Local

Accusations fly as Equality Md. copes with crisis

State group could close; board blames fired director for mismanagement

Published

15 years ago

May 25, 2011

Equality Maryland will likely lay off its four remaining staff members and could be forced to close if sufficient funds aren’t raised to cover costs, according to its board president, who blames the organization’s former executive director for the crisis.

“We brought in an interim executive director to assess the state of our resources,” said Charles Butler, Equality Maryland’s board president. “She did a rapid assessment and confirmed our fear that Equality Maryland has been perhaps irreparably damaged by the previous executive director.”

Morgan Meneses-Sheets was fired as director last month. Butler claims she entered into expensive contracts on behalf of the organization and hired staff without the board’s approval or knowledge.

“The most serious of the harms that we’re facing now is the depleted financial conditions of the organization, which may require the termination of existing staff due to the financial commitments [Meneses-Sheets] made on the organization’s behalf,” Butler said.

He appealed to the LGBT community in Maryland to step up and save the organization with donations of money and volunteer time.

“Hopefully the LGBT community in Maryland will come together and support the organization financially because otherwise that will leave a void in the state,” he said.

Meneses-Sheets sharply disputed Butler’s accusations and in a candid interview took aim at Equality Maryland’s board and even the state’s eight-member LGBT Caucus.

“I wish he’d be a grown up and allow me to move on,” she said, describing her termination as “a groundless rash decision.”

She denied entering into contracts without the board’s knowledge and claimed she wasn’t authorized to sign anything in the last six months of her tenure without approval. Further, she said she could not pay any bill in excess of $1,000 without approval from the board treasurer.

“We produced monthly reports and there weren’t contracts or liabilities they weren’t aware of, it’s complete nonsense,” Meneses-Sheets said. “Maybe Chuck wasn’t paying attention to the reports but they were generated.”

But a second knowledgeable source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Meneses-Sheets agreed to a payment plan with a vendor that included a June 2011 balloon payment in excess of $10,000. The source said Meneses-Sheets did not inform the board of the obligation. In addition, the source claims that Meneses-Sheets brought on four staffers as contractors without the knowledge or consent of the board.

In addition to the accusations of financial mismanagement, Butler said there were other problems with Meneses-Sheets’ performance. He claims she made a controversial decision to remove a public accommodations provision from the state’s gender identity non-discrimination bill without informing the board. That decision riled some transgender activists, who pulled their support for the bill, which ultimately died. Again, Meneses-Sheets denies that she acted unilaterally and said the decision to pull the provision came from the bill’s sponsor, Del. Joseline Pena-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel Counties).

“It’s unfortunate that the board chair is pointing fingers,” Meneses-Sheets said. “Board members were consulted … the decision was made by the sponsor and our choice was to support the bill. It’s ridiculous to suggest that I was running around willy-nilly.”

Again, Equality Maryland insiders paint a different picture. The anonymous source said Meneses-Sheets approached national LGBT partner organizations and the bill’s sponsor and “made a deal without board approval or knowledge.” By the time the board found out the public accommodations provision had been stripped, the bill was already being written in Annapolis and it was too late to change it, the source claims.

Butler also claimed that Meneses-Sheets left Equality Maryland’s member and donor database in disarray. He said the database was damaged while merging information from another database but that Meneses-Sheets didn’t inform the board.

“That database is arguably our most valuable material asset,” Butler said, adding that most donor information obtained at the organization’s fall gala that raised $25,000 was lost. He urged Equality Maryland donors to proactively contact the group as some e-mail addresses and phone numbers can’t be found.

Once again, Meneses-Sheets tells a very different story. She claims the database was “a wreck” when she arrived at Equality Maryland and that the new problem surfaced in the fall but that she brought on a volunteer to clean it up and rebuild it.

“Wrong,” the anonymous source said, “she knew the database was damaged and did nothing about it.”

Meneses-Sheets made allegations of her own — that she never had performance reviews, was treated unprofessionally, left the organization with money in the bank and that the board deceived her about the stability of the organization when she was hired. “They were in the red and barely getting by,” she said. Despite the accusations, she said she didn’t contemplate a lawsuit after her departure and never filed for unemployment benefits. She found a new job and now works for Pride at Work.

She claims that the eight-member LGBT Caucus was a “major force in choosing me as the scapegoat.”

“Several sources told me they played a big role in deciding I would be the scapegoat,” she said. “Should the LGBT legislators decide who staffs the LGBT organization? They’ve created an untenable situation where they dictate everything.”

Sources dispute the claim that Equality Maryland was in the red at the time the group hired Meneses-Sheets and insist that she neglected her responsibility to raise funds.

“Her idea of development was to go to happy hours all over the state of Maryland and ask for $5 donations,” the source said. “Her fundraising plan was never more sophisticated than that.”

The flap over Meneses-Sheets’ termination has offered a glimpse into how state LGBT rights groups interact with national groups like the Human Rights Campaign, Freedom to Marry and the Gill Action Fund.

“The shit has hit the fan,” Meneses-Sheets said, “[the board] realizes there are major problems with the LGBT Caucus and that the national groups have their own agendas that have nothing to do with supporting Equality Maryland. They’ve gotten no money and they’re panicking.”

