Local
Maryland same-sex marriage opponents report $88,000 in debt
The Maryland Marriage Alliance owes more than $74,000 to MDPetitions.com
Same-sex marriage supporters claim they raised more money on Tuesday than the Maryland Marriage Alliance did all month. (Blade photo by Michael Key)
Opponents of Maryland’s same-sex marriage law on Monday reported that their campaign to spur a referendum on the issue is more than $88,000 in debt.
Documents that the Maryland Marriage Alliance filed with the Secretary of State on the same day it submitted 39,473 additional signatures to spur a November referendum show the group is $88,277.07 in the red. This figure includes an unpaid invoice of $74,530.50 to MDPetitions.com, a petition signature collection company owned by Del. Neil Parrott (R-Washington County.)
The Maryland Marriage Alliance also reported to state officials that it has raised only $5,051.75, which includes three $250 donations that the National Organization for Marriage made on June 15.
The group did not immediately return the Blade’s request for comment, but Maryland Marriage Alliance executive director Derek McCoy downplayed his organization’s debts in an interview with the Baltimore Sun.
Marylanders for Marriage Equality claimed on Twitter that it raised more money on Tuesday than the Maryland Marriage Alliance has so far this month. The group seeking to defend the same-sex marriage law that Gov. Martin O’Malley signed in March did not provide a specific amount, but it raised roughly $20,000 at a fundraiser that Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake attended at a private home in the Charm City on Sunday.
O’Malley and House Speaker Michael Busch co-hosted a second fundraiser for Marylanders for Marriage Equality in Ocean City on Tuesday.
“This report raises questions about the fiscal responsibility of the Maryland Marriage Alliance in terms of its debt and fundraising,” Marylanders for Marriage Equality spokesperson Kevin Nix told the Blade. “Pro-marriage equality supporters raised the same amount in one day within Maryland as our opponents did in one month.”
A Public Policy Polling survey last month found that 57 percent of Maryland voters would support the state’s same-sex marriage law in the likely referendum. The poll also noted that 55 percent of black Marylanders back nuptials for gays and lesbians.
Photos
PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards
Gay Men’s Chorus, local drag artists have featured performance at ceremony
The 41st Helen Hayes Awards were held at The Anthem on Monday, May 19. Felicia Curry and Mike Millan served as the hosts.
A performance featuring members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and local drag artists was held at the end of the first act of the program to celebrate WorldPride 2025.
The annual awards ceremony honors achievement in D.C.-area theater productions and is produced by Theatre Washington.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
District of Columbia
Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
Three LGBTQ icons to lead parade
WorldPride organizers announced Thursday that actress and trans activist Laverne Cox, powerhouse performer Reneé Rapp, and LGBTQ trailblazer Deacon Maccubbin will serve as grand marshals for this year’s WorldPride parade.
The Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing WorldPride 2025 in Washington, D.C., revealed the honorees in a press release, noting that each has made a unique contribution to the fabric of the LGBTQ community.
Cox made history in 2014 as the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category for her role in Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.” She went on to win a Daytime Emmy in 2015 for her documentary “Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word,” which followed seven young trans people as they navigated coming out.
Rapp, a singer and actress who identifies as a lesbian, rose to prominence as Regina George in the Broadway musical “Mean Girls.” She reprised the role in the 2024 film adaptation and also stars in Max’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” portraying a character coming to terms with her sexuality. Rapp has released an EP, “Everything to Everyone,” and an album, “Snow Angel.” She announced her sophomore album, “Bite Me,” on May 21 and is slated to perform at the WorldPride Music Festival at the RFK Festival Grounds.
Deacon Maccubbin, widely regarded as a cornerstone of Washington’s LGBTQ+ history, helped organize D.C.’s first Gay Pride Party in 1975. The event took place outside Lambda Rising, one of the first LGBTQ bookstores in the nation, which Maccubbin founded. For his decades of advocacy and activism, he is often referred to as “the patriarch of D.C. Pride.”
“I am so honored to serve as one of the grand marshals for WorldPride this year. This has been one of the most difficult times in recent history for queer and trans people globally,” Cox said. “But in the face of all the rhetorical, legislative and physical attacks, we continue to have the courage to embrace who we truly are, to celebrate our beauty, resilience and bravery as a community. We refuse to allow fear to keep us from ourselves and each other. We remain out loud and proud.”
“Pride is everything. It is protection, it is visibility, it is intersectional. But most importantly, it is a celebration of existence and protest,” Rapp said.
The three will march down 14th Street for the WorldPride Parade in Washington on June 7.
2025 D.C. Trans Pride was held at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library on Saturday, May 17. The day was filled with panel discussions, art, social events, speakers, a resource fair and the Engendered Spirit Awards. Awardees included Lyra McMillan, Pip Baitinger, Steph Niaupari and Hayden Gise. The keynote address was delivered by athlete and advocate Schuyler Bailar.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards
Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
House passes reconciliation with gender-affirming care funding ban
PHOTOS: D.C. Trans Pride
Men convicted of murdering two men in NYC gay bar drugging scheme sentenced
Looking back at 50 years of Pride in D.C
WorldPride events round-up
Pope Leo XIV: Family based on ‘stable union between a man and a woman’
Wes Moore signs HIV decriminalization bill
