Local
D.C. gays mobilize to re-elect Obama
Supporters traveling to help in Colorado, Virginia, Ohio
Crosby Burns will travel to Colorado next week to campaign for President Obama. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
With only a few weeks remaining before Election Day, several members of D.C.’s LGBT community are literally going to great lengths to ensure President Obama wins another four years in the White House.
Opportunities to help push Obama over the edge in battleground states are driving local LGBT supporters to travel to far off places — including Colorado and Ohio — where the results on Nov. 6 could decide the election.
Crosby Burns, 25, a gay D.C. resident, said he agreed to travel to Colorado to help the Obama campaign — an expedition he made during Obama’s first campaign in 2008 — after looking at polls showing a tightening race between Obama and Mitt Romney.
“A couple of weeks ago, I was just looking at polls and seeing Mitt Romney speak, and I was just thinking the president needs us more than ever,” Burns said. “That’s what I did back in 2008, I’m going to do the exact same thing, if not more, to ensure that the president is re-elected and that Colorado stays ‘blue’ for him in 2012.”
Burns, a research associate on LGBT issues at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, said the Obama campaign is sending him Monday to West Denver, Colo. — a predominately Latino area — where he intends to employ his Spanish-speaking skills to help with get-out-the-vote efforts.
“I’m going to be going door-to-door using my Spanish skills and talking with people about the election and making sure they know where their polling place is and making sure they support the president,” Burns said.
Collin Burton, 32, a gay D.C. resident, said he’s taking personal leave from his job to make a similar trip to his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, on Monday to help manage out-of-state volunteers coming into the battleground state to campaign for Obama.
“As we get closer to Election Day, we’ll be running some GOTV operations and helping out with the regional work, so it’ll be good,” Burton said. “We will hopefully get a lot of people through and get a lot of voters contacted, make sure that they know they need to turn out.”
Burton, who handles government relations as an appointee to the Corporation for National & Community Service, estimated that he would manage between 20 and 100 Obama supporters coming into the state from more assuredly Democratic parts of the country, such as D.C., New York and Eastern Pennsylvania.
It’s not the first time Burton has helped with Democratic Party efforts. In 2010 for the mid-term elections, he was designated the LGBT caucus director for the Ohio Democratic Party.
But Burton said he hopes the outcome is different this time around as opposed to the mid-term election, when an anti-incumbent wave swept a sea of Republicans into office, including in Ohio.
“I hope it’s a hell of a lot better, I’ll be honest, because the outcome in 2010 in Ohio was pretty bad,” Burton said. “It went from a wonderfully “blue” state to an incredibly red state. I’m confident that it will [be better this time]. I’m certain that the Obama ground game is up and running and will be rocking it for Ohio.”
Some LGBT Obama supporters in D.C. are taking advantage of opportunities within the area to campaign for the president, especially because the battleground state of Virginia is just across the Potomac River.
Clarence Fluker, 33 and a gay D.C. resident, said he’s been participating in LGBT phone banking each Thursday night at the Democratic National Committee to talk with potential voters — mainly in Virginia — and educate them about Obama’s record.
“Sometimes people say that they’re undecided, but we talk to them and log all of the information from the calls and send it over at the end of the night to the person who’s running the phone bank,” Fluker said.
Clarence Fluker is participating in weekly phone banks at the Democratic National Committee (Photo by Cesar Vence Photography)
Fluker, who works for the D.C. Commission on National and Community Service, said he also plans to make a trip during an upcoming weekend to Virginia to knock on doors and talk about Obama personally with voters.
“I think it’s helpful because this campaign is really going to be won on the ground, and it’s going to be won by reaching out to everyday Americans and asking for their support, educating them about all the wonderful things the Obama administration has done and all the things that we know that they’re going to do in the second term,” Fluker said.
Clo Ewing, an Obama campaign spokesperson, said Obama’s LGBT supporters recognize the president “has done more to advance gay rights than any other president” — citing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal, mandating hospital visitation rights and calling for repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act as among his accomplishments.
