Local
EXCLUSIVE: Mizeur eyeing run for Md. governor
Lesbian lawmaker says she would make ‘a good chief executive’
Heather (right) and Deborah Mizeur at their Takoma Park home. Heather is contemplating a run for governor. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Heather Mizeur, a lesbian member of the Maryland House of Delegates, said she’s seriously considering a run for governor in an exclusive interview with the Washington Blade this week.
“I’m taking a very serious look at it,” Mizeur said. “I can’t say for sure what 2014 is going to bring but … I know that I would make a good chief executive. I have good ideas for keeping Maryland moving forward.”
A run by Mizeur would mark another key milestone in the LGBT rights movement. If successful, she would be the first to win election as an openly gay candidate for governor in the country. Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey announced he is gay and then promptly resigned from office in 2004 after disclosing he’d had an extramarital affair with a male adviser.
Mizeur said she only recently began thinking of running and was inspired by the results of last week’s elections.
“Right now we’re taking stock of what happened in the last election,” she said. “It was incredible to see a big win with Tammy Baldwin being elected the first openly gay senator and Kyrsten Sinema making history in Congress. It really has inspired us to keep pushing forward. So, yes, I’m seriously considering running for governor because we need more diverse voices at that level of government.”
Mizeur, who turns 40 in December, is a Democrat who represents the 20th District, which includes Silver Spring, Takoma Park, White Oak and other areas in progressive Montgomery County. She was first elected to the legislature in 2006.
Marylanders will elect their next governor in November 2014. Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley is serving his second and final term. Several high-profile figures are expected to run for the office, including Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, Attorney General Douglas Gansler, Comptroller Peter Franchot and Howard County Executive Ken Ulman.
Mizeur’s potential competitors have a significant advantage when it comes to cash on hand. Gansler has more than $4 million in cash on hand as of an April report; Ulman had $1.3 million as of June; and Brown had $810,841 according to a January report. Records show Mizeur had about $216,000 in cash on hand, according to a January report.
“That’s one of the biggest things I’m weighing in deciding to get in the race,” she said regarding fundraising. “I only started thinking about this race recently and the other candidates planning to run have been planning to do this for a really long time so they have a head start in the money chase. I also spent 2012 raising money and working on winning Question 6, rather than raising money for myself.”
She added that she won’t get in the race unless she can be competitive financially. Mizeur would certainly tap a national network of donors from her seven years as a Democratic National Committee member and experience working on the Hill and on political campaigns. She worked for former presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry’s campaign and famously endorsed Barack Obama for president in 2008 after attracting national attention over whether she’d back him or rival Hillary Rodham Clinton. Additionally, a Mizeur candidacy would likely attract support from the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund given the opportunity for a barrier-breaking race and from EMILY’s List considering there is only one Democratic female governor currently in office in the country. The Victory Fund endorsed her in 2006 and 2010 but said it is premature to discuss another endorsement at this time.
“At this point, our work to grow the number of out elected officials in America involves a lot of firsts, a lot of milestones,” said Victory Fund President and CEO Chuck Wolfe, when asked about a potential Mizeur run for governor. “One of those would obviously be helping to elect an out candidate as a governor, which has never happened. With more than 100 openly LGBT state legislators now in office, and the most-ever out members of Congress preparing to be sworn in, that day may come sooner than many imagine.”
When asked whether he had any thoughts about Mizeur’s potential gubernatorial campaign, O’Malley told the Blade on Tuesday, “Not really, I’m supporting Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown wholeheartedly for governor of Maryland.”
If she runs and wins, Heather Mizeur would be the first openly gay person to win a governor’s race in the country. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Mizeur declined to say when she expects to make a final decision on the race, noting that right now she’s dedicated to preparing for the upcoming legislative session in Annapolis. But to be competitive, she would likely need to make a final decision by early spring, just after the session ends.
“We have a robust slate of issues to address next year, including fracking, paid sick days for employees and job creation efforts,” she said.
Given the expected competition from a sitting lieutenant governor backed by the popular O’Malley — not to mention Gansler, who has long been vocal about his support for marriage equality — what makes Mizeur think she can compete?
