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Comings & Goings
Victory Fund, HRC name two top new leaders
The ‘Comings & Goings’ column chronicles important life changes of Blade readers.
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
Ruben Gonzales
Ruben J. Gonzales is now vice president of leadership initiatives at the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund and Institute. The Institute is dedicated to advancing LGBT equality by identifying, recruiting, training and supporting openly LGBT public officials as well as building a pipeline of LGBT leaders. Ruben oversees the organization’s international and domestic programs, including its congressional internship and fellowship programs, Presidential Appointments Project and candidate and campaign trainings. He will also focus on growing support for these programs from private foundations and corporations to expand the number of LGBT leaders reached.
Prior to joining Victory this year, Ruben led all fundraising efforts at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. Ruben also previously served as the chief development officer at the United Cerebral Palsy, deputy vice president for resource development at the National Council of La Raza, director of development at the Urban Assembly, a school management organization based in New York City, and with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation as director of volunteer management. Ruben is also recognized as an expert on the role of Latinos in philanthropy and has been invited by the Association of Fundraising Professionals to present on this topic.
In 2013, Ruben was named by “Advocate” magazine as one of its Top 40 Under 40 for his leadership on behalf of LGBT Latinos. Ruben also serves on the board of directors of the Latin American Youth Center, which is headquartered in Columbia Heights. Ruben holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Santa Clara University. He is married to Joaquin Tamayo.
The Human Rights Campaign has named Jay Brown as the organization’s new communications director. HRC said, “Brown will serve as an organizational spokesperson and lead a team responsible for advocating for LGBT equality in the media as well as supporting and amplifying HRC programs.”
Jay Brown
Brown currently serves as HRC’s director of research and public education, “where he has helped shape the organization’s approach to generating research and educational campaigns aimed at enhancing the lives of LGBT people,” according to a statement. In his new role he will work closely with senior vice president of communications and marketing Olivia Alair Dalton. According to Dalton, “Jay is an incredibly talented communicator who has also led an impressive career as an advocate. He has spent a decade working to ensure equality for LGBT people at every intersection of their identities and lives. There is no one better equipped to lead our talented communications team and ensure we are ready to meet the challenges ahead in the fight for full equality.”
Brown said, “I couldn’t be more excited to join the communications team at such a pivotal time in the movement for LGBT equality. We still have so many stories left to tell about who we are, and the obstacles that still stand in front of so many LGBT people, in the United States and around the world.”
Brown worked at HRC from 2000 to 2006 where he managed communication strategies around the defeat of the Federal Marriage Amendment, advancing understanding of transgender people, and building support for hate crimes prevention legislation and the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” among other issues.
According to the HRC website, “prior to working with HRC Jay held director positions at Reading Is Fundamental and Carnegie Mellon University, focusing on integrated marketing and online communications. Jay is an out trans man and lives in Maryland with his spouse, Kendra, and their two children.”
Maryland
Union leader files assault complaint against gay Md. delegate after fight at early-voting site
Del. Gabriel Acevero, Gino Renne accuse each other of starting confrontation
By ANTONIO PLANAS | After a physical confrontation outside an early-voting site Thursday, local union leader Gino Renne filed an assault complaint against Del. Gabriel Acevero, who said he plans to do the same.
Each accuses the other of starting the fight and throwing punches in an incident Thursday at about 6 p.m. at the Bohrer Park Activity Center in Gaithersburg, police said. The park, an early-voting site that day, attracted many candidates and their supporters.
Acevero, 35, is defending his seat representing District 39, which includes Montgomery Village and surrounding areas. The primary is on Tuesday.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
Delaware
Delaware guv signs bill to protect children born using assisted reproduction
‘Modernizing laws to better reflect and protect today’s families’
Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer on June 9 signed SB 250, a bill that helps fill the gaps in the state’s parentage law.
SB 250 amends the 2017 Uniform Parentage Act to broaden the state’s legal framework for surrogacy. Prior to SB 250, some children, particularly those born through assisted reproduction or surrogacy, did not have a clear path to a legally recognized relationship with their parents. This created issues around parental decision-making and children’s access to health insurance.
According to the bill’s prime sponsor, Sen. Marie Pinkney, SB 250 ensures that every child in the state has a secure legal relationship with their parents. She said the bill modernizes outdated statutes and strengthens protections for children born through assisted reproduction or surrogacy.
These issues are more likely to affect queer families that rely on assisted reproduction methods to have children. Parentage laws are critical to the well-being of children and the ability of parents to care for them without unnecessary legal barriers.
“Today, we celebrate a victory for all children and families in Delaware. By modernizing its laws to better reflect and protect today’s families, Delaware has set an example for states across the country,” said Jordan Wilson, executive director of COLAGE.
COLAGE is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and empowering youth in LGBTQ+ families through activism and community.
“We are grateful to the many families and advocates who worked tirelessly to advance this legislation, from the bill’s drafters to the COLAGErs who shared their lived experiences directly with lawmakers,” said Wilson.
“Delaware is strongest when the law respects and protects all families,” said Mark Purpura, board member of Equality Delaware, a statewide organization focused on promoting and ensuring dignity, safety, and equality for all LGBTQ+ Delawareans.
The bill’s sponsors and co-sponsors include Sen. Pinkney, Rep. Krista Griffith, Sens. Russ Huxtable, Raymond Seigfried, and David Sokola; and Reps. Alonna Berry, Mara Gorman, Kerri Harris, Eric Morrison, DeShanna Neal, Sophie Phillips, and Cyndie Romer.
Rehoboth Beach
Rehoboth’s ‘Poodle Beach’ to be honored with historical marker
Delaware Public Archives to hold ceremony June 27
The Delaware Public Archives is set to unveil a new State of Delaware Historical Marker recognizing Rehoboth’s Poodle Beach Saturday, June 27, at 9 a.m. The unveiling will take place at the corner of Prospect Street and the South Boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach, Del.
The unveiling ceremony is free and open to the public and will include remarks from members of the community, government officials, and representatives from the Delaware Public Archives.
Located at the southern end of the boardwalk near Queen Street, Poodle Beach is one of the most famous sections of Rehoboth Beach, having served as a gathering place for the LGBTQ community for decades.
The Delaware Public Archives said that, “The marker recognizes the site’s longstanding role in the social and cultural history of both Rehoboth Beach and the State of Delaware.”
The petition to have Poodle Beach recognized with a historical marker was started by a group of Rehoboth Beach residents in June 2020 and was officially approved in December 2020.
Although the origins of where Poodle Beach got its name are unknown, its history can be traced back to du Pont heiress and well-known lesbian Louisa Carpenter. Carpenter and her LGBTQ group of friends would travel to ‘Carpenter Beach’ toward Dewey Beach in the19 30s and ‘40s.
Over time, the beach grew in popularity and began to be used predominantly by gay men in the following decades. It wasn’t until the ‘80s when the beach spread back toward the boardwalk as people stopped making the journey to Carpenter beach.
Poodle Beach was initially called “Lazy Gay Beach” because gay men got tired of walking so far from the boardwalk to get to Carpenter Beach.
There are multiple theories that explain how the name ‘Poodle Beach’ came to be. One of the most popular is the ‘Two cousin theory’ where it is rumored that a pair of cousins would drive up from Maryland and bring their poodle dogs onto the beach.
Poodle was also the site of the popular Labor Day weekend drag volleyball games that were started in 1988 and ended with COVID in 2020.
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