Local
Va. activists remain wary of Cuccinelli administration
Attorney general will likely face former DNC Chair McAuliffe in 2013
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Virginia advocates remain concerned Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will thwart efforts to advance LGBT-specific issues in the commonwealth if he becomes the state’s next governor in 2013.
Equality Virginia Executive Director James Parrish noted in a Nov. 28 statement after Lieutenant Gov. Bill Bolling said he would not run to succeed Gov. Bob McDonnell that Cuccinelli in 2010 recommended Virginia colleges and universities remove LGBT-specific provisions from their non-discrimination policies. The Virginian-Pilot reported in Oct. 2009 that he described same-sex sexual acts as “wrong.” The newspaper reported Cuccinelli stressed homosexuality “represents — to put it politely, I need my thesaurus to be polite — behavior that is not healthy to an individual and in aggregate is not healthy to society.”
Cuccinelli was among those who spoke at an anti-gay marriage gathering at a Manassas church in October to which the Washington Blade was denied access.
“We are shocked to see Attorney General Cuccinelli enter this race as a choice for governor with his past statements and actions of bigotry toward the LGBT community,” said Parrish, who further criticized Cuccinelli for what he described as “bullying” the State Boards of Social Services and Juvenile Justice. “We hope to educate Virginians in the coming year so they can make an informed decision in this election.”
Terry McAuliffe (center) at an Equality Virginia fundraiser in Arlington, Va. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Cuccinelli is expected to face former Democratic National Committee Chair Terry McAuliffe once he officially receives his party’s nomination.
Neither men returned the Blade’s request for comment, but Cuccinelli spoke during a Virginia Republican Party “advance” that took place at the Homestead Resort last weekend.
“Virginia once again has an opportunity,” he said. “This is an opportunity to show the country that conservatism isn’t dead; that it’s not old or worn out and that it’s still alive and thriving.”
Gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) told the Blade he feels Virginians should expect a Cuccinelli administration to be as “ideologically focused as he is.” He also said he expects more of what he described as “Cuccinelli’s symbolic lawsuits and politically motivated investigations” against those who oppose him and his agenda.
“I find it very scary,” added Hampton Roads Pride Board member Michael Hamar, who cited a Dec. 3 ThinkProgress blog post that categorized Cuccinelli as Virginia’s equivalent to Missouri Congressman Todd Akin, who sparked outrage in August when he suggested to a St. Louis television reporter during his unsuccessful campaign to unseat U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) that women who suffer a “legitimate rape” rarely become pregnant. Hamar also criticized him for his positions on abortion and immigration
“He’s a religious fanatic,” he said. “To have someone who is that anti-gay running for [the] position of governor is frightening.”
State Sen. Donald McEachin (D-Henrico) echoed Ebbin and others who said Democrats and progressives should not underestimate Cuccinelli going into the 2013 gubernatorial campaign. He told the Blade on Tuesday he feels the current attorney general would try to thwart a bill he and Ebbin have co-sponsored that would bar discrimination against LGBT state employees if he becomes governor.
“I have no doubts he would attempt an appeal,” said McEachin. “Just as importantly, if we’re not able to pass it this year and we were able to pass it next year, if he were governor he would veto it. He is not receptive to bills of that nature that try to treat all Virginians fairly.”
Hamar further described Cuccinelli as the “Virginia version” of anti-gay former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum as he cited his opposition to non-discrimination statutes.
He noted the city of Norfolk last year banned anti-gay discrimination against its municipal employees. Hampton Mayor Molly Ward in October joined the handful of other Virginia mayors who signed onto Freedom to Marry’s “Mayors for the Freedom to Marry” campaign.
“Someone like Cuccinelli as governor will do all he can to thwart that kind of thing, certainly if he’s consistent with what he’s done with the universities,” said Hamar. “All of us are very concerned with him being the likely nominee.”
Virginia
McPike wins special election for Va. House of Delegates
Gay Alexandria City Council member becomes 8th LGBTQ member of legislature
Gay Alexandria City Council member Kirk McPike emerged as the decisive winner in a Feb. 10 special election for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Alexandria.
McPike, a Democrat, received 81.5 percent of the vote in his race against Republican Mason Butler, according to the local publication ALX Now.
He first won election to the Alexandria Council in 2021. He will be filling the House of Delegates seat being vacated by Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria), who won in another Feb. 10 special election for the Virginia State Senate seat being vacated by gay Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria).
Ebbin is resigning from his Senate this week to take a position with Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration.
Upon taking his 5th District seat in the House of Delegate, McPike will become the eighth out LGBTQ member of the Virginia General Assembly. Among those he will be joining is Sen. Danica Roem (D-Manassas), who became the Virginia Legislature’s first transgender member when she won election to the House of Delegates in 2017 before being elected to the Senate in 2023.
