Maryland
Heather Mizeur: Campaign against Andy Harris has ‘huge amount of momentum’
Former Md. House of Delegate member running for Congress on Eastern Shore
Heather Mizeur on Wednesday said her campaign to unseat Republican Congressman Andy Harris has “a huge amount of momentum” in the final days before Election Day.
“We’ve really done something with this unity coalition that we’ve been putting together for almost two years now,” Mizeur told the Washington Blade during a telephone interview.
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.
She defeated David Harden in the Democratic primary that took place on July 19. Mizeur would be the first openly lesbian member of Congress from Maryland if she defeats Harris on Tuesday.
Harris has represented the 1st Congressional District — which currently encompasses the entire Eastern Shore and portions of Baltimore, Carroll and Harford Counties — since 2011. Mia Mason, a transgender veteran, ran against Harris in 2020.
The Cook Political Report currently ranks the district as R +11.
Campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission indicate Mizeur raised $2,621,651.48 from Jan. 1, 2021, through Oct. 19, compared to $1,675,169.32 that Harris raised during the same period. The statements also indicate Mizeur as of Oct. 19 had $447,762.57 on hand, compared to Harris’ $1,099,702.25.
Mizeur’s website notes former Maryland Congressman Wayne Gilchrist, former Cecil County Executive Alan McCarthy and Havre de Grace Mayor Bill Martin are among the Republicans who have endorsed her campaign.
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.
The Human Rights Campaign notes Harris has voted against the Equality Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to federal civil rights laws. Harris, among other things, has co-sponsored a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban marriage for same-sex couples.
Harris on Oct. 27 repeatedly attacked transgender people during a debate against Mizeur that took place at Cecil College in North East.
“This is not the Defense Department that I signed up for 1988,” said Harris, who is a U.S. Navy veteran. “It’s more interested in whether or not you fund transgender surgery than whether you fund a missile system to counter the Chinese hypersonic threat. There is more interest on the other side about whether we are going to use preferred pronouns in the Pentagon than whether or not our men and women in uniform have the backing of their higher ups and the investments in military weapon systems to protect their lives.”
Harris in his opening statement noted “the stripping of parental rights; whether that’s school curriculum, promote (a) transgender agenda in schools, keeping secrets from parents.”
Mizeur told the Blade that his comments were “not surprising because it’s part of how he has governed.” Mizeur further described them as “disappointing.”
“We don’t ever want to use trans kids or immigrants or any othering to create division and fear in order to win an election and stay in power and my campaign is the total opposite,” she said. “I arrived with solutions and ideas and relationships that reflect the true reality of what’s going on in the district, what our needs are and how we’re going to solve problems and he showed up with just right-wing, fringe, extremist radical talking points that are completely out of touch.”
Mizeur during the debate also sharply criticized Harris over his position on abortion rights.
“He came out with this ridiculous suggestion that women in Maryland would carry a pregnancy to term and decide to have an abortion because of the gender of the baby,” said Mizeur. “It is offensive to every woman in the state of Maryland.”
“He clearly knows nothing, surprisingly as a doctor, about the process of pregnancy, about what a woman endures in that process, about how all pregnancies late-term are wanted pregnancies,” she added. “The only time you’re going to have an abortion is if something goes tragically wrong and to suggest a women would just cavalierly end a pregnancy because the baby wasn’t the gender she wanted is just an affront to every woman in America.”
Mizeur spoke with the Blade days after Harris’ campaign released a flyer that contained a picture of her wearing a t-shirt that says “America needs lesbian farmers.”
“I’ve never hidden the fact that I’m a lesbian and a farmer,” said Mizeur.
Mizeur said the t-shirt she was wearing was “making fun of right-wing extremism where Rush Limbaugh suggested during the Obama administration that they were giving grants to lesbians to make them farmer so that the queer agenda would infiltrate conservative America and allow democrats to win red states.”
“While being hilarious because I am a lesbian and a farmer, he was using it as an effort to trump up homophobia in the district that is just going to be resoundingly rejected,” she told the Blade.
Mizeur also said her potential constituents’ reaction to Harris sharing the picture on social media was a combination of “more of Andy Harris’ divisive politics and smear campaigns and as a sign of how threatened he is that we are really closing this campaign with strong campaign.”
“He fears losing and he should,” said Mizeur.
Cameroon
Gay Cameroonian immigrant will be freed from ICE detention — for now
Ludovic Mbock’s homeland criminalizes homosexuality
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.
Maryland
Md. Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus outlines 2026 priorities
Expanded PrEP access among objectives
Maryland’s Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus outlined legislative priorities for the remainder of the General Assembly’s 2026 term during a press conference on March 5.
State Del. Kris Fair (D-Fredrick County) led the press conference. State Del. Ashanti Martinez (D-Prince George’s County) and other caucus members also spoke.
