Local
Equality Md. names new exec director
Evans brings HRC, Task Force experience to state marriage fight
Carrie Evans is the new leader of Equality Maryland. (Courtesy photo)
Equality Maryland has selected veteran activist Carrie Evans, a former Human Rights Campaign staffer, as its new executive director after conducting a national search.
In an exclusive interview with the Washington Blade, Evans expressed confidence that Maryland will become the next state to enact same-sex marriage rights.
“The stars are aligned this year,” Evans said. “We have the votes in the Senate … and in the House the governor, along with a coalition of supporters, will work the House like it wasn’t worked last year.”
Evans previously worked for Equality Maryland as director of policy and planning from 2007-2009. She left the organization shortly after its then-executive director, Dan Furmansky, resigned in late 2008.
Prior to that experience, Evans spent time at both HRC and the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force. She served as state legislative lawyer for the Task Force in the early 2000s and later in a similar role at HRC, where she worked from 2003-2007.
Since leaving Equality Maryland in 2009, Evans has worked for the City of Baltimore in the housing department.
“It feels like coming home,” Evans said. “This is an organization that is like a dear friend to me … and the stakes are high, marriage is on the table, as well as the gender identity bill. We have a whole new board of tremendously accomplished people and I can hit the ground running — it’s full speed ahead.”
The board expressed confidence in its new executive director.
“The executive director search committee, led by board treasurer Rosemary Nicolosi and comprised of local and national leaders in the LGBT movement, spent hundreds of hours sifting through resumes and conducting interviews,” said Equality Maryland board chair Lisa Polyak. “We were charged with finding a leader who possessed courage, intelligence, strategic thinking and passion for achieving justice for the LGBT community of Maryland — and we believe we have found that leader in Carrie Evans.”
As for the marriage bill, Evans said the House of Delegates will become her focus.
“It’s a freshman class in the House that I’ll have to get acquainted with,” she said. “The House is where we need to pick up some votes.”
Reflecting on the 2011 effort to pass a same-sex marriage bill, which died in the House after passing the Senate, Evans said there was a lack of familiarity with the freshman class.
“The House changed more than folks had realized,” she said. “So we were used to the old House, but we had more Republicans and untested Democrats, like Tiffany Alston, so … it was a crap shoot with the vote count.”
One key difference looking ahead to the 2012 session, which begins in January, is the overt support of Gov. Martin O’Malley.
“It’s a totally different ballgame this year with the governor behind it,” Evans said. “The governor’s office is going to be more hands on.”
The marriage bill isn’t Equality Maryland’s only priority. It’s also pushing a measure to bar discrimination based on gender identity and expression.
“They took out public accommodations this year because of the misinformation about bathrooms and locker rooms … so we just have to give voice to our transgender supporters,” Evans said. “We have work to do in forging those relationships so it’s a lot of heavy lifting; hopefully the governor will put his support behind the trans bill like he has for the marriage bill. We want to move him to that place, that’s essential.”
If the marriage bill passes, many are concerned about a likely referendum to repeal the measure in 2012. Evans acknowledged the uphill fight in taking on a referendum fight.
“In referendums, wins are few and far between,” she said. “ It takes an infusion of resources that may not transpire. It’s refreshing that the coalition is together now, so that come April when the session ends we can move into executing a plan to keep this off the ballot or win at the ballot box. It’s winnable but will take a large effort and the community will have to step up like never before.”
It’s been a tough year for Equality Maryland, which saw both a transgender rights bill and a same-sex marriage measure fail in the 2011 legislative session. And the announcement of the new executive director comes less than a year after Equality Maryland struggled with financial problems and disagreements among board members that led to the firing of its executive director and the layoff of most of its staff due to a lack of funds to pay salaries. Its former board chair, Charles Butler, stepped down in May just one week after he publicly blamed the group’s former executive director, Morgan Meneses-Sheets, for the organization’s financial problems.
Meneses-Sheets, whom the board fired in April, rejected Butler’s claim that she entered into expensive contracts on behalf of Equality Maryland and hired staff without the board’s approval or knowledge. In a messy public fight, Butler and Meneses-Sheets each told the Blade that the other shared the blame for a funding shortage that threatened to force the group to close its doors.
