Maryland

Md. attorney general candidates highlight LGBTQ rights support

Primary to take place on July 19

Published

4 years ago

July 14, 2022

Anthony Brown is among the Maryland attorney general candidates (Washington Blade file photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Candidates who hope to succeed Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh will face off in the July 19 primary. Here are there positions on LGBTQ rights.

DEMOCRATS:

ANTHONY BROWN

Anthony Brown (Washington Blade file photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Anthony Brown is a Democrat running for Maryland Attorney General.

Brown currently represents Prince George’s and Anne Arundel Counties in the U.S. House of Representatives. As attorney general, Brown has promised to fight for LGBTQ rights, and as he explained to the Washington Blade in a written statement, the issue is close to home.

“As the proud father of a trans son, I understand the challenges facing the LGBTQIA+ community and the importance of leadership at every level ready to fight for their rights,” Brown wrote. “I’m running for attorney general to tear down these barriers for all Marylanders, no matter who you are or who you love.”

Brown backed Maryland’s marriage equality and trans rights laws when he was the state’s lieutenant governor from 2007-2015. Brown as a member of Congress fought the previous administration’s efforts to ban trans servicemembers from the military.

“I’ll bring my decades of experience as a lawyer, legislator and executive to not only defend LGBTQ+ Marylanders’ rights in court but push forward real change in Annapolis,” Brown said. “True allyship must go beyond words and acknowledgment and include action.”

KATIE CURRAN O’MALLEY

Katie Curran O’Malley (Photo courtesy of O’Malley’s campaign)

Katie Curran O’Malley is running against Brown in the primary.

She served as an associate judge on the Baltimore City District Court from 2001-2021 and was the Baltimore County Assistant State’s Attorney prior to that appointment. O’Malley’s husband is former Gov. Martin O’Malley.

Katie O’Malley was born and raised in Baltimore. Her father, J. Joseph Curran, Jr., was Maryland’s attorney general from 1987-2007. If elected, Katie O’Malley would be the state’s first female attorney general.

In a written statement to the Blade, Katie O’Malley expressed her strong support for LGBTQ rights and included an action plan for LGBTQ advocacy as attorney general.

“Over the course of the last 20 years there have been extraordinary advancements in the field of LGBTQ+ rights. However, these advancements have neither been sufficient nor are fully secured,” she wrote. “Maryland needs an attorney general that is a tenacious, relentless and inspired advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. Throughout my career, I have been an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, and my support of same-sex marriage’s passage in 2011 is one of my proudest moments. I was proud to call out the moral cowardice then, and I will be proud to rebuke intolerance towards the LGBTQ+ community as attorney general.”

REPUBLICANS:

MICHAEL PEROUTKA

Michael Peroutka (Photo courtesy of Peroutka)

Michael Peroutka is a Republican running for attorney general.

He represented District 5 on the Anne Arundel County Council from 2014-2018.

Peroutka during his 2014 campaign posted a video arguing that the Maryland General Assembly had lost is validity after passing legislation — the marriage equality and trans rights bills, an assault weapons ban and a a stormwater runoff contamination bill — that “violated God’s law.” Peroutka also refused to disavow ties to the League of the South, an anti-gay, pro-successionist group.

Peroutka’s current campaign website does not have specific information about his stance on LGBTQ rights.

In 2017, Peroutka’s political operatives were found guilty of violating Maryland’s election laws, after making robocalls against Peroutka’s gay opponent for the District 5 council seat.

Peroutka’s campaign did not respond to the Blade’s request for comment.

JIM SHALLECK

Jim Shalleck (Screen capture via YouTube)

Jim Shalleck is running against Peroutka in the July 19 primary.

Shalleck was previously the president of the Montgomery Board of Elections. The former local, state and federal prosecutor’s campaign platform centers on cracking down on violent campaign crime. Shalleck’s campaign platform centers on cracking down on violent crime, and his campaign website does not have information concerning his stance on LGBTQ rights.

Shalleck could not be reached for comment.

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Maryland

4th Circuit dismisses lawsuit against Montgomery County schools’ pronoun policy

Substitute teacher Kimberly Polk challenged regulation in 2024

Published

2 weeks ago

February 3, 2026

Staff reports

(Photo by Sergei Gnatuk via Bigstock)

A federal appeals court has ruled Montgomery County Public Schools did not violate a substitute teacher’s constitutional rights when it required her to use students’ preferred pronouns in the classroom.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision it released on Jan. 28 ruled against Kimberly Polk.

The policy states that “all students have the right to be referred to by their identified name and/or pronoun.”

“School staff members should address students by the name and pronoun corresponding to the gender identity that is consistently asserted at school,” it reads. “Students are not required to change their permanent student records as described in the next section (e.g., obtain a court-ordered name and/or new birth certificate) as a prerequisite to being addressed by the name and pronoun that corresponds to their identified name. To the extent possible, and consistent with these guidelines, school personnel will make efforts to maintain the confidentiality of the student’s transgender status.”

The Washington Post reported Polk, who became a substitute teacher in Montgomery County in 2021, in November 2022 requested a “religious accommodation, claiming that the policy went against her ‘sincerely held religious beliefs,’ which are ‘based on her understanding of her Christian religion and the Holy Bible.’”

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in January 2025 dismissed Polk’s lawsuit that she filed in federal court in Beltsville. Polk appealed the decision to the 4th Circuit.

Maryland

Dan Cox files for governor, seeking rematch with Moore

Anti-LGBTQ Republican ran in 2022

Published

2 weeks ago

February 2, 2026

Baltimore Banner

Dan Cox, the 2022 Republican nominee for governor, has filed to run again this year. (Photo by Kaitlin Newman for the Banner)

By PAMELA WOOD | Dan Cox, a Republican who was resoundingly defeated by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore four years ago, has filed to run for governor again this year.

Cox’s candidacy was posted on the Maryland elections board website Friday; he did not immediately respond to an interview request.

Cox listed Rob Krop as his running mate for lieutenant governor.

The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

Maryland

Expanded PrEP access among FreeState Justice’s 2026 legislative priorities

Maryland General Assembly opened on Jan. 14

Published

2 weeks ago

January 28, 2026

Sam Epner

Maryland State House (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

FreeState Justice this week spoke with the Washington Blade about their priorities during this year’s legislative session in Annapolis that began on Jan. 14.

Ronnie L. Taylor, the group’s community director, on Wednesday said the organization continues to fight against discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS. FreeState Justice is specifically championing a bill in the General Assembly that would expand access to PrEP in Maryland.

Taylor said FreeState Justice is working with state Del. Ashanti Martinez (D-Prince George’s County) and state Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Arundel and Howard Counties) on a bill that would expand the “scope of practice for pharmacists in Maryland to distribute PrEP.” The measure does not have a title or a number, but FreeState Justice expects it will have both in the coming weeks.

FreeState Justice has long been involved in the fight to end the criminalization of HIV in the state.

Governor Wes Moore last year signed House Bill 39, which decriminalized HIV in Maryland.

The bill — the Carlton R. Smith Jr. HIV Modernization Act — is named after Carlton Smith, a long-time LGBTQ activist known as the “mayor” of Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood who died in 2024. FreeState Justice said Marylanders prosecuted under Maryland Health-General Code § 18-601.1 have already seen their convictions expunged.

Taylor said FreeState Justice will continue to “oppose anti anti-LGBTQ legislation” in the General Assembly. Their website later this week will publish a bill tracker.

The General Assembly’s legislative session is expected to end on April 13.