Local
Lesbian judges seek election in Baltimore
‘Community can count on all of us for fair treatment in our courts’
Judges Audrey Carrión and Shannon Avery are running for a 15-year term. (Photo courtesy Carrión and Avery)
While much attention is being focused on Baltimore’s mayoral and City Council contests, another important race is taking place that impacts the city’s LGBT community. Six sitting judges on the Circuit Court, running as a slate, are seeking election for a term of 15 years. Their names will be on the ballot on April 26. They preside over the different cases that come to Circuit Court, including criminal, civil, family (divorce, child custody, adoptions) and juvenile.
Two of these judges are out lesbians: Shannon E. Avery and Audrey J.S. Carrión. The other four — Michael DiPietro, Karen C. Friedman, Wanda Keyes Heard and Cynthia H. Jones — have also demonstrated fairness toward LGBT Marylanders.
For example, Judge Friedman is well known for an opinion she wrote when she was a judge in the orphans’ court in which she broke ground in respecting the wishes of a same-sex couple prior to marriage equality.
“Judge DiPietro’s brother is an out gay man,” Avery told the Blade. “Judges Jones and Heard have demonstrated values of fairness and equality to LGBT people. We all marched in the Pride parade last summer.”
She added, “While Audrey Carrión and I have a particular interest to the community, we can vouch for the whole ticket. The LGBT community can count on all of us for fair and equal treatment in our courts.”
Avery, who was appointed by Gov. Martin O’Malley to the District Court in August 2010 and then to the Circuit Court in February 2014, has a long record of pro-LGBT activism since 1989. Aside from being on numerous boards and commissions and serving as an adviser to several elected officials, Avery is the past president of the FreeState Legal Project. She was co-chair of the Baltimore Justice Campaign that secured domestic partnership benefits for Baltimore City employees.
Avery spearheaded a police advisory board for LGBT issues, as well as an LGBT youth advocacy board that is now known as the Youth Equality Alliance (YEA!). She is currently a member of the International Association of LGBT Judges and works as an adjunct professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law.
Judge Carrión, a fellow of the Maryland Bar Foundation and the Baltimore City Bar Association Foundation, has been a member of the Maryland Hispanic Bar Association since 1993. Carrión was appointed to both the District Court and Circuit Court by Gov. Parris Glendening. She currently sits on the Civil Docket of the court and is the director of the Business and Technology Case Management Program, which covers complex civil business matters.
“For approximately six years I was the judge in charge of our family division and in that role I created an atmosphere that was welcoming to our LGBT families,” Carrión told the Blade. “I approved hundreds of same-sex second parents’ adoptions and included same-sex families in our annual adoption month celebration in November. It has always been important to me that LGBT families be treated with respect.”
Carrión added, “When I sat as the drug court judge in the Juvenile Division I made sure that the counselors who worked with our youth were sensitive to LGBT issues. Every year for the past 10 years I’ve taught the diversity section of the new judges’ orientation in which among other topics I cover LGBT subjects.”
Avery said it is important to have out lesbians and gay men represented in the judiciary because people need to see that the judiciary represents a fair cross-section of the population.
“It contributes to the legitimacy and sense of fairness of the courts,” she said. “We are really proud of the diversity of the six sitting judges who are running in 2016.”
In an official statement released at the reveal event Capital Pride Alliance described its just announced 2026 Pride theme of “Exist, Resist, Have the Audacity” as a “bold declaration affirming the presence, resilience, and courage of LGBTQ+ people around the world.”
The statement adds, “Grounded in the undeniable truth that our existence is not up for debate, this year’s theme calls on the community to live loudly and proudly, stand firm against injustice and erasure, and embody the collective strength that has always defined the LGBTQ+ community.”
In a reference to the impact of the hostile political climate, the statement says, “In a time when LGBTQ+ rights and history continue to face challenges, especially in our Nation’s Capital, where policy and public discourse shape the future of our country, together, we must ensure that our voices are visible, heard, and unapologetically centered.”
The statement also quotes Capital Pride Alliance CEO and President Ryan Bos’s message at the Reveal event: “This year’s theme is both a declaration and a demand,” Bos said. “Exist, Resist, Have Audacity! reflects the resilience of our community and our responsibility to protect the progress we’ve made. As we look toward our nation’s 250th anniversary, we affirm that LGBTQ+ people have always been and always will be part of the United States’s history, and we will continue shaping its future with strength and resolve,” he concluded.
District of Columbia
Capital Pride board member resigns, alleges failure to address ‘sexual misconduct’
In startling letter, Taylor Chandler says board’s inaction protected ‘sexual predator’
Taylor Lianne Chandler, a member of the Capital Pride Alliance Board of Directors since 2019 who most recently served as the board’s secretary, submitted a letter of resignation on Feb. 24 that alleges the board has failed to address instances of “sexual misconduct” within the Capital Pride organization.
The Washington Blade received a copy of Chandler’s resignation letter one day after she submitted it from an anonymous source. Chandler, who identifies as transgender and intersex, said in an interview that she did not send the letter to the Blade, but she suspected someone associated with Capital Pride, which organizes D.C.’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, “wants it out in the open.”
