Local
Gay man seeks to become Delaware’s next insurance commissioner
Crane could become state’s first openly gay statewide elected official
Photo courtesy of Mitch Crane
A former judge is poised to potentially become the first openly gay person elected to statewide office in Delaware.
Mitch Crane of Lewes will square off against incumbent Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart, Paul Gallagher and Dennis Spivack in the Democratic primary on Sept. 11. The winner will face Republican Benjamin Mobley and Libertarian Eisenhower David in the general election.
Then-Insurance Commissioner Matt Denn hired Crane, who was a district judge in Chester County, Pa., from 1982-1987, as a regulatory specialist for the Delaware Department of Insurance in 2007. Stewart succeeded Denn, who is now the lieutenant governor, in 2008. Crane stepped down in Jan. 2011 after he said he realized that his now opponent would not continue what he described as the “pro-consumer programs” that he said her predecessor put into place.
“A few months later some progressive members of the party asked me to run,” he noted. “I was hesitant about running against an incumbent Democrat — also a woman, but I was convinced it was important that the insurance commissioner be a consumer advocate. And if I didn’t run, someone less qualified or less able to do the job properly would run and either beat her or lose and we would be in the mess that we’re in now.”
A commitment to civil rights
Crane’s maternal grandparents became active in the civil rights movement in the 1930s — he was 16 when he and his grandmother were arrested in 1963 during a protest outside a Brooklyn, N.Y., hospital that was under construction. Crane later coordinated three buses that brought the West Chester, Pa., contingent to the 1963 March on Washington that Bayard Rustin, the openly gay adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who grew up in the southeastern Pennsylvania city, organized. The University of Denver expelled him shortly before he was to have graduated in 1968 because he led a student rights movement.
“I come from a family of activists — my parents and my grandparents — in almost every aspect of the human rights movement,” said Crane. “I wasn’t brought up to become a rebel in the 60s. I actually was just following my family tradition of fighting for other people.”
Crane invited Rustin to speak at a local high school and West Chester University while he was on the West Chester Borough Council in 1981. He also spearheaded the effort to name a park next to his home in honor of the civil rights activist after his death in 1987. Crane became a permanent Delaware resident in 2002, but he remained involved in the effort to name a new West Chester high school in honor of Rustin.
Crane later played a role in the effort to add sexual orientation to the state’s non-discrimination laws. He was president of the Barbara Gittings Delaware Stonewall Democrats in May 2011 when state lawmakers passed a civil unions bill that Gov. Jack Markell signed into law. The statute took effect earlier this year, but the governor told the Huffington Post last month that he expects state lawmakers could debate a same-sex marriage bill as early as next year.
Crane’s opponents did not immediately respond to the Blade’s inquiries about whether they support either Delaware’s civil unions law or nuptials for gays and lesbians. Crane, who entered into a civil union with his partner of 14 years in February, told the Blade that he feels marriage is a federal issue that Congress and the courts should ultimately decide. He described the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act as the most important issue.
“To upset the applecart by herding legislators who are brave by voting for it is not worth a word,” he said, referring to what he said is a lack of support among Dover lawmakers for a same-sex marriage bill. Crane stressed that adding gender identity and expression to the state’s non-discrimination laws should remain a top legislative priority going into 2013. “I’m saying this and people aren’t going to like what I’m saying, but quite frankly you’ve got to pick your fights and you’ve got to do what’s helping people. And that’s always been my attitude. Fighting a battle you know you can’t win is only good if you can’t win something less than that.”
In spite of his skepticism over the timeline of a potential same-sex marriage bill, Crane stressed he would support it.
“If it comes up and I’m the insurance commissioner, I will testify in favor of it,” he said. “I’m fine with it; it’s just not the battle I choose to have at this point.”
Crane, 65, would join Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown as the country’s only other openly gay statewide elected official if voters elect him in November. The state’s Democratic Party, the Delaware State Education Association, the Victory Fund and House Majority Leader Pete Schwartzkopf (D-Rehoboth Beach) are among the groups and local officials who have endorsed him.
