Local
Maryland high court recognizes out-of-state gay marriages
Maryland Court of Appeals rules legally married gay couples can divorce in the state.
The Maryland Court of Appeals on Friday unanimously ruled that same-sex couples who were legally married in other jurisdictions can get divorced in the state.
The 7-0 decision comes after Maryland resident Jessica Port and Virginia Anne Cowan of the District of Columbia appealed a Prince George’s County trial judge’s 2010 denial of their divorce petition. The women married in California in Oct. 2008, less than a month before the state’s voters approved Proposition 8 that banned nuptials for gays and lesbians. Port and Cowan separated eight months later and filed for divorce while they both lived in Maryland.
Attorney General Douglas Gansler opined in Feb. 2010 that the state could recognize same-sex marriages that were legally performed in the District of Columbia and other jurisdictions. Governor Martin O’Malley subsequently ordered state agencies to recognize such unions.
“A valid out-of-state same-sex marriage should be treated by Maryland courts as worthy of divorce, according to applicable statutes, reported cases and court rules of this state,” read the decision.
O’Malley welcomed the 21-page ruling.
“Today’s unanimous decision by the Maryland Court of Appeals confirms that the policy of recognizing out-of-state same-sex marriages that we have implemented in the Executive Branch is valid and consistent with the law,” he said in a statement. “To treat families differently under the law because they happen to be led by gay or lesbian couples is not right or just. Today’s decision is another step forward in our efforts to ensure that every child is protected equally under the law. As a free and diverse people, the way forward is always to be found through greater respect for the equal rights of all; for the human dignity of all.”
Michele Zavos, a lawyer with Zavos Juncker Law Group who represented Port, applauded the decision.
“We’re all enormously excited because this decision establishes marriages between same-sex couples that are valid in another jurisdiction are valid in Maryland,” she said.
The National Center for Lesbian Rights and Lambda Legal served as co-counsel on the case.
“The decision could not be better for our community,” said NCLR Legal Director Shannon Minter. “The court accepted all of the arguments we presented. Although the holding is specifically about divorce, the analysis would apply to any marital benefit or protection.”
The court’s ruling comes less than three months after O’Malley signed the state’s marriage equality bill into law.
Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee on Monday signed an executive order recognizing out-of-state same-sex marriages. Then-New York Gov. David Paterson in 2008 directed state agencies to recognize the nuptials of gays and lesbians who legally wed in other jurisdictions.
Maryland voters will likely vote on a referendum in November that would bar marriage for same-sex couples. Both the plaintiffs’ lawyers and legal observers noted that the ban on nuptials for gays and lesbians would not impact the court’s decision.
“One reason this decision is so important is that the court’s ruling will not be changed even if, in the worst case scenario, the new marriage equality law were to be repeated in a referendum vote,” said Minter. “Valid marriages from other state would still be recognized in Maryland. Because same-sex couples can marry right next door in D.C., this provides powerful protection.”
“Same-sex couples in Maryland can be married and can have their marriages recognized,” added Susan Sommer, director of constitutional litigation at Lambda Legal. “Marriage has come to stay in Maryland.”
Virginia
McPike wins special election for Va. House of Delegates
Gay Alexandria City Council member becomes 8th LGBTQ member of legislature
Gay Alexandria City Council member Kirk McPike emerged as the decisive winner in a Feb. 10 special election for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Alexandria.
McPike, a Democrat, received 81.5 percent of the vote in his race against Republican Mason Butler, according to the local publication ALX Now.
He first won election to the Alexandria Council in 2021. He will be filling the House of Delegates seat being vacated by Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria), who won in another Feb. 10 special election for the Virginia State Senate seat being vacated by gay Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria).
Ebbin is resigning from his Senate this week to take a position with Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration.
Upon taking his 5th District seat in the House of Delegate, McPike will become the eighth out LGBTQ member of the Virginia General Assembly. Among those he will be joining is Sen. Danica Roem (D-Manassas), who became the Virginia Legislature’s first transgender member when she won election to the House of Delegates in 2017 before being elected to the Senate in 2023.
“I look forward to continuing to work to address our housing crisis, the challenge of climate change, and the damaging impacts of the Trump administration on the immigrant families, LGBTQ+ Virginians, and federal employees who call Alexandria home,” McPike said in a statement after winning the Democratic nomination for the seat in a special primary held on Jan. 20.
