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Comings & Goings
Freedman-Gurspan joins effort to overturn gerrymandering


The Comings and 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].Ā

Congratulations to Rob Marus, new Senior Director of Communications and Speechwriting at the Association of American Universities. AAU comprises 62 research universities that transform lives through education, research, and innovation. Their member universities earn the majority of competitively awarded federal funding for research that improves public health, seeks to address national challenges, and contributes significantly to our economic strength, while educating and training tomorrowās visionary leaders and innovators. Upon accepting the position Marus said, “I am excited about the opportunity to tell the story of America’s leading research universities which advance medicine and the sciences, innovate and stimulate our economy, and enrich our culture.”
He has served in the public sector for eight years. He was recently Senior Advisor for Communications for the District of Columbiaās Attorney General, Karl Racine. Prior to that he was Deputy Director/Senior Communications Officer in the Office of Communications, Executive Office of the Mayor, government of the District of Columbia. Before entering government Marus was managing editor and Washington bureau chief with the Associated Baptist Press. Before moving to D.C., he was a coordinator with the Mainstream Missouri Baptists, Jefferson City, Mo. and a news writer with Word & Way in Jefferson City, Mo. He has won numerous awards including a first-place award in news series competition for coverage of the Roy Moore/Ten Commandments controversy in 2004, Baptist Communicators Association, Wilmer C. Fields Awards Contest and a first-place award in interpretive reporting competition for a magazine article debunking Internet rumors commonly spread by evangelical Christians in 2002, Baptist Communicators Association, Wilmer C. Fields Awards Contest. Marcus is a member of the board of directors of the First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C; and a volunteer with Food and Friends.
Congratulations also to Raffi Freedman-Gurspan on her new job as Deputy Campaign Director for the All on the Line Campaign. AOTL is a project of the National Redistricting Action Fund, an affiliate of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, chaired by former Attorney General Eric Holder. Its mission is to end gerrymandering and restore fairness to our elections and democracy. She is leaving her position as director of external relations at the National Center for Transgender Equality. Mara Keisling, executive director of NCTE said, āRaffi remains an invaluable asset to the fight for transgender equality and we have always felt so privileged to have her work alongside us. While we certainly wish her well in the next exciting stage of her career, we will always miss her strength, courage, and energy.ā
Freedman-Gurspan said, āAfter two years working at the NCTE and the National Center for Transgender Equality Action Fund with an amazing team of individuals I will be moving on to another opportunity to serve the community. To my LGBTQ community, know that this decision was not easy. Although the organization I am joining is not specific to trans/LGBTQ advocacy, the impact is tied. Ending rigged elections and gerrymandering matters to the work of securing equal rights and opportunities, especially for the most vulnerable.ā
Prior to NCTE, she served the Obama administration as a senior associate director for public engagement, and primary liaison to the LGBT community, and outreach and recruitment director for presidential personnel at the White House. She was the first openly transgender staffer to work at the White House. She currently sits on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council as an appointee named by President Obama.

Virginia
Youngkin calls on gay Va. GOP LG candidate to exit race over alleged ‘porn’ scandal
John Reid denounces ‘fabricated internet lie’ as anti-gay smear campaign

