Local
Exclusive: Md. marriage campaign raises $3.2 million
Marylanders for Marriage Equality will submit financial report to state election officials late on Friday
Marylanders for Marriage Equality campaign director Josh Levin (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
The group defending Maryland’s same-sex marriage law will report later on Friday that it has raised $3.2 million.
Marylanders for Marriage Equality’s campaign finance report that it will file with state officials will also note total expenditures of slightly more than $2 million, with roughly $1.2 million cash on-hand. It will indicate just short of $400,000 of in-kind donations from the Human Rights Campaign and other organizations.
The report will also include more than 950 pages of donors and contributions.
“We truly appreciate the generous support of all those who believe in fairness and equality – particularly the thousands of grassroots supporters all over the state,” Josh Levin, campaign manager of Marylanders for Equality, told the Washington Blade.
Marylanders for Marriage Equality has held a number of high-profile fundraisers with Gov. Martin O’Malley, gay former Republican National Committee Chair Ken Mehlman, Ravens linebacker Brendan Ayanbadejo and others over the last several months. Former National Football League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and his wife Chan announced a $100,000 donation to the campaign during an Oct. 2 fundraiser at gay Democratic lobbyist Steve Elmendorf’s Logan Circle home that O’Malley; D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray; Chip DiPaula, former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich, Jr.,’s chief-of-staff and others attended.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who attended Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, announced earlier on Friday that he had donated $250,000 to Marylanders for Marriage Equality. This donation will be the largest single contribution listed on the campaign’s report.
It will further note $1.6 million in media buys on local television stations through Nov. 6 — the first Marylanders for Marriage Equality ads that feature Rev. Donté Hickman of Southern Baptist Church in Baltimore and Rev. Delman Coates of Mount Ennon Baptist Church in Clinton in Prince George’s County aired on WBAL in Baltimore on Tuesday. The first ad from the Maryland Marriage Alliance, the group opposing Question 6, began running on the same television on Monday — they have also begun to air on News 4 in D.C.
Levin told the Blade in June he was confident that he could run what he described as a “winning campaign” with between $5 and $7 million. O’Malley told LGBT journalists and bloggers on a Sept. 24 teleconference call that the campaign needed to raise another $2 million ahead of the Nov. 6 referendum.
“I would say we are far along to our goal,” he said in response to the Blade’s question about specific fundraising figures during the briefing. “We are beyond the 50-yard line and we continue to move forward, not back.”
O’Malley said during the Oct. 2 fundraiser in D.C. that Marylanders for Marriage Equality needed to raise another $1 million before Election Day.
Marylanders for Marriage Equality will file its campaign finance report on the same day HRC gave the group an additional $150,000 and another $150,000 to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Maryland Marriage PAC. HRC has given Marylanders for Marriage Equality $652,000 from July 11 through Oct. 7.
The report will also show $50,000 in in-kind donations from the ACLU of Maryland.
“We’ve always said this is a $5 million- plus campaign and hope to meet that goal as we enter the final stretch,” said Levin.
The Maryland Marriage Alliance notes in its own campaign finance report that it has raised $838,620.74. The anti-Question 6 group further reported $510,513.63 in expenditures and a cash balance of $328,107.11.
The National Organization for Marriage gave $400,000 to the Maryland Marriage Alliance. The Connecticut-based Knights of Columbus contributed $250,000 to the anti-Question 6 campaign.
Rehoboth Beach
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Attendees encouraged to wear appropriate gear
Diego’s in Rehoboth Beach hosts a monthly leather happy hour. April’s edition is scheduled for Friday, April 10, 5-7 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to wear appropriate gear. The event is billed as an official event of BLUF, the free community group for men interested in leather. After happy hour, the attendees are encouraged to reconvene at Local Bootlegging Company for dinner, which allows cigar smoking. There’s no cover charge for either event.
District of Columbia
Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
Two memorial events scheduled in D.C.
