Local
Md. couples obtaining marriage licenses with little difficulty
Confusion remains around tax, other issues as Jan. 1 nears
With less than three weeks until Marylandās same-sex marriage law takes effect, gay and lesbian couples continue to apply for marriage licenses across the state.
Eighteen of Marylandās 23 circuit courts began accepting applications for same-sex marriage licenses on Dec. 6; the same day Gov. Martin OāMalley officially certified the Nov. 6 election results that included the passage of the referendum on the stateās same-sex marriage law by a 52-48 percent margin. Attorney General Doug Gansler wrote in a Nov. 29 opinion that gays and lesbians could begin to marry in the state on Jan. 1.
The Cecil County Circuit Court began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Monday, while gays and lesbians will be able to apply for them in Prince Georgeās County Circuit Court starting on Dec. 18. Clerks in Caroline, Queen Anneās and St. Maryās Counties will not begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples until Jan. 2. (Question 6 lost in all five of the aforementioned jurisdictions.)
Heather Ware and her partner of seven years are the first same-sex couple to receive a marriage license in Alleghany County. She told the Washington Blade the staff at the clerkās office in Cumberland āwere so friendly.ā
āThey just walked us through the whole thing,ā Ware said. āIt was very simple. You could tell they were excited about it too, so that was a good feeling.ā
Ellicott City residents Dale Knight and Jeff Arney, who will celebrate their 15th anniversary in June, on Friday became the first gay couple in Howard County to receive a marriage license. Knight told the Blade the three women who were working in the clerkās office where they submitted their application were āreally friendlyā and āvery happy to have us there.ā
He said they took his and Arneyās picture and clapped for them.
āWhile we were there (in the clerkās office) it was us, another lesbian couple and a straight couple,ā Knight said. āI was like, āOh look, a little melting pot here.ā It was kind of cute.ā
Takoma Park lawyer Sue Silber, who is also an Equality Maryland board member, told the Blade on Wednesday she has not received any reports of clerks who have refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
āAll in all, generally the couples Iāve been talking too itās been smooth, itās been celebratory,ā Mark Scurti, a partner at Pessin Katz Law in Towson, added. āEverybodyās been friendly. Itās been an air of celebration ā very positive.ā
Even though gays and lesbians across Maryland have had little difficulty obtaining marriage licenses in jurisdictions where clerks have begun issuing them, extending state tax, spousal and other benefits to same-sex partners once the law takes effect could prove more difficult.
Scurti said some title companies have refused to issue title insurance policies to same-sex couples ā he provided them copies of the state Court of Appealsā unanimous decision in May that recognized nuptials for gays and lesbians legally performed in D.C. and other jurisdictions.
Washington County in July began offering spousal benefits to employees who legally married their same-sex partner after Lambda Legal filed a complaint with the Maryland Commission on Human Rights on behalf of a county librarian whose application for spousal benefits had been denied. Baltimore County in late 2010 extended same-sex spousal benefits to county employees after the LGBT legal advocacy group filed grievances on behalf of two married lesbian police officers whose applications had been denied.
The Anne Arundel County Public Schools in July 2011 extended these benefits to gay and lesbian employees who legally married outside of Maryland.
Scurti said a Baltimore City solicitor had to become involved in a case where a clerk refused to recognize same-sex marriage for purposes of recording a coupleās deed. Maryland income and estate tax rules still define marriage as written under the federal Defense of Marriage Act, so same-sex couples will still have to file separate 2012 state tax returns.
āThere are issues to still work out around that stuff,ā Silber said, noting Equality Maryland and other groups continue to address them. āI donāt know yet whether all of this will be smooth when people start marrying, but weāre working on it. DOMA makes it very complicated.ā
In spite of these potential hurdles, a number of couples continue to move forward with their plans to tie the knot on Jan. 1.
Ware, her partner and at least three other same-sex couples are discussing the possibility of marrying in Cumberland just after midnight on New Yearās Day.
āWe fought so hard for it and the couples that will be standing there with us understand how hard itās been, how much weāve wanted it,ā she said. āItās definitely been a fight that I think should be celebrated together.ā
A close friend who has become a wedding officient plans to marry Knight and Arney at her Howard County home at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 1. The couple plans to have a larger wedding later in the year, but Knight said he and his partner want to secure the legal protections the new law will afford to same-sex couples.
