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Comings & Goings
Widomski wins prestigious award from DHS
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at: [email protected].
Congratulations to Erik J. Raser-Schramm on his new position as Deputy Chief Administrative Officer in New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer’s administration.
Raser-Schramm is leaving his volunteer job as Delaware Democratic Party Chairman to accept this position. He said he is stepping down because “he didn’t want to create a conflict of interest when joining Meyer’s administration.”
“We pledged to hire the best and brightest to run your county government, and we are excited to add Erik to the team. He is an all-star,” Meyer said. “As Deputy Chief Administrative Officer, he’ll be in charge of a lot of the day to day happenings in New Castle County.”
Raser-Schramm added, “I’m excited for the new opportunity, and proud of what we accomplished together as Delaware Democrats. Winning elections is obviously the goal of a political party, but it’s how we did it that I’m proud of the most. We worked hard to open up our Party to hundreds of new activists, donors, campaign staff, and candidates, who now feel at home under the Delaware Democratic Party banner.”
He has worked in a number of areas, including until now being managing partner of The Twelve Seven Group, in Townsend, Del. Other positions he has held include serving as chief of staff to the House Majority Caucus of the Delaware House of Representatives; and as assistant director of the Kelly Heinz-Grundner Brain Tumor Foundation in Wilmington, Del. He began his career as a First Grade Special Education Teacher, Brookside Elementary School, Newark, Del.
Congratulations also to Michael J. Widomski who is one of two people named the 2020 CISAzen of the year by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Upon being named, he said, “I’m incredibly proud to be associated with the leadership and entire workforce at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Working at the agency responsible for a safe and secure election will be one of my proudest moments in government.”
Widomski is an experienced senior external affairs advisor. He is currently chief for workforce engagement at the U.S Department of Homeland Security, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Office of Workforce Engagement. Over the years he has held a number of different positions at the agency.
At one point between jobs at the agency he worked as director of communication and executive affairs at the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Weather Service (NWS).
One of his positions at Homeland Security was with the Federal Emergency Management Agency as lead public affairs officer and he served as the direct senior advisor to the Federal Coordinating Officer for the recovery efforts for the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.
Widomski earned his bachelor’s in Communication Arts from Gannon University, Erie, Pa. He has a master’s in radio-television-film from the University of Maryland, and a master’s of Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College, in Carlisle, Pa.
Maryland
Parents sue Anne Arundel schools, allege officials hid child’s gender transition
America First legal Foundation filed lawsuit on July 8
By CODY BOTELER | Two parents, backed by a conservative nonprofit group, are suing Anne Arundel County Public Schools over the school system’s policies related to transgender children.
The suit, filed Wednesday in Maryland’s U.S. District Court, accuses staff at an unidentified county high school of lying to the parents, identified as John Doe and Jane Doe, about their child, identified as Mary Doe.
The Does allege the school “socially transitioned” their child without notice or their consent by using a masculine name and masculine pronouns for Mary Doe.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
Campaign launched to elect more LGBTQ candidates to ANC seats
Capital Stonewall Democrats behind Queering ANCs effort
The Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political group, announced on July 7 it has launched a campaign to help elect large numbers of LGBTQ candidates to the city’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions.
The D.C. local government is believed to be unique among U.S. cities in currently having 46 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions consisting of 345 single-member districts in neighborhoods throughout the city in which unpaid Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners are elected for two-year terms.
The commissions are charged with considering a wide range of policies and programs impacting their neighborhoods, including traffic, parking, recreation, street improvements, liquor licenses, zoning, economic development, police protection, sanitation and trash collection, and D.C.’s annual budget, according to the ANC website.
Although the ANCs do not have authority to set or reject policies or proposals, such as applications for liquor licenses, city agencies are required to give “great weight” to ANC recommendations, according to the law creating the ANCs.
Kent Boese, a gay former ANC commissioner, currently serves as executive director of the D.C. Office of ANCs.
“We are launching the most ambitious hyperlocal LGBTQ+ candidate pipeline initiative in the country,” said Stevie McCarty, the Capital Stonewall Democrats president, in a July 7 statement that announced the Queering ANCs campaign.
“As an ANC member, I know firsthand how these seats shape our neighborhoods, from housing and public safety to sanitation,” McCarty says in the statement. “I’m proud to lead this effort to ensure more LGBTQ+ Washingtonians see themselves as leaders in their communities,” he said.
The ANC Rainbow Caucus, which was created by LGBTQ ANC members, shows on its website that there are currently 38 caucus members consisting of elected LGBTQ ANC commissioners serving in the current 2025-2026 two-year term.
The website shows there are LGBTQ commissioners who are caucus members in each of the city’s eight wards, with six in Ward 1, eight in Ward 2, one in Ward 3, six in Ward 4, five in Ward 5, three in Ward 6, eight in Ward 7, and one in Ward 8.
The Washington Blade couldn’t immediately determine how many of them will be running for re-election in D.C.’s general election in November. But McCarty said Capital Stonewall Democrats hopes to recruit many more LGBTQ candidates to run for ANC seats.
The D.C. Board of Elections website shows the deadline for filing 25 required petition signatures to be placed on the ballot is Aug. 5.
A Queering ANCs website launched this week by Capital Stonewall Democrats provides details on how to run for an ANC seat and offers help for those interested in running.
“Think of someone in your building, neighborhood, friend group, community organization, or professional network who cares deeply about D.C. and would make a strong leader,” McCarty says in his statement. “Send them QueeringANCs.org and personally ask them to consider running,” he said.
The website can be accessed at QueeringANCs.org.
Baltimore
Ron Singer, owner of popular Mount Vernon gay bar Leon’s, dies
66-year-old’s funeral to take place Friday
By CAYLA HARRIS | Ron Singer, the owner of Baltimore’s popular gay bar Leon’s Backroom, died Tuesday, the venue announced in a social media post. He was 66.
“For more than 20 years, Ron made Leon’s a place so many people were proud to call home,” the post reads. “He will be deeply missed.”
The Mount Vernon bar, typically open from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily, is still open Thursday, but doors will close at midnight so staff can attend his funeral Friday morning. Services are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. at Sol Levinson’s Chapel.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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