“I’m out giving speeches and working with people across the state and they’re encouraging me to get in this race,” she said. “They’re telling me we need your passion and message — I’m not the candidate that’s just next in line or seeking a professional promotion; I’m out there expressing what I believe and trying to rally communities around those ideas and common purpose. And that’s where this came from — from the ground up.”
Some have speculated that Mizeur is positioning herself for lieutenant governor, a rumor that she dismissed with a curt, “I’m usually not a plan B person.”
Mizeur said Maryland’s next governor must focus on jobs and the economy. In a high-profile split with O’Malley earlier this year, she came out against ballot Question 7, which ultimately passed and allows for an additional casino to be built and for table games at existing casinos in the state.
“I spent a lot of time speaking against gaming as a failed form of economic development for the state and instead talked about a range of ideas for job creation — rebuilding schools, transportation is at a crisis point in the state … workforce development.” She said that construction of the Purple Line in the D.C. suburbs would create 27,000 jobs while Baltimore’s proposed Red Line would create another 15,000. She also noted that the state’s health care needs should bring another 120,000 related jobs over 10 years to the state. She has long worked on health-related issues and looks forward to playing a role in implementing the federal health care reform law.
Mizeur married her spouse, Deborah Mizeur, in 2005 at a ceremony along the Chesapeake Bay.
“We married in front of family and friends and God; we just didn’t get any rights associated with it,” she said. “Seven years later, here we are.”
The couple traveled to California and were married just before voters there enacted Proposition 8 in 2008, which ended same-sex marriage, though couples already wed remained legally married. She said they won’t have another ceremony now that Maryland has approved marriage equality, because their California marriage is now fully recognized here. The two live in Takoma Park with a dog, Chester, and two cats and own a consulting business, the Mizeur Group, which does federal policy analysis work. They also own an organic herb farm in Chestertown, Md.
She and Deborah spent election night at a Baltimore celebration along with O’Malley and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
“Deb and I were all smiles — we hugged and embraced and said this is what a happy legally married couple looks like,” she said, upon hearing that Question 6 passed. “It’s still hard to put into words. You never want to have your civil rights put to a majority vote but it was incredibly fulfilling knowing that Marylanders across the state … stood up to do the right thing.”
The battle over Question 6 was a contentious one with a diverse coalition of in-state and out-of-state groups claiming a piece of the credit for its passage, sometimes leading to heated accusations. One advocate, who spoke on condition of anonymity, accused Freedom to Marry’s Evan Wolfson of telling a “big fat lie” when touting his organization’s contributions to the fight. Josh Levin, campaign manager of Marylanders for Marriage Equality, said that although Mizeur was helpful, she could have done more.
“Del. Mizeur helped raise some money for the campaign, but wasn’t closely involved,” Levin said. “She helped with a few events, but others did far more and her attention was clearly more focused on other priorities, including a potential statewide run.”
Mizeur disputes that characterization, noting her participation in fundraising events, testifying on behalf of the bill and delivering an emotional floor speech prior to the vote. Mizeur said she and the other seven openly gay and lesbian members of the state legislature devoted much of 2012 to the marriage cause.
“Each of us was working hard in our own way,” she said. “My entire public schedule was Question 6-related for months.”
With that fight over, she said the next job for the state’s LGBT advocates is to push for non-discrimination protections based on gender identity and to work on causes important to those who joined the coalition for marriage equality.
“It’s important for our community to be seen as coming together to work on issues that are outside LGBT priorities,” she said. “We only won Question 6 because we had an amazing coalition that crossed party lines, age, race. We can’t just be seen as fighting for this form of equality and turning a blind eye to other causes.” She cited hunger, school achievement gaps, living wage and reforming the criminal justice system as priorities.
Mizeur talks openly about her Catholic faith but said she did not encounter any anti-gay sermons over the marriage issue this year because she goes to parishes run by Jesuits who are more progressive. Despite the Catholic Church’s prominent role in funding anti-gay causes around the country, Mizeur contends it’s important not to abandon the church.
