Local
Virginia delegate-elect optimistic LGBT bills will advance
Delegate-elect Rob Krupicka (D-Alexandria) succeeds former state Del. David Englin
State Del.-elect Rob Krupicka and his family (Photo courtesy of krupicka.com)
Virginia Del.-elect Rob Krupicka (D-Alexandria) remains optimistic that LGBT-specific issues will advance in Richmond once the General Assembly reconvenes in January.
“It’s always a challenge in Virginia when you’re trying to move an equality agenda forward to do it in a way that has a high chance of success and to not do it in a way that potentially, actually almost dooms [it] to failure,” he told the Washington Blade as he discussed the prospects of a bill that state Sen. A. Donald McEachin (D-Henrico) plans to reintroduce next year that would extend employment protections to LGBT state workers. “There’s a range of issues that I think all of us would see as pretty reasonable that you have to be pretty strategic about when you’re working on building a consensus and coalition behind them, but I think the senator’s work on that issue is certainly one where I think there’s an opportunity to build a broad coalition of support and hopefully we’ll be able to do that.”
Voters elected Krupicka to represent the 45th District, which includes portions of Alexandria and Arlington and Fairfax Counties in the House of Delegates, during a Sept. 4 special election. He will succeed former state Del. David Englin who resigned because of extramarital affair.
Krupicka, 41, was the first straight member of Virginia Partisans, an LGBT Democratic group, in the early 1990s. He was on the Alexandria City Council from 2003 through earlier this month. Then-Gov. Tim Kaine appointed Krupicka to the Virginia Board of Education in 2009.
Krupicka applauded Alexandria’s “very strong” human rights ordinance and efforts to prevent discrimination against prospective tenants based on their race or sexual orientation.
“I’m very proud of that,” said Krupicka. “That’s an important piece of what makes Alexandria a great community. I have been very strongly supportive of a lot of our efforts on human rights issues.”
He further noted he has “always been very strongly in favor” of marriage rights for same-sex couples—he and current gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) hosted a fundraiser for the campaign that sought to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment that sought to define marriage as between a man and a woman in the state. Virginia voters approved the measure in 206.
“It’s been a lot of fun to watch how marriage equality has evolved as an issue over the last 15-20 years,” said Krupicka, noting the city of Alexandria has always backed the issue as part of its legislative platform. “I was for marriage equality before it was necessarily a popular position to take. I can’t really recall a time when I wasn’t, but it’s been fun to watch friends and colleagues and other people kind of evolve on that issue. I think it says a lot about the potential and I’m pretty that evolution will continue for everyone and we’ll eventually get there.”
Krupicka also applauded gay prosecutor Tracy Thorne-Begland’s interim appointment to the Richmond General Circuit Court in June. He criticized state Del. Bob Marshall (R-Prince William County) and others in the Republican-controlled House of Delegates who rejected his nomination in May.
“It was disastrous and embarrassing he wasn’t appointed the first time, and clearly we have work to do to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” said Krupicka. “I thought that was one of the worst days of the General Assembly, and they had a lot of bad days, to treat someone with so much credibility and experience the way they did I thought was shameful.”
He remains optimistic that lawmakers will confirm Thorne-Begland’s appointment once they return to Richmond in January.
“My understanding is there are people who have evolved in their thinking on that issue and hopefully that will be the case,” said Krupicka. “Good people should be given a chance to serve.”
Equality Virginia to hold Arlington fundraiser
Krupicka is among the co-hosts of an Oct. 4 fundraiser at the Westin Arlington Gateway that will raise funds to support Equality Virginia’s work in Northern Virginia.
The organization now has a staffer, Ryan Schell, who works out of Arlington. Equality Virginia is also working with the city of Fairfax and Prince William County to pass non-discrimination resolutions or executive orders before state lawmakers return to Richmond.
James Parrish, the group’s executive director, told the Blade that his organization is also working with the Fairfax County Public Schools to LGBT-specific language their anti-bullying policy and Alexandria City Public Schools to add gender identity and expression to their existing regulations.
“Our goal is to really get back into the Northern Virginia area or in some ways to just get into the Northern Virginia area,” said Parrish as he discussed the Oct. 4 fundraiser. Equality Virginia also held an event in Fairfax over the summer. “It’s just a more visible way of seeing EV around and kind of back up all the work that we’ll be doing up there.”
District of Columbia
D.C. Council urged to improve ‘weakened’ PrEP insurance bill
AIDS group calls for changes before full vote on Feb. 3
The D.C.-based HIV + Hepatitis Policy Institute is calling on the D.C. Council to reverse what it says was the “unfortunate” action by a Council committee to weaken a bill aimed at requiring health insurance companies to cover the costs of HIV prevention or PrEP drugs for D.C. residents at risk for HIV infection.
HIV + HEP Policy Institute Executive Director Carl Schmid points out in a Jan. 30 email message to all 13 D.C. Council members that the Council’s Committee on Health on Dec. 8, 2025, voted to change the PrEP DC Act of 2025, Bill 26-0159, to require insurers to fully cover only one PrEP drug regimen.
Schmid noted the bill as originally written and introduced Feb. 28, 2025, by Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), the Council’s only gay member, required insurers to cover all PrEP drugs, including the newest PrEP medication taken by injection once every six months.
Schmid’s message to the Council members was sent on Friday, Jan. 30, just days before the Council was scheduled to vote on the bill on Feb. 3. He contacted the Washington Blade about his concerns about the bill as changed by committee that same day.
