Local
Equality Maryland sets post-marriage agenda
Transgender rights bill, HIV/AIDS, immigration among issues on which organization hopes to work
Equality Maryland executive director Carrie Evans (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Equality Maryland executive director Carrie Evans decided to stand along the side of the stage at the Baltimore Soundstage shortly after midnight on Nov. 7 as Gov. Martin O’Malley, gay state Sen. Rich Madaleno (D-Montgomery County) and others officially proclaimed the referendum on Maryland’s same-sex marriage law had passed. She said in a post-Election Day interview in D.C. it was the “best vantage point to look out at everyone” who had played a role in the long fight to secure marriage rights for same-sex couples in the state.
“I was crying like a baby,” Evans told the Washington Blade. “You’d see every person out there whose been a part of this in some way, shape or form. Everybody out there was crying and hugging and kissing. We will never experience this moment again, ever. And I just wanted to absorb it all.”
Election Day capped off a long and often tumultuous effort for Maryland’s same-sex marriage advocates that began in 1997 when three lawmakers introduced the first bill that would have allowed nuptials for gays and lesbians.
Equality Maryland and the American Civil Liberties Union in 2004 filed a lawsuit on behalf of Lisa Polyak and Gita Deane and eight other same-sex couples and a gay widow who sought the right to marry in the state. Baltimore Circuit Court Judge M. Brooke Murdock in 2006 found Maryland’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional. The Maryland Court of Appeals a year later upheld the prohibition on nuptials for gays and lesbians.
State lawmakers in 2011 narrowly defeated a same-sex marriage bill, but legislators approved it in February. O’Malley signed the law on March 1.
Evans said Equality Maryland, the Human Rights Campaign, the ACLU and other organizations that had fought for the same-sex marriage bill knew opponents would almost certainly collect enough signatures to force a referendum on the issue. The coalition that eventually became known as Marylanders for Marriage Equality formed before the legislative session ended in April.
“We’ve won in the Baltimore trial court, got excited but we knew we had to go to Court of Appeals, lost there,” Evans said. “[We] went to the legislature, couldn’t even really celebrate after that because you knew it was going to referendum. We had our little woohoo, but knowing this is going to referendum and being able to finally say ‘This is it, we’re done.’”
Evans, who took the helm of Equality Maryland last December, said her organization contributed more than $200,000 to Marylanders for Marriage Equality. The campaign ultimately raised nearly $6 million, but she said Equality Maryland’s contribution is remarkable considering her organization nearly closed its doors in the summer of 2011 in the wake of former executive director Morgan Meneses-Sheets’ termination.
“I’m so proud because 12 months ago Equality Maryland was pretty much broke and struggling,” said Evans. “Not only have we come out of that and had a good 2012 budget for the organization, we raised over $200,000 for the campaign, which is amazing.”
Mass., Iowa groups re-evaluate missions after marriage victories
Advocacy groups in other states have had to re-evaluate their agenda once same-sex couples won the right to marry.
Love Makes a Family of Connecticut, which spearheaded the passage of the state’s same-sex marriage law, disbanded in 2009 after then-Gov. Jodi Rell signed the measure. It took effect in Oct. 2010.
MassEquality also re-evaluated its mission after lawmakers in 2007 rejected a proposed referendum on amending the state constitution to ban nuptials for gays and lesbians. Massachusetts’ same-sex marriage law took effect in 2004.
“There were town halls that were done all over the state to ask people should MassEquality continue to exist, should we change the resources and the political power and the reputation, the expertise we had developed and leverage it to a multi-issue agenda that would basically lift up the other existing LGBT groups throughout the state,” Kara Suffredini, the group’s executive director, told the Blade. “The conclusion was yes: We have all the resources, we have all this political power. Yes, let’s use it to leverage other groups. And that’s what we’ve done since.”
Since the same-sex marriage debate ended in Massachusetts, MassEquality has worked with the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition to advocate on behalf of a trans rights bill Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law last November. The group has also worked with the LGBT Aging Project to address health disparities among LGBT elders and the Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth (BAGLY) to address homelessness among LGBT youth and bullying.
MassEquality has a seat on a commission state lawmakers created earlier this year to study the issue of homelessness among young people.
“Obviously marriage equality is an issue that garners a lot of attention and resources,” said Suffredini. “Once it’s done, there is plenty else to do and it was not difficult for us to figure out what else there was to do.”
Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in the Hawkeye State since the Iowa Supreme Court in 2009 unanimously struck down the ban on nuptials for gays and lesbians. Voters in 2010 removed three of the justices who backed the ruling from the bench. Opponents failed to unseat a fourth on Nov. 6.
