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Family Research Council shooting suspect indicted

Corkins faces charges after attack left one man injured

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FRC, gay news, Washington Blade
FBI unit at Family Research Council headquarters, gay news, Washington Blade

Floyd Lee Corkins II, 28, a former part-time volunteer for D.C.’s LGBT community center, was indicted Wednesday on charges related to the shooting last week at the Family Research Council. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Floyd Lee Corkins II, 28, a former part-time volunteer for D.C.’s LGBT community center, was indicted Wednesday on charges related to the shooting last week at the Family Research Council.

He is scheduled to appear in court for a joint preliminary and detention hearing Friday.

Corkins was ordered held without bond last Thursday by a federal judge one day after the FBI and D.C. police apprehended him for allegedly shooting a security guard in the lobby of the Family Research Council headquarters, one of the nation’s leading anti-gay groups.

The FBI placed Corkins in custody around 11 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 15, at 801 G Street, N.W., after police said he shot security officer Leo Johnson in the arm. Police said Johnson, who sustained a non-life-threatening wound, and other guards wrestled Corkins to the floor and took away the gun.

One of the charges is the federal offense of interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition. The second is a D.C. offense of assault with intent to kill while armed.

FBI officials said the firearms charge was brought because Corkins transported the gun and ammunition from Virginia, where he purchased them legally, to D.C. for the purpose of committing a crime.

Officials with the DC Center for the LGBT Community said Corkins had been working as a volunteer at the center’s front desk on weekends for about six months and there were no signs of any problems associated with his work.

“I was shocked to hear that someone who has volunteered with the DC Center could be the cause of such a tragic act of violence,” the center’s executive director, David Mariner, said in a statement.

“No matter the circumstances, we condemn such violence in the strongest terms possible,” Mariner said. “We hope for a full and speedy recovery for the victim and our thoughts are with him and his family.”

Law enforcement officials and the DC Center have not released additional details about Corkins’ background, adding to the mystery both within the LGBT community and the community at large about who Corkins is. It could not immediately be determined whether Corkins is gay.

An FBI arrest affidavit filed in U.S. District Court last week says Corkins lived with his parents in Herndon, Va., and drove a silver 2004 Dodge Neon, which is registered under the names of his parents, to the East Falls Church Metro station on the day of the shooting. The affidavit says he took the Metro to D.C. and walked from a Metro station to the Family Research Council building.

A spokesperson for George Mason University told the Blade that Corkins studied philosophy at the university as an undergraduate student from 2005 to 2007, when he stopped taking courses. The spokesperson, Dan Walsch, said the university incorrectly told some news media outlets last week that Corkins received a master’s degree in education from George Mason. Walsch said the mix-up was due to the fact that Corkins’ father, Floyd Lee Corkins Sr., also attended George Mason around the same time as his son and the elder Corkins was the one who received the master’s in education degree.

Ric Chollar, director of the university’s Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Resources — which bills itself as a “safe, inclusive, and comforting” place for LGBT students — has no recollection of Floyd Corkins II ever having visited the office or participating in any of its activities, according to Walsch.

Walsch said that under the university’s privacy policy, he could not release any further details about Corkins’ enrollment at George Mason such as how many courses he completed before he stopped attending the school.

During Corkins’ first appearance in court on Aug. 16, Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Martin, one of two prosecutors in the case, asked U.S. District Court Judge Magistrate Allan Kay to arrange for Corkins to undergo a psychiatric evaluation before the preliminary and detention hearing set for Aug 24. Kay approved the request.

D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier called Johnson a hero for risking his life by preventing Corkins from entering the upper floors of the building where Family Research Council employees work. Lanier said that while authorities were not certain what Corkins’ motive was, a stash of ammunition recovered from his backpack suggested he might have been planning a mass killing.

An FBI arrest affidavit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Thursday morning says a witness told the FBI “Corkins stated words to the effect of ‘I don’t like your politics’ to Johnson and other security officials in the lobby seconds before he pulled out his gun and shot Johnson.

The affidavit says authorities recovered from the scene a loaded Sig Suer 9mm pistol that Corkins allegedly used to shoot Johnson and two magazines loaded with 9mm ammunition. It says the FBI also recovered from a backpack that Corkins had with him a box containing an additional 50 rounds of 9mm ammunition along with 15 Chick-fil-A- sandwiches.

In a news conference Thursday outside the Family Research Council’s headquarters, held less than an hour after Corkins appeared in court, FRC Executive Director Tony Perkins said the Chick fil-A sandwiches found in Corkins’ backpack strongly suggest that he had targeted the FRC for its conservative political beliefs, possibly including its opposition to same-sex marriage.

