Virginia
Woman in standoff with Fairfax police charged with kidnapping ex-girlfriend
Incident began in Laurel, Md. led to shutdown of Richmond Highway

A 29-year-old woman armed with a gun in her car who was engaged in a standoff with police on Richmond Highway in the Hybla Valley section of Fairfax, Va., for at least 34 hours before surrendering to police has been charged with kidnapping her ex-girlfriend.
According to statements released by Fairfax County and Laurel, Md., police, Brittany A. Copelin, a resident of Charles County, Md., allegedly kidnapped her former girlfriend, Lauren Kingsbury, 25, outside Kingsbury’s home in Laurel on March 24 and reportedly drove her to a destination in Fairfax before Kingsbury was able to escape from her ex-girlfriend.
The Fairfax police statement, released on March 30, says Fairfax police received a tip that Copelin, who was reported missing by the Charles County, Md., Sheriff’s Office, might be located around the 7200 block of Fordson Road in Alexandria. When officers arrived at that location they were approached by Kingsbury, who told them she had been abducted by Copelin.
After searching the area, the officers found the 2016 Jeep SUV that Copelin had been driving in a parking lot along the 7300 block of Richmond Highway, the statement says. It says the officers attempted to stop the jeep, but it drove away, prompting the officers to engage in a “short pursuit” until the Jeep stopped again on a service road on Richmond Highway near Arlington Boulevard.
“Copelin displayed a firearm to officers and refused to exit the Jeep,” the statement says. “To ensure the safety of our community, our officers and Copelin, Richmond Highway was closed between Lockheed Blvd. and Boswell Ave.,” the statement continues. “Officers from our Special Operations Division and Crisis Negotiations Team responded to work to peacefully resolve the situation.”
After more than 30 hours of negotiations with Copeland and with support from Alexandria police, Virginia State Police and George Mason University Police, Copelin surrendered and was taken into custody Thursday morning, March 30, according to the statement.
“She was then taken to the Adult Detention Center where she was charged with two counts of abduction, two counts of use of a firearm in commission of a felony, and felon in possession of a firearm,” the statement says. It says she was being held without bond.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said crisis negotiators and clinicians were in contact with Copelin during the standoff, and that Copelin was experiencing a mental health crisis, NBC 4 Washington reported.
Laurel, Md., police issued their own statement saying they became involved in the case when Lauren Kingsbury’s mother reported her daughter missing on March 26. The statement says the mother reported her daughter was last seen through surveillance camera video “leaving her residence on Friday, March 24, 2023, in the company of Ms. Copelin.”
The statement adds, “Detectives from our Criminal Investigations Division are still in the investigative stages of establishing what happened in the days leading up to the kidnapping and during the time Ms. Kingsbury was missing.”
The statement says Laurel police have charged Copelin with Kidnapping, Home Invasion, First Degree Assault, Second Degree Assault, Third Degree Burglary, Firearm Use in the Commission of a Felony, Loaded Handgun on Person, and False imprisonment.
“The Laurel Police Department commends the Fairfax County Police Department for their commitment and perseverance in finding a peaceful resolution in bringing Ms. Copelin into custody,” the statement concludes. “We are grateful that Ms. Kingsbury has been returned to her family. We would also like to thank Ms. Kingsbury’s family for their continued cooperation and determination in bringing their loved one home,” it says.
Neither Copelin’s attorney nor Lauren Kingsbury could immediately be reached for comment.
Virginia
Youngkin calls on gay Va. GOP LG candidate to exit race over alleged ‘porn’ scandal
John Reid denounces ‘fabricated internet lie’ as anti-gay smear campaign

Less than a week after John Reid, the conservative gay radio talk show host from Richmond secured the Republican nomination for the office of lieutenant governor in Virginia, sensational allegations have surfaced, which he strongly denies, that he allegedly posted pornographic photos on social media.
According to the Virginia Mercury newspaper, the allegations surfaced when Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office released a statement saying Youngkin contacted Reid on Friday, April 25, and asked him to withdraw his candidacy over reports that a social media account with Reid’s username included “pornographic content” that was “shared” with others.