“Just because you have marriage, it doesn’t mean you stop being vigilant,” Donna Red Wing, executive director of One Iowa, told the Blade. “Here in Iowa if we don’t maintain a Democratic Senate majority at this time, we might see marriage on the ballot. And so we need to really make sure that we not only continue to hold back the forces working against us, but that we do the work that needs to be done across the state and that’s putting a face and a voice to what it means to be gay and lesbian or bi or trans in Iowa.”
One Iowa continues to fight to secure parental rights for same-sex couples — she noted the state’s Department of Public Health refused to allow a married lesbian who had a child with her wife to be recognized on their birth certificate. Red Wing pointed to another case in which officials “crudely whited-out” a lesbian mother’s name on her stillborn child’s birth certificate because she said the Department of Public Health would not recognize the two women as parents.
The group is also working with HIV/AIDS service providers to decriminalize those living with the virus and to address LGBT-specific health care disparities across Iowa.
“From birth to death we’re looking at the issues that impact Iowans — specifically LGBT Iowans – and how we can really strengthen and deepen what equality means for them,” Red Wing said.
Back in Maryland, Evans said Equality Maryland plans to work to make sure the same-sex marriage law is fully implemented once it takes effect on Jan. 1.
“We have to clean up a few regulations,” she said. “There may even be some litigation for clerks of court who aren’t complying. We still have some counties that aren’t offering spousal benefits to same-sex couples to same-sex spouses despite the Port v. Cowan court case [where the Court of Appeals in May unanimously ruled same-sex couples who legally married in another state can obtain divorces in Maryland] and attorney general.”
Equality Maryland continues to strategize with the Maryland Coalition for Trans Equality on how to advance a bill during the upcoming legislative session that would add gender identity and expression to the state’s anti-discrimination law. The organization also hopes to work with the NAACP and Revs. Delman Coates of Mt. Ennon Baptist Church in Prince George’s County and Donté Hickman of Southern Baptist Church in Baltimore and other groups to address health disparities and reduce HIV/AIDS rates among disproportionately affected populations in the state.
Evans further stressed she hopes to continue Equality Maryland’s work on immigration-related issues that began in August when it and CASA de Maryland announced a campaign to build additional support for the same-sex marriage and a law that provides in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants — voters on Nov. 6 approved the Maryland Dream Act by a 59-41 percent margin.
Equality Maryland also plans to work with the Maryland State Department of Education to ensure the state’s anti-bullying regulations are properly implemented.
“We’re going to start really focusing on that, making sure the way students are treated in Montgomery County is the way they’re treated in Garrett County and the way they’re treated in Cecil [County],” Evans said.
District of Columbia
‘Queer Love’ campaign launched to address domestic violence
D.C. event set for LGBTQ+ Domestic Violence Awareness Day on May 28
The D.C.-based Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides housing and support services for homeless LGBTQ youth, announced earlier this month that it has joined partner organizations to launch a Queer Love Shouldn’t Hurt campaign aimed at addressing domestic violence within the LGBTQ community.
In a May 18 statement, the Alston Foundation said the campaign involves a public awareness initiative leading up to LGBTQ+ Domestic Violence Awareness Day scheduled for May 28.
“Domestic and family violence in LGBTQ+ communities is real and too often invisible,” Cesar Toledo, the Alston Foundation’s executive director, said in the statement. “As a community, we do not talk about it enough, and that silence can leave survivors feeling isolated and alone,” he said. “We must break that silence.”
He added that culturally competent care for those impacted by domestic violence is available through a newly launched website, queerlove.org, “where people can safely access vital resources, educational toolkits, and support networks they need on their healing journey.”
The website announces one of the project’s first events, a Queer Love Community Social, was scheduled for Thursday, May 28, from 6-8 p.m. at the D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center at 1827 Wiltberger St., N.W.
“Join us this LGBT+ Domestic Violence Awareness Day for a community social dedicated to visibility and survivor resilience,” the website statement says. “Let’s gather to strengthen our bonds, honor the path to healing, and share free resources,” it says of the May 28 event.
The website also announces a June 1 workshop called Empowering Survivors of LGBTQ+ Intimate Partner Violence, which it says will be presented by Jesse Wedell, an official with the D.C. LGBT+ Counseling Collaborative. The website provides an online form to register for the workshop upon which its location would be disclosed.
It identifies the partner organizations working with the Alston Foundation on the Queer Love Public Awareness Campaign as the LGBT+ Counseling Collaborative, Whitman-Walker Health, the D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center, and Equality Chamber.
