Local

DP ‘termination’ bill introduced

Would simplify break-up process for couples

Published

11 years ago

October 24, 2013

D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) told the Blade he introduced the bill after being contacted by a couple who were joined in a civil union in New Jersey and have since separated. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Gay D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) last month introduced a bill that would allow couples joined in domestic partnerships or civil unions in other jurisdictions to terminate those partnerships in D.C. and have the terminations recognized by the other jurisdictions.

The Domestic Partnership Termination Recognition Amendment Act of 2013 was referred to the Council’s Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, which is chaired by Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6). A Wells spokesperson said a public hearing on the bill has yet to be scheduled.

Ten of the Council’s 13 members, including Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large), signed on as co-sponsors for Graham’s bill. Gay Council member David Catania (I-At-Large) and Council member Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) were the only two who didn’t sign on as co-sponsors.

Graham told the Blade he introduced the bill after being contacted by a couple who were joined in a civil union in New Jersey and have since separated, with at least one member of the former couple now living in D.C.

The person living in D.C. told the Blade that due to a legal technicality he and his former partner could not obtain a legal dissolution of the civil union unless one of them returns to New Jersey and becomes a legal resident there for at least one year.

“There was a legal complexity to that, which this bill cuts through,” Graham said. “If you have a civil union or a domestic partnership in another city or jurisdiction you’ll be able to terminate it in the District of Columbia,” he said in describing what his bill would do.

Graham’s bill, among other things, would allow a domestic partnership to be “terminated by judicial decree or judgment” from a court rather than through the non-judicial administrative process available under current D.C. law and which often is not recognized by other states, according to gay activist Bob Summersgill, who has assisted in updating the D.C. domestic partnership law in past years.

D.C. LGBT rights attorney Michelle Zavos, who specializes in gay family law, said the existing D.C. law might allow for the termination of domestic partnerships or civil unions performed in other jurisdictions under certain conditions. But she praised Graham’s bill for making that process “much more clear.”

Graham said he welcomes suggestions from legal experts like Zavos to help him fine-tune the bill when Wells arranges for a hearing on the legislation.

At the time it approved legislation in 2009 to legally recognize marriages for same-sex couples in the nation’s capital, the D.C. Council chose to leave in place the city’s 1992 domestic partnership law, which recognizes partnerships between both same-sex and opposite-sex couples. Separate legislation approved by the Council in subsequent years requires the city to recognize civil unions performed in other states and jurisdictions as domestic partnerships in D.C. if the out-of-state unions provide all of the rights and benefits of marriage.

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Maryland

Defying the odds: First transgender Miss Maryland USA on changing the world

Bailey Anne is state’s first trans woman pageant winner

Published

3 hours ago

September 9, 2024

Baltimore Banner

Miss Maryland USA Bailey Anne. (Grant Foto)

BY JOHN-JOHN WILLIAMS IV | Bailey Anne’s mom was apprehensive when she told her she was going to compete for the Miss Maryland USA pageant.

Her mom thought her transgender daughter might be harassed and ridiculed, and worried about her safety.

“I told her that the world is changing,” recalled Bailey Anne, who doesn’t use her last name because her identity has unfortunately also come with threats from people who don’t agree with it.

And so she competed this year and became the state’s first trans woman titleholder. She was also Maryland’s first Asian American winner and the oldest contestant to represent the state in the Miss USA pageant.

The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

Local

Bernie Delia estate auction set for Sept. 12

Memorial for beloved Capital Pride organizer planned for Sept. 28

Published

3 days ago

September 6, 2024

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Bernie Delia died June 21. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

A local auctioneer company has announced a large collection of artwork and other eclectic property from the estate of D.C. LGBTQ rights advocate Bernie Delia will be available for purchase in an auction scheduled for Sept. 12 in Chevy Chase, Md.

Delia, who was a founding member of the Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes most of D.C.’s LGBTQ Pride events, and who served as co-chair of World Pride 2025, which D.C. will be hosting in 2025, died unexpectedly of natural causes on June 21.

Sloans & Kenyon Auctioneers and Appraisers says in its announcement that the items to be offered through the auction include “a large and eclectic assortment of fine art and sculpture, silver, English and Continental porcelain and other decorative arts, political memorabilia and entertainment ephemera, and various other antique and vintage items.”

The announcement says the items for sale in the Sept. 12 Estate Catalogue Auction will be on display at the Sloans & Kenyon gallery from Saturday, Sept. 7 through Wednesday, Sept. 11. The gallery where the items will be available for viewing and where the auction will be held on Sept. 12 is located at 5550 Friendship Blvd., Suite T60, in Chevy Chase, Md.

“The September auction includes over 200 lots from Bernie’s vast collection and is the first of several auctions of property from his estate,” the announcement says. “Absentee, telephone and internet bids will be accepted for the September 12 Eastgate Catalogue Auction,” it says.

Dignity Washington, the LGBTQ Catholic organization for which Delia served as president, is holding a memorial service for Delia on Saturday, Sept. 28, at 1:30 p.m. at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church near Dupont Circle, according to Dignity member David Lamdin.

Virginia

Winsome Earle-Sears announces 2025 Va. gubernatorial campaign

Anti-LGBTQ Republican elected state’s lieutenant governor in 2021

Published

3 days ago

September 6, 2024

Staff reports

Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears speaks at CPAC in 2023. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears on Thursday announced she will run to succeed Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2025.

“I could have never believed growing up that I could be asking Virginians for their faith and confidence in me to serve them as governor of our great commonwealth,” the Republican said in her announcement, according to the Washington Post. “Yes, this is an opportunity to make history, but our campaign is about making life better for every Virginian right here, right now.”

Earle-Sears, a former U.S. Marine who served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2002-2004, in 2021 became the first woman elected Virginia’s lieutenant governor. Youngkin and Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares also won their respective races that year.

Activists have criticized Earle-Sears for her opposition to LGBTQ rights in Virginia.

Earle-Sears in 2023 spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md. She sparked criticism in February when she misgendered state Sen. Danica Roem (D-Manassas) on the Virginia Senate floor.

Roem in 2018 became the first transgender person seated in a state legislature in the country when she assumed her seat in the House of Delegates. Voters in the 30th Senate District last November elected Roem to the state Senate, thus becoming the first trans person to be seated in the chamber.

The Washington Post reported Miyares is likely to run against Earle-Sears in the Republican primary. The winner would likely face U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), who is the only Democrat who has thus far declared themselves a gubernatorial candidate.

Earle-Sears would become Virginia’s first female governor if she wins. She would also become the first Black woman elected governor of any state.