Local
4 marriage ballot fights and 4 big wins
Advocates confident of sweep in Md., Maine, Minn., Wash. battles
Advocacy groups across the country on Tuesday celebrated the passage of two state same-sex marriage referenda and the defeat of a proposed constitutional amendment that would have banned nuptials for gays and lesbians in another.
Maryland voters supported Question 6 by a 52-48 percent margin, while Maineās Question 1 that will allow gays and lesbians to legally marry in the state passed with 52 percent of the vote. Washington’s Referendum 74 that would uphold the state’s same-sex marriage law remains ahead by a 52-48 percent margin with what Washington United for Marriage estimates as 60 percent of the ballots counted as of deadline.
Minnesotans narrowly defeated a proposed state constitutional amendment that would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman by a 51-48 percent margin.
āYears from now weāll remember this Election Day as the most important and the most historic in the history of the LGBT movement,ā said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, in a video message. He noted HRC contributed $20 million over the last two years to the four statewide same-sex marriage campaigns. āWeāve won a landslide victory at the ballot box. Weāve secured the first ever electoral victory for marriage equality in Maine, Maryland and Minnesota. And weāre optimistic about the results still to come in Washington state.ā
Freedom to Marry gave $4.6 million to the four statewide same-sex marriage campaigns. It helped raise another $2.4 million to support public education campaigns in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington.
Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, categorized the election results to the Washington Blade as āirrefutable momentum in favor of the freedom to marryā that will give āenormous confidenceā to lawmakers and others to support nuptials for gays and lesbians. Casey Pick of Log Cabin Republicans further described the election results as a “turning point.”
“It is something the nation will take notice of,” she told the Blade from Maine where she had been working with Mainers United for Marriage in support of Question 1 for the last two weeks. “Never again will opponents of marriage equality be able to say that every time the people vote on the issue they favor marriage as one man and one woman because thatās no longer true.”
LGBT advocates in other states where voters did not consider same-sex marriage ballot measures also noted the historic results.
āFor all of the families in Maine and Maryland, where voters upheld the rights of same-sex couples to wed, MassEquality is pleased that they will soon experience what we have celebrated for eight years now in Massachusetts: families that are stronger and communities that are healthier because LGBTQ individuals and their families are treated with dignity and fairness,ā said Kara Suffredini, executive director of MassEquality, in a statement. She noted nearly 20,000 gay and lesbian couples have married in Massachusetts since the commonwealthās same-sex marriage law took effect in May 2004. āOur rights should never be determined by a majority vote. But the wins in Maine and Maryland, as well as the defeat of a proposed anti-marriage Constitutional amendment in Minnesota, are definitive proof that there is a growing majority in America that supports our rights, and that equality wins, including at the ballot box.ā
Equality Illinois CEO Bernard Cherkasov also noted the historic election results after Maineās Question 1 passed.
āThe ballot box victory is the latest evidence that the tide has turned and that momentum is on the side of full LGBT equality,ā he said. āWe now have a president who ran on support for marriage equality, a Democratic Party that included a marriage plank in the party platform, seven states, including Maine, and also the District of Columbia where same-sex couples can marry.ā
Minneapolis resident Kirsten Olson and her partner of 18 years, Karen Hogan, a librarian at Quatrefoil Library in nearby St. Paul, waited for the Amendment 1 results at home. She awoke both Hogan and their 11-year-old daughter around 1:45 a.m. when she finally heard the proposal had failed.
“Public radio went to the victory speech that I didnāt think I would hear uttered,” said Olson as she became emotional. “It was just completely surreal and then on Minnesota Public Radio they were also talking about how the Minnesota House and the Minnesota Senate have both gone Democratic and that our governor, Mark Dayton, had on his agenda to legalize same-sex marriage. So in the span of 12 hours we went from the very real possibility of a constitutional amendment to a very real possibility of legalization.ā
An ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted after President Obama endorsed marriage rights for same-sex couples in May found 53 percent of Americans supported nuptials for gays and lesbians, compared to only 36 percent in 2006. Even among social conservatives, the issue seems to have less resonance.
Only 19 percent of those who took part in a straw poll at the annual Conservative Political Action Committee conference in D.C. in February cited the promotion of ātraditional valuesā as the most important issue going into the election. Only one percent who took part in the 2011 CPAC straw poll said stopping same-sex marriage was their top priority.
āObviously we are very disappointed in losing four tough election battles by narrow margins,ā said National Organization for Marriage President Brian Brown in a statement.
NOM contributed more than $5.5 million to oppose same-sex marriage referenda in Maine, Maryland and Washington and support Minnesotaās proposed constitutional amendment to ban nuptials for gays and lesbians. Brown conceded supporters and opponents of these respective ballot measures outspent those who opposed marriage rights for same-sex couples by at least a four-to-one margin.
