Local
LGBT advocates look to future at book salon
Ahonen-Jover publishes new book, ‘The Gay Agenda’
Civil rights activist Juan Ahonen-Jover, Ph.D. (Washington Blade photo by Peter Rosenstein)
Democratic Party and LGBT rights advocates Paul Yandura and Donald Hitchcock hosted a discussion on achieving LGBT legal equality Thursday evening with civil rights activist Juan Ahonen-Jover, Ph.D., author of “The Gay Agenda 2012: All Out.” He talked about his book and why he wrote it and generated a lively discussion on the issues surrounding how the LGBT community moves forward from here.
Yandura and Hitchcock welcomed guests to their home, spoke about activism and introduced the author who spoke about the book and his activism. The book is about where he thinks the LGBT community needs to go in the future if we are to achieve the goals he sets out. He was speaking to a room full of advocates, who, while they may not be running any of our community’s major organizations, do have an extraordinary impact on the community. Among the 30 or so attending were Dana Beyer, Lisa Turner, Dan Choi, Dixon Osburn and Dan Furmansky.
The book is divided into four main areas. First is a discussion on “What is LGBT?” It tries to define what is family, what the Bible says and how we move to have people understand, accept and respect the community. The second section is titled, “What is the Gay Agenda?” In this section, he discusses what we are looking for. Is it special rights or rather a series of what he defines as “equality goals.” He talks about hate crimes, serving in the military, marriage equality, freedom of gender and protecting youth among other goals. The third section addresses “Different Paths.” It is a discussion on use of the courts, legislatures, considering whom to endorse as a candidate, how best to spend the community’s money and his thoughts on building coalitions. The final section is a discussion on what individuals can do called “Your Turn.” Then there are three appendixes listing major names in the LGBT community and in history. One that stands out for not being on these lists is Frank Kameny and I am sure there are many others but then no such list is ever complete. There is an appendix on the Dallas Principles identifying the authors by descriptions of what they were doing at the time and one is particularly humorous.
Democratic Party and LGBT rights advocates Paul Yandura and Donald Hitchcock hosted a discussion on achieving LGBT legal equality. (Washington Blade photo by Peter Rosenstein)
The discussion ranged from why one is supporting President Obama to how to make a decision on whom to support and the criteria one should use. Ahonen-Jover suggested that there are candidates he calls “heartbreakers” who talk about their support for the LGBT community but don’t quite get it and only support partial civil and human rights. He suggests that those individuals shouldn’t receive our financial support. He also suggests that we stop giving money to those who don’t need it to win their races even if they are totally supportive of us but say to them that we need our limited resources to support electing others who share their views. There was some discussion on whether the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund strayed too far from its mission in the effort to boast about a “winning percentage” with regard to the candidates they support. A number of people brought up the issue of whether to take money (they referred to it as dirty money) for marriage equality campaigns from those who support marriage equality but who then also support candidates who are pledged to see that it doesn’t happen.
Many in the room knew each other and are all looking to find some agreement on where to take the fight for LGBT rights. There seemed to be consensus in the room that if President Obama wins reelection there needs to be an all-out push for movement in the fight for civil and human rights for the LGBT community immediately starting with the lame duck Congress and if he loses that there still needs to be a strong push for his immediately signing the executive order barring discrimination in hiring practices by federal contractors.
District of Columbia
Capital Stonewall Democrats elect new leaders
LGBTQ political group set to celebrate 50th anniversary
Longtime Democratic Party activists Stevie McCarty and Brad Howard won election last week as president and vice president for administration for the Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political organization.
In a Feb. 24 announcement, the group said McCarty and Howard, both of whom are elected DC Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, ran in a special Capital Stonewall Democrats election to fill the two leadership positions that became vacant when the officers they replaced resigned.
Outgoing President Howard Garrett, who McCarty has replaced, told the Washington Blade he resigned after taking on a new position as chair of the city’s Ward 1 Democratic Committee. The Capital Stonewall Democrats announcement didn’t say who Howard replaced as vice president for administration.
The group’s website shows its other officers include Elizabeth Mitchell as Vice President for Legislative and Political Affairs, and Monica Nemeth as Treasurer. The officer position of secretary is vacant, the website shows.
“As we look toward 2026, the stakes for D.C. and for LGBTQ+ communities have never been clearer,” the group’s statement announcing McCarty and Howard’s election says. “Our 50th anniversary celebration on March 20 and the launch of our D.C. LGBTQ+ Voter’s Guide mark the beginning of a major year for endorsements, organizing, and coalition building,” the statement says.
McCarty said among the organization’s major endeavors will be holding virtual endorsement forums where candidates running for D.C. mayor and the Council will appear and seek the group’s endorsement.
Founded in 1976 as the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the organization’s members voted in 2021 to change its name to Capital Stonewall Democrats. McCarty said the 50th anniversary celebration on March 20, in which D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and members of the D.C. Council are expected to attend, will be held at the PEPCO Gallery meeting center at 702 8th St., N.W.
Virginia
Va. activists preparing campaign in support of repealing marriage amendment
Referendum about ‘dignity and equal protection under the law’
Virginia voters in November will vote on whether to repeal their state’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Feb. 6 signed House Bill 612 into law. It facilitates a referendum for voters to approve the repeal of the 2006 Marshall-Newman Amendment. Although the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell ruling extended marriage rights to same-sex couples across the country in 2014, codifying marriage equality in Virginia’s constitution would protect it in the state in case the decision is overturned.
Maryland voters in 2012 approved Question 6, which upheld the state’s marriage equality law, by a 52-48 percent margin. Same-sex marriage became legal in Maryland on Jan. 1, 2013.
LGBTQ advocacy groups and organizations that oppose marriage equality mounted political campaigns ahead of the referendum.
Equality Virginia has been involved in advancing LGBTQ rights in Virginia since 1989.
Equality Virginia is working under its 501c3 designation in conjunction with Equality Virginia Advocates, which operates under a 501c4 designation, to plan campaigns in support of repealing the Marshall-Newman Amendment.
The two main campaigns on which Equality Virginia will be focused are education and voter mobilization. Reed Williams, the group’s director of digital engagement and narrative, spoke with the Washington Blade about Equality Virginia’s plans ahead of the referendum.
Williams said an organization for a “statewide public education campaign” is currently underway. Williams told the Blade its goal will be “to ensure voters understand what this amendment does and why updating Virginia’s constitution matters for families across the commonwealth.”
The organization is also working on a “robust media and voter mobilization campaign to identify and turn out voters” to repeal Marshall-Newman Amendment. Equality Virginia plans to work with the community members to guarantee voters are getting clear and accurate information regarding the meaning of this vote and its effect on the Virginia LGBTQ community.
“We believe Virginia voters are ready to bring our constitution in line with both the law and the values of fairness and freedom that define our commonwealth,” said Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman. “This referendum is about ensuring loving, committed couples and their families are treated with dignity and equal protection under the law.”
The Human Rights Campaign has also worked closely with Equality Virginia.
“It’s time to get rid of outdated, unconstitutional language and ensure that same sex couples are protected in Virginia,” HRC President Kelley Robinson told the Blade in a statement.
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
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.
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