Local
P.G. County paid $3.4 million to anti-gay religious group
School system rented building from Bishop Harry Jackson, who fought marriage in D.C., Md.
Bishop Harry Jackson (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
A Beltsville, Md.-based religious organization headed by Bishop Harry Jackson, who led campaigns to oppose same-sex marriage laws in D.C. and Maryland, received more than $3.4 million in rental income over a five-year period from the Prince George’s County Public Schools.
Under terms established in two leases, the P.G. County Public Schools rented 35,000 square feet of office space from September 2007 to August 2012 in an office building at 6251 Ammendale Road in Beltsville. The Blade obtained copies of the leases through a Maryland Public Information Act request.
P.G. County land records show that the building is owned by Christian Hope Ministries, Inc., for which Jackson serves as president. The building is also home to Hope Christian Church, where Jackson serves as pastor.
Briant Coleman, a spokesperson for P.G. County Public Schools, said the decision to rent office space at the Ammendale Road building was made by the school system’s former superintendent, John Deasy, who currently serves as superintendent of the Los Angeles Public School System.
Coleman said neither he nor the P.G. schools’ current superintendent, Alvin Crawley, know why Deasy selected the office building owned by Christian Hope Ministries other than that the building and rental agreement met the school system’s criteria for doing business with a vendor.
“Based on the best and final offer, we would make a determination as to whether or not a vendor can provide services we need and whether or not it was the most reasonable price available,” Coleman said.
Deasy, who left the P.G. Public Schools in 2008, didn’t immediately respond to a call and email sent to his Los Angeles office.
Jackson also didn’t return a call or respond to an email seeking comment this week.
Jackson and Deasy each signed the two leases. Also signing them was Gary W. Michael, who at the time was president of NAI Michael Companies, a property management and lease brokerage firm that Jackson retained to find a tenant for the section of the building that the church doesn’t use.
Michael, reached Monday at his office in Lanham, Md., said he recalls that the school system responded to a public listing his company issued announcing the availability of the office space for rent.
“I don’t have to support someone in every aspect for me to do business with them,” Michael said when asked if he knew of Jackson’s efforts to defeat marriage equality laws.
According to Michael, Christian Hope Ministries has a mortgage on the building. Land records show the organization paid $8.55 million for the building in February 2005.
“With their expenses and paying the mortgage there may not be a whole lot left over,” he said referring to the rental income.
One of the leases was for 30,000 square feet of office space on the second floor of the two-story building. The other was for 5,000 square feet of office space located on the building’s first floor.
The base rent was the same in both leases – $18.20 per square foot for the first year, with an annual increase of 3.5 percent. The 30,000-square-foot lease began in 2007 with a monthly rent of $45,500, with $546,000 to be paid the first year. In the fifth year, the school system was to pay $626,400 for the 30,000-square-foot space and $104,425 for the 5,000-square-foot lease if the school system remained in the building for the full fifth year.
In addition to what the leases described as the “base” rent, the leases called for the school system to pay 100 percent of the building’s property taxes, 41 percent of the building’s maintenance expenses, 48 percent of “all bills” for electricity, gas and water used on the premises along with sewer charges, and 41 percent of the total premium for fire and extended coverage insurance.
The leases also call for Christian Hope Ministries to pay a 6 percent leasing commission to NAI The Michael Companies on “all gross rent paid by tenant” during the full term of the leases and any renewals or extensions of the leases. The Michael Companies, among other things, were to collect the rent from the P.G. County Public Schools and disburse it to Jackson’s group after deducting the commission, according to the terms of leases.
An online listing shows that Jackson is currently looking for a new tenant in the building.
Peter Montgomery, an official with People for the American Way, an LGBT supportive group that monitors religious right organizations that oppose LGBT rights, including Jackson’s organizations, said he was unaware that the P.G. County Public Schools rented space in Jackson’s building.
“I don’t think there is anything wrong with a church generating income from a business enterprise,” Montgomery said.
“There would be a problem if the county rented that space as a favor to Jackson,” he said.
Guidestar.com is an organization that monitors charities and provides access to IRS 990 reports that most charitable organizations with a tax exemption are required to file each year. According to Guidestar, Christian Hope Ministries is registered with the IRS as a church and is exempt from having to file a 990 reporting form.
“Revenue and expense data are not available for this organization,” Guidestar states on its website.
District of Columbia
Hands Off the Arts to form ‘human chain’ around Kennedy Center
Drag performer Tara Hoot among event organizers
An organization called Hands Off the Arts has announced it is holding a protest on Friday, Sept. 18, in which between 400 and 800 participants are expected to create a “human chain” around the Kennedy Center to voice their strong objection to President Donald Trump’s call for possibly demolishing the Kennedy Center.
