News
Obama opposes boycott of Sochi Olympics
President wants gay athletes to win medals as a way to protest homophobic law
President Obama said categorically during a news conference on Friday he opposes a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia over the country’s anti-propaganda law.
“I want to just make very clear right now, I do not think it’s appropriate to boycott the Olympics,” Obama said. “We’ve got a bunch of Americans out there who are training hard, who are doing everything they can to succeed.”
In the lieu of a boycott, Obama suggested a better way to protest the Russian law ā which criminalizes making pro-LGBT statements to minors ā is gay athletes winning medals at the Sochi games.
“And one of the things I’m really looking forward to is maybe some gay and lesbian athletes bringing home the gold or silver or bronze, which I think would go a long way in rejecting the kind of attitudes that we’re seeing there,” Obama said. “And if Russia doesn’t have gay or lesbian athletes, then that would probably make their team weaker.”
Obama made the remarks during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in response a question from the Associated Press’ Julie Pace about the state of the relationship between the United States and Russia. Earlier this week, the White House had announced that it had canceled a bilateral meeting between Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Initially in his remarks, Obama identified “human rights issues” as a reason why he decided to cancel the meeting without specifically mentioning the law but later enumerated his opposition to it by saying no one is “more offended than me” about the measure.
“Nobody’s more offended than me by some of the anti-gay and lesbian legislation that you’ve been seeing in Russia, but as I said just this week, I’ve spoken out against that not just with respect to Russia, but a number of other countries where we continue to do work with them, but we have a strong disagreement on this issue,” Obama said.
Andre Banks, executive director of the LGBT international grassroots group All Out, said Obama struck the right chord on the anti-gay law during the news conference.
“We appreciate President Obama’s strong words opposing Russia’s anti-gay laws and his willingness to speak out against governments that force people to sacrifice their family and sometimes their freedom because of who they are or who they love,” Banks said. “All Out continues to believe that the 2014 Olympic Games are a perfect opportunity to speak out, rather than walk out. We call on the International Olympic Committee, Olympians, fans, and other governments to follow President Obama’s lead and go public to demand an end to the anti-gay laws.”
District of Columbia
43 known LGBTQ candidates win election to D.C. ANC seats
33 ran unopposed on ballot, 23 were incumbents
At least 43 known LGBTQ candidates won election on Nov. 5 for seats on the cityās Advisory Neighborhood Commissions in ANC districts in each of the cityās eight wards.
The 43 winning candidates, about half of whom were incumbents, were among 47 known LGBTQ candidates running this year for ANC seats. Results released by the D.C. Board of Elections shows that 33 of the winning known LGBTQ candidates ran unopposed on the ballot.
Among the winning LGBTQ candidates were incumbent Vincent Slatt in the Dupont Circle ANC district 2B03, who serves as chair of the ANCās LGBTQ Rainbow Caucus.
Also, among the known LGBTQ ANC candidates, in just two single member districts, two LGBTQ candidates ran against each other. One was in district 1B03 in the Columbia Heights neighborhood in which incumbent Jamie S. Sycamore defeated challenger J. Swiderski.
The other was in district 2G01 in the Shaw neighborhood in which Howard Garrett, who serves as president of the Capital Stonewall Democrats, defeated challenger Parker Griffin. The two were competing for an ANC seat in which the incumbent did not run for re-election.
Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners serve as unpaid elected officials charged with making recommendations to the city government on a wide range of neighborhood issues. City officials are required to give āgreat weightā to their recommendations, but government officials are not required to accept the recommendations.
Winning LGBTQ ANC candidates
Following is a list of the known LGBTQ ANC candidates and the single member districts and neighborhoods in which they are running. The candidates who won are shown in bold type.
