BY LEE O. SANDERLIN, ADAM WILLIS, ALISSA ZHU, and MEREDITH COHN | Mayor Brandon Scott fired Health Commissioner Dr. Ihuoma Emenuga on Monday evening after learning she is under criminal investigation. Her abrupt departure, just months into the job, leaves the Health Department once again without a leader as Baltimore struggles with rampant overdose deaths at a rate not seen before in a major American city.

The Baltimore Office of the Inspector General opened a probe into Emenuga’s work at a private health clinic while she was also serving as health commissioner, according to multiple people familiar with the matter but who were not authorized to speak publicly. The inspector general’s office made a criminal referral to the Office of the Maryland State Prosecutor, which is now investigating.

Emenuga’s clinical work was done at Chase Brexton, a nonprofit health care center founded in 1978 as a volunteer-run gay health clinic in the Mount Vernon neighborhood. Today the clinic has locations throughout Maryland and sees about 40,000 patients a year with a focus on providing services to poor and underserved populations. A spokesperson for Chase Brexton did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday evening.

The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

BY JOHN-JOHN WILLIAMS IV | P.S. Gear goes on morning runs and swims with his gay workout partner. He regularly attends Sweet Spot, a recurring queer dance party. He’s marched in the Baltimore Pride Parade for the past six years. And he won’t bat an eye when correcting someone who intentionally misgenders someone. He’s also a happily married heterosexual.

The Hampden resident is an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community. Heterosexual is not a part of the LGBTQ acronym, which stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, transgender, intersex, asexual, but the group is just as important, advocates say.

The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

Baltimore city officials and LGBTQ activists participated in a ceremony on June 29 officially dedicating the renaming of a street in honor of transgender woman Iya Dammons, who founded and serves as executive director of the LGBTQ services organization Maryland Safe Haven.

A section of Baltimore’s 21st Street at the intersection of North Charles Street, where the Maryland Safe Haven offices are located, has been renamed Iya Dammons Way.

The ceremony took place six years after Dammons founded Maryland Safe Haven in 2018 and one year after she launched a Safe Haven operation in D.C.in 2023 located at 331 H St., N.E.

A statement on its website says Safe Haven provides a wide range of supportive services for LGBTQ people in need, with a special outreach to Black trans women “navigating survival mode” living.

“Through compassionate harm reduction and upward mobility services, advocacy support, and community engagement, we foster a respectful, non-judgmental environment that empowers individual agency,” the statement says. “Our programs encompass community outreach, a drop-in center providing HIV testing, harm reduction, PrEP, medical linkage, case management, and assistance in accessing housing services,” it says.

Among those participating in the street renaming ceremony were Baltimore City Council member Zeke Cohen, interim director of Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs Alexis Blackmon, and Dominique Morgan, an official with the national foundation Borealis Philanthropy, which provides financial support for transgender supportive nonprofit organizations, including Safe Haven.

“This is a significant achievement and historic moment for our city,” a statement by Maryland Safe Haven announcing the ceremony says. “Iya Dammons has been a tireless advocate for transgender rights and has worked tirelessly to provide safe spaces and resources for transgender individuals in our city,” it says. “This honor is well-deserved, and we are thrilled to see her contributions recognized in such a meaningful way.”