Local
AU graduate credited with securing passage of Del. transgender rights bill
Sarah McBride testified for Senate Bill 97 three times
Sarah McBride (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
The transgender woman who advocates credit with securing passage of Delaware’s transgender rights bill told the Washington Blade on Monday she simply did the right thing.
“My mother and I went down (to Dover) and talked about what it means to be transgender, why for us this bill is necessary, why for the community this bill is necessary,” Sarah McBride said.
McBride, a Wilmington, Del., resident who was the student body president at American University from 2011-2012, came out as trans last May in an op-ed she wrote for the D.C. school’s student newspaper. She had been involved with Equality Delaware for several years, and joined the LGBT advocacy group’s Board of Directors after she came out.
McBride and her mother six months ago began meeting with Dover lawmakers in support of Senate Bill 97 that added gender identity and expression to Delaware’s anti-discrimination and hate crimes laws.
She told the Blade they “certainly fielded our fair share of questions about bathrooms and locker rooms and ‘unintended consequences’ of this bill.” McBride said the questions she and her mother received from legislators did not come as a surprise in spite of their personal nature.
“The vast majority of legislators and the vast majority of questions were completely respectful and were either friendly questions or were hard questions that just needed to be answered,” she said. “At minimum constituents would be asking those questions and they needed answers.”
McBride testified in support of SB 97 three times in the Delaware Senate and House. She also appeared in an Equality Delaware video in support of the bill.
She said she “briefly” met Delaware Family Policy Council President Nicole Theis, who repeatedly spoke against the bill.
McBride noted a woman who opposed SB 97 threatened “to hurt me if she saw me in the bathroom” after she testified in support of the measure in the House.
“I feel bad for them that they feel the need to put other people down,” she said. “I don’t take it personally. I think the vast majority of comments that people make that aren’t positive comments are out of ignorance and not out of hatred.”
Delaware Gov. Jack Markell last Wednesday signed SB 97 into law after the Senate approved a slightly amended version of the bill that passed in the House by a 24-17 vote margin.
The governor described McBride, who worked on his 2008 election campaign and was his personal aide when she interned for him after he took office, as an “intelligent and talented Delawarean” before he signed SB 97 into law.
“She courageously stood before the General Assembly to describe her personal struggles with gender identity and communicate her desire to return home after her college graduation without fear,” Markell said. “Her tireless advocacy for passage of this legislation has made a real difference for all transgender people in Delaware.”
Victory Fund President Chuck Wolfe also applauded McBride, who also interned for his organization.
“Congratulations to the many advocates and lawmakers who fought for this important victory,” he said after Markell signed SB 97 into law. ”Among them was our former intern, Sarah McBride, whose family stood with her as she bravely came out as trans and asked her state for full equality under law. I’m so proud of Sarah and her parents.”
McBride, who graduated from American University last month, described the governor’s comments as “an incredible honor.”
She acknowledged trans advocates were angry over the anti-discrimination bill that Markell signed into law in 2009 that included sexual orientation, but not gender identity and expression. McBride added, however, SB 97 proves “our government is an ally” for trans Delawareans.
“It says that our state and our community is finally a safe and secure place for us to live, to visit, to raise a family,” she said. “It gives hope to — I hope — a lot of people, both transgender people who are out and also people who are struggling with their gender identity, that they know that Delaware is a welcoming place for them and for all people.”
Sarah McBride and other Equality Delaware members celebrate the final passage of Senate Bill 97 on June 19 (Photo courtesy of Equality Delaware)
Baltimore
The government pressured USA Rugby to ban transgender women. A Baltimore team refused to comply.
Ferals is a women’s-plus team within the Flamingos
By KYLE GOON | It was midmorning, and the March winds lashed against the faces of the players on the Ferals rugby team as they suited up at a park in Frederick. The turf was frozen.
Harper Ockert, 24, wrapped her left knee with tape, stabilizing her joint for the jarring hits to come. She had struggled to sleep the night before, but her anxiety was not strictly about the game.
She and her teammates were preparing to defy newly enacted rules set by the sport’s governing body. A nervous energy thrummed in her chest as she considered what her defiance meant.
Ockert is a transgender woman who plays for the Ferals — the women’s-plus team within the Baltimore Flamingos rugby club. Three of her teammates are trans women, too. They had played games for the Ferals before, but this match at Walnut Ridge Park was the team’s first since USA Rugby had shifted its policy to allow only people assigned female at birth to play women’s rugby.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
Virginia
LGBTQ community center opens in Leesburg, Va.
