Virginia
Investigation continues for murder of 17-year-old trans woman in Hampton, Va.
Man arrested for shooting at party where witnesses say suspect confronted victim
Hampton, Va. police say they are continuing their investigation into the April 2 shooting death of a 17-year-old transgender woman who witnesses say was shot multiple times at a party by the boyfriend of a young woman who was arguing with a friend of the victim.
Police said the victim, who friends have identified as Hampton resident Ariyanna Mitchell, was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after 2:00 a.m. on April 2 at a residence on the 500 block of Wine Street in Hampton.
A statement released by Hampton police says the investigation into the incident led to the arrest on April 9 of Jimmy Leshawn Williams, 19, on charges of one count of Murder and one count of Use of Firearm in Commission of a Felony in connection with Mitchell’s murder. The statement says Williams, a resident of Nofolk, Va., was taken into custody in Chesapeake, Va.
Local TV station WAVY 10 reported it spoke with a friend of Mitchell who said the shooting stemmed from a fight at a party in Norfolk earlier in the night of the shooting between the friend and Williams’ girlfriend.
“{Williams’ girlfriend] was going to get her boyfriend to shoot me and everybody in this house,” WAVY quoted the friend as saying. According to WAVY, the friend said the bullets fired by Williams were meant for her, not Mitchell.
The TV news station further reports that court documents disclose that a witness told police Williams arrived at the house in Hampton where the party was taking place in his girlfriend’s car and asked Mitchell whether she was involved in a fight involving his girlfriend. The witness reportedly told police Mitchel said she was involved. Other press reports have cited sources saying Mitchell intervened to help protect her friend, who got into an altercation with Williams’ girlfriend.
“Paperwork says the witness told police Williams asked if Mitchell was a boy or a girl,” WAVY TV news reports in one of its stories on the incident. “Documents say Mitchell replied a boy, and that’s when Williams shot Mitchell multiple times,” WAVY reports.
Friends of Mitchell have said she identified as a girl.
An earlier police statement released at the time the murder occurred, which appealed to the public for information about the then unidentified suspect, identifies victim Mitchell as a “17-year-old male” and does not release Mitchell’s name.
Hampton police spokesperson Sgt. Reggie Williams told the Washington Blade it was the victim’s family that identified Mitchell as a male.
“Because the victim is a juvenile, we don’t identify the victim in our press releases,” Williams said. “But according to the family, the victim is a 17-year-old male,” he said.
Williams said copies of the police report for the incident would not be available at this time because the investigation is continuing.
“The motive and circumstances surrounding this incident remain under investigation and there is no further information to release at this time,” the earlier police statement released at the time of the murder says.
An obituary for Mitchell posted on the website of the ME Fisher Funeral Home in Newport News, Va., which handled funeral arrangements for Mitchell, appears to contradict the police claim that Mitchell’s parents identified Mitchel as a male. The obituary, which presumably was prepared from information provided by Mitchell’s family, refers to Mitchell as a woman and uses her female first name.
“Ariyanna was a student in her junior year at the East End Academy under the direction of Mrs. Ruby Gilliam, CEO,” the obituary says. “She was an avid member of the Triple E (Electra Eagles Elite) Dance Academy under the guidance of Mrs. Pandora Carter,” the obituary continues. “Ariyanna loved dancing and styling hair. She was truly unique, funny, and loved by everyone.”
The obituary identifies Mitchell’s parents, Kashunda Mitchell and Marvin Chadwick, and six siblings along with grandparents, aunts, and seven cousins as among Mitchell’s surviving family members.
However, the obituary, while using female pronouns and using her chosen first name of Aryanna, also uses in its headline a male first name.
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, said in a statement that Mitchell’s death marked at least the 11th violent murder of a transgender or gender non-conforming person in the U.S. in 2022. The HRC statement says the group was aware of at least 57 transgender or gender non-conforming deaths in 2021 due to violence, which it says was the largest number of fatal trans violence incidents recorded in a single year since it began tracking anti-trans violence in 2013.
“We say ‘at least’ because too often these deaths go unreported – or misreported,” the HRC statement says, adding that the number of trans murders could be far greater than the numbers reported by law enforcement agencies.
Virginia
Doug Ollivant to face Eugene Vindman in Va. 7th Congressional District
Republican defeated challengers in Tuesday’s primary
Republican Doug Ollivant will face off against incumbent U.S. Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.) in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.
Ollivant defeated his Republican opponents in Tuesday’s primary. Vindman ran unopposed.
Vindman in 2024 ran to succeed then-Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger in the U.S. House of Representatives after she ran for governor. Spanberger succeeded Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2025.
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) on Tuesday easily won his primary. All other Democratic incumbent members of Congress from Northern Virginia also won their respective primaries.
Virginia
Winsome Earle-Sears launches campaign against Va. marriage equality amendment
Former LG lost to Abigail Spanberger in 2025 gubernatorial race
Less than a year after losing Virginia’s gubernatorial race, former Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is campaigning across the state against constitutional amendments that would protect marriage equality and reproductive freedom.
She is launching a statewide “Life and Marriage Tour” ahead of November’s election.
Although same-sex couples can legally marry under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, Virginia’s constitution still contains language that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. Supporters say removing the language would protect marriage equality should federal precedent change.
The original ban was written into the state constitution in 2006.
It has been hinted at in the past by Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas that he would consider revisiting Obergefell v. Hodges regarding contraception and marriage rights for same-sex couples. He stated this in his concurring opinion regarding the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, which allows for state-level abortion bans.
Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman said removing the ban would bring the state’s constitution in line with existing law.
“20 years after banning marriage equality, it’s time for our commonwealth to fully complete our evolution — and finish the job on protecting marriage equality for all,” Rahaman said.
