Local
State Dept. brings foreign journalists to Blade office
Journalists from 20 nations visited Monday as part of a special reporting tour to brief journalists on how the U.S. addresses LGBT-related issues
Journalists from 20 nations visited the offices of the Washington Blade on Monday as part of aĀ special reporting tour organized by the U.S. State Department to brief the journalists on how the U.S. addresses LGBT-related issues.
Blade editor Kevin Naff spoke to the journalists about how the Blade and other media outlets cover the LGBT community and how coverage from the LGBT press differs from coverage by mainline news organizations.
āLGBT issues are a human rights priority for Secretary of State [Hillary] Clinton,ā said Dick Custin, deputy director of the State Departmentās Foreign Press Center, which organized the tour.
āMany of the journalists who will be joining us come from countries where homosexuality is not only stigmatized, it is punishable by imprisonment or even death,ā Custin said in an email prior to the journalistsā visit. āThe courageous participants on this tour are willing to report back to the readers, listeners and viewers in their home countries on how the U.S. is handling this important issue.ā
The nations the journalists were from included: Albania, Chile, China, Croatia, Dominica, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Kosovo, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Nigeria, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Turkey and Uganda.
Custin said the journalists on the tour include bloggers and reporters from TV, radio, newspapers and online media. One journalist from Uganda noted that in her country the Bladeās offices would be āransacked and burned.ā Others wondered if the paper had ever been targeted by protests, while some wrongly assumed the government funded the paperās operations. The session ended with many of the journalists offering international story ideas for the Blade to cover.
āWe believe this tour would give journalists ā and their audiences worldwide ā a perspective on how the worldās leading democracy handles issues of sexual orientation and the sensitivities surrounding it,ā Custin said.
In addition to their visit to the Blade offices, the foreign journalists met with Diego Sanchez, the LGBT issues coordinator for U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), and officials at the Pentagon that handle the dismantling of āDonāt Ask, Donāt Tell,ā and gay members of the U.S. military. They then went to Annapolis to meet with openly gay state lawmakers.
The State Department tour also was scheduled to take the journalists to the offices of the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage to glean insight into U.S. groups opposing LGBT rights.
The seven-day tour was scheduled to travel to Philadelphia and New York City to enable participants to meet with law enforcement officials that work on efforts to curtail anti-LGBT hate crimes, leaders of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, and organizers of the āIt Gets Betterā campaign, which seeks to curtail LGBT teen suicides.
Rehoboth Beach
Former CAMP Rehoboth official sentenced to nine months in prison
Salvator Seeley pleaded guilty to felony theft charge for embezzlement
Salvator āSalā Seeley, who served as an official with the Rehoboth Beach, Del., CAMP Rehoboth LGBTQ community center for 20 years, was sentenced on April 5 by a Sussex County Superior Court judge to nine months in prison and to pay $176,000 in restitution to the organization.
The sentencing took place about five weeks after Seeley pleaded guilty to a charge of Theft in Excess of $50,000 for allegedly embezzling funds from CAMP Rehoboth, a spokesperson for the Delaware Department of Justice told the Washington Blade.
Seeley’s guilty plea came shortly after a grand jury, at the request of prosecutors, indicted him on the felony theft charge following an investigation that found he had embezzled at least $176,000 from the nonprofit LGBTQ organization.
āSalvatore C. Seeley, between the 27th day of February 2019 and the 7th day of September 2021, in the County of Sussex, State of Delaware, did take property belonging to CAMP Rehoboth, Inc., consisting of United States currency and other miscellaneous property valued at more than $50,000, intending to appropriate the same,ā the indictment states.
āThe State recommended a sentence of two years of incarceration based on the large-scale theft and the impact to the non-profit organization,ā Delaware Department of Justice spokesperson Caroline Harrison told the Blade in a statement.
āThe defense cited Seeleyās lack of a record and gambling addiction in arguing for a probationary sentence,ā the statement says. āSeeley was sentenced in Superior Court to a nine-month prison term and to pay a total of $176,000 in restitution for the stolen funds,ā Harrison says in the statement.
Neither Seeley nor his attorney could immediately be reached for comment.
