Connect with us

District of Columbia

Bowser: ‘I’m not in the closet’

Mayor asked about sexual orientation at shelter ribbon cutting

Published

on

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the city's first shelter for homeless LGBTQ adults on July 14, 2022. (Washington Blade photo by Parker Purifoy)

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Thursday denied she is in the closet after someone who identified themselves as an activist asked her if she is a lesbian.

“Well, I’m not in the closet,” said Bowser in response to the question.

Ahmar Mustikhan, who describes himself on his Twitter account as the “first openly gay man on earth from Balochistan,” a province in Pakistan that borders Iran and Afghanistan with a pro-independence movement, asked Bowser the question during a ribbon cutting ceremony of the city’s first shelter for homeless LGBTQ adults. 

“Mayor, I’m extremely grateful to you for the all the works that you have done so far for the LGBTQ community, including this shelter here,” asked Mustikhan. “Mayor, I’m a little concerned because there is this word that you are lesbian and you are in this closet. Why is this the case?”

A video that WAMU reporter Ally Schweitzer posted on Twitter shows people who attended the event laughed after Bowser responded to the question.

A Progress Pride flag was attached to the podium from which Bowser spoke.

Bowser’s brother, Marvin Bowser, is openly gay, but the mayor herself has never publicly said whether she is a lesbian, despite persistent rumors.

ā€œiā€™m very proud to be a straight ally of the LGBTQ community,ā€ Muriel Bowser told NBC Washington on Friday.

Advertisement
FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM
SIGN UP FOR E-BLAST

District of Columbia

D.C. events to commemorate International Transgender Day of Visibility

Monica Beverly-Hillz to attend Blossom Gala at Hook Hall

Published

on

(Washington Blade file photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Trans USA National Pageantry and the National Center for Transgender Equality will hold a series of events in D.C. on Sunday in commemoration of the International Transgender Day of Visibility.

The TRANSform the Vote rally will take place on the National Mall.

Organized by the Queer Equity Institute and NCTE, the event aims to celebrate trans liberation, combat violence and promote civic engagement. Elected officials, activists and artists are expected to participate. 

Queer Equity Institute Executive Director Leigh Finke and NCTE Executive Director Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen discussed the rally and how it will empower the trans community and promote advocacy.

ā€œFrom restricting access to medically necessary healthcare to denying trans students the opportunity to participate in sports, we have seen nationwide efforts to exclude trans people from society,ā€ said Heng-Lehtinen. ā€œTRANSform the Vote presents a historical moment for us to empower our community ā€” casting our votes and participating in democracy is just one of many ways our community can advocate for the issues that matter to us.ā€

Finke, Minnesotaā€™s first openly trans lawmaker who wrote the stateā€™s groundbreaking trans refuge bill, echoed Heng-Lehtinen.

“Over the past few years, weā€™ve watched again and again as ‘jokes’ became hate speech, hate speech became bills, bills became laws; and all the jokes, hate speech and laws created an environment where transgender people are assaulted, beaten and murdered,” said Finke. “Some of the most important tools we have to fight back against these attacks is to change the culture through voting, running for office and creating art and music that shift society. This rally is meant to highlight and encourage folks to use those tools in their communities.”

Confirmed speakers and participants aside from Finke and Heng-Lehtinen include:

  • Minnesota state Rep. Alicia ā€œLiishā€ Kozlowski, who is one of the countryā€™s foremost activists for Indigenous trans and two-spirit people.
  • Minneapolis City Council President Andrea Jenkins.
  • Angelica Ross, a Buddhist artist and human rights activist.
  • Visual artist Cassils

The first annual Blossom Gala will take place at Hook Hall (3400 Georgia Ave., N.W.) and will feature keynote speakers, a Q&A panel discussion featuring national leaders in the trans rights movement and drag performances. Cherry Bomb, which will cap off the event, is an all-trans drag showcase.

Mr. Trans USA 2020 Eddie Broadway; Miss Trans USA 2020 Bianca Nicole and Candi Stratton, a world-renowned Cher illusionist, are among those who are expected to perform. Other participants will include Miss Trans USA 2023 Anya Marino, Mr. Trans USA 2023 Trey C. Michaels and NCTE National Organizer Sybastian Smith.  

Monica Beverly-Hillz from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” will also participate.

Continue Reading

District of Columbia

Judy and Dennis Shepard discuss Nex Benedict, anti-LGBTQ laws at DC event

Nonbinary Okla. high school student died last month after fight

Published

on

Dennis and Judy Shephard speak at the Raben Groupā€™s D.C. offices on Feb. 29, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Amber Laenen)

Judy and Dennis Shepard on Thursday reflected on Nex Benedict’s death and the proliferation of anti-LGBTQ laws across the country during a discussion the Raben Group hosted at their D.C. office.

The discussion, which MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart moderated, took place less than a month after Benedict died.

Benedict, who was nonbinary, passed away on Feb. 8 after students at their high school in Owasso, Okla., assaulted them in a bathroom. 