“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,” McPike said in a statement after winning the Democratic nomination for the seat in a special primary held on Jan. 20.
McPike, a longtime LGBTQ rights advocate, has served for the past 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 said he will resign from that position before taking office in the House of Delegates.
Local
Local LGBTQ groups, activists to commemorate Black History Month
Rayceen Pendarvis to moderate Dupont Underground panel on Sunday
LGBTQ groups in D.C. and elsewhere plan to use Black History Month as an opportunity to commemorate and celebrate Black lives and experiences.
Team Rayceen Productions has no specific events planned, but co-founder Rayceen Pendarvis will attend many functions around D.C. this month.
Pendarvis, a longtime voice in the LGBTQ community in D.C. moderated a panel at Dupont Underground on Feb. 8. The event, “Every (Body) Wants to Be a Showgirl,” will feature art from Black burlesque artists from around the country. Pendarvis on Feb. 23 will attend the showing of multimedia play at the Lincoln Theatre that commemorates the life of James Baldwin.
Equality Virginia plans to prioritize Black voices through a weekly online series, and community-based story telling. The online digital series will center Black LGBTQ voices, specifically trailblazers and activists, and contemporary Black queer and transgender people.
Narissa Rahaman, Equality Virginia’s executive director, stressed the importance of the Black queer community to the overall Pride movement, and said “Equality Virginia is proud to center those voices in our work this month and beyond.”
The Capital Pride Alliance, which hosts Pride events in D.C., has an alliance with the Center for Black Equity, which brings Black Pride to D.C. over Memorial Day weekend. The National LGBTQ Task Force has no specific Black History Month events planned, but plans to participate in online collaborations.
Cathy Renna, the Task Force’s director of communications, told the Washington Blade the organization remains committed to uplifting Black voices. “Our priority is keeping this at the forefront everyday,” she said.
The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center is also hosting a series of Black History Month events.
The D.C. Public Library earlier this year launched “Freedom and Resistance,” an exhibition that celebrates Black History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. It will remain on display until the middle of March at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at 901 G St., N.W.
District of Columbia
U.S. Attorney’s Office drops hate crime charge in anti-gay assault
Case remains under investigation and ‘further charges’ could come
D.C. police announced on Feb. 9 that they had arrested two days earlier on Feb. 7 a Germantown, Md., man on a charge of simple assault with a hate crime designation after the man allegedly assaulted a gay man at 14th and Q Streets, N.W., while using “homophobic slurs.”
But D.C. Superior Court records show that prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C., which prosecutes D.C. violent crime cases, charged the arrested man only with simple assault without a hate crime designation.
In response to a request by the Washington Blade for the reason why the hate crime designation was dropped, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office provided this response: “We continue to investigate this matter and make no mistake: should the evidence call for further charges, we will not hesitate to charge them.”
In a statement announcing the arrest in this case, D.C. police stated, “On Saturday, February 7, 2026, at approximately 7:45 p.m. the victim and suspect were in the 1500 block of 14th Street, Northwest. The suspect requested a ‘high five’ from the victim. The victim declined and continued walking,” the statement says.
“The suspect assaulted the victim and used homophobic slurs,” the police statement continues. “The suspect was apprehended by responding officers.”
It adds that 26-year-old Dean Edmundson of Germantown, Md. “was arrested and charged with Simple Assault (Hate/Bias).” The statement also adds, “A designation as a hate crime by MPD does not mean that prosecutors will prosecute it as a hate crime.”
Under D.C.’s Bias Related Crime Act of 1989, penalties for crimes motivated by prejudice against individuals based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and homelessness can be enhanced by a court upon conviction by one and a half times greater than the penalty of the underlying crime.
Prosecutors in the past both in D.C. and other states have said they sometimes decide not to include a hate crime designation in assault cases if they don’t think the evidence is sufficient to obtain a conviction by a jury. In some instances, prosecutors have said they were concerned that a skeptical jury might decide to find a defendant not guilty of the underlying assault charge if they did not believe a motive of hate was involved.
A more detailed arrest affidavit filed by D.C. police in Superior Court appears to support the charge of a hate crime designation.
“The victim stated that they refused to High-Five Defendant Edmondson, which, upon that happening, Defendant Edmondson started walking behind both the victim and witness, calling the victim, “bald, ugly, and gay,” the arrest affidavit states.
“The victim stated that upon being called that, Defendant Edmundson pushed the victim with both hands, shoving them, causing the victim to feel the force of the push,” the affidavit continues. “The victim stated that they felt offended and that they were also gay,” it says.
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