Local
LGBT groups evacuate buildings in bomb threat
D.C. police alerted to threat by Los Angeles police; buildings declared safe
Employees of several LGBT organizations sharing a Massachusetts Ave. building with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force were evacuated Tuesday afternoon as police inspected the building for bombs. (Washington Blade photo by Phil Reese)
Employees working for at least 11 national LGBT organizations in Washington evacuated the two buildings in which they are housed late Tuesday morning after D.C. police informed them of a possible bomb threat.
HRC employees were allowed back into their offices after police declared the building safe this afternoon. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Michael Cole-Schwartz, spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, said special police personnel with bomb sniffing dogs walked through the HRC building before informing HRC the building was safe a little over an hour later.
Cole-Schwartz said D.C. police told HRC that they received an alert about the possible bomb threat from Los Angeles police.
“Early this morning about 8 O’clock [11 a.m. east coast time] our LAPD 911 Dispatch Center received a call from a caller who stated he was going to blow up the LGBT building in Washington, D.C.,” L.A. police said in a statement released late Tuesday.
“LAPD immediately made notification to law enforcement officials in Washington, D.C. to advise them of the possible threat,” the statement says. “We also immediately launched an investigation here into the threat since it appeared to have been generated by a local pay phone.”
HRC is located in its own office building at 1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and eight other LGBT groups, including the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Stonewall Democrats, were similarly advised by D.C. police to evacuate the office building in which they rent office space at 1325 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., according to Mara Keisling, executive director of NCTE.
“We were given the all clear signal a short time later,” Keisling said. “It was a matter of being extra cautious.”
Other LGBT groups located in that building include the National Black Justice Coalition, Immigration Equality, Out for Work, and the National Coalition for LGBT Health.
At the request of D.C. police, employees with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce also evacuated their offices at 729 15th St., N.W.
Laura Berry, a spokesperson for the NGLCC, said police told her organization they received information of a possible threat against a national LGBT group and they were checking various buildings of LGBT groups in response to the threat.
Cole-Schwartz said D.C. police told HRC they were alerted to a possible threat against a “national gay rights organization” from the Los Angeles Police Department. He said D.C. police did not provide further details on how L.A. police were alerted to the possible threat.
The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, another prominent national LGBT group in Washington, was not contacted by police to evacuate its offices, which are located on 15th Street, N.W., said Victory Fund spokesperson Denis Dison.
Dison said the Victory Fund learned of the evacuation by the other groups through an email alert and contacted D.C. police to determine whether it should be concerned over a possible threat. He said police didn’t believe the Victory Fund was being targeted.
A D.C. police source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said as a measure of extra precaution, D.C. police officials arranged for a brief evacuation of the police Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit headquarters at Dupont Circle. The GLLU offices, which are part of the SunTrust Bank building, were searched and quickly found to be safe, the source said.
The evacuation of the HRC building, located at 17th Street and Rhode Island Avenue, resulted in backed up traffic after police temporarily closed part of 17th Street and Rhode Island Avenue.
Maryland
White House threatens Anne Arundel schools over gender identity policy
District faces possible legal action or loss of federal funding
By JESSICA CALEFATI | The Trump-Vance administration on Monday threatened to punish Anne Arundel County’s school system with legal action or the loss of federal funding for allegedly withholding information about a student’s gender identity and transition from the child’s parents.
The U.S. Education and Justice Departments together determined that the suburban Maryland district treats students’ gender identities as confidential medical information that cannot be shared with parents, in violation of federal student privacy law, according to a news release. A federal lawsuit filed against the district earlier this month made similar claims.
“As a mother and a grandmother, it is unconscionable that any school district would hide the most sensitive information about children in their care from their own parents,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement. “This is not only an affront to basic moral principles, but also to parents’ rights under federal law.”
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
Virginia
Winsome Earle-Sears launches campaign against Va. marriage equality amendment
Former LG lost to Abigail Spanberger in 2025 gubernatorial race
Less than a year after losing Virginia’s gubernatorial race, former Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is campaigning across the state against constitutional amendments that would protect marriage equality and reproductive freedom.
She is launching a statewide “Life and Marriage Tour” ahead of November’s election.
Although same-sex couples can legally marry under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, Virginia’s constitution still contains language that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. Supporters say removing the language would protect marriage equality should federal precedent change.
The original ban was written into the state constitution in 2006.
It has been hinted at in the past by Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas that he would consider revisiting Obergefell v. Hodges regarding contraception and marriage rights for same-sex couples. He stated this in his concurring opinion regarding the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, which allows for state-level abortion bans.
Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman said removing the ban would bring the state’s constitution in line with existing law.
“20 years after banning marriage equality, it’s time for our commonwealth to fully complete our evolution — and finish the job on protecting marriage equality for all,” Rahaman said.
