Local
Rehoboth evacuated as Hurricane Sandy arrives
Presidential campaigns put on hold; Md. marriage events cancelled
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this image of Hurricane Sandy off the southeastern United States at around 10a.m. this morning. (Public domain NASA image courtesy LANCE MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC)
The resort town of Rehoboth Beach, Del., which has a large gay population, was ordered evacuated Sunday night and the town’s mayor declared a storm emergency as Hurricane Sandy approached the Delaware coast.
Rehoboth Police Chief Keith Banks told the Blade late Monday morning that flooding so far has been limited to two downtown streets closest to the beach, but he said serious wind and flood damage could occur when the brunt of the storm hits the town Monday night and Tuesday.
“The town is closed down,” he said. “We have officers on patrol to make sure everyone is safe and property is protected.”
Camp Rehoboth, an LGBT community center and advocacy organization, and Proud Bookstore, the town’s gay bookstore, are among the businesses and organizations located within the evacuation zone. Both are located less than two blocks from the beach and could potentially be affected by flooding.
“We’re getting steady rain and occasional heavy gusts of wind,” said gay Democratic activist Peter Schott, who lives just outside the Rehoboth town limits and not in the evacuation zone.
“Friends are checking on each other,” he said. “We’re hoping for the best.”
Andy Staton, the gay candidate for a seat in the Delaware Senate in the Rehoboth area, said he has suspended his campaign for the next day or two and arranged for supporters to take down his campaign signs.
“We are concerned that signs and other objects could become projectiles and could cause some harm,” he said.
Staton said that, like Schott, he lives outside the town limits and was not required to evacuate his home.
“We put out a notice from our campaign Sunday night urging people to be safe,” he said.
Delaware Gov. Jack Markell issued a statewide order early Monday closing all of the state’s highways and roads to non-emergency vehicles until the most serious effects of the storm subside.
As Rehoboth residents hunkered down in the midst of the storm, President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney each announced the hurricane prompted them to put their campaigns on hold for Monday and Tuesday.
Obama returned to Washington from campaign appearances in various states, saying he would work with federal emergency officials to ensure that disaster relief programs were put in place in states hit hardest by the storm.
In D.C. and the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs, all federal and local government offices were ordered closed to the public, with only essential workers such as emergency personnel expected to report for work. Public schools and the Metro subway and bus system were also closed on Monday due to the impact of the storm.
Organizers of other election-related events also announced cancellations and postponements.
Among the events cancelled for Monday night was a D.C. fundraiser for Marylanders for Marriage Equality, the group leading the campaign for Maryland’s marriage equality law in a statewide referendum on Nov. 6. The event was scheduled to take place at Busboys and Poets restaurant at 14th and V Streets, N.W.
Outdoor tables and chairs at Trio’s Restaurant in Dupont Circle were secured ahead of Hurricane Sandy. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
- JR’s facade on 17th Street, N.W., remains covered in Halloween decorations ahead of Hurricane Sandy (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
New York Avenue in Northwest Washington. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Maryland
Anne Arundel schools updates gender identity regulation following Trump administration threats
District facing federal lawsuit, White House threats over guidelines
By JESSICA CALEFATI | Under pressure from the Trump-Vance administration, Anne Arundel County Public Schools Supt. Mark Bedell announced Wednesday the district had updated a regulation intended to protect transgender students’ right to be called by their chosen name.
The revised language makes clear that district rules on gender identity do not block parents’ rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act as the federal government alleged last month, and that a student’s gender identity will not be treated as confidential medical information.
“No policy, guideline, or practice may limit or otherwise interfere with parental rights under FERPA,” Bedell wrote in a Wednesday letter to the community. “This includes any information maintained in education records that relates to gender identity, transgender status, sexual orientation, preferred name, or preferred pronouns.”