Less than a week after John Reid, the conservative gay radio talk show host from Richmond secured the Republican nomination for the office of lieutenant governor in Virginia, sensational allegations have surfaced, which he strongly denies, that he allegedly posted pornographic photos on social media.
According to the Virginia Mercury newspaper, the allegations surfaced when Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkinās office released a statement saying Youngkin contacted Reid on Friday, April 25, and asked him to withdraw his candidacy over reports that a social media account with Reidās username included āpornographic contentā that was āsharedā with others.
āThe governor was made aware late Thursday of the disturbing online content,ā the Virginia Mercury quotes a Youngkin spokesperson as saying. āFriday morning, in a call with Mr. Reid, the governor asked him to step down as the lt. governor nominee,ā the spokesperson is quoted as saying.
Reid responded to the allegations in an early Friday evening video he posted on his campaignās Facebook page, calling the allegations āa totally fabricated internet lieā motivated by anti-gay bias.
āI can tell you thatās not my account and anyone on the internet can open accounts with the same or similar names as other people,ā he stated in his video. āItās predictable,ā he added.
āBut what I didnāt expect was the governor I have always supported to call and demand my resignation without even showing me the supposed evidence or offering me a chance to respond,ā Reid states in his video.
He said he will not drop out of the lieutenant governorās race and called the allegations against him just the latest in what he said was an ongoing effort by some in the Republican Party, especially conservative Christians, to force him out of politics.
āLetās be honest,ā he said. āitās because Iām openly gay. And I have never backed down to the establishment, and will not,ā he continued in his video message. āWhat happened today is another coordinated assassination attempt against me to force the first openly gay candidate off of a Virginia statewide ticket.ā
Reid added, āItās shameful, and I wonāt back down, even though I know the plan is for the attacks to continue in this overt effort to make me toxic.ā
Reid secured the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor last week after his only rival in the Republican primary, Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity, dropped out of the race for health reasons.
By securing the nomination Reid became the first known openly gay candidate, Republican or Democrat, to be nominated for a statewide office in Virginia.
In an interview with the Washington Blade earlier this week Reid pointed out that he came out as gay in 1996 or 1997 on National Coming Out Day in his role as TV news anchor in Richmond, where he worked for 10 years.
Following that, Reid worked as a radio talk show host for the next eight years, promoting his ideas as a gay conservative Republican, up until shortly before he announced his candidacy for lieutenant governor, he told the Blade.
Reidās video responding to the accusations against him can be accessed here.
Reidās campaign website and statements he has released to the media acknowledge his status as a gay candidate but point out he has a long record of support for conservative Republican positions on a wide range of issues that are against the positions of most mainline LGBTQ rights organizations.
āIām not a diversity hire,ā he stated in a press release issued at the time he announced his candidacy in January. āIām the most conservative and proven candidate running, and Iāve boldly stood up for our beliefs in a way that should make my personal life a total nonissue,ā he stated.
A statement on his campaign website states āJohn is uniquely positioned to take the fight to the radical progressives head on as he continues his fight against boys in girlsā sports and the extreme trans agenda being forced upon our children.ā
His campaign website statement on transgender issues concludes by saying, āAnd we must be blatant in saying that it is factually impossible for biological men or women to personally decide to change their gender. John believes in the right for grown adults to live their lives as they see fit, but not if they impose restrictions and obligations on others and not if any of their behavior sexualizes or grooms children.
Maryland
A Baltimore theater educator lost jobs at Johns Hopkins and the Kennedy Center
Tavish Forsyth concluded they could not work for Trump

BY WESLEY CASE | Tavish Forsyth had come to a conclusion: They could not work for President Donald Trump.
So the 32-year-old Baltimore resident stripped down, turned on their camera, and lit their career on fire.
āFāā Donald Trump and fāā the Kennedy Center,ā a naked Forsyth, an associate artistic lead at the Washington National Operaās Opera Institute, which is run by the Kennedy Center, said in a video that went viral. The board of the nationās leading cultural institution had elected Trump just weeks prior as its chairman after he gutted the board of members appointed by his predecessor, President Joe Biden.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
Little Gay Pub to host April 25 celebration of life for Patrick Shaw
School teacher, D.C. resident praised for āwarmth, humor, kindnessā

Co-workers and friends will hold a celebration of life for highly acclaimed schoolteacher and D.C. resident Patrick Shaw beginning at 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 25 at The Little Gay Pub 1100 P St., N.W.
Little Gay Pub co-owner and Shawās friend, Dusty Martinez, said Shaw passed away unexpectedly on April 19 from a heart related ailment at the age of 60.
āPatrick touched so many lives with his warmth, humor, kindness, and unmistakable spark,ā Martinez said. āHe was a truly special soul ā funny, vibrant, sassy, and full of life and we are heartbroken by his loss.ā
In an Instagram posting, Shawās colleagues said Shaw was a second-grade special education teacher at the J.F. Cook campus of D.C.ās Mundo Verde Bilingual Public Charter School.
āPatrick brought warmth, joy, and deep commitment to Mundo Verde,ā his colleagues said in their posting. āHis daily Broadway sing-alongs, vibrant outfits, and genuine love for his students filled our community with energy and laughter.ā
The posted message adds, āPatrick was more than a teacher; he was a light in our school, inspiring us all to show up with heart, humor, and kindness every day. His spirit will be deeply missed.ā
The Washington Blade is preparing a full obituary on Patrick Shaw to be published soon.
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