Baltimore Heritage is continuing its mission to preserve Maryland’s LGBTQ history.

The group, using documentation, is attempting to get statewide LGBTQ historical sites listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Kentucky was the first state to make this effort, using a similar study to Maryland, which outlined a comprehensive list of LGBTQ heritage sites. 

Baltimore Heritage, a local non-profit, 15 years ago began its efforts to promote LGBTQ heritage within the local community, mainly with walking tours to sites important to LGBTQ history. Preservation Maryland in 2018 received a grant, and Susan Ferentinos spent two years compiling a comprehensive list of LGBTQ historical sites, later published in 2022. 

Suffragist Mary Elizabeth Garrett’s Mount Vernon home is one of the examples of the LGBTQ historical sites. 

Although Garrett never labeled herself, she was involved in same-sex relationships, was a leader in the feminist movement, and played a large role in advancing education for women. 

Although the effort has been ongoing, Baltimore Heritage Executive Director Johns Hopkins explained that Baltimore Heritage and its partners’ goal is to add Maryland to the public conversation on LGBTQ history. 

“Bringing a little bit of a spotlight to some of the sites that are important, locally and nationally, would be meeting a goal of trying to have a broader, more in-depth public discussion around LGBTQ history, so we all know where we’re coming from,” said Hopkins.

By TALIA RICHMAN | During a meet-and-greet at Poolesville Memorial United Methodist Church, Evan Glass got his loudest applause of the night with a plan he acknowledged was decidedly unsexy.

“Day one, I’ll hire a director of permitting services,” the county executive candidate said.

Doing so, he added, is a step toward easing the regulatory burdens that can stifle small businesses in Montgomery County.

The only problem? At least one of his fiercest competitors is making a similar pledge.

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

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.