Maryland
Maryland police arrest 3 in hate crimes against churches
‘Most of all, we never let go of hope,’ says pastor of vandalized Fowler UMC

Authorities in Maryland announced Thursday that three persons had been taken into custody and charged with crimes against multiple churches in Anne Arundel County including vandalism and destruction of property. According to Maryland law, any property damage of a religious entity is considered a hate crime.
Anne Arundel County Deputy Police Chief Katie Roberts told reporters at a press conference on Thursday announcing the arrests, “Let me be very clear: there is no place for hate in our county,” she said adding; “We will not tolerate hateful acts of any kind towards our places of worship or any individuals in this county.”
Arrested in separate incidents Roberts said was twin brothers Blake Krenzer, 19, and Brandon Krenzer, 19, and Jarren Alexander, 22. Roberts noted that the department’s detectives and uniformed officers investigated as many as five incidences of vandalism at four churches in the County.
Alexander is alleged to have caused extensive damage to Fowler United Methodist Church (UMC), a historic Black church in Annapolis, on June 9. He also is being charged in connection with two additional incidents of vandalism at nearby St. Philip’s Episcopal Church that occurred after the hate crime at Fowler.
Blake Krenzer and Brandon Krenzer were charged in the vandalism/defacing of the Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ+ Pride signs at the Ark & Dove Presbyterian Church in Odenton in the early morning hours of June 14. That incident was captured on video surveillance footage which was released publicly.

In the video one of the Krenzers appears to be wearing a bandana with a confederate flag over his face. Another is wearing a shirt that says, “American Muscle,” with an American flag on it.
“Within 30 minutes of posting surveillance images on our social media, several community members came forward with tips that led to arrests in those cases,” Roberts told reporters. “These are amazing examples of community policing.”
Also speaking to reporters was the Pastor of Fowler UMC, Reverend Jerome Jones, who recounted the destruction of the more than 100 Bibles and hymnals that were destroyed, five televisions were smashed, and a large wooden cross was cracked on a pew.
“I have pastored since 2012, and I have never seen a church in such disarray and so much pain in a room,” said Jones. “Frederick Douglass once said, ‘If there is no struggle, there is no progress.’ But (we) have held on to our faith. Most of all, we never let go of hope.”
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.
Maryland
FreeState Justice: Transgender activist ‘hijacked’ Moore’s Transgender Day of Visibility event
Maryland Commission on LGBTQIA+ Affairs describes Lee Blinder’s comments as ‘call to action’

FreeState Justice on April 11 released a statement criticizing the way that Trans Maryland Executive Director Lee Blinder treated Gov. Wes Moore during a Transgender Day of Visibility event.
FreeState Justice was extremely disappointed with the criticisms of Moore on the Transgender Day of Visibility, saying it was “hijacked by public hostility” by Blinder. The Baltimore Banner reported how Blinder “laid out how the Democratic governor has let down transgender Marylanders by not putting money in the budget and not backing needed policy changes.”
The Washington Blade interviewed Blinder after the March 31 event.
“The intention of what I shared is to show to the governor that this is a community in distress. You know, we are in a real state of emergency for the trans community and there are very few opportunities that the community has to share this directly with the governor.” Blinder told the Blade. “We’re really grateful to the governor for everything that he’s done in the past for this community, but the circumstances have changed and we really need to see very specific actions taken in order to ensure this community has the ability to exist in public space.”
FreeState Justice said Moore did not deserve such criticisms during the event and added in a Blade oped it is “time for new leadership on the Maryland LGBTQIA+ Commission. Leadership that values and prioritizes coalition over conflict. Leadership that invites feedback and shares power. Leadership that understands how Annapolis operates, how budgets are constructed, and how community victories are won.”
“We’re not saying don’t challenge power. We’re saying do it with purpose. Do it with facts. Do it with a strategy. If you’re going to call yourself a leader in this movement, show us the policy platform. Show us the data. Show us the budget line. Show us the work,” wrote FreeState Justice.
The Maryland Commission on LGBTQIA+ Affairs has met to address FreeState Justice’s statements.
“During the Transgender Day of Visibility ceremony at the State House, the commission’s chair offered remarks reflecting the real fears, concerns, and hopes of the trans community. These remarks were not a call-out, but a call to action,” the commission said in their call to action statement it sent to the Blade. “The chair’s words echoed the thousands of voices we’ve heard across the state through phone calls, emails, and messages on social media to our staff, commissioners, and their affiliated organizations.”
The statement outlines what the call to action entails, addressing what the commission found to be the most pressing issues for transgender Marylanders. They include a lack of dedicated funding, barriers to affirming healthcare, housing insecurity and homelessness, discrimination in education and employment, and escalating violence, harassment, and hate.
“We remain deeply committed to working in partnership with the Moore-Miller administration, the General Assembly, state agencies, nonprofit organizations, and community partners to ensure LGBTQIA+ Marylanders are seen, protected, and supported in policy, budget, and in practice,” reads the statement.
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