“That record stands in stark contrast to Mitt Romney’s, who promised to be to the left of Sen. [Ted] Kennedy on gay rights and then made clear he would have left ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ in place and is working to enshrine discrimination into the Constitution by passing a federal marriage amendment,” Ewing said. “From grassroots organizing to phone banking to registering voters, LGBT supporters are working hard because there’s too much at stake to sit on the sidelines.”
The Washington Blade was unable to find local LGBT supporters of Mitt Romney’s campaign who are undertaking efforts to help the Republican nominee win the White House.
Each of the Obama LGBT supporters who spoke with the Washington Blade said the president’s work on LGBT issues was deeply personal for them and a motiving factor in helping them decide to contribute to the campaign.
Burton said he was particularly grateful Obama took action to benefit LGBT people through administrative steps, such as the hospital visitation rights memo he issued for same-sex partners.
As a federal employee, Burton took particular note of the memorandum Obama signed in 2009 granting limited domestic partner benefits to government workers.
“Extending those rights, it matters quite a bit, and it’s incredible to see him actually move the pen for that,” Burton said.
Fluker said he was moved when Obama announced in May he had completed his evolution to support marriage equality — particularly because those words came from the nation’s first black president.
“When President Obama talked about his own personal walk, how he got to the point where he also supports same-sex marriage, that meant a lot to me not just as black gay man, but as an American, to have a leader who felt that way,” Fluker said.
For Burns, the president’s announcement that he now supports marriage equality was important, as well as Obama’s other work in advancing gay rights.
“That’s an issue that’s near and dear to my heart and to see him fully evolve on this issue was just very validating as an Obama supporter and as a gay man,” Burns said.
District of Columbia
GLAA releases ratings for 18 candidates running for D.C. mayor, Council, AG
Mayoral contender Janeese Lewis Geroge among those receiving highest score
D.C. mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George, a Democrat, is among just four candidates to receive the highest rating score of +10 from GLAA D.C. who are competing in the city’s June 16 primary election.
GLAA, formally known as the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, has rated candidates for public office in D.C. since the 1970s. It rated 18 of the 36 candidates on this year’s primary ballot for mayor, D.C. Council, and D.C. attorney general based on its policy of only rating candidates who return a GLAA questionnaire asking for their positions on a wide range of issues, most of which are not LGBTQ-specific.
Among the candidates who did not return the questionnaire and thus did not receive a rating, according to GLAA, was Democratic mayoral contender Kenyan McDuffie, who along with Lewis George, is considered by political observers to be one of the two leading mayoral candidates running in the Democratic primary.
Lewis George and McDuffie, who each have long records of support for the LGBTQ community, are among a total of eight candidates running for mayor on the June 16 primary ballot: seven Democrats and one Statehood Green Party candidate. In addition to Lewis George, GLAA rated just two other mayoral candidates. Rini Sampath, a Democrat who self identifies as queer, received a +6.5 rating, and Ernest E. Johnson, also a Democrat, received a +4.5 rating
Under the GLAA rating system, candidate ratings range from a +10, the highest score, to a -10, the lowest possible score. In its ratings for the June 16 primary, the lowest score issued was +4.5. GLAA said in a statement that each of the 18 candidates it rated expressed strong support for LGBTQ-related issues in their questionnaire responses, indicating that the overall rating scores reflect the candidates’ positions on mostly non-LGBTQ-specific issues.
The three other candidates who received a +10 GLAA rating are each running as Democrats for the Ward 1 D.C. Council seat. They include gay candidate Miguel Trindade Deramo; Aparna Raj, who identifies as bisexual; and LGBTQ ally Rashida Brown. The only other Ward 1 candidate rated by GLAA is LGBTQ ally Terry Lynch, who received a +5.5 rating.
Ward 5 D.C. Councilmember Zachary Parker, the Council’s only gay member who is facing two opponents in the Democratic primary, received a +7 GLAA rating. The two challengers did not return the questionnaire and were not rated.
“In seven out of 10 of our priorities, every candidate indicated agreement,” GLAA said in its statement to the Washington Blade in referring to the candidates it rated. “Total consensus on core issues signals that whomever is elected to Council and mayor, we should expect to hold our elected officials accountable to our goals of protecting home rule, resisting federal overreach, advancing transgender healthcare rights, and eliminating chronic homelessness in the District,” the statement says.
