Maryland

Anne Arundel County school board rejects Pride flag ban

Vote was 4-3 against proposed policy

Published

3 years ago

July 12, 2023

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Anne Arundel County Board of Education members on Wednesday rejected a proposed ban on non-government flags on school property.

The policy would have banned flags, such as the Pride flag, Black Lives Matter flag and others from being hung or flown on school properties.

The board voted four to three, with one abstaining, against the proposed policy. The votes were as follows:

Board President Joanna Bache Tobin, District 6: No

Board VP Robert Silkworth, District 2: No

Eric Lin, Student Member: No

Gloria Dent, District 1: Abstain

Corine Frank, District 3: Yes

Melissa Ellis, District 4: Yes

Dana Schallheim, District 5: No

Michelle Corkadel, District 7: Yes

The ban, which Frank proposed, would have encouraged the display of the U.S. flag, Maryland flag and other local flags to fly at schools in the district. Any other flags displayed would have only been accepted for a “bona-fide educational purpose,” determined by the schools’ principals.

Along with banning the Pride and Black Lives Matter flags, the policy would have required school staff to get permission to hang military, college and sports team flags and pennants.

Advocates for the policy argued that the display of Pride and Black Lives Matter flags harm students whose religious beliefs do not support LGBTQ or Black Lives Matter communities. Others argued the flags themselves were political symbols, and their presence would influence students’ political beliefs.

The Anne Arundel chapter of Moms for Liberty, a far-right extremist group, was a strong supporter of the policy.

Opponents to the proposal argued a ban on flags would be one more step toward excluding LGBTQ studetns and students of color.

Lin, a senior at Severna Park High School and the only student representative on the board, was met with applause from his colleagues and those in the audience when he expressed concern over the labeling of flags as political.

“The Pride flag, for example, is not a political or social issue,” Lin said. “LGBTQ people exist in our society and their fight for continued equality is represented by the Pride flag. It is a human rights issue … in a public school system, the goal is to teach students that there are people who are different than them that exist, and teachers don’t teach students to be queer. They teach students that queer people exist and to treat them like human beings.”

Related Topics:Anne Arundel County Board of Education featured Maryland

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Maryland

4th Circuit dismisses lawsuit against Montgomery County schools’ pronoun policy

Substitute teacher Kimberly Polk challenged regulation in 2024

Published

3 weeks ago

February 3, 2026

Staff reports

(Photo by Sergei Gnatuk via Bigstock)

A federal appeals court has ruled Montgomery County Public Schools did not violate a substitute teacher’s constitutional rights when it required her to use students’ preferred pronouns in the classroom.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision it released on Jan. 28 ruled against Kimberly Polk.

The policy states that “all students have the right to be referred to by their identified name and/or pronoun.”

“School staff members should address students by the name and pronoun corresponding to the gender identity that is consistently asserted at school,” it reads. “Students are not required to change their permanent student records as described in the next section (e.g., obtain a court-ordered name and/or new birth certificate) as a prerequisite to being addressed by the name and pronoun that corresponds to their identified name. To the extent possible, and consistent with these guidelines, school personnel will make efforts to maintain the confidentiality of the student’s transgender status.”

The Washington Post reported Polk, who became a substitute teacher in Montgomery County in 2021, in November 2022 requested a “religious accommodation, claiming that the policy went against her ‘sincerely held religious beliefs,’ which are ‘based on her understanding of her Christian religion and the Holy Bible.’”

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in January 2025 dismissed Polk’s lawsuit that she filed in federal court in Beltsville. Polk appealed the decision to the 4th Circuit.

Maryland

Dan Cox files for governor, seeking rematch with Moore

Anti-LGBTQ Republican ran in 2022

Published

4 weeks ago

February 2, 2026

Baltimore Banner

Dan Cox, the 2022 Republican nominee for governor, has filed to run again this year. (Photo by Kaitlin Newman for the Banner)

By PAMELA WOOD | Dan Cox, a Republican who was resoundingly defeated by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore four years ago, has filed to run for governor again this year.

Cox’s candidacy was posted on the Maryland elections board website Friday; he did not immediately respond to an interview request.

Cox listed Rob Krop as his running mate for lieutenant governor.

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

Maryland

Expanded PrEP access among FreeState Justice’s 2026 legislative priorities

Maryland General Assembly opened on Jan. 14

Published

4 weeks ago

January 28, 2026

Sam Epner

Maryland State House (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

FreeState Justice this week spoke with the Washington Blade about their priorities during this year’s legislative session in Annapolis that began on Jan. 14.

Ronnie L. Taylor, the group’s community director, on Wednesday said the organization continues to fight against discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS. FreeState Justice is specifically championing a bill in the General Assembly that would expand access to PrEP in Maryland.

Taylor said FreeState Justice is working with state Del. Ashanti Martinez (D-Prince George’s County) and state Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Arundel and Howard Counties) on a bill that would expand the “scope of practice for pharmacists in Maryland to distribute PrEP.” The measure does not have a title or a number, but FreeState Justice expects it will have both in the coming weeks.

FreeState Justice has long been involved in the fight to end the criminalization of HIV in the state.

Governor Wes Moore last year signed House Bill 39, which decriminalized HIV in Maryland.

The bill — the Carlton R. Smith Jr. HIV Modernization Act — is named after Carlton Smith, a long-time LGBTQ activist known as the “mayor” of Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood who died in 2024. FreeState Justice said Marylanders prosecuted under Maryland Health-General Code § 18-601.1 have already seen their convictions expunged.

Taylor said FreeState Justice will continue to “oppose anti anti-LGBTQ legislation” in the General Assembly. Their website later this week will publish a bill tracker.

The General Assembly’s legislative session is expected to end on April 13.