Local
Chaos, daily bombings: Gay man on plight of family trapped in Kyiv
Serge Duka fled Ukraine with now husband in 2013
A gay man from Ukraine who lives in D.C. with his husband says his mother-in-law remains hunkered down in her apartment in the country’s capital.
“She tells herself that everything’s fine,” Serge Duka told the Washington Blade on March 1 during a telephone interview. “That’s her way of coping with the whole situation.”
Duka, who lives in Chevy Chase, first spoke with the Blade a week after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.
He said he and his husband wanted his mother-in-law to leave Kyiv before the war, but “a friend of a friend” convinced her to stay. Duka repeatedly stressed he didn’t think Russian President Vladimir Putin would follow through with his threat to invade Ukraine.
“She is not in particularly good health,” said Duka on March 1, again referring to his mother-in-law. “She’s almost 70 years old and we don’t want her out there. We don’t want her to leave her apartment.”
Duka on Wednesday told the Blade in a second telephone interview that his mother-in-law with whom he and his husband speak every day remains in her Kyiv apartment.
Duka said there are “buildings that are destroyed” in the area of Kyiv where his mother-in-law lives, but her building “still stands.” Duka also told the Blade that it would prove difficult for his mother-in-law to evacuate Kyiv because the situation at the city’s train station is chaotic.
“She won’t be able to wrestle her way in,” said Duka.
Duka lived in Kyiv for seven years before he and his husband moved to the U.S. at the end of 2013 and asked for asylum because of the anti-gay persecution they suffered in Ukraine. Duka is from Rivne, a city in western Ukraine that is near the country’s borders with Belarus and Poland.
Duka on March 1 said his parents go to a makeshift bomb shelter that “they basically created less than a week ago in the basement of their apartment building” several times a day.
“No one expected that,” he said. “The expectation was the war would be in the entire east side (of Ukraine) and not the west side. They go there at least three to four times a day on a daily basis because of the air raids from Belarus.”
Duka on Wednesday told the Blade his parents’ situation has not changed.
“My parents are relatively safe,” he said.
“They run to the shelter down the street four times a day,” added Duka. “It’s not getting any worse. It’s not getting any better. They’re tired, angry.”
The invasion continues to spark worldwide condemnation and sweeping sanctions against Russia, Putin and members of his inner circle.
Magomed Tushayev, a Chechen warlord who played a role in the anti-LGBTQ crackdown in his homeland, died during a skirmish with the Ukrainian military’s elite Alpha Group outside of Kyiv.
Media reports indicate Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill on Sunday categorized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a struggle to protect two separatist regions in the eastern part of the country from “gay parades.” Russian authorities on March 5 announced they had detained Brittney Griner, a member of the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport after she allegedly had hashish oil in her luggage.
A White House official previously told the Blade the Biden administration has “engaged directly” with LGBTQ Ukrainians and other groups that Russia may target if it gains control of their country. Insight and other organizations inside Ukraine continue to raise money to support LGBTQ Ukrainians in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities under Russian attack. LGBTQ advocacy groups in neighboring countries and around the world have also backed these efforts.
Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision in 2013 to reject an agreement that would have brought his country closer to the European Union sparked a protest movement that culminated with violent clashes in Kyiv’s Maidan square. Yanukovych, who was allied with Putin, resigned and fled to Russia.
“Back then Russia created a huge campaign against the European Union and one of the main talking points was the point that they called Europe Sodom,” Duka told the Blade on March 1. “The Ukrainian people were targeted with all these stories about how there was 58 genders in Europe and children will be forced to change genders … they will give your children to gay people and all sorts of crap.”
Duka also said he thinks Russia funded neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine that targeted gay people. He noted to the Blade that his now husband was an LGBTQ activist and “was targeted heavily on the internet.”
“That’s one of the reasons why we left,” said Duka.
Duka said he and his husband continue to watch the news for updates on the war.
“When I sleep, he watches the news,” he said. “When he sleeps I watch the news and we are talking to our parents and relatives.”
Duka said he and his husband also feel helpless.
“There’s basically nothing much I can do,” he said.
Duka said the U.S. government has done “everything” it can do outside of sending troops to Ukraine, which he does not support.
“If they actually start the Third World War, it will be in Ukraine,” he said.
“If Russia started to fire nuclear weapons, they’ll be dead,” added Duka, referring to his family.
This week, President Biden announced a ban on Russian oil and natural gas as part of a crippling sanctions regime now joined by many businesses, including Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. A Polish plan to deploy jet fighters to Ukraine via an air base in Germany was rejected by the United States as too risky. Amid the intense bombing of Kyiv, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has appeared defiant and even broadcast a live message from his presidential offices this week. A 40-mile Russian convoy outside the capital remains stalled amid reports of problems with fuel and mechanical breakdowns. For the latest news on the Russian invasion, please visit our website.
Rehoboth Beach
Former CAMP Rehoboth official sentenced to nine months in prison
Salvator Seeley pleaded guilty to felony theft charge for embezzlement
Salvator “Sal” Seeley, who served as an official with the Rehoboth Beach, Del., CAMP Rehoboth LGBTQ community center for 20 years, was sentenced on April 5 by a Sussex County Superior Court judge to nine months in prison and to pay $176,000 in restitution to the organization.
The sentencing took place about five weeks after Seeley pleaded guilty to a charge of Theft in Excess of $50,000 for allegedly embezzling funds from CAMP Rehoboth, a spokesperson for the Delaware Department of Justice told the Washington Blade.
Seeley’s guilty plea came shortly after a grand jury, at the request of prosecutors, indicted him on the felony theft charge following an investigation that found he had embezzled at least $176,000 from the nonprofit LGBTQ organization.
