Maryland
Lesbian diversity expert running for City Council in Hyattsville
Meléndez Rivera worked on Latinx, faith issues for HRC
Lesbian activist and diversity consultant Lisbeth Meléndez Rivera has announced she is a candidate for the Hyattsville, Md., City Council in an Oct. 4 special election to fill a vacant seat.
The Ward 2 seat on the 10-member Council in the Prince George’s County suburban city became vacant when the incumbent Council member, Robert Croslin, won election as mayor, according to an announcement posted on the Hyattsville website.
The announcement says two other candidates in addition to Meléndez Rivera are running in the nonpartisan special election. It identifies them as community activists Emily Strab and Kelly Burrello.
Melendez Rivera currently operates BQN Consulting, a firm through which she provides support services related to organizing, training and capacity building, according to the firm’s website. In addition, she also operates a food catering service.
The website write-up on her career background says she served from 2014 to 2017 as Director of Latinx & Catholic Initiatives for the Human Rights Campaign, the D.C.-based national LGBTQ advocacy organization. Her LinkedIn page says she served from 2017 to 2021 as HRC’s Director of Faith Outreach & Training.
A separate write-up on her campaign website describers Meléndez Rivera as a 35+ year veteran in social justice movements with “extensive experience organizing and training at the intersections of sexual orientation, gender identity, racial/ethnic identity, faith, and culture related explicitly to communities of color in the United States.”
Her campaign website says she is a candidate for a doctorate degree in Ministry and Theology and Social Transformation. It says she currently holds a master’s degree in Theology & Social Transformation and a bachelor’s degree in biology and sociology.
“Lisbeth has worked with people of faith across denominations to ensure we can be who we are, love whom we love, and practice our faith free of judgment,” her campaign website states.
It says she is running to address, among other things, to ensure that the current rapid real estate development in Hyattsville is carried out in a way that housing remains affordable for all residents and doesn’t result in the displacement of longtime residents. Education, public safety, and the environment will also be issues she will address, she told the Washington Blade.
If elected, Meléndez Rivera would become the first out lesbian to serve on the Hyattsville City Council. An openly gay man, Jimmy McClellan, currently serves as a Ward 3 representative on the Council, which consists of two members from each of the city’s five wards.
Further information on Meléndez Rivera’s campaign and her positions on Hyattsville related issues can be viewed here.
Maryland
What Anne Arundel County school board candidates think about book bans
State lawmakers passed Freedom to Read Act in April
BY ROYALE BONDS | Parents’ 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, sparking protests, new policies, and even a 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 author’s background. Library staff that uphold the standard are protected under this act. The law, however, does not prohibit removing books deemed “sexually explicit,” 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 | 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.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on Thursday signed a bill that seeks to combat efforts to ban books from state libraries.
House Bill 785, also known as the Freedom to Read Act, would establish a state policy “that local school systems operate their school library media programs consistent with certain standards; requiring each local school system to develop a policy and procedures to review objections to materials in a school library media program; prohibiting a county board of education from dismissing, demoting, suspending, disciplining, reassigning, transferring, or otherwise retaliating against certain school library media program personnel for performing their job duties consistent with certain standards.”
Moore on Thursday also signed House Bill 1386, which GLSEN notes will “develop guidelines for an anti-bias training program for school employees.”
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