Local
Norton: Something ‘important happened’ during 2012 election
D.C. congressional delegate spoke during post-election panel at U.S. Capitol Visitor Center
D.C. Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton speaks at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center on Nov. 15. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) on Thursday suggested the results of the 2012 elections could prove “a turning point” in American history.
“I’m not sure what we will call it when we look back at history, but it’s certainly clear that something important happened in the election of 2012,” she said during a panel at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center that featured faith leaders and LGBT rights advocates from across the country. “The numbers tell some of it. Now there are 10 states including the District of Columbia who permit marriage equality among all people. No longer can the opponents say marriage has never won when put to the American people because three states answered yes — Maine, Maryland and Washington.”
Norton noted 46 percent of black Marylanders voted for their state’s same-sex marriage law on Election Day. Question 6 passed by a 57-43 percent margin in predominantly black Baltimore City. It lost by slightly more than 4,300 votes in Prince George’s County.
“The fact that it was that close when some believed in Maryland it would be much further apart than 46 to 54 [percent] means African Americans are beginning to see the clear analogies between themselves and the LBGT community,” said Norton.
Norton, who on Nov. 6 easily won re-election after defeating Libertarian Bruce Majors and Natale Lino Stracuzzi of the D.C. Statehood/Green Party, further applauded Minnesota voters who struck down a proposed state constitutional amendment that would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman. She also applauded the White House for no longer defending the Defense of Marriage Act, lifting the ban on people with HIV/AIDS from entering the country and supporting other LGBT-specific measures and policies.
Norton further praised both President Obama and Vice President Biden for publicly supporting nuptials for gays and lesbians.
“The president said he evolved; that needs to be respected.” said Norton. “He thought, he probably prayed and he reached his own conclusions. And when the president evolved, you can imagine that there will be a lot of other people thinking whether they should evolve too.”
Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings, whose parents were Pentecostal ministers, told the Washington Blade last month he identified with Obama’s evolution on marriage rights for same-sex couples. He said during a second interview outside a Baltimore polling place on Election Day that Biden’s comments on how he would not “subject other people to his feelings” on abortion during last month’s vice presidential debate against Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan factored into his decision to back Question 6 and marriage rights for same-sex couples.
As for the GOP, Norton said nuptials for gays and lesbians is “not an issue” for young Republicans.
“Some of the Republicans appear to be in a reflective — some may even call it a self-pitiful — mood when they saw the new majority of Americans turn from their party in the 2012 elections,” she said. “They will have to think how to reconcile the very good and much needed advocacy of family values.”
Norton further highlighted 70 percent of black children are born to single women.
“We got a marriage problem — not a gay marriage problem,” she said. “There is work to be done on marriage, but I sure don’t see… the gay community as the place to begin at this point. It should not be difficult in my judgment for Republicans to reconcile marriage equality with Republican philosophy.”
Reverends Nancy Wilson of the Metropolitan Community Churches and Yvette Flunder of the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries in San Leandro, Calif., Rev. Dennis Wiley of Covenant Baptist United Church of Christ in Southwest Washington and Sharon Lettman-Hicks, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, were among those who also sat on the panel.
Virginia
DOJ seeks to join lawsuit against Loudoun County over trans student in locker room
Three male high school students suspended after complaining about classmate
The Justice Department has asked to join a federal lawsuit against Loudoun County Public Schools over the way it handled the case of three male high school students who complained about a transgender student in a boys’ locker room.
The Washington Blade earlier this year reported Loudoun County public schools suspended the three boys and launched a Title IX investigation into whether they sexually harassed the student after they said they felt uncomfortable with their classmate in the locker room at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn.
The parents of two of the boys filed a lawsuit against Loudoun County public schools in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria. The Richmond-based Founding Freedoms Law Center and America First Legal, which White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller co-founded, represent them.
The Justice Department in a Dec. 8 press release announced that “it filed legal action against the Loudoun County (Va.) School Board (Loudoun County) for its denial of equal protection based on religion.”
“The suit alleges that Loudoun County applied Policy 8040, which requires students and faculty to accept and promote gender ideology, to two Christian, male students in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” reads the press release.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in the press release said “students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate.”
“Loudoun County’s decision to advance and promote gender ideology tramples on the rights of religious students who cannot embrace ideas that deny biological reality,” said Dhillon.
Outgoing Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and outgoing Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares in May announced an investigation into the case.
The Virginia Department of Education in 2023 announced the new guidelines for trans and nonbinary students for which Youngkin asked. Equality Virginia and other advocacy groups claim they, among other things, forcibly out trans and nonbinary students.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in February launched an investigation into whether Loudoun County and four other Northern Virginia school districts’ policies in support of trans and nonbinary students violate Title IX and President Donald Trump’s executive order that prohibits federally funded educational institutions from promoting “gender ideology.”
District of Columbia
Capital Pride announces change in date for 2026 D.C. Pride parade and festival
Events related to U.S. 250th anniversary and Trump birthday cited as reasons for change
The Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C. based group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, has announced it is changing the dates for the 2026 Capital Pride Parade and Festival from the second weekend in June to the third weekend.