“It’s important that people see that it’s possible to be out, to be gay and to run and succeed in high elected office. That’s the significance of it.” said Crane when asked about the possibility of becoming Delaware’s first openly gay statewide official. “There are people in the legislature who are not out who maybe would come out if they saw it’s not going to hurt them.”
Virginia
Prominent activists join ‘Living History’ panel at Freddie’s Beach Bar
Event organized by owner of new Friends of Dorothy Café in Alexandria
Six prominent LGBTQ community leaders and elders, including a beloved drag performer, talked about their role in advancing the rights of LGBTQ people and their thoughts on how the upcoming generation of LGBTQ youth should get ready to join the movement participated in an April 23 “Living History” panel discussion at Freddie’s Beach Bar.
The event was organized by Dorothy Edwards, who plans to open Friends of Dorothy Café in Alexandria. She said the café will be an LGBTQ community “intergenerational space” that will host events like the one she organized at Freddie’s Beach Bar.
“It will be a space for connection, storytelling, and belonging, especially for LGBTQ+ youth and community members who don’t always have places like that,” she said in a statement announcing the event at Freddie’s.
The six panelists at the Freddie’s event included Kierra Johnson, president of the D.C.-based National LGBTQ Task Force; Freddie Lutz, owner of Freddie’s Beach Bar located in the Crystal City section of Arlington, Va.; Donnell Robinson, who for many years performed in drag as the icon Ella Fitzgerald; Taylor Chandler Walker, a local transgender rights advocate, author and public speaker; Heidi Ellis, coordinator of the D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition; and Leti Gomez, an LGBTQ Latino community advocate and chair of the board of the American LGBTQ+ Museum.
Dr. Ashley Elliott, an LGBTQ community advocate and clinician who also goes by the name Dr. Vivid, served as moderator of the panel discussion, asking each of the panelists a serious of questions before opening the event to questions from the audience.
Among the issues discussed by the panelists was who was “centered” and who was excluded in the earlier years of LGBTQ organizing. Elliot also asked the panelists to address topics such as racism within queer spaces, gender dynamics, and strategies for coalition building between the LGBTQ community and other movements, including civil rights, feminism, and immigrant rights.
Each of the panelists expressed various thoughts on how the LGBTQ rights movement can make changes in response to the questions: “What can we do better?” and “Who is being left out?”
“I’m overwhelmed and so thankful that everyone on this panel said yes and agreed to come,” Edwards told the Washington Blade at the conclusion of the event. “I think every one of those people, including the moderator, was so brilliant and has done such good work for this community,” she said.
Edwards noted that each of the panelists, who have been involved in LGBTQ advocacy work for many years, talked about how they interact with younger LGBTQ people who are just beginning to become involved in activism.
“Truly, it’s an intergenerational conversation, and their wisdom and their words and their experiences can be disseminated to younger generations and people who want to do this work, people who want to fight for our community,” Edwards said.
“I was pleasantly surprised,” Lutz said. “I thought it was a good turnout, and everybody was very enthusiastic and engaged,” he said. “And I think it was great and fabulous.”
Lutz has operated Freddie’s Beach Bar for more than 25 years and has hosted numerous LGBTQ events. A sign above the front entrance door to the popular LGBTQ bar and restaurant says, “Straight Friendly Gay Bar.”
Peters said the April 23 event was recorded and she will make arrangements for the recording to be released for others to view it. The Blade will post the link in this story when it becomes available.
District of Columbia
Second trans member announces plans to resign from Capital Pride board
Zion Peters cites ‘lack of interest in the Black trans community’
Zion Peters, a member of the Capital Pride Alliance Board of Directors who identifies as transgender, told the Washington Blade he plans to resign from the board “due to the lack of interest in the trans community, specifically the Black trans community.”
Peters continued, “Nobody has checked on me in the last two months so that shows their level of unprofessionalism towards their board members and the community as a whole.”
If he resigns, Peters would be the second known trans person to resign from the Capital Pride board since February, when longtime trans activist Taylor Lianne Chandler informed the board of her resignation in a detailed letter that was sent to the Blade by an anonymous source.
Chandler, who served as chair of the Capital Pride Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, and Intersex Committee, stated in her Feb. 24 letter that she resigned from the board out of frustration that the board had failed to address instances of “sexual misconduct” within the Capital Pride organization. The organization’s and the board’s transgender-related policies were not cited in her letter as a reason for her resignation.