At the time of Seeleyās indictment in February, CAMP Rehoboth released a statement saying it first discovered āfinancial irregularitiesā within the organization on Sept. 7, 2021, āand took immediate action and notified state authorities.ā The statement says this resulted in the investigation of Seeley by the state Department of Justice as well as an internal investigation by CAMP Rehoboth to review its āfinancial control policiesā that led to an updating of those policies.
āAs we have communicated from day one, CAMP Rehoboth has fully cooperated with law enforcement,ā the statement continues. āAt its request, we did not speak publicly about the investigation while it was ongoing for fear it would jeopardize its integrity,ā according to the statement. āThis was extremely difficult given our commitment to transparency with the community about day-to-day operations during the recent leadership transition.ā
The statement was referring to Kim Leisey, who began her job as CAMP Rehobothās new executive director in July of 2023, while the Seeley investigation had yet to be completed, following the organizationās process of searching for a new director. It says Seeley left his job as Health and Wellness Director of CAMP Rehoboth in September of 2021 after working for the organization for more than 20 years.
āMr. Seeleyās actions are a deep betrayal to not only CAMP Rehoboth but also the entire community we serve,ā the statement says.
Maryland
Christian Siriano to serve as grand marshal of Annapolis Pride Parade
Fashion designer is an Annapolis native
BY JOHN-JOHN WILLIAMS IV | Heās conquered fashion week. His designs have slayed the red carpet during award season. And now Christian Siriano is coming home.
The Annapolis native will serve as grand marshal and keynote speaker June 1 for the annual Annapolis Pride Parade and Festival,Ā which is a major coup as the event enters its fourth year.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
As You Are bar closes temporarily, citing problems with building
Shutdown comes two months after fundraising appeal brought in $170,000
As You Are, the LGBTQ cafĆ© and bar located in the Barracks Row section of Capitol Hill near the Eastern Market Metro station, has announced on its Instagram page that problems associated with its building at 500 8th St., S.E., forced it to ātemporarilyā close on April 8.
āAs you may be aware, As You Areās location in Eastern Market has been closed since April 8, when we began to have concerns about the physical condition of the building,ā the Instagram message states. āWe worked quickly to alert our landlord, and they have assessed the building with their engineers,ā the message says.
āWe understand that certain repairs need to be made to ensure the safety of our staff, patrons, and community,ā the message concludes.
In one of two more recent videos posted on Instagram on April 17 and 26, As You Are co-owners Jo McDaniel and Rachel Pike said they did not have any update on when they can reopen. āThe engineers and contractors have all come into the space, and weāre just waiting on a plan and a timeline from our landlord,ā McDaniel said in the video.
Pike mentioned in one of the videos that As You Are has a Venmo app set up, and said they appreciate the support they have been receiving from the community. McDaniel added, āWeāre really interested in supporting our team through this, as this is an unexpected loss of income for all of us.ā
McDaniel didnāt immediately respond to a request from the Washington Blade for a further update on where things stand with the building repair project and the specific nature of the problems with the building. An earlier message posted on the As You Are website said, āHeavy rain damaged the back wall of our building, and we are closed to assess and repair.ā
The message added, āRegular updates and ways to support can be found on our Instagram page @asyouaredc.ā
The April 8 shutdown came a little over two months after As You Are issued a GoFundMe appeal on Feb. 5 seeking emergency financial support to prevent it from closing in February due to a $150,000 debt. In a display of strong community support, its $150,000 fundraising goal was reached in less than a week. By the following week, the GoFundMe appeal had pulled in more than $170,000 from more than 3,000 individual donations.
Many of the donors left messages on the GoFundMe page for As You Are expressing their strong support for the bar and cafƩ, saying it served as a uniquely supportive space for all members of the LGBTQ community.
In the GoFundMe message, McDaniel and Pike said their goal in opening their business in March 2022 was to offer community center type programming beyond just a bar and cafƩ.
āAYA is a cafĆ©, bar and dance floor that hosts diverse programming nearly every night of the week, including social sport leagues, Queer youth socials, weekly karaoke, book clubs, open mics, Queer author events, dance parties, and much more,ā the two said in their message.
The buildingās owner and the As You Are landlord, Rueben Bajaj, who is the principal operator of the Bethesda, Md., based real estate firm White Star Investments, couldnāt immediately be reached for comment. The Washington Post reported that he contributed $500 to the As You Are GoFundMe appeal, saying, āI personally want to see As You Are succeed.ā