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New information on missing gay man leads to D.C. hotel

Family offers $5,000 reward for tip leading to Shaun Spaulding’s whereabouts

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Shaun M. Spaulding was last seen on March 17 at a D.C. hotel. (Images courtesy of Arlington Police Department)

An investigation by Arlington County, Va., police into a gay man who initially was reported missing and last seen on March 15 by his roommate at his residence in Arlington was seen again on March 17 at a Northeast D.C. hotel but remains missing, according to an Arlington police spokesperson.

News that Shaun M. Spaulding, 39, was seen at the Homewood Suites Hotel at 501 New York Ave., N.E. on March 17 was first reported by his family in a flier posted on Facebook. The family’s posted message also announces the family is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to Spaulding’s whereabouts.

In addition, the new flier released by the family includes more recent photos of Spaulding than the photo released in the earlier announcement by the family and police.

The hotel’s website lists its full name as the Homewood Suites by Hilton Washington, D.C. NoMa hotel, referring to its location in D.C.’s NoMa neighborhood near Union Station and the recently opened Union Market gourmet food and retail center.

Arlington police spokesperson Ashley Savage told the Washington Blade the Arlington Police Department has shared information about Spaulding’s disappearance with D.C. police.

“During the course of the missing person investigation, detectives confirmed he was last seen on New York Avenue in Northeast D.C. on March 17,” Savage said.

Neither Arlington police nor the family has disclosed who it was who saw Spaulding at the hotel. Savage has said police do not release specific details of an ongoing investigation.

Family members have posted on Facebook that Spaulding was a regular user of Grindr, and they were concerned his disappearance could be related to someone he met on that site.

The Arlington police missing person announcement describes Spaulding as a white male, five feet, seven inches tall and weighing 145 pounds. The announcement says his last known address is 1400 South Joyce Street in Arlington, which is one of three large apartment buildings known as the River House Apartments in the Pentagon City neighborhood.

“Mr. Spaulding suffers from medical health conditions requiring him to take medications, which he is not taking,” the police announcement says.

The flier released by Spaulding’s family this past weekend says Spaulding also goes by the name Mike or Conrad.

Arlington police are asking anyone with information about Spaulding’s whereabouts to contact Detective Rosa Ortiz at 703-228-7402 or at [email protected]. Information may also be provided through the Arlington Police Department tip Line at 703-228-4180.

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Virginia

Va. teacher fired for refusing to use student’s preferred pronouns reaches $575K settlement

State Supreme Court ruled in Peter Vlaming’s favor

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(Bigstock photo)

A Virginia teacher who was fired for refusing to use a transgender student’s preferred pronouns has reached a settlement with the West Point School Board, securing $575,000 in damages and legal fees. 

The school board agreed to settle Peter Vlaming’s wrongful termination lawsuit after the Virginia Supreme Court ruled last December it had violated Vlaming’s rights. 

In 2018, the school board fired the former French teacher for violating school board policies that prohibit discrimination and harassment based on gender identity.

Vlaming had refused to use male pronouns when referring to a trans student in his class. 

Following his dismissal, he sued the school board, claiming that the request to use the student’s preferred pronouns violated his conscience and went against his religious and philosophical convictions. 

The King William County Circuit Court first dismissed Vlaming’s case, but the Virginia Supreme Court later reinstated it and ruled in Vlaming’s favor.

“I’m very grateful for the work of my attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom to bring my case to victory, and hope it helps protect every other teacher and professor’s fundamental First Amendment rights,” Vlaming said in a statement through Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative, anti-LGBTQ Christian legal organization that represents him.

The West Point School Board has since revised its policies to comply with Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s overhaul of model policies for trans and nonbinary students.  

The new policies, which went into effect in July 2023, mandate that schools use students’ names and pronouns based on the sex listed in their official records. Staff are prohibited from using a different name or pronoun unless parents provide written consent, and students are required to use bathrooms that correspond with their sex assigned at birth. 

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Arlington County forms LGBTQ Advisory Committee

First meeting to take place on Oct. 21

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(Washington Blade photo by Ernesto Valle)

Arlington County’s newly formed LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee will hold its first meeting on Oct. 21. 

