Local

Congress to probe Library of Congress discrimination charge

Schumer promises to see that ‘justice is done’

Published

13 years ago

April 10, 2012

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who chairs a joint congressional committee that oversees the Library of Congress, said on Tuesday that the committee would look into allegations that the library engaged in discrimination by firing an employee because he’s gay.

“We certainly believe that there should be no discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation,” Schumer told the Blade Tuesday following a news conference on an unrelated issue. “So we’re going to look into this specific case and make sure that justice is done.”

Peter TerVeer, 30, former management analyst at the Library of Congress’s Office of the Inspector General, charges in a discrimination complaint that he was fired on April 6 after allegedly being harassed for more than a year by a supervisor who repeatedly cited passages from the Bible condemning homosexuality.

A spokesperson for the library declined to comment on the allegation, saying it never discusses pending personnel matters. The spokesperson, Gayle Osterberg, declined to confirm whether the library still has an internal personnel policy prohibiting employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The library adopted such a policy in the late 1990s, but it couldn’t be immediately determined whether the policy remains in effect.

“That’s something I’ve stood for my whole career,” said Schumer in referring to policies aimed at barring job discrimination based on sexual orientation.

“I’m head of the committee on the library, and so we will make sure we get to the bottom of this,” he said.

An official congressional directory of committees on the House and Senate websites shows that Schumer is chair of the Joint Committee on the Library, which has jurisdiction over “the affairs and administration of the Library of Congress.”

Other senators on the committee include Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). House members include Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss.), who serves as vice chair; and Reps. Daniel Lungren (R-Calif.), Robert Brady (D-Pa.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), and Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.).

Peter TerVeer, gay news, gay politics dc

Peter TerVeer (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

TerVeer and his attorney, Thomas Simeone, were scheduled to hold a news conference to discuss the case outside the Library of Congress’s Madison Building where TerVeer worked at 11 a.m. Wed., April 11.

TerVeer charges in a complaint filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that he was elevated from a temporary to permanent position and promoted twice since he was hired in 2008. He said the alleged harassment by his supervisor began immediately after the supervisor discovered he was gay in August 2009 and continued through October 2011, when TerVeer says in his complaint that severe emotional stress caused by the alleged harassment forced him to take disability leave from his job.

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Photos

PHOTOS: WorldPride Street Festival and Closing Concert

Doechii, Khalid among performers

Published

3 hours ago

June 11, 2025

Michael Key

Doechii performs at the WorldPride Closing Concert on Sunday, June 8. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

WorldPride 2025 concluded with the WorldPride Street Festival and Closing Concert held along Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. on Sunday, June 8. Performers on the main stage included Doechii, Khalid, Courtney Act, Parker Matthews, 2AM Ricky, Suzie Toot, MkX and Brooke Eden.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

Baltimore

Baltimore Trans Pride to take place Saturday

Baltimore Safe Haven hosts annual event

Published

5 hours ago

June 11, 2025

Daniela White

Baltimore Trans Pride in 2022. Baltimore Safe Haven's annual event will take place on Saturday. (Washington Blade photo by Linus Berggren)

Celebrating the transgender community, Baltimore Safe Haven, an organization committed to empowering LGBTQ individuals in Baltimore City, plans to host their fourth annual Baltimore Trans Pride on Saturday.

Instead of the usual parade and march, this year’s Trans Pride will be a block party on Charles Street and between 21st and 22nd Streets. The event will start at 1 p.m. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and last until 10 p.m.

Community members can go on guided tours, enjoy refreshments by local vendors, listen to presenters, and watch performances by special guests.

Sukihana, the event’s headliner, plans to take to the stage to entertain the crowd, along with a variety of local performers, according to Melissa Deveraux, Baltimore Safe Haven’s executive assistant to Executive Director Iya Dammons.

“Some (are) prominently known, some (are) just making a name for themselves,” Deveraux said. Iya is always making sure that community talent is showcased at all of our functions.”

In company with Pride on Saturday, Baltimore Safe Haven will be opening its new building on Friday from 1-4 p.m.

“That is sort of going to be the prelude to pride,” Lau said. “Thanks to Sen. Mary Washington and the Weinberg Foundation, we were able to purchase the building outright, and it’s going to be a community hub of administrative buildings and 12-bedroom apartments.”

Renee Lau, administrative assistant for special projects coordinator for Baltimore Safe Haven, said the planning process for Baltimore Trans Pride began in January, and putting it all together was a collaboration of multiple city agencies and organizations.

“Safe Haven is an LGBT community organization, but we service the entire community, and that’s the message we try to spread,” Lau said. “We’re not just here for the LGBT community. We’re here to spread goodwill and offer harm reduction and housing to the entire community.”

Lau said the organization’s biggest goal for the event is to gain exposure.

“(We want) to let and let people know who we are and what our community is about,” she said. “Right now, because of what’s happening in DC, there’s a lot of bad untruths going on, and the total thing is bringing out the truth.”

Deveraux said having a place of inclusivity, acceptance, and togetherness is important in today’s political climate and the current administration.

“This event will have people seeing the strength and resilience of the transgender community, showing that no matter what we are going through, we still show up,” Deveraux said. “We are here, we will not be erased.”