Local
Young Democrats of Md. leader comes out
Tells of journey from closeted backer of Prop 8 to gay advocate in P.G. County
Joseph Kitchen, Jr. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Joseph L. Kitchen Jr., who won election in February as president of the Young Democrats of Maryland, has emerged as an up-and-coming political activist in Prince George’s County, where he lives, and in the state capital in Annapolis.
Kitchen, 26, is an ordained minister in the Southern Baptist Church and an active member of First Baptist Church of Glenarden, Md., one of the largest black churches in the D.C. metropolitan area. He leads a youth worship group at the church.
He works full-time as an assistant principal at a private middle school in D.C.’s Anacostia neighborhood. Although he loves politics and is deeply committed to his Christian faith, he says his main passions are issues related to “education equality, crime and justice and economic justice for people of color.”
Among other involvements, Kitchen serves as assistant treasurer for the NAACP’s Prince George’s County chapter, serves on the Executive Committee of the Maryland Democratic Party, and is a member of the board of First Book D.C., a national group that promotes reading skills for underprivileged children.
During the past month Kitchen says he has been systematically informing his colleagues at the statewide Young Democrats organization and members and leaders of many of the organization’s county chapters that he’s gay.
He says his decision to come out marks the culmination of a path that has taken him from the position of voting for California’s Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in 2008, to an active role last year in campaigning for Maryland’s marriage equality law.
Among other things, Kitchen says he helped direct the Young Democrats’ campaign for the same-sex marriage bill when it came before the Maryland General Assembly and when it came before voters in a referendum campaign last November.
“I believe my faith may have played a role in it,” he says in discussing his vote for Prop 8.
He says he cast that vote by absentee ballot in 2008, two years after he moved to Maryland from his hometown of Fresno, Calif., but retained his California residency and voting privileges.
“And the interesting thing about it is I voted for the proposition knowing who I was,” he told the Blade in an exclusive interview. “But I voted for it. And I think that vote… affirmed to me that I could not live that way anymore.”
Added Kitchen, “I could not be publicly who I was saying I was but knowing my private life. And so when I did that – immediately after I did that – of course my position changed. I started to become more comfortable about who I was.”
He says he also became more comfortable in reconciling his religious beliefs with his sexual orientation.
“I had to believe and come to realize, as a person of faith, that I am made in God’s image and he has made me to be who he wants me to be, that God made me this way because this is who I am and I’m made in his image.”
Kitchen says his decision to come out in the spring of 2013 also was based on practical considerations as well as on inspiration from the openly gay people he worked with on the Maryland marriage campaign and through his activities with the Young Democrats organization.
“I grew up in California in a very religious African-American family,” he says. “I went to college. I went to seminary and became an ordained minister. But I’ve always known that I was gay,” he says.
“I’ve always felt like that was my personal life and I would leave it at that and I would continue to be an African-American young man who is a minister in the Baptist Church — in the Southern Baptist Church.
“But I think what I’ve seen over the last few years — the rise of this movement, which has really been impressive to me. Being in the Democratic Party and meeting so many people — I view them as being very inspirational to me by telling their stories and affirming their truth and being very proud of who they are. That has given me the courage to do this as well.”
Kitchen says that since he and his partner moved into a suburban style, single-family house in Cheverly, the exercise of remaining in the closet would likely become impractical and awkward. He and his partner are seen together as a couple.
“And so the fact that I have those types of things eventually I think people would know,” he says. “And I prefer that people know on my terms as opposed to me responding to it on someone else’s terms.”
Since moving to Cheverly from Fresno, Kitchen has become a mover and shaker in the political establishment of a majority black county whose elected representatives in the Maryland General Assembly are considered important in setting the state’s legislative agenda.
In the relatively short time he’s lived in Prince George’s County, Kitchen says he’s observed what he considers a major change in attitudes in favor of LGBT equality in general and support for same-sex marriage in particular.
He says he watched with interest when the marriage equality bill died in the General Assembly the year before it passed.
“One of the things that made the bill die the first time it was presented in the legislature is our delegates balked at the idea,” he says. “Their people were opposed to it so they became opposed to it.”
Many in Prince George’s County opposed the bill, according to Kitchen, because there was little or no outreach to black churches and black constituencies in the county by the LGBT organizations advocating for the bill.
“And in Prince George’s County we had always been told for so long that we are against gay marriage … And that’s all that people have ever known,” he says.
“I think they learned that lesson the second time around,” he says of marriage equality advocates. “Equality Maryland and Gov. O’Malley and his PAC all learned that and they sent organizers in. They made phone calls. They did door knocking,” according to Kitchen.
“And groups like the Young Democrats of Maryland and Prince George’s County Democrats all got there and they knocked on doors and they went into these communities and they went to the community centers and the churches and they talked to ministers,” he says.
“And I don’t think we can give enough credit to President Barack Obama and what his support immediately gave to lifting that ballot measure,” Kitchen says. “I don’t know if it necessarily changes everybody’s mind. But it gave people the permission they needed to do what I think they always felt was right.”
