Local
Mizeur formally introduces running mate
Delman Coates backed Maryland’s 2012 same-sex marriage referendum
Maryland gubernatorial candidate Heather Mizeur on Wednesday announced her running mate, Rev. Delman Coates (left), at a campaign event in Silver Spring, Md. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Maryland gubernatorial candidate Heather Mizeur on Wednesday formally announced a prominent Prince George’s County pastor who backed the state’s 2012 same-sex marriage referendum as her running mate.
The Montgomery County Democrat who represents Takoma Park and Silver Spring in the Maryland House of Delegates introduced Rev. Delman Coates of Mount Ennon Baptist Church in Clinton during a campaign event at American Legion Post 41 in Silver Spring.
“I am not just picking a running mate for an election season,” Mizeur said. “I’m choosing a partner who’s best situated to help me deliver on a shared vision for the future of Maryland.”
Coates’ wife Yolanda and their four children and Mizeur’s wife, Deborah Mizeur, joined the ticket on stage as the Montgomery County Democrat’s running mate spoke to supporters.
“My life’s work has been on the front lines of our biggest community issues,” Coates said, referring to his support of marriage rights for same-sex couples and efforts to curb home foreclosures and to help people reintegrate into society once they are no longer incarcerated. “I have stood up for justice. And I stand before you today not driven by professional or personal ambition, but by a calling to bring hope to others when they need it the most.”
Coates, whose congregation has more than 8,000 members, in February 2012 testified in support of a bill that would allow gays and lesbians to legally marry in the state.
Gov. Martin O’Malley signed the measure a few weeks later, but same-sex marriage opponents collected enough signatures to prompt a referendum on the law.
Coates appeared in a television ad in support of Question 6. The Prince George’s County pastor also joined Rev. Al Sharpton and other prominent black clergy who urged Marylanders to vote for the law during a September 2012 press conference at the National Press Club in D.C.
Question 6 passed last November by a 52-48 percent margin.
Coates noted to the Washington Blade after the campaign event the ticket includes a Baptist minister and a lesbian at a time when the National Organization for Marriage said it wants “to exploit this wedge or divide between these two communities.” He stressed their bid is primarily about substance.
“I accepted Heather’s invitation because I think it’s important to return Annapolis to the people,” Coates said. “It really for me is about governing from the bottom up where the concerns, interests of the people are prioritized over the interests of special interests.”
Mizeur will face Attorney General Doug Gansler and Lieutenant Gov. Anthony Brown in the state Democratic primary in June. She could become the country’s first openly gay governor if Maryland voters elect her to succeed O’Malley.
Gansler last month tapped state Del. Jolene Ivey (D-Prince George’s County) as his running mate. Howard County Executive Ken Ulman in June joined Brown’s campaign after he abandoned his own gubernatorial bid.
Mizeur told the Blade she began talking with Coates over the summer about potentially joining her campaign.
She said she feels her running mate’s experience as a pastor and efforts in support of same-sex marriage, protecting voting rights and other issues will serve him well as lieutenant governor.
“He’s no stranger to our political process,” Mizeur told the Blade. “He has used his relationship to the community to not just be of service on Sundays, but to roll up his sleeves and be engaged in the community making a difference day in and day out. And that translates incredibly well to the work that we have before us in Annapolis.”
Gansler entered the race in September with a significant financial advantage over his Democratic opponents.
A poll that Gonzales Research and Marketing Strategies released on Oct. 17 found Brown ahead of Gansler among likely Maryland voters by a 41-21 percent margin. Slightly more than five percent of respondents said they would vote for Mizeur in the Democratic primary.
In spite of these hurdles, Mizeur’s supporters told the Blade on Wednesday they support her decision to tap Coates has her running mate.
“It’s an excellent choice,” Suchitra Balachandran of College Park said. “Between the two of them we will be addressing topics and discussing issues that otherwise will not happen in a campaign.”
Kevin Walling, a former Equality Maryland staffer who in July declared his candidacy to represent portions of Montgomery County in the House of Delegates, described the ticket as “a dream team.” He said Mizeur’s decision to choose Coates as her running mate came as a surprise, but stressed supporters will respond to him well.
“Once folks meet Delman and see him up close and personal and they get to know him, I think he’s going to win them over,” Walling told the Blade.
Virginia
McPike wins special election for Va. House of Delegates
Gay Alexandria City Council member becomes 8th LGBTQ member of legislature
Gay Alexandria City Council member Kirk McPike emerged as the decisive winner in a Feb. 10 special election for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Alexandria.
McPike, a Democrat, received 81.5 percent of the vote in his race against Republican Mason Butler, according to the local publication ALX Now.
He first won election to the Alexandria Council in 2021. He will be filling the House of Delegates seat being vacated by Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria), who won in another Feb. 10 special election for the Virginia State Senate seat being vacated by gay Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria).
Ebbin is resigning from his Senate this week to take a position with Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration.