“For over a decade, Capital Pride has taken place during the second weekend in June, but in 2026, we are shifting our dates in response to the city’s capacity due to major events and preparations for the 250th anniversary of the United States,” according to a Dec. 9 statement released by Capital Pride Alliance.
The statement says the parade will take place on Saturday, June 20, 2026, with the festival and related concert taking place on June 21.
“This change ensures our community can gather safely and without unnecessary barriers,” the statement says. “By moving the celebration, we are protecting our space and preserving Pride as a powerful act of visibility, solidarity, and resistance,” it says.
Ryan Bos, the Capital Pride Alliance CEO and President, told the Washington Blade the change in dates came after the group conferred with D.C. government officials regarding plans for a number of events in the city on the second weekend in June. Among them, he noted, is a planned White House celebration of President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday and other events related to the U.S. 250th anniversary, which are expected to take place from early June through Independence Day on July 4.
The White House has announced plans for a large June 14, 2026 celebration on the White House south lawn of Trump’s 80th birthday that will include a large-scale Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event involving boxing and wrestling competition.
Bos said the Capital Pride Parade will take place along the same route it has in the past number of years, starting at 14th and T Streets, N.W. and traveling along 14th Street to Pennsylvania Ave., where it will end. He said the festival set for the following day will also take place at its usual location on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., between 2nd Street near the U.S. Capitol, to around 7th Street, N.W.
“Our Pride events thrive because of the passion and support of the community,” Capital Pride Board Chair Anna Jinkerson said in the statement. “In 2026, your involvement is more important than ever,” she said.
District of Columbia
Three women elected leaders of Capital Pride Alliance board
Restructured body includes chair rather than president as top leader
The Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C.-based group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, announced it has restructured its board of directors and elected for the first time three women to serve as leaders of the board’s Executive Committee.
“Congratulations to our newly elected Executive Officers, making history as Capital Pride Alliance’s first all-women Board leadership,” the group said in a statement.
“As we head into 2026 with a bold new leadership structure, we’re proud to welcome Anna Jinkerson as Board Chair, Kim Baker as Board Treasurer, and Taylor Lianne Chandler as Board Secretary,” the statement says.
In a separate statement released on Nov. 20, Capital Pride Alliance says the restructured Board now includes the top leadership posts of Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary, replacing the previous structure of President and Vice President as the top board leaders.
It says an additional update to the leadership structure includes a change in title for longtime Capital Pride official Ryan Bos from executive director to chief executive officer and president.
According to the statement, June Crenshaw, who served as acting deputy director during the time the group organized WorldPride 2025 in D.C., will now continue in that role as permanent deputy director.
The statement provides background information on the three newly elected women Board leaders.
• Anna Jinkerson (chair), who joined the Capital Pride Alliance board in 2022, previously served as the group’s vice president for operations and acting president. “A seasoned non-profit executive, she currently serves as Assistant to the President and CEO and Chief of Staff at Living Cities, a national member collaborative of leading philanthropic foundations and financial institutions committed to closing income and wealth gaps in the United States and building an economy that works for everyone.”
• Kim Baker (treasurer) is a “biracial Filipino American and queer leader,” a “retired, disabled U.S. Army veteran with more than 20 years of service and extensive experience in finance, security, and risk management.” She has served on the Capital Pride Board since 2018, “bringing a proven track record of steady, principled leadership and unwavering dedication to the LGBTQ+ community.”
• Taylor Lianne Chandler (Secretary) is a former sign language interpreter and crisis management consultant. She “takes office as the first intersex and trans-identifying member of the Executive Committee.” She joined the Capital Pride Board in 2019 and previously served as executive producer from 2016 to 2018.
Bos told the Washington Blade in a Dec. 2 interview that the Capital Pride board currently has 12 members, and is in the process of interviewing additional potential board members.
“In January we will be announcing in another likely press release the full board,” Bos said. “We are finishing the interview process of new board members this month,” he said. “And they will take office to join the board in January.”
Bos said the organization’s rules set a cap of 25 total board members, but the board, which elects its members, has not yet decided how many additional members it will select and a full 25-member board is not required.
The Nov. 20 Capital Pride statement says the new board executive members will succeed the organization’s previous leadership team, which included Ashley Smith, who served as president for eight years before he resigned earlier this year; Anthony Musa, who served for seven years as vice president of board engagement; Natalie Thompson, who served eight years on the executive committee; and Vince Micone, who served for eight years as vice president of operations.
“I am grateful for the leadership, dedication, and commitment shown by our former executive officers — Ashley, Natalie, Anthony, and Vince — who have been instrumental in CPA’s growth and the exceptional success of WorldPride 2025,” Bos said in the statement.
“I look forward to collaborating with Anna in her new role, as well as Kim and Taylor in theirs, as we take on the important work ahead, prepare for Capital Pride 2026, and expand our platform and voice through Pride365,” Bos said.
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