Local
Long lines, frayed tempers for couples seeking to wed
D.C. courthouse staff overwhelmed as DOMA ruling triggers boom in marriage applications
The number of people applying for a marriage license in D.C. each month has nearly tripled since the Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling on June 26 overturning the Defense of Marriage Act’s provision barring the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.
The D.C. Superior Court’s Marriage Bureau doesn’t keep track of the gender or sexual orientation of the couples applying for a marriage license. But court observers say gay and lesbian couples make up the overwhelming majority of the additional couples going to the Marriage Bureau on most days at the courthouse at 500 Indiana Ave., N.W.
“We were sitting there and there were so many same-sex couples,” said veteran lesbian activist and businesswoman Eva Freund in describing the scene in the waiting room at the Marriage Bureau last week as she and her partner of 21 years, Elke Martin, waited to be called to file their application for a marriage license.
The two women, who live in Vienna, Va., are among the large number of same-sex couples from states that don’t recognize gay marriage that are now getting married in D.C., which doesn’t have a residency requirement for obtaining a marriage license.
“We just kind of overwhelmed the place,” Freund told the Blade. “And then they called a name and it was a heterosexual couple. And Elke and I looked at one another and said, ‘What are they doing here?’ And then we said, ‘Oh yeah, they need papers, too.”
According to courthouse observers, Freund’s humorous anecdote may be the exception to the disposition of many of the couples – both gay and straight – who become irritable after waiting two hours or longer while the Marriage Bureau staff struggles to process the seeming explosion of applications since late June.
Ken Kero-Mentz, a U.S. Foreign Service officer, and his new husband, David Kero-Mentz, a German national, described their experience with the D.C. Superior Court’s Marriage Bureau as favorable, even though the two waited close to two hours in early July to have their license application processed. The couple also had to wait about eight weeks for an appointment to be married in a civil ceremony at the courthouse, a service the court began providing long before same-sex marriage became legal in D.C.
“Everyone was so nice to us,” said David Kero-Mentz, who is applying for U.S. permanent residency status now that the longstanding prohibition of immigration rights for gay bi-national couples ended with the Supreme Court ruling on DOMA.
Ken Kero-Mentz said he and David, while thrilled to be legally married, didn’t view their D.C. ceremony as that big a deal because they were joined as a couple in an official “registered life partner” ceremony in Berlin in 2008, with 95 friends and family members in attendance. Under German law, registered life partners have all the rights and benefits of a marriage, including immigration rights for foreign national partners.
The D.C. Superior Court has processed same-sex couple applications for marriage licenses since March of 2010, when the city’s marriage equality law took effect.
Court spokesperson Leah Gurowitz said that prior to the Supreme Court’s DOMA decision in late June, the court received on average between 300 and 400 license applications a month. But in July the number of couples applying for a license jumped to 977 and in August the number of couples applying totaled 908 – more than double the average, Gurowitz told the Blade.
“The D.C. Superior Court is committed to addressing the needs of those seeking our services as promptly as possible,” she said in a statement. “In order to meet the increased demand, additional staff have been detailed to the Marriage Bureau.”
Gurowitz added, “In addition, we are working to locate additional office space to help handle the number of applicants we are currently seeing each day, as well as evaluating work processes to improve our customer service.”
Gay rights attorneys have said they expected more same-sex couples to marry following the Supreme Court ruling, which cleared the way for married same-sex couples to obtain most if not all of the federal rights and benefits of marriage.
The Obama administration’s aggressive effort to quickly implement the DOMA ruling by directing federal agencies, including all the branches of the military, to provide marital benefits to same-sex spouses of federal workers, civilian and active duty military, has also boosted the number of lesbian and gay couples deciding to tie the knot, experts have said.
D.C. gay activist Christopher Dyer, who last year obtained a license to perform marriages as a court-approved officiant, said the number of same-sex couples seeking him out to perform their marriage has doubled since the Supreme Court decision.
“I’m getting more military people than ever before,” he said. “Many of them are from Virginia.”
Local gay rights attorney Michele Zavos, who practices family law in the D.C. metro area, said she and other attorneys familiar with the marriage laws of D.C. and Maryland are advising out-of-state clients to choose D.C. over Maryland as the preferred place to marry.
Although same-sex marriage became legal in Maryland earlier this year, Zavos points out that unlike D.C., Maryland has a residency requirement for couples seeking to get a divorce. This means that if a same-sex couple from Virginia or other states that don’t recognize gay marriage decide to marry in Maryland, they could not obtain a divorce in Maryland unless they become a Maryland resident for a year, Zavos said.
She noted that they couldn’t obtain a divorce in their home state if that state doesn’t recognize their marriage, especially if the state has a law or constitutional amendment specifically banning same-sex nuptials as Virginia does.