“We have to fight for change from within,” she said. “If all progressive Catholics left, there’d be no reason to live up to the church’s potential.”
Mizeur was raised in a tiny farming community in rural Illinois called Blue Mound, population 1,100. She’s from a fifth generation farming family, but her father was a factory worker and UAW member his entire career. She spent time with him on picket lines, which helped inspire her pursuit of public service.
The experience of walking picket lines “taught me the value of sacrifice and hard work and standing up for the courage of your convictions,” she said. “Catholic teachings on social justice also inspired me.”
Michael K. Lavers contributed to this report.
Virginia
LGBTQ rights at forefront of 2026 legislative session in Va.
Repeal of state’s marriage amendment a top priority
With 2026 ramping up, LGBTQ rights are at the forefront of Virginia politics.
The repeal of Virginia’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman is a top legislative priority for activists and advocacy groups.
The Virginia Senate on Jan. 17 by a 26-13 vote margin approved outgoing state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria)’s resolution that would repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment. The Virginia House of Delegates earlier this month passed it.
Two successive legislatures must approve the resolution before it can go to the ballot.
The resolution passed in 2025. Voters are expected to consider repealing the amendment on Nov. 3.
The Virginia General Assembly opened with an introduction of a two-year budget — Virginia’s budget runs biannually.
In 2024 some funding was allocated to LGBTQ causes, and others were passed over. This year’s proposed budget leaves room for funding for a host of LGBTQ opportunities. One specific priority that Equality Virginia is promoting would ensure the state budget expands healthcare for LGBTQ individuals and extending gender affirming care.
Equality Virginia Communications Director Reed Williams told the Washington Blade the organization is also focused on passing three main budget amendments, and ensuring “LGBTQ+ students and their teachers have resources to navigate and address mental health challenges in K-12 schools.”
Along with ensuring school training, the organization wants funding in hopes of “establishing enhanced competency training for Virginia’s 988 Lifeline counselors and support staff to provide affirming care for LGBTQ+ youth.” This comes after the Trump-Vance administration shut down the specific hotline for LGBTQ young people that callers could previously reach if they called 988.
On a federal level, protections and health care access for LGBTQ people has taken a hit, as the Trump-Vance administration has continued to issue executive orders affecting the health care system. LGBTQ people no longer have federal legal health care protections, so local and state politics has become even more important for LGBTQ rights groups.
Equality Virginia has urged its supporters to call their local senators and stress the importance of voting to expand health care protections for LGBTQ people. The organization also plans to hold information sessions and a lobby day on Feb. 2.
Equality Virginia is tracking bills on its website.
District of Columbia
Faith programming remains key part of Creating Change Conference
‘Faith work is not an easy pill to swallow in LGBTQ spaces’
The National LGBTQ Task Force kicked off the 38th annual Creating Change conference in D.C. this week. This year, as with years past, faith and interfaith programming remains a key part of the conference’s mission and practice.
For some, the presence of faith work at an LGBTQ+ conference may seem antithetical, and Creating Change does not deny the history of harm caused by religious institutions. “We have to be clear that faith work is not an easy pill to swallow in LGBTQ spaces, and they’re no qualms about saying that we acknowledge the pain, trauma, and violence that’s been purported in the name of religion,” Tahil Sharma, Faith Work Director for the National LGBTQ Task Force, said.
In fact, several panels at the conference openly discuss acknowledging, healing from, and resisting religious harm as well as religious nationalism, including one scheduled today titled “Defending Democracy Through Religious Activism: A panel of experts on effective strategies for faith and multi-faith organizing” that features local queer faith activists like Ebony C. Peace, Rob Keithan, and Eric Eldritch who are also involved in the annual DC Pride Interfaith Service.
Another session will hold space for survivors of religious violence, creating “a drop-in space for loving on each other in healing ways, held by Rev. Alba Onofrio and Teo Drake.”
