Connect with us

Local

Virginia marriage lawsuit about ‘equal protection’

Two lesbian couples file suit against commonwealth’s gay ban

Published

on

Victoria Kidd, Christy Berghoff, Winchester, Virginia, ACLU, same-sex marriage, gay marriage, marriage equality, gay news, Washington Blade
Victoria Kidd, Christy Berghoff, Winchester, Virginia, ACLU, same-sex marriage, gay marriage, marriage equality, gay news, Washington Blade

Victoria Kidd and Christy Berghoff of Winchester, Va. (Photo courtesy of the ACLU)

The two lesbian couples challenging Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban maintain their lawsuit is simply a matter of protecting their families.

“What I’m doing this for is to protect my wife and our daughter,” Christy Berghoff of Winchester, who married her partner of more than nine years, Victoria Kidd, told the Washington Blade. The couple also has a 9-month-old daughter.

Berghoff, an Air Force veteran who works at the U.S. Department of Justice spoke to the Blade a day after the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit on behalf of her and her spouse and Staunton residents Joanne Harris and Jessica Duff in U.S. District Court for the Western Division of Virginia in Harrisonburg on Aug. 1.

Berghoff said she and Kidd paid a lawyer hundreds of dollars to make her spouse their daughter’s co-custodian so she could make some legal decisions for her in Virginia. The couple in 2007 was also unable to secure a spousal loan to refinance their home through a Veterans’ Administration program.

“I have always been a strong advocate for our family and for the idea of equal protection of our family,” Kidd told the Blade while she was at home with her daughter. “We are your everyday family, in every sense of the word.”

Harris and Duff, who have been together for more than nine years and are raising a 4-year-old son, tried to apply for a marriage license in Staunton Circuit Court on July 29.

Like Kidd, Duff told the Blade that she and Harris have “always been advocates for our family.”

“We know that sharing our story is important to help change hearts and minds,” Duff said. “When we had the opportunity to participate, we wanted to do our part to bring the freedom to marry in Virginia.”

The ACLU and Lambda Legal filed the lawsuit against the commonwealth’s same-sex marriage ban that voters approved in 2006 slightly more than a month after the U.S. Supreme Court found a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional and struck down California’s Proposition 8.

Tony London and Timothy Bostic of Norfolk, who have been together 25 years, last month filed a separate federal lawsuit against Virginia’s gay nuptials ban after they unsuccessfully tried to apply for a marriage license.

Neither they, nor their lawyer, Bob Ruloff, returned the Blade’s requests for comment.

Neighboring Maryland is among the 13 states and D.C. in which same-sex couples can marry.

The federal government also recognizes the marriages of gays and lesbians who legally tie the knot, although their ability to receive Social Security and other federal benefits depends upon whether the state in which they live will recognize their unions.

“I still have a lot of questions about the protections that I’m not afforded,” Berghoff told the Blade. “I’m here at work in D.C. and I’m married and I go home I’m a single parent.”

LGBT rights advocates across Virginia applauded the lawsuit.

“It seems contrary to the rights and liberties guaranteed to us by our Constitution, that a trip across the Potomac River, an arbitrary geographical line would somehow grant or deny any citizen equal treatment under the law,” said James Parrish, executive director of Equality Virginia.

State Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) said he knows of “too many couples” that have moved out of the commonwealth because of “a lack of protections now offered to our neighbors in the District of Columbia and Maryland.”

“Virginia is at a competitive and economic disadvantage,” Ebbin said. “After all, forward thinking companies of all sizes locate where their diverse workforces will enjoy a high quality of life.”

Tucker Martin, a spokesperson for Gov. Bob McDonnell, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, defended Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban.

“The voters of Virginia passed a constitutional amendment in 2006 defining marriage in the commonwealth as being only a union of one man and one woman,” Martin said in a statement to the Blade. “It is the law in this state based on the popular will of the voters as expressed at the ballot box.”

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s office declined to comment on the lawsuit, although spokesperson Brian Gottstein referred to a statement he released after the Supreme Court issued its DOMA and Prop 8 rulings.

