Maryland
Md. congressman helps organize Pride Resource Fair in P.G. County
Glenn Ivey speaks out against anti-LGBTQ bills
U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.), whose district includes most of Prince George’s County, is one of the lead organizers of an LGBTQ Pride Resource Fair scheduled for June 24 at the Oakcrest Community Center in Capitol Heights.
A longtime LGBTQ community ally, Ivey told the Washington Blade he is hopeful that the Pride Resource Fair will provide information about state and local government resources for Prince George’s County’s LGBTQ community in addition to helping celebrate Pride month.
Ivey is organizing the event jointly with openly gay Maryland state Delegate Ashanti Martinez (D-Prince George’s County) and Prince George’s County Council member Krystal Oriadha, who is bisexual.
The event is scheduled to take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Oakcrest Community Center at 1300 Capitol Heights Blvd. in Capitol Heights.
“We thought it would make sense to do an outreach event in celebration of Pride month,” Ivey told the Blade in an interview at his Capitol Hill office. “This is a resource fair, but the idea is to make sure the community is getting what it needs,” he said.
An announcement of the Pride Resource Fair says state and local officials will be available at the event “to answer questions, provide resources, and more.”
Ivey said he has been following the many Pride-related events in the D.C. area as well as President Joe Biden’s hosting of the largest ever Pride celebration at the White House last week.
“I want to see us do more in Prince George’s County as well,” he said. “I know we’ve been a little behind the curve on these issues to some extent,” he told the Blade. “And I think it’s time for us to catch up.”
Ivy points out that he is a member of the House Equality Caucus, which advocates for LGBTQ rights, including legislation supporting LGBTQ equality. The Equality Caucus is chaired by openly gay U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.) and co-chaired by eight other openly gay and lesbian members of the House.
“This year, the Equality Caucus is celebrating Pride with our largest membership to date, 194 members — all of whom are devoted to fighting for equality for our community,” said Pocan in a statement on the caucus’s website.
The website includes the names and photos of each of the 194 members, who consist of Pocan as chair, the other eight out gay and lesbian members who serve as co-chairs, and 185 allied House members, including Ivey and D.C. Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D).
Missing from the list of Equality Caucus members is U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who pleaded not guilty in May to a 13-count federal indictment accusing him, among other things, of wire fraud, money laundering, and theft of public funds. In his election victory in 2022 from his Long Island district, Santos became the first openly gay Republican to win a seat in Congress as a non-incumbent.
Ivey, an attorney, who also won election to the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in 2022, served two terms as the elected state’s attorney for Prince George’s County from 2002-2011 in the role of the county’s lead prosecutor. Ivey has also served for many years as a congressional staffer.
He has worked as chief counsel to former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), as counsel to former U.S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.), on the staff of U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), and as chief majority counsel to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee.
With that as a backdrop, Ivey said as a longtime supporter of equal rights for minorities, including LGBTQ people, he is troubled over the large number of anti-LGBTQ bills that have surfaced and passed in state legislatures over the past year.
Although no such legislation has surfaced in Maryland, Ivey said he is committed to working with the House Equality Caucus to oppose the legislation in other states, especially including legislation targeting transgender young people.
“It’s sad that they’re now targeting kids,” Ivey said. “The argument is they’re doing it to protect kids. But clearly, they’re attacking kids, these trans kids who are vulnerable and have really difficult times socially,” he said. “So, I hope we can win this fight. But it’s going to be a tough stretch for a lot of these folks, these young people who are going through it now.”
Added Ivey, “I can’t fix things in Florida or Utah or wherever, but we can make an impact here in Maryland. And that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Maryland
Baltimore Heritage wants Md. LGBTQ historical sites added to National Registry
Mary Elizabeth Garrett’s Mount Vernon home among historical sites
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.
Maryland
Evan Glass is leaning on his record. Is that enough for Montgomery County’s top job?
Gay county executive candidate pushing for equitable pay, safer streets, and cleaner environment
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.
Maryland
Supreme Court ruling against conversion therapy bans could affect Md. law
Then-Gov. Larry Hogan signed statute in 2018
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.
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