But Sharma and others who organized the Creating Change Conference explained that “a state of antipathy” towards religious communities, especially those that align with queer liberation and solidarity, is counterproductive and denies the rich history of queer religious activism. “It’s time for us to make a call for an approach to LGBTQ+ liberation that uses interfaith literacy as a tool rather than as a weapon against us,” Sharma explained.
Recognizing a local queer faith icon
Along with the panels, fighting religious nationalism and fostering communion with aligned faith activists and communities is at heart of this year’s faith work. As Sharma shared, “the person that we’re honoring this year for the faith award is Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, and Dr. Betancourt is an amazing leader and someone who really stands out in representing UUs but also representing herself unapologetically.”
Based in the Washington, D.C. area, Dr. Betancourt has more than 20 years of experience working as a public minister, seminary professor, scholar, and environment ethicist, and public theologian. Her activism is rooted in her lived identities as a queer, multiracial, AfroLatine first-generation daughter of immigrants from Chile and Panama, and has been a critical voice in advancing the United Universalism towards anti-racist and pluralistic faith work.
Creating a faith-based gathering space
Sharma also said that faith fosters a unique space and practice to encounter grief and joy. For this reason, Sharma wants to “create a space for folks to engage in curiosity, to engage in spiritual fulfillment and grounding but also I think with the times that we’re in to lean into some space to mourn, some space to find hope.” The Many Paths Gathering Space serves this purpose, where visitors can stop for spiritual practice, speak with a Spiritual Care Team member, or just take a sensory break from the bustle of the conference.
This also means uplifting and foregrounding queer religious ephemera with an ofrenda to honor those who have passed, a display of nonbinary Korean American photographer Salgu Wissmath’s exhibition Divine Identity, and the Shower of Stoles, a collection of about 1,500 liturgical stoles and other sacred regalia representing the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people of faith.
The Shower of Stoles
The collection was first started in 1995 by Martha Juillerat and Tammy Lindahl who received eighty stoles that accompanied them and lent them solace as they set aside their ordinations from the Presbyterian Church. The whole collection was first displayed at the 1996 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in New Mexico. The stoles, according to the Task Force, “quickly became a powerful symbol of the huge loss to the church of gifted leadership.”
Each stole represents the story of a queer person who is active in the life and leadership of their faith community, often sent in by the people themselves but sometimes by a loved one in their honor. About one third of all the stoles are donated anonymously, and over three-quarters of the stoles donated by clergy and full-time church professionals are contributed anonymously.
The collection shows “not just the deep harm that has been caused that does not allow people to meet their vocation when they’re faith leaders, but it also speaks to how there have been queer and trans people in our [faith] communities since the beginning of our traditions, and they continue to serve in forms of leadership,” Sharma explained.
Explicit interfaith work
Along with creating a sacred space for attendees, hosting workshops focused on faith-based action, and recognizing DC’s rich queer religious history, Creating Change is also hosting explicitly faith services, like a Buddhist Meditation, Catholic Mass, Shabbat service, Jummah Prayer Service, and an ecumenical Christian service on Sunday. Creating Change is also welcoming events at the heart of queer religious affirmation, including a Name/Gender/Pronoun/Identity Blessing Ritual and a reading and discussion around queer bibles stories with Rev. Sex (aka Rev. Alba Onofrio).
But along with specific faith-based programs, Sharma explained, “we’re looking to build on something that I helped to introduce, which was the separation of the interfaith ceremony that’s happening this year which is a vigil versus the ecumenical Christian service which is now the only thing that takes place on Sunday morning.”
This includes an Interfaith Empowerment Service this evening and an Interfaith Institute tomorrow, along with “Sing In the Revolution,” an event where folks are invited “to actually engage in the joy and rhythm of resolution and what that looks like,” Sharma said. One of the key activators behind this work is Rev. Eric Eldritch, an ordained Pagan clergy person with Circle Sanctuary and a member of the Pride Interfaith Service planning committee.
Affirming that queer faith work is part of liberation
The goal for this year, Sharma noted, alongside holding space and discussions about faith-based practice and liberation and intentional interfaith work–is to move from thinking about why faith matters in queer liberation spaces to “how is interfaith work the tool for how we’re engaging in our understanding of de-escalation work, digital strategies, navigating a deeper visioning that we need for a better world that requires us to think that we’re not alone in the struggle for mutual abundance and liberation,” Sharma explained.
