Local
O’Malley headlines fundraiser for Equality Md.
Governor, elected officials pledge support for 2012 marriage bill
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley attended a fundraiser last week for Equality Maryland. He has pledged to introduce a marriage equality bill next year. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, and Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler were among more than a dozen state elected officials and more than 200 people who turned out on Sept. 7 for a fundraiser for Equality Maryland, the statewide LGBT advocacy group.
The event, held in the Chevy Chase, Md., Town Hall, pulled in $35,000 in cash and pledges that were expected to bring the total raised to $72,000, according to Equality Maryland board member Lisa Polyak.
Polyak and Equality Maryland board member Patrick Wojahn said the fundraiser was billed as a celebration to honor the state’s elected officials who support legislation to legalize marriage for state-sex couples.
O’Malley, Brown, Gansler, and Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett each reiterated their commitment to work hard for the approval by the Maryland Legislature in 2012 of a same-sex marriage bill, Polyak said.
“They were all waxing enthusiastically about how marriage equality has support in Maryland and how they’re going to put the authority of their respective offices behind it,” she said.
A same-sex marriage bill died in the Maryland Legislature earlier this year after it cleared the Senate but was withdrawn from the House of Delegates when backers determined it lacked the votes needed to pass.
Financial problems and disagreements among the board and staff following the marriage bill fight led to the dismissal of Equality Maryland’s executive director and the layoff of nearly all of the group’s staff. Polyak and Wojahn said on Friday, Sept. 9, that stepped up fundraising, a community outreach effort, and a planned expansion of the board has reinvigorated the organization.
According to Polyak, a new, full-time executive director will be hired in late October or early November following a nationwide search. Wojahn said the names of between 10 and 15 new members of the boards of Equality Maryland and the Equality Maryland Foundation would be announced this week.
In a related development, a coalition of groups working with Equality Maryland for the passage of a same-sex marriage bill announced on Sept. 9 that the Baltimore branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People became the newest member of the steering committee of the coalition, Marylanders for Marriage Equality.
“Having the NAACP on board is a welcome addition to the coalition working to win marriage equality in the Free State,” said Sultan Shakir, the campaign manager for Marylanders for Marriage Equality.
“The NAACP’s long history of working for equality and fairness for all will be instrumental in harnessing the supportive voices in the African-American community and throughout Maryland,” said Shakir, who also serves as a field organizer for the Human Rights Campaign.
“We believe gay and lesbian couples have the same values as everyone else,” said Tessa Hill-Alston, president of the NAACP’s Baltimore branch. “They want to make a lifetime commitment to the person they love and build a loving stable family. So it is only right that committed gay and lesbian couples be given the opportunity to marry as everyone else.”
District of Columbia
Hands Off the Arts to form ‘human chain’ around Kennedy Center
Drag performer Tara Hoot among event organizers
An organization called Hands Off the Arts has announced it is holding a protest on Friday, Sept. 18, in which between 400 and 800 participants are expected to create a “human chain” around the Kennedy Center to voice their strong objection to President Donald Trump’s call for possibly demolishing the Kennedy Center.
“Hands Off the Arts is organizing a rally Sept. 18 against the president’s defacing of JFK’s memorial, his removal and censorship of art, and the threat to demolish the center if he can’t remake the site in his image,” a statement released by the group says.
The statement says the event will start with a rally at 6:30 p.m. on the Kennedy Center steps and culminate with a “human chain” around the building. “There will be musical performances, testimonials from current and former employees, along with other special guest speakers,” it says
A separate announcement by the group says longtime D.C. drag performer Tara Hoot, who has performed at the Kennedy Center in past years, was among the organizers of the Sept. 18 protest.
