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Jackson says he placed ‘curse’ on Blade

Anti-gay minister suggests he triggered former parent company’s 2009 shutdown

Published

12 years ago

on

gay news, Washington Blade, Harry Jackson,

‘I laid hands on that newsstand and I said, ‘In the name of Jesus, I curse this paper!’ Harry Jackson said in a sermon, referring to the Blade. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Bishop Harry Jackson Jr., the Maryland minister who led an unsuccessful campaign to overturn D.C.’s same-sex marriage law, told an audience last Sunday that he placed a curse on the Washington Blade in 2009.

In what appears to be a sermon that someone recorded and posted online, Jackson said he placed his curse on the Blade two months before the Blade’s November 2009 shutdown following a bankruptcy filing by its former parent company, Window Media.

“I remember one night I walked past one of those newsstands,” Jackson said, referring to one of the Blade’s sidewalk boxes used to distribute the paper.

“As I was walking past it I looked at that newsstand and it had some article about same-sex marriage — all of that stuff on it,” he said. “And I laid hands on that newsstand and I said, ‘In the name of Jesus, I curse this paper!”

Speaking in a loud voice, Jackson added, “In less than two months, the paper went bankrupt. It was part of a six-state, six newspaper chain. It went bankrupt! It went out of business! It went under!”

The sermon was first reported by Jeremy Hooper at GoodAsYou, the audio below was clipped from the original sermon posted to Jackson’s Hope Christian Church’s website.

Jackson didn’t mention in his sermon that the Blade’s staff continued to publish even after Window Media’s bankruptcy.

Within the next several months, three staff members formed a new company that later purchased the rights to the Washington 
Blade’s name from the bankruptcy court. The staff never missed a week of publishing during the upheaval.

Jackson didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Blade editor Kevin Naff said he found it interesting that Jackson is not aware of the Blade’s comeback.

“Harry Jackson has never let the facts get in the way of his misguided opinions,” Naff said. “He is comically misinformed about the Blade’s track record.”

In his sermon last Sunday, Jackson told of how he moved to D.C. from Maryland in 2009 to become “involved and ultimately become the leader” of the effort to kill D.C.’s same-sex marriage law through a voter referendum.

“So I get into the District and I started having all these stories written by this gay newspaper called the Blade,” Jackson said. “And they were writing these things – had me on the front page day after day,” he said.

Although he didn’t go into specifics, Jackson was referring to a series of stories the Blade published in early 2009 questioning whether Jackson was a legal D.C. resident at the time he registered to vote in the city and took out petitions to place a same-sex marriage referendum on the ballot.

The Blade reported that Jackson listed as his D.C. address an efficiency apartment in a condominium building near the Washington Convention Center that was ineligible for being rented to a tenant under the condominium’s rules.

The owner of the apartment told the condo board that Jackson was his roommate, according to sources at the upscale high-rise building. But LGBT activists raised questions about whether Jackson actually lived in the building. Other sources told the Blade Jackson and his wife were seen arriving and leaving the couple’s house in Silver Spring, Md., during the time Jackson claimed to be living in D.C.

The Blade stories prompted a Mt. Vernon Square neighborhood activist to file a complaint with the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics challenging Jackson’s D.C. residency status. The board said it responded by investigating Jackson’s residency. It announced a short time later that it found Jackson’s living arrangement met the legal requirements of D.C. residency.

Jackson and his supporters lost their campaign to overturn the city’s same-sex marriage law when the D.C. Court of Appeals issued a ruling upholding a city law that prohibits ballot referendums on issues that could lead to discrimination. The appeals court held that the city has legal authority to ban referenda on certain issues.

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District of Columbia

25K people attend People’s March in D.C.

President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration is on Monday

Published

1 day ago

on

January 18, 2025

By

The People's March was held downtown Washington on Jan. 18, 2025. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Upwards of 25,000 people attended the People’s March that took place in D.C. on Saturday.

Participants — who protested against President-elect Donald Trump’s proposals they say would target transgender people, immigrants, women, and other groups — gathered at McPherson and Farragut Squares and Franklin Park before they joined the march that ended at the Lincoln Memorial.

The Gender Liberation Movement is among the groups that sponsored the march. Dozens of other People’s Marches took place in cities across the country on Saturday.

Trump’s inauguration will take place in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Monday.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key and Michael K. Lavers)

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Virginia

Arlington man arrested for arson at Freddie’s Beach Bar

Suspect charged with setting fires at two other nearby restaurants

Published

2 days ago

on

January 17, 2025

By

Timothy Clark Pollock (Photo courtesy of the Arlington County Fire Department)

The Arlington County Fire Department announced on Jan. 16 that an Arlington man has been arrested on three counts of arson for at least three fires set at restaurants on the same block on South 23rd Street, including Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant, which is a gay establishment.

