Maryland
Gay candidate wins election as mayor of Forest Heights, Md.
Troy Barrington Lilly to be sworn in on June 21
Troy Barrington Lilly, a gay member of the Council of the Town of Forest Heights, Md., who became acting mayor on May 1 after the previous mayor resigned, won a special election on June 20 as the town’s mayor.
Sherletta Hawkins, the Forest Heights Town Clerk, told the Washington Blade there were a total of 147 votes cast in the special election. She said Lilly received 138 votes and the only other candidate, Remia Hamilton, received nine votes.
Forest Heights is located in Prince George’s County along the Potomac River next to the National Harbor, with part of the town bordering Southeast D.C.
Lilly had been serving as a Ward 1 Council member since October 2021 and was named by fellow Council members as president of the Council earlier this year. Under town election rules, Lilly, in his role as Council president, became acting mayor on May 1 when the town’s previous mayor, Calvin Washington, resigned, according to Hawkins.
Lilly was scheduled to be sworn in as mayor at a Town Hall ceremony at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, June 21.
His LinkedIn page says Lilly has worked as a professional photographer for the past 13 years. A write-up on his background on the Forest Heights website says in recent years he has served as a U.S. Department of Defense contractor doing photography work “covering engagements between senior U.S. military officials and foreign dignitaries.”
Lilly’s LinkedIn page says he currently works as a software engineering associate for a consulting firm that does contract work with federal government agencies.
At the time he announced his candidacy in the special election for mayor, Lilly released a statement expressing his ideas and plans if elected mayor.
“For the past two years, I’ve crafted legislation and built relationships for residents as a Councilmember and Council president,” he said. He added that if elected mayor he would pursue a five-point plan that includes upgrading infrastructure, digital transformation, youth and community engagement, beautification, economic development, and planning for the future.
Lilly joins the ranks of at least four other openly gay or lesbian mayors in Maryland towns. They include Jeffrey Slavin of Somerset, located just outside D.C.; Stacy Link of Sykesville; Mona Becker of Westminster; and Nathan Brown of Brunswick.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on Tuesday signed a bill that decriminalizes HIV in the state.
State Dels. Kris Fair (D-Frederick County) and Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore City) are among the lawmakers who sponsored House Bill 39 or the Carlton R. Smith Act, which is named after the long-time activist known as the “mayor” of Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood who died in May 2024.
Smith was a member of the Coalition to Decriminalize HIV in Maryland that advocated for the bill. FreeState Justice, a statewide LGBTQ rights group, was also part of the coalition.
“At FreeState Justice, we are proud to stand with advocates, health experts, and lawmakers who worked diligently to advance this bill. The bipartisan support for the Carlton R. Smith Act is a testament to the power of education, research, and courageous leadership,” said FreeState Justice Executive Director Phillip Westry in a statement. “It sends a clear message: Maryland is committed to evidence-based policymaking and to ending the criminalization of people living with HIV. We honor the memory of Carlton R. Smith by continuing the work of building a more just, inclusive, and informed society.”
Maryland is the fifth state to decriminalize HIV.
North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong, a Republican, in March signed a bill that decriminalized HIV in his state.
Maryland
A Baltimore theater educator lost jobs at Johns Hopkins and the Kennedy Center
Tavish Forsyth concluded they could not work for Trump
BY WESLEY CASE | Tavish Forsyth had come to a conclusion: They could not work for President Donald Trump.
So the 32-year-old Baltimore resident stripped down, turned on their camera, and lit their career on fire.
“F—— Donald Trump and f—— the Kennedy Center,” a naked Forsyth, an associate artistic lead at the Washington National Opera’s Opera Institute, which is run by the Kennedy Center, said in a video that went viral. The board of the nation’s leading cultural institution had elected Trump just weeks prior as its chairman after he gutted the board of members appointed by his predecessor, President Joe Biden.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
Maryland
Md. schools plan to comply with federal DEI demands
Superintendents opt for cooperation over confrontation
By LIZ BOWIE | Deciding not to pick a fight with the Trump administration, Maryland school leaders plan to sign a letter to the U.S. Department of Education that says their school districts are complying with all civil rights laws.
The two-paragraph letter could deflect a confrontation over whether the state’s public schools run diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that the Trump administration has called illegal. The Baltimore Banner reviewed the letter, which was shared by a school administrator who declined to be identified because the letter has not yet been sent.
Maryland school leaders are taking a more conciliatory approach than those in some other states. Education leaders in Minnesota, New York, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, and Wisconsin said they will not comply with the federal education department’s order, the demands of which, they say, are based on a warped interpretation of civil rights law.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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