Local
Activists protest ‘Kill the Gays’ bill outside Ugandan embassy
Ugandan lawmakers are expected to potentially vote on the measure before Dec. 14
Protesters gather outside the Ugandan embassy in Northwest D.C. on Saturday to protest the country’s “Kill the Gays” bill. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
More than a dozen people gathered outside the Ugandan embassy in Northwest D.C. on Saturday to protest the African country’s so-called “Kill the Gays” bill that would impose the death penalty upon anyone convicted of repeated same-sex sexual acts.
Members of the Maryland Light Brigade, which placed illuminated signs in support of last month’s referendum that upheld the state’s same-sex marriage law on interstate overpasses, organized the protest. They held lighted black panels along the sidewalk in front of the 16th Street, N.W., compound that read “Reject Ugandan Homophobia.”
Several motorists honked their horns in support of the protesters as they drove past the embassy.
“Those lawmakers are better than what they’re doing,” D.C. resident Moses Shaba, who is originally from Uganda, told the Washington Blade. “They are absolutely better than what they’re doing. I am so surprised to see that they are going on with this bill and the kind of articles and provisions that are in that bill because in the long run when this bill if it’s passed they will see their friends, their kids, their daughters, their brothers all going to jail. That’s how bad it is.”
Shaba and other protesters also sought to highlight the role they feel Scott Lively and other American evangelicals have played in exploiting homophobic attitudes in the East African country before Parliamentarian David Bahati introduced the bill in 2009. Sexual Minorities Uganda, an LGBT advocacy group, accused Lively of violating international law when he allegedly conspired with the country’s political and religious leaders to further promote these sentiments in a lawsuit it filed in a Massachusetts federal court in March.
“Normally I might say that I wouldn’t push my way into a foreign country’s internal affairs, but one of the big problems here is there’s a lot of American support for this bill,” Charles Butler said. He specifically referred to the Foundation, the group also known as the Family that organizes the annual National Prayer Breakfast, as one organization to which Bahati and other anti-gay Ugandan lawmakers and religious leaders have ties. “I just feel that it’s our responsibility to fight the Americans who are trying to export homophobia to Africa.”
Advocates expect Ugandan parliamentarians could potentially vote on the “Kill the Gays” bill before the legislative session ends on Dec. 14. The Associated Press and other media outlets have reported Bahati has removed the death penalty provision from his measure, but activists and even the U.S. State Department officials have questioned these reports.
Both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have spoken out against the Anti-Homosexuality Bill — they also condemned Ugandan LGBT activist David Kato’s 2011 murder. Clinton also honored SMUG Executive Director Frank Mugisha and other Ugandan human rights advocates at the U.S. Embassy in Kampala, the country’s capital, in August.
The White House and British Prime Minister David Cameron have also suggested the allocation of international aid should hinge upon a country’s record on LGBT rights.
Back in D.C., Maryland resident Deb Friedman described the “Kill the Gays” bill as “a horrific policy.”
“It’s taking the whole human community a step backwards,” she told the Blade. “I happen to be a lesbian. Even if I wasn’t I would consider it worth of protesting. Whether or not it’s going to do any good in terms of the government of Uganda and who they listen to, but I feel you have to stand out no matter what the outcome or the results are. You can’t just let it happen and not take a stand.”
Rockville resident Steve Brooks, who continues to advocate on behalf of LGBT activists in Zimbabwe in southern Africa, agreed.
“Our brothers and sisters in Africa are facing the prospect of losing their lives and their livelihoods so i’m out here to support them,” he said.
District of Columbia
Capital Stonewall Democrats elect new leaders
LGBTQ political group set to celebrate 50th anniversary
Longtime Democratic Party activists Stevie McCarty and Brad Howard won election last week as president and vice president for administration for the Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political organization.
In a Feb. 24 announcement, the group said McCarty and Howard, both of whom are elected DC Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, ran in a special Capital Stonewall Democrats election to fill the two leadership positions that became vacant when the officers they replaced resigned.
Outgoing President Howard Garrett, who McCarty has replaced, told the Washington Blade he resigned after taking on a new position as chair of the city’s Ward 1 Democratic Committee. The Capital Stonewall Democrats announcement didn’t say who Howard replaced as vice president for administration.
The group’s website shows its other officers include Elizabeth Mitchell as Vice President for Legislative and Political Affairs, and Monica Nemeth as Treasurer. The officer position of secretary is vacant, the website shows.
“As we look toward 2026, the stakes for D.C. and for LGBTQ+ communities have never been clearer,” the group’s statement announcing McCarty and Howard’s election says. “Our 50th anniversary celebration on March 20 and the launch of our D.C. LGBTQ+ Voter’s Guide mark the beginning of a major year for endorsements, organizing, and coalition building,” the statement says.
McCarty said among the organization’s major endeavors will be holding virtual endorsement forums where candidates running for D.C. mayor and the Council will appear and seek the group’s endorsement.
