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Gay marriage opponent is consultant for Orange

Mathis-Lloyd says Orange continues to support marriage equality, despite hiring Robert King

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Pro-LGBT council member Vincent Orange has hired marriage foe Robert King as a consultant. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

One of the leading advocates for overturning D.C.ā€™s same-sex marriage law through a voter referendum has served as a paid campaign consultant for At-Large City Council member Vincent Orangeā€™s re-election campaign, according to records filed with the Office of Campaign Finance.

Estell Mathis-Lloyd, chief of staff for Orangeā€™s Council office, said the decision by the Orange campaign toĀ retain Ward 5 ANC Commissioner Robert King as a consultant is ā€œabsolutely notā€ a signal that Orange may be backing away from his support for the marriage equality law, which the Council passed in 2009.

ā€œHe does continue to support marriage equality,ā€ Mathis-Lloyd said of Orange.

OCF records show that the Orange campaign paid King $750 as a consulting fee on Dec. 11, 2011.

Orange, a former Ward 5 Council member, came out against same-sex marriage when he ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2006. He said he changed his position shortly before he ran for the at-large Council seat in a special election in 2011 and now strongly supports the city law that legalized same-sex marriage. He says he has been a longtime supporter of other LGBT issues.

Through his consulting firm King & Associates, King received more than $60,000 in 2010 from the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage to organize a campaign to overturn the cityā€™s same-sex marriage law through a referendum. When the cityā€™s board of elections and the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled that such a referendum could not be held because it would violate the cityā€™s Human Rights Law, King joined anti-gay ministerĀ Harry Jackson in appealing theĀ court ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court upheld the appeals court decision, ending efforts to kill the gay marriage law through a referendum.

Mathis-Lloyd said the Orange campaign retained King as a consultant because of his knowledge of Ward 5 issues.

Orange, a Democrat, is running in the April 3 D.C. Democratic primary for a full, four-year term for a Council seat he won last year in a special election. The seat became vacant after the 2010 election, in which Council member Kwame Brown, who held the seat, won election to the post of Council chair.

Orange is being challenged in the primary by Democrat Sekou Biddle, who ran against him in 2010; D.C. political newcomer Peter Shapiro, a former Prince Georgeā€™s County Council member; and community activist E. Gail Anderson Holness.

According to the Jan. 31 filing with the Office of Campaign Finance, Orange was ahead in campaign funds raised, with $145,220. OCF records show Shapiro was in second place in money raised, with $90,291, followed by Biddle, who raised $45,686; and Holness, who raised $2,944 as of Jan. 31. OCF records show that $50,000 in the total amount raised by Shapiro came from loans.

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Maryland

Former College Park Mayor Patrick Wojahn disbarred

One-time official serving 30-year prison sentence for child pornography possession, distribution

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Patrick Wojahn (Mugshot courtesy of the Prince George's County Police Department)

Patrick Wojahn, the former mayor of College Park who resigned after law enforcement executed a search and seizure warrant and discovered a ā€œvery large quantityā€ of child sexual abuse material on his cellphone, has agreed to be disbarred in Maryland.

Wojahn, 49, a Democrat who served as mayor from 2015 to 2023, later pleaded guilty in Prince Georgeā€™s County Circuit Court to 140 counts of possession and distribution of child pornography and was sentenced to 30 years in prison ā€” plus five years of probation.

In an order on Friday, Maryland Chief Justice Matthew J. Fader granted a joint petition for disbarment by consent and noted that Wojahn agreed that his actions constituted professional misconduct.

The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

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District of Columbia

Sentencing for Ruby Corado postponed for second time

Former Casa Ruby director pleaded guilty to wire fraud

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Ruby Coradoā€™s sentencing is now scheduled for April 29. (Washington Blade file photo by Ernesto Valle)

The sentencing in D.C. federal court for Ruby Corado, the founder and executive director of the now-defunct LGBTQ community services organization Casa Ruby on a charge of wire fraud, has been postponed for the second time, from March 28 to April 29.

A spokesperson for U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden, who is presiding over the case, said it was the judge who postponed the sentencing due to a scheduling conflict. The earlier postponement, from Jan. 10 to March 28, came at the request of Coradoā€™s attorney and was not opposed by prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C.

Corado pleaded guilty on July 17, 2024, to a single charge of wire fraud as part of a plea bargain deal offered by prosecutors. The charge to which she pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for D.C. says she allegedly diverted at least $150,000 ā€œin taxpayer backed emergency COVID relief funds to private offshore bank accounts for her personal use,ā€ according to a statement from the U.S. Attorneyā€™s office.

Under the federal wire fraud law, for which Corado is being prosecuted, she could be subjected to a possible maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and restitution requiring her to repay the funds she allegedly stole.

Court observers, however, have said that due to Coradoā€™s decision to waive her right to a trial and plead guilty to the lesser charge, prosecutors will likely ask the judge to hand down a lesser sentence than the maximum sentence.

An earlier criminal complaint filed against Corado, which has been replaced by the single charge to which she has pleaded guilty, came at the time the FBI arrested her on March 5, 2024, at a hotel in Laurel, Md., shortly after she returned to the U.S. from El Salvador.

At the request of her attorney and against the wishes of prosecutors, another judge at that time agreed to release Corado into custody of her niece in Rockville, Md., under a home detention order. The release order came seven days after Corado had been held in jail at the time of her March 5 arrest.

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Virginia

Pride Liberation Project announces additional Va. school board protests

Student-led group challenging Trump-Vance administrationā€™s anti-LGBTQ policies

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LGBTQ students demonstrate at Luther Jackson Middle School in Falls Church, Va., in June 2023. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Following their recent protests at school board meetings in Virginia to challenge the Trump-Vance administrationā€™s anti-LGBTQ policies, a student-led rights group on Wednesday outlined plans to continue their actions.

The Pride Liberation Project released a statement in early March announcing their ā€œMarch Month of Actionā€ after their first round of protests. The Pride Liberation Project on Wednesday issued another press release that provided additional details.

ā€œQueer students will rally at local school board meetings across Virginia, as they call for education leaders to reject the Trump-Muskā€™s administration escalating attacks against queer people.ā€ said Conifer Selintung on behalf of the Pride Liberation Project. ā€œSince taking office, the Trump-Musk administration has ignored the real issues facing our schools ā€” like declining reading scores and the mental health crisis ā€” and tried to bully queer students into the closet. Alongside other hateful attacks, theyā€™ve attacked nondiscrimination protections, banned gender-affirming care, and whitewashed history.ā€

The Pride Liberation Project press release also included a statement from Moth, an LGBTQ student at McLean High School.

ā€œI want to be able to go to school as myself, just like any other student,ā€ said Moth. ā€œTo do that, I need my school board to stand up to bullies.ā€

The Pride Liberation Project has also released a schedule of rallies it plans to hold this month.

The first rally took place at the Prince William County School Board meeting in Manassas on Wednesday. A second event took place at the Roanoke County School Board meeting on Thursday.

Additional rallies are scheduled to take place in Rockingham and York Counties on March 24, Loudoun County on March 25, and Fairfax County on March 27.

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