“Hands Off the Arts is organizing a rally Sept. 18 against the president’s defacing of JFK’s memorial, his removal and censorship of art, and the threat to demolish the center if he can’t remake the site in his image,” a statement released by the group says.
The statement says the event will start with a rally at 6:30 p.m. on the Kennedy Center steps and culminate with a “human chain” around the building. “There will be musical performances, testimonials from current and former employees, along with other special guest speakers,” it says
A separate announcement by the group says longtime D.C. drag performer Tara Hoot, who has performed at the Kennedy Center in past years, was among the organizers of the Sept. 18 protest.
The planned protest follows Trump’s decision last year to use his authority to replace the existing members of the Kennedy Center’s board of directors with new members loyal to him. Over the objection of longtime Kennedy Center supporters, the Trump-appointed board changed the name of the center, at Trump’s request, from the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts to the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
But following the threat of legal action by opponents who pointed out that the name change could not be legally made unless approved by Congress, the name change was cancelled, with Trump saying he would take steps to restore it later.
The Washington Post, meanwhile, reports in a Sept. 13 news story that because of negative publicity related to Trump’s actions, the Kennedy Center was facing “fiscal collapse” and possible bankruptcy and could be forced to shut down as early as this week.
According to the Post report, a 57-page document presented to the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees says the center was facing a financial and structural building crisis, with the recent collapse of part of the building’s inside ceiling, indicating the building was unsafe for employees and the public. Among other things, the document says the Kennedy Center may not be able to make payroll or pay for routine maintenance “within a matter of weeks,” the Post reports.
Some LGBTQ advocates were among those who joined others in boycotting the Kennedy Center to express their objections to Trump’s actions, including a statement by Trump that he objected to the Kennedy Center’s practice of hosting drag performances.
The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington has been among the LGBTQ performing arts groups and artists that have performed at the Kennedy Center.
“With the future still very much uncertain, now more than ever, the Center needs you to stand up for freedom of expression and against authoritarian overreach into arts and culture institutions,” the Hands Off the Arts group says in its announcement of the Hands Around the Kennedy Center protest.
“You have the opportunity to make a difference — show up with Hands Off the Arts and show your power as part of Hands Around the Kennedy Center,” it says.
A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Baltimore
Transgender woman killed in Barclay community mourned by friends, advocates
Sophie Lee shot to death on Friday morning
By DARREONNA DAVIS | Denise Johnson imagined spending Sunday with her daughter, Sophie Lee, eating crabs at the park. Instead, she stood on a Barclay street corner Sunday evening surrounded by nearly 100 people who came to remember her daughter, a transgender woman who was fatally shot there Friday.
The 27-year-old woman was found in the 2400 block of North Calvert Street around 1:15 a.m. Friday, Baltimore Police said in a news release.
Lindsey Eldridge, a police department spokesperson, said it’s unclear if her identity had anything to do with her death and the investigation is ongoing.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
The Comings & Goings column also invites LGBTQ+ college students to share their successes with us. If you have been elected to a student government position, landed an exciting internship, or are graduating and beginning your career with a new job, let us know so we can share your success.
Congratulations to Jaime Christopher Pierce on their appointment to serve as a member of the Virginia Governor’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Board. Pierce was sworn in on Sept. 3 by Greg Parks, clerk of the Alexandria Circuit Court.
Pierce currently serves as vice chair of the Alexandria City LGBTQIA+ Task Force and as a member of the Alexandria Pride planning committee. They previously served on the board of directors of Equality Virginia.
Upon being sworn in, Pierce said, “Public service has been a central part of my life for more than 30 years, and this appointment gives me an opportunity to serve the Commonwealth in a different and very personal way. My career has allowed me to work with people and communities throughout Virginia, and I hope to bring that experience, along with my own lived experience and my involvement in the LGBTQ+ community, to the work of the Board.” They added, “Having Greg administer the oath makes the occasion even more meaningful because of his own historic role as Virginia’s first openly gay elected circuit court clerk.”
Pierce also serves as Circuit Court Services Manager for the Department of Judicial Services, at the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia. They began their career in Virginia’s judiciary in 1994 as a deputy clerk with the Virginia Beach Circuit Court and have since held several professional and leadership positions within the court system. Pierce is a member of the National Association for Court Management (NACM) and the Mid-Atlantic Association for Court Management. At the national level, Pierce participated in the workgroup that developed the National Association for Court Management’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Guide, a resource designed to help court professionals advance inclusive practices and strengthen access, fairness and belonging within the justice system.
Pierce earned a degree in Criminal Justice from Liberty University, and a certificate in Paralegal Studies from Norfolk State University.
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Comings & Goings