“Virginia has followed the traditional definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman for more than 400 years,” Cuccinelli said in a June 26 statement on the justices’ rulings. “Virginians voted overwhelmingly to add this traditional definition to their constitution.”

Cuccinelli, who will face off against former Democratic National Committee Chair Terry McAuliffe in Virginia’s gubernatorial election in November, highlighted his opposition to same-sex marriage last month during a debate at the Homestead in Hot Springs. GOP lieutenant gubernatorial candidate E.W. Jackson and Mark Obenshein, who is running to succeed Cuccinelli as attorney general, also oppose nuptials for gays and lesbians.

McAuliffe in February publicly backed same-sex marriage. State Sens. Ralph Northam (D-Norfolk) and Mark Herring (D-Loudoun,) who are running for lieutenant governor and attorney general respectively, also support the issue.

Harris told the Blade she feels there has “always been support for gay couples” in Virginia.

A Quinnipiac University poll released on July 18 noted 50 percent of Virginians support same-sex marriage. A survey that Public Policy Polling unveiled a week before found 55 percent of commonwealth residents back nuptials for gays and lesbians.

“History has shown that we evolve and opinions evolve,” Harris said. “Virginians are smart and they are fair-minded people.”

Kidd agreed.

“A lot has changed in Virginia since that amendment went to the ballot box [in 2006,]” she said.

Advertisement
FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM
SIGN UP FOR E-BLAST

Rehoboth Beach

Former CAMP Rehoboth official sentenced to nine months in prison

Salvator Seeley pleaded guilty to felony theft charge for embezzlement

Published

on

Salvator Seeley (Photo courtesy CAMP Rehoboth)

Salvator “Sal” Seeley, who served as an official with the Rehoboth Beach, Del., CAMP Rehoboth LGBTQ community center for 20 years, was sentenced on April 5 by a Sussex County Superior Court judge to nine months in prison and to pay $176,000 in restitution to the organization.

The sentencing took place about five weeks after Seeley pleaded guilty to a charge of Theft in Excess of $50,000 for allegedly embezzling funds from CAMP Rehoboth, a spokesperson for the Delaware Department of Justice told the Washington Blade.

Seeley’s guilty plea came shortly after a grand jury, at the request of prosecutors, indicted him on the felony theft charge following an investigation that found he had embezzled at least $176,000 from the nonprofit LGBTQ organization.

“Salvatore C. Seeley, between the 27th day of February 2019 and the 7th day of September 2021, in the County of Sussex, State of Delaware, did take property belonging to CAMP Rehoboth, Inc., consisting of United States currency and other miscellaneous property valued at more than $50,000, intending to appropriate the same,” the indictment states.

“The State recommended a sentence of two years of incarceration based on the large-scale theft and the impact to the non-profit organization,” Delaware Department of Justice spokesperson Caroline Harrison told the Blade in a statement.

“The defense cited Seeley’s lack of a record and gambling addiction in arguing for a probationary sentence,” the statement says. “Seeley was sentenced in Superior Court to a nine-month prison term and to pay a total of $176,000 in restitution for the stolen funds,” Harrison says in the statement.

Neither Seeley nor his attorney could immediately be reached for comment.

At the time of Seeley’s indictment in February, CAMP Rehoboth released a statement saying it first discovered “financial irregularities” within the organization on Sept. 7, 2021, “and took immediate action and notified state authorities.” The statement says this resulted in the investigation of Seeley by the state Department of Justice as well as an internal investigation by CAMP Rehoboth to review its “financial control policies” that led to an updating of those policies.

“As we have communicated from day one, CAMP Rehoboth has fully cooperated with law enforcement,” the statement continues. “At its request, we did not speak publicly about the investigation while it was ongoing for fear it would jeopardize its integrity,” according to the statement. “This was extremely difficult given our commitment to transparency with the community about day-to-day operations during the recent leadership transition.”

