D.C. police this week announced they have arrested a Maryland man on charges of Destruction of Property and Defacing Private Property for allegedly pulling down and ripping apart rainbow colored cloth Pride ornaments on light poles next to Dupont Circle Park on June 2.

In a June 10 statement police said the suspect, identified as Michel Isaiah Webb, Jr., 30, also allegedly spray painted an anti-LGBTQ message on the window of a private residence in the city’s Southwest waterfront neighborhood two days later on June 4.

An affidavit in support of the arrest filed by police in D.C. Superior Court on June 9 says Web was captured on a video surveillance camera spray painting the message “Fuck the LGBT+ ABC!”  and “God is Real.” The affidavit does not say what Webb intended the letters “ABC” to stand for. 

“Detectives located video and photos in both offenses and worked to identify the suspect,” the police statement says. “On Sunday, June 8, 2025, First District officers familiar with these offenses observed the suspect in Navy Yard and made an arrest without incident.”

The statement continues: “As a result of the detectives investigation, 30-year-old Michael Isaiah Webb, Jr. of Landover, Md. was charged with Destruction of Property and Defacing Private Property.”

It concludes by saying, “The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating this case as potentially being motivated by hate or bias. The designation can be changed at any point as the investigation proceeds, and more information is gathered. A designation as a hate crime by MPD does not mean that prosecutors will prosecute it as a hate crime.”

The online D.C. Superior Court docket for the case shows that prosecutors with the Office of the United States Attorney for D.C. charged Webb with just one offense – Defacing Public or Private Property.

The charging document filed by prosecutors, which says the offense was committed on June 4, declares that Webb “willfully and wantonly wrote, marked, drew, and painted a word, sign, or figure upon property, that is window(s), without the consent of Austin Mellor, the owner and the person lawfully in charge thereof.”

But the charging document does not designate the offense as a hate crime or bias motivated crime as suggested by D.C. police as a possible hate crime.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request from the Washington Blade for an explanation of why the office did not designate the offense as a hate crime and why it did not charge Webb in court with the second charge filed by D.C. police of destruction of Property for allegedly destroying the Pride decorations at Dupont Circle.

The online public court records show that at a June 9 court arraignment Webb pleaded not guilty and Superior Court Judge Robert J. Hildum released him while awaiting trial while issuing a stay-away order. The public court records do not include a copy of the stay-away order. The judge also ordered Webb to return to court for a June 24 status hearing, the records show.

The arrest affidavit filed by D.C. police says at the time of his arrest, Webb waived his right to remain silent. It says he claimed he knew nothing at all about the offenses he was charged with.

“However, Defendant 1 stated something to the effect of, ‘It’s not a violent crime’ several times during the interview” with detectives, according to the affidavit.

The charge filed against him by prosecutors of Defacing Public or Private Property is a misdemeanor that carries a possible maximum penalty of 180 days in jail and a fine up to $1,000.

Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer hosted a flag raising ceremony and presented a proclamation marking June 2025 as Pride month on Tuesday. 

The public event took place at 11 a.m. at Legislative Hall in Dover. 

“For many, many years of our state’s history, coming out here and doing what we’re doing today would have been just about unimaginable,” Meyer said at the event. “Today, this is a symbol of all of the progress that we have all made together.”

Lieutenant Gov. Kyle Evans Gay, Sens. Dan Cruce, Russ Huxtable, and Marie Pinkney, Reps. Eric Morrison, Deshanna Neal, and Claire Snyder-Hall, and LGBTQ+ Commission Chair Cora Castle and Vice Chair Vienna Cavazos were in attendance, among others. 

Last week, Meyer announced the members of a new LGBTQ+ commission, which will work with the state government to improve services in areas such as employment, equality, education, mental health, social services, health, and housing. 

As Pride month continues, Delaware is currently considering an amendment to codify same-sex marriage in its Constitution. 

“Today is about making history and raising this flag,” said Lt. Gov. Gay at the event. “Today is about charting a new course forward with our new commission and today is about marking how far we’ve come.”

