Local
Figure in Md. robocalls case funding anti-Question 6 group
Baltimore political consultant Julius Henson served a month in jail earlier this year in connection with 2010 robocalls
Inside Jump the Broom for Marriages’ campaign headquarters in Baltimore (Courtesy photo)
Maryland campaign finance records indicate a Baltimore political consultant who served jail time earlier this year for conspiring to produce robocalls designed to discourage black voters from voting in the 2010 gubernatorial election has given $20,000 to a group fighting the state’s same-sex marriage law.
The report that Jump the Broom for Marriages filed with the Maryland State Board of Elections on Oct. 13 indicates Julius Henson donated $500 to the campaign on Aug. 1, $10,500 on Aug. 30 and $10,000 on Sept. 21. The PAC reported it raised $21,881 between June 12 and Oct. 7.
Jump the Broom for Marriages’ campaign finance report further indicates Henson made an in-kind donation of $7,200 for campaign signs, literature and stationary on Oct. 7. It notes another $3,900 receipt dated Sept. 1 for use of office space at 501 W. 23rd St. in Baltimore as a “campaign HQ.” Henson’s company, Universal Elections, Inc., is located at the same address, according to its website.
Jump the Broom for Marriages paid Ralco Products Co., Inc., of Pikesville $9,583.43 on Sept. 24 for what its campaign finance report describes as “yard signs, 4×4, 4×8 signs, tee shirts, giveaways other campaign materials.” It also bought $5,500 worth of air time with Radio One Baltimore, which operates four black and gospel radio stations in the city, on Aug. 29. Jump the Broom for Marriages purchased another $1,000 of air time with the same group on Oct. 5.
Jump the Broom for Marriages also paid IQ & Associates in Baltimore $2,780 on the same day for what it described as “field operation/literature drops.” The group has been placing anti-Question 6 fliers on cars throughout Baltimore in recent weeks. Jump the Broom for Marriages has also distributed yard signs that urge voters to oppose Maryland’s same-sex marriage law in the Nov. 6 referendum.
A photograph of one of these signs that the Washington Blade recently obtained from inside Jump the Broom for Marriages’ campaign headquarters contains a yellow cross superimposed onto a purple background with the words “no same-sex marriage” written on it. The poster further urges voters to vote against Question 6.
“Marriage is between a man and a woman,” reads the sign.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in May ordered Henson and his company, Universal Elections, Inc., to pay a $1 million fine for violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act when he and employee Rhonda Russell robocalled more than 112,000 Democratic voters in Baltimore City and Prince George’s County on behalf of former Gov. Robert Ehrlich, Jr.,’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign. The calls said they did not need to vote before the polls closed on Election Day because Gov. Martin O’Malley and President Obama had already won.
“Our goals have been met,” said the call prosecutors maintain Henson and Russell wrote and recorded. “The polls were correct and we took it back. We’re okay. Relax. Everything is fine. The only thing left is to watch it on TV tonight. Congratulations and thank you.”
A Baltimore City Circuit Court judge in June sentenced Henson to 60 days in jail and 300 hours of community service for his role in the scheme. He was released in July.
Ehrlich’s campaign manager, Paul Schurick, earlier this year received 30 days house arrest, four years probation and 500 hours of community service in the case.
Neither Henson, nor Universal Elections, Inc., immediately returned the Blade’s request for comment.
Local
Local LGBTQ groups, activists to commemorate Black History Month
Rayceen Pendarvis to moderate Dupont Underground panel on Sunday
LGBTQ groups in D.C. and elsewhere plan to use Black History Month as an opportunity to commemorate and celebrate Black lives and experiences.
Team Rayceen Productions has no specific events planned, but co-founder Rayceen Pendarvis will attend many functions around D.C. this month.
Pendarvis, a longtime voice in the LGBTQ community in D.C. will be moderating a panel at Dupont Underground on Sunday. The event, “Every (Body) Wants to Be a Showgirl,” will feature art from Black burlesque artists from around the country. Pendarvis on Feb. 23 will attend the showing of multimedia play at the Lincoln Theatre that commemorates the life of James Baldwin.
Equality Virginia plans to prioritize Black voices through a weekly online series, and community-based story telling. The online digital series will center Black LGBTQ voices, specifically trailblazers and activists, and contemporary Black queer and transgender people.
Narissa Rahaman, Equality Virginia’s executive director, stressed the importance of the Black queer community to the overall Pride movement, and said “Equality Virginia is proud to center those voices in our work this month and beyond.”
The Capital Pride Alliance, which hosts Pride events in D.C., has an alliance with the Center for Black Equity, which brings Black Pride to D.C. over Memorial Day weekend. The National LGBTQ Task Force has no specific Black History Month events planned, but plans to participate in online collaborations.
Cathy Renna, the Task Force’s director of communications, told the Washington Blade the organization remains committed to uplifting Black voices. “Our priority is keeping this at the forefront everyday,” she said.
The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center is also hosting a series of Black History Month events.