“The governor was made aware late Thursday of the disturbing online content,” the Virginia Mercury quotes a Youngkin spokesperson as saying. “Friday morning, in a call with Mr. Reid, the governor asked him to step down as the lt. governor nominee,” the spokesperson is quoted as saying.
Reid responded to the allegations in an early Friday evening video he posted on his campaign’s Facebook page, calling the allegations “a totally fabricated internet lie” motivated by anti-gay bias.
“I can tell you that’s not my account and anyone on the internet can open accounts with the same or similar names as other people,” he stated in his video. “It’s predictable,” he added.
“But what I didn’t expect was the governor I have always supported to call and demand my resignation without even showing me the supposed evidence or offering me a chance to respond,” Reid states in his video.
He said he will not drop out of the lieutenant governor’s race and called the allegations against him just the latest in what he said was an ongoing effort by some in the Republican Party, especially conservative Christians, to force him out of politics.
“Let’s be honest,” he said. “it’s because I’m openly gay. And I have never backed down to the establishment, and will not,” he continued in his video message. “What happened today is another coordinated assassination attempt against me to force the first openly gay candidate off of a Virginia statewide ticket.”
Reid added, “It’s shameful, and I won’t back down, even though I know the plan is for the attacks to continue in this overt effort to make me toxic.”
Reid secured the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor last week after his only rival in the Republican primary, Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity, dropped out of the race for health reasons.
By securing the nomination Reid became the first known openly gay candidate, Republican or Democrat, to be nominated for a statewide office in Virginia.
In an interview with the Washington Blade earlier this week Reid pointed out that he came out as gay in 1996 or 1997 on National Coming Out Day in his role as TV news anchor in Richmond, where he worked for 10 years.
Following that, Reid worked as a radio talk show host for the next eight years, promoting his ideas as a gay conservative Republican, up until shortly before he announced his candidacy for lieutenant governor, he told the Blade.
Reid’s video responding to the accusations against him can be accessed here.
Reid’s campaign website and statements he has released to the media acknowledge his status as a gay candidate but point out he has a long record of support for conservative Republican positions on a wide range of issues that are against the positions of most mainline LGBTQ rights organizations.
“I’m not a diversity hire,” he stated in a press release issued at the time he announced his candidacy in January. “I’m the most conservative and proven candidate running, and I’ve boldly stood up for our beliefs in a way that should make my personal life a total nonissue,” he stated.
A statement on his campaign website states “John is uniquely positioned to take the fight to the radical progressives head on as he continues his fight against boys in girls’ sports and the extreme trans agenda being forced upon our children.”
His campaign website statement on transgender issues concludes by saying, “And we must be blatant in saying that it is factually impossible for biological men or women to personally decide to change their gender. John believes in the right for grown adults to live their lives as they see fit, but not if they impose restrictions and obligations on others and not if any of their behavior sexualizes or grooms children.
Virginia
Gay talk show host wins GOP nom for Va. lieutenant guv
John Reid becomes first out gay nominee for statewide office in state

John Reid, a conservative gay radio talk show host in Richmond for many years, this week secured the Republican nomination for the office of lieutenant governor in Virginia, becoming the first known openly gay person to be nominated for a statewide office in that state.
Reid secured the nomination after his only rival in the Republican primary, Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity, dropped out of the race this week for health reasons.
Herrity’s decision to withdraw from the race finalized the GOP nominees for Virginia’s three statewide contests in the November general election in what political observers are calling an unusually diverse GOP slate.
Current Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, a Black woman, captured the GOP nomination for governor without a GOP opponent. Jason S. Miyares, a Hispanic man, is running for re-election as Virginia attorney general without a GOP rival. And Reid, a gay man, is the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor.
Reid will face one of six Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor who are competing in the June 17 Democratic primary.
The Blade spoke with Reid on Tuesday. Below is a partial transcript of that interview.
Blade: Is there a message you have for LGBTQ voters in Virginia, including Democrats, for why you think they should vote for you?
Reid: Well, the thing that I would say to gay voters who are looking and examining the candidates, is that I was out of the closet as a gay Republican publicly in very difficult rooms where people weren’t accepting of gay men – long before Donald Trump said I don’t care about this stuff.
