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Stein Club won’t endorse for ‘non-Democratic’ at-large Council seat

GOProud endorses gay libertarian over Norton for D.C. congressional seat

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Jimmy LaSalvia, GOProud, gay news, Washington Blade

GOProud, the national LGBT conservative group, whose Executive Director Jimmy LaSalvia is pictured here, endorsed gay Libertarian Party candidate Bruce Majors, who is running against Eleanor Holmes Norton for the city’s congressional delegate seat. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

The Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the city’s largest LGBT political group, was unable to make an endorsement Tuesday night in the hotly contested race for an at-large D.C. Council seat that must go to a non-Democratic candidate.

Incumbent Councilmember Michael Brown (I-At-Large) came in first place with 48.6 percent of the vote and challenger David Grosso, also an independent, came in second with 40.5 percent in a second ballot vote as announced by Stein Club President Lateefah Williams. A vote for the option of “no endorsement” came to 10.8 percent.

Brown fell short of a required 60 percent vote needed for an endorsement under the Stein Club’s rules.

“It is an honor to have received the [most] votes from the members of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club and to be recognized for my one-hundred percent record on LGBTQ issues,” Brown said in a statement released Wednesday.

Grosso, who, like Brown, is campaigning aggressively for votes from the LGBT community, said he was pleased with the support he received as a candidate with less name recognition than Brown.

“Given my first shot at this, I’m really pleased with the outcome,” he said following the vote. “I had a lot of great supporters in the crowd tonight and it was an honor to be here and do this.”

In a first ballot vote, Brown received 43.6 percent of the vote compared to 38.5 percent received by Grosso. Independent candidate A.J. Cooper received 5.1 percent of the first ballot vote and Statehood Green Party candidate Ann Wilcox received 2.6 percent in the first ballot competition, according to Williams.The option of “no endorsement” received 7.7 percent of the vote in the first ballot round.

Cooper and Wilcox were eliminated in the second ballot runoff, which is limited to the two highest vote-getters under club rules.

Williams said 39 club members voted in first round of voting and 37 members voted in the second ballot round.

The vote took place following a Stein Club sponsored forum in which the four candidates appeared at the Human Rights Campaign’s Equality Center meeting hall, where the event was held.

Independent candidate Leon Swain Jr. and Republican candidate Mary Brooks Beatty didn’t attend the forum and the two received no votes from club members.

On the Nov. 6 election ballot, city voters have the option of voting for any two of the seven candidates competing for two at-large seats in play, including incumbent Democrat Vincent Orange, who won the Stein Club endorsement earlier this month and didn’t participate in the club’s forum on Tuesday. Although a Democrat, or majority party candidate, is only eligible for one of the two seats, under the city’s election law a non-Democrat can hold both seats if he or she comes in first and second place and the Democrat finishes third or lower.

However, a Democrat has won one of the two at-large seats in every election since the city’s modern home rule government was put in place in 1974.

The four candidates that participated in Tuesday night’s Stein Club forum answered a wide range of questions on LGBT and non-LGBT issues from longtime D.C. Democratic activist and city voting rights advocate Eugene Kinlow, who served as moderator. The candidates also responded to written questions submitted by members of the audience.

All four expressed strong support for LGBT equality, including same-sex marriage rights. But it became clear from audience members that Brown and Grosso had the most support. According to club members, Brown has voted for, introduced, or signed on as a co-sponsor to virtually all LGBT supportive bills or amendments that have come before the Council since he first won election to the seat in 2008

Grosso noted during the forum that he has worked on LGBT related issues as a staff member to former D.C. Council member Sharon Ambrose (D-Ward 6), who now serves as his campaign chairperson; and for Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.). Norton and Ambrose are considered among the city’s strongest LGBT community supporters who have held elective office.

Gay libertarian challenges Norton

In other local election news, gay Libertarian Party candidate Bruce Majors, who is running against Norton for the city’s congressional delegate seat, won the endorsement this week of GOProud, the national LGBT conservative group that has also endorsed Mitt Romney for president.

“I am running to give people someone to vote for, and to build the local Libertarian Party, and to get the minimum number of votes for them to get ballot status so they can run multiple candidates without the oppressive expense of collecting 5000 signatures for each one each time,” Majors told the Blade.

Majors is one of 24 U.S. House candidates endorsed by GOProud and the one only who isn’t a Republican.