He also downplayed the idea the election results are what he described as a āchanging point in how Americans view gay marriage.ā
āThough we are disappointed over these losses, we remain faithful to our mission and committed to the cause of preserving marriage as God designed it,ā said Brown. āMarriage is a true and just cause, and we will never abandon the field of battle just because we experienced a setback. There is much work to do, and we begin that process now.ā
Wolfson dismissed the remarks.
āItās been clear for some time that they lost the argument,ā he told the Blade. āAll they have is scare tactics, diversions and some raw power in being able to throw money and mobilize some people ā a dwindling number. Theyāre going to keep at it. Thatās where their livelihood is. They know theyāre losing. They know theyāre on the wrong side of history. The opposition will continue, but we are winning.ā
Pick said she feels the election results send a message to GOP lawmakers who continue to oppose marriage rights for same-sex couples.
“Log Cabin Republicans have been saying for a long time that the tide is turning on this issue,” she said. “For our party it is incumbent upon us to recognize that inclusion is the way of the future. And to be victorious and to win future elections with voters who are taking their place as the majority of the populace today, marriage equality has to be a part of that formula.”
Back in Maryland, there was a palpable sense among those awaiting the Question 6 results at a Baltimore concert hall the Free State was about to make history as the first state to approve same-sex marriage at the ballot.
Lesbian state Del. Heather Mizeur told the Blade before Marylanders for Marriage Equality announced the referendum had passed she feels Obamaās support of same-sex marriage had a tremendous impact in Maryland.
āWhile we already felt very confident where we were headed in this campaign, he stood up and did something no president has ever done for our community and help make it okay for all of our allies to be comfortable with being public about what their position was about equality,ā she said. āWe started to see the numbers very strongly in our direction after he came out in favor of it. And thatās why weāre hoping for a double win tonight and celebrating our marriage equality and also sending this courageous president back for another four year term.ā
Olson said most of her friends, family and neighbors understand Minnesota voters made history by striking down the proposed amendment.
“People totally understand that, totally feel that,” she said. “There are obviously 49 percent of the population ā or 48 percent I guess is what it finally came out to be who think otherwise, but they’re not 50 percent plus one.
Shaun Knittel, executive director of the pro-Referendum 74 group Social Outreach Seattle, told the Blade he feels this sense of history prompted a lot of young first-time voters to go to the polls and support the law.
āNov. 6, 2012, is going to be a historic day for the gay community, the LGBTQ community because this is the time we stopped the bigots,ā he said. āItās the first time it has happened in this way and it was such a big statement. It wasnāt just one state or one group that just seemingly got lucky. It was four states involved in this.ā
Maryland
Montgomery County police chief discusses arrest of trans student charged with planned school shooting
County executive tells news conference studentās trans identity is irrelevant to criminal charge
Montgomery County, Md., Police Chief Marcus Jones joined other county and law enforcement officials at a news conference on Friday, April 19, to provide details of the police investigation and arrest of an 18-year-old high school student charged two days earlier with threats of mass violence based on information that he allegedly planed a mass shooting at the high school and elementary school he attended in Rockville, Md.
In charging documents and in a press release issued on April 18, Montgomery CountyĀ PoliceĀ identified the arrested student as āAndrea Ye, of Rockville, whose preferred name is Alex Ye.ā
One of the charging documents states that a friend of Ye, who police say came forward as a witness who played a crucial role in alerting authorities to Yeās threats of a school shooting, noted that Ye told the witness that Ye identified as the transgender student he wrote about as a character in a 129-page manifesto outlining plans for a school shooting. Police have said Ye told them the manifesto was a fictional story he planned to publish.
At the news conference on Friday, Police Chief Jones and other law enforcement officials, including an FBI official and Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, referred to the student as Alex Ye and Mr. Ye. None of the officials raised the issue of whether Ye identified as a transgender man, seven though one of the police documents identifies Ye as a ābiological female.ā
County Executive Elrich appeared to express the views of the public officials at the news conference when one of the media reporters, during a question-and-answer period, asked Elrich why he and the others who spoke at the news conferment failed to āadmit that this individual was transgender.ā
āBecause itās not a lead,ā Elrich replied, asking if the press and law enforcement authorities should disclose that someone arrested for murder is āa white Christian male whoās heterosexual.ā Elrich stated, āNo, you donāt ā You never publish somebodyās sexual orientation when we talk about this. Why you are focusing on this being a transgender is beyond me. Itās not a news story. It is not a crime to be transgender.ā
The reporter attempted to respond but was cut off by the press conference moderator, who called on someone else to ask the next question.