The committee will guide county leadership on LGBTQ issues and ensure representation of the community in local government.

Officially formed by Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz, the committee was developed in collaboration with Equality Arlington, a nonprofit LGBTQ advocacy organization. 

“We’re excited to see what the committee can do to help improve the county’s understanding of and services for the LGBTQ+ community,” Kellen MacBeth, the president and founder of Equality Arlington, said. 

The committee was developed with Alexandria’s LGBTQ+ Task Force and the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs as references. The County Manager will appoint 15 members who are active in the LBGTQ community to two year terms.

According to the committee’s charter, it will “keep county and community leadership apprised of issues and actions regarding the needs of LGBTQ+ residents, make recommendations to ensure LGBTQ+ residents can thrive in the county, and work to increase understanding and support for the LGBTQ+ community.”

The County Manager created the committee in response to a letter Equality Arlington sent to the Arlington County government in March that highlighted several areas where the county could improve its responsiveness to the needs of LGBTQ residents.

MacBeth said Equality Arlington had found that, while the county had an LGBTQ  liaison role, few people in the community and the county government knew about its existence. The role, he said, seemed to be more about securing points on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index — a tool evaluating the inclusiveness of municipal laws, policies, and services for LGBTQ people — than about serving the community.

“And we said, ‘That’s not what people think of when they think of having a liaison to a particular group within the community,’” MacBeth explained.

Together with the County Manager, Equality Arlington drafted the committee’s charter and proposed community members who could fill its seats, such as Freddie Lutz, the owner of Freddie’s Beach Bar  in Arlington. 

MacBeth envisions the committee as a place for LGBTQ Arlingtonians to interact with county government and increase the collaboration and coordination of the different LGBTQ serving organizations in the county, particularly in preparation for WorldPride in 2025. 

The first meeting on Oct. 21 will begin at 6 p.m. and members of the public can engage with the committee both virtually and in person at the Bozman Government Center. 

An application for those who are interested in serving on the committee is still open on the Arlington County website as of Wednesday.

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New Virginia license plate celebrates LGBTQ diversity

450 applications needed for it to become official option

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(Image courtesy of Diversity Richmond)

Diversity Richmond has designed a license plate that allows Virginia drivers to celebrate and raise the visibility of LGBTQ diversity. The Virginia-based LGBTQ nonprofit needs 450 applications by January for the plate to become an official state option. 

The license plate design features a group of hands stacked on top of each other in the far left corner, and the Progress Pride flag runs horizontally across the bottom of the plate. The words “Celebrate Diversity” are prominently displayed over the flag. 

Rev. Dr. Lacette Cross, executive director of Diversity Richmond, said the design celebrates the diversity of the LGBTQ community.

“[The design] reflects the diversity of the intersecting identities of our community,” she said.  

Applications are available on Diversity Richmond’s website, and the license plate costs $25. Once completed, applicants should email the form to Diversity Richmond, not to the Virginia DMV, as Diversity Richmond will submit both the applications and fees to the DMV on their behalf.

If the organization gathers 450 applications and payments by the start of the 2025 Virginia General Assembly session in January, Del. Betsy B. Carr (D-Richmond) will sponsor the plate through the approval process to make it an official option. 

The initiative also serves as a fundraiser for Diversity Richmond, which will receive a portion of the proceeds from the license plate registration fees. 

“The ultimate benefit,” Cross said, “is the continual visibility of LGBTQ persons, our allies, and our supporters that are driving around the Commonwealth of Virginia, spreading the message of acceptance and of allyship.”

She described Diversity Richmond as the hub of the LGBTQ community in Greater Richmond, noting the organization’s “really dynamic” work within the community. The nonprofit runs the popular thrift store Diversity Thrift, hosts the annual Virginia Pridefest in September, and exhibits the work of LGBTQ artists in its art gallery.

Diversity Richmond is planning to celebrate its 25th anniversary with a public party at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture on Wednesday, Nov. 13. 

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