When asked how he thinks his coming out will impact his relationship with the key people in his political, professional and religious life, Kitchen says nearly everyone so far has been accepting and supportive, although he expects some bumps in the road to come his way.
“My hope is to not have this become my life,” he told the Blade. “My life is about a lot of things. And for 26 years it has not been who I love and who I sleep with that defines my life.
“So I want this to be out there and of course I’m going to have to deal with it for a while,” he says. “But then I want to return to the issues that I’ve made the passion of my life, which are education equality, crime and justice and economic justice for people of color. Those are the issues that are important to me.”
He quickly added that at least one more thing is important to him.
“So I’m still an ordained minister. I don’t plan to give that up. I worked very hard for it. I believe in order to become an ordained minister you have to believe you are called to do such work. And I do believe I was called to do such work.”
Maryland
Silver Spring holds annual Pride In The Plaza
‘Today means inclusion. It means to build resilience’
Silver Spring’s annual Pride in the Plaza event took place on Sunday to celebrate the LGBTQ community and emphasize inclusion and resilience.
“Today means inclusion. It means to build resilience, love,” Robyn Woods, program and outreach director for Live In Your Truth, which organized the event, said. “I mean, just being surrounded by the community and so many great entrepreneurs, business owners, and just being a part of this whole rainbow coalition that we call the LGBTQIA to be about.”
With the event being her first time organizing for Live In Your Truth, Woods said she felt emotional to see the support and love at the event.
“Some people (are) bringing out their children, their babies, their grandparents,” Woods said. “It’s a lot more allies here than anything else. That type of support to me means so much more than just support from my community; just outside support, inside support, so much support around it, so much love. Everyone’s smiling outside, helping each other.”
Attendees of the event were able to head over to the Family Fun Zone, an air-conditioned Pride Cool Down Lounge, or watch live drag performances in the main stage area.
Along with entertainment and a shaved-ice stand, rows of information tables stood along the plaza, including FreeState Justice, the Washington Spirit, Trans Maryland, Moco Pride Center, and the Heartwood Program, an organization that offers support, therapy, education, and resources to the LGBTQ community.
“I want people to know about our services, and I love what we have to offer,” Jessica Simon, psychotherapist for Heartwood Program’s Gender Wellness Clinic, said. “I (also) want to be part of a celebration with the community, and so it feels good to be here with other people who have something they want to give to the community.”
She added that within today’s political climate, to which she called an “antidote to shame,” it’s important to be celebrating Pride.
“There’s a lot of demonization of LGBTQI people,” Siena Iacuvazzi, facilitator for Maryland Trans Unity, said. “(Pride) is part of the healing process.”
Iacuvazzi said she was taught to be ashamed of who she was growing up, but being a part of a community helped her flourish in the future.
“I was taught how to hate myself. I was taught that I was an abomination to God,” she said. “But being a community is like understanding that there are people who have experienced the same thing, and they’re flourishing. They’re flourishing because they’re willing to stand up for themselves as human beings and discover themselves and understand what’s true for themselves.”
She added that Pride allows for a mutual understanding to take place.
“It’s more of a sense of belonging … and just taking that home and understanding you’re not alone,” Iacuvazzi said. “We’re each taking our own journey — we’re not putting that on each other. It’s just walking away with a sense of belonging and humanity.”
Similar to Iacuvazzi, Woods said she hopes attendees’ biggest takeaways would be family, fun, resilience, and pride.
“Being proud of yourself, being happy for who you are, and representation and how much it matters,” she continued. “And I think all these young people that are walking around here get to see versions of themselves, but older. They get to see so many different lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual people that are successful, that are showing love, that care, and it’s not how we’re portrayed in the media. It’s lovely to see it out here. (It’s) like we’re one big old, happy family.”
Virginia
Spanberger touts equality, reproductive rights in Arlington
Democratic Va. gubernatorial nominee made campaign stop at Freddie’s Beach Bar
With the general election heating up and LGBTQ rights under increasing threat nationwide, Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger brought her “Span Virginia Bus Tour” to Arlington’s Freddie’s Beach Bar for a campaign stop filled with cheers, policy pledges, and community spirit.
Spanberger, who served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2019 through early 2025 for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, also served as a federal law enforcement officer specializing in narcotics and money laundering cases, and as a CIA case officer working on counterterrorism and nuclear counterproliferation.
Spanberger is running against Republican nominee Winsome Earle-Sears, the current lieutenant governor of Virginia, who said she was “morally opposed” to a bill protecting marriage equality in the commonwealth.
She was joined by other Democratic candidates and supporters: lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Ghazala Hashmi, attorney general candidate Jay Jones, Virginia state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria), and Congressman Don Beyer.
Freddie’s was packed wall-to-wall with supporters, many of whom wore “Spanberger for Virginia” shirts in the progressive Pride flag colors. In her speech, she made it clear that LGBTQ Virginians’ rights are on the ballot this year.