The statement was referring to Kim Leisey, who began her job as CAMP Rehoboth’s new executive director in July of 2023, while the Seeley investigation had yet to be completed, following the organization’s process of searching for a new director. It says Seeley left his job as Health and Wellness Director of CAMP Rehoboth in September of 2021 after working for the organization for more than 20 years.

“Mr. Seeley’s actions are a deep betrayal to not only CAMP Rehoboth but also the entire community we serve,” the statement says.

Continue Reading

Maryland

Christian Siriano to serve as grand marshal of Annapolis Pride Parade

Fashion designer is an Annapolis native

Published

on

Christian Siriano, an Annapolis native, won the fourth season of “Project Runway,” and has become one of the reality show’s most successful and visible stars. (© Leandro Justen/Leandro Justen)

BY JOHN-JOHN WILLIAMS IV | He’s conquered fashion week. His designs have slayed the red carpet during award season. And now Christian Siriano is coming home.

The Annapolis native will serve as grand marshal and keynote speaker June 1 for the annual Annapolis Pride Parade and Festival, which is a major coup as the event enters its fourth year.

The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

Continue Reading

District of Columbia

As You Are bar closes temporarily, citing problems with building

Shutdown comes two months after fundraising appeal brought in $170,000

Published

on

As You Are is temporarily closed. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

As You Are, the LGBTQ café and bar located in the Barracks Row section of Capitol Hill near the Eastern Market Metro station, has announced on its Instagram page that problems associated with its building at 500 8th St., S.E., forced it to “temporarily” close on April 8.

“As you may be aware, As You Are’s location in Eastern Market has been closed since April 8, when we began to have concerns about the physical condition of the building,” the Instagram message states. “We worked quickly to alert our landlord, and they have assessed the building with their engineers,” the message says.

“We understand that certain repairs need to be made to ensure the safety of our staff, patrons, and community,” the message concludes.

In one of two more recent videos posted on Instagram on April 17 and 26, As You Are co-owners Jo McDaniel and Rachel Pike said they did not have any update on when they can reopen. “The engineers and contractors have all come into the space, and we’re just waiting on a plan and a timeline from our landlord,” McDaniel said in the video.

Pike mentioned in one of the videos that As You Are has a Venmo app set up, and said they appreciate the support they have been receiving from the community. McDaniel added, “We’re really interested in supporting our team through this, as this is an unexpected loss of income for all of us.”

McDaniel didn’t immediately respond to a request from the Washington Blade for a further update on where things stand with the building repair project and the specific nature of the problems with the building. An earlier message posted on the As You Are website said, “Heavy rain damaged the back wall of our building, and we are closed to assess and repair.”

The message added, “Regular updates and ways to support can be found on our Instagram page @asyouaredc.”

The April 8 shutdown came a little over two months after As You Are issued a GoFundMe appeal on Feb. 5 seeking emergency financial support to prevent it from closing in February due to a $150,000 debt. In a display of strong community support, its $150,000 fundraising goal was reached in less than a week. By the following week, the GoFundMe appeal had pulled in more than $170,000 from more than 3,000 individual donations.

Many of the donors left messages on the GoFundMe page for As You Are expressing their strong support for the bar and café, saying it served as a uniquely supportive space for all members of the LGBTQ community.

In the GoFundMe message, McDaniel and Pike said their goal in opening their business in March 2022 was to offer community center type programming beyond just a bar and café.

“AYA is a café, bar and dance floor that hosts diverse programming nearly every night of the week, including social sport leagues, Queer youth socials, weekly karaoke, book clubs, open mics, Queer author events, dance parties, and much more,” the two said in their message. 

The building’s owner and the As You Are landlord, Rueben Bajaj, who is the principal operator of the Bethesda, Md., based real estate firm White Star Investments, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. The Washington Post reported that he contributed $500 to the As You Are GoFundMe appeal, saying, “I personally want to see As You Are succeed.”

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Advertisement

Sign Up for Weekly E-Blast

Follow Us @washblade

Advertisement

Popular