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.
Milton, Del., will host its Pride Fest this Saturday with the theme “Small Town, Big Heart.” The town’s population of just over 3,000 is in its sixth year hosting Pride.
The event is hosted by Sussex Pride and Milton Theatre and will take place from 4-8 p.m. in the area surrounding the theater. Admission is pay-what-you-can and proceeds will support the Milton Theatre’s education wing campaign, an initiative dedicated to expanding arts education and creating spaces for the next generation of performers and artists.
The musical act schedule includes Goldstar at 4 p.m., Magnolia Applebottom and Friends at 5:30 p.m., and Mama’s Blacksheep at 6:45 p.m. There will be vendors, food trucks, and a Kids Fest with an inflatable obstacle course.
“In our little corner of the world, LOVE leads the way! Milton Pride 2025 is a celebration for EVERYONE — neighbors, families, allies, and friends — because acceptance, kindness, and community belong to us all,” Milton Theatre’s website reads. “Whether you’re here to cheer, learn, or simply feel the joy … you’re welcome exactly as you are. Let’s come together and celebrate Milton, a SMALL TOWN … with a BIG HEART!”
District of Columbia
Drive with Pride in D.C.
A new Pride-themed license plate is now available in the District, with proceeds directly benefiting local LGBTQ organizations.
Just in time for Pride month, the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles has partnered with the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs to create a special “Pride Lives Here” license plate.
The plate, which was initially unveiled in February, has a one-time $25 application fee and a $20 annual display fee. Both fees will go directly to the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Affairs Fund.
The MOLGBTQA Fund provides $1,000,000 annually to 25,000 residents through its grant program, funding a slew of LGBTQ organizations in the DMV area — including Capital Pride Alliance, Whitman-Walker, the D.C. Center for the LGBTQ Community, and the Washington Blade Foundation.
The license plate features an inclusive rainbow flag wrapping around the license numbers, with silver stars in the background — a tribute to both D.C.’s robust queer community and the resilience the LGBTQ community has shown.
The “Pride Lives Here” plate is one of only 13 specialty plates offered in the District, and the only one whose fees go directly to the LGBTQ community.
To apply for a Pride plate, visit the DC DMV’s website at https://dmv.dc.gov/
The nation’s capital welcomed WorldPride this past weekend, a massive celebration that usually takes place in a different city every two years.
The Saturday parade attracted hundreds of thousands of people from around the world and the country. The state of Delaware, a few hours drive from D.C., saw participants in the parade, with CAMP Rehoboth, an LGBTQ community center in Rehoboth Beach, hosting a bus day trip.
Hope Vella sits on the board of directors and marched with CAMP Rehoboth. Vella said that although the parade took a long time to start and the temperature was hot, she was “on a cloud” from being there.
“It didn’t matter to me how long it took to start. With the current changes that are in place regarding diversity and inclusion, I wanted my face there,” Vella said. “My life is an intersection. I am a Black woman. I am a lesbian, and I have a disability. All of these things are trying to be erased … I didn’t care how long it took. I didn’t care how far it was going to be. I was going to finish that parade. I didn’t care how hot it was.”
The nearly two mile parade route didn’t feel as long because everyone was so happy interacting with the crowd, Vella said. The group gave out beads, buttons, and pins to parade watchers.
“The World Pride celebration gave me hope because so many people came out. And the joy and the love that was between us … That gave me hope,” Vella said.
Vella said that people with disabilities are often overlooked. More than one in four Americans have disabilities, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Vella said it was important for her “to be out there and to be seen in my wholeness as a Black woman, as a lesbian, as a woman with a disability and to not be hiding. I want our society to understand that we exist in LGBTQ+ spaces also.”
Retired Maj. Gen. Tammy Smith is involved with CAMP Rehoboth and marched with a coalition of LGBTQ military members. Smith said they were walking to give transgender military members visibility and to remind people why they are serving.
“When we are not visible, what is allowed to take our place is stereotypes,” Smith said. “And so without visibility, people think all veterans are conservative and perhaps not open to full equality. Without visibility, they might think a small state with a farming background may be a place that’s unwelcoming, but when you actually meet the people who are from those places, it sets aside those stereotypes and the real authenticity is allowed to come forward.”
During the parade, Smith said she saw trans military members in the parade make eye contact or fist bump with transgender people in the crowd.
“They were seen. Both sides were seen during that parade and I just felt privileged to be able to witness that,” Smith said.
Smith said Delaware is a state that is about freedom and equality and is the first state for a reason. The LGBTQ community is engrained as part of life in the Rehoboth and Lewes areas.
“What pride means to me is that we must always be doing what is necessary to maintain our dignity as a community,” Smith said. “We can’t let what people with negative messaging might be tossing our way impact us and the celebration of Pride. I don’t see it as being self-promoting. I see it as an act of dignity and strength.”
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