Spokespersons for Parker and the Committee on Health and its chairperson, Council member Christina Henderson (I-At-Large) didn’t immediately respond to the Blade’s request for comment on the issue, saying they were looking into the matter and would try to provide a response on Monday, Jan. 2.
In his message to Council members, Schmid also noted that he and other AIDS advocacy groups strongly supported the committee’s decision to incorporate into the bill a separate measure introduced by Council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) that would prohibit insurers, including life insurance companies, from denying coverage to people who are on PrEP.
“We appreciate the Committee’s revisions to the bill that incorporates Bill 26-0101, which prohibits discrimination by insurance carriers based on PrEP use,” Schmid said in his statement to all Council members.
“However, the revised PrEP coverage provision would actually reduce PrEP options for D.C. residents that are required by current federal law, limit patient choice, and place D.C. behind states that have enacted HIV prevention policies designed to remain in effect regardless of any federal changes,” Schmid added.
He told the Washington Blade that although these protections are currently provided through coverage standards recommended in the U.S. Affordable Care Act, AIDS advocacy organizations have called for D.C. and states to pass their own legislation requiring insurance coverage of PrEP in the event that the federal policies are weakened or removed by the Trump administration, which has already reduced or ended federal funding for HIV/AIDS-related programs.
“The District of Columbia has always been a leader in the fight against HIV,” Schmid said in a statement to Council members. But in a separate statement he sent to the Blade, Schmid said the positive version of the bill as introduced by Parker and the committee’s incorporation of the Pinto bill were in stark contrast to the “bad side — the bill would only require insurers to cover one PrEP drug.”
He added, “That is far worse than current federal requirements. Obviously, the insurers got to them.”
The Committee on Health’s official report on the bill summarizes testimony in support of the bill by health-related organizations, including Whitman-Walker Health, and two D.C. government officials before the committee at an Oct. 30, 2025, public hearing.
Among them were Clover Barnes, Senior Deputy Director of the D.C. HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD, and TB Administration, and Philip Barlow, Associate Commissioner for the D.C. Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking.
Although both Barnes and Barlow expressed overall support for the bill, Barlow suggested several changes, one of which could be related to the committee’s change of the bill described by Schmid, according to the committee report.
“First, he recommended changing the language that required PrEP and PEP coverage by insurers to instead require that insurers who already cover PrEP and PEP do not impose cost sharing or coverage more restrictive than other treatments,” the committee report states. “He pointed out that D.C. insurers already cover PrEP and PEP as preventive services, and this language would avoid unintended costs for the District,” the report adds.
PEP refers to Post-Exposure Prophylaxis medication, while PrEP stands for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis medication.
In response to a request from the Blade for comment, Daniel Gleick, Mayor Muriel Bowser’s press secretary, said he would inquire about the issue in the mayor’s office.
Naseema Shafi, Whitman-Walker Health’s CEO, meanwhile, in response to a request by the Blade for comment, released a statement sharing Schmid’s concerns about the current version of the PrEP DC Act of 2025, which the Committee on Health renamed as the PrEP DC Amendment Act of 2025.
“Whitman-Walker Health believes that all residents of the District of Columbia should have access to whatever PrEP method is best for them based on their conversations with their providers,” Shafi said. “We would not want to see limitations on what insurers would cover,” she added. “Those kinds of limitations lead to significantly reduced access and will be a major step backwards, not to mention undermining the critical progress that the Affordable Care Act enabled for HIV prevention,” she said.
The Blade will update this story as soon as additional information is obtained from the D.C. Council members involved with the bill, especially Parker. The Blade will report on whether the full Council makes the changes to the bill requested by Schmid and others before it votes on whether to approve it at its Feb. 3 legislative session.
By PAMELA WOOD | Dan Cox, a Republican who was resoundingly defeated by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore four years ago, has filed to run for governor again this year.
Cox’s candidacy was posted on the Maryland elections board website Friday; he did not immediately respond to an interview request.
Cox listed Rob Krop as his running mate for lieutenant governor.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
Maryland
Expanded PrEP access among FreeState Justice’s 2026 legislative priorities
Maryland General Assembly opened on Jan. 14
FreeState Justice this week spoke with the Washington Blade about their priorities during this year’s legislative session in Annapolis that began on Jan. 14.
Ronnie L. Taylor, the group’s community director, on Wednesday said the organization continues to fight against discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS. FreeState Justice is specifically championing a bill in the General Assembly that would expand access to PrEP in Maryland.
Taylor said FreeState Justice is working with state Del. Ashanti Martinez (D-Prince George’s County) and state Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Arundel and Howard Counties) on a bill that would expand the “scope of practice for pharmacists in Maryland to distribute PrEP.” The measure does not have a title or a number, but FreeState Justice expects it will have both in the coming weeks.
FreeState Justice has long been involved in the fight to end the criminalization of HIV in the state.
Governor Wes Moore last year signed House Bill 39, which decriminalized HIV in Maryland.
The bill — the Carlton R. Smith Jr. HIV Modernization Act — is named after Carlton Smith, a long-time LGBTQ activist known as the “mayor” of Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood who died in 2024. FreeState Justice said Marylanders prosecuted under Maryland Health-General Code § 18-601.1 have already seen their convictions expunged.
Taylor said FreeState Justice will continue to “oppose anti anti-LGBTQ legislation” in the General Assembly. Their website later this week will publish a bill tracker.
The General Assembly’s legislative session is expected to end on April 13.
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