Founded in 1976 as the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the organization’s members voted in 2021 to change its name to Capital Stonewall Democrats. McCarty said the 50th anniversary celebration on March 20, in which D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and members of the D.C. Council are expected to attend, will be held at the PEPCO Gallery meeting center at 702 8th St., N.W.
Virginia
Va. activists preparing campaign in support of repealing marriage amendment
Referendum about ‘dignity and equal protection under the law’
Virginia voters in November will vote on whether to repeal their state’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Feb. 6 signed House Bill 612 into law. It facilitates a referendum for voters to approve the repeal of the 2006 Marshall-Newman Amendment. Although the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell ruling extended marriage rights to same-sex couples across the country in 2014, codifying marriage equality in Virginia’s constitution would protect it in the state in case the decision is overturned.
Maryland voters in 2012 approved Question 6, which upheld the state’s marriage equality law, by a 52-48 percent margin. Same-sex marriage became legal in Maryland on Jan. 1, 2013.
LGBTQ advocacy groups and organizations that oppose marriage equality mounted political campaigns ahead of the referendum.
Equality Virginia has been involved in advancing LGBTQ rights in Virginia since 1989.
Equality Virginia is working under its 501c3 designation in conjunction with Equality Virginia Advocates, which operates under a 501c4 designation, to plan campaigns in support of repealing the Marshall-Newman Amendment.
The two main campaigns on which Equality Virginia will be focused are education and voter mobilization. Reed Williams, the group’s director of digital engagement and narrative, spoke with the Washington Blade about Equality Virginia’s plans ahead of the referendum.
Williams said an organization for a “statewide public education campaign” is currently underway. Williams told the Blade its goal will be “to ensure voters understand what this amendment does and why updating Virginia’s constitution matters for families across the commonwealth.”
The organization is also working on a “robust media and voter mobilization campaign to identify and turn out voters” to repeal Marshall-Newman Amendment. Equality Virginia plans to work with the community members to guarantee voters are getting clear and accurate information regarding the meaning of this vote and its effect on the Virginia LGBTQ community.
“We believe Virginia voters are ready to bring our constitution in line with both the law and the values of fairness and freedom that define our commonwealth,” said Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman. “This referendum is about ensuring loving, committed couples and their families are treated with dignity and equal protection under the law.”
The Human Rights Campaign has also worked closely with Equality Virginia.
“It’s time to get rid of outdated, unconstitutional language and ensure that same sex couples are protected in Virginia,” HRC President Kelley Robinson told the Blade in a statement.
District of Columbia
D.C. police arrest man for burglary at gay bar Spark Social House
Suspect ID’d from images captured by Spark Social House security cameras
D.C. police on Feb. 18 arrested a 63-year-old man “of no fixed address” for allegedly stealing cash from the registers at the gay bar Spark Social House after unlawfully entering the bar at 2009 14th St., N.W., around 12:04 a.m. after it had closed for business, according to a police incident report.
“Later that day officers canvassing for the suspect located him nearby,” a separate police statement says. “63-year-old Tony Jones of no fixed address was arrested and charged with Burglary II,” the statement says.
The police incident report states that the bar’s owner, Nick Tsusaki, told police investigators that the bar’s security cameras captured the image of a man who has frequently visited the bar and was believed to be homeless.
“Once inside, the defendant was observed via the establishment’s security cameras opening the cash register, removing U.S. currency, and placing the currency into the left front pocket of his jacket,” the report says.
Tsusaki told the Washington Blade that he and Spark’s employees have allowed Jones to enter the bar many times since it opened last year to use the bathroom in a gesture of compassion knowing he was homeless. Tsusaki said he is not aware of Jones ever having purchased anything during his visits.
According to Tsusaki, Spark closed for business at around 10:30 p.m. on the night of the incident at which time an employee did not properly lock the front entrance door. He said no employees or customers were present when the security cameras show Jones entering Spark through the front door around 12:04 a.m.
Tsusaki said the security camera images show Jones had been inside Spark for about three hours on the night of the burglary and show him taking cash out of two cash registers. He took a total of $300, Tsusaki said.
When Tsusaki and Spark employees arrived at the bar later in the day and discovered the cash was missing from the registers they immediately called police, Tsusaki told the Blade. Knowing that Jones often hung out along the 2000 block of 14th Street where Spark is located, Tsusaki said he went outside to look for him and saw him across the street and pointed Jones out to police, who then placed him under arrest.
A police arrest affidavit filed in court states that at the time they arrested him police found the stolen cash inside the pocket of the jacket Jones was wearing. It says after taking him into police custody officers found a powdered substance in a Ziploc bag also in Jones’s possession that tested positive for cocaine, resulting in him being charged with cocaine possession in addition to the burglary charge.
D.C. Superior Court records show a judge ordered Jones held in preventive detention at a Feb. 19 presentment hearing. The judge then scheduled a preliminary hearing for the case on Feb. 20, the outcome of which couldn’t immediately be obtained.
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