“Nobody wants to hear this, of course,” Zavos said. “They’re about to be married. They don’t want you to be talking to them about getting divorced.”
Nevertheless, Zavos said many same-sex couples knowledgeable about the residency rules for divorce are choosing D.C. and Delaware, which also allows out-of-state couples to file for a divorce without a residency requirement.
Among those encountering the brunt of the delays at the D.C. Superior Court’s Marriage Bureau are the private marriage officiants who, among other things, file marriage license applications at the courthouse for their same-sex couple clients.
Deborah Cummings-Thomas and her wife, lesbian activist Sheila Alexander-Reid, co-owners of Marry Me In D.C., Inc., specialize in marrying same-sex couples and taking care of the couples’ marriage-related paperwork.
“It’s a nightmare down there right now,” Cummings-Thomas said. “It often takes two hours, sometimes longer” to file a marriage license application, she said. “I’ve been there when people waiting have gotten very upset.” She said 95 percent of the couples she marries are from jurisdictions outside D.C. and at least 95 percent or more of her clients arrange for her to go to the courthouse to deal with the application.
“The employees are very nice,” said Rev. Starlene Joyner Burns, another D.C. marriage officiant who reaches out to same-sex couples. “But they realize the office needs more help. It’s not a system that is broken. It’s just that the demand is greater than what it was in the past.”
Another marriage officiant, who spoke on condition of not being identified, criticized D.C. Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton for not pushing for more funds from Congress to hire additional staff at the courthouse to handle the greater demand for marriage licenses.
Congress and various federal agencies control the D.C. court system rather than the city government under the city’s limited home rule charter. Norton spokesperson Daniel Van Hoogstraten said he would look into the matter.
Others familiar with the Marriage Bureau noted that the D.C. City Council could help the situation by changing the wording in the city’s marriage law that requires a three-day waiting period between the time a marriage license application is submitted and the time a marriage can take place. Marriage laws in most other states have a similar waiting period but those states, like Maryland, issue the license during the applicants’ first visit to the state marriage bureau and post-date it to prevent the marriage from taking place until after the waiting period expires.
Critics of the D.C. Marriage Bureau say it requires applicants or officiants working on their behalf to return to the bureau a second time to pick up the license following the waiting period, a process that causes further delays.
But according to people familiar with the D.C. marriage law, the law prevents the Marriage Bureau from postdating a marriage license because it states explicitly that a license “shall not be issued until three days have elapsed” from the time the application is filed.
“They have two people handling 50 or 60 people at any given time,” said the marriage officiant who asked not to be identified. “They told me please do what you can to get out the word and help us get more staff.”
District of Columbia
Activists hold chalk art protest at McDonald’s after anti-gay assault
Police say victim attacked, beaten by 15 people for not saying ‘excuse me’
Local gay activist Joey Minervini and two others used chalk to draw LGBTQ supportive messages on the sidewalk outside the McDonald’s restaurant at 14th and U Streets, N.W. at 9 a.m. Sunday Nov. 3, one week after D.C. police say a gay man was attacked and assaulted by 15 men and women at that McDonald’s while shouting the word “faggot.”
Police say they are investigating the Oct. 27 assault against Sebastian Thomas Robles Lascarro, 22, that Lascarro has said began inside the McDonald’s at about 1 a.m. when one of the attackers, a woman, criticized him for not saying “excuse me” when he walked past her.
“He ignored her, and he walked away,” Lascarro’s husband, Stuart West, told the Washington Blade. West said his husband told him the woman then called him a faggot and her friends, who were mostly men, blocked the exit door at the McDonald’s, preventing Lascarro from leaving and about 10 of the attackers began to punch him repeatedly in the face and body.
He was taken by ambulance to Howard University Hospital, where he was treated for multiple cuts and bruises before being released the next day.
Minervini released a series of photos he took of the Nov. 3 chalk protest, a few of which show the words “EXCUSE ME We All Belong” drawn in rainbow colored chalk on the sidewalk in front of the McDonald’s entrance. Other messages they drew on the sidewalk included, “We all belong here,” and “D.C. For You And Me,” with a drawing next to it with fingers making the peace sign.
Joining Minervini for the protest was D.C. artist and muralist Chelsea Ritter-Soronen, who operates a local chalk art and mural business called CHALK RIOT, Minervini told the Blade. He said one of his friends, Darren Pierre, also participated in doing the chalk art drawings.
Minervini said most passersby, including customers entering and leaving the McDonald’s, appeared to be supportive of the protest, with some taking pictures of the chalk drawings.
“The vibe there was positive,” he said. “Some people were unaware of what we were doing, so I explained to them a gay man was attacked for apparently not saying ‘excuse me.’ So, that’s why we were chalking the words ‘excuse me’ to reclaim the phrase,” Minervini said. “We were doing it there to reclaim the space a little bit.”