Stein Club set to honor activists at leadership awards event

The Stein Club was scheduled to honor six LGBT activists and one organization Thursday night at its 36th Anniversary Leadership Awards reception for their distinguished serve to the LGBT community. The honorees include:

  • Paul Kuntzler, Stein Club co-founder, Dr. Frank Kameny Pioneer Award
  • Marylanders for Marriage Equality, Richard Rausch Equality Award
  • Danielle Moodie-Mills, advisor for LGBT Policy and Racial Justice, Center for American Progress, Michael Bustamonte and James Zais Political Development Award
  • David Perez, president, Latino GLBT History Project, Justice Award
  • Jeri Hughes, Transgender Advocate, Transgender Health Empowerment, Heil-Balin Community Service Award
  • Greg Cendana, Executive Director, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, Desi Deschaine Young Democrat of the Year Award
  • Jerame Davis, Executive Director, National Stonewall Democrats, Wanda Alston Democratic Service Award
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Comings & Goings

Freedman-Gurspan takes role in Mass. governor’s administration

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Raffi Freedman-Gurspan

The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected]

The Comings & Goings column also invites LGBTQ college students to share their successes with us. If you have been elected to a student government position, gotten an exciting internship, or are graduating and beginning your career with a great job, let us know so we can share your success. 

Congratulations to Raffi Freedman-Gurspan on being appointed Associate Director, Federal Funding & Infrastructure Office, at the Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration & Finance. Freedman-Gurspan will be returning to her hometown of Boston and joining Gov. Maura Healey’s Administration. Freedman-Gurspan served in both the Obama and Biden administrations as well as worked in LGBTQ and redistricting advocacy during her 11 years in D.C. 

Freedman-Gurspan was the first openly transgender person on the White House staff when she worked for President Obama. She most recently served at the U.S. Department of Transportation in former Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s office, as Deputy Director of Public Engagement. Previously she worked with the National Redistricting Action Fund/The All On The Line Campaign, as Deputy States Director.  She worked for the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) as Director of External Relations. In the Obama White House, she worked in the Office of Public Engagement, as Senior Associate Director. She was the White House Liaison to the LGBTQ community responsible for management of all public inquiries on matters regarding LGBTQ people, including recommending public responses to senior leadership, assisting in drafting administration talking points, and coordinating stakeholder engagement with the White House offices.  She worked with the White House, Presidential Personnel Office (PPO), as Outreach and Recruitment Director.  

Prior to that she was on the staff of Commonwealth of Massachusetts, House of Representatives Office of State Rep. Carl Sciortino, as legislative director, and worked for the City of Somerville, Health Department, Office of Commissions, Somerville, Mass., as LGBTQ Liaison.  

Freedman-Gurspan served on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, the Presidentially Appointed Council; and as a member, and Board Member, Boston University, College of Arts and Sciences, Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Norwegian, concentration in Nordic Studies, from St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.  

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District of Columbia

Murdered Israeli embassy officials were supporters of D.C.’s LGBTQ synagogue

Bet Mishpachah calls fatal shooting outside Capital Jewish Museum ‘devastating’

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Bet Mishpachah members march at the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, Oct. 11, 1987. (Photo courtesy of Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum Collection. Gift of Bet Mishpachah with thanks to Joel Wind & Al Munzer)

The two Israeli embassy officials who were shot to death outside D.C.’s Capital Jewish Museum Wednesday evening, May 21, were strong supporters of Bet Mishpachah, D.C.’s LGBTQ supportive synagogue, according to a statement it released.

“We are especially devastated by the loss of our dear colleague and friend of Bet Mishpachah, Sarah Milgram, and her soon to be fiancé, Yaron Lischinsky,” the LGBTQ synagogue said in a May 22 statement.

“Sarah was the liaison between Bet Mishpachah  and the Israeli Embassy, working closely with our staff and clergy,” the statement says. “Her warmth, professionalism, and deep commitment to building bridges within the Jewish community made her not only a trusted partner but a beloved part of our extended congregational family,” according to the statement.

A statement also released on May 22 by the office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia says Chicago resident Elias Rodriguez, 30, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder along with other weapons related charges in connection with the shooting deaths of Milgram and Lischinsky. 

Officials with the D.C. police and the FBI, which has joined D.C. police in continuing to investigate the case, have said Rodriquez arrived in D.C. from Chicago one day prior to the shooting and appears to have targeted an event taking place at the Capital Jewish Museum for violence at the time it was hosting an event called “Young Diplomats Reception,” in which Israeli Embassy officials were in attendance.

Police and FBI officials have said Rodriguez allegedly shot Milgrim and Lischinsky after they left the Capital Jewish Museum at the conclusion of the event. The museum is located at 575 3rd Street, N.W.

“Surveillance footage reportedly shows Rodriquez walking past the victims before turning and firing multiple rounds,” the U.S. Attorney’s statement says. “After the victims fell, he allegedly continued firing at close range, including as one attempted to crawl away,” it says, adding, “Investigators recovered a 9 mm handgun and 21 spent shell casings at the scene.”

Police have said Rodriguez walked into the Capital Jewish Museum after the shooting and was detained by security guards until D.C. police arrived. Witnesses said he began to shout, “free, free Palestine” before police took him into custody. 

“Make no mistake, this attack was targeted, antisemitic violence,” said Steven Jenson, an FBI assistant director working on the investigation. “The FBI will continue to pursue all leads and use all available resources to investigate this heinous murder,” he said in the statement. 