The resources and information provided by the project can be accessed at www.queerlove.org.
District of Columbia
Man accused of threatening to shoot D.C. bar employee after making anti-gay slurs
May 24 incident took place near Black Pride events on U Street
D.C. police on Sunday, May 24, at around 4:20 p.m. arrested a Maryland man for allegedly threatening to shoot an employee while using anti-gay slurs at Ben’s Next Door restaurant and bar at 1211 U St., N.W.
According to a statement released by police and a police incident report, the arrested man, identified as Delonte Fraley, 32, of Accokeek, Md., made the threats after the employee told a bartender not to serve the man alcohol.
“The suspect overheard the employee and threatened to shoot the employee and used homophobic slurs against the employee,” the police statement says. “When the employee left the restaurant for the day, the suspect was standing near the employee’s vehicle,” it says.
“The employee returned to the restaurant and called the police,” the statement continues. “The suspect was apprehended by responding officers,” it says.
The police statement says the arresting officers charged Fraley with Felony Threats (Hate/Bias).
D.C. Superior Court records show prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C., which prosecutes D.C. criminal cases, escalated the charge to Threatening to Injure or Kidnap a Person (Bias-Related Hate Crime).
The incident occurred during Memorial Day weekend when thousands of visitors and D.C. area LGBTQ advocates and supporters were attending D.C. Black Pride events held in locations across the city, including Black Pride parties hosted by LGBTQ bars in the U Street entertainment area near Ben’s Next Door.
Among the nearby LGBTQ bars hosting D.C. Black Pride events were Nellie’s Sports Bar and Thurst Lounge. Ben’s Next Door is located next to the popular longtime U Street eatery Ben’s Chili Bowl.
Court records show that Judge Robert R. Rigsby at a May 25 presentment hearing released Fraley on personal recognizance with a stay-away order — the details of which were not publicly disclosed pending a June 4 preliminary hearing.
A more detailed arrest affidavit filed in court by D.C. police says Fraley allegedly confronted the employee at Ben’s Next Door with anti-gay slurs on the day prior to his arrest.
“The complainant told the defendant that because he used homophobic slurs towards himself previously on May 23, 2026, and his hostess, as well as making threats to the complainant and calling him a faggot, he was unable to stay in the establishment,” the affidavit states.
It adds, “The defendant became irate stating, ‘I know where your Tesla is at. See me outside faggot, I will slap your ass’ and ‘I will shoot your ass.’” The affidavit says the complainant confirmed to police the Tesla referred to by Fraley was his vehicle. It says as the victim walked toward his car after getting off work, he saw Fraley standing directly in front of the car.
“The complainant stated he felt unsafe while the defendant was standing in front of his vehicle because he felt the defendant was capable of carrying out those threats,” says the affidavit. It says the victim then decided to return to the restaurant and call police without the defendant having seen him.
“The defendant was placed under arrest for Felony Threats Hate/Bias and was transported to the Third District Station for processing,” the affidavit concludes.
It couldn’t immediately be determined whether the victim identifies as LGBTQ or whether any of the Ben’s Next Door patrons had been involved with D.C. Black Pride.
“Established in 2008, Ben’s Next Door is a family-owned and operated restaurant and bar on U Street, Northwest in Washington, D.C.,” a statement on its website says. “As a Black-owned establishment, it’s our goal to deliver a warm, welcoming, familiar, and communal vibe to all guests,” the statement says.
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Congratulations to Peter Schott on being honored by Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer on National Honor our LGBTQ Elders Day.
Schott is a prominent LGBTQ advocate and seasoned political strategist who has spent decades advancing civil rights at the national and state levels. Following a distinguished 25-year career as a staff assistant in the U.S. House of Representatives, Schott leveraged his extensive legislative expertise to help organize the National Stonewall Democrats, serving as an influential member of its national board.
After moving to Delaware in 2002, he became a foundational figure in the state’s LGBTQ political landscape, co-founding the Delaware Stonewall PAC, (now Stonewall Delaware) to champion the election of pro-equality candidates. His strategic lobbying and community organizing were instrumental in the successful passage of Delaware’s landmark non-discrimination, civil union, and marriage equality laws. A former member of the State Human Relations Commission, he remains a vital voice for the LGBTQ community in the Mid-Atlantic, continuing to document and drive social progress through his activism and writing. Schott currently serves as vice chair of the Delaware Democratic Pride Caucus, and a board member of Speak Out Against Hate (SOAH). He was a delegate to two Democratic National Conventions.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, New York University; and a master’s of Public Administration degree from American University.
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