“It is with a heavy heart, but with absolute clarity, that I submit my resignation from the Capital Pride Alliance Board of Directors effective immediately,” Chandler states in her letter. “I have devoted nearly ten years of my life to this organization,” she wrote, pointing to her initial involvement as a volunteer and later as a producer of events as chair of the organization’s Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, and Intersex Committee.
“Capital Pride once meant something profound to me – a space of safety, visibility, and community for people who have often been denied all three,” her letter continues. “That is no longer the organization I am part of today.”
“I, along with other board members, brought forward credible concerns regarding sexual misconduct – a pattern of behavior spanning years – to the attention of this board,” Chandler states in the letter. “What followed was not accountability. What followed was retaliation. Rather than addressing the substance of what was reported, officers and fellow board members chose to chastise those of us who came forward.”
The letter adds, “This board has made its priorities clear through its actions: protecting a sexual predator matters more than protecting the people who had the courage to come forward. … I have been targeted, bullied, and made to feel like an outsider for doing what any person of integrity would do – telling the truth.”
In response to a request from the Blade for comment, Anna Jinkerson, who serves as chair of the Capital Pride board, sent the Blade a statement praising Taylor Chandler’s efforts as a Capital Pride volunteer and board member but did not specifically address the issue of alleged sexual misconduct.
“We’re also aware that her resignation letter has been shared with the media and has listed concerns,” Jinkerson said in her statement. “When concerns are brought to CPA, we act quickly and appropriately to address them,” she said.
“As we continue to grow our organization, we’re proactively strengthening the policies and procedures that shape our systems, our infrastructure, and the support we provide to our team and partners,” Jinkerson said in her statement. “We’re doing this because the community’s experience with CPA must always be safe, affirming, empowering, and inclusive,” she added.
In an interview with the Blade, Chandler said she was not the target of the alleged sexual harassment.
She said a Capital Pride investigation identified one individual implicated in a “pattern” of sexual harassment related behavior over a period of time. But she said she was bound by a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) that applies to all board members and she cannot disclose the name of the person implicated in alleged sexual misconduct or those who came forward to complain about it.
“It was one individual, but there was a pattern and a history,” Chandler said, noting that was the extent of what she can disclose.
“And I’ll say this,” she added. “In my opinion, with gay culture sometimes the touchy feely-ness that goes on seems to be like just part of the culture, not necessarily the same as a sexual assault or whatever. But at the same time, if someone does not want those advances and they’re saying no and trying to push you away and trying to avoid you, then it makes it that way regardless of the culture.”
When asked about when the allegations of sexual harassment first surfaced, Chandler said, “In the past year is when the allegation came forward from one individual. But in the course of this all happening, other individuals came forward and talked about instances – several which showed a pattern.”
Chandler’s resignation comes about five months after Capital Pride Alliance announced in a statement released in October 2025 that its then board president, Ashley Smith, resigned from his position on Oct. 18 after Capital Pride became aware of a “claim” regarding Smith. The statement said the group retained an independent firm to investigate the matter, but it released no further details since that time. Smith has declined to comment on the matter.
When asked by the Blade if the Smith resignation could be linked in some way to allegations of sexual misconduct, Chandler said, “I can’t make a comment one way or the other on that.”
Chandler’s resignation and allegations come after Capital Pride Alliance has been credited with playing the lead role in organizing the World Pride celebration hosted by D.C. in which dozens of LGBTQ-related Pride events were held from May through June of 2025.
The letter of resignation also came just days before Capital Pride Alliance’s annual “Reveal” event scheduled for Feb. 26 at the Hamilton Hotel in which the theme for D.C.’s June 2026 LGBTQ Pride events was to be announced along with other Pride plans.
District of Columbia
Capital Stonewall Democrats elect new leaders
LGBTQ political group set to celebrate 50th anniversary
Longtime Democratic Party activists Stevie McCarty and Brad Howard won election last week as president and vice president for administration for the Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political organization.
In a Feb. 24 announcement, the group said McCarty and Howard, both of whom are elected DC Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, ran in a special Capital Stonewall Democrats election to fill the two leadership positions that became vacant when the officers they replaced resigned.
Outgoing President Howard Garrett, who McCarty has replaced, told the Washington Blade he resigned after taking on a new position as chair of the city’s Ward 1 Democratic Committee. The Capital Stonewall Democrats announcement didn’t say who Howard replaced as vice president for administration.
The group’s website shows its other officers include Elizabeth Mitchell as Vice President for Legislative and Political Affairs, and Monica Nemeth as Treasurer. The officer position of secretary is vacant, the website shows.
“As we look toward 2026, the stakes for D.C. and for LGBTQ+ communities have never been clearer,” the group’s statement announcing McCarty and Howard’s election says. “Our 50th anniversary celebration on March 20 and the launch of our D.C. LGBTQ+ Voter’s Guide mark the beginning of a major year for endorsements, organizing, and coalition building,” the statement says.
McCarty said among the organization’s major endeavors will be holding virtual endorsement forums where candidates running for D.C. mayor and the Council will appear and seek the group’s endorsement.
Founded in 1976 as the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the organization’s members voted in 2021 to change its name to Capital Stonewall Democrats. McCarty said the 50th anniversary celebration on March 20, in which D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and members of the D.C. Council are expected to attend, will be held at the PEPCO Gallery meeting center at 702 8th St., N.W.
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