Upon taking his 5th District seat in the House of Delegate, McPike will become the eighth out LGBTQ member of the Virginia General Assembly. Among those he will be joining is Sen. Danica Roem (D-Manassas), who became the Virginia Legislature’s first transgender member when she won election to the House of Delegates in 2017 before being elected to the Senate in 2023.
“I look forward to continuing to work to address our housing crisis, the challenge of climate change, and the damaging impacts of the Trump administration on the immigrant families, LGBTQ+ Virginians, and federal employees who call Alexandria home,” McPike said in a statement after winning the Democratic nomination for the seat in a special primary held on Jan. 20.
McPike, a longtime LGBTQ rights advocate, has served for the past 13 years as chief of staff for gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and has remained in that position during his tenure on the Alexandria Council. He said he will resign from that position before taking office in the House of Delegates.
Local
Local LGBTQ groups, activists to commemorate Black History Month
Rayceen Pendarvis to moderate Dupont Underground panel on Sunday
LGBTQ groups in D.C. and elsewhere plan to use Black History Month as an opportunity to commemorate and celebrate Black lives and experiences.
Team Rayceen Productions has no specific events planned, but co-founder Rayceen Pendarvis will attend many functions around D.C. this month.
Pendarvis, a longtime voice in the LGBTQ community in D.C. moderated a panel at Dupont Underground on Feb. 8. The event, “Every (Body) Wants to Be a Showgirl,” will feature art from Black burlesque artists from around the country. Pendarvis on Feb. 23 will attend the showing of multimedia play at the Lincoln Theatre that commemorates the life of James Baldwin.
Equality Virginia plans to prioritize Black voices through a weekly online series, and community-based story telling. The online digital series will center Black LGBTQ voices, specifically trailblazers and activists, and contemporary Black queer and transgender people.
Narissa Rahaman, Equality Virginia’s executive director, stressed the importance of the Black queer community to the overall Pride movement, and said “Equality Virginia is proud to center those voices in our work this month and beyond.”
The Capital Pride Alliance, which hosts Pride events in D.C., has an alliance with the Center for Black Equity, which brings Black Pride to D.C. over Memorial Day weekend. The National LGBTQ Task Force has no specific Black History Month events planned, but plans to participate in online collaborations.
Cathy Renna, the Task Force’s director of communications, told the Washington Blade the organization remains committed to uplifting Black voices. “Our priority is keeping this at the forefront everyday,” she said.
The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center is also hosting a series of Black History Month events.
The D.C. Public Library earlier this year launched “Freedom and Resistance,” an exhibition that celebrates Black History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. It will remain on display until the middle of March at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at 901 G St., N.W.
District of Columbia
U.S. Attorney’s Office drops hate crime charge in anti-gay assault
Case remains under investigation and ‘further charges’ could come
D.C. police announced on Feb. 9 that they had arrested two days earlier on Feb. 7 a Germantown, Md., man on a charge of simple assault with a hate crime designation after the man allegedly assaulted a gay man at 14th and Q Streets, N.W., while using “homophobic slurs.”
But D.C. Superior Court records show that prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C., which prosecutes D.C. violent crime cases, charged the arrested man only with simple assault without a hate crime designation.
In response to a request by the Washington Blade for the reason why the hate crime designation was dropped, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office provided this response: “We continue to investigate this matter and make no mistake: should the evidence call for further charges, we will not hesitate to charge them.”
In a statement announcing the arrest in this case, D.C. police stated, “On Saturday, February 7, 2026, at approximately 7:45 p.m. the victim and suspect were in the 1500 block of 14th Street, Northwest. The suspect requested a ‘high five’ from the victim. The victim declined and continued walking,” the statement says.
“The suspect assaulted the victim and used homophobic slurs,” the police statement continues. “The suspect was apprehended by responding officers.”
It adds that 26-year-old Dean Edmundson of Germantown, Md. “was arrested and charged with Simple Assault (Hate/Bias).” The statement also adds, “A designation as a hate crime by MPD does not mean that prosecutors will prosecute it as a hate crime.”
Under D.C.’s Bias Related Crime Act of 1989, penalties for crimes motivated by prejudice against individuals based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and homelessness can be enhanced by a court upon conviction by one and a half times greater than the penalty of the underlying crime.
Prosecutors in the past both in D.C. and other states have said they sometimes decide not to include a hate crime designation in assault cases if they don’t think the evidence is sufficient to obtain a conviction by a jury. In some instances, prosecutors have said they were concerned that a skeptical jury might decide to find a defendant not guilty of the underlying assault charge if they did not believe a motive of hate was involved.
A more detailed arrest affidavit filed by D.C. police in Superior Court appears to support the charge of a hate crime designation.
“The victim stated that they refused to High-Five Defendant Edmondson, which, upon that happening, Defendant Edmondson started walking behind both the victim and witness, calling the victim, “bald, ugly, and gay,” the arrest affidavit states.
“The victim stated that upon being called that, Defendant Edmundson pushed the victim with both hands, shoving them, causing the victim to feel the force of the push,” the affidavit continues. “The victim stated that they felt offended and that they were also gay,” it says.
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