Local
2nd suspect arrested in assault on drag performer
Women plead not guilty in attack captured on video
Drag performer Miles Denaro, 24, says he was attacked by two women who called him a ‘tranny’ and ‘faggot.’ (Screen capture)
D.C. police on July 3 arrested the second of two women accused of assaulting a gay male drag performer inside a carry out pizza restaurant in Northwest D.C. that was captured on video and created an uproar in the LGBT community.
Authorities charged Rachel Manna Sahle, 22, with simple assault and attempted second-degree theft for allegedly trying to steal the victim’s purse, according to a charging document filed in court by the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Raymone Harding, 28, who was charged one day earlier with a single count of simple assault, and Sahle appeared at a D.C. Superior Court arraignment on July 3, where the two pled not guilty to the charges filed against them.
Judge Karen Howze released them on personal recognizance pending trial on condition that they undergo drug testing, report to the court’s Pre-Trial Services Agency, and stay away from Miles Denaro, 24, the drag performer the two are accused of assaulting.
Charging documents filed in court identify Harding as a nurse.
Howze ordered Sahle and Harding to return to court on Sept. 5 for a status hearing before Judge Juliet McKenna, who will take over the case at that time. Court records identify the two women as residents of Gaithersburg, Md.
Drag performer Denaro, a D.C. resident, told the Blade he identifies as a gay man. He told police and the Blade that the two women dragged him by his hair across the floor at Manny & Olga’s pizza carry out restaurant at 1841 14th St., N.W., while they punched and kicked him in the face and body. A police report says the incident took place shortly after 3 a.m. on Sunday, June 23.
A video of the altercation involving drag performer Miles DeNiro early Sunday morning at Manny & Olga’s pizzeria on 14th Street, N.W., shows these two women assaulting DeNiro as one of them drags him by his hair across the floor. (Screen captures)
Denaro said he was dressed as a woman when he entered the restaurant shortly after finishing a drag performance at the nearby Black Cat nightclub. He said the two women started the altercation by making fun of his makeup, with one of them, Sahle, touching his face. He said one of them slapped him in the face after he demanded that they leave him alone. He said the women called him a “tranny” and “faggot” as the incident unfolded.
LGBT activists who watched the video posted online have expressed concern that employees at the restaurant didn’t intervene and, according to police, did not call police while the incident unfolded.
A D.C. police arrest affidavit filed in court says Harding and Sahle gave a different account of what happened than that given by Denaro. It says Harding described the incident as a fight “among several intoxicated customers.”
The affidavit says Sahle accused Denaro of biting her on her thigh in the midst of the fight. She said he told her she would get AIDS as a result of the bite, according to the affidavit.
Denaro told the Blade he bit Sahle in self-defense while he was pinned down on the floor by Harding and while Sahle was pulling out his hair. He said he informed the two women he has HIV after he realized his head was bleeding from injuries he received from the assault.
The affidavit says police decided to charge Sahle and Harding in the case after police investigators observed the video taken by one of the customers at the restaurant that was posted on at least three websites and after viewing a second video provided by Manny & Olga’s that was taken by the restaurant’s security surveillance cameras.
“Defendant 1 [Sahle] was face to face with the complainant and attempted to snatch his purse and then grabbed the complainant’s hair,” the police affidavit says. “Defendant 1 pulled the complainant several feet by his hair…then let go of the hair and threw several punches at the complainant’s head,” it says, citing police observation of both videos.
The affidavit says Denaro spit at Defendant 2 [Harding] after Harding “grabbed the complainant’s wrists and pushed him against a wall in the corner of the store, holding him against the wall.”
At that point, Sahle “grabbed the complainant’s hair and both Defendant 1 and Defendant 2 began punching the complainant in the face and head,” the affidavit says.
The incident involving the alleged assault against Denaro is one of six incidents in D.C. over an eight-day period beginning June 21 in which two transgender women were shot and wounded, a lesbian was shot to death, two other trans women were stabbed and another was sexually assaulted.
Police said only one of the six incidents — the non-fatal shooting of a transgender woman — is being investigated as a possible hate crime. Police officials have said the others were linked to robbery attempts or a dispute between the suspect and victim. Police have not said what they believe the motive was that triggered the assault against Denaro.
