Local
Casa Ruby grant for trans people with HIV extended
30 clients faced losing access to services
Casa Ruby founder Ruby Corado expressed concern about the status of a D.C. DOH grant for HIV prevention-related services. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
The possibility that as many as 30 transgender women with HIV would lose access to life-sustaining services provided by the D.C. group Casa Ruby on March 1 was averted this week when the D.C. Department of Health extended funding for a Casa Ruby case management program.
DOH spokesperson Jasmine Gossett said DOH was unable to renew a grant that funded the Casa Ruby program for the past three years because the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which provided the funds for the grant, changed its eligibility requirement for the grant.
According to Gossett, HHS discontinued funding for non-medical case management services that Casa Ruby has been providing and limited its grant funds to only medical case management services, which involve work by physicians, nurses and other trained medical professionals.
As a stop gap measure, Gossett said DOH this week awarded Casa Ruby a “transition grant” that will use D.C. funds to enable Casa Ruby to continue its case management services to transgender clients with HIV until at least June of this year.
“The transition grant will run through June and then after that we’ll be working to identify other funding so there should never be a lapse,” Gossett told the Washington Blade. “We value the work that she does so there was never a time when we would let this lapse,” Gossett said, referring to Casa Ruby founder and executive director Ruby Corado.
Corado said she was pleased over the news that funding for the trans case management program would be continued but said she was concerned about the status of another D.C. DOH grant for HIV prevention-related services targeting LGBT youth. Corado said DOH officials told her in October, when that grant was scheduled to expire, that they would renew the grant, saying they were pleased with the work Casa Ruby was doing.
But in what appears to be a misunderstanding, Corado said she interpreted a verbal commitment to renew the grant to give her the go-ahead to continue performing the services, which included paying the salary for two employees conducting the work. On Tuesday, Corado said, a DOH official told her Casa Ruby could not be reimbursed for the services it carried out from October to this month because the grant had not been officially approved and the paperwork completed until this week.
“They said we never gave you a written grant,” Corado said. “I kept the staff and continued with the project.”
DOH spokesperson Gossett told the Blade on Wednesday that DOH is not legally authorized to release funds for a grant that has not been officially completed and approved. She said that legal requirement applies to all grant recipients, not just Casa Ruby.
“They were never told to go ahead with this before the paperwork was completed,” Gossett said.
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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