National
Jury deadlocked in trial of National Black Justice Coalition CEO
Sharon Lettman-Hicks faces conspiracy, fraud charges

A trial that began on April 17 in a federal court in Tallahassee, Fla., for Sharon Lettman-Hicks, the CEO and board chair of the D.C.-based LGBTQ group National Black Justice Coalition, ended in a mistrial on Thursday after a jury became deadlocked and could not render a verdict on 19 specific charges.
But the jury handed down a verdict of not guilty on one of the 19 charges against former Tallahassee mayor and unsuccessful Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum who was on trial together with Lettman-Hicks. The jury acquitted Gillum on a single charge of providing false statements to the FBI.
Federal prosecutors announced they plan to bring Lettman-Hicks and Gillum up for another trial on multiple charges where the jury was unable to render a verdict.
The trial began about 10 months after a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Florida on June 7, 2022, handed down an indictment charging both Gillum and Lettman-Hicks, who served as a campaign adviser to Gillum, with conspiracy and multiple counts of fraud.
The indictment alleged that Lettman-Hicks and Gillum engaged in an illegal political corruption scheme that began in 2015. It says Lettman-Hicks allegedly helped Gillum improperly funnel money solicited from FBI agents posing as real estate developers with a promise of providing something “very significant in return” for Gillum’s support for the developers in his role at the time as mayor of Tallahassee.
The indictment made it clear that Gillum and Lettman-Hicks became ensnared in an FBI sting operation that prosecutors said was part of an investigation into what they claimed was ongoing corruption in local government. Prosecutors alleged that much of the money Gillum received from the FBI sting operation went for his personal use through a company Lettman-Hicks operated called P&P Communications.
The indictment charged both Gillum and Lettman-Hicks with 19 counts of wire fraud and one count of attempt and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Lettman-Hicks has called the charges against her “baseless” and politically motivated. At the time she was indicted, Lettman-Hicks was running as a Democratic candidate for a seat in the Florida House of Representatives. She withdrew her candidacy, saying, “I must now focus on fighting for my continued freedom.”
A news report this week by the television station WTXL in Tallahassee quoted Lettman-Hicks saying the final week of the trial and much of the trial focused on Count 1, the false statement charge, for which the jury found Gillum not guilty.
“As far as I’m concerned, they realized two through 19 were bogus,” the TV station quoted her as saying. “Hopefully we can get our lives back, when the government decides to stop wasting its money, our money, our tax dollars…on a false positive,” she was quoted as saying.
The National Black Justice Coalition describes itself on its website as a “civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and same gender loving (LGBTQ/SGA) people, including people living with HIV/AIDS.”
At the time the indictments were handed down the NBJC website listed Lettman-Hicks as the organization’s CEO and board chair. It listed and continues at this time to identify David Johns as the organization’s executive director, who runs the organization’s day-to-day operations out of its headquarters in Washington, D.C.
A spokesperson for the NBJC couldn’t immediately be reached to determine whether Lettman-Hicks is still serving as the NBJC’s CEO and board chair.
New York
Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade
One of the victims remains in critical condition

On Sunday night, following the annual NYC Pride March, two girls were shot in Sheridan Square, feet away from the historic Stonewall Inn.
According to an NYPD report, the two girls, aged 16 and 17, were shot around 10:15 p.m. as Pride festivities began to wind down. The 16-year-old was struck in the head and, according to police sources, is said to be in critical condition, while the 17-year-old was said to be in stable condition.
The Washington Blade confirmed with the NYPD the details from the police reports and learned no arrests had been made as of noon Monday.
The shooting took place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, mere feet away from the most famous gay bar in the city — if not the world — the Stonewall Inn. Earlier that day, hundreds of thousands of people marched down Christopher Street to celebrate 55 years of LGBTQ people standing up for their rights.
In June 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, members of the LGBTQ community pushed back, sparking what became known as the Stonewall riots. Over the course of two days, LGBTQ New Yorkers protested the discriminatory policing of queer spaces across the city and mobilized to speak out — and throw bottles if need be — at officers attempting to suppress their existence.
The following year, LGBTQ people returned to the Stonewall Inn and marched through the same streets where queer New Yorkers had been arrested, marking the first “Gay Pride March” in history and declaring that LGBTQ people were not going anywhere.
New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, whose district includes Greenwich Village, took to social media to comment on the shooting.
“After decades of peaceful Pride celebrations — this year gun fire and two people shot near the Stonewall Inn is a reminder that gun violence is everywhere,” the lesbian lawmaker said on X. “Guns are a problem despite the NRA BS.”
New York
Zohran Mamdani participates in NYC Pride parade
Mayoral candidate has detailed LGBTQ rights platform

Zohran Mamdani, the candidate for mayor of New York City who pulled a surprise victory in the primary contest last week, walked in the city’s Pride parade on Sunday.
The Democratic Socialist and New York State Assembly member published photos on social media with New York Attorney General Letitia James, telling followers it was “a joy to march in NYC Pride with the people’s champ” and to “see so many friends on this gorgeous day.”
“Happy Pride NYC,” he wrote, adding a rainbow emoji.
Mamdani’s platform includes a detailed plan for LGBTQ people who “across the United States are facing an increasingly hostile political environment.”
His campaign website explains: “New York City must be a refuge for LGBTQIA+ people, but private institutions in our own city have already started capitulating to Trump’s assault on trans rights.
“Meanwhile, the cost of living crisis confronting working class people across the city hits the LGBTQIA+ community particularly hard, with higher rates of unemployment and homelessness than the rest of the city.”
“The Mamdani administration will protect LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers by expanding and protecting gender-affirming care citywide, making NYC an LGBTQIA+ sanctuary city, and creating the Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs.”
U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court upholds ACA rule that makes PrEP, other preventative care free
Liberal justices joined three conservatives in majority opinion

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a portion of the Affordable Care Act requiring private health insurers to cover the cost of preventative care including PrEP, which significantly reduces the risk of transmitting HIV.
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the majority opinion in the case, Kennedy v. Braidwood Management. He was joined by two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, along with the three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown-Jackson.
The court’s decision rejected the plaintiffs’ challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s reliance on the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force to “unilaterally” determine which types of care and services must be covered by payors without cost-sharing.
An independent all-volunteer panel of nationally recognized experts in prevention and primary care, the 16 task force members are selected by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to serve four-year terms.
They are responsible for evaluating the efficacy of counseling, screenings for diseases like cancer and diabetes, and preventative medicines — like Truvada for PrEP, drugs to reduce heart disease and strokes, and eye ointment for newborns to prevent infections.
Parties bringing the challenge objected especially to the mandatory coverage of PrEP, with some arguing the drugs would “encourage and facilitate homosexual behavior” against their religious beliefs.
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