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Anti-gay hate crime in Columbia Heights

Victim asked not to be identified

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Silent March, hate crimes, Columbia Heights, gay news, Washington Blade
Silent March for Victims of GLBT Violence, Columbia Heights, hate crimes, gay news, Washington Blade

Members of the community protest anti-gay hate crimes in Columbia Heights on Mar. 20, 2012. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

D.C. police have listed an Oct. 27 beating of a 23-year-old gay Latino man outside his apartment in Columbia Heights as a hate crime based on the victim’s sexual orientation and ethnicity.

The victim, who asked not to be identified, told the Blade four or five males appearing in their 20s shouted anti-gay and anti-Latino slurs at him before one of the men assaulted him and knocked him unconscious.

The incident occurred about 3 a.m. a short time after the victim noticed the men were following him as he was walking from a bus stop near 16th and Lamont Sts., N.W. to his residence on the 1400 block of Meridian Pl., N.W.

“It happened right outside my building,” he said.

He said he suffered broken teeth, a facial wound, and a concussion.

David Perez, president of the D.C.-based Latino LGBT History Project and a friend of the victim, told the Blade in an email message that he contacted the police Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit after learning that an initial police report didn’t list the attack as a hate crime.

Perez said the attackers called the victim a “fag” and a “spic” at the time of the incident.

The victim told the Blade he was concerned that officers taking the report at the scene of the beating didn’t ask for many details. However, he acknowledges that he isn’t certain whether he told the officers responding to his call for help that the attackers called him anti-gay and anti-Latino names.

“I was in pain and badly shaken up,” he said. He said he called for an ambulance to take him to the hospital after he talked to the officers.

He said that although the attackers took a messenger bag from him they made no attempt to rob him of his wallet and cell phone, which he was holding at the time of the attack. He said he learned later that the attackers discarded the bag in someone’s yard about a block from where the attack occurred and didn’t remove any items inside the bag, leading him to believe robbery wasn’t the motive for the attack.

Perez said in his email that GLLU Officer Joseph Morquecho, who interviewed the victim a few days after the attack, amended the police report by listing the incident as a bias crime.

Police, meanwhile, are looking for witnesses that may have seen the incident or who may know the identity of one or more of the men who participated in the attack. The victim described the attackers as black males appearing in their early to middle 20s. He said just one of the young men physically assaulted him and he would recognize that person if he were to see him again.

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Virginia

VIDEO: LGBTQ groups march in Va. inaugural parade

Abigail Spanberger took office on Saturday

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Diversity Richmond and the Virginia Pride project of Diversity Richmond march in the 2026 Inauguration Parade on the grounds of the state capitol in Richmond, Va. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The inaugural ceremonies for Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger were held in Richmond, Va. on Saturday. Among the groups marching in the parade were Diversity Richmond and the Virginia Pride project of Diversity Richmond.

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The LGBTQ contingent in the inaugural parade in Richmond, Va. pass by the review stand on Jan. 17, 2026. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
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Virginia

Va. Senate approves referendum to repeal marriage amendment

Outgoing state Sen. Adam Ebbin introduced SJ3

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(Bigstock photo)

The Virginia Senate on Friday by a 26-13 vote margin approved a resolution that seeks to repeal a state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

Outgoing state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) introduced SJ3. The Senate Privileges and Elections Committee on Wednesday approved it by a 10-4 vote margin.

Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Outgoing Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2024 signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.

A resolution that seeks to repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment passed in the General Assembly in 2021. The resolution passed again in 2025.

Two successive legislatures must approve the resolution before it can go to the ballot. Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates have said the resolution’s passage is among their 2026 legislative priorities.

“It’s time for Virginia’s Constitution to reflect the law of the land and the values of today,” said Ebbin after Friday’s vote. “This amendment, if approved by voters, would affirm the dignity of all committed couples and protects marriage equality for future generations.”

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Maryland

Layoffs and confusion at Pride Center of Maryland after federal grants cut, reinstated

Trump administration move panicked addiction and mental health programs

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Merrick Moses, a violence prevention coordinator, works at the Pride Center of Maryland in Baltimore. (Photo by Ulysses Muñoz for the Baltimore Banner)

By ALISSA ZHU | After learning it had abruptly lost $2 million in federal funding, the Pride Center of Maryland moved to lay off a dozen employees, or about a third of its workforce, the Baltimore nonprofit’s leader said Thursday.

The group is one of thousands nationwide that reportedly received letters late Tuesday from the Trump administration. Their mental health and addiction grants had been terminated, effective immediately, the letters said.

By Wednesday night, federal officials moved to reverse the funding cuts by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, estimated to total $2 billion, according to national media reports. But the Pride Center of Maryland’s CEO Cleo Manago said as of Thursday morning he had not heard anything from the federal government confirming those reports.

The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

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