Two celebrations of life are planned for Sean Christopher Bartel, 48, who was found deceased on a hiking trail in Argentina on or around March 15. Bartel began his career as a television news reporter and news anchor at stations in Louisville, Ky., and Evansville, Ind., before serving as Senior Video Producer for the D.C.-based International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union from 2013 to 2024.
A memorial gathering is planned for Friday, April 10, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the IBEW International Office (900 7th St., N.W.), according to a statement by the DC Gay Flag Football League, where Bartel was a longtime member. A celebration of life is planned that same evening, 6-8 p.m. at Trade (1410 14th St., N.W.).
District of Columbia
D.C. Council member honored by LGBTQ homeless youth group
Doni Crawford receives inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award
About 100 people turned out Tuesday evening, April 7, for a presentation by D.C.’s Wanda Alston Foundation of its inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award to D.C. Council member Doni Crawford (I-At-Large) for her support for the foundation’s mission to support homeless LGBTQ youth.
Among those who attended the event was Japer Bowles, director of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, who delivered an official proclamation issued by Bowser declaring April 7, 2026 “A Day of Remembrance for Wanda Alston.”
Alston, a beloved women’s and LGBTQ rights activist, served as the city’s first director of the then newly created Office of LGBTQ Affairs under then-Mayor Anthony Williams from 2004 until her death by murder on March 16, 2005.
To the shock and dismay of fellow LGBTQ rights advocates, police and court records reported Alston, 45, was stabbed to death inside her Northeast D.C. house by a man high on crack cocaine who lived nearby and who stole her credit cards and car. The perpetrator, William Martin Parrott, 38, was arrested by D.C. police the next day and later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was sentenced in July 2005 to 24 years in prison.
Crawford was among those attending the award event who reflected on Alston’s legacy and outspoken advocacy for LGBTQ and feminist causes.
“I am deeply humbled and honored to receive this inaugural award,” Crawford told the Washington Blade at the conclusion of the event. “I think the world of Wanda Alston. She has set such a great foundation for me and other Council members to build on,” she said.
“Her focus on inclusivity and intersectionality is really important as we approach this work,” Crawford added. “And it’s going to guide my work at the Council every day.”
Crawford was appointed to the D.C. Council in January of this year to replace then Council member Kenyan McDuffie (I-At-Large), who resigned to run for D.C. mayor as a Democrat. She is being challenged by four other independent candidates in a June 16 special election for the Council seat.
Under the city’s Home Rule Charter written and approved by Congress, the seat is one of two D.C. Council at-large seats that cannot be held by a “majority party” candidate, meaning a Democrat.
A statement released by the Alston Foundation last month announcing Crawford’s selection for the Wanda Alston Legacy Award praised Crawford’s record of support for its work on behalf of LGBTQ youth.
“From behind the scenes to now serving as an At-Large Council member, she has fought fearlessly for affordable housing, LGBTQ+ funding priorities, and racial justice,” the statement says. “Council member Crawford’s leadership reflects the same courage and conviction that defined Wanda’s legacy.”
Organizers of the event noted that it was held on what would have been Wanda Alston’s 67th birthday.
“Today’s legacy reception was a smashing success,” said Cesar Toledo, the Alston Foundation’s executive director. “Not only did we come together to celebrate Wanda Alston on her birthday, but we also were able to raise over $10,000 for our homeless LGBTQ youth here in D.C.,” Toledo told the Blade.
“In addition to that, we celebrated and we acknowledged a rising star in our community,” he said. “And that is At-Large Council member Doni Crawford, who we named the inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award recipient.”
At the request of D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) the Council voted unanimously on Jan. 20, 2026, to appoint Crawford to the Council seat being vacated by McDuffie.
Council records show she joined McDuffie’s Council staff in 2022 as a policy adviser and later became his legislative director before McDuffie appointed her as staff director for the Council’s Committee on Business and Economic Development for which McDuffie served as chair.
An effort to increase the number of psychiatrists of color
Calendar: April 10-16
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
The ‘X’ returns to court
Police mental health struggles gain growing attention
Trump budget would codify expanded global gag rule
Man faces first S.C. ‘hate intimidation’ charge
Cuba under pressure and without answers