Perkins noted that the Family Research Council had issued statements in support of Chick-fil-A during the past several weeks, after some gay activists criticized the company’s president for his opposition to same-sex marriage.

Perkins created a stir among LGBT groups when he criticized the pro-LGBT Southern Poverty Law Center, a nationally recognized civil rights group, for being “reckless” for labeling groups like the FRC as hate groups.

“I want to be clear that Floyd Corkins was responsible for firing the shot yesterday that wounded one of our colleagues and our friend Leo Johnson,” Perkins said.

“But Corkins was given license to shoot an unarmed man by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center that have been reckless in labeling organizations as hate groups because they disagree with them on public policy,” Perkins said.

In a statement posted on its website on Aug. 16, Southern Poverty Law Center senior fellow Mark Potok called Perkins’ comment “outrageous,” saying SPLC has for more than 40 years denounced violence.

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World Pride 2025

D.C. liquor board extends drinking hours for WorldPride

Gay bars, other liquor-serving establishments can stay open 24 hours

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Sasha Colby performs at Pitchers in 2023. Liquor-serving establishments in D.C. will be able to remain open for 24 hours during WorldPride. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

D.C.’s Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Board, which regulates liquor sales for the city’s bars, restaurants, nightclubs, and other establishments licensed to serve alcoholic beverages, has approved extended hours for alcohol service and sales during the days when most WorldPride events will be held in the nation’s capital.

In a May 2 announcement, the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration, which works with the board, said the extended liquor serving and sales hours for WorldPride will take place beginning Friday, May 30, through 4 a.m. Monday, June 9.

Although the official schedule for WorldPride events shows the events will take place May 17-June 8, most of the large events, including a two-day Pride street festival, parade, and concert, were expected to take place between May 30 and June 8.

According to the ABCA announcement and an ABCA spokesperson, liquor servicing establishments with the appropriate license can stay open for 24 hours and serve alcoholic beverages from 6 a.m. through the day and evening until 4 a.m., with no liquor sales allowed from 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. during the May 30-June 9 period.

The ABCA announcement says liquor serving establishments must apply for the extended hours option and pay a $100 registration fee by a deadline on May 27.

Sources familiar with the liquor board have said the board has for many years approved the extension of liquor serving and sales hours for important events and for certain holidays such as New Year’s Eve.

At the time it approved the extended hours for WorldPride the liquor board also approved extended hours during the time when games for a World Cup soccer tournament will be held in the city on June 18, June 22, and June 26.

It couldn’t immediately be determined how many of D.C.’s 22 LGBTQ bars plan to apply for the extended drinking hours. David Perruzza, owner of the Adams Morgan gay bar Pitchers and its adjoining lesbian bar A League of Her Own, said he will apply for the 4 a.m. extended hours option but he does not intend to keep the two bars open for the full 23 hours.

Under the city’s current alcoholic beverage regulations, licensed liquor serving establishments may serve alcoholic beverages until 2 a.m. on weekdays and 3 a.m. on weekends.

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World Pride 2025

Episcopal bishop to speak at WorldPride human rights conference

Trump demanded apology from Mariann Edgar Budde over post-Inauguration sermon

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The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde. (Screen capture via PBS NewsHour/YouTube)

The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde is among those who are scheduled to speak at the WorldPride 2025 Human Rights Conference that will take place from June 4-6.

Budde, who is the bishop of the Diocese of Washington, in January urged President Donald Trump “to have mercy” on LGBTQ people, immigrants, and others “who are scared right now” during a post-Inauguration service that he and Vice President JD Vance attended at the Washington National Cathedral. Trump criticized Budde’s comments and demanded an apology.

The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde speaks at the Washington National Cathedral on Jan. 21, 2025. (PBS NewsHour clip)

A press release the Washington Blade received notes Icelandic Industries Minister Hanna Katrín Friðriksson, UK Black Pride founder Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, and Bob the Drag Queen are among those who are also expected to participate in the conference.

The conference will take place at the JW Marriott (1331 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.) and registration is open here.

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World Pride 2025

Pabllo Vittar to perform at WorldPride

Brazilian drag queen, singer, joined Madonna on stage in 2024 Rio concert

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Pabllo Vittar (Screen capture via Pabllo Vittar/YouTube)

A Brazilian drag queen and singer who performed with Madonna at her 2024 concert on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach will perform at WorldPride.

The Capital Pride Alliance on Thursday announced Pabllo Vittar will perform on the Main Stage of the main party that will take place on June 7 at DCBX (1235 W St., N.E.) in Northeast D.C.

Vittar and Anitta, a Brazilian pop star who is bisexual, on May 4, 2024, joined Madonna on stage at her free concert, which was the last one of her Celebration Tour. Authorities estimated 1.6 million people attended.

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