She claims that at the time she left the organization, there were rumors that HRC would keep Equality Maryland out of future efforts to pass a marriage equality bill, following this year’s failed attempt.

Butler confirmed that the national groups are involved in Maryland’s marriage fight. HRC’s regional field director, Sultan Shakir, began working at Equality Maryland’s headquarters office in Baltimore earlier this month.

“HRC is working with local and national groups to help build a strong campaign to pass Equality Maryland’s entire legislative agenda next year,” said HRC spokesperson Fred Sainz. “While HRC currently has a field staffer working in the Baltimore headquarters to support their new executive director, there are no set plans to keep him there,” he said.

Butler said the national groups are working on a campaign field strategy and a plan to combat an anticipated referendum to overturn a same-sex marriage law and that he’s unsure if that effort would be run out of Equality Maryland or be physically located elsewhere. Sainz denied rumors last week that HRC sought to install Shakir as the new Equality Maryland director.

But the marriage struggle in Maryland could be hampered if Equality Maryland is forced to close.

“We need your support, financially and otherwise, we need your involvement,” Butler said. “I’m fairly optimistic we can raise enough funds so that we can keep the organization running. I think we do have a realistic shot at getting the marriage bill and the gender identity bill passed in the next legislative session.”

Assuming the organization can raise funds to cover its expenses, Butler said the next step would be to hire an executive search firm to “find us a competent, strong director.” He said it’s important to work more closely with the community and, to that end, the organization now seeks to expand its board.

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District of Columbia

D.C. police arrest man for burglary at gay bar Spark Social House

Suspect ID’d from images captured by Spark Social House security cameras

Published

1 day ago

February 21, 2026

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Spark Social House (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

D.C. police on Feb. 18 arrested a 63-year-old man “of no fixed address” for allegedly stealing cash from the registers at the gay bar Spark Social House after unlawfully entering the bar at 2009 14th St., N.W., around 12:04 a.m. after it had closed for business, according to a police incident report.

“Later that day officers canvassing for the suspect located him nearby,” a separate police statement says. “63-year-old Tony Jones of no fixed address was arrested and charged with Burglary II,” the statement says.

The police incident report states that the bar’s owner, Nick Tsusaki, told police investigators that the bar’s security cameras captured the image of a man who has frequently visited the bar and was believed to be homeless.

“Once inside, the defendant was observed via the establishment’s security cameras opening the cash register, removing U.S. currency, and placing the currency into the left front pocket of his jacket,” the report says.

Tsusaki told the Washington Blade that he and Spark’s employees have allowed Jones to enter the bar many times since it opened last year to use the bathroom in a gesture of compassion knowing he was homeless. Tsusaki said he is not aware of Jones ever having purchased anything during his visits.

According to Tsusaki, Spark closed for business at around 10:30 p.m. on the night of the incident at which time an employee did not properly lock the front entrance door. He said no employees or customers were present when the security cameras show Jones entering Spark through the front door around 12:04 a.m.

Tsusaki said the security camera images show Jones had been inside Spark for about three hours on the night of the burglary and show him taking cash out of two cash registers. He took a total of $300, Tsusaki said.

When Tsusaki and Spark employees arrived at the bar later in the day and discovered the cash was missing from the registers they immediately called police, Tsusaki told the Blade. Knowing that Jones often hung out along the 2000 block of 14th Street where Spark is located, Tsusaki said he went outside to look for him and saw him across the street and pointed Jones out to police, who then placed him under arrest.

A police arrest affidavit filed in court states that at the time they arrested him police found the stolen cash inside the pocket of the jacket Jones was wearing. It says after taking him into police custody officers found a powdered substance in a Ziploc bag also in Jones’s possession that tested positive for cocaine, resulting in him being charged with cocaine possession in addition to the burglary charge.

D.C. Superior Court records show a judge ordered Jones held in preventive detention at a Feb. 19 presentment hearing. The judge then scheduled a preliminary hearing for the case on Feb. 20, the outcome of which couldn’t immediately be obtained.

District of Columbia

Judge rescinds order against activist in Capital Pride lawsuit

Darren Pasha accused of stalking organization staff, board members, volunteers

Published

2 days ago

February 20, 2026

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Darren Pasha (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

A D.C. Superior Court judge on Feb.18 agreed to rescind his earlier ruling declaring local gay activist Darren Pasha in default for failing to attend a virtual court hearing regarding an anti-stalking lawsuit brought against him by the Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes D.C.’s annual Pride events.

The Capital Pride lawsuit, initially filed on Oct. 27, 2025, accuses Pasha of engaging in a year-long “course of conduct” of “harassment, intimidation, threats, manipulation, and coercive behavior” targeting Capital Pride staff, board members, and volunteers.

In his own court filings without retaining an attorney, Pasha has strongly denied the stalking related allegations against him, saying “no credible or admissible evidence has been provided” to show he engaged in any wrongdoing.

