Local
State Dept. brings foreign journalists to Blade office
Journalists from 20 nations visited Monday as part of a special reporting tour to brief journalists on how the U.S. addresses LGBT-related issues
A group of about 20 foreign journalists met with Blade editor Kevin Naff this week for insights on covering LGBT issues. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Journalists from 20 nations visited the offices of the Washington Blade on Monday as part of a special reporting tour organized by the U.S. State Department to brief the journalists on how the U.S. addresses LGBT-related issues.
Blade editor Kevin Naff spoke to the journalists about how the Blade and other media outlets cover the LGBT community and how coverage from the LGBT press differs from coverage by mainline news organizations.
“LGBT issues are a human rights priority for Secretary of State [Hillary] Clinton,” said Dick Custin, deputy director of the State Department’s Foreign Press Center, which organized the tour.
“Many of the journalists who will be joining us come from countries where homosexuality is not only stigmatized, it is punishable by imprisonment or even death,” Custin said in an email prior to the journalists’ visit. “The courageous participants on this tour are willing to report back to the readers, listeners and viewers in their home countries on how the U.S. is handling this important issue.”
The nations the journalists were from included: Albania, Chile, China, Croatia, Dominica, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Kosovo, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Nigeria, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Turkey and Uganda.
Custin said the journalists on the tour include bloggers and reporters from TV, radio, newspapers and online media. One journalist from Uganda noted that in her country the Blade’s offices would be “ransacked and burned.” Others wondered if the paper had ever been targeted by protests, while some wrongly assumed the government funded the paper’s operations. The session ended with many of the journalists offering international story ideas for the Blade to cover.
“We believe this tour would give journalists – and their audiences worldwide – a perspective on how the world’s leading democracy handles issues of sexual orientation and the sensitivities surrounding it,” Custin said.
In addition to their visit to the Blade offices, the foreign journalists met with Diego Sanchez, the LGBT issues coordinator for U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), and officials at the Pentagon that handle the dismantling of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and gay members of the U.S. military. They then went to Annapolis to meet with openly gay state lawmakers.
The State Department tour also was scheduled to take the journalists to the offices of the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage to glean insight into U.S. groups opposing LGBT rights.
The seven-day tour was scheduled to travel to Philadelphia and New York City to enable participants to meet with law enforcement officials that work on efforts to curtail anti-LGBT hate crimes, leaders of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, and organizers of the “It Gets Better” campaign, which seeks to curtail LGBT teen suicides.
Maryland
Parents sue Anne Arundel schools, allege officials hid child’s gender transition
America First legal Foundation filed lawsuit on July 8
By CODY BOTELER | Two parents, backed by a conservative nonprofit group, are suing Anne Arundel County Public Schools over the school system’s policies related to transgender children.
The suit, filed Wednesday in Maryland’s U.S. District Court, accuses staff at an unidentified county high school of lying to the parents, identified as John Doe and Jane Doe, about their child, identified as Mary Doe.
The Does allege the school “socially transitioned” their child without notice or their consent by using a masculine name and masculine pronouns for Mary Doe.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
Campaign launched to elect more LGBTQ candidates to ANC seats
Capital Stonewall Democrats behind Queering ANCs effort
The Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political group, announced on July 7 it has launched a campaign to help elect large numbers of LGBTQ candidates to the city’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions.
The D.C. local government is believed to be unique among U.S. cities in currently having 46 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions consisting of 345 single-member districts in neighborhoods throughout the city in which unpaid Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners are elected for two-year terms.
The commissions are charged with considering a wide range of policies and programs impacting their neighborhoods, including traffic, parking, recreation, street improvements, liquor licenses, zoning, economic development, police protection, sanitation and trash collection, and D.C.’s annual budget, according to the ANC website.
Although the ANCs do not have authority to set or reject policies or proposals, such as applications for liquor licenses, city agencies are required to give “great weight” to ANC recommendations, according to the law creating the ANCs.
Kent Boese, a gay former ANC commissioner, currently serves as executive director of the D.C. Office of ANCs.
“We are launching the most ambitious hyperlocal LGBTQ+ candidate pipeline initiative in the country,” said Stevie McCarty, the Capital Stonewall Democrats president, in a July 7 statement that announced the Queering ANCs campaign.
“As an ANC member, I know firsthand how these seats shape our neighborhoods, from housing and public safety to sanitation,” McCarty says in the statement. “I’m proud to lead this effort to ensure more LGBTQ+ Washingtonians see themselves as leaders in their communities,” he said.
The ANC Rainbow Caucus, which was created by LGBTQ ANC members, shows on its website that there are currently 38 caucus members consisting of elected LGBTQ ANC commissioners serving in the current 2025-2026 two-year term.
The website shows there are LGBTQ commissioners who are caucus members in each of the city’s eight wards, with six in Ward 1, eight in Ward 2, one in Ward 3, six in Ward 4, five in Ward 5, three in Ward 6, eight in Ward 7, and one in Ward 8.
The Washington Blade couldn’t immediately determine how many of them will be running for re-election in D.C.’s general election in November. But McCarty said Capital Stonewall Democrats hopes to recruit many more LGBTQ candidates to run for ANC seats.
The D.C. Board of Elections website shows the deadline for filing 25 required petition signatures to be placed on the ballot is Aug. 5.
A Queering ANCs website launched this week by Capital Stonewall Democrats provides details on how to run for an ANC seat and offers help for those interested in running.
“Think of someone in your building, neighborhood, friend group, community organization, or professional network who cares deeply about D.C. and would make a strong leader,” McCarty says in his statement. “Send them QueeringANCs.org and personally ask them to consider running,” he said.
The website can be accessed at QueeringANCs.org.
Baltimore
Ron Singer, owner of popular Mount Vernon gay bar Leon’s, dies
66-year-old’s funeral to take place Friday
By CAYLA HARRIS | Ron Singer, the owner of Baltimore’s popular gay bar Leon’s Backroom, died Tuesday, the venue announced in a social media post. He was 66.
“For more than 20 years, Ron made Leon’s a place so many people were proud to call home,” the post reads. “He will be deeply missed.”
The Mount Vernon bar, typically open from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily, is still open Thursday, but doors will close at midnight so staff can attend his funeral Friday morning. Services are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. at Sol Levinson’s Chapel.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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