Local
Hospital apologizes for ‘delay’ in allowing visit by lesbian partner
Women file discrimination complaint against Washington Adventist Hospital
Washington Adventist Hospital (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
The president of the Takoma Park, Md., based Washington Adventist Hospital has apologized for what she says was a “miscommunication” that led to a delay by the hospital in allowing a woman to visit her same-sex partner following the partner’s admission to the emergency room.
But hospital president Joyce Newmyer disputes claims by the two women and the Human Rights Campaign that an initial denial of a request to visit the partner was due to discrimination. Instead, she says it was based entirely on a policy of barring anyone from visiting emergency room patients undergoing initial treatment and evaluation.
Newmeyer’s assessment of the matter is at odds with an account by Takoma Park residents Kathryn Wilderotter and Linda Cole, who have been partners for eleven years and were legally married in Canada in 2004.
The Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBT advocacy group, released a statement saying a hospital staff member declined to allow Cole to visit Wilderotter shortly after Wilderotter was taken by ambulance on Nov.13, 2011 to the hospital’s emergency room because Cole “was reportedly not recognized as a family member.”
Wilderotter told the Blade she suffered a seizure while driving her car, resulting in a crash that led to an injury. She said a female staff member sitting at the front desk at the emergency room entrance declined to allow Cole to visit Wilderotter after Cole told the woman she was Wilderotter’s partner and spouse.
According to Wilderotter, Cole called Wilderotter’s sister, Kristin Biggs, who arrived at the hospital about 20 minutes later. When Biggs approached the same emergency room staff member she introduced herself as Wilderotter’s sister, Wilderotter told the Blade.
The female staff member then replied, “Oh, we have family here now. You can go in,” Wilderotter quoted her partner as informing her.
HRC announced in its Jan. 19 statement that Cole and Wilderotter have filed separate complaints of discrimination over the incident with a joint federal commission that regulates hospitals and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“Discrimination during a medical emergency may be one of the worst forms of discrimination LGBT people face,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Recognizing this problem, federal regulations were put in place to end discrimination in healthcare settings and allow all people to be with their loved ones during their most critical moments.”
Solmonese was referring to the implementation in January 2011 of new federal regulations initiated by the Obama administration that require all hospitals participating in Medicaid and Medicare programs to allow patients to designate the persons they wish to see as visitors. The regulations prohibit discrimination in hospital visitation based on sexual orientation and gender identity among other categories.
Since nearly every U.S. hospital participates in Medicaid or Medicare programs the new regulations are said to apply to nearly all hospitals in the country, including Washington Adventist Hospital.
Meanwhile, HRC said in its statement that Washington Adventist Hospital has not responded to its annual survey of healthcare providers, which it uses to publish the HRC Healthcare Equality Index. The index assesses and discloses the policies and practices of hospitals related to LGBT patients and their families.
Newmyer told the Blade on Monday that she didn’t know why the hospital hasn’t returned the HRC survey in past years but said hospital officials were currently working on it and would be sending it to HRC shortly.
In a phone interview with the Blade on Monday, Wilderotter said a hospital executive called the couple six weeks later to say the incident was caused by a new employee unfamiliar with hospital policies and that the hospital apologized for what happened.
Newmyer posted a statement on the hospital website on Jan. 20 saying she was troubled over news media stories reporting the initial denial of visitation was due to discrimination.
“First, I want to express my deepest apologies to Ms. Wilderotter and Ms. Cole for feeling anything less than valued at our hospital,” she said in the statement. “As a policy and a practice, our hospital does not discriminate against anyone regardless of their race, ethnicity, faith, sexual orientation or ability to pay,” she said.
Newmyer told the Blade on Monday that a hospital investigation into the incident shows that a “perfect storm” of miscommunication and coincidence may have led Cole and Wilderotter to believe they were singled out for discrimination.
According to Newmyer, when Cole arrived at the hospital doctors and emergency room attendants were treating Wilderotter and evaluating her condition. She said the hospital has a policy that prohibits anyone from visiting an emergency room patient at this “critical” stage of treatment.
She could not determine exactly what the hospital staff person told Cole at this time, Newmyer said, but she is certain that the denial of the visit would have been issued to anyone arriving at that time. In what she called an unfortunate coincidence, Newmyer said the attending doctors and staff completed their initial evaluation of Wilderotter and cleared her to receive visitors just as Wilderotter’s sister arrived.
When the sister was allowed to enter the emergency room treatment area, Cole understandably could have concluded that her initial denial was due to discrimination rather than the across-the-board policy of delaying visitation during the early stage of treatment, Newmyer said.
Wilderotter said the emergency room staff member’s comment referring to her sister as “family” and saying the sister could enter the area where she was being treated suggests that the staff member believed the sister rather than Cole should be allowed to enter the treatment area for a visit. Wilderotter said she has also heard from friends and others familiar with Washington Adventist Hospital that family members are sometime allowed in to visit a loved one in the emergency room even during the early stage of treatment by doctors and nurses.