In the wake of the group’s troubles, a new organization called Gender Rights Maryland was launched to lead efforts for a comprehensive gender identity non-discrimination bill and a new coalition of groups including HRC came together to advocate for a same-sex marriage bill in 2012.
Carrie Evans and spouse Pam Bennett were married in 2009. (courtesy photo)
But several recent developments suggest that Equality Maryland is getting back on its feet. The group held a fundraiser headlined by Gov. Martin O’Malley in September that brought in about $70,000. Another fundraiser is planned for December in Baltimore. Last month, Equality Maryland announced the appointment of 16 new members to its board of directors and its tax-exempt educational arm, the Equality Maryland Foundation.
Equality Maryland is a full partner in the Marylanders for Marriage Equality coalition and part of its steering committee, according to Polyak. She added that the organization is debt-free and operating in the black.
In addition to Evans, the organization employs two full-time staff members — an office manager and a field organizer.
Evans lauded the efforts of the marriage coalition.
“I think this is where we’re going as a movement,” she said. “We saw it in New York. All the players get to the same table and work as partners. I think it’s a good thing.”
Evans, 41, starts her new position the first week of December. She lives in Baltimore with her spouse, Pam Bennett, a professor at Johns Hopkins University. The two married in 2009 on their 10th anniversary.
Lou Chibbaro Jr. contributed to this report.
Virginia
DOJ seeks to join lawsuit against Loudoun County over trans student in locker room
Three male high school students suspended after complaining about classmate
The Justice Department has asked to join a federal lawsuit against Loudoun County Public Schools over the way it handled the case of three male high school students who complained about a transgender student in a boys’ locker room.
The Washington Blade earlier this year reported Loudoun County public schools suspended the three boys and launched a Title IX investigation into whether they sexually harassed the student after they said they felt uncomfortable with their classmate in the locker room at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn.
The parents of two of the boys filed a lawsuit against Loudoun County public schools in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria. The Richmond-based Founding Freedoms Law Center and America First Legal, which White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller co-founded, represent them.
The Justice Department in a Dec. 8 press release announced that “it filed legal action against the Loudoun County (Va.) School Board (Loudoun County) for its denial of equal protection based on religion.”
“The suit alleges that Loudoun County applied Policy 8040, which requires students and faculty to accept and promote gender ideology, to two Christian, male students in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” reads the press release.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in the press release said “students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate.”
“Loudoun County’s decision to advance and promote gender ideology tramples on the rights of religious students who cannot embrace ideas that deny biological reality,” said Dhillon.
Outgoing Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and outgoing Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares in May announced an investigation into the case.
The Virginia Department of Education in 2023 announced the new guidelines for trans and nonbinary students for which Youngkin asked. Equality Virginia and other advocacy groups claim they, among other things, forcibly out trans and nonbinary students.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in February launched an investigation into whether Loudoun County and four other Northern Virginia school districts’ policies in support of trans and nonbinary students violate Title IX and President Donald Trump’s executive order that prohibits federally funded educational institutions from promoting “gender ideology.”
District of Columbia
Capital Pride announces change in date for 2026 D.C. Pride parade and festival
Events related to U.S. 250th anniversary and Trump birthday cited as reasons for change
The Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C. based group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, has announced it is changing the dates for the 2026 Capital Pride Parade and Festival from the second weekend in June to the third weekend.
“For over a decade, Capital Pride has taken place during the second weekend in June, but in 2026, we are shifting our dates in response to the city’s capacity due to major events and preparations for the 250th anniversary of the United States,” according to a Dec. 9 statement released by Capital Pride Alliance.
The statement says the parade will take place on Saturday, June 20, 2026, with the festival and related concert taking place on June 21.
“This change ensures our community can gather safely and without unnecessary barriers,” the statement says. “By moving the celebration, we are protecting our space and preserving Pride as a powerful act of visibility, solidarity, and resistance,” it says.
Ryan Bos, the Capital Pride Alliance CEO and President, told the Washington Blade the change in dates came after the group conferred with D.C. government officials regarding plans for a number of events in the city on the second weekend in June. Among them, he noted, is a planned White House celebration of President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday and other events related to the U.S. 250th anniversary, which are expected to take place from early June through Independence Day on July 4.
