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EXCLUSIVE: Del. GOP executive director attends marriage fundraiser
John Fluharty stressed issue is of “personal importance for me as a gay man.”
Delaware Republican Party Executive Director John Fluharty (Photo courtesy of John Fluharty)
WILMINGTON, Del.—The gay executive director of the Delaware Republican Party is among those who attended an Equality Delaware fundraiser on March 15.
“I’m here this evening because I support marriage equality,” John Fluharty told the Washington Blade in an exclusive interview at Timothy’s on the Riverfront in Wilmington. “It’s an issue that’s of personal importance for me as a gay man.”
Fluharty, who describes himself as a gay conservative Republican, spoke to the Blade less than a day after U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) publicly endorsed marriage rights for same-sex couples. He applauded the senator’s position in a tweet he sent from his private Twitter account.
“I commend Sen. Portman,” Fluharty told the Blade. “It was an absolutely right thing for him to do.”
Fluharty, who directed ballot access and delegate operations for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s 2012 presidential campaign, became executive director of the Delaware Republican Party last May.
He spoke with the Blade ahead of the anticipated introduction of a bill that would allow gays and lesbians to tie the knot in Delaware.
Fluharty deferred questions about a timeline on the likely debate on the issue in Dover to Equality Delaware President Lisa Goodman. Attorney General Beau Biden told the Blade over the weekend he remains optimistic GOP lawmakers will support the gay marriage measure once it is formally introduced.
More than 200 Republican state legislators across the country have so far voted in support of same-sex marriage. Former GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, Jr., Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Illinois Republican Party Chair Pat Brady and Meghan McCain are among the Republicans who have publicly backed the issue.
Former Republican National Committee Chair Ken Mehlman, Margaret Hoover, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge and GOP strategist Ana Navarro are among the more than 100 Republicans who signed onto an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of marriage rights for same-sex couples in the case that challenges the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8. The justices on March 26-27 will hear oral arguments in the case and another that challenges the Defense of Marriage Act.
An ABC News/Washington Post poll released on Monday found 52 percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents who are between 18-49 support nuptials for gays and lesbians. Three-quarters of Republican respondents who took part in a Global Strategy Group survey that Equality Delaware commissioned said same-sex marriage in the First State would not negatively impact their lives.
“Slowly you’re starting to see the Republicans climb on board with marriage equality,” Fluharty said. “There’s no question our party is farther behind than the Democratic Party, but slowly but surely.”
He added he feels supporting the issue is also a politically prudent position.
“It’s good to be on the right side of history and the numbers show this is where the nation’s going,” Fluharty said.
Celebrating the transgender community, Baltimore Safe Haven, an organization committed to empowering LGBTQ individuals in Baltimore City, plans to host their fourth annual Baltimore Trans Pride on Saturday.
Instead of the usual parade and march, this year’s Trans Pride will be a block party on Charles Street and between 21st and 22nd Streets. The event will start at 1 p.m. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and last until 10 p.m.
Community members can go on guided tours, enjoy refreshments by local vendors, listen to presenters, and watch performances by special guests.
Sukihana, the event’s headliner, plans to take to the stage to entertain the crowd, along with a variety of local performers, according to Melissa Deveraux, Baltimore Safe Haven’s executive assistant to Executive Director Iya Dammons.
“Some (are) prominently known, some (are) just making a name for themselves,” Deveraux said. Iya is always making sure that community talent is showcased at all of our functions.”
In company with Pride on Saturday, Baltimore Safe Haven will be opening its new building on Friday from 1-4 p.m.
“That is sort of going to be the prelude to pride,” Lau said. “Thanks to Sen. Mary Washington and the Weinberg Foundation, we were able to purchase the building outright, and it’s going to be a community hub of administrative buildings and 12-bedroom apartments.”
Renee Lau, administrative assistant for special projects coordinator for Baltimore Safe Haven, said the planning process for Baltimore Trans Pride began in January, and putting it all together was a collaboration of multiple city agencies and organizations.
