Local
Anti-gay graffiti spray painted on home of Rehoboth couple
State Police fail to list incident as hate crime
CAMP Rehoboth’s Steve Elkins described the graffiti as containing ‘vile homophobic slurs.’ (Washington Blade file photo by Damien Salas)
An LGBT rights advocate in Rehoboth Beach, Del., has expressed concern that Delaware State Police chose not to designate as a hate crime a Sept. 23 incident in which anti-gay messages were spray painted on the house of a gay couple.
Steve Elkins, executive director of CAMP Rehoboth, an LGBT community center, told the Washington Blade that he saw photos of the graffiti spray painted in several places on the couple’s rented house. He said the messages were definitely “crude and homophobic.”
Master Corp. Gary Fournier of the State Police told the Blade in an email that an unidentified suspect or suspects spray painted “obscene gestures and words” on the house and a vehicle parked in the driveway on the 19000 block of John J. Williams Highway, which is near Delaware Coastal Highway 1 outside the Rehoboth Beach City limits.
Fournier said State Police have designated the incident as a case of criminal mischief and trespass.
“The investigation into this incident is on-going and is not being investigated as a hate crime,” he said.
He declined to disclose what the spray painted messages said or what the “obscene gestures” depicted. He also declined to say why police don’t believe the incident is a hate crime.
Gene Harris, one of the two men who live in the house, told WRDE TV News that he and his partner woke up about 8 a.m. on Sept. 24 and discovered what he called hate fueled messages scrawled on their home.
The Cape Gazette, a Rehoboth-area newspaper, published two photos showing graffiti painted in several places on the exterior walls, the roof, and the garage door of the house. The photos were not taken close enough to show what the graffiti depicted.
“It took us back 20 or 30 years to a feeling of shame and humiliation and somehow embarrassment – yes embarrassment,” Harris told the TV news station.
Elkins, who also spoke to the TV news station, told the reporter in an on-camera interview that he viewed the incident as a hate crime.
“It’s pretty scary to see what was painted not only on the front of the home but all around the house,” he said. “And even on…a car that belonged to a friend of theirs was sprayed with some vile homophobic slurs,” Elkins said in the TV interview.
“It made me sick to my stomach to see it,” he said.
Elkins told the Blade that among the words sprayed on the house was “cock sucker.”
Jason Miller, a spokesperson for the Delaware Attorney General’s Office, said the office was aware of the incident and was monitoring the police investigation. He said that if an arrest is made the Attorney General’s office would make an independent decision on what charge should be filed against the person or persons arrested.
“Through our own review of the case, we can upgrade the charges,” he said, adding that his office would list the incident as a hate crime if it determines such a charge is warranted.
The Delaware News Journal reported that the house in which the two gay men live is owned by Sussex County Council member Joan Deaver, who lives in a nearby house.
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 next 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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