Maryland
Gay, lesbian incumbents, candidates on Md. county ballots
State’s primary is on July 19
The Washington Blade this week spoke with five openly gay and lesbian candidates who are either running for office or are seeking re-election in Montgomery, Prince George’s and Howard Counties.
Montgomery County Councilman Evan Glass
Evan Glass serves as the vice president of the Montgomery County Council and as its first openly LGBTQ member. Previously working for 12 years as a CNN journalist, he was first elected in 2018.
Glass told the Blade that running to continue as a member of the Council was rooted in the change that has been able to be made thus far.
āWhen I first raised the Pride flag in an official manner in 2019, I received a lot of pushback and hate,ā Glass said. āBut we persisted and have continued expanding Pride events and celebrating our beautiful diversity.ā
Since his election, Glassā initiatives in Montgomery County have included a host of local legislation aimed at promoting and furthering social justice and LGBTQ equality in the county.
Along with measures, such as the countyās Housing Justice Act and Oversight and Small Business Investment Act, Glassā efforts led to the Council to pass its Pay Equity Act designed close the gender wage gap by modifying how the county determines salaries for employees. He also worked to spearhead the passage of the countyās LGBTQ Bill of Rights, which expanded its anti-discrimination code to include gender expression and HIV status and ban discrimination in areas such as healthcare facilities, nursing homes and personal care facilities.
As he makes his bid for reelection later this summer, Glass said that he hopes to expand on the accomplishments he has been able to make so far.
āIām proud of my work to create more affordable housing, to make our buses free for all youth, and to keep our residents healthy and safe during the pandemic,ā Glass said. āThese efforts havenāt been easy, but they are critical to fostering a more fair and equitable community.ā
Montgomery County Circuit Court Clerk Karen Bushell
Karen Bushell grew up in the Midwest before moving to the D.C. area in 1985, where she met her wife in 1995. Bushell had four children and her wife had two children when they met, and according to Bushell, āwe had a very, very busy house.ā
Bushell started serving in the judiciary in 2001 ā as an HR associate, and then as a judicial assistant for many years. When Barbara Michael retired as Clerk of the Court in April 2021, Bushell was appointed to the position, making her the first openly LGBTQ person to hold it.
The Clerk of the Court serves as an independent record keeper of what happens in the courts, and Bushell described the clerkās role as primarily that of a public servant.
āI love my job; I love being part of the judiciary. Being a public servant, itās always good to know at the end of the day, that you help somebody,ā Bushell said. āI think being a public servant is something that is important to me, so that is one of the reasons that that Iām running.ā
Prince George’s County Public Schools Board of Education member Pamela Boozer-Strother
Pamela Boozer-Strother first became involved in LGBTQ and reproductive rights advocacy in the late 1980s as part of what was then called the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. During the decade she spent working with NLGJA; she worked towards inclusive workplace policies, fair and accurate news coverage of LGBTQ issues, and domestic partner benefits.
After living in Adams Morgan for years, Boozer-Strother moved to Prince Georgeās County with her spouse Margaret, where they adopted a child and built a life together. Boozer-Strother first became involved in the school system when her son started attending public school in Prince Georgeās County, and in 2018 she ran for the Board of Education and won.Ā
āI had an opportunity to make a difference by being visible, and finding other gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender families and staff ā and ultimately, students ā and helping to build that network of support,ā Boozer-Strother said. āItās taken some time; I ran for the board in 2018 as an out candidate and I won, and I am thrilled to live in a community that saw that as an asset.ā
Boozer-Strother has worked extensively on school construction, educational equity policy, LGBTQ-inclusive curricula and the board’s climate change action plan.
āOf course, I focused in on the relevance of my representation and my skills and background that I could bring to [my platform.] But really, I got into this because of school construction,ā Boozer-Strother said. āIām really proud to say that, as of today, seven projects that serve District 3 students are fully funded.ā
Prince George’s County Council candidate Krystal Oriadha
Krystal Oriadha studied business at Howard University before getting an MBA and working at Hewlitt-Packard. After a few years with HP, Oriadha moved back to the DMV area, where she said that āI wanted to use my skill set to help people and make an impact.ā
Oriadha has now been a community organizer and advocate for more than 12 years ā she worked with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on human trafficking prevention, reproductive healthcare, domestic violence campaigns and tribal nations issues for about four years before she made her first run for office, for the same seat for which she is running now. Although Oriadha lost that election by 30 votes, she became the new council member’s policy director, which gave her the chance to work on making legislation as a staffer.
