Local
Gansler predicts Md. marriage bill will pass in 2012
But AG warns of possible referendum
Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler predicted today that same-sex marriage would be legalized in the state next year.
He made the remarks during a forum at the Center for American Progress about the bill and prospects for a referendum that could overturn it.
“Our governor is now on board and other state leaders are on board, so I do believe it will have the momentum to get passed,” Gansler said.
In February, a measure that would legalize same-sex marriage passed the Maryland State Senate by a vote of 25-21. But the House scuttled the bill after LGBT advocates determined they lacked the votes for passage.
Gansler said the marriage bill came close to passage earlier this year and failed because of “political misjudment.”
“They thought that the Senate side of the Maryland Assembly would be the difficult part, and it turned out to be the House side that was more difficult,” Gansler said.
Gansler said passage didn’t happen because of the “microcosm in the Assembly that exists in the state, the heavy African-American vote, and so forth.”
If the Maryland Legislature passed the marriage legislation, opponents of same-sex marriage could seek to overturn the law through a voter-initiated referendum. Such a measure could appear on the ballot in 2012 at the same time voters would be going to the polls in the presidential race.
Gansler said opponents of marriage equality would “very likely” be able to obtain the necessary signatures to place the referendum on the ballot based on what he’s observed with the state’s DREAM Act, which would authorize in-state tuition benefits at local community colleges to undocumented students in some cases.
“As we just found with the DREAM Act, you can do that over the Internet — get signatures — so it would be very likely that it would actually be put on referendum,” Gansler said.
Gansler added the act of finding enough signatures for the referendum “would stay the enactment” of any marriage law that comes out of the Maryland Legislature.
“In between that time, we’d get a referendum,” Gansler said. “So, it would never actually become law unless and until it went to the voters.”
Gansler said the referendum “could very easily pass” in Maryland and said “the problem is with people most likely to vote” during the election. Still, Gansler said Maryland “would be the place” for a measure rescinding same-sex marriage to fail.
“I believe it’s the most liberal state now in the country, more so than Massachusetts in terms of Democrat-to-Republican registration,” Gansler said.
Gansler added that if the statute banning same-sex marriage remains in place, litigation could benefit gay couples because of the opinion he issued in 2009 saying out-of-state same-sex marriages should be recognized.
“Because of the opinion that I drafted, I believe that it’ll be challenged,” Gansler said. “It’ll go through the courts and be challenged at that point, and I think the Court of Appeals will find the law to be unconstitutional sometime between now and the end of that whole process.”
Gansler said a couple of cases “are already percolating” on whether same-sex couples can be divorced in Maryland who were married in another state. Another case in Western Maryland, Gansler said, challenged the law on the basis of the “spousal privilege.”
“The judge used our opinion in upholding the notion that this couple does have a spousal privilege because they were married in another state,” Gansler said.
Gansler continued, “So, I think if we go to the courts, we will win there. So, I think we win either way; it might take some time.”
The Maryland attorney general made the remarks during a forum highlighting a new report, titled “All Children Matter: How Legal and Social Inequalities Hurt LGBT Families,” which examines how shortcomings in the legal system negatively affect 2 million children living in LGBT families. The report was published by the Movement Advancement Project.
Virginia
McPike wins special election for Va. House of Delegates
Gay Alexandria City Council member becomes 8th LGBTQ member of legislature
Gay Alexandria City Council member Kirk McPike emerged as the decisive winner in a Feb. 10 special election for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Alexandria.
McPike, a Democrat, received 81.5 percent of the vote in his race against Republican Mason Butler, according to the local publication ALX Now.
He first won election to the Alexandria Council in 2021. He will be filling the House of Delegates seat being vacated by Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria), who won in another Feb. 10 special election for the Virginia State Senate seat being vacated by gay Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria).
Ebbin is resigning from his Senate next week to take a position with Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration.
Upon taking his 5th District seat in the House of Delegate, McPike will become the eighth out LGBTQ member of the Virginia General Assembly. Among those he will be joining is Sen. Danica Roem (D-Manassas), who became the Virginia Legislature’s first transgender member when she won election to the House of Delegates in 2017 before being elected to the Senate in 2023.
“I look forward to continuing to work to address our housing crisis, the challenge of climate change, and the damaging impacts of the Trump administration on the immigrant families, LGBTQ+ Virginians, and federal employees who call Alexandria home,” McPike said in a statement after winning the Democratic nomination for the seat in a special primary held on Jan. 20.
