Virginia
Lovettsville Town Council rejects Pride month proclamation
Mayor among those who criticized the vote
The Lovettsville, Va., Town Council is drawing criticism from community groups after denying passage of a proclamation last Thursday that would have recognized June as Pride month.
After a motion was made by Councilwoman Renee Edmonston to take up the proclamation submitted to the Council by members of the public, the motion was denied both discussion and a vote after failing to receive support from a second member.
In her closing statement, Edmonston explained why she believed collaborating with community members and sponsoring the motion were necessary.
“The LGBTQ+ community along with everyone in our great town should be able to live without fear of prejudice, discrimination, violence and hatred based on race, religion, gender identity or sexual orientation,” Edmonston said.
Some Council members offered their rationale behind declining to move the proclamation forward, a measure they also rejected in 2021.
“I don’t believe that seconding or making a proclamation of a statement that is not signifying an event of one of our organizations, our community member service — and that’s what we discussed last year — is in the vein of what was proposed,” Vice Mayor Christopher Hornbaker said.
But for some Council members and members of the public present at the meeting, such arguments weren’t sufficient.
Lovettsville Mayor Nathaniel Fontaine, a non-voting Council member, expressed disagreement with the body’s decision following the proclamation’s failure to advance.
“That was a proclamation that was celebratory of and getting recognition to a portion of our populace here,” Fontaine said. “I don’t understand why we could not even get a second to even have that discussion here this evening.”
Against a national background of anti-LGBTQ legislation and pushes to restrict conversations pertaining to the community, local advocates are similarly denouncing the Council’s decision.
Equality Loudoun, a local LGBTQ support and advocacy organization operating in Loudoun County where Lovettsville is located, is one group pushing back.
Cris Candace Tuck, president of Equality Loudoun’s board of directors, commented on the decision on behalf of the organization.
“Our community faces constant harassment, abuse and violence,” Tuck said. “These efforts lead to both children and adults feeling afraid, feeling lost, and feeling like they don’t belong in their own community.”
Current data shows the true impact to which Tuck alluded.
Statistics from a survey the Trevor Project, conducted earlier this year suggested consistently lower rates of attempted suicide among LGBTQ youth who perceived their communities as more accepting of their identity.
Tuck made mention of Lovettsville’s own history with such when explaining how the proclamation could have broad effects on the community.
“This simple passage could have saved a child’s life like the Lovettsville teenager who died by suicide a few years ago because of a lack of acceptance,” Tuck said. “We implore the Council to correct this action and pass a proclamation so that all citizens feel like they belong in their own community.”
Tuck conveyed the absence of action to be a statement in and of itself.
“The silence in this case was deafening,” said Tuck.
Virginia
New Virginia license plate celebrates LGBTQ diversity
450 applications needed for it to become official option
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.
Virginia
LGBTQ law student group invites community to ‘Pride On The Plaza’
Event to be held outside George Mason law school in Arlington
The LGBTQ student group called OutLaw at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School in Arlington, Va., is inviting LGBTQ students at other law schools across the D.C. metropolitan area and the LGBTQ community and its allies to an Oct. 25 event on the school’s campus called Pride on the Plaza.
A statement released by OutLaw says the event will be held from 6-10 p.m. on Mason Square Plaza, which serves as a campus-like plaza in front of the law school building at 3301 Fairfax Dr. in Arlington.
“Coinciding with LGBT Pride Month, Pride on the Plaza is a gathering of the D.C. Metro area’s LGBTQIA+ law student organizations and the community at large,” the statement says. “It’s more than just a party; it’s a chance to stand together, to celebrate who we are, and to show our pride.”
The statement says organizers have invited lawyers and legal professionals as well as undergraduate and graduate students at the university to participate in the event. It says there will be food and beverages and live entertainment, including a “first ever” drag show at the Scalia Law School.
Mackenzie Freilich, the OutLaw president, said the event will also include a raffle for items such as concert tickets and autographed sports memorabilia, a free sexual health screening clinic, and information stations provided by several LGBTQ organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign.
