Virginia
Charges dropped against soldiers arrested for stealing Pride flags from lesbian couple’s house
Arlington prosecutors say suspects successfully completed ‘restorative justice’ program
The Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Arlington County, which prosecutes crimes, confirmed last week that charges were dropped against two U.S. Army soldiers arrested in February 2024 for allegedly stealing Pride flags from the home of a lesbian couple on five separate days between September 2023 and January 2024.
According to Arlington Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghni-Tafti, the charges against the two men — Specialist Matthew Henshaw, 21, and Private First Class Joseph DiGregorio, 23, — were dismissed after they successfully completed a recently initiated program called the Heart of Safety Restorative Justice Conferencing Program.
Under the program, the two men attended counseling sessions with facilitators associated with the program over a period of six months before meeting with the two women whose Pride flags they allegedly stole — Michelle Logan and Jenna Burnett.
In statements released to the news media, Logan and Burnett said the two soldiers appeared to have expressed remorse for their actions of repeatedly pulling down and stealing the couple’s Pride flags. Following their face-to-face conversations with Henshaw and Gregorio, the two women said the men also appear to have gained an understanding of the issues and concerns of the LGBTQ community and the need for ending anti-LGBTQ bias and discrimination.
“We believed they could potentially be amenable to change and also felt that simply putting charges on their records didn’t necessarily feel like enough,” Logan told the online news publication ARL Now. “We wanted them to try to educate themselves and understand why stealing a Pride flag isn’t just a felony but a hate crime against two people who had to live through it,” she told ARL Now.
At the time of their arrest, Henshaw and Digregorio were members of the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Regiment, also known as the Old Guard, an elite ceremonial unit that participates in burials at Arlington National Cemetery.
Dehghni-Tafti told media outlets, including the Washington Blade, that the objective of the restorative justice conferencing program is to provide an alternative to incarceration for people charged with a crime if they voluntarily participate in the program and if the victim of the crime also agrees to participate in the program.
“It really requires people to think about what they did to the victim and explain to the victim, face to face often, why they did it and make a promise to the victim that they are going to be different and not do it again,” Dehghni-Tafti told the Blade.
According to Dehghni-Tafti, admission into the program also requires a person charged with a crime to admit to having committed the crime.
She said the program has a preference, but not a requirement, that people charged with a crime who are accepted into the program are between the age of 16 and 26. She said people charged with certain violent crimes, such as intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and murder are not eligible for admission to the program.
Also, at the time of their arrest, Arlington police said the two soldiers were stationed at the Army’s Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington. One of the base’s entrances is located about two blocks from the 200 block of South Courthouse Road, where police said the two women’s house is located and where their Pride flags had been displayed.
According to court records, Henshaw, who was 20 at the time of his arrest, was charged with three counts of Unlawful Entry — Bias Motivated — and three counts of Petit Larceny for the flag thefts that police said occurred Sept. 16, Sept. 30, and Jan. 27. The records show that DiGregorio was charged with one count of Petit Larceny for the flag theft that occurred Jan. 21.
Police have said a view of the perpetrator of the flag theft on Sept. 16 was captured on a doorbell camera on the women’s house. The couple also went public with their plight on social media, which raised public awareness of the flag thefts and generated tips that helped police identify the two soldieries, who were arrested on Feb. 2.
The records show the single charge against DiGregorio was dropped on Sept. 9 and each of the charges against Henshaw were dismissed on Dec. 23.
In a show of support and solidarity for Logan and Burnett, who are out as a lesbian couple, at least a half dozen or more residents of nearby houses displayed Pride flags on their homes after learning that the couple’s flags had been repeatedly stolen.
A gay man was murdered in Petersburg, Va., on March 13.
Shyyell Diamond Sanchez-McCray, who was also known as Saamel and Mable, was a drag queen who won the Miss Mayflower EOY pageant in 2015. Reports also indicate Sanchez-McCray, 42, was a well-known community activist in Virginia and in North Carolina.
Local media reports indicate police officers found Sanchez-McCray shot to death inside a home in Petersburg.
Sanchez-McCray’s brother, Jamal Mitchell Diamond, in a public statement the Washington Blade received from Equality Virginia and GLAAD, said Sanchez-McCray was not transgender as initial reports indicated.
“Our family has always embraced the fullness of who he was. He used the names Saamel, Shyyell, and Mable interchangeably, and we honor all of them. There is no division within our family regarding how he is being represented — only a shared commitment to preserving his truth with love and respect,” said Diamond.
“He was also deeply committed to community work through Nationz Foundation, where he worked and completed multiple state-certified programs to support marginalized communities,” added Diamond. “That work meant a great deal to him.”
Authorities have not made any arrests.
The Petersburg Bureau of Police has asked anyone with information about Sanchez-McCray’s murder to call Petersburg-Dinwiddie Crime Solvers at 804-861-1212.
Virginia
Virginia General Assembly’s 2026 legislative session ends
Voters in November will consider repealing marriage amendment
The Virginia General Assembly’s 2026 legislative session ended on March 14.
Lawmakers have yet to approve a budget, but they did pass a resolution that paves the way for a referendum on whether to repeal the state’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Lawmakers also advanced House Bill 60, which would protect PrEP users from insurance discrimination.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger has until April 13 to decide to pass, amend, or veto legislation before it goes back to the House of Delegates on April 22.
Spanberger on Feb. 6 signed the bill that sets the stage for the marriage amendment referendum. Voters will consider whether to “remove the ban on same-sex marriage; (ii) affirm that two adults may marry regardless of sex, gender, or race; and (iii) require all legally valid marriages to be treated equally under the law?”
Equality Virginia has been working during this legislative cycle to urge lawmakers to allocate funding towards LGBTQ rights. The budget would expand funding for schools, competency training for the 988 suicide hotline, and funding to provide gender affirming care to LGBTQ youth.
“As the budget moves through conference and the Reconvene Session approaches on April 22, Equality Virginia remains focused on ensuring our victories this session translate into durable protections,” Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman told the Washington Blade in a statement. “Progress on marriage equality, nondiscrimination protections, and HIV care funding was essential, but Virginia must do more.”
Virginia
Va. lawmakers consider partial restoration of Ryan White funds
State Department of Health in 2025 cut $20 million from Part B program
The Virginia General Assembly is considering the partial restoration of HIV funding that the state’s Department of Health cut last year.
The Department of Health in 2025 cut $20 million — or 67 percent of total funding — from the Ryan White Part B program.
The funding cuts started with the Trump-Vance administration passing budget cuts to federal HIV screening and protection programs. Rebate issues between the Virginia Department of Health and the company that provides HIV medications began.
Advocates say the funding cuts have disproportionately impacted lower-income people.
The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, a federal program started in 1990, provides medical services, public education, and essential services. Part B offers 21 services, seven of which remained funded after the budget cuts.
Equality Virginia notes “in 2025, a 67 percent reduction severely destabilized HIV services across the commonwealth.”
Virginia lawmakers have approved two bills — House Bill 30 and Senate Bill 30 — that would partially restore the funding. The Ryan White cuts remain a concern among community members.
Both chambers of the General Assembly must review their proposed changes before lawmakers can adopt the bills.
“While these amendments aren’t a full restoration of what community-based organizations lost, this marks a critical step toward stabilizing care for thousands of Virginians living with HIV,” said Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman. “Equality Virginia plans to continue their contact with lawmakers and delegates through the conference and up until the passing of the budget.”
“We appreciate lawmakers from both sides of the aisle who recognized the urgency of this moment and will work to ensure funding remains in the final version signed by the governor,” added Rahaman.
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