In his remarks at the press conference Chief Jones praised the so far unidentified witness who was the first to alert authorities about Yeās manifesto appearing to make threats of a mass school shooting.
āNow, this is a situation that highlights the critical importance of vigilance and community involvement in preventing potential tragedies,ā Jones said. āI commend the collaborative efforts of the Montgomery County Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Rockville City Police Department, and the Montgomery County Public Schools, as well as Montgomery County Health and Human Services,ā he told the gathering.
āThanks to their swift action and cooperation a potentially catastrophic event was prevented,ā Jones said.
Jones pointed out that during the current school year, police have received reports of 140 threats to the public schools in Montgomery County. He said after a thorough investigation, none of them rose to the level where an arrest was made. Instead, police and school officials took steps to arrange for the student making the threats and their parents to take remedial action, including providing mental health services.
āBut this case is different,ā Jones said. āThis case is entirely different that takes it to a different level. It was a concerned witness who brought this matter to light by rereporting the suspectās manifesto to the authorities. This underscores the value of community engagement and the āsee something say somethingā approach,ā he said.
Jones mentioned at the press conference that Ye was being held without bond since the time of his arrest but was scheduled to appear in court for a bond hearing on Friday shortly after the press conference took place to determine whether he should be released while awaiting trial or continue to be held.
In his manifesto obtained by police, Ye writes about committing a school shooting, and strategizes how to carry out the act. Ye also contemplates targeting an elementary school and says that he wants to be famous.
In charging documents reported on by WJLA 7 and WBAL 11, the 129-page document, which Ye has referred to as a book of fiction, included writings that said, in part:
“I want to shoot up a school. I’ve been preparing for months. The gun is an AR-15. This gun is going to change lives tomorrow … As I walk through the hallways, I cherry pick the classrooms that are the easiest targets. I need to figure out how to sneak the gun in. I have contemplated making bombs. The instructions to make them are surprisingly available online. I have also considered shooting up my former elementary school because little kids make easier targets. High school’s the best target; I’m the most familiar with the layout. I pace around my room like an evil mastermind. I’ve put so much effort into this. My ultimate goal would be to set the world record for the most amount of kills in a shooting. If I have time, I’ll try to decapitate my victims with a knife to turn the injuries into deaths.”
Maryland
Rockville teen charged with plotting school shooting after FBI finds āmanifestoā
Alex Ye charged with threats of mass violence
BY BRETT BARROUQUERE | A Montgomery County high school student is charged with what police describe as plans to commit a school shooting.
Andrea Ye, 18, of Rockville, whose preferred name is Alex Ye, is charged with threats of mass violence. Montgomery County Police and the FBI arrested Ye Wednesday.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
New D.C. LGBTQ+ bar Crush set to open April 19
An āall-inclusive entertainment haven,ā with dance floor, roof deck
D.C.ās newest LGBTQ+ bar called Crush is scheduled to open for business at 4 p.m. on Friday, April 19, in a spacious, two-story building with a dance floor and roof deck at 2007 14th St., N.W. in one of the cityās bustling nightlife areas.
A statement released by co-owners Stephen Rutgers and Mark Rutstein earlier this year says the new bar will provide an atmosphere that blends ānostalgia with contemporary nightlifeā in a building that was home to a popular music store and radio supply shop.
Rutgers said the opening comes one day after Crush received final approval of its liquor license that was transferred from the Owl Room, a bar that operated in the same building before closing Dec. 31 of last year. The official opening also comes three days after Crush hosted a pre-opening reception for family, friends, and community members on Tuesday, April 16.
Among those attending, Rutgers said, were officials with several prominent local LGBTQ organizations, including officials with the DC Center for the LGBTQ Community, which is located across the street from Crush in the cityās Reeves Center municipal building. Also attending were Japer Bowles, director of the Mayorās Office of LGBTQ Affairs, and Salah Czapary, director of the Mayorās Office of Nightlife and Culture.
Rutgers said Crush plans to hold a grand opening event in a few weeks after he, Rutstein and the barās employees become settled into their newly opened operations.
āStep into a venue where inclusivity isnāt just a promise but a vibrant reality,ā a statement posted on the Crush website says. āImagine an all-inclusive entertainment haven where diversity isnāt just celebrated, itās embraced as the very heartbeat of our venue,ā the statement says. āWelcome to a place where love knows no bounds, and the only color or preference that matters is the vibrant tapestry of humanity itself. Welcome to Crush.ā
The website says Crush will be open Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m., Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., Fridays from 4 p.m. to 3 a.m., Saturdays from 2 p.m. to 3 a.m., and Sundays from 2 p.m. to 12 a.m. It will be closed on Mondays.
Crush is located less than two blocks from the U Street Metro station.
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