McPike, a longtime LGBTQ rights advocate, has served for the past 13 years as chief of staff for gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and has remained in that position during his tenure on the Alexandria Council. He said he will resign from that position before taking office in the House of Delegates.
Local
Local LGBTQ groups, activists to commemorate Black History Month
Rayceen Pendarvis to moderate Dupont Underground panel on Sunday
LGBTQ groups in D.C. and elsewhere plan to use Black History Month as an opportunity to commemorate and celebrate Black lives and experiences.
Team Rayceen Productions has no specific events planned, but co-founder Rayceen Pendarvis will attend many functions around D.C. this month.
Pendarvis, a longtime voice in the LGBTQ community in D.C. moderated a panel at Dupont Underground on Feb. 8. The event, “Every (Body) Wants to Be a Showgirl,” will feature art from Black burlesque artists from around the country. Pendarvis on Feb. 23 will attend the showing of multimedia play at the Lincoln Theatre that commemorates the life of James Baldwin.
Equality Virginia plans to prioritize Black voices through a weekly online series, and community-based story telling. The online digital series will center Black LGBTQ voices, specifically trailblazers and activists, and contemporary Black queer and transgender people.
Narissa Rahaman, Equality Virginia’s executive director, stressed the importance of the Black queer community to the overall Pride movement, and said “Equality Virginia is proud to center those voices in our work this month and beyond.”
The Capital Pride Alliance, which hosts Pride events in D.C., has an alliance with the Center for Black Equity, which brings Black Pride to D.C. over Memorial Day weekend. The National LGBTQ Task Force has no specific Black History Month events planned, but plans to participate in online collaborations.
Cathy Renna, the Task Force’s director of communications, told the Washington Blade the organization remains committed to uplifting Black voices. “Our priority is keeping this at the forefront everyday,” she said.
The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center is also hosting a series of Black History Month events.
The D.C. Public Library earlier this year launched “Freedom and Resistance,” an exhibition that celebrates Black History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. It will remain on display until the middle of March at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at 901 G St., N.W.
District of Columbia
U.S. Attorney’s Office drops hate crime charge in anti-gay assault
Case remains under investigation and ‘further charges’ could come
D.C. police announced on Feb. 9 that they had arrested two days earlier on Feb. 7 a Germantown, Md., man on a charge of simple assault with a hate crime designation after the man allegedly assaulted a gay man at 14th and Q Streets, N.W., while using “homophobic slurs.”
But D.C. Superior Court records show that prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C., which prosecutes D.C. violent crime cases, charged the arrested man only with simple assault without a hate crime designation.
In response to a request by the Washington Blade for the reason why the hate crime designation was dropped, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office provided this response: “We continue to investigate this matter and make no mistake: should the evidence call for further charges, we will not hesitate to charge them.”
In a statement announcing the arrest in this case, D.C. police stated, “On Saturday, February 7, 2026, at approximately 7:45 p.m. the victim and suspect were in the 1500 block of 14th Street, Northwest. The suspect requested a ‘high five’ from the victim. The victim declined and continued walking,” the statement says.
“The suspect assaulted the victim and used homophobic slurs,” the police statement continues. “The suspect was apprehended by responding officers.”
It adds that 26-year-old Dean Edmundson of Germantown, Md. “was arrested and charged with Simple Assault (Hate/Bias).” The statement also adds, “A designation as a hate crime by MPD does not mean that prosecutors will prosecute it as a hate crime.”
Under D.C.’s Bias Related Crime Act of 1989, penalties for crimes motivated by prejudice against individuals based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and homelessness can be enhanced by a court upon conviction by one and a half times greater than the penalty of the underlying crime.
Prosecutors in the past both in D.C. and other states have said they sometimes decide not to include a hate crime designation in assault cases if they don’t think the evidence is sufficient to obtain a conviction by a jury. In some instances, prosecutors have said they were concerned that a skeptical jury might decide to find a defendant not guilty of the underlying assault charge if they did not believe a motive of hate was involved.
A more detailed arrest affidavit filed by D.C. police in Superior Court appears to support the charge of a hate crime designation.
“The victim stated that they refused to High-Five Defendant Edmondson, which, upon that happening, Defendant Edmondson started walking behind both the victim and witness, calling the victim, “bald, ugly, and gay,” the arrest affidavit states.
“The victim stated that upon being called that, Defendant Edmundson pushed the victim with both hands, shoving them, causing the victim to feel the force of the push,” the affidavit continues. “The victim stated that they felt offended and that they were also gay,” it says.
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