āI think I learned that I wanted to be the principal even more, because they had the ability to make deals, cancel what I thought was really good legislation,ā Oriadha said. āItās really different when youāre the person that gets the make that last call ā thatās the difference between having a seat at the table and being outside of the room when decisions are being made.ā
Oriadha currently serves as the executive director of PG Change Makers, a local nonprofit she co-founded after returning to Prince George’s County to do community work in the aftermath of George Floydās murder. Although she was not initially planning to run for office again, Oriadha said that she is doing so at the request of her community.
āI was not planning on running again because it is a lot of work and I never really cared about being elected, but the community is asking me to, so I decided to go ahead and give it another try,ā Oriadha said.
Oriadha said that proudly representing all aspects of her identity is a crucial part of her campaign.
āWhen I first ran, there was a lot of talk about how not to talk about the LGBTQ+ part, because Iām straight presenting. And for me, what was so important is that I made it very clear who I am, and that I didn’t shy away or hide that part of myself, because to me, youāre not breaking the [glass] ceiling if people donāt even know the ceiling existed. I think that weāve never had an openly elected LGBTQ+ person sit on our County Council before,ā Oriadha said.
āI think what this will show is that you can run and be yourself and it wonāt cost you anything. I think thatās what is so important about this election.ā
Howard County Register of Wills Byron Macfarlane
Howard County Register of Wills Byron Macfarlane has served in the position since 2010 and was the first openly LGBTQ person elected in Howard County.
Along with his involvement in a plethora of state and local groups and organizations and being admitted to the state bar association, Macfarlane gained experience working for multiple prominent lawyers and politicians including County Councilman Guy Guzzone, Circuit Court Judge Richard Bernhardt, state Sen. Edward Kasemeyer and the late-U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.)
During his tenure in office, Macfarlane has made supporting the LGBTQ community an integral facet of his identity as a public official and a fellow citizen.
āQueer kids see the hate coming from the dark corners of our community,ā Macfarlane wrote on Twitter. āThey need to hear from us ā from you ā that we love and support every one of them.ā
Since being elected, Macfarlane has overseen a number of reforms implemented in the Registerās office, including modernization of its technological aspects and a cut on taxpayer expenditures for antiquated procedures. Modernizing the Registerās office and leading on reform, while also being receptive to his constituents, Macfarlane has said, have been some of his top priorities.
“Iāve proven myself as a reliable and responsive figure in our local government, that Iāve been extremely effective delivering meaningful reform, and that now more than ever our community needs steady, forward-looking leadership they can trust,” Macfarlane told the Blade. “Iām running for re-election because representation matters, because I want to continue serving the public with professionalism, compassion, and fairness, and because I want to continue pushing reforms to make probate faster, fairer and less expensive for Marylanders.”
Editor’s note: Somerset Mayor Jeffrey Slavin, who is openly gay, won re-election on May 10.
Maryland
Trone discusses transgender niece
Blade interviewed Md. congressman, Angela Alsobrooks last week
Editor’s note: The Washington Blade last week interviewed both U.S. Rep. David Trone (D-Md.) and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks. The full interviews with both Democratic candidates for retiring U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.)’s seat will be on the Blade’s website later this week.
Maryland Congressman David Trone last week discussed his transgender niece during an interview with the Washington Blade about his U.S. Senate campaign.
Trone, who is running to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), on May 1 told the Blade during a telephone interview that his niece transitioned when she was in her early 20s. Trone also noted she attended Furman University, a small, liberal arts university in Greenville, S.C.
“I was concerned about how she would be able to transition there,” said Trone.
Trone, who founded Total Wine & More, attended Furman University as an undergrad and is on the school’s board of trustees. Trone told the Blade he donated $10 million to the university to “build out their mental health capacity, which I felt was a way that she could have the best mental health care possible when she worked her way through (her) transition.”
Trone’s niece graduated from the university after she spent five years there.
“She had a great relationship with Furman,” said Trone.
Trone and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks are the leading Democrats running to succeed Cardin. The winner of the May 14 Democratic primary will face former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan in November.
Maryland
What Anne Arundel County school board candidates think about book bans
State lawmakers passed Freedom to Read Act in April
BY ROYALE BONDS | Parentsā efforts to restrict content available to students in school libraries has become a contentious issue in Maryland. Conservative parent groups, such as Moms for Liberty, have been working to get books they believe are inappropriate removed from libraries in Carroll and Howard counties, sparkingĀ protests, new policies, and even aĀ state law.
The Freedom to Read Act, passed in April, sets standards that books cannot be removed from public and school libraries due to an authorās background. Library staff that uphold the standard are protected under this act. The law, however, does not prohibit removing books deemed āsexually explicit,ā the stated reason local Moms for Liberty chapters challenged school library books.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner website.
Maryland
Christian Siriano to serve as grand marshal of Annapolis Pride Parade
Fashion designer is an Annapolis native
BY JOHN-JOHN WILLIAMS IV | Heās 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,Ā 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.