“Salvatore C. Seeley, between the 27th day of February 2019 and the 7th day of September 2021, in the County of Sussex, State of Delaware, did take property belonging to CAMP Rehoboth, Inc., consisting of United States currency and other miscellaneous property valued at more than $50,000, intending to appropriate the same,” the indictment states.
“The State recommended a sentence of two years of incarceration based on the large-scale theft and the impact to the non-profit organization,” Delaware Department of Justice spokesperson Caroline Harrison told the Blade in a statement.
“The defense cited Seeley’s lack of a record and gambling addiction in arguing for a probationary sentence,” the statement says. “Seeley was sentenced in Superior Court to a nine-month prison term and to pay a total of $176,000 in restitution for the stolen funds,” Harrison says in the statement.
Neither Seeley nor his attorney could immediately be reached for comment.
At the time of Seeley’s indictment in February, CAMP Rehoboth released a statement saying it first discovered “financial irregularities” within the organization on Sept. 7, 2021, “and took immediate action and notified state authorities.” The statement says this resulted in the investigation of Seeley by the state Department of Justice as well as an internal investigation by CAMP Rehoboth to review its “financial control policies” that led to an updating of those policies.
“As we have communicated from day one, CAMP Rehoboth has fully cooperated with law enforcement,” the statement continues. “At its request, we did not speak publicly about the investigation while it was ongoing for fear it would jeopardize its integrity,” according to the statement. “This was extremely difficult given our commitment to transparency with the community about day-to-day operations during the recent leadership transition.”
The statement was referring to Kim Leisey, who began her job as CAMP Rehoboth’s new executive director in July of 2023, while the Seeley investigation had yet to be completed, following the organization’s process of searching for a new director. It says Seeley left his job as Health and Wellness Director of CAMP Rehoboth in September of 2021 after working for the organization for more than 20 years.
“Mr. Seeley’s actions are a deep betrayal to not only CAMP Rehoboth but also the entire community we serve,” the statement says.
Maryland
Christian Siriano to serve as grand marshal of Annapolis Pride Parade
Fashion designer is an Annapolis native
BY JOHN-JOHN WILLIAMS IV | He’s conquered fashion week. His designs have slayed the red carpet during award season. And now Christian Siriano is coming home.
The Annapolis native will serve as grand marshal and keynote speaker June 1 for the annual Annapolis Pride Parade and Festival, which is a major coup as the event enters its fourth year.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
As You Are bar closes temporarily, citing problems with building
Shutdown comes two months after fundraising appeal brought in $170,000
As You Are, the LGBTQ café and bar located in the Barracks Row section of Capitol Hill near the Eastern Market Metro station, has announced on its Instagram page that problems associated with its building at 500 8th St., S.E., forced it to “temporarily” close on April 8.
“As you may be aware, As You Are’s location in Eastern Market has been closed since April 8, when we began to have concerns about the physical condition of the building,” the Instagram message states. “We worked quickly to alert our landlord, and they have assessed the building with their engineers,” the message says.
“We understand that certain repairs need to be made to ensure the safety of our staff, patrons, and community,” the message concludes.
In one of two more recent videos posted on Instagram on April 17 and 26, As You Are co-owners Jo McDaniel and Rachel Pike said they did not have any update on when they can reopen. “The engineers and contractors have all come into the space, and we’re just waiting on a plan and a timeline from our landlord,” McDaniel said in the video.
Pike mentioned in one of the videos that As You Are has a Venmo app set up, and said they appreciate the support they have been receiving from the community. McDaniel added, “We’re really interested in supporting our team through this, as this is an unexpected loss of income for all of us.”
McDaniel didn’t immediately respond to a request from the Washington Blade for a further update on where things stand with the building repair project and the specific nature of the problems with the building. An earlier message posted on the As You Are website said, “Heavy rain damaged the back wall of our building, and we are closed to assess and repair.”
The message added, “Regular updates and ways to support can be found on our Instagram page @asyouaredc.”
The April 8 shutdown came a little over two months after As You Are issued a GoFundMe appeal on Feb. 5 seeking emergency financial support to prevent it from closing in February due to a $150,000 debt. In a display of strong community support, its $150,000 fundraising goal was reached in less than a week. By the following week, the GoFundMe appeal had pulled in more than $170,000 from more than 3,000 individual donations.
Many of the donors left messages on the GoFundMe page for As You Are expressing their strong support for the bar and café, saying it served as a uniquely supportive space for all members of the LGBTQ community.
In the GoFundMe message, McDaniel and Pike said their goal in opening their business in March 2022 was to offer community center type programming beyond just a bar and café.
“AYA is a café, bar and dance floor that hosts diverse programming nearly every night of the week, including social sport leagues, Queer youth socials, weekly karaoke, book clubs, open mics, Queer author events, dance parties, and much more,” the two said in their message.
The building’s owner and the As You Are landlord, Rueben Bajaj, who is the principal operator of the Bethesda, Md., based real estate firm White Star Investments, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. The Washington Post reported that he contributed $500 to the As You Are GoFundMe appeal, saying, “I personally want to see As You Are succeed.”
United Methodist Church removes 40-year ban on gay clergy
Republican state AGs challenge Biden administration’s revised Title IX policies
University students have a right to protest
Former CAMP Rehoboth official sentenced to nine months in prison
Christian Siriano to serve as grand marshal of Annapolis Pride Parade
Md. governor signs Freedom to Read Act
HHS reverses Trump-era anti-LGBTQ rule
4th Circuit rules gender identity is a protected characteristic
PHOTOS: Capital Pride Pageant
