Maryland
Lesbian candidate trails by just 17 votes in Hyattsville Council race
Election board mum on whether all ballots are counted
Lesbian activist and diversity consultant Lisbeth Melendez Rivera was behind her closet rival by just 17 votes on Tuesday night in a three-candidate special election to fill a vacant seat on the Hyattsville, Md., City Council.
In what it said were the unofficial results of the special election, the Hyattsville Board of Supervisors of Elections posted on its website that candidate Emily Strab had 280 votes, Melendez Rivera had 263 votes, and candidate Kelly Burello had 152 votes. Three votes were cast for write-in candidates, the election night posting said.
“Results are unofficial until certified by the Board of Supervisors of Election,” the posting said. The certification was scheduled to take place at 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6.
The online posting of the results did not say whether there were any outstanding votes from absentee or mail-in ballots. A spokesperson for the election board couldn’t immediately be reached Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
The Ward 2 seat on the 10-member Hyattsville Council in the Prince George’s County suburban city became vacant when the incumbent Council member, Robert Croslin, won election as mayor.
Melendez Rivera currently operates BQN Consulting, a firm she created to provide support services related to organizing, training and capacity building, according to the firm’s website. The website says that from 2014 to 2017 she served as Director of Latinx & Catholic Initiatives for the Human Rights Campaign, the D.C.-based national LGBTQ advocacy organization.
“I congratulated Emily,” Melendez Rivera told the Washington Blade Wednesday morning.
“Have I said this is the end? No, because I want to wait until tomorrow at 1 to see the outcome,” she said.
“What I know is everything that was available to them was counted as of 9:30 last night,” she said, referring to the election board. “There is a process today. They will do a last check of the mail to see if anything was postmarked before 8 p.m. last night,” Melendez Rivera said in referring to possible additional mail-in ballots.
Melendez Rivera said she portrayed herself as the most progressive of the three candidates running for the nonpartisan City Council seat in a city that many consider to be one of the most progressive jurisdictions in the Washington metro area. Residents starting at age 16 and non-citizen immigrants are allowed to vote in local elections.
Like Melendez Rivera, Strab, a former teacher and school administrator, and Burello, who has worked as a workplace diversity trainer, each expressed support for Hyattsville’s diverse population, including racial minorities and immigrants.
The 698 total votes cast in the special election as of Tuesday night is considered a low turnout in the Ward 2 election district, which has a little over 2,000 registered voters.
This story will be updated when new information becomes available.
Maryland
Maryland’s oldest rural gay bar — and one of the last — is a log cabin in the woods
The Lodge is a Boonsboro watering hole resembling a log cabin
By SAPNA BANSIL | In the woods of a conservative Western Maryland town of fewer than 4,000 people is an unlikely landmark of state LGBTQ history.
The Lodge, a Boonsboro watering hole that resembles a log cabin, is Maryland’s oldest rural gay bar — one of a few remaining in the country, according to historians.
For about four decades, the Washington County venue has offered safety, escape and community to queer people far from large, liberal cities. Starting Friday night, The Lodge will close out Pride month with one of its biggest parties of the year: a weekend of dancing, drinking and drag in celebration of Frederick Pride, held about 20 miles away in the area’s largest city.
The rest of this article the Baltimore Banner published on June 27 can be read on its website.
Maryland
LGBTQ suicide prevention hotline option is going away. Here’s where else to go in Md.
Changes will take effect July 17
By ANNA RUBENSTEIN | The national suicide prevention hotline will no longer offer specialized support to LGBTQ people, starting July 17, the Trump administration announced last week.
Dialing the hotline at 988 will still be available for crisis support. But callers will no longer be able to reach specific LGBTQ services by pressing Option 3. The change worries advocates because their data shows the LGBTQ community has a disproportionally high suicide rate.
Even after the option ends, here’s how to receive tailored support if you’re in Maryland.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
Maryland
Silver Spring holds annual Pride In The Plaza
‘Today means inclusion. It means to build resilience’
Silver Spring’s annual Pride in the Plaza event took place on Sunday to celebrate the LGBTQ community and emphasize inclusion and resilience.
“Today means inclusion. It means to build resilience, love,” Robyn Woods, program and outreach director for Live In Your Truth, which organized the event, said. “I mean, just being surrounded by the community and so many great entrepreneurs, business owners, and just being a part of this whole rainbow coalition that we call the LGBTQIA to be about.”
With the event being her first time organizing for Live In Your Truth, Woods said she felt emotional to see the support and love at the event.
“Some people (are) bringing out their children, their babies, their grandparents,” Woods said. “It’s a lot more allies here than anything else. That type of support to me means so much more than just support from my community; just outside support, inside support, so much support around it, so much love. Everyone’s smiling outside, helping each other.”
Attendees of the event were able to head over to the Family Fun Zone, an air-conditioned Pride Cool Down Lounge, or watch live drag performances in the main stage area.
Along with entertainment and a shaved-ice stand, rows of information tables stood along the plaza, including FreeState Justice, the Washington Spirit, Trans Maryland, Moco Pride Center, and the Heartwood Program, an organization that offers support, therapy, education, and resources to the LGBTQ community.
“I want people to know about our services, and I love what we have to offer,” Jessica Simon, psychotherapist for Heartwood Program’s Gender Wellness Clinic, said. “I (also) want to be part of a celebration with the community, and so it feels good to be here with other people who have something they want to give to the community.”
She added that within today’s political climate, to which she called an “antidote to shame,” it’s important to be celebrating Pride.
“There’s a lot of demonization of LGBTQI people,” Siena Iacuvazzi, facilitator for Maryland Trans Unity, said. “(Pride) is part of the healing process.”
Iacuvazzi said she was taught to be ashamed of who she was growing up, but being a part of a community helped her flourish in the future.
“I was taught how to hate myself. I was taught that I was an abomination to God,” she said. “But being a community is like understanding that there are people who have experienced the same thing, and they’re flourishing. They’re flourishing because they’re willing to stand up for themselves as human beings and discover themselves and understand what’s true for themselves.”
She added that Pride allows for a mutual understanding to take place.
“It’s more of a sense of belonging … and just taking that home and understanding you’re not alone,” Iacuvazzi said. “We’re each taking our own journey — we’re not putting that on each other. It’s just walking away with a sense of belonging and humanity.”
Similar to Iacuvazzi, Woods said she hopes attendees’ biggest takeaways would be family, fun, resilience, and pride.
“Being proud of yourself, being happy for who you are, and representation and how much it matters,” she continued. “And I think all these young people that are walking around here get to see versions of themselves, but older. They get to see so many different lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual people that are successful, that are showing love, that care, and it’s not how we’re portrayed in the media. It’s lovely to see it out here. (It’s) like we’re one big old, happy family.”
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