Continued attacks of LGBTQ South Africans are raising serious concerns about the community’s safety and well-being.

President Cyril Ramaphosa in May 2024 signed the Preventing and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill into law that, among other things, has legal protections for LGBTQ South Africans who suffer physical, verbal, and emotional violence. Statistics from the first and second quarters of 2025 have painted a grim picture.

Muhsin Hendricks, the country’s first openly gay imam, in February was shot dead in Gqeberha, in a suspected homophobic attack. Authorities in April found the body of Linten Jutzen, a gay crossdresser, in an open field between an elementary school and a tennis court in Cape Town.

A World Economic Forum survey on attitudes towards homosexuality and gender non-conformity in South Africa that Marchant Van Der Schyf conducted earlier this year found that even though 51 percent of South Africans believe gay people should have the same rights as their heterosexual counterparts, 72 percent of them feel same-sex sexual activity is morally wrong. The survey also notes 44 percent of LGBTQ respondents said they experienced bullying, verbal and sexual discrimination, and physical violence in their everyday lives because of their sexual orientation.

Van Der Schyf said many attacks occur in the country’s metropolitan areas, particularly Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg.

“Victims are often lured to either the perpetrator’s indicated residence or an out-of-home area under the appearance of a meet-up,” said Van Der Schyf. “The nature of the attacks range from strangulation and beatings to kidnapping and blackmail with some victims being filmed naked or held for ransom.”

The Youth Policy Committee’s Gender Working Group notes South Africa is the first country to constitutionally protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation and the fifth nation in the world to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. A disparity, however, still exists between legal protections and LGBTQ people’s lived experiences.

“After more than 20 years of democracy, our communities continue to wake up to the stench of grief, mutilation, violation, and oppression,” said the Youth Policy Committee. “Like all human beings, queer individuals are members of schooling communities, church groups, and society at large, therefore, anything that affects them should affect everyone else within those communities.”

The Youth Policy Committee also said religious and cultural leaders should do more to combat anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.

“Religious institutions seem to perpetuate the hate crimes experienced by queer individuals,” said the group. “In extreme cases, religious leaders have advocated for killings and hateful crimes to be committed against those in the queer community. South Africa’s highly respected spiritual guides, sangomas, are also joining the fight against queer killings and acts of transphobia and homophobia.”

“The LGBTQIA+ community is raising their voice and they need to be supported because they add a unique color to our rainbow nation,” it added.

Steve Letsike, the government’s deputy minister for women, youth, and persons with disabilities, in marking the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia on May 17 noted Ramaphosa’s administration has enacted legislative framework that protects the LGBTQ community. Letsike, however, stressed the government still needs to ensure its implementation.

“We have passed these policies and we need to make sure that they are implemented fully and with urgency, so that (LGBTQ) persons can self-determine and also have autonomy without any abusive requirements,” said Letsike. “We need families, faith leaders, traditional authorities, and communities to rise together against hate. Our constitution must remain respected.”

Siphokazi Dlamini, a social justice activist, said LGBTQ rights should be respected, as enshrined in the constitution.

“It is terrible to even imagine that they face discrimination despite the fact that this has been addressed numerous times,” said Dlamini. “How are they different from us? Is a question I frequently ask people or why should they live in fear just because we don’t like the way they are and their feelings? However, I would get no response.”

Dlamini added people still live in fear of being judged, raped, or killed simply because of who they are.

“What needs to be addressed to is what freedom means,” said Dlamini. “Freedom means to have the power to be able to do anything that you want but if it doesn’t hurt other people’s feelings while doing it. There is freedom of speech, freedom from discrimination, freedom of expression, of thought, of choice, of religion, of association, and these needs to be practiced. It is time to take such issues seriously in order to promote equality and peace among our people, and those who do not follow these rules should be taken into custody.”

Van Der Schyf also said LGBTQ South Africans should have a place, such as an inquiry commission, that allows them to talk about the trauma they have suffered and how it influences their distrust of the government.