“While candidates agree on the basics, they distinguish themselves in the depth and creativity in their responses, and their record on the issues,” according to the statement, which adds that candidates’ full questionnaire responses and ratings can be accessed on the GLAA website, glaa.org.
Like past election years, GLAA does not rate candidates running for the D.C. Congressional Delegate seat or the so-called “shadow” U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate seats.
With the exception of one question asking about transgender rights, none of the other nine of the 10 questionnaire questions are LGBTQ-specific. But most of the questions mention that LGBTQ people are impacted by the issues being raised, such as affordable housing, federal government intrusion into D.C. home rule, and access to healthcare and public benefits for low-income residents.
One of the questions asks candidates if they support decriminalization of sex work in D.C. among consenting adults, which GLAA supports. Lewis George is among the candidates who said they do not support sex work decriminalization at this time. The other two mayoral candidates that GLAA rated, Sampath and Johnson, said they support sex work decriminalization.
In the race for D.C. attorney general, GLAA issued a rating for just one of the three candidates running: Republican challenger Manuel Rivera, who received a +4.5 rating. Incumbent Democrat Brian Schwalb and Democratic challenger J.P. Szymkowicz were not rated because they didn’t return the questionnaire.
D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D), who is running unopposed in the primary, received a +6.5 rating. Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, who is facing three Democratic challengers in the primary and who is a longtime LGBTQ ally, received a +6.5 rating.
In the special election to fill the at-large D.C. Council seat vacated by the resignation of then-Independent Councilmember McDuffie to enable him to run for mayor as a Democrat, GLAA has rated two of the three Independent candidates competing for the seat. Elissa Silverman received a +5.75 rating, and Doni Crawford received a +5.6 rating.
Finally, in the At-Large D.C. Council race GLAA issued ratings for five of the 11 candidates running in the primary, each of whom are Democrats. Oye Owolewa received a +9; Lisa Raymond, +7.5; Dwight Davis, +6.5; Dyana N.M. Forester, +6; and Fred Hill, +6.6.
The full list of GLAA-rated candidates and their detailed questionnaire responses can be accessed at glaa.org.
Rehoboth Beach
From the Capitol to the coast: Rep. Sarah McBride shares Rehoboth favorites
As summer kicks off, Congresswoman Sarah McBride shares her favorite Rehoboth spots.
Each year for the past 19 years, the Washington Blade has kicked off the summer season with a quintessential tradition — a party in Rehoboth Beach. The annual celebration is well known among Blade readers as the unofficial start of summer and beach season. (This year’s event is May 15, 5-7 p.m. at Diego’s featuring remarks from Ashley Biden.)
Two weeks ago, the Blade sat down with Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first openly transgender person elected to Congress, to discuss her first year in office. While reflecting on key milestones and challenges ahead, she also shared some of her favorite Rehoboth spots and what the beach town means to her.
“I love Rehoboth,” the state’s sole House member told the Blade, beaming from her office in the Longworth House Office Building. “I love Baltimore Avenue, and love going to Aqua and the Pines.”
Both Aqua and the Pines have long served as staples of Rehoboth’s LGBTQ community. From the Saturday night lines stretching down the street off the main drag to the Sunday tea dances, the venues have helped cement Rehoboth as one of the top LGBTQ beach destinations in the United States dating back to at least the 1940s, when LGBTQ federal workers would escape the pressures — and often prying eyes — of Washington for a queer haven along the Delaware coast.
While attitudes and the community itself have evolved over the decades, Rehoboth today can still feel like an extension of D.C. — only with more Speedos and sandy flip-flops. Conversations that begin in Washington about politics and nightlife often continue beachside, shifting from “What’s Bunker’s theme tonight?” to “Who’s DJing at Aqua?”
When asked where she likes to dine in town, McBride highlighted one longtime favorite while also teasing a new addition she’s eager to try.
“Drift Seafood and Raw Bar is one of my favorite restaurants,” she said. “I actually ran into a Rehoboth restaurateur the other day while I was at Longwood Gardens for the tulips — which were beautiful. The restaurateur just opened a new restaurant on the south end of Baltimore Avenue that I’m excited to try. It sounds like an Indian fusion restaurant.”