Judge Robert D. Okum nevertheless on Feb. 6 approved a temporary stay-away order requiring Pasha to stay at least 100 feet away from Capital Pride’s staff, volunteers, and board members until the time of a follow-up court hearing scheduled for April 17. He reduced the stay-away distance from 200 yards as requested by Capital Pride.

In his two-page order issued on Feb. 18, Okun stated that Pasha explained that he was involved in a scooter accident in which he was injured and his phone was damaged, preventing him from joining the Feb. 6 court hearing.

“Therefore, the court finds there is a good cause for vacating the default,” Okun states in his order.

At the time he initially approved the default order at the Feb. 6 hearing that Pasha didn’t attend, Okun scheduled an April 17 ex parte proof hearing in which Capital Pride could have requested a ruling in its favor seeking a permanent anti-stalking order against Pasha.

In his Feb. 18 ruling rescinding the default order Okun changed the April 17 ex parte proof hearing to an initial scheduling conference hearing in which a decision on the outcome of the case is not likely to happen.

In addition, he agreed to consider Pasha’s call for a jury trial and gave Capital Pride 14 days to contest that request. The Capital Pride lawsuit initially called for a non-jury trial by judge.

One request by Pasha that Okum denied was a call for him to order Capital Pride to stop its staff or volunteers from posting information about the lawsuit on social media. Pasha has said the D.C.-based online blog called DC Homos, which Pasha claims is operated by someone associated with Capital Pride, has been posting articles portraying him in a negative light and subjecting him to highly negative publicity.

“The defendant has not set forth a sufficient basis for the court to restrict the plaintiff’s social media postings, and the court therefore will deny the defendant’s request in his social media praecipe,” Okun states in his order.

A praecipe is a formal written document requesting action by a court.

Pasha called the order a positive development in his favor. He said he plans to file another motion with more information about what he calls the unfair and defamatory reports about him related to the lawsuit by DC Homos, with a call for the judge to reverse his decision not to order Capital Pride to stop social media postings about the lawsuit.

Pasha points to a video interview on the LGBTQ Team Rayceen broadcast, a link to which he sent to the Washington Blade, in which DC Homos operator Jose Romero acknowledged his association with Capital Pride Alliance.

Capital Pride Executive Director Ryan Bos didn’t immediately respond to a message from the Blade asking whether Romero was a volunteer or employee with Capital Pride.

Pasha also said he believes the latest order has the effect of rescinding the temporary stay away order against him approved by Okun in his earlier ruling, even though Okun makes no mention of the stay away order in his latest ruling. Capital Pride attorney Nick Harrison told the Blade the stay away order “remains in full force and effect.”

Harrison said Capital Pride has no further comment on the lawsuit.

District of Columbia

Trans activists arrested outside HHS headquarters in D.C.

Protesters demonstrated directive against gender-affirming care

Published

3 days ago

February 20, 2026

Joe Reberkenny

(Photo by Alexa B. Wilkinson)

Authorities on Tuesday arrested 24 activists outside the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services headquarters in D.C.

The Gender Liberation Movement, a national organization that uses direct action, media engagement, and policy advocacy to defend bodily autonomy and self-determination, organized the protest in which more than 50 activists participated. Organizers said the action was a response to changes in federal policy mandated by Executive Order 14187, titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.”

The order directs federal agencies and programs to work toward “significantly limiting youth access to gender-affirming care nationwide,” according to KFF, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that provides independent, fact-based information on national health issues. The executive order also includes claims about gender-affirming care and transgender youth that critics have described as misinformation.

Members of ACT UP NY and ACT UP Pittsburgh also participated in the demonstration, which took place on the final day of the public comment period for proposed federal rules that would restrict access to gender-affirming care.

Demonstrators blocked the building’s main entrance, holding a banner reading “HANDS OFF OUR ‘MONES,” while chanting, “HHS—RFK—TRANS YOUTH ARE NO DEBATE” and “NO HATE—NO FEAR—TRANS YOUTH ARE WELCOME HERE.”

“We want trans youth and their loving families to know that we see them, we cherish them, and we won’t let these attacks go on without a fight,” said GLM co-founder Raquel Willis. “We also want all Americans to understand that Trump, RFK, and their HHS won’t stop at trying to block care for trans youth — they’re coming for trans adults, for those who need treatment from insulin to SSRIs, and all those already failed by a broken health insurance system.”

“It is shameful and intentional that this administration is pitting communities against one another by weaponizing Medicaid funding to strip care from trans youth. This has nothing to do with protecting health and everything to do with political distraction,” added GLM co-founder Eliel Cruz. “They are targeting young people to deflect from their failure to deliver for working families across the country. Instead of restricting care, we should be expanding it. Healthcare is a human right, and it must be accessible to every person — without cost or exception.”

Despite HHS’s efforts to restrict gender-affirming care for trans youth, major medical associations — including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Endocrine Society — continue to regard such care as evidence-based treatment. Gender-affirming care can include psychotherapy, social support, and, when clinically appropriate, puberty blockers and hormone therapy.

The protest comes amid broader shifts in access to care nationwide.

NYU Langone Health recently announced it will stop providing transition-related medical care to minors and will no longer accept new patients into its Transgender Youth Health Program following President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order targeting trans healthcare.