1A04 ā (Columbia Heights)
Jeremy Sherman, he/him
1A07 ā (Columbia Heights)
Mukta Ghorpadey, she/her
1A10 ā (Columbia Heights)
Billy Easley, he/him
1B03 ā (Columbia Heights/U Street)J. Swiderski, they/he
Jamie S. Sycamore, he/him
1B06 ā (Columbia Heights/Meridian Hill)
Miguel Trindade Deramo, he/him
1B07 ā (U Street)
Matthew Holden, he/him
1D01 ā (Mount Pleasant)
Jay Falk, she/her
1E01 ā (Park View)
Brad Howard, he/him
1E07 ā (Howard University/Pleasant Plains)
Brian Footer, he/him
2A05 ā (Foggy Bottom)
Luke Chadwick, he/him
2B02 ā (Dupont Circle)
Jeffrey Rueckgauer, he/him
2B03 ā (Dupont Circle)
Vincent Slatt, he/him
2B09 ā (Dupont Circle/U Street)
Christopher Davis, he/him
2C01 ā (Penn Quarter)
Michael D. Shankle, he/him
2F05 ā (Logan Circle)
Christopher Dyer, he/him
2F06 ā (Logan Circle)
John Fanning, he/him
2F07 ā (Logan Circle)
Kevin Cataldo, he/him
2G01 ā (Shaw)Parker Griffin, he/him
Howard Garrett, he/him
2G02 ā (Shaw)
Alexander āAlexā Padro, he/him
2G04 ā (Shaw)
Steven McCarty, he/him
3B06 ā (Wesley Heights)
S. Robert Rodriquez, he/him
3F05 ā (Van Ness/Cleveland Park)
Adrian Jesus Iglesias, he/him
4B01 ā (Takoma)
Doug Payton, he/him
4B10 ā (Lamond Riggs)
Jinin Berry, she/her
4C06 ā (Petworth)
Christen Boss Hayes, they/them
4E02 ā (16th Street Heights)
Vince Micone, he/him
5B02 ā (Brookland)
Nandini Sen, she/her
5B04 ā (Brookland)
Ra Amin, he/him
5B05 ā (Brookland)
MĆ³nica MartĆnez LĆ³pez, she/her
5D05 ā (Trinidad)
Salvador Sauceda-Guzman, he/him
5D06 ā (Trinidad/Carver)
Charquinta (Char) McCray, she/her
5E05 ā (Bloomingdale)
Tyler Lopez, he/him
5F06 ā (Eckington)
Joe Bishop-Henchman, he/him
6B03 ā (Capitol Hill)
David Sobelsohn, he/him
6B09 ā (Capitol Hill/Barney Circle)
Karen Hughes, she/her
7B05 ā (Hillcrest)
Elizabeth Reddick, she/them
7C01 ā (Deanwood)
Brian Glover, he/him
7C03 ā (Lincoln Heights)
Carlos Richardson, he/him
7C04 (Deanwood)
Anthony Lorenzo Green
7C08 ā (Capitol View)
Brandon M. Scott, he/him
7E06 ā (Benning Ridge)
Ravi K. Perry, he/him
8A01 ā (Fairlawn)
Tom Donohue, he, him
8B06 ā (Garfield Heights)
Marcus Thomas Hickman, he/him
8C08 ā (Douglass)
Elizabeth Carter, she/her
6/8F04 ā (Navy Yard)
Edward Daniels
District of Columbia
D.C. police release photos of suspects in anti-gay attack at 14thĀ & U
In separate case, gay couple attacked on Metrobus on Halloween night
D.C. police on Nov. 5 released photos of seven suspects linked to the Oct. 27 assault of a 22-year-old gay man at the McDonaldās restaurant at 14th and U Streets, N.W. that a police report lists as a suspected hate crime.
The police report says the victim, Sebastian Thomas Robles Lascarro, told police as many as 15 people, mostly men and some women, punched him repeatedly in the face and body, with some yelling the word āfaggot,ā after one of the women criticized him for not saying āexcuse meā when he walked past her.
āThomas was attacked by a mob who used hateful, derogatory language targeting his identity as a gay man,ā Lascarroās husband, Stuart West, said and who noted that Lascarro goes by his middle name Thomas. āThis horrific hate crime left him hospitalized overnight, facing serious physical injuries and emotional trauma,ā West said.
In a No. 5 statement, D.C. police said the photos of the suspects were obtained from nearby surveillance cameras. D.C. police chief Pamela Smith told the Washington Blade police investigators were working with McDonaldās officials to obtain the video recordings from security cameras inside and outside the MacDonaldās.