He said he did not see any of the McDonald’s employees come out to look at the drawings up until the time the three ended their chalk art action about 10:15 or 10:30 a.m. Minervini said he and a friend walked past the McDonald’s around 5 p.m. Sunday evening and the chalk drawings were still on the sidewalk.
D.C. police have listed the attack against Lascarro as a suspected hate crime. But they have not provided an update on their investigation, including whether investigators have interviewed McDonald’s employees who were present during the attack or whether they have requested video footage from the security cameras at the McDonald’s.
West, Lascarro’s husband, said the ambulance took Lascarro to the hospital before police arrived and police officers first spoke to Lascarro about the attack at the hospital rather than at the scene of the assault.
“Thankfully, he has been recovering from his injuries, the scrapes, cuts, bruising and swelling have all started to heal, but I fear the real damage can’t be seen,” West said in an updated message in a GoFundMe posting he set up to help defray the costs of Lascarro’s medical expenses.
“Unfortunately, after this incident, he’s battling with many emotions including anxiety, depression, fear of leaving the house and worse, questions whether D.C. is the right fit for him,” West says in his posting.
West told the Blade Lascarro, who goes by his middle name of Thomas, is a recent immigrant from Colombia who has permanent U.S. resident status. He said Lascarro had been at the nearby gay bars Crush and Bunker before stopping at the McDonald’s on his way home.
District of Columbia
D.C. police investigating anti-gay assault at 14th & U McDonald’s
In separate incident, gay man found unconscious near Florida Avenue bar
D.C. police are investigating an incident in which a group of as many as 15 men and women allegedly assaulted a gay man while some of them called him a “faggot” at around 1 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 27, at the McDonald’s restaurant at 14th and U Streets, N.W., according to a police report and the victim’s husband.
The report, which lists the incident as a suspected hate crime, says the victim, Sebastian Thomas Robles Lascarro, was taken to Howard University Hospital for treatment. A police spokesperson said he was released from the hospital the next day.
A GoFundMe page posted by Stuart West, Lascarro’s husband, who said Lascarro goes by his middle name Thomas, states, “Medical bills, therapy costs, and ongoing recovery needs will continue to increase and any help to ensure he gets the care he needs to regain his health and peace of mind will be a blessing.”
The GoFundMe message adds, “Thomas was attacked by a mob who used hateful, derogatory language targeting his identity as a gay man. This horrific hate crime left him hospitalized overnight, facing serious physical injuries and emotional trauma.”
In response to an inquiry from the Blade about the 14th and U Street incident, a D.C. police spokesperson disclosed that a man whose friends identify him as gay was found unconscious on the ground suffering from a head injury about 5 a.m. also on Sunday, Oct. 27, at the intersection of 5th and T Streets, N.W. just off Florida Avenue near the gay bar Uproar.
A police report lists the case as a robbery but doesn’t say how the injuries he suffered to his head happened. And like the case of the gay man attacked at the McDonald’s, friends of the man found unconscious posted a GoFundMe page identifying the man.
“Bryan Smith (aka the barber) recently suffered immense trauma to his head and will be hospitalized for the foreseeable future,” it says. “Bryan is a dear friend and a pillar in the D.C. queer and nightlife communities,” the GoFundMe appeal says. “Any amount of donations would be greatly appreciated to go towards the upcoming expenses he will incur.”
One of the friends who posted the GoFundMe told the Washington Blade they would have no further comment at this time. However, D.C.’s Fox 5 News reports members of Smith’s family said he remains in a coma, with D.C. police saying they have video footage of two possible suspects who reportedly took Smith’s phone and wallet containing credit cards.
Although people who knew Smith said he had worked for many years as a hairstylist, the Fox 5 News report says he had recently been serving as a DJ. It points out that police are offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the perpetrators responsible for Smith’s robbery and assault.
West, the husband of Lascarro, when contacted by the Blade, said Lascarro, 22, had been at the nearby gay bars Crush and Bunker, and he stopped at the McDonald’s on his way home. West said the assault began inside the McDonald’s, which was crowded with customers. He said the police report correctly states that Lascarro told police the incident began when one of the attackers, a woman, criticized him for not saying “excuse me” when he walked past her.
“He ignored her, and he walked away,” West told the Blade, adding that the woman then called him a faggot and her friends, who were mostly men, blocked the exit door at the McDonald’s, preventing Lascarro from leaving and demanded that he apologize to the woman.
“And when he said he was not going to apologize and he raised his hand to try and move the door to get out, that’s when more than 10 individuals started to assault him,” West said. “And so, they started punching him all over his face and body, and it eventually moved to outside the McDonald’s on the D.C. sidewalk, where more people got involved and started hitting him and assaulting him.”