Equality Loudoun holds ribbon-cutting ceremony at new space
A group of supporters crowded inside of the new Equality Loudoun Community Center in Leesburg, Va. on Saturday for an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony. Air quality issues stemming from the wildfires in Canada required the ceremony to be held indoors. Local elected officials were joined by LGBTQ community organizers and supporters to mark the occasion.
The Virginia LGBTQ organization Equality Loudoun was founded in 2003 and organized the first Loudoun Pride Festival in 2022. The Equality Loudoun Community Center, located in the Village at Leesburg shopping area (1507 Dodona Terrace SE, Suite 105, Leesburg, Va.), will now house the organization’s community and youth programming.
“This is a day that we have anticipated for some time,” said Sean Murphy, Equality Loudoun vice president. “Equality Loudoun was founded in 2003 and has been migrating from place to place to wherever will have us to host our meetings, to host our gatherings. We are so grateful to our many, many allies that have provided space for us.”
Murphy continued, “We really have believed for a long time that it’s important for us to have a home, a place to anchor the community, a place for people to feel belonging, and a place for people to find one another, and find people who are like them and have something in common.”
Attendees of the ceremony included Leesburg Mayor Kelly Burk, Leesburg Vice Mayor Todd Cimino-Johnson, Leesburg District Supervisor Kristen C. Umstattd of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, and U.S. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.).
“I wish that there was a place like this when I was teaching,” Mayor Burk, a retired Loudoun County Public Schools special education teacher, told the crowd. “So often, I’d have a student, and there was nowhere to send them. They were looking around, trying to see: ‘who’s like me, where can I go, where can I relate, what is happening?’ Middle school is terrible for everybody. But it’s especially terrible if you’re different. And so, I congratulate you on the fact that you had the initiative to do this, the guts to continue it, and the tenacity to make it happen.”
Programming at the LGBTQ community center will include youth programming, game nights and support groups, according to Equality Loudoun Executive Director Katie Cash.
Cash told the Blade, “That’s actually a new thing that we’re branching into that we received a grant this year for: to focus on youth activities. So we’ll have youth support groups that we’re going to work with the Ryan Bartell organization on. Additionally, we’ll have other peer support groups that are run by organizations that are in the space. We’ll have craft nights, we’ll have activity nights, so it’ll be open for drop-in hours on different days as well. On top of normal programming that we’ve been doing as an organization, which can be a series of different craft [activities], social activities, game nights, movie nights, that we’ve been doing for years. Instead of hunting for locations.”
Equality Loudoun is primarily funded through donations, according to Cash. Those interested in supporting the work of the organization and community center can visit eqloco.org for more information.
When asked about future programming at the center, Cash told the Blade that they are seeking feedback from the community.
“We have all the dreams that we have for the space,” Cash said. “But everything’s built off of what kind of resources, what kind of events does the community want hosted? What will they come out for? What do they care about coming out for, and making sure that happens for them.”
Rep. Subramanyam told the Blade, “I’m just so excited about this community center. Equality Loudoun has been so instrumental to so many people in our community. And for them to finally have this center — and it’s been part of their vision for a long time — just is an incredible experience. So I’m so proud to be a supporter of them and I look forward to the center being a sanctuary and a place for people to turn to for many years to come.”
View on Threads
Baltimore
Popular Mount Vernon gay bar Leon’s to temporarily close after owner’s death
Ron Singer passed away on July 7
By WESLEY CASE | Leon’s Backroom, Baltimore’s oldest gay bar, temporarily shut down after service on Wednesday night, according to a post on the business’s Instagram page.
The announcement comes a little more than a week after the death of the Mount Vernon bar’s owner, Ron Singer, who died at 66 on July 7.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
DOJ seeks to dismiss some claims in gay FBI employee’s bias lawsuit
The government pressured USA Rugby to ban transgender women. A Baltimore team refused to comply.
LGBTQ community center opens in Leesburg, Va.
Sci-fi has long been at vanguard of LGBTQ representation
PHOTOS: Vitamin C at JR.’s
Expected India Supreme Court ruling could shape future LGBTQ rights cases
Advocacy groups join Venezuela earthquake relief efforts
Lindsey Graham has passed away. Do LGBTQ people have a right to celebrate his death?
The queer Asian comics building collective joy in D.C.
Hegseth announces testosterone initiative as trans troop ban continues
-
India5 days agoExpected India Supreme Court ruling could shape future LGBTQ rights cases
-
Venezuela5 days ago
Advocacy groups join Venezuela earthquake relief efforts
-
Congress4 days ago
Lindsey Graham has passed away. Do LGBTQ people have a right to celebrate his death?
-
a&e features4 days ago
The queer Asian comics building collective joy in D.C.
