Maryland
Heather Mizeur: Andy Harris a ‘traitor’ for attending pre-Jan. 6 meeting
Former delegate challenging Republican congressman in 1st Congressional District
Heather Mizeur on Wednesday called U.S. Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) a “traitor” after the Jan. 6 committee disclosed he attended a meeting with former President Donald Trump that focused on how he could stay in office after losing the 2020 presidential election.
“I was completely flabbergasted,” Mizeur told the Washington Blade during a telephone interview. “It should surprise us, and yet what we know from Andy Harris it wasn’t so surprising after all.”
“This proved that he wasn’t just one of 147 that voted against democracy on Jan. 6, he was one of 10 in the room with the Trump administration in the White House plotting the overthrow of the peaceful transfer of power,” she added, referring to the Dec. 21, 2020, meeting at the White House that Harris and other Republican members of Congress attended. “He’s a traitor to our nation. Andy Harris has betrayed his oath of office, and I believe he’s unfit to serve.”
Mizeur was at an early voting center in Edgewood in Harford County on Tuesday when the committee disclosed Harris participated in the White House meeting with Trump. Mizeur later in the day held an event in Bel Air.
“It was the number one thing everyone wanted to talk about,” she said. “It has just ignited a renewed passion for getting rid of this horrible, lousy congressman that has not just failed at doing his job.”
Harris’ spokesperson on Thursday did not respond to the Blade’s request for comment.
Victory Fund, LPAC have endorsed Mizeur
Mizeur served on the Takoma Park City Council before she served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2007-2015. Mizeur ran for governor in 2014.
Mizeur, who now lives on the Eastern Shore with her wife, announced her campaign against Harris in Maryland’s 1st Congressional District less than a month after the Jan. 6 insurrection. Mizeur would be the first openly lesbian member of Congress from Maryland if she defeats Harris in November.
“I’m the patriot and the woman who’s going to hold him accountable and defeat him in November,” Mizeur told the Blade.
Harris has represented the 1st Congressional District ā which currently encompasses the entire Eastern Shore and portions of Baltimore, Carroll and Harford CountiesĀ ā since 2011. Mizeur is running against David Harden in the Democratic primary that will take place on July 19.
The Cook Political Report currently ranks the district as R +11.
Campaign finance reports indicate Mizeur raised $1,954,881.08 from Jan. 1, 2021, through June 29 compared to the $1,493,411.83 that Harris raised during the same period. Campaign finance reports indicate Harris’ as of June 29 had $1,849,850.56 on hand, compared to Mizeur’s $1,103,317.43.
Salisbury Mayor Jake Day, Havre de Grace Mayor Bill Martin, Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski, state Del. Lisa Belcastro (D-Baltimore County), House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) are among the elected officials who have endorsed Mizeur. The Victory Fund, LPAC, Emily’s List, the Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, SEIU and other groups have also backed her campaign.
“Money is energy, and people are putting their energy behind this race,” said Mizeur. “There’s a grassroots urgency to this campaign and excitement. People are equal parts excited to fire Andy Harris and to hire Heather Mizeur.”
Roe decision ‘sent shockwaves everywhere’
Mizeur spoke with the Blade less than a month after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
She said the decision “sent shockwaves everywhere.”
“It didn’t matter that they telegraphed that it was potentially happening,” said Mizeur. “It still felt differently when it landed. None of us anticipated there would really be a day where the court would turn over 50 years of settled law and precedent that many of those justices themselves said that they would uphold when they were being questioned in their confirmation hearings.”
Justice Clarence Thomas in his concurring opinion said the Supreme Court should also reconsider the decisions in the Obergefell and Lawrence cases that extended marriage equality to same-sex couples and the right to private, consensual sex. Mizeur said the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling that overturned Roe “has huge implications for the LGBTQ community as well.”
“We’re next in line for those rights to potentially be overturned,” she said.
“Now in Maryland, we’re okay because we have abortion rights enshrined in law here and we’ve passed marriage equality and it was affirmed in a citizen referendum here,” added Mizeur.
Mizeur said she supports the codification of abortion rights in federal law.
“I absolutely refuse to sit back and allow coat hanger and back alley abortions to threaten women’s lives again,” she said. “This is serious stuff, and democracy dies with complacency. And I think that’s what had been happening for a really long time. This has all just been a giant wake up call. For those who believed it didn’t matter whether or not they were involved in the process, that they absolutely have to consistently be engaged involved, voicing their concerns, and voting their values at the ballot box.”
President Joe Biden has said he supports calls to end the filibuster to codify federal abortion rights. Mizeur told the Blade that she too backs such a move.
“It is such a challenge because of the makeup of the Senate right now,” she said. “All we can do is to continue to grab our pitchforks and take to the streets and commit and continue to demand this, but I absolutely am somebody is in support of that.”
Mizeur also spoke about her support of the Equality Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to federal civil rights law.
“I would like to think that it has even more energy and momentum behind it now,” she told the Blade. “Because similar to how we’re sitting here, dealing with a post-Roe world, we have to be worried about the LGBTQ community what it means to potentially be in a post Obergefell world and get in front of that and in law protections, not just for marriage equality, but for all the other issues that are encompassed in the Equality Act.”
Maryland
Health care for Marylanders with HIV is facing huge cuts this summer
Providers poised to lose three-quarters of funding
BY MEREDITH COHN | By the end of June, health care providers in Maryland will lose nearly three-quarters of the funding they use to find and treat thousands of people with HIV.
