Local
3 Baltimore employers earn top ratings from HRC
CareFirst, DLA Piper, T. Rowe win high marks
(Photo public domain)
CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, a Baltimore-based not-for-profit health care company and the region’s largest health insurer, is one of three Baltimore employers to have earned a top score of 100 percent from the Human Rights Campaign on the organization’s 2017 Corporate Equality Index.
The other two are DLA Piper and T. Rowe Price Associates. These companies are among 517 U.S. businesses to earn a CEI top rating and are also considered among of the “Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality” by HRC.
CareFirst is one of only 16 in the healthcare field to achieve the perfect score.
“It has long been a part of our company mission to promote respect, fairness and opportunity among all of our associates,” said CareFirst President and CEO Chet Burrell in a statement.
“This recognition from the Human Rights Campaign serves as a prominent reminder that we have been able to put that commitment into practice, ensuring CareFirst is a diverse and inclusive workplace,” he said.
DLA Piper, a global law firm with two Baltimore offices, received the perfect rating for the ninth consecutive year. It is one of 112 law firms to reach that level in the 2017 CEI.
T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., an asset management firm with offices in Baltimore and Owings Mills, Md., also received a perfect score and is one of 69 in the banking and financial services industry to do so.
The Corporate Equality Index serves as a national benchmarking tool for ranking American workplaces and focuses on equal employment opportunity policies, organizational LGBT competency and public commitment. Since 2002, HRC has published the annual CEI to highlight businesses leading the way on LGBTQ inclusion and non-discrimination.
To earn a 100 percent rating on the CEI, employers must: have sexual orientation and gender identity non-discrimination protections explicitly included in all operations; require U.S. contractors to abide by the company’s existing inclusive non-discrimination policies; and
implement internal requirements prohibiting company philanthropic giving to non-religious organizations that have a written policy of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Maryland
Parents sue Anne Arundel schools, allege officials hid child’s gender transition
America First legal Foundation filed lawsuit on July 8
By CODY BOTELER | Two parents, backed by a conservative nonprofit group, are suing Anne Arundel County Public Schools over the school system’s policies related to transgender children.
The suit, filed Wednesday in Maryland’s U.S. District Court, accuses staff at an unidentified county high school of lying to the parents, identified as John Doe and Jane Doe, about their child, identified as Mary Doe.
The Does allege the school “socially transitioned” their child without notice or their consent by using a masculine name and masculine pronouns for Mary Doe.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
Campaign launched to elect more LGBTQ candidates to ANC seats
Capital Stonewall Democrats behind Queering ANCs effort
The Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political group, announced on July 7 it has launched a campaign to help elect large numbers of LGBTQ candidates to the city’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions.
The D.C. local government is believed to be unique among U.S. cities in currently having 46 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions consisting of 345 single-member districts in neighborhoods throughout the city in which unpaid Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners are elected for two-year terms.
The commissions are charged with considering a wide range of policies and programs impacting their neighborhoods, including traffic, parking, recreation, street improvements, liquor licenses, zoning, economic development, police protection, sanitation and trash collection, and D.C.’s annual budget, according to the ANC website.
Although the ANCs do not have authority to set or reject policies or proposals, such as applications for liquor licenses, city agencies are required to give “great weight” to ANC recommendations, according to the law creating the ANCs.
Kent Boese, a gay former ANC commissioner, currently serves as executive director of the D.C. Office of ANCs.
“We are launching the most ambitious hyperlocal LGBTQ+ candidate pipeline initiative in the country,” said Stevie McCarty, the Capital Stonewall Democrats president, in a July 7 statement that announced the Queering ANCs campaign.
“As an ANC member, I know firsthand how these seats shape our neighborhoods, from housing and public safety to sanitation,” McCarty says in the statement. “I’m proud to lead this effort to ensure more LGBTQ+ Washingtonians see themselves as leaders in their communities,” he said.
The ANC Rainbow Caucus, which was created by LGBTQ ANC members, shows on its website that there are currently 38 caucus members consisting of elected LGBTQ ANC commissioners serving in the current 2025-2026 two-year term.
The website shows there are LGBTQ commissioners who are caucus members in each of the city’s eight wards, with six in Ward 1, eight in Ward 2, one in Ward 3, six in Ward 4, five in Ward 5, three in Ward 6, eight in Ward 7, and one in Ward 8.
The Washington Blade couldn’t immediately determine how many of them will be running for re-election in D.C.’s general election in November. But McCarty said Capital Stonewall Democrats hopes to recruit many more LGBTQ candidates to run for ANC seats.
The D.C. Board of Elections website shows the deadline for filing 25 required petition signatures to be placed on the ballot is Aug. 5.
A Queering ANCs website launched this week by Capital Stonewall Democrats provides details on how to run for an ANC seat and offers help for those interested in running.
“Think of someone in your building, neighborhood, friend group, community organization, or professional network who cares deeply about D.C. and would make a strong leader,” McCarty says in his statement. “Send them QueeringANCs.org and personally ask them to consider running,” he said.
The website can be accessed at QueeringANCs.org.
Baltimore
Ron Singer, owner of popular Mount Vernon gay bar Leon’s, dies
66-year-old’s funeral to take place Friday
By CAYLA HARRIS | Ron Singer, the owner of Baltimore’s popular gay bar Leon’s Backroom, died Tuesday, the venue announced in a social media post. He was 66.
“For more than 20 years, Ron made Leon’s a place so many people were proud to call home,” the post reads. “He will be deeply missed.”
The Mount Vernon bar, typically open from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily, is still open Thursday, but doors will close at midnight so staff can attend his funeral Friday morning. Services are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. at Sol Levinson’s Chapel.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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