In an email to supporters, Earle-Sears said these amendments “raise serious concerns” and could alter principles about which Virginians care.
“That is why our efforts are focused not only on informing voters, but also encouraging them to carefully consider these proposals and vote NO on both amendments,” Earle-Sears said.
Virginia voters will consider three constitutional amendments this November.
Earle-Sears is campaigning for voters to reject two of them: the Virginia Remove Constitutional Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment and the Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment.
A “Yes” vote on the Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment would include removing a provision that states marriage is between one man and one woman and prohibitng the state from denying a marriage license to two adults based on their sex, gender, or race, according to the Virginia Department of Elections.
In 2025, during debates against now Gov. Abigail Spanberger, Earle-Sears argued it is not discrimination to think that gay people should not be allowed to marry. She claims it conflicts with her faith.
According to ABC 8, in 2024 she wrote that she had a “moral opposition” to marriage equality, after former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, signed a marriage equality bill that barred denying marriage licenses based on sex, gender, or race.
According to the Virginia Department of Elections, a “Yes” vote on the Reproductive Freedom amendment supports adding a section to the state constitution that would give Virginians the right to make and carry out decisions regarding reproductive healthcare, except in specific exemptions.
The Virginia Department of Elections wrote that if accepted, the amendment would allow the state government to pass laws to regulate abortion care in the third trimester of pregnancy, but require abortion care when it is medically needed to protect the life and health of the pregnant person or because the fetus is not viable.
During the 2025 election cycle, Earle-Sears was clear on her anti-abortion stance.
According to the Virginia Independent, she utilized campaign funds to donate to the Family Foundation of Virginia. The group is a faith-based, anti-abortion, and anti-in vitro fertilization non-profit.
The “Life and Marriage Tour” will include traveling throughout Virginia to speak with citizens, churches, community organizations, and local leaders. The exact locations have yet to be announced.
Virginia
LGBTQ community center opens in Leesburg, Va.
Equality Loudoun holds ribbon-cutting ceremony at new space
A group of supporters crowded inside of the new Equality Loudoun Community Center in Leesburg, Va. on Saturday for an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony. Air quality issues stemming from the wildfires in Canada required the ceremony to be held indoors. Local elected officials were joined by LGBTQ community organizers and supporters to mark the occasion.
The Virginia LGBTQ organization Equality Loudoun was founded in 2003 and organized the first Loudoun Pride Festival in 2022. The Equality Loudoun Community Center, located in the Village at Leesburg shopping area (1507 Dodona Terrace SE, Suite 105, Leesburg, Va.), will now house the organization’s community and youth programming.
“This is a day that we have anticipated for some time,” said Sean Murphy, Equality Loudoun vice president. “Equality Loudoun was founded in 2003 and has been migrating from place to place to wherever will have us to host our meetings, to host our gatherings. We are so grateful to our many, many allies that have provided space for us.”
Murphy continued, “We really have believed for a long time that it’s important for us to have a home, a place to anchor the community, a place for people to feel belonging, and a place for people to find one another, and find people who are like them and have something in common.”
Attendees of the ceremony included Leesburg Mayor Kelly Burk, Leesburg Vice Mayor Todd Cimino-Johnson, Leesburg District Supervisor Kristen C. Umstattd of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, and U.S. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.).
“I wish that there was a place like this when I was teaching,” Mayor Burk, a retired Loudoun County Public Schools special education teacher, told the crowd. “So often, I’d have a student, and there was nowhere to send them. They were looking around, trying to see: ‘who’s like me, where can I go, where can I relate, what is happening?’ Middle school is terrible for everybody. But it’s especially terrible if you’re different. And so, I congratulate you on the fact that you had the initiative to do this, the guts to continue it, and the tenacity to make it happen.”
Programming at the LGBTQ community center will include youth programming, game nights and support groups, according to Equality Loudoun Executive Director Katie Cash.
Cash told the Blade, “That’s actually a new thing that we’re branching into that we received a grant this year for: to focus on youth activities. So we’ll have youth support groups that we’re going to work with the Ryan Bartell organization on. Additionally, we’ll have other peer support groups that are run by organizations that are in the space. We’ll have craft nights, we’ll have activity nights, so it’ll be open for drop-in hours on different days as well. On top of normal programming that we’ve been doing as an organization, which can be a series of different craft [activities], social activities, game nights, movie nights, that we’ve been doing for years. Instead of hunting for locations.”
Equality Loudoun is primarily funded through donations, according to Cash. Those interested in supporting the work of the organization and community center can visit eqloco.org for more information.
When asked about future programming at the center, Cash told the Blade that they are seeking feedback from the community.
“We have all the dreams that we have for the space,” Cash said. “But everything’s built off of what kind of resources, what kind of events does the community want hosted? What will they come out for? What do they care about coming out for, and making sure that happens for them.”
Rep. Subramanyam told the Blade, “I’m just so excited about this community center. Equality Loudoun has been so instrumental to so many people in our community. And for them to finally have this center — and it’s been part of their vision for a long time — just is an incredible experience. So I’m so proud to be a supporter of them and I look forward to the center being a sanctuary and a place for people to turn to for many years to come.”
View on Threads
2 former NBA players launch cheap anti-trans stunt to exploit WNBA rules
Same-sex couples challenges India income tax law
HISTORIC: Susan Stewart elected Rehoboth’s first out mayor
Todd Blanche’s record on LGBTQ issues comes under scrutiny as he takes over DOJ
Don’t miss summer productions at Clear Space in Rehoboth Beach
Calendar: August 7-13
Insured on paper, excluded in practice
Greg Araki still wants your sex
Mr. Henry’s to host 60th anniversary party