The planned protest follows Trump’s decision last year to use his authority to replace the existing members of the Kennedy Center’s board of directors with new members loyal to him. Over the objection of longtime Kennedy Center supporters, the Trump-appointed board changed the name of the center, at Trump’s request, from the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts to the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
But following the threat of legal action by opponents who pointed out that the name change could not be legally made unless approved by Congress, the name change was cancelled, with Trump saying he would take steps to restore it later.
The Washington Post, meanwhile, reports in a Sept. 13 news story that because of negative publicity related to Trump’s actions, the Kennedy Center was facing “fiscal collapse” and possible bankruptcy and could be forced to shut down as early as this week.
According to the Post report, a 57-page document presented to the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees says the center was facing a financial and structural building crisis, with the recent collapse of part of the building’s inside ceiling, indicating the building was unsafe for employees and the public. Among other things, the document says the Kennedy Center may not be able to make payroll or pay for routine maintenance “within a matter of weeks,” the Post reports.
Some LGBTQ advocates were among those who joined others in boycotting the Kennedy Center to express their objections to Trump’s actions, including a statement by Trump that he objected to the Kennedy Center’s practice of hosting drag performances.
The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington has been among the LGBTQ performing arts groups and artists that have performed at the Kennedy Center.
“With the future still very much uncertain, now more than ever, the Center needs you to stand up for freedom of expression and against authoritarian overreach into arts and culture institutions,” the Hands Off the Arts group says in its announcement of the Hands Around the Kennedy Center protest.
“You have the opportunity to make a difference — show up with Hands Off the Arts and show your power as part of Hands Around the Kennedy Center,” it says.
A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Baltimore
Transgender woman killed in Barclay community mourned by friends, advocates
Sophie Lee shot to death on Friday morning
By DARREONNA DAVIS | Denise Johnson imagined spending Sunday with her daughter, Sophie Lee, eating crabs at the park. Instead, she stood on a Barclay street corner Sunday evening surrounded by nearly 100 people who came to remember her daughter, a transgender woman who was fatally shot there Friday.
The 27-year-old woman was found in the 2400 block of North Calvert Street around 1:15 a.m. Friday, Baltimore Police said in a news release.
Lindsey Eldridge, a police department spokesperson, said it’s unclear if her identity had anything to do with her death and the investigation is ongoing.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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].
The Comings & Goings column also invites LGBTQ+ college students to share their successes with us. If you have been elected to a student government position, landed an exciting internship, or are graduating and beginning your career with a new job, let us know so we can share your success.
Congratulations to Jaime Christopher Pierce on their appointment to serve as a member of the Virginia Governor’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Board. Pierce was sworn in on Sept. 3 by Greg Parks, clerk of the Alexandria Circuit Court.
Pierce currently serves as vice chair of the Alexandria City LGBTQIA+ Task Force and as a member of the Alexandria Pride planning committee. They previously served on the board of directors of Equality Virginia.
Upon being sworn in, Pierce said, “Public service has been a central part of my life for more than 30 years, and this appointment gives me an opportunity to serve the Commonwealth in a different and very personal way. My career has allowed me to work with people and communities throughout Virginia, and I hope to bring that experience, along with my own lived experience and my involvement in the LGBTQ+ community, to the work of the Board.” They added, “Having Greg administer the oath makes the occasion even more meaningful because of his own historic role as Virginia’s first openly gay elected circuit court clerk.”
Pierce also serves as Circuit Court Services Manager for the Department of Judicial Services, at the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia. They began their career in Virginia’s judiciary in 1994 as a deputy clerk with the Virginia Beach Circuit Court and have since held several professional and leadership positions within the court system. Pierce is a member of the National Association for Court Management (NACM) and the Mid-Atlantic Association for Court Management. At the national level, Pierce participated in the workgroup that developed the National Association for Court Management’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Guide, a resource designed to help court professionals advance inclusive practices and strengthen access, fairness and belonging within the justice system.
Pierce earned a degree in Criminal Justice from Liberty University, and a certificate in Paralegal Studies from Norfolk State University.
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Comings & Goings
