Local
Equality center planned for North Baltimore
Plans to offer programs for underserved residents
In an effort to provide services and programs to residents in and around Charles Village and Waverly, a new non-profit called the North Baltimore Equality (NBEq) Center is being planned. Using the theme “Let’s be Bmore Equal,” the goal, according to founder Kelly Neel, is “to bring a small community center environment with programming and resources through partnerships for all ages, races, sexual orientations, gender identities, religions, etc. with a focus on LGBTQ individuals, in addition to programming and services for all underserved populations.”
The website, bmoreequal.org, offers a project outline, a volunteer application and a survey. The project outline provides the organization’s leadership structure and responsibilities as well as details concerning the proposed programs and services.
Neel, who was the interim executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Baltimore and Central Maryland before resigning last September, acknowledges that NBEq intends to offer programs and services that have historically been operated by the GLCCB. She points out that these services are needed throughout the city, not just in Mount Vernon and that GLCCB executive director Joel Tinsley-Hall is “100 percent on board.” Neel is asking the GLCCB to be a partner in this endeavor along with other community organizations.
Money will need to be raised as Neel estimates the first year’s budget between $60,000 and $65,000.
District of Columbia
Man who had sex with cucumber in driveway wanted by D.C. police
Homeowner provides police with video; incident listed as ‘lewd, indecent,’ act
D.C. police are seeking help from the community to identify a man captured on video performing a sex act on himself with a cucumber in the driveway of a home in the city’s Truxton Circle neighborhood near Dunbar High School, according to both a police press release and police incident report.
“On Friday, September 6, 2024, at approximately 5:00 p.m. the suspect was in the 200 block of N Street, NW.,” the police press release says. “The suspect performed a lewd act in view of the public,” it says. “The suspect then left the scene.”
The police incident report lists the offense committed by the unidentified man as “Lewd, indecent, or Obscene Acts.” The report says the homeowner called police to report the incident.
The local online publication DC News Now spoke to the homeowner whose security camera video, which she posted on Reddit, shows the man removing a cucumber from what appears to be a lunch box and crouching down and appearing to insert the cucumber in his anus while standing behind the homeowner’s car parked in a driveway.
“I was so disgusted, and freaked out,” DC News Now quotes the homeowner, Catherine Baker, as saying. “I want people, I want my neighbors to know and keep an eye out for this person,” Baker told DC News Now. “There’s a lot of kids, there are high school students, they walk themselves to and from school, but we all have to be vigilant about this kind of thing,” Baker is quoted as saying.
The police report, which identifies Baker as having contacted police to report the incident, describes what appears to be the suspect’s actions as captured on the video, which Baker provided to police. It says the man, identified as Suspect 1, “went on to move from the front of the vehicle to the rear of the vehicle in front of respondent 1’s [Baker’s] window and continued to perform lewd and obscene acts to the cucumber.”
The Washington Blade couldn’t immediately reach Baker for further comment.
She told DC News Now that she had not seen the suspect in her neighborhood prior to seeing him in the video from her security camera. The publication reports that Baker noticed that at one point the suspect appears to notice the security camera as seen in the video.
“It was that eye contact that really unsettled me, because it then continues for longer than one would imagine,” DC News Now quotes her as saying. “And of course, then he saves the cucumber for later, so it really leaves one with a lot of questions that no one wants to have on their mind,” she told DC News Now.
She was referring to the video that shows the suspect placing the cucumber back in his lunchbox before he walks away from the scene carrying the lunch box through an alley next to the driveway where the incident took place.
The police press release includes two photos of the suspect taken from the video. It says anyone who can identify the suspect or has further information about the incident should contact police at 202-727-9099.
A NSFW video of the incident was posted on Reddit here.
Virginia
Federal judge denies motion to dismiss gay student’s complaint against Va. school district
Complaint alleges Prince William County School District did not stop bullying
A gay former Prince William County middle school student alleges the county’s school board and school district failed to stop bullying against him because of his sexual orientation.
InsideNoVa.com reported the student’s mother filed the Title IX complaint in June 2023.
The website notes the complainant was a student at Ronald Reagan Middle School in Haymarket from 2019-2022, and his classmates subjected him to “regular and relentless anti-LGBTQ+ bullying.” InsideNoVa.com reports the complaint states the student and his mother “were met with victim blaming and inaction” when they approached the school’s principal and assistant principal.
The complainant is no longer a student in the school district.
U.S. District Court Judge Rossie D. Alston, Jr., in Alexandria on Aug. 22 denied motions to dismiss the complaint.
“PWCS remains committed to providing an inclusive and excellent education for every student and has no tolerance for harassment, bullying or intimidation of students,” Prince William County Public Schools Communications Director Diana Gulotta told the Washington Blade on Monday in an emailed statement.
“Regarding this specific case, PWCS does not comment on active litigation,” she added.
District of Columbia
LGBTQ veterans event set for Sept. 20 at D.C.’s Crush Dance Bar
Event to commemorate 13th anniversary of repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
The Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs and the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs are hosting a special event on Friday, Sept. 20, to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the repeal of the federal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law that banned LGBTQ people from serving openly in the U.S. military.
The event, called “Voices of Courage: Reclaiming the Legacy of LGBTQIA+ Inclusion In the Military,” will take place from 3-5 p.m. at D.C.’s LGBTQ Crush Dance Bar at 2007 14th St., N.W.
An announcement from the mayor’s office says the keynote speaker at the event will be Under Secretary of Defense For Personnel And Readiness Shawn G. Skelly, who will discuss “her experiences of service and the future of the LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the military.”
Skelly, a military veteran, will be joined by another veteran who will also speak at the event, Pip Baitinger, who currently serves as LGBTQIA+ Veterans Outreach and Relation Specialist in the Executive Office of the D.C. Mayor.
The announcement says the event will also include an official reading of a proclamation to be issued by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declaring Sept. 20, 2024, as LGBTQIA+ Veterans Day in Washington, D.C.
“On this day, we honor and celebrate the LGBTQIA+ veterans who have served with honor and bravery, and we reaffirm our dedication to fostering an inclusive and respectful environment for all who have served our nation,” the mayor’s proclamation says.
A statement from the mayor’s office says that since the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law was repealed by Congress in 2011, with the repeal bill signed by then President Barack Obama, “LGBTQ+ service members have enjoyed greater opportunities to serve authentically.”
The statement adds, “However, many transgender, intersex, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming individuals still face boundaries to serve fully authentically in the armed services.” It says the event will allow attendees to “mix and mingle” and allow “veterans, service members, and military family members with lived experiences in navigating restrictive policies to discuss the work that still needs to be done today.”