The Blade learned of Peters’s plans to resign from an anonymous source who thought Peters had already resigned along with four other board members identified by the anonymous source. The others, who Capital Pride confirmed this week had resigned, include Anthony Musa, Bob Gilchrist, Kaniya Walker, and Dai Nguyen.
Musa and Gilchrist told the Blade they resigned for personal reasons related to their jobs and that they fully support Capital Pride’s work as an organization that coordinates the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events.
The Blade has been unable to reach Walker and Nguyen to determine their reasons for resigning.
Capital Pride CEO Ryan Bos and Board Chair Anna Jinkerson didn’t respond to a Blade question asking if they knew why Walker or Nguyen resigned.
In response to a request by the Blade for comment on the resignations and the concern raised by Zion Peters about trans-related issues, Bos and Jinkerson sent separate statements elaborating on the organization and the board’s position on various issues.
“We can confirm that the individuals you referenced, except for Zion, no longer serve on the Capital Pride Alliance Board of Directors,” Jinkerson said in her statement.
She added that following the WorldPride festival hosted by D.C. last May and June that was organized by Capital Pride Alliance, the group anticipated a “significant level of board transition,” with many board members reaching the end of their terms. But she said many board members chose to extend their service or apply for an additional term, showing a “powerful reflection of commitment.”
Without commenting on the specific reasons for the resignations of Peterson, Walker, and Nygun, Jinkerson noted, “As with all volunteer leadership roles, transitions occur for a range of personal and professional reasons, and we appreciate those transitions with both understanding and gratitude.”
In his own statement, Bos addressed Capital Pride’s record on transgender issues.
“The Capital Pride Alliance is committed to supporting and uplifting the Trans community through our work with the Trans Coalition under the Diversity of Prides Initiative, our partnership with Earline Budd on the LGBTQ+ Burial Fund with a focus on our Trans siblings, our collaboration with the National Trans Visibility March, and our ongoing investment in programming for Transgender Day of Visibility and Transgender Day of Remembrance,” Bos said in his statement.
“We also recognize there is always continued work to be done, and we always welcome feedback from our community to ensure our commitment remains unwavering,” he said.
At the time of her resignation in February, Chandler said she could not provide specific details of the instances of sexual misconduct to which she referred in her resignation letter, or who allegedly engaged in sexual misconduct, saying she and all other board members had signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement preventing them from disclosing further details.
Board Chair Jinkerson in a statement released at that time said she and the board were aware of Chandler’s concerns but did not specifically address allegations of sexual misconduct.
“When concerns are brought to CPA, we act quickly and appropriately to address them,” she said. “As we continue to grow as an organization, we’re proactively strengthening the policies and procedures that shape our systems, our infrastructure, and the support we provide to our team and partners,” she said.
Rehoboth Beach
Rehoboth Summer Kickoff Party set for May 15 with Ashley Biden
The Washington Blade’s 19th annual Summer Kickoff Party is scheduled for Friday, May 15 in Rehoboth Beach, Del.
Ashley Biden, daughter of President Joe Biden, has joined the list of speakers, the Blade announced. She will accept an award on behalf of her brother Beau Biden for his LGBTQ advocacy work as Delaware attorney general. (Her appearance was rescheduled from last year.)
The event, to be held this year at Diego’s (37298 Rehoboth Ave. Ext.) from 5-7 p.m., is a fundraiser for the Blade Foundation’s Steve Elkins Memorial Fellowship in Journalism, which funds a summer position reporting on LGBTQ news in Delaware. This year’s recipient will be introduced at the event.
The event will also feature remarks from state Rep. Claire Snyder-Hall. New CAMP Rehoboth Executive Director Dr. Robin Brennan and Blade editor Kevin Naff will also speak. The event is generously sponsored by Realtor Justin Noble, The Avenue Inn & Spa, and Diego’s.
A suggested donation of $25 is partially tax deductible and includes a drink ticket and light appetizers. Tickets are available in advance at bladefoundation.org/rehoboth or at the door.
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