When asked whether she frequents Poodle Beach — the longtime LGBTQ section of the shoreline — McBride shared that she prefers a quieter stretch of sand a bit farther north of Rehoboth’s gay beach scene.
“I usually go to Deauville, which is just north. It’s right there in between the boardwalk and Gordon’s Pond and North Shores.”
Regardless of where she chooses to unwind from the pressures of Washington and Dover, McBride was clear about how much both Rehoboth and Delaware mean to her.
“I love Rehoboth. I love the restaurants there. This is the professional privilege of my lifetime, getting to represent Delaware.”
“One of the things that I love is seeing how much goodness there is in this state,” she shared. “I represent more people in the House of Representatives than any other representative. Unlike most members who represent exclusively urban, suburban, or rural districts, I represent all three. Delaware demographically looks like America.”
She went on to say that representing a state whose demographics closely mirror the country as a whole gives her hope for the future — something that can at times feel elusive within the often-divisive halls of Congress.
“That means every day that I’m here, and every time Delawareans come to visit me, I get to see the full diversity of this country and this state on display. I get to see the goodness across that diversity, whether it’s diversity of identity or diversity of thought. It makes me even prouder to represent a state that time and time again judges candidates not based on their identities, but based on their ideals.”
She ended with a simple but hopeful message about her state and its people.
“Our politics are too often defined by hate. I’m glad Delaware and Delawareans are showing that a different kind of politics is possible.”
District of Columbia
Anti-LGBTQ violence prevention efforts highlighted at D.C. community fair
Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs organized May 8 event
Detailed advice on how LGBTQ people can avoid, defend themselves against, and prevent themselves and loved ones from becoming victims of violence, with a focus on domestic and intimate partner violence, was presented at a May 8 LGBTQIA+ Safety in Numbers Community Fair.
The event, organized by the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, included five workshop sessions and information tables set up by 14 LGBTQ-supportive organizations and D.C. government agencies or agency divisions, including the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department’s LGBT Liaison Unit and the D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center.
Also playing a lead role in organizing the event was the D.C. LGBTQIA+ Violence Prevention and Response Team, or VPART, a coalition of D.C. officials and leaders of community-based organizations that work with the Office of LGBTQ Affairs.
The event was held in meeting space in the building where the Office of LGBTQ Affairs is located at 899 N. Capitol St., N.E.
The workshop topics included de-escalation training on healthy relationships, bystander intervention, self-defense training, violence prevention grants, and suicide prevention.
“This will be a public safety and violence prevention event where community partners will educate attendees on various methods of violence intervention and trauma-informed practices,” according to a statement released by the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs prior to the start of the event.
The statement adds, “We will have live demos, interactive games, and workshops focused on strategies for self-defense, protecting vulnerable communities, increasing access to mental health resources, providing tools for recognizing domestic violence/intimate partner violence signs in intimate relationships, and assistance for substance abuse.”
Sonya Joseph, associate director of engagement for the Office of LGBTQ Affairs, told the Washington Blade that studies have shown rates of domestic or intimate partner violence are higher in the LGBTQ community than in the community at large.
“Domestic violence and intimate partner violence are two very big prevalent issues in the LGBTQ community,” she said, adding that some of the workshops at the event would be providing “training on healthy relationships and how to recognize and prevent intimate partner violence and the signs of it.”
About 35 to 40 people attended the workshop sessions.
Experts specializing in violence impacting the LGBTQ community have said domestic violence refers to violence among people in domestic relationships that can include spouses but also siblings, parents, cousins, and other relatives. Intimate partner violence, according to the experts, refers to violence perpetuated by a partner in a romantic or dating relationship.
These D.C. based organizations or agencies that participated in the LGBTQIA+ Safety in Numbers event, and which can be contacted for assistance, include:
• Defend Yourself
• DC LGBTQ+ Community Center
• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
• Joseph’s House
• Us Helping Us, People into Living, Inc.
• MCSR (formerly known as Men Can Stop Rape)
• MPD LGBT Liaison Unit
• Volunteer Legal Advocates
• DC SAFE
• Destination Tomorrow
• D.C. Office of Victims Services and Justice Grants
• Life Enhancement Services
• ONYX Therapy Group
• U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C.
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