Maryland
Sermon on the streets: A trans pastor helps those on the margins find grace
Elazar Schoch Zavaletta is as unique as his congregation
BY JULIE SCHARPER | The ceiling of this church is the sky. There are no stained-glass windows, just graffiti-covered concrete walls. No pews, only chairs unfolded on a vacant lot in Station North.
Church members arrive by motorized wheelchairs, walkers, canes. A few smoke cigarettes or drink out of bottles wrapped in plastic bags. Many have slept on the streets, and some still lack permanent housing. Then there is Pastor Elazar Schoch Zavaletta, a religious leader as unique as this congregation. He is joyfully and proudly trans at a time when many who identify as Christian are leading efforts to curbs the rights of trans people.
The rest of this article can be found at the Baltimore Banner website.
Maryland
Hate crime charges dropped against most Salisbury students in off-campus attack
Suspects allegedly used Grindr to target victim
BY MIKE HELLGRIN, CHRISTIAN OLANIRAN, AND ELLIE WOLFE | Prosecutors in Wicomico County are dropping felony assault and hate crime charges against at least 12 of the 15 Salisbury University students charged in an off-campus attack in October.
Misdemeanor false imprisonment and second-degree assault charges remain for most of the defendants, and many trials are set for late January.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
Maryland
Man sentenced for raping trans woman at gunpoint in Baltimore County, filming sexual assault
Jalen Green, 23, pleaded guilty to Feb. 11 attack
BY DYLAN SEGELBAUM | A man who forced his way into a home in Baltimore County, raped at gunpoint a transgender woman and filmed the sexual assault was ordered Wednesday to serve 10 years in prison.
Baltimore County Circuit Judge Nancy M. Purpura described the crime that Jalen Green committed as an “absolutely brutal offense.”
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
Maryland
At Salisbury University, an alleged hate crime shakes LGBTQ students’ sense of safety
Authorities have charged 12 men in connection with attack
BY ELLIE WOLFE | Gigi Levin said she wasn’t particularly shocked when she heard a group of her classmates had been accused of luring a gay man to an apartment and attacking him.
“This is a problem rooted in our campus culture,” said Levin, a 24-year-old Salisbury University student from Montgomery County. “The administration can help, but ultimately we are responsible for our safety as LGBTQ+ students.”
Levin was one of the first to arrive at a vigil on Monday afternoon, planned by an LGBTQ faculty group after University President Carolyn Ringer Lepre announced in an email to the campus last week that several students been arrested. The Salisbury Police Department charged 12 men, all students between 18 and 21, with first-degree assault, false imprisonment, reckless endangerment and associated hate crimes.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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Hate crime charges dropped against most Salisbury students in off-campus attack
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Protecting trans rights is a moral duty, not a liability
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U.S. Supreme Court5 days agoTrans rights supporters, opponents rally outside Supreme Court as justices consider Tenn. law
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Congress4 days agoProtests against anti-trans bathroom policy lead to more than a dozen arrests
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Opinions4 days agoWill RFK Jr.’s ideas cause illness and death?
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South Africa4 days agoWorldPride 2028 to take place in Cape Town