And long before polite society said this was OK. So, in the ‘90s I came out on television and said on Oct. 11 – it was on National Coming Out Day. It was probably in 1996 or 1997. I started at the TV station in 1994. So, it was a couple of years into it.
I came out and said you never know your news anchor could be gay on National Coming Out Day. And everyone was appalled. How can you say this? You’re not supposed to say something like that. So even though I’m a Republican I know some people in the LGBT community are reflexively hostile to Republicans.
I took that step in public, and I think I helped change a lot of minds within the Republican Party and within central Virginia, which continues to be a pretty conservative place by being true to who I am. I spoke out in meetings around Republican staff and legislators and said I think we are not doing the right thing by being hostile to gay marriage.
We talk about the importance of family – Republicans talk about the importance of family, the importance of marriage as a fundamental building block of society. And a gay marriage is a net positive. Is it biblical to people who are following traditional Christian theology? No. But is it good for our society to have people in committed relationships? I think yes.
When we were going through the debate over gays in the military I said I see no reason that someone who is qualified to be in the military and can meet every single standard that everyone else is asked to meet, why should they not be in the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy, West Point? Or serving as a grunt in active duty. Why would we exclude those people?
And those were very unpopular positions within the Republican Party.
Blade: Your campaign website says you have supported civil unions for same-sex couples. I could have missed seeing it, but I didn’t see an expression of support for gay marriage. Are you saying now that you support full same-sex marriage?
Reid: You know, you’re right. There is a distinction. And I think marriage is completely legitimate. Civil unions – if you want to go and sign paperwork at the courthouse – that’s great. If you want to be married and if a church wants to marry you if you find a church and religious leader and group that wants to bless that – that’s what I hope to do with my partner now.
Sometime in the near future I hope we will be married. And it’s very important to me as a Christian to be married in a church. So, that’s interesting. Most people would not draw that distinction. I appreciate that you’re drawing a distinction. I’m supportive of both.
Blade: Did you say you worked for a member of Congress? Can you say who that was?
Reid: George Allen, the senator from Virginia. And, of course, you and I – I know you’ve covered so many stories like this that you’ve brought together. But it was a very difficult position. When I started with Sen. Allen, he had a very libertarian attitude about this. The [Virginia State] constitutional amendment was not necessary. There was no need to go down that road.
And of course President Bush – George W. – was very assertive during the 2004 campaign. And then the issue continued to bubble up and you know we wound up with this amendment in the Virginia Constitution that banned gay marriage until the Supreme Court decision. And I was not supportive of that. And I voted for my boss, my senator, who I respected and still do respect.
Blade: Your website shows that your support for the gay community does not extend to the transgender community.
Reid: Yeah, I hate this. But I do think that our current focus on trans issues is where the gay rights movement has jumped the shark. And I think we’re losing support that we worked very diligently for decades to build with the average person. And I’m puzzled that the former leaders of the Human Rights Campaign had presidents when Elizabeth Birch and others – I don’t know what their stance is today.
I do recall that all of us who talked about gay rights issues focused on normalcy and that we would meet every standard that everyone else met. That all the vile things that were said about gays being pedophiles and grooming children – that simply was not true.
And I think we have stumbled into a very unfortunate and dangerous territory where we’re almost taunting the average person with an insistence that they accept drag queen story hour and the provocative books and provocative media that the average person would say, ‘You told us you were normal. – quote unquote normal – and now you are peddling an agenda which we don’t agree with and you’re being really aggressive about it.
And that’s really a difference. I know you’ve been covering it for a long time. I don’t know if you agree with this. I think we are peddling a very different political agenda today than the gay community was 20 years ago. And I think we should restrain ourselves and be cautious about that. And I think we’re in dangerous territory with the general population. And I’d urge caution about that.
Blade: Online reports show that there are as many as six Democratic candidates competing for the lieutenant governor’s position in the June 17 Democratic primary. Do you know any of them?
Reid: I’m familiar with most of them. Some are from the Richmond area. And I believe they are all very supportive of gay rights, which is I think a good thing. My reason for challenging them as a Republican – and I think there are other places where there is a lack of appropriate leadership and good judgment. And so, I don’t expect the gay issue would be a real issue. The trans issue may be a point of contention in the race.