“My sister took Linda by the hand and led her in,” said Wilderotter, who noted that she was comforted to see the two of them arrive at her side. Wilderotter said the staff member at the emergency room entrance didn’t attempt to stop Cole from entering the treatment area with her sister.
Catherine Holroyd, a Hyattsville, Md., resident contacted the Blade on Monday to report that she and her lesbian partner have been treated with respect and were fully recognized as a same-sex couple when the two have been admitted to Washington Adventist Hospital on separate occasions as patients.
“I’m a retired nurse,” Holroyd said. “I can tell you that we’ve been treated well at that hospital and so have other gay couples.”
HRC spokesperson Paul Gueguierre said Cole and Widerotter’s discrimination complaint has merit.
“Linda Cole was denied access to her partner during a time of great need,” he said. “Regardless of whether it was a simple communications problem, this was unfortunately a case of healthcare discrimination,” he said.
“We are encouraged by recent statements by hospital administrators that they do not discriminate and will take steps to prevent this from happening again in the future,” Guequierre said. ”We look forward to their participation in the Healthcare Equality Index. The HEI is designed to prevent cases like this one.”
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.
District of Columbia
Judge rescinds order against activist in Capital Pride lawsuit
Darren Pasha accused of stalking organization staff, board members, volunteers
A D.C. Superior Court judge on Feb.18 agreed to rescind his earlier ruling declaring local gay activist Darren Pasha in default for failing to attend a virtual court hearing regarding an anti-stalking lawsuit brought against him by the Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes D.C.’s annual Pride events.
The Capital Pride lawsuit, initially filed on Oct. 27, 2025, accuses Pasha of engaging in a year-long “course of conduct” of “harassment, intimidation, threats, manipulation, and coercive behavior” targeting Capital Pride staff, board members, and volunteers.
In his own court filings without retaining an attorney, Pasha has strongly denied the stalking related allegations against him, saying “no credible or admissible evidence has been provided” to show he engaged in any wrongdoing.
Judge Robert D. Okum nevertheless on Feb. 6 approved a temporary stay-away order requiring Pasha to stay at least 100 feet away from Capital Pride’s staff, volunteers, and board members until the time of a follow-up court hearing scheduled for April 17. He reduced the stay-away distance from 200 yards as requested by Capital Pride.
In his two-page order issued on Feb. 18, Okun stated that Pasha explained that he was involved in a scooter accident in which he was injured and his phone was damaged, preventing him from joining the Feb. 6 court hearing.
“Therefore, the court finds there is a good cause for vacating the default,” Okun states in his order.
At the time he initially approved the default order at the Feb. 6 hearing that Pasha didn’t attend, Okun scheduled an April 17 ex parte proof hearing in which Capital Pride could have requested a ruling in its favor seeking a permanent anti-stalking order against Pasha.
In his Feb. 18 ruling rescinding the default order Okun changed the April 17 ex parte proof hearing to an initial scheduling conference hearing in which a decision on the outcome of the case is not likely to happen.
In addition, he agreed to consider Pasha’s call for a jury trial and gave Capital Pride 14 days to contest that request. The Capital Pride lawsuit initially called for a non-jury trial by judge.
One request by Pasha that Okum denied was a call for him to order Capital Pride to stop its staff or volunteers from posting information about the lawsuit on social media. Pasha has said the D.C.-based online blog called DC Homos, which Pasha claims is operated by someone associated with Capital Pride, has been posting articles portraying him in a negative light and subjecting him to highly negative publicity.
“The defendant has not set forth a sufficient basis for the court to restrict the plaintiff’s social media postings, and the court therefore will deny the defendant’s request in his social media praecipe,” Okun states in his order.
A praecipe is a formal written document requesting action by a court.
Pasha called the order a positive development in his favor. He said he plans to file another motion with more information about what he calls the unfair and defamatory reports about him related to the lawsuit by DC Homos, with a call for the judge to reverse his decision not to order Capital Pride to stop social media postings about the lawsuit.
Pasha points to a video interview on the LGBTQ Team Rayceen broadcast, a link to which he sent to the Washington Blade, in which DC Homos operator Jose Romero acknowledged his association with Capital Pride Alliance.
Capital Pride Executive Director Ryan Bos didn’t immediately respond to a message from the Blade asking whether Romero was a volunteer or employee with Capital Pride.
Pasha also said he believes the latest order has the effect of rescinding the temporary stay away order against him approved by Okun in his earlier ruling, even though Okun makes no mention of the stay away order in his latest ruling. Capital Pride attorney Nick Harrison told the Blade the stay away order “remains in full force and effect.”
Harrison said Capital Pride has no further comment on the lawsuit.
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Judge rescinds order against activist in Capital Pride lawsuit
Trans activists arrested outside HHS headquarters in D.C.
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Calendar: February 20-26