The fatal shooting took place five days after the Capital Jewish Museum opened a special exhibition called “LGBT Jews in the Federal City” on May 16. “This landmark exhibition explores a turbulent century of celebrations, activism, and change in the nation’s capital by D.C.’s LGBTQ+ Jewish community,” the museum said in a statement announcing the exhibition.

Photos and documents related to Bet Mishpachah make up a prominent part of the exhibition.

During a May 22 press conference organized by the U.S. Attorney for D.C., Jeanine Pirro, to provide an update on the investigation into the two murders, Pirro and FBI official Jensen referred to the two murders as a hate crime and terrorist act. 

In response to a question from the Washington Blade asking if investigators were looking into whether the LGBTQ exhibition at the Capital Jewish Museum might have played some role in Gonzales’s motive for targeting the museum, Pirro responded to the question.

“So, we are looking into absolutely everything,” she said. “There is so much information we’re looking at. And I must tell you, coming from New York, I’ve never seen the cooperation and coordination that I’m seeing here. It was immediate. It was instant. It was coordinated. And my hat’s off to this area. We’re going to clean it up, thank you,” she said in ending the press conference.

Josh Maxey, Bet Mishpachah’s executive director, said he and Israeli Embassy official Milgram became friends during their two-and-a-half-year interaction working on joint events between the embassy and Bet Mishpachah.

“This became a wonderful two and a half years journey of putting events together, of hosting events together, doing different programs for the community,” Maxey told the Blade. Among the activities the two worked on, he said, was the embassy’s annual LGBTQ Pride event.

Maxie said his own grieving over the death of Milgram and her boyfriend Lischinsky was heightened by the fact that he spoke with her by phone on the day of the shooting shortly before she arrived at the Jewish Museum over plans about this year’s LGBTQ Pride events.

“Sarah really championed us to be included in Israeli events,” Maxey said. “And so, I am just devastated that this true embodiment of an ally was so viciously and violently taken away from us.”

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Delaware

Delaware marriage equality bill advances out of committee

Measure will now go before full state Senate

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Sen. Russ Huxtable introduced the measure to protect same-sex marriage in Delaware. (Washington Blade photo by Daniel Truitt)

The bill that would amend Delaware’s state constitution to codify same-sex marriage advanced out of the Senate Executive Committee on Wednesday and now goes to the Senate chamber for a vote. If passed, the vote would go on to the House. 

Three members of the committee voted favorable and one voted on its merits, meaning the member recommends the chamber take action on the legislation but does not take a position on what action should be taken. 

Senate Bill 100 was introduced in April by Democratic Sen. Russ Huxtable of the sixth district of Delaware and has 21 co-sponsors. It is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution. The act would “establish the right to marry as a fundamental right and that Delaware and its political subdivisions shall recognize marriages and issue marriage licenses to couples regardless of gender.”

Senate Substitute One was adopted in lieu of the original bill on May 16. SB 100 originally focused exclusively on marriage equality relating to gender and the bill was tweaked to include protection for all classes that fall under Delaware’s Equal Rights Amendment, including race, color, national origin, and sex. 

The Wednesday committee meeting heard testimony on SS 1 for SB 100 from individuals and organizations, including John Reynolds, Deputy Policy and Advocacy Director of Delaware’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. 

“After hard fought recent victories, the rights of LGBTQ Americans are under attack in many places across our country,” Reynolds said during his testimony. “It is important that Delaware be proactive and serve as a firewall protecting individual civil liberties. SS 1 for SB 100 is an example of this important work cementing the protections for marriage equality in our state constitution.”

According to Sen. Huxtable, the ACLU helped provide feedback on some of the bill’s language. Reynolds said the ACLU thought it was important to testify because this is a moment when so much is changing.

“These attacks are not just on specific communities, they’re on this concept of equality and liberty,” Reynolds told the Washington Blade. “We need to build these firewalls to both prevent harm to folks on the frontline of these attacks but also ensure that we don’t set very problematic and damaging standards that can be used to roll back protections for large [swaths] of our population.”

SS 1 for SB 100 requires a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to pass. If passed, the next General Assembly after the next general election also has to pass it. Delaware is the only state in the country that can amend its state constitution without a vote of the people. 

The Respect for Marriage Act was passed by the United States Congress in 2022 and signed into law by then-President Joe Biden. It codifies the right to same-sex and interracial marriage, requiring all states to recognize validly performed marriages from other states, regardless of whether they allow same-sex marriage within their own borders. 

In Virginia, a bill codifying marriage equality was signed into law in 2024. California, Colorado and Hawaii have also passed amendments to codify same-sex marriage into their constitutions. 

“We at the ACLU of Delaware are very excited that SS 1 for SB 100 passed out of committee yesterday,” Reynolds said. “It represents both Sen. Huxtable and the Delaware Legislature’s clear commitment to proactively protecting people’s rights within the LGBT community and outside to ensure that in this moment of uncertainty, we don’t sit idly by and wait for the worst to happen but take control of the things that we can to build the communities that we want.”

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