The White House has announced plans for a large June 14, 2026 celebration on the White House south lawn of Trump’s 80th birthday that will include a large-scale Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event involving boxing and wrestling competition.
Bos said the Capital Pride Parade will take place along the same route it has in the past number of years, starting at 14th and T Streets, N.W. and traveling along 14th Street to Pennsylvania Ave., where it will end. He said the festival set for the following day will also take place at its usual location on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., between 2nd Street near the U.S. Capitol, to around 7th Street, N.W.
“Our Pride events thrive because of the passion and support of the community,” Capital Pride Board Chair Anna Jinkerson said in the statement. “In 2026, your involvement is more important than ever,” she said.
District of Columbia
Three women elected leaders of Capital Pride Alliance board
Restructured body includes chair rather than president as top leader
The Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C.-based group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, announced it has restructured its board of directors and elected for the first time three women to serve as leaders of the board’s Executive Committee.
“Congratulations to our newly elected Executive Officers, making history as Capital Pride Alliance’s first all-women Board leadership,” the group said in a statement.
“As we head into 2026 with a bold new leadership structure, we’re proud to welcome Anna Jinkerson as Board Chair, Kim Baker as Board Treasurer, and Taylor Lianne Chandler as Board Secretary,” the statement says.
In a separate statement released on Nov. 20, Capital Pride Alliance says the restructured Board now includes the top leadership posts of Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary, replacing the previous structure of President and Vice President as the top board leaders.
It says an additional update to the leadership structure includes a change in title for longtime Capital Pride official Ryan Bos from executive director to chief executive officer and president.
According to the statement, June Crenshaw, who served as acting deputy director during the time the group organized WorldPride 2025 in D.C., will now continue in that role as permanent deputy director.
The statement provides background information on the three newly elected women Board leaders.
• Anna Jinkerson (chair), who joined the Capital Pride Alliance board in 2022, previously served as the group’s vice president for operations and acting president. “A seasoned non-profit executive, she currently serves as Assistant to the President and CEO and Chief of Staff at Living Cities, a national member collaborative of leading philanthropic foundations and financial institutions committed to closing income and wealth gaps in the United States and building an economy that works for everyone.”
• Kim Baker (treasurer) is a “biracial Filipino American and queer leader,” a “retired, disabled U.S. Army veteran with more than 20 years of service and extensive experience in finance, security, and risk management.” She has served on the Capital Pride Board since 2018, “bringing a proven track record of steady, principled leadership and unwavering dedication to the LGBTQ+ community.”
• Taylor Lianne Chandler (Secretary) is a former sign language interpreter and crisis management consultant. She “takes office as the first intersex and trans-identifying member of the Executive Committee.” She joined the Capital Pride Board in 2019 and previously served as executive producer from 2016 to 2018.
Bos told the Washington Blade in a Dec. 2 interview that the Capital Pride board currently has 12 members, and is in the process of interviewing additional potential board members.
“In January we will be announcing in another likely press release the full board,” Bos said. “We are finishing the interview process of new board members this month,” he said. “And they will take office to join the board in January.”
Bos said the organization’s rules set a cap of 25 total board members, but the board, which elects its members, has not yet decided how many additional members it will select and a full 25-member board is not required.
The Nov. 20 Capital Pride statement says the new board executive members will succeed the organization’s previous leadership team, which included Ashley Smith, who served as president for eight years before he resigned earlier this year; Anthony Musa, who served for seven years as vice president of board engagement; Natalie Thompson, who served eight years on the executive committee; and Vince Micone, who served for eight years as vice president of operations.
“I am grateful for the leadership, dedication, and commitment shown by our former executive officers — Ashley, Natalie, Anthony, and Vince — who have been instrumental in CPA’s growth and the exceptional success of WorldPride 2025,” Bos said in the statement.
“I look forward to collaborating with Anna in her new role, as well as Kim and Taylor in theirs, as we take on the important work ahead, prepare for Capital Pride 2026, and expand our platform and voice through Pride365,” Bos said.
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