Advocates and providers say they had been warned there would be less money by the Maryland Department of Health, but were stunned at the size of the drop ā from about $17.9 million this fiscal year to $5.3 million the next. The deep cuts are less than three months away.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
GAITHERSBURG, Md. ā Maryland state Del. Joe Vogel (D-Montgomery County) on Friday held a “Big Gay Canvass Kickoff” event at his congressional campaign’s headquarters.
LGBTQ+ Victory Fund Vice President of Outreach and Engagement Marty Rouse and John Klenert, a member of the DC Vote and Victory Fund Campaign board of directors, are among those who participated alongside members of Equality PAC. Vogel spoke before Rouse, Klenert and others canvassed for votes in the area.
“Joe brings a fresh new perspective to politics,” said Gabri Kurtzer-Ellenbogen, deputy field director for Vogel’s campaign.
Vogel, 27, is among the Democrats running for Congressman David Trone’s seat.
Trone last May announced his bid to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) in the U.S. Senate.
The Democratic primary is on May 14. Vogel would be the first Latino, the first gay man and first Gen Zer elected to Congress from Maryland if he were to win in November.
āWe need a new generation of leadership with new perspectives, new ideas, and the courage to actually deliver for our communities if we want things to get better in this country,ā Vogel told the Washington Blade last month during an interview in D.C.
Maryland
Montgomery County police chief discusses arrest of trans student charged with planned school shooting
County executive tells news conference studentās trans identity is irrelevant to criminal charge
Montgomery County, Md., Police Chief Marcus Jones joined other county and law enforcement officials at a news conference on Friday, April 19, to provide details of the police investigation and arrest of an 18-year-old high school student charged two days earlier with threats of mass violence based on information that he allegedly planed a mass shooting at the high school and elementary school he attended in Rockville, Md.
In charging documents and in a press release issued on April 18, Montgomery CountyĀ PoliceĀ identified the arrested student as āAndrea Ye, of Rockville, whose preferred name is Alex Ye.ā
One of the charging documents states that a friend of Ye, who police say came forward as a witness who played a crucial role in alerting authorities to Yeās threats of a school shooting, noted that Ye told the witness that Ye identified as the transgender student he wrote about as a character in a 129-page manifesto outlining plans for a school shooting. Police have said Ye told them the manifesto was a fictional story he planned to publish.
At the news conference on Friday, Police Chief Jones and other law enforcement officials, including an FBI official and Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, referred to the student as Alex Ye and Mr. Ye. None of the officials raised the issue of whether Ye identified as a transgender man, seven though one of the police documents identifies Ye as a ābiological female.ā
County Executive Elrich appeared to express the views of the public officials at the news conference when one of the media reporters, during a question-and-answer period, asked Elrich why he and the others who spoke at the news conferment failed to āadmit that this individual was transgender.ā
āBecause itās not a lead,ā Elrich replied, asking if the press and law enforcement authorities should disclose that someone arrested for murder is āa white Christian male whoās heterosexual.ā Elrich stated, āNo, you donāt ā You never publish somebodyās sexual orientation when we talk about this. Why you are focusing on this being a transgender is beyond me. Itās not a news story. It is not a crime to be transgender.ā
The reporter attempted to respond but was cut off by the press conference moderator, who called on someone else to ask the next question.
In his remarks at the press conference Chief Jones praised the so far unidentified witness who was the first to alert authorities about Yeās manifesto appearing to make threats of a mass school shooting.
āNow, this is a situation that highlights the critical importance of vigilance and community involvement in preventing potential tragedies,ā Jones said. āI commend the collaborative efforts of the Montgomery County Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Rockville City Police Department, and the Montgomery County Public Schools, as well as Montgomery County Health and Human Services,ā he told the gathering.
āThanks to their swift action and cooperation a potentially catastrophic event was prevented,ā Jones said.
Jones pointed out that during the current school year, police have received reports of 140 threats to the public schools in Montgomery County. He said after a thorough investigation, none of them rose to the level where an arrest was made. Instead, police and school officials took steps to arrange for the student making the threats and their parents to take remedial action, including providing mental health services.
āBut this case is different,ā Jones said. āThis case is entirely different that takes it to a different level. It was a concerned witness who brought this matter to light by rereporting the suspectās manifesto to the authorities. This underscores the value of community engagement and the āsee something say somethingā approach,ā he said.
Jones mentioned at the press conference that Ye was being held without bond since the time of his arrest but was scheduled to appear in court for a bond hearing on Friday shortly after the press conference took place to determine whether he should be released while awaiting trial or continue to be held.
In his manifesto obtained by police, Ye writes about committing a school shooting, and strategizes how to carry out the act. Ye also contemplates targeting an elementary school and says that he wants to be famous.
In charging documents reported on by WJLA 7 and WBAL 11, the 129-page document, which Ye has referred to as a book of fiction, included writings that said, in part:
“I want to shoot up a school. I’ve been preparing for months. The gun is an AR-15. This gun is going to change lives tomorrow … As I walk through the hallways, I cherry pick the classrooms that are the easiest targets. I need to figure out how to sneak the gun in. I have contemplated making bombs. The instructions to make them are surprisingly available online. I have also considered shooting up my former elementary school because little kids make easier targets. High school’s the best target; I’m the most familiar with the layout. I pace around my room like an evil mastermind. I’ve put so much effort into this. My ultimate goal would be to set the world record for the most amount of kills in a shooting. If I have time, I’ll try to decapitate my victims with a knife to turn the injuries into deaths.”
-
State Department2 days ago
State Department releases annual human rights report
-
Maryland4 days ago
Joe Vogel campaign holds ‘Big Gay Canvass Kickoff’
-
Politics3 days ago
Smithsonian staff concerned about future of LGBTQ programming amid GOP scrutiny
-
The White House1 day ago
White House debuts action plan targeting pollutants in drinking water