A statement released by the fire department says a warrant for the arrest of Timothy Clark Pollock was issued on Jan. 15 and that Clark was apprehended by Alexandria police on Jan. 16 at approximately 6:54 a.m. It says he was transferred into the custody of fire marshals and the Arlington Police Department.

Fire department officials have said the fires that Pollock allegedly set took place between 5 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 9, on the 500 block of South 23rd Street in the Crystal City section of Arlington.

Freddie Lutz, owner of Freddie’s, said the front door of his establishment was set on fire with what appeared to be a flammable liquid such as lighter fluid. The door was partially blackened by the fire, but the restaurant itself did not catch fire, Lutz said.

Fire department officials said the other two nearby establishments hit by small fires around that same time were the Crystal City Sports Pub and McNamara’s Pub and Restaurant.

Lutz told the Washington Blade that the fire at Freddie’s took place the day before and the day after Freddie’s received a threatening phone call from what sounded like the same unidentified male caller.

“He said I’m going to fuck you up and I’m going to fuck the women up,” Lutz said the person told Freddie’s manager, who answered the two calls.

Lutz speculated that the caller could have been the same person who started the fire at Freddie’s and possibly the other two restaurants.

The short statement by the Arlington County Fire Department announcing the arrest did not say whether fire and police investigators have determined a possible motive for the fires. The statement says Pollock was being held without bond and that he is “also facing additional charges for unrelated crimes, which remain under investigation.”

The online Arlington news publication ARLNow reports that a Facebook account associated with Timothy C. Pollock includes a photo from inside Freddie’s posted on Facebook on Dec. 21.

Lutz confirmed for the Blade the photo is clearly one that was taken inside Freddie’s showing Christmas decorations, leading Lutz to believe that Pollock has been inside Freddie’s at least once if not more than once.

Photos of Timothy C. Pollock on that person’s Facebook page appear to be the same Pollock as that captured in the mug shot photo of Pollock released by the Arlington County Fire Department on Jan. 16.

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Delaware

Delaware governor issues executive order creating LGBTQ+ Commission

Body to ‘strengthen ties’ between government and community

Published

2 days ago

on

January 17, 2025

By

Delaware Gov. Bethany Hall-Long, center, on Jan. 16, 2025, signed an executive order that created the state's first LGBTQ+ Commission. (Photo courtesy of Sussex Pride)

Delaware Gov. Bethany Hall-Long on Jan. 16 signed and issued an executive order creating a Delaware State LGBTQ+ Commission that she said will hold public forums for the exchange of ideas on the needs of the state’s diverse LGBTQ community.

“The nine-member commission will serve to strengthen ties between the government and LGBTQ+ organizations,” a statement released by the governor’s office says.

The statement adds that the new commission will “help remove barriers to societal participation for LGBTQ+ people and improve the delivery of services to the community in Delaware to areas such as employment, equality, education, and mental health.”

It says that members of the commission will be appointed by the governor and serve without monetary compensation for a three-year term.

According to the statement, the commission members “will represent different facets of the LGBTQ+ community, taking into account age, race, gender, identity, background, life experiences and other factors, and reflect the geographic diversity of the state.”

Hall-Long’s executive order creating the new commission came at a time when she is serving in effect as interim governor for a period of just two weeks. As lieutenant governor, she became governor on Jan. 7 when outgoing Gov. John Carney resigned to take office in his newly elected position of mayor of Wilmington.

Carney, who served two terms as governor, could not run again for that position under Delaware’s term limit law. Democrat Matt Myer won the governor’s election in November and will be sworn in as Delaware’s next governor on Jan. 21, when Hall-Long will step down.

Myer was expected to appoint the commission members in the weeks following his assumption of gubernatorial duties.

“Ultimately, the commission will advise the governor, members of the governor’s Cabinet, members of the General Assembly, and other policymakers on the effect of agency policies, procedures, practices, laws, and administrative rules on the unique challenges and needs of LGBTQ+ people,”  the statement released by Hall-Long’s office says.

“It is truly an honor to bring this commission to fruition, and I am very excited to see the positive changes the commission will make in the lives of our LGBTQ+ neighbors,” Hall-Long said in the statement.

David Mariner, executive director of Sussex Pride, an LGBTQ advocacy group based in Delaware’s Sussex County, which includes Rehoboth Beach, praised the new executive order as an important step in advancing LGBTQ equality.

“It is my hope that through this commission, we can address the critical issues facing LGBTQ Delawareans,” Mariner said in his own statement.

“This includes developing an LGBTQ health report with a tangible roadmap to health equity, increasing collaboration and communication on hate crimes and hate-related activities, and ensuring that nondiscrimination protections, guaranteed by law, are a reality for all of our residents,” he said.

The statement announcing the LGBTQ+ Commission and the full text of the executive order can be accessed here. 

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