āAnyone who can identify these suspects or who has knowledge of this incident should take no action but call police at 202-727-9099,ā the police statement says. The statement adds that police are offering a $1,000 reward to anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for a violent crime in D.C., including the crime targeting Lascarro.
In a separate incident, FOX 5 News has reported this week that a gay male couple said they were the victims of a violent attack on a D.C. Metrobus on Halloween night, Oct. 31, and the two believe the incident should be listed as a hate crime.
According to FOX 5, Nico Nieves and Roy Capell said the incident took place around 1:30 a.m. after they left a gay bar on U Street, N.W., and boarded a Metrobus.
āThey were all hitting us from all different angles,ā FOX 5 quoted Capell as saying. āI was in the middle trying to block them and protect my partner from getting hit. I took a lot of punches to the back of the head, he took a lot of punches to his face,ā FOX 5 quoted him as saying.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, or WMATA, which operates the Metro bus and subway system, didnāt immediately respond to a request by the Washington Blade for further information on the Metro Police investigation of the incident. The Blade also couldnāt immediately reach Nieves and Capell for comment.
FOX 5 reports that WMATA officials said the assault occurred after a group boarded the bus at New Jersey Avenue in the cityās Shaw neighborhood.
āA Metro spokesperson indicated that preliminary investigations and video reviews suggested that Nieves and Capell were ābelligerent and antagonisticā toward other passengers, which led to a verbal altercation before they were assaulted and robbed of Nievesās necklace and watch,ā FOX 5 reports.
But the TV news stationās report adds that Nieves and Capell dispute that claim, saying they were āsimply being affectionate when a woman began yelling at them.ā It further quotes Nieves as saying, āThey were just calling us names, questioning why we are gay and f****, bunch of names. They started throwing punches because I said it was none of their business who we are, if Iām gay or not.ā
Following a Nov. 4 press conference about security plans for election night activity in D.C. at which Mayor Muriel Bowser and Police Chief Smith spoke, Smith told the Blade police were actively investigating the McDonaldās assault against Lascarro. She also responded to concerns raised by West, Lascarroās husband, that police did not initially list the attack as a possible hate crime until he contacted police the next day to ask about that.
āWeāve taken the time to review the body worn camera footage from the officer who conducted the investigation with the victim of that particular crime,ā Smith said. āAnd during that interview there was nothing that was said from the victim that there were any anti-gay or gay or racial slurs being shared with him,ā according to Smith.
āWe do recognize that often times when individuals go through a significant amount of trauma, they may forget details of what may have occurred,ā she told the Blade. āBut when we were made aware of the fact that there were some homophobic comments being made, we sent out an investigator, a detective, to do that investigation.ā
Politics
Democratic congressmen win re-election in Md.
6th Congressional District race remains too close to call
Maryland’s Democratic congressmen on Tuesday won re-election in their respective districts.
Congressman Jamie Raskin defeated Republican Cheryl Riley in the 8th Congressional District by a 76-22 percent margin. Congressman Glenn Ivey defeated Republican George McDermott in the 4th Congressional District by an 88-12 percent margin. Congressman Steny Hoyer defeated Republican Michelle Talkington in the 5th Congressional District by a 66-34 percent margin. Congressman Kweisi Mfume defeated Republican Scott Collier by a 79-109 percent margin in Maryland’s 7th Congressional District.
Republican Congressman Andy Harris won re-election in the 1st Congressional District with 63 percent of the vote.
Democrat Sarah Elfreth will succeed U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes, who did not run for re-election, after she defeated Republican Robert Steinberger in the 3rd Congressional District by a 57-40 percent margin. Baltimore County Executive John Olszewski defeated Republican Kim Klacik by a 56-42 percent margin in the race to succeed retiring Congressman C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger in the 2nd Congressional District.
The race between Democrat April McClain Delaney and former state Del. Neil Parrott (R-Washington County) in the 6th Congressional District remains too close to call. The winner will succeed Congressman David Trone, who unsuccessfully challenged now-U.S. Sen.-elect Angela Alsobrooks in the race for retiring U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin’s seat.
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