āGod forbid something happened to one of us, we at least know that we have some protection in the eyes of the state that weāre married,ā he said. āBesides, weāve waited long enough. Some people are waiting or whatever and thatās fine. But for us, we feel like weāve waited long enough and we just kind of want that as soon as we can get it.ā
District of Columbia
New D.C. LGBTQ+ bar Crush set to open April 19
An āall-inclusive entertainment haven,ā with dance floor, roof deck
D.C.ās newest LGBTQ+ bar called Crush is scheduled to open for business at 4 p.m. on Friday, April 19, in a spacious, two-story building with a dance floor and roof deck at 2007 14th St., N.W. in one of the cityās bustling nightlife areas.
A statement released by co-owners Stephen Rutgers and Mark Rutstein earlier this year says the new bar will provide an atmosphere that blends ānostalgia with contemporary nightlifeā in a building that was home to a popular music store and radio supply shop.
Rutgers said the opening comes one day after Crush received final approval of its liquor license that was transferred from the Owl Room, a bar that operated in the same building before closing Dec. 31 of last year. The official opening also comes three days after Crush hosted a pre-opening reception for family, friends, and community members on Tuesday, April 16.
Among those attending, Rutgers said, were officials with several prominent local LGBTQ organizations, including officials with the DC Center for the LGBTQ Community, which is located across the street from Crush in the cityās Reeves Center municipal building. Also attending were Japer Bowles, director of the Mayorās Office of LGBTQ Affairs, and Salah Czapary, director of the Mayorās Office of Nightlife and Culture.
Rutgers said Crush plans to hold a grand opening event in a few weeks after he, Rutstein and the barās employees become settled into their newly opened operations.
āStep into a venue where inclusivity isnāt just a promise but a vibrant reality,ā a statement posted on the Crush website says. āImagine an all-inclusive entertainment haven where diversity isnāt just celebrated, itās embraced as the very heartbeat of our venue,ā the statement says. āWelcome to a place where love knows no bounds, and the only color or preference that matters is the vibrant tapestry of humanity itself. Welcome to Crush.ā
The website says Crush will be open Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m., Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., Fridays from 4 p.m. to 3 a.m., Saturdays from 2 p.m. to 3 a.m., and Sundays from 2 p.m. to 12 a.m. It will be closed on Mondays.
Crush is located less than two blocks from the U Street Metro station.
District of Columbia
Reenactment of first gay rights picket at White House draws interest of tourists
LGBTQ activists carry signs from historic 1965 protest
About 30 LGBTQ activists formed a circular picket line in front of the White House Wednesday afternoon, April 17, carrying signs calling for an end to discrimination against āhomosexualsā in a reenactment of the first gay rights protest at the White House that took place 59 years earlier on April 17, 1965.
Crowds of tourists looked on with interest as the activists walked back and forth in silence in front of the White House fence on Pennsylvania Avenue. Like the 1965 event, several of the men were dressed in suits and ties and the women in dresses in keeping with a 1960s era dress code policy for protests of the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C., the cityās first gay rights group that organized the 1965 event.
Wednesdayās reenactment was organized by D.C.ās Rainbow History Project, which made it clear that the event was not intended as a protest against President Joe Biden and his administration, which the group praised as a strong supporter of LGBTQ rights.
āI think this was an amazing event,ā said Vincent Slatt, the Rainbow History Project official who led efforts to put on the event. āWe had twice as many that we had hoped for that came today,ā he said.
“It was so great to see a reenactment and so great to see how far we’ve come,” Slatt said. “And also, the acknowledgement of what else we still need to do.”
Slatt said participants in the event who were not carrying picket signs handed out literature explaining the purpose of the event.
A flier handed out by participants noted that among the demands of the protesters at the 1965 event were to end the ban on homosexuals from working in the federal government, an end to the ban on gays serving in the military, an end to the denial of security clearances for gays, and an end of the government’s refusal to meet with the LGBTQ community.
āThe other thing that I think is really, really moving is some of the gay staff inside the White House found out this was happening and came out to greet us,ā Slatt said. He noted that this highlighted how much has changed since 1965, when then President Lyndon Johnsonās White House refused to respond to a letter sent to Johnson from the Mattachine Society explaining its grievances.
āSo now to have gay people in the White House coming out to give us their respects and to say hello was especially meaningful to us,ā Slatt said. āThat was not expected today.ā
Among those walking the picket line was longtime D.C. LGBTQ rights advocate Paul Kuntzler, who is the only known surviving person who was among the White House picketers at the April 1965 event. Kuntzler said he proudly carried a newly printed version of the sign at Wednesdayās reenactment event that he carried during the 1965 protest. It stated, āFifteen Million Homosexuals Protest Federal Treatment.ā
Also participating in the event was Japer Bowles, director of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowserās Office of LGBTQ Affairs. Bowles presented Slatt with a proclamation issued by Bowser declaring April 17, 2024, Mattachine Society Day in Washington, D.C.