Vice President Kamala Harris, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Republican Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt are among those who have publicly responded to Benedict’s death, which took place after they endured months of bullying. More than 300 advocacy groups have demanded Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters’ removal and called for a federal investigation into the Oklahoma Department of Education’s “actions and policies” that have facilitated a ā€œculture where rampant harassment of 2SLGBTQI+ students has been allowed to go unchecked.ā€

“Parents are doing whatever they can to protect and encourage and support kids, and you have these what I call evil, evil people around the country pushing these laws,” said Dennis Shepard.

He noted lawmakers around the country are pushing anti-LGBTQ laws and other efforts that include the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Dennis Shepard also highlighted an effort to defund gender studies programs at the University of Wyoming.

“[It is] the old white male, Christian geezers who want to go back to the days of the 50s when they had that superior arrogant attitude,” he said. “They’re losing it and they don’t want to, so they’re passing everything they can.”

“What happened to Nex is a result of that,” added Dennis Shepard. “They feel like Henderson and McKinney felt when they took Matt out on the prairie.”

Matthew Shepard died on Oct. 12, 1998, after Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney brutally beat him and left him tied to a fence in Laramie, Wyo. Then-President Barack Obama in 2009 signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which added sexual orientation and gender identity to the federal hate crimes law.

“If you’re considered different, you’re in fear of your life right now because you don’t fit in and it’s got to stop,” said Dennis Shepard.

Judy Shepard echoed her husband, noting this moment is “the last gasp of the fight against the community.” 

“In my heart, I know this is a moment in time, and it’s going to pass. But also in that time, all these young people, everyone in the community is afraid, but young people are being terrorized,” she said. “It just shouldn’t be happening.”

Continue Reading

District of Columbia

Trial for man charged with assaulting gay men in D.C. park postponed for third time

Indictment says attacker squirted victims with pepper spray

Published

on

Meridian Hill Park (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The trial for a 50-year-old man who was arrested July 14, 2022, on charges that he allegedly assaulted five men he believed to be gay at D.C.ā€™s Meridian Hill Park between 2018 and 2021 was postponed for the third time last month and has now been rescheduled for Aug. 19 of this year.   

The arrest of Michael Thomas Pruden came two weeks after a federal grand jury handed down an indictment on June 29, 2022, charging him with five counts of assault on federal park land, one count of impersonating a federal officer andĀ a hate crime designation alleging that he assaulted four of the men because of their perceived sexual orientation.Ā 

Prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C. filed a motion in court on Jan. 10 of this year opposing a request by Prudenā€™s defense attorney to postpone the most recent prior trial date set for Feb. 26. 

ā€œFollowing indictment in June 2022, the defendant has delayed the trial in this case several times, including by firing two prior attorneys,ā€ the prosecutorsā€™ motion states. ā€œWhile the government has not previously objected to any continuance, no further delay is warranted,ā€ the motion says. ā€œThis is a straightforward case that should proceed to trial as currently scheduled.ā€

The indictment against Pruden by a U.S. District Court for D.C. grand jury provides some of the details surrounding the case.

ā€œAfter nightfall, Meridian Hill Park was informally known in the Washington, D.C., community to be a meeting location for men seeking to engage in consensual sexual encounters with other men,ā€ the indictment says. ā€œThis practice is colloquially known as ā€˜cruising,ā€™” the indictment continues.Ā 

ā€œMichael Thomas Pruden frequented Meridian Hill Park after nightfall and on multiple occasions, including those described below, assaulted men in Meridian Hill Park by approaching them with a flashlight, giving them police-style commands and spraying them with a chemical irritant,ā€ the indictment states. 

Virginia court records show that the D.C. indictment against Pruden was handed down 11 months after a U.S. District Court jury in Alexandria, Va., found him not guilty of a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon for allegedly pepper spraying and hitting in the head with a large tree branch a man in Daingerfield Island Park in Alexandria, which is also known as a gay cruising site. 

Federal Public Defender A.J. Kramer, who is representing Pruden in the D.C. case, said in his own motion calling for postponing Prudenā€™s Feb. 26 trial date that he has at least two other unrelated trials coming up soon and what he called voluminous documents recently provided to him by prosecutors made the latest postponement necessary. 

ā€œFirstly, while Mr. Pruden prefers to go to trial as soon as possible, counsel cannot be ready by February 26, 2024,ā€ his motion states. ā€œGiven that the case against Mr. Pruden is actually five cases spanning a three-year period, the discovery is extremely voluminous, in excess of 7,000 pages,ā€ he states in his motion. ā€œDue to this as well as counselā€™s other pending matters in the coming weeks, counsel is unable to effectively prepare motions and prep for trial under the current timeline.ā€

By the 7,000 pages of ā€œdiscoveryā€ documents, Kramer was referring to the requirement that prosecutors turn over to the defense attorney in advance of a trial details of the evidence prosecutors plan to present at a trial. U.S. District Court Judge Jia M. Cobb approved Prudenā€™s request for the postponement in a Feb. 5 ruling. 

Court records also show that Pruden was released on personal recognizance following his arrest into the custody of his mother, who lives in Norfolk, Va., where he has been staying since his release. Among other things, conditions for his release prohibit him from having any contact with the individuals he is charged with assaulting and require that he always remain inside his motherā€™s residence from sunset to sunrise. 

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Advertisement

Sign Up for Weekly E-Blast

Follow Us @washblade

Advertisement

Popular