Maryland

Lesbian diversity expert running for City Council in Hyattsville

Meléndez Rivera worked on Latinx, faith issues for HRC

Published

4 years ago

August 22, 2022

Lisbeth Meléndez Rivera is running for the Hyattsville City Council.

Lesbian activist and diversity consultant Lisbeth Meléndez Rivera has announced she is a candidate for the Hyattsville, Md., City Council in an Oct. 4 special election to fill a vacant seat.

The Ward 2 seat on the 10-member Council in the Prince George’s County suburban city became vacant when the incumbent Council member, Robert Croslin, won election as mayor, according to an announcement posted on the Hyattsville website.

The announcement says two other candidates in addition to Meléndez Rivera are running in the nonpartisan special election. It identifies them as community activists Emily Strab and Kelly Burrello.

Melendez Rivera currently operates BQN Consulting, a firm through which she provides support services related to organizing, training and capacity building, according to the firm’s website. In addition, she also operates a food catering service.

The website write-up on her career background says she served from 2014 to 2017 as Director of Latinx & Catholic Initiatives for the Human Rights Campaign, the D.C.-based national LGBTQ advocacy organization. Her LinkedIn page says she served from 2017 to 2021 as HRC’s Director of Faith Outreach & Training.

A separate write-up on her campaign website describers Meléndez Rivera as a 35+ year veteran in social justice movements with “extensive experience organizing and training at the intersections of sexual orientation, gender identity, racial/ethnic identity, faith, and culture related explicitly to communities of color in the United States.”

Her campaign website says she is a candidate for a doctorate degree in Ministry and Theology and Social Transformation. It says she currently holds a master’s degree in Theology & Social Transformation and a bachelor’s degree in biology and sociology.

“Lisbeth has worked with people of faith across denominations to ensure we can be who we are, love whom we love, and practice our faith free of judgment,” her campaign website states.

It says she is running to address, among other things, to ensure that the current rapid real estate development in Hyattsville is carried out in a way that housing remains affordable for all residents and doesn’t result in the displacement of longtime residents. Education, public safety, and the environment will also be issues she will address, she told the Washington Blade.

If elected, Meléndez Rivera would become the first out lesbian to serve on the Hyattsville City Council. An openly gay man, Jimmy McClellan, currently serves as a Ward 3 representative on the Council, which consists of two members from each of the city’s five wards.

Further information on Meléndez Rivera’s campaign and her positions on Hyattsville related issues can be viewed here.

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Maryland

Supreme Court ruling against conversion therapy bans could affect Md. law

Then-Gov. Larry Hogan signed statute in 2018

Published

5 days ago

April 1, 2026

Baltimore Banner

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

By PAMELA WOOD, JOHN-JOHN WILLIAMS IV, and MADELEINE O’NEILL | The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against a law banning “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ kids in Colorado, a ruling that also could apply to Maryland’s ban on the discredited practice.

An 8-1 high court majority sided with a Christian counselor who argues the law banning talk therapy violates the First Amendment. The justices agreed that the law raises free speech concerns and sent it back to a lower court to decide whether it meets a legal standard that few laws pass.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the court’s majority, said the law “censors speech based on viewpoint.” The First Amendment, he wrote, “stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country.”

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

Maryland

Md. lawmakers reaffirm legislative priorities

2026 General Assembly to end April 13

Published

6 days ago

March 31, 2026

Sam Epner

The Maryland State House in Annapolis, Md.(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Maryland’s legislative caucuses outlined their legislative priorities heading into the final weeks of the 2026 General Assembly during a joint press conference on March 24.

The press conference was titled “We are Maryland,” where a representative for each of the legislative caucuses outlined priorities.

State Del. Kris Fair (D-Frederick County) of the LGBTQ+ Caucus opened the press conference with a statement on the unity of Maryland’s caucus.

“Together we can show our state and our community a different world, one where we mutually support one another and through that support uplift every Marylander,” he said.

In a press conference on March 5, the LGBTQ+ Caucus outlined its top legislative priorities. Fair highlighted two of those bills again during the “We are Maryland” press conference.

The first of the two highlighted pieces of legislation was Senate Bill 626 and House Bill 1589.

The bills would simplify the process of updating an individual’s birth certificate and align the Department of Health and DMV systems to reflect those changes. The bill is being led by state Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Anne Arundel and Howard Counties) and state Del. Ashanti Martinez (D-Prince George’s County).

The second piece of legislation is Senate Bill 950 and House Bill 1209, which would update and modernize laws and regulations around so-called conversion therapy. The bills have failed to pass either chamber thus far. They are being led by state Sen. Cheryl Kagan (D-Montgomery County) and state Del. Bonnie Cullison (D-Montgomery County).

(The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against a Colorado law that bans so-called conversion therapy for minors. Maryland is among the U.S. jurisdictions that prohibit the widely discredited practice for anyone under 18.)

Martinez and Lam have introduced bills in their respective chambers that would expand PrEP access in Maryland. Martinez did not attend the press conference, and Fair did not mention it when he spoke.

State Del. N. Scott Phillips (D-Baltimore County) represented the Black Caucus during the press conference. State Del. Dana Jones (D-Anne Arundel County) spoke on behalf of the Women’s Caucus, State Del. Teresa Woorman (D-Montgomery County) represented the Latino Caucus, and State Del. Lily Qi (D-Montgomery County) represented the Asian-American and Pacific Islander Caucus. State Del. Jared Solomon (D-Montgomery County) represented the Jewish Caucus, and state Del. Sean Stinnett (D-Baltimore County) represented the Muslim Caucus during the press conference.

Solomon ended the press conference by explaining the importance of all the caucuses coming out together.

“We are stronger when we’re together, and many of these issues that we have talked about, again, impact all of us,” said Solomon.

Cameroon

Gay Cameroonian immigrant will be freed from ICE detention — for now

Ludovic Mbock’s homeland criminalizes homosexuality

Published

3 weeks ago

March 13, 2026

Baltimore Banner

Competitive gamer Ludovic Mbock, left, with his sister, Diane Sohna. (Photo courtesy of Diane Sohna)

By ANTONIO PLANAS | An immigration judge on Friday issued a $4,000 bond for a Cameroonian immigrant and regional gaming champion held in federal immigration detention for the past three weeks.

The ruling will allow Ludovic Mbock, of Oxon Hill, to return to Maryland from a Georgia facility this weekend, his family and attorney said.

“Realistically, by tomorrow. Hopefully, by today,” said Mbock’s attorney, Edward Neufville. “We are one step closer to getting Ludovic justice.”

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