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Lesbian candidate loses Hyattsville City Council race by 17 votes

Final results show low turnout in special election to fill vacant seat

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Lisbeth Melendez Rivera lost her race by just 17 votes.

Lesbian activist and diversity consultant Lisbeth Melendez Rivera lost by just 17 votes in a three-candidate special election on Tuesday to fill a vacant seat on the Hyattsville, Md., City Council.  

In what it said on Wednesday afternoon were the final certified results, 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 board posting said.

The Ward 2 seat on the 10-member Hyattsville Council in the Prince Georgeā€™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 firmā€™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.

ā€œI congratulated Emily,ā€ Melendez Rivera told the Washington Blade Wednesday morning.

At that time, she said she remained hopeful that just a small number of mail-in ballots that may not have been counted on Tuesday night might emerge in her favor when the election board conducted its final tally of the votes later in the day on Wednesday or early Thursday.

But the final count released Thursday afternoon was identical to the preliminary count released Tuesday night, with winning candidate Strab receiving just 17 more votes than second-place finisher Melendez Rivera.

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 Hyattsvilleā€™s diverse population, including racial minorities and immigrants.

The 698 total votes cast for the candidates plus what the election board lists as 3 ā€œunder votesā€ brought the total vote to 701 in the special election. Thatā€™s considered a low turnout for the Ward 2 election district that has a little over 2,000 registered voters.

Melendez Rivera said she plans to run again for the Ward 2 Council seat. The Hyattsville Council consists of two members for each of the cityā€™s five wards. The second of the two Ward 2 Council seats is up for election in 2023, but Melendez Rivera said she will not run if the incumbent, Danny Schaible, decides to run for re-election.

ā€œBut I will definitely run in 2025,ā€ she said, against then incumbent Strab, if Strab runs for re-election in 2023.

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Maryland

Hate crime charges dropped against most Salisbury students in off-campus attack

Suspects allegedly used Grindr to target victim

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Students walk outside the Guerrieri Academic Commons at Salisbury University, where 15 students were charged in an off-campus attack. (Photo by Wesley Lapointe of the Baltimore Banner)

BY MIKE HELLGRIN, CHRISTIAN OLANIRAN, AND ELLIE WOLFE | Prosecutors in Wicomico County are dropping felony assault and hate crime charges against at least 12 of the 15 Salisbury University students charged in an off-campus attack in October.

Misdemeanor false imprisonment and second-degree assault charges remain for most of the defendants, and many trials are set for late January.

The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Bannerā€™s website.

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Maryland

Man sentenced for raping trans woman at gunpoint in Baltimore County, filming sexual assault

Jalen Green, 23, pleaded guilty to Feb. 11 attack

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Baltimore County Circuit Judge Nancy M. Purpura on Nov. 20, 2024, sentenced Jalen Green, of Northwest Baltimore, on charges of first-degree rape and use of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence to life with all time suspended but 10 years in prison. (Photo by Ulysses MuƱoz of the Baltimore Banner)

BY DYLAN SEGELBAUM | A man who forced his way into a home in Baltimore County, raped at gunpoint a transgender woman and filmed the sexual assault was ordered Wednesday to serve 10 years in prison.

Baltimore County Circuit Judge Nancy M. Purpura described the crime that Jalen Green committed as an ā€œabsolutely brutal offense.ā€

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

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Maryland

At Salisbury University, an alleged hate crime shakes LGBTQ studentsā€™ sense of safety

Authorities have charged 12 men in connection with attack

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Supporters participate in a march organized by Salisbury University LGBTQ groups almost a month after an alleged hate crime took place. (Photo by Wesley Lapointe for the Baltimore Banner)

BY ELLIE WOLFE | Gigi Levin said she wasnā€™t particularly shocked when she heard a group of her classmates had been accused of luring a gay man to an apartment and attacking him.

ā€œThis is a problem rooted in our campus culture,ā€ said Levin, a 24-year-old Salisbury University student from Montgomery County. ā€œThe administration can help, but ultimately we are responsible for our safety as LGBTQ+ students.ā€

Levin was one of the first to arrive at a vigil on Monday afternoon, planned by an LGBTQ faculty group after University President Carolyn Ringer Lepre announced inĀ an email to the campus last week that several students been arrested.Ā The Salisbury Police Department chargedĀ 12 men, all students between 18 and 21,Ā with first-degree assault, false imprisonment, reckless endangerment and associated hate crimes.

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

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