But I don’t think the gay issue – and I do draw a distinction between the two — I don’t think that will be a real dividing line with those Democrat[ic] candidates.
Blade: So unlike when you were a TV news anchor, on your radio talk show were you able to offer more opinions and commentary?
Reid: That’s correct. There was a lot of opining, no script. So, I was able to tell stories about how I traveled to Miami, and I went to Washington. I went to the Kennedy Center and shared some of my life and lifestyle as appropriate with the audience.
Blade: Well, thank you for this interview.
Reid: I’m happy to talk to you. One of the reasons I called you back is that the political consultants have always told me don’t talk to anybody that might disagree with you. And I reject that. I have already lived 30 years as an out gay man. And it has been very difficult. And I would like to make it easier for the next generation to live their authentic selves. … Calling you and talking to you against the advice of all these people who say never do that, I’m hopeful that my willingness to engage and be candid will ultimately be well received, I hope.
Virginia
EXCLUSIVE: HRC PAC to endorse Spanberger for Va. governor
Former congresswoman to face off against state’s GOP lieutenant governor

The Human Rights Campaign PAC on Tuesday will endorse Democratic nominee Abigail Spanberger’s run for governor of Virginia, the organization told the Washington Blade.
The former CIA agent-turned-congresswoman, who represented her state’s 7th Congressional District from 2019 to 2025, will face off against Republican Lieutenant Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in this year’s gubernatorial race.
A Roanoke College survey in February found Spanberger in the lead with a comfortable margin, 39-24, while a trio of polls in January found her ahead by one, five, and 10 percentage points.
Virginia’s incumbent Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is prohibited from seeking a second term under the state’s constitution, has consistently restricted LGBTQ rights and attacked the transgender community since taking office in 2022.
HRC said Spanberger’s candidacy “offers Virginians renewed hope for a future rooted in equality,” with the group’s president, Kelley Robinson, calling her “a champion for the LGBTQ community.”
Noting the former congresswoman’s co-sponsorship of the Equality Act, legislation that would expand federal anti-discrimination protections to include LGBTQ people, Robinson said Spanberger “understands that Virginia’s future success depends on the full inclusion and protection of all its people.”
HRC’s president added, “As governor, she will work tirelessly to build a Virginia where everyone — regardless of who they are or who they love — can live, work, and go to school with dignity, safety, and opportunity. We are thrilled to support her and mobilize pro-equality Virginians to make her the commonwealth’s next governor.”
Responding to news of the endorsement, Spanberger said “I’m honored to earn the endorsement of the Human Rights Campaign, and I’m ready to work together to build on the progress we’ve made to secure equal protections for all Virginians under the law.”
“Affirming that Virginia is a welcoming home for all families goes beyond protecting marriage equality — it means defending Virginians’ right to live without fear of discrimination or harm,” she said. “As governor, I will work to make sure that no Virginian is denied government services, loses a job, or faces any other form of discrimination because of who they love or who they are.”
HRC further noted that Spanberger fought to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, which was signed into law in 2022 and codified legal protections for married same-sex and interracial couples, as well as her promise to “defend marriage equality and work with the General Assembly to enshrine marriage equality in Virginia’s constitution.”
Spanberger has also committed to “signing legislation guaranteeing Virginians’ right to access contraception and birth control,” HRC wrote, “and protecting against attempts by extreme judges and politicians to roll back Virginians’ reproductive freedoms.”
By contrast, the organization criticized Sears’s LGBTQ rights record — noting that in 2004, she pledged to “emphatically support a constitutional amendment” banning same-sex marriage, in 2021, she campaigned with a gubernatorial candidate who said homosexuality was the “work of the devil,” and in 2022, she “dodged questions” about her position on marriage equality and “attempted to rewrite her hateful history.”
Since 1977, with only one exception, Virginia has elected governors who belong to the party that is out of power at the presidential level. The state’s upcoming off-year gubernatorial contest presents an opportunity for Democrats who are eager for a major electoral victory to channel momentum against President Donald Trump and Republican majorities in Congress.
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