Maryland
Pride flag ripped down at Bethesda church
Police haven’t determined if incident was hate crime
An unidentified suspect was captured on a video security camera on Nov. 7 tearing up and pulling down part of a two-story tall LGBTQ Pride banner from the outside wall of