At one point when Lascarro was sitting on the ground, “bloodied, dazed, and confused, they decided to throw drinks and trash at him,” West said. He said when two people walking by asked him if he needed help, Lascarro was able to dial 911 on his phone, and an ambulance arrived minutes later, which took him to the hospital.
“They performed a full CT scan and thankfully there were no critical injuries discovered,” West said. “So, the only injuries are bruises and scrapes and cuts and a very sore jaw,” he said, adding that the head injuries have caused his husband to suffer migraine headaches.
West said he later visited the McDonald’s and asked two supervisors if they would release to him a copy of the video surveillance camera images from their security cameras from the night of the attack. He said the two declined his request but said they were cooperating with the police investigation.
D.C. police officials have said investigators routinely obtain video camera footage from businesses or from city security cameras along public spaces such as parks or streets when investigating crimes.
Police have said anyone with information that could lead to the identification of the perpetrators involved in the crimes targeting Lascarro and Smith should contact police at 202-727-9096.
The GoFundMe pages for the two men are here:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-thomass-recovery-from-hate-crime
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-bryan-smiths-medical-recovery
Polls indicate Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks is comfortably ahead of former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan in the race to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.).
A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll conducted between Oct. 17-22 found Alsobrooks ahead of Hogan by a 52-40 percent margin. Alsobrooks, a Democrat, was ahead of her Republican rival by a 48-39 percent margin in a poll the University of Maryland Baltimore County conducted between Sept. 23-28.
Alsobrooks during an interview with the Washington Blade before she defeated Congressman David Trone in the May 14 primary said she supports the Equality Act. Alsobrooks also highlighted her support for Maryland’s marriage equality law that voters upheld in a 2012 referendum.
Hogan in 2018 signed a bill that banned so-called conversion therapy in Maryland. He criticized Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law during a 2023 interview with CNN’s “State of the Union.”
A bill that created the Commission on LGBTQ Affairs in the Governor’s Community Initiatives Office took effect in 2021 without Hogan’s signature. Hogan also did not sign a bill that banned the so-called LGBTQ panic defense in Maryland.
Hogan marched in this year’s Annapolis Pride parade.
Campaign spokesperson Blake Kernan on Wednesday referred the Blade to the campaign’s final ad it released earlier in the day.
“I’m not just another Republican,” says Hogan. “I’ll make your life more affordable, and support a woman’s right to choose.”
Kernan defended Hogan’s record on LGBTQ rights in an article the Blade published on Aug. 7. Kernan in a May 22 statement criticized Alsobrooks over her comments about Hogan’s abortion rights record.
The Alsobrooks campaign on Tuesday told the Blade it is “ready to defend our Democratic Senate Majority, protect our freedoms, and fight for our families.”
“Angela continues to travel across the state and can feel the enthusiasm and energy from all voters — from young people concerned about the cost of living, women concerned about access to reproductive freedoms, seniors concerned about the cost of prescription drugs, and all Marylanders who want a future where their families can thrive,” said the campaign in a statement. “Angela is in this fight for every one of them, for every Marylander.”
Democrat April McClain Delaney is running against former Maryland state Del. Neil Parrott (R-Washington County) in the race to succeed Trone in Maryland’s 6th Congressional District.
A Gonzales Research and Marketing Strategies poll conducted between Aug. 24-31 found Parrott ahead of Delaney by a 41-39 percent margin. A Public Opinion Strategies poll conducted between Aug. 6-11 found Delaney ahead of Parrott by a 42-40 percent margin.
Delaney, a former Commerce Department official who is married to former Maryland Congressman John Delaney, in her campaign ads has noted Parrott in 2005 said people who test positive for HIV should be tattooed. Parrott in 2014 led an unsuccessful effort to prompt a referendum on Maryland’s transgender rights law that then-Gov. Martin O’Malley signed.
In Virginia, state Sen. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Loudoun County) is running against Republican Mike Clancy in the state’s 10th Congressional District. The winner will succeed Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton, who announced last September she would not seek re-election after doctors diagnosed her with an aggressive form of Parkinson’s disease.
“When I think about who will best continue my legacy and deliver real results for us in Congress, I can think of no one better than state Sen. Suhas Subramanyam,” said Wexton in an Oct. 16 press release in which she and former U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) endorsed Subramanyam’s campaign.
Democrat Eugene Vindman is running against Republican Derrick Anderson for outgoing Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger’s seat in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.
Spanberger is running for governor in 2025.
In Delaware, state Sen. Sarah McBride is poised to become the first transgender person elected to Congress. Democratic Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester is also likely to become the first Black person to represent Delaware in the U.S. Senate.
“There’s no one better to represent us in Washington, D.C., and in the United States Senate than Lisa Blunt Rochester,” said President Joe Biden in a recent endorsement.
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