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Larry Hogan to take office on Jan. 21
Advocates confident pro-LGBT laws will remain in place
Larry Hogan will formally take office on Jan. 21. (Photo by Marrh2; courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
Larry Hogan on Jan. 21 will officially take office as Maryland’s next governor.
The Republican said during his campaign against Lieutenant Gov. Anthony Brown to succeed outgoing Gov. Martin O’Malley that he would not seek to repeal the state’s same-sex marriage law that voters approved in a 2012 referendum.
Hogan told the Baltimore Sun ahead of last June’s GOP gubernatorial primary that he opposes Maryland’s transgender rights law. It remains unlikely he will seek to repeal the statute once he takes office, in part, because the General Assembly that passed it remains under Democratic control.
“I’m going to be governor for all Marylanders,” Hogan told reporters during an Annapolis press conference after his surprise win.
Blair Lee, a Silver Spring developer who Hogan tapped as a member of his transition team, in 2012 described gay sex as a “mortal sin” in a column against Maryland’s same-sex marriage law that he wrote for the Gazette newspapers. The Montgomery County Democrat in a 2006 column compared gays to pedophiles and serial killers.
State Sen. Chris Shank (R-Washington County) claimed in a 2012 op-ed he wrote for the Herald-Mail newspaper that marriage rights for same-sex couples would jeopardize religious freedom in Maryland.
Hogan earlier this month appeared at an event in Williamsport that Shank and state Del. Neil Parrott (R-Washington County) hosted.
Parrott last spring spearheaded an unsuccessful effort to collect enough signatures to prompt a referendum on Maryland’s trans rights statute that took effect in October.
WorldPride 2025 concluded with the WorldPride Street Festival and Closing Concert held along Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. on Sunday, June 8. Performers on the main stage included Doechii, Khalid, Courtney Act, Parker Matthews, 2AM Ricky, Suzie Toot, MkX and Brooke Eden.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Celebrating the transgender community, Baltimore Safe Haven, an organization committed to empowering LGBTQ individuals in Baltimore City, plans to host their fourth annual Baltimore Trans Pride on Saturday.
Instead of the usual parade and march, this year’s Trans Pride will be a block party on Charles Street and between 21st and 22nd Streets. The event will start at 1 p.m. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and last until 10 p.m.
Community members can go on guided tours, enjoy refreshments by local vendors, listen to presenters, and watch performances by special guests.
Sukihana, the event’s headliner, plans to take to the stage to entertain the crowd, along with a variety of local performers, according to Melissa Deveraux, Baltimore Safe Haven’s executive assistant to Executive Director Iya Dammons.
“Some (are) prominently known, some (are) just making a name for themselves,” Deveraux said. Iya is always making sure that community talent is showcased at all of our functions.”
In company with Pride on Saturday, Baltimore Safe Haven will be opening its new building on Friday from 1-4 p.m.
“That is sort of going to be the prelude to pride,” Lau said. “Thanks to Sen. Mary Washington and the Weinberg Foundation, we were able to purchase the building outright, and it’s going to be a community hub of administrative buildings and 12-bedroom apartments.”
Renee Lau, administrative assistant for special projects coordinator for Baltimore Safe Haven, said the planning process for Baltimore Trans Pride began in January, and putting it all together was a collaboration of multiple city agencies and organizations.
“Safe Haven is an LGBT community organization, but we service the entire community, and that’s the message we try to spread,” Lau said. “We’re not just here for the LGBT community. We’re here to spread goodwill and offer harm reduction and housing to the entire community.”
Lau said the organization’s biggest goal for the event is to gain exposure.
“(We want) to let and let people know who we are and what our community is about,” she said. “Right now, because of what’s happening in DC, there’s a lot of bad untruths going on, and the total thing is bringing out the truth.”
Deveraux said having a place of inclusivity, acceptance, and togetherness is important in today’s political climate and the current administration.
“This event will have people seeing the strength and resilience of the transgender community, showing that no matter what we are going through, we still show up,” Deveraux said. “We are here, we will not be erased.”
The 2025 WorldPride Parade was held in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, June 7. Laverne Cox and Renée Rapp were the grand marshals.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key and Robert Rapanut)
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