The D.C. Public Library earlier this year launched “Freedom and Resistance,” an exhibition that celebrates Black History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. It will remain on display until the middle of March at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at 901 G St., N.W.
District of Columbia
U.S. Attorney’s Office drops hate crime charge in anti-gay assault
Case remains under investigation and ‘further charges’ could come
D.C. police announced on Feb. 9 that they had arrested two days earlier on Feb. 7 a Germantown, Md., man on a charge of simple assault with a hate crime designation after the man allegedly assaulted a gay man at 14th and Q Streets, N.W., while using “homophobic slurs.”
But D.C. Superior Court records show that prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C., which prosecutes D.C. violent crime cases, charged the arrested man only with simple assault without a hate crime designation.
In response to a request by the Washington Blade for the reason why the hate crime designation was dropped, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office provided this response: “We continue to investigate this matter and make no mistake: should the evidence call for further charges, we will not hesitate to charge them.”
In a statement announcing the arrest in this case, D.C. police stated, “On Saturday, February 7, 2026, at approximately 7:45 p.m. the victim and suspect were in the 1500 block of 14th Street, Northwest. The suspect requested a ‘high five’ from the victim. The victim declined and continued walking,” the statement says.
“The suspect assaulted the victim and used homophobic slurs,” the police statement continues. “The suspect was apprehended by responding officers.”
It adds that 26-year-old Dean Edmundson of Germantown, Md. “was arrested and charged with Simple Assault (Hate/Bias).” The statement also adds, “A designation as a hate crime by MPD does not mean that prosecutors will prosecute it as a hate crime.”
Under D.C.’s Bias Related Crime Act of 1989, penalties for crimes motivated by prejudice against individuals based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and homelessness can be enhanced by a court upon conviction by one and a half times greater than the penalty of the underlying crime.
Prosecutors in the past both in D.C. and other states have said they sometimes decide not to include a hate crime designation in assault cases if they don’t think the evidence is sufficient to obtain a conviction by a jury. In some instances, prosecutors have said they were concerned that a skeptical jury might decide to find a defendant not guilty of the underlying assault charge if they did not believe a motive of hate was involved.
A more detailed arrest affidavit filed by D.C. police in Superior Court appears to support the charge of a hate crime designation.
“The victim stated that they refused to High-Five Defendant Edmondson, which, upon that happening, Defendant Edmondson started walking behind both the victim and witness, calling the victim, “bald, ugly, and gay,” the arrest affidavit states.
“The victim stated that upon being called that, Defendant Edmundson pushed the victim with both hands, shoving them, causing the victim to feel the force of the push,” the affidavit continues. “The victim stated that they felt offended and that they were also gay,” it says.
District of Columbia
Capital Pride wins anti-stalking order against local activist
Darren Pasha claims action is linked to his criticism of Pride organizers
A D.C. Superior Court judge on Feb. 6 partially approved an anti-stalking order against a local LGBTQ activist requested last October by the Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C.-based LGBTQ group that organizes the city’s annual Pride events.
The ruling by Judge Robert D. Okun requires former Capital Pride volunteer Darren Pasha to stay at least 100 feet away from Capital Pride’s staff, board members, and volunteers until the time of a follow up court hearing he scheduled for April 17.
In his ruling at the Feb. 6 hearing, which was virtual rather than held in-person at the courthouse, Okun said he had changed the distance that Capital Pride had requested for the stay-away, anti-stalking order from 200 yards to 100 feet. The court records show that the judge also denied a motion filed earlier by Pasha, who did not attend the hearing, to “quash” the Capital Pride civil case against him.
Pasha told the Washington Blade he suffered an injury and damaged his mobile phone by falling off his scooter on the city’s snow-covered streets that prevented him from calling in to join the Feb. 6 court hearing.
In his own court filings without retaining an attorney, Pasha has strongly denied the stalking related allegations against him by Capital Pride, saying “no credible or admissible evidence has been provided” to show he engaged in any wrongdoing.
The Capital Pride complaint initially filed in court on Oct. 27, 2025, includes an 18-page legal brief outlining its allegations against Pasha and an additional 167-page addendum of “supporting exhibits” that includes multiple statements by witnesses whose names are blacked out.
“Over the past year, Defendant Darren Pasha (“DSP”) has engaged in a sustained, and escalating course of conduct directed at CPA, including repeated and unwanted contact, harassment, intimidation, threats, manipulation, and coercive behavior targeting CPA staff, board members, volunteers, and affiliates,” the Capital Pride complaint states.
In his initial 16-page response to the complaint, Pasha says the Capital Pride complaint appears to be a form of retaliation against him for a dispute he has had with the organization and its then president, Ashley Smith, last year.
“It is evident that the document is replete with false, misleading, and unsubstantiated assertions,” he said of the complaint.
Smith, who has since resigned from his role as board president, did not respond to a request by the Blade for comment at the time the Capital Pride court complaint was filed against Pasha.
Capital Pride Executive Director Ryan Bos and the attorney representing the group in its legal action against Pasha, Nick Harrison, did not immediately respond to a Blade request for comment on the judge’s Feb. 6 ruling.
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