“Safe Haven is an LGBT community organization, but we service the entire community, and that’s the message we try to spread,” Lau said. “We’re not just here for the LGBT community. We’re here to spread goodwill and offer harm reduction and housing to the entire community.”
Lau said the organization’s biggest goal for the event is to gain exposure.
“(We want) to let and let people know who we are and what our community is about,” she said. “Right now, because of what’s happening in DC, there’s a lot of bad untruths going on, and the total thing is bringing out the truth.”
Deveraux said having a place of inclusivity, acceptance, and togetherness is important in today’s political climate and the current administration.
“This event will have people seeing the strength and resilience of the transgender community, showing that no matter what we are going through, we still show up,” Deveraux said. “We are here, we will not be erased.”
The 2025 WorldPride Parade was held in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, June 7. Laverne Cox and Renée Rapp were the grand marshals.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key and Robert Rapanut)
District of Columbia
Man arrested for destroying D.C. Pride decorations, spray painting hate message
Court records show prosecutors did not list offense as hate crime
D.C. police this week announced they have arrested a Maryland man on charges of Destruction of Property and Defacing Private Property for allegedly pulling down and ripping apart rainbow colored cloth Pride ornaments on light poles next to Dupont Circle Park on June 2.
In a June 10 statement police said the suspect, identified as Michel Isaiah Webb, Jr., 30, also allegedly spray painted an anti-LGBTQ message on the window of a private residence in the city’s Southwest waterfront neighborhood two days later on June 4.
An affidavit in support of the arrest filed by police in D.C. Superior Court on June 9 says Web was captured on a video surveillance camera spray painting the message “Fuck the LGBT+ ABC!” and “God is Real.” The affidavit does not say what Webb intended the letters “ABC” to stand for.
“Detectives located video and photos in both offenses and worked to identify the suspect,” the police statement says. “On Sunday, June 8, 2025, First District officers familiar with these offenses observed the suspect in Navy Yard and made an arrest without incident.”
The statement continues: “As a result of the detectives investigation, 30-year-old Michael Isaiah Webb, Jr. of Landover, Md. was charged with Destruction of Property and Defacing Private Property.”
It concludes by saying, “The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating this case as potentially being motivated by hate or bias. The designation can be changed at any point as the investigation proceeds, and more information is gathered. A designation as a hate crime by MPD does not mean that prosecutors will prosecute it as a hate crime.”
The online D.C. Superior Court docket for the case shows that prosecutors with the Office of the United States Attorney for D.C. charged Webb with just one offense – Defacing Public or Private Property.
The charging document filed by prosecutors, which says the offense was committed on June 4, declares that Webb “willfully and wantonly wrote, marked, drew, and painted a word, sign, or figure upon property, that is window(s), without the consent of Austin Mellor, the owner and the person lawfully in charge thereof.”
But the charging document does not designate the offense as a hate crime or bias motivated crime as suggested by D.C. police as a possible hate crime.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request from the Washington Blade for an explanation of why the office did not designate the offense as a hate crime and why it did not charge Webb in court with the second charge filed by D.C. police of destruction of Property for allegedly destroying the Pride decorations at Dupont Circle.
The online public court records show that at a June 9 court arraignment Webb pleaded not guilty and Superior Court Judge Robert J. Hildum released him while awaiting trial while issuing a stay-away order. The public court records do not include a copy of the stay-away order. The judge also ordered Webb to return to court for a June 24 status hearing, the records show.
The arrest affidavit filed by D.C. police says at the time of his arrest, Webb waived his right to remain silent. It says he claimed he knew nothing at all about the offenses he was charged with.
“However, Defendant 1 stated something to the effect of, ‘It’s not a violent crime’ several times during the interview” with detectives, according to the affidavit.
The charge filed against him by prosecutors of Defacing Public or Private Property is a misdemeanor that carries a possible maximum penalty of 180 days in jail and a fine up to $1,000.
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