McPike, a longtime LGBTQ rights advocate, has served for the past 13 years as chief of staff for gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and has remained in that position during his tenure on the Alexandria Council. He said he will resign from that position before taking office in the House of Delegates.
Local
Local LGBTQ groups, activists to commemorate Black History Month
Rayceen Pendarvis to moderate Dupont Underground panel on Sunday
LGBTQ groups in D.C. and elsewhere plan to use Black History Month as an opportunity to commemorate and celebrate Black lives and experiences.
Team Rayceen Productions has no specific events planned, but co-founder Rayceen Pendarvis will attend many functions around D.C. this month.
Pendarvis, a longtime voice in the LGBTQ community in D.C. moderated a panel at Dupont Underground on Feb. 8. The event, “Every (Body) Wants to Be a Showgirl,” will feature art from Black burlesque artists from around the country. Pendarvis on Feb. 23 will attend the showing of multimedia play at the Lincoln Theatre that commemorates the life of James Baldwin.
Equality Virginia plans to prioritize Black voices through a weekly online series, and community-based story telling. The online digital series will center Black LGBTQ voices, specifically trailblazers and activists, and contemporary Black queer and transgender people.
Narissa Rahaman, Equality Virginia’s executive director, stressed the importance of the Black queer community to the overall Pride movement, and said “Equality Virginia is proud to center those voices in our work this month and beyond.”
The Capital Pride Alliance, which hosts Pride events in D.C., has an alliance with the Center for Black Equity, which brings Black Pride to D.C. over Memorial Day weekend. The National LGBTQ Task Force has no specific Black History Month events planned, but plans to participate in online collaborations.
Cathy Renna, the Task Force’s director of communications, told the Washington Blade the organization remains committed to uplifting Black voices. “Our priority is keeping this at the forefront everyday,” she said.
The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center is also hosting a series of Black History Month events.
The D.C. Public Library earlier this year launched “Freedom and Resistance,” an exhibition that celebrates Black History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. It will remain on display until the middle of March at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at 901 G St., N.W.
District of Columbia
U.S. Attorney’s Office drops hate crime charge in anti-gay assault
Case remains under investigation and ‘further charges’ could come
D.C. police announced on Feb. 9 that they had arrested two days earlier on Feb. 7 a Germantown, Md., man on a charge of simple assault with a hate crime designation after the man allegedly assaulted a gay man at 14th and Q Streets, N.W., while using “homophobic slurs.”
But D.C. Superior Court records show that prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C., which prosecutes D.C. violent crime cases, charged the arrested man only with simple assault without a hate crime designation.
In response to a request by the Washington Blade for the reason why the hate crime designation was dropped, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office provided this response: “We continue to investigate this matter and make no mistake: should the evidence call for further charges, we will not hesitate to charge them.”
In a statement announcing the arrest in this case, D.C. police stated, “On Saturday, February 7, 2026, at approximately 7:45 p.m. the victim and suspect were in the 1500 block of 14th Street, Northwest. The suspect requested a ‘high five’ from the victim. The victim declined and continued walking,” the statement says.
“The suspect assaulted the victim and used homophobic slurs,” the police statement continues. “The suspect was apprehended by responding officers.”
It adds that 26-year-old Dean Edmundson of Germantown, Md. “was arrested and charged with Simple Assault (Hate/Bias).” The statement also adds, “A designation as a hate crime by MPD does not mean that prosecutors will prosecute it as a hate crime.”
Under D.C.’s Bias Related Crime Act of 1989, penalties for crimes motivated by prejudice against individuals based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and homelessness can be enhanced by a court upon conviction by one and a half times greater than the penalty of the underlying crime.
Prosecutors in the past both in D.C. and other states have said they sometimes decide not to include a hate crime designation in assault cases if they don’t think the evidence is sufficient to obtain a conviction by a jury. In some instances, prosecutors have said they were concerned that a skeptical jury might decide to find a defendant not guilty of the underlying assault charge if they did not believe a motive of hate was involved.
A more detailed arrest affidavit filed by D.C. police in Superior Court appears to support the charge of a hate crime designation.
“The victim stated that they refused to High-Five Defendant Edmondson, which, upon that happening, Defendant Edmondson started walking behind both the victim and witness, calling the victim, “bald, ugly, and gay,” the arrest affidavit states.
“The victim stated that upon being called that, Defendant Edmundson pushed the victim with both hands, shoving them, causing the victim to feel the force of the push,” the affidavit continues. “The victim stated that they felt offended and that they were also gay,” it says.
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