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
Man charged with anti-gay assault in D.C. accepts plea offer
Community service offered in exchange for dismissing hate crime charge
A Germantown, Md., man arrested by D.C. police on a charge of simple assault with a hate crime designation for allegedly assaulting a gay man while using “homophobic slurs” has agreed to an offer by prosecutors to plead guilty to simple assault without the hate crime designation and with the promise of having the charge dismissed if he completes, among other requirements, 48 hours of community service work.
Dean Edmundson, 26, standing beside his attorney, officially accepted the offer of a Deferred Sentencing Agreement at an Aug. 18 status hearing in D.C. Superior Court after Senior Judge Hiram Puig-Lugo explained the details of the agreement and confirmed Edmundson’s decision to waive his right to a trial.
Among other things, the judge said the agreement offered by prosecutors with the Office of the United States Attorney for D.C. includes the requirement that he successfully completes 48 hours of community service work, stays away from the victim of the assault, writes a letter of apology to the victim, and does not violate any other laws or get into trouble for the next 12 months.
Puig-Lugo then announced he scheduled a sentencing hearing for Edmundson for Aug. 18, 2027, at which time a determination will made on whether he has fulfilled all the requirements under the agreement and whether the simple assault charge will be dismissed. The judge added that if it is determined that Edmundson did not fulfil the terms of the agreement the charge would remain in place and he could be sentenced to a possible maximum penalty of 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Edmundson, who appeared in court wearing a business suit with a dress shirt and tie, was released on his own recognizance following his arrest by D.C. police on Feb. 7, 2026.
Police and court records show he was initially charged by arresting officers with simple assault with a hate crime designation. In a statement announcing the arrest, D.C. police said, “On Saturday, Feb. 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 kept walking,” the statement says.
A follow-up arrest affidavit filed by police states that Edmundson followed the victim and called him “bald, ugly, and gay,” and then “pushed the victim with both hands, shoving them, causing the victim to feel the force of the push.” The affidavit adds, “The victim stated that they felt offended and that they were also gay.”
According to the court records, the Office of the U.S. Attorney filed its official charge of simple assault against Edmunson on Feb. 9 without the hate crime designation. The office has not responded to a request by the Washington Blade for its reason for dropping the hate crime designation. The office has also not immediately responded to a follow-up inquiry from the Blade this week asking if prosecutors consulted the victim to obtain the victim’s thoughts about the plea offer.
The Blade, which has a policy of not disclosing the identify of crime victims in cases like this without their consent, could not immediately obtain contact information to reach the victim for comment.
Court records show that Edmundson rejected an earlier plea agreement offer by prosecutors and he was scheduled for a non-jury trial on Aug. 18. The records show his attorney filed a motion earlier this month asking the judge to convert the trial into status hearing on that same day after his client accepted the Deferred Sentencing Agreement offer by the U.S. Attorney’s office. The judge approved the motion without objection from prosecutors.
Virginia
Winsome Earle-Sears ‘Life and Marriage Tour’ to include Northern Va. stops
Voters to consider marriage equality, reproductive rights referenda in November
Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears has announced her campaign against efforts to enshrine marriage equality and reproductive rights in the state constitution will make several stops in Northern Virginia.
Her “Life and Marriage Tour” will include stops in Manassas, Winchester, and Harrisonburg. Earle-Sears said the “Life and Marriage Tour” will also travel to Virginia Beach, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Charlottesville, and other cities across Virginia “throughout September and October.”
The announcement did not include specific dates.
“Virginia, you’ve been asking where the Life and Marriage Tour is headed — here’s a look at our current tour locations,” she said on X on Tuesday. “We’ll be traveling across the commonwealth throughout September and October, and we’re still building the journey.”
Current Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, last November defeated Earle-Sears, a Republican, in the race to succeed Republican Glenn Youngkin.
Voters in 2006 approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment, which defined marriage in Virginia as between a man and a woman.
Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Youngkin a decade later signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.
Two successive legislatures must approve a proposed constitutional amendment before it can go to the ballot.
Spanberger signed bills that finalized the marriage equality and reproductive rights referenda’s language.
The referenda will take place on Nov. 3.
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