Local
McAuliffe, Warner attend Equality Virginia dinner
Nearly 1,000 people attended annual gathering in Richmond
Terry McAuliffe (center) at an Equality Virginia fundraiser in Arlington, Va. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
“It was two months ago that I came out for marriage equality,” he said, referring to the February Google chat during which he publicly announced his position. “I came out early because I thought it was the right thing to do.”
McAuliffe, who is the former chair of the Democratic National Committee, said the first thing he would do as governor is sign an executive order that would ban discrimination “based on any issue.” He also sought to differentiate himself from Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli who last week asked the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond to review a three-judge panel’s decision in March that struck down Virginia’s sodomy law.
“I will make sure that every single individual in the commonwealth of Virginia is treated fair and equal,” McAuliffe said.
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.,) who publicly backed marriage rights for same-sex couples last month before the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in cases that challenge the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act, said he was “proud to lend my voice on that important issue.” He credited his three daughters with helping him come to support nuptials for gays and lesbians.
“Any committed couple ought to have protection under the law,” Warner, who in 2005 became the first Virginia governor to sign an executive order that banned anti-gay discrimination against state employees, said. “No one ought to have their relationship viewed as second class.”
Equality Virginia honored U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va;) Girl Scouts of the Commonwealth of Virginia Interim CEO Viola Baskerville; LGBT advocates Ted Heck, Guy Kinman and Gregg Smith; publishers of the Our Own newspaper that published in Norfolk from 1976-1998 and University of Virginia psychology professor Charlotte J. Patterson. The group also acknowledged Roanoke auto body shop owner Richard Henegar, Jr., who last summer coordinated efforts to repair Radford University student Jordan Addison’s vandalized car that had “die fag” scratched into the door.
Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott; state Sens. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) and A. Donald McEachin (D-Henrico;) state Dels. Jim Scott (D-Merrifield,) Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond,) David Toscano (D-Charlottesville) and Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria;) attorney general candidates Mark Herring and Justin Fairfax; lieutenant gubernatorial hopeful Aneesh Chopra; Richmond City Councilmembers Cynthia Newbille and Jonathan Baliles and Alexandria City Councilman Paul Smedberg are among the nearly 1,000 people who attended the dinner.
Richmond Circuit Court Judge Tracy Thorne-Begland, who in January became the commonwealth’s first openly gay jurist after the Republican-controlled House of Delegates initially rejected his nomination last May, also attended.
Parrish: We have reason to celebrate
The dinner took place less than two months after a House of Delegates subcommittee tabled a bill that would have banned discrimination against LGBT state employees.
“Sometimes Virginia is not always known for its steps forward,” Warner said. “We’ve seen actions in the General Assembly over the last couple of years that at times have not made Virginia the kind of leading light, but instead the butt of Jon Stewart jokes.”
A Virginia House of Delegates subcommittee in January killed a measure introduced by state Del. Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) that would have repealed the 2006 Marshall-Newman Amendment that defined marriage as between a man and a woman in the commonwealth’s constitution.
Equality Virginia Executive Director James Parrish and others noted throughout the dinner, however, a majority of Americans now support nuptials for gays and lesbians.
“Tonight we have reason to celebrate,” he said. “LGBT Americans are more visible than ever before. Virginia is ripe for change.”
Newark (N.J.) Mayor Cory Booker also referenced his own evolution on same-sex marriage during his keynote address.
“This is the United States of America,” he said. “It’s not United Airlines where some of you can sit in first class and some people are back in coach. You can’t have two types of citizenship in this country.”
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 next 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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