In an email to supporters, Earle-Sears said these amendments “raise serious concerns” and could alter principles about which Virginians care.
“That is why our efforts are focused not only on informing voters, but also encouraging them to carefully consider these proposals and vote NO on both amendments,” Earle-Sears said.
Virginia voters will consider three constitutional amendments this November.
Earle-Sears is campaigning for voters to reject two of them: the Virginia Remove Constitutional Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment and the Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment.
A “Yes” vote on the Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment would include removing a provision that states marriage is between one man and one woman and prohibitng the state from denying a marriage license to two adults based on their sex, gender, or race, according to the Virginia Department of Elections.
In 2025, during debates against now Gov. Abigail Spanberger, Earle-Sears argued it is not discrimination to think that gay people should not be allowed to marry. She claims it conflicts with her faith.
According to ABC 8, in 2024 she wrote that she had a “moral opposition” to marriage equality, after former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, signed a marriage equality bill that barred denying marriage licenses based on sex, gender, or race.
According to the Virginia Department of Elections, a “Yes” vote on the Reproductive Freedom amendment supports adding a section to the state constitution that would give Virginians the right to make and carry out decisions regarding reproductive healthcare, except in specific exemptions.
The Virginia Department of Elections wrote that if accepted, the amendment would allow the state government to pass laws to regulate abortion care in the third trimester of pregnancy, but require abortion care when it is medically needed to protect the life and health of the pregnant person or because the fetus is not viable.
During the 2025 election cycle, Earle-Sears was clear on her anti-abortion stance.
According to the Virginia Independent, she utilized campaign funds to donate to the Family Foundation of Virginia. The group is a faith-based, anti-abortion, and anti-in vitro fertilization non-profit.
The “Life and Marriage Tour” will include traveling throughout Virginia to speak with citizens, churches, community organizations, and local leaders. The exact locations have yet to be announced.
District of Columbia
D.C. Council approves increased funding for Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs
Increase attached to 2027 budget bill
The D.C. Council on July 14 gave final approval for the city’s fiscal year 2027 budget that includes an amendment calling for increasing the number and size of funding grants that the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs provides for local organizations providing services for the LGBTQ community.
The amendment, called the “LGBTQ Community Grant Amendment Act of 2026,” was introduced earlier this year by D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), the Council’s only gay member.
The D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition called the Parker amendment “a historic measure that establishes the District’s most sustainable model for a vehicle for investing in LGBTQ communities.”
The Council approved the version of the FY 2027 budget bill with the attached Parker amendment in its first of two required votes on June 9. Shortly after voting unanimously to give final approval of an earlier version of the two-part budget measure on July 7 that includes the Parker amendment, the Council sent the bill to Mayor Muriel Bowser for her signature.
Bowser has expressed strong opposition to several provisions in the $22 billion budget measure passed by the Council that are unrelated to the Parker amendment regarding the Office of LGBTQ Affairs. The mayor has yet to say whether she will sign, veto, or choose not to sign the bill.
The latter option would allow the bill to become law if Congress does not choose to overturn it during its required 30-day legislative review period for all D.C. bills. Political observers believe the Council will vote to override a veto if Bowser chooses to veto the bill.
When contacted by the Washington Blade on July 22 to determine where the mayor stands on the budget bill, mayoral spokesperson Daniel Gleick said only, there was “no update on the budget just yet.”
Among other things, the Parker amendment calls for the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs to issue a $980,000 grant in FY 2027 to a private, nonprofit organization in partnership with the office “for the purpose of supporting programs that promote the welfare of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning community.”
It would allocate $680,000 of that funding total from existing funds from the city’s community affairs grants program and calls for $200,000 in newly appropriated funds.
It says the organization selected would also initiate its own fundraising effort to expand the amount of funds beyond the amount the office would provide, enabling it to provide larger grants to a greater number of local LGBTQ organizations.
“The legislation arrives at a critical moment, as LGBTQ-serving organizations face unprecedented uncertainty,” the D.C. Budget Coalition said in its comment on the Parker amendment. “Growing demand for services is colliding with shrinking resources, federal attacks on LGBTQ programs, and ongoing threats to local funding streams,” the coalition’s statement says.
In what some observers have called a highly controversial action; the budget bill approved by the Council reverses and restores millions of dollars in budget cuts proposed by Bowser in the budget she submitted to the Council earlier this year.
Among other things, the Council’s budget preserves the current level of funding for housing vouchers, childcare, paid family leave, and other programs slated to be cut in the mayor’s proposed budget, according to a report by the Washington Post.
Bowser points out that the Council approved budget bill calls for using $150 million from the city’s reserve fund, which she and others have said could put the city in jeopardy in future years. The mayor has said the cuts were needed to prevent a major funding shortfall brought about by the action by Republicans in Congress to cut the city’s budget by over a billion dollars.
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