District of Columbia
Capital Pride board member resigns, takes role as Trump’s acting Sec’y of Labor
Vince Micone asserts ‘DEIA programs resulted in shameful discrimination’
On his first day in office President Donald Trump on Jan. 20 named Vince Micone, who’s gay, as Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor.
Micone, who has worked in high-level positions in federal government agencies for at least 30 years, has served on the board of directors of D.C.’s Capital Pride Alliance, which organizes most of D.C.’s LGBTQ Pride events, for 15 years. But Micone resigned from the board this week, just months before the city’s WorldPride celebration that is expected to draw 2+ million visitors to D.C. in May and June.
Micone most recently served as head of the Department of Labor’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management, according to a report by Reuters. But his tenure as Secretary of Labor will be a short appointment.
Trump has nominated former U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a Republican from Oregon, to be the permanent Secretary of Labor. Her nomination is expected to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate in the next week or two.
Micone’s appointment as acting Secretary of Labor became Trump’s second appointment of an out gay man to a U.S. Cabinet position. In November, shortly after his election as president, Trump nominated gay hedge fund executive Scott Bessent to be U.S. Treasury Secretary.
The Senate Finance Committee this week voted to approve Bessent’s nomination and to send it to the full Senate for final approval.
Micone couldn’t immediately be reached by the Washington Blade for comment. Ashley Smith, chair of the Capital Pride Alliance board, said Micone informed the board he was stepping down this week as a board member due to his new duties as Acting Secretary of Labor.
The Capital Pride Alliance website includes a short biography of Micone that says he has served on the organization’s board since 2010 and until his resignation this week served as Vice President of Operations and Treasurer.
“Vince serves as co-chairperson of the Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area, which has raised $732 million for charities in our community, across the nation, and around the world under his leadership,” the Capital Pride write-up says.
“Vince has served as an elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in D.C, a member of the Mayor’s LGBT Commission, and Chairperson of the D.C. Commission on National and Community Service,” according to the write-up. “He has participated in many LGBTQ+ organizations, is a DC Front Runner, and served as a fierce advocate for HIV programming and quality for our community,” it says.
The Reuters report says that prior to working at the Department of Labor, Micone held positions with the Department of Commerce, Department of Treasury, and Department of Homeland Security. Reuters also reported that Micone served on Trump’s 2016 presidential transition team.
On Thursday, Micone sent an email to all Labor Department staffers informing them that, “We are taking steps to close all agency [Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility] offices and end all DEIA-related contracts in accordance with President Trump’s Executive Orders … These programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination.”
The email, which bears Micone’s name and title, goes on to threaten any department employees who “disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language.”
The same letter has been sent to other federal agencies.
Virginia
Va. Senate committee tables three anti-transgender bills
Measures targeted trans student athletes, gender-affirming care for minors
Virginia lawmakers this week killed three anti-transgender bills.
The Virginia Senate Health and Education Committee on Thursday tabled Senate Bill 749, which would have banned trans athletes from school sports teams that correspond with their gender identity. The same committee on Thursday tabled a similar measure, Senate Bill 1079.
The committee on Thursday also tabled Senate Bill 1074, which would have made it “unlawful for any individual to provide gender transition procedures, defined in the bill, for minors and prohibits the use of public funds for gender transition procedures.”
“All students deserve to play and to have access to essential healthcare,” said the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia on Thursday in a social media post.
Maryland
Originally charged with hate crimes, Salisbury University students now face misdemeanor charges
Suspects allegedly attacked man they met on Grindr
The first three Salisbury University students charged in an attack on a man they allegedly lured to an off-campus apartment using a dating app are set to stand trial this week.
Dylan Pietuszka, 20, Logan Clark, 20, and Sean Antone, 19, are among the 15 Salisbury students who in early November were taken into custody in connection with the attack and charged with hate crimes.
All three men standing trial this week are only facing two charges: Second degree assault and false imprisonment, which are both misdemeanors.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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Federal Government4 days agoTrump-Vance administration removes LGBTQ, HIV resources from government websites
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District of Columbia1 day agoCapital Pride board member resigns, takes role as Trump’s acting Sec’y of Labor
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Virginia4 days agoVa. Senate approves resolution to repeal marriage amendment
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