Local
OUT Law honors Baltimore ‘trailblazers’
Praise for Brian Gaither, Red Emma’s
UB OUT Law COBALT honorees Brian Gaither and Ava Pipitone. (Photo by Kaite N. Vaught)
The University of Baltimore Law School’s LGBT group, OUT Law, presented its annual COBALT awards on April 20 at the University of Baltimore with approximately 40 in attendance. COBALT stands for Celebration of Our Baltimore Area LGBT Trailblazers.
“We honor individuals in the greater Baltimore area for their outstanding contributions to the LGBT community,” Robert Steininger, President of OUT Law, told the Blade. Activist Brian Gaither and Red Emma’s, a bookstore and coffeehouse cooperative in the Station North area of Baltimore, were recognized in this year’s ceremony.
Safe spaces for LGBT individuals was the theme for this year’s awards.
“Brian Gaither is receiving the Mark F. Scurti award for his work as the director of Maryland Pride Foundation of Maryland that has connected LGBT Marylanders to safe and supportive spaces especially those in rural communities,” says Steininger.
“Red Emma’s is being honored for creating a safe space where LGBT Marylanders can have their voices heard through community-run events such as the history of activism in LGBT neighborhoods.”
In 2007, Scurti received a Distinguished Alumni Award for his work for OUT Law. The award has been renamed the “Mark F. Scurti Award for Outstanding Contributions to the LGBT Community.” Scurti, a well-known gay attorney in Baltimore’s LGBT community, is now an associate judge on the District Court for Baltimore City.
“It’s an honor to be recognized for the work of the Pride Foundation of Maryland and to share the 2017 COBALT Award with Red Emma’s,” Gaither told the Blade. “We should all be working to make every last part of the country a safe space for LGBTQ people.” The Pride Foundation of Maryland was founded in 2014.
“The workers of Red Emma’s are honored by the award,” Ava Pipitone, one of the partners in the Red Emma’s worker cooperative, told the Blade. “Our project is the manifestation of the labor and love of the many organizers and creators who continually shape the space. No one person deserves credit. Red Emma’s is the sanctuary we come to today because all workers fight for it to be so. Queer, trans, People of Color, LGB, and Black sanctuaries are an ongoing collective effort.”
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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