It may surprise people to learn that faith work has intentionally been part of the National LGBTQ+ Task Force since its beginning in the 1980s. “We can really credit that to some of the former leadership like Urvashi Vaid who actually had a sense of understanding of what role faith plays in the work of liberation and justice,” Sharma said.
“For being someone who wasn’t necessarily religious, she certainly did have a clear understanding of the relationship between those folks who are allies, those folks who stand against us, and then those folks who sit in between–those folks who profess to be of religious and spiritual background and also are unapologetically LGBTQ+,” he continued.
This year’s faith programming builds on this rich history, thinking about “a way to kind of open doors, to not just invite people in but our people to go out into the general scene of the conference” to share how faith-based work is a tool, rather than a hindrance, to queer liberation work.
Virginia
McPike prevails in ‘firehouse’ Dem primary for Va. House of Delegates
Gay Alexandria Council member expected to win 5th District seat
Gay Alexandria City Council member Kirk McPike emerged as the clearcut winner in a hastily called Jan. 20 “firehouse” Democratic primary for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Alexandria.
McPike, who was one of two gay candidates running in the four-candidate primary, received 1,279 votes or 60.5 percent, far ahead of gay public school teacher Gregory Darrall, a political newcomer who received 60 votes or 3 percent.
Former Alexandria City School Board member Eileen Cassidy Rivera came in second place with 508 votes or 24 percent and Northern Virginia criminal law defense attorney Chris Leibig finished in third place with 265 votes or 12.5 percent.
Each of the candidates expressed strong support for LGBTQ-related issues.
With less than a week’s notice, Democratic Party officials in Alexandria called the primary to select a Democratic nominee to run in the Feb. 10 special election to fill the 5th District House of Delegates seat being vacated by state Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria).
Bennett-Parker won the Democratic nomination for the Virginia State Senate seat being vacated by gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria), who is resigning from his seat to take a position in the administration of Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who took office on Jan. 17.
Bennett-Parker won the nomination for Ebbin’s state Senate seat in yet another firehouse primary on Jan. 13 in which she defeated three other candidates, including gay former state Del. Mark Levine.
McPike, a longtime LGBTQ rights advocate, first won election to the Alexandria City Council in 2021. He has served for 13 years as chief of staff for gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and has remained in that position during his tenure on the Alexandria Council. He told the Washington Blade he will continue as chief of staff until next month, when he will resign from that position before taking office in the House of Delegates.
He received the endorsement of Ebbin, U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), and the LGBTQ Victory Fund in his race for the 5th District Va. House seat. Being an overwhelmingly Democratic district, virtually all political observers expect McPike to win the Feb. 10 special election.
He will be running against Republican nominee Mason Butler, a local business executive who emerged as the only GOP candidate running for the delegate seat.
“Thank you to the voters of Alexandria for choosing me as the Democratic nominee in the House of Delegates District 5,” McPike said in a statement released shortly after the vote count was completed. “It is an incredible honor to have the opportunity to fight for our community and its values in Richmond,” he said.
“I look forward to continuing to work to address our housing crisis, the challenge of climate change, and the damaging impacts of the Trump administration on the immigrant families, LGBTQ+ Virginians, and federal employees who call Alexandria home,” he stated.
He praised Ebbin for his longstanding support for the LGBTQ community in the Virginia Legislature and added, “If elected to the House of Delegates in the Feb. 10 general election, I will continue to fight to protect the rights and freedoms of LGBTQ+ Virginians from my new position in Richmond.”
Gay candidate Darrall’s campaign website said he is a “proud progressive, lifelong educator, and labor leader running to put people first.” It says he is a political newcomer “with more than 20 years in the classroom” as a teacher who played a key role in the successful unionization of Fairfax Public Schools.
“He is a proud member and staunch supporter of the LGBTQIA+ community,” his website statement said.
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