Caucus members are sponsoring 12 bills and supporting four others.
Martinez is sponsoring House Bill 1114, which would expand PrEP access in Maryland.
“PrEP is 99 percent effective in preventing HIV transmission,” he explained, noting PrEP’s cost often turns away potential users.
The bill aims to extend insurance coverage and expand pharmacists’ ability to prescribe PrEP along with other HIV treatments and testing. Martinez is working with state Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Anne Arundel and Howard Counties) and FreeState Justice on the bill.
The House Health Committee had a hearing last week that included HB1114.
“Ending the HIV epidemic is about expanding access and providing these life-saving tools to all persons in Maryland,” Martinez said.
Several other pieces of legislation were highlighted during the press conferences. They included measures focused on youth and education, birth certificate markers, so-called conversion therapy, and hormone medications.
State Sen. Cheryl Kagan (D-Montgomery County) is cosponsoring Senate Bill 950, which would update and strengthen conversion therapy laws. State Del. Bonnie Cullison (D-Montgomery County) has introduced an identical bill that would extend the statute of limitations on individuals who facilitate conversion therapy.
Kagan explained the bill would allow conversion therapy victims to come to terms with their experience undergoing the widely discredited practice that “creates shame and it silences survivors.”
When questioned, Fair explained the press conference happened late into the legislative session because “we [the caucus] are constantly having to respond in real time to what’s happening in Washington” while drafting and considering pieces of legislation.
The Frederick County Democrat described this session’s bills as the “most ambitious list of priorities to date.” Fair also described the caucus’s goals.
“It’s decency, it’s dignity, and its humanity,” he said.
Maryland
Md. Commission on LGBTQIA+ Affairs released updated student recommendations
LGBTQ students report higher rates of bullying, suicide
The Maryland Commission on LGBTQIA+ Affairs has released updated recommendations on how the state’s schools can support LGBTQ students.
The updated 16-page document outlines eight “actionable recommendations” for Maryland schools, supplemented with data and links to additional resources. The recommendations are:
- Developing and passing a uniform statewide and comprehensive policy aimed at protecting “transgender, nonbinary, and gender expansive students” against discrimination. The recommendation lists minimum requirements for the policy to address: name, pronoun usage, and restroom access.
- Requiring all educators to receive training about the specific needs of LGBTQ students, by trained facilitators. The training’s “core competencies” include instruction on terminology, data, and support for students.
- Implementing LGBTQ-inclusive curricula and preventing book bans. The report highlights a “comprehensive sexual education curriculum” as specifically important in the overall education curriculum. It also states the curriculum will “provide all students with life-saving information about how to protect themselves and others in sexual and romantic situations.”
- Establishing Gender Sexuality Alliances “at all schools and in all grade levels.” This recommendation includes measures on how to adequately establish effective GSAs, such as campaign advertising, and official state resources that outline how to establish and maintain a GSA.
- Providing resources to students’ family members and supporters. This recommendation proposes partnering with local education agencies to provide “culturally responsive, LGBTQIA+ affirming family engagement initiatives.”
- Collecting statewide data on LGBTQ youth. The data on Maryland’s LGBTQ youth population is sparse and non-exhaustive, and this recommendation seeks to collect information to inform policy and programming across the state for LGBTQ youth.
- Hiring a full-time team at the Maryland Department of Education that focuses on LGBTQ student achievement. These employees would have specific duties that include “advising on local and state, and federal policy” as well as developing the LGBTQ curriculum, and organizing the data and family resources.
- Promoting and ensuring awareness of the 2024 guidelines to support LGBTQ students.
The commission has 21 members, with elections every year, and open volunteer positions. It was created in 2021 and amended in 2023 to add more members.
The Governor’s Office of Communication says the commission’s goal is “to serve LGBTQIA+ Marylanders by galvanizing community voices, researching and addressing challenges, and advocating for policies to advance equity and inclusion.”
The commission is tasked with coming up with yearly recommendations. This year’s aim “to ensure that every child can learn in a safe, inclusive, and supportive environment.”
The Human Rights Campaign’s most recent report on LGBTQ youth revealed that 46.1 percent of LGBTQ youth felt unsafe in some school settings. Those numbers are higher for transgender students, with 54.9 percent of them saying they feel unsafe in school.
Maryland’s High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey reveals a disparity in mental health issues and concerns among students who identify as LGBTQ, compared to those who are heterosexual. LGBTQ students report higher rates of bullying, feelings of hopelessness, and suicidal thoughts. Nearly 36 percent of LGBTQ students report they have a suicide plan, and 26.7 percent of respondents say they have attempted to die by suicide.
The commission’s recommendations seek to combat the mental health crisis among the state’s LGBTQ students. They are also a call for local and state governments to work towards implementing them.
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