combining daytime café culture, with late-night programming, and community-centered events. So, whether you go for the new community coffee hour on Sundays, or any other time, Spark Social is a place where you will feel comfortable.
Tsusaki earned his bachelor’s of science degree in foreign service, Georgetown University; and master’s in business analytics from the University of Virginia, Darden School of Business.
Maryland
Anne Arundel schools updates gender identity regulation following Trump administration threats
District facing federal lawsuit, White House threats over guidelines
By JESSICA CALEFATI | Under pressure from the Trump-Vance administration, Anne Arundel County Public Schools Supt. Mark Bedell announced Wednesday the district had updated a regulation intended to protect transgender students’ right to be called by their chosen name.
The revised language makes clear that district rules on gender identity do not block parents’ rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act as the federal government alleged last month, and that a student’s gender identity will not be treated as confidential medical information.
“No policy, guideline, or practice may limit or otherwise interfere with parental rights under FERPA,” Bedell wrote in a Wednesday letter to the community. “This includes any information maintained in education records that relates to gender identity, transgender status, sexual orientation, preferred name, or preferred pronouns.”
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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Democrat Maureen ‘Mo’ Madden takes on longtime GOP stronghold in Delaware’s 38th
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