According to the group’s statement, the event will be limited to people 18 years of age and older and there will be an admission fee of $8 to help support the cost of putting on the event and the work of OutLaw. It says tickets can be purchased online in advance of the event or at the event itself
“We are rewriting the narrative from hateful rhetoric to impactful, long-lasting change for good,” Freilich told the Washington Blade. “We must not let hate win, we must rise up and unite the community, not divide.”
Morgan Menzies, another student at the Scalia Law School who is organizing the Pride on the Plaza event, said Freilich was referring to the anti-LGBTQ laws that several states have passed recently or are considering passing.
She said organizers are also concerned about the anti-LGBTQ proposals in a document called Project 2025 that conservative advocates want Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to put in place if elected president.
Menzies said another concern organizers of the event have is the statement made by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas at the time the high court overturned Roe v. Wade. She noted that Thomas said the court should reconsider its ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
The Scalia Law School is named after another conservative former Supreme Court justice, the late Antonin Scalia, who served on the court from 1986 to the time of his death in 2016.
Menzies said school officials approved the LGBTQ group’s plans to hold the event on the school’s campus plaza and some of the school’s law professors have expressed support for the event.
“We wanted to host this event to create visibility on our campus because we are a minority at our school and also provide a networking opportunity with the other progressive law students in the region so that we can strengthen those bonds,” Menzies told the Blade.
Additional information and ticket availability for Pride on the Plaza can be accessed here.
Virginia
Alexandria City Council approves ‘LGBTQ+/Trans Sanctuary Resolution’
Measure drafted by advocacy group, introduced by gay Council member
The Alexandria, Va., City Council on Sept. 24 voted unanimously to approve an “LGBTQ+/Trans Sanctuary Resolution” that, among other things, calls on the city attorney and city manager to take administrative or legal action to oppose anti-LGBTQ policies or laws proposed or enacted on the national, state, or local levels.
The resolution was introduced by gay Council member Kirk McPike and drafted by an organization called the Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) Trans Rights & Bodily Autonomy Campaign.
“We reaffirm our commitment to equal protection and freedom from discrimination on the basis of sex, including our commitment to ensuring LGBTQ+ individuals are free from discrimination, whether by individuals, businesses, or government actors,” the resolution states.
“We call upon the other elected leaders of Alexandria to use the legislative and administrative authority available to them to take such actions as may be necessary to protect LGBTQ+ individuals from discrimination on the basis of sex due to their sexual orientation or gender identity and to enshrine such protections into law,” the resolution continues.
It concludes by stating, “We ask the City Attorney to actively seek participation, as a plaintiff or amicus curiae, in ongoing or future litigation to protect the rights of LGBTQ individuals.”
In 2020 the Virginia General Assembly passed and then Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signed legislation banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The city of Alexandria and other Virginia jurisdictions, including Arlington, have passed similar LGBTQ nondiscrimination laws.
Lyra McMillan, a spokesperson for the Metro D.C. DSA Trans Rights & Bodily Autonomy Campaign, said the LGBTQ+/Trans Sanctuary Resolution is intended to strengthen and protect the state’s and Alexandria’s LGBTQ rights laws by defending them against attempts to overturn or weaken them from ongoing efforts by anti-LGBTQ lawmakers in Congress and other states.
McMillan points to efforts by Virginia’s current governor, Glenn Youngkin (R), to curtail LGBTQ rights, especially trans rights, in the state’s public schools.
“In the face of this sort of backlash, places like Alexandria need to stand up and push back,” McPike told ALX Now, an online Alexandria news publication.
The only visible opposition to the resolution came from the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, which released a statement calling on the community to ask the Council not to pass it.
“This resolution would assert the authority of the City Manager to independently interpret the U.S. Constitution, direct city officials to use public funds to engage in future federal litigation, and encourage transgender surgical interventions, including for minors,” the statement says
McMillan said the resolution had widespread support in the community.
“I’m proud of the work we’ve done together with the City Council to help protect and reassure our LGBTQ+ comrades of their safety, respect, and liberty when living, visiting, and traveling through the city,” she said in a statement.
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