āWhereas, on April 17, 1965, the Mattachine Society of Washington courageously held the nationās inaugural picket for gay rights, a seminal moment in the ongoing struggle for LGBTQIA+ equality in the United States, marking the genesis of public demonstrations advocating for those rights and paving the way for Pride Marches and Pride celebrations worldwide,ā the proclamation states.
About 30 minutes after the reenactment event began, uniformed Secret Service agents informed Slatt that due to a security issue the picketers would have to move off the sidewalk in front of the White House and resume the picketing across the street on the sidewalk in front of Lafayette Park. When asked by the Washington Blade what the security issue was about, one of the Secret Service officers said he did not have any further details other than that his superiors informed him that the White House sidewalk would have to be temporarily cleared of all people.
Participants in the event quickly resumed their picket line on the sidewalk in front of Lafayette Park for another 30 minutes or so in keeping with the 1965 picketing event, which lasted for one hour, from 4:20 p.m. to 5:20 p.m., according to Rainbow History Projectās research into the 1965 event.
Although the LGBTQ picketers continued their procession in silence, a separate protest in Lafayette Park a short distance from the LGBTQ picketers included speakers shouting through amplified speakers. The protest was against the government of Saudi Arabia and organized by a Muslim group called Al Baqee Organization.
A statement released by the Rainbow History Project says the reenactment event, among other things, was a tribute to D.C.-area lesbian rights advocate Lilli Vincenz, who participated in the 1965 White House picketing, and D.C. gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny, who founded the Mattachine Society of Washington in the early 1960s and was the lead organizer of the 1965 White House protest. Kameny died in 2011 and Vincenz died in 2023.
The picket signs carried by participants in the reenactment event, which were reproduced from the 1965 event, had these messages:
ā¢ āDISCRIMINATION Against Homosexuals is as immoral as Discrimination Against Negroes and Jews;ā
ā¢ āGovernment Should Combat Prejudice NOT PROMOTE ITā
ā¢ āWhite House Refuses Replies to Our Letters, AFRAID OF US?
ā¢ āHOMOSEXUALS Died for their Country, Tooā
ā¢ āFirst Class Citizenship for HOMOSEXUALSā
ā¢Ā āSexual Preference is Irrelevant to Employmentā
ā¢Ā āFifteen Million U.S. Homosexuals Protest Federal Treatmentā
District of Columbia
Organizers announce details for D.C. Black Pride 2024
Most events to take place Memorial Day weekend at Westin Downtown
The Center for Black Equity, the organizer of D.C. Black Pride, the nationās first and one of the largest annual African-American LGBTQ Pride celebrations, announced this yearās event will take place Memorial Day Weekend from May 24-27.
The announcement, released April 16, says that most 2024 D.C. Black Pride events will take place at the Westin Washington, D.C. Downtown Hotel at 999 9th St, N.W.
āWith the theme Black Pride Forever, the event promises a weekend filled with vibrant celebrations, empowering workshops, and a deep exploration of Black LGBTQIA+ history and culture,ā the announcement says.
It says events will include as in past years a āRainbow Rowā vendor expo at the hotel featuring āorganizations and vendors created for and by the LGBTQIA+ communityā offering products and services āthat celebrate Black excellence.ā
According to the announcement, other events include a Health and Wellness Festival that will offer workshops, demonstrations, and activities focused on āholistic well-being;ā a Mary Bowman Poetry Slam āshowcasing the power and beauty of spoken word by Black LGBTQIA+ artists;ā the Black Pride Through the Decades Party, that will celebrate the ārich history of the Black LGBTQIA+ movement;ā and an Empowerment Through Knowledge series of workshops that ādelve into various topics relevant to the Black LGBTQIA+ community.ā
Also, as in past years, this yearās D.C. Black Pride will feature its āOpening Night Extravaganzaā reception and party that will include entertainment and live performances.
The announcement notes that D.C.ās annual Black Pride celebration, started in 1991 as a one-day outdoor event at Howard Universityās Banneker Field, has inspired annual Black LGBTQ Pride events across the United States and in Canada, United Kingdom, Brazil, Africa, and the Caribbean. More than 300,000 people attend Black LGBTQ Pride events each year worldwide, the announcement says.
Full details, including the official schedule of events, can be accessed at dcblackpride.org.
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