“I’m so excited to be here, and I am so grateful to the entire staff of Freddy’s for letting us overtake this incredible venue that is not just an awesome place to come together in community, but is a symbol to so many people of joy, of happiness, of community and of celebrating our friends and our neighbors,” Spanberger told the packed restaurant. “It is exciting to be here, and particularly during this Pride month, and particularly as we reflect on the 10-year anniversary of Obergefell and the reality that we still have so much work to do.”
“The reality is there are so many people who still would be inclined to take us backwards,” she said. “In this moment when we see attacks on people’s rights, on people’s humanity, on Virginia, on our economy, on research, on public education, on food security, on health care, on Virginians, on their jobs, on public service and on people — it can get heavy.”
“What it does for me is it makes me want to double down, because once upon a time, when I was talking to my mother about some horror show or sequence of activities coming out of a particular administration, she did not really have the patience to listen to me and said ‘Abigail, let your rage fuel you’ — and the conversation was over. And so I reflect on that, because, in fact, every day there is so much fuel to be had in this world and in this moment.”
One of the points Spanberger continued to emphasize was the importance of steadfast state government officials following the election of President Donald Trump, which has led to rollbacks of LGBTQ and bodily autonomy rights as a result of the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court.
“What the past few years have shown us is that a Supreme Court decision, no matter how many years we have celebrated its existence, does not protect us in the long term. And so as governor, I will work to make sure that every protection we can put in place for the dignity, the value, and the equal rights of all Virginians is a priority.”
During her speech, Spanberger highlighted several of the key values driving her campaign — protecting reproductive freedom and human rights, lowering healthcare costs, safeguarding Virginia’s environment, and ensuring that public education is affordable, accessible, and rooted in truth, not politics.
Spanberger went as far as to say that she wants to amend the state’s constitution to remove Section 15-A. “The reality is that in Virginia, we still have a ban in our state constitution on marriage equality. It is of the utmost urgency that we move forward with our constitutional amendment.”
“We will work to ensure that that terrible constitutional amendment, that was put in years ago, is taken out and updated and ensuring that Virginia is reflective in our most essential documents of who we are as a commonwealth, which is an accepting place that celebrates the vibrancy of every single person and recognizes that all Virginians have a place, both in that constitution and in law,” she added.
Following the event, two supporters spoke to the Washington Blade about why they had come out to support Spanberger.
“I came out because I needed to show support for this ticket, because it has been a particularly rough week, but a long few years for our rights in this country, in this state, with this governor, and it’s — we need to flip it around, because queer people need protection,” said Samantha Perez, who lives in Ballston. “Trans people need protection. Trans kids need protection. And it’s not gonna happen with who’s in Richmond right now, and we just need to get it turned around.”
“The whole neighborhood’s here. All our friends are here,” said Annie Styles of Pentagon City. “It means the world to me to take care of each other. That’s what a good community does. That’s not what we’ve had with the Republicans here or across the nation for a really long time. It’s time to show that care. It’s time to make sure that good people are in a position to do good things.”
District of Columbia
Activists protest outside Hungarian Embassy in DC
Budapest Pride scheduled to take place Saturday, despite ban
More than two dozen activists gathered in front of the Hungarian Embassy in D.C. on Friday to protest the country’s ban on Budapest Pride and other LGBTQ-specific events.
Amnesty International USA Executive Director Paul O’Brien read a letter that Dávid Vig, executive director of Amnesty International Hungary, wrote.
“For 30 years Budapest Pride has been a celebration of hope, courage, and love,” said Vig in the letter that O’Brien read. “Each march through the streets of Budapest has been a powerful testament to the resilience of those who dare to demand equality, but a new law threatens to erase Pride and silence everyone who demands equal rights for LGBTI people.”
“The Hungarian government’s relentless campaign against LGBTI rights represents a worrying trend that can spread normalizing division and hatred,” added Vig. “Thank you for standing with us when we refuse to be intimidated.”
Council for Global Equality Chair Mark Bromley and two of his colleagues — Stephen Leonelli and Keifer Buckingham — also spoke. Health GAP Executive Director Asia Russell and Chloe Schwenke, a political appointee in the Obama-Biden administration who worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development, and Planned Parenthood staffers are among those who attended the protest.
(Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)
Hungarian lawmakers in March passed a bill that bans Pride events and allow authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify those who participate in them. MPs in April amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.
Budapest Pride is scheduled to take place on Saturday, despite the ban. Hundreds of European lawmakers are expected to participate.
“Sending strength to the patriotic Hungarians marching tomorrow to advance human dignity and fundamental rights in a country they love,” said David Pressman, the gay former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, on Friday on social media.
Sending strength to the patriotic Hungarians marching tomorrow to advance human dignity and fundamental rights in a country they love. Szabadság és szerelem. My past remarks on Budapest Pride: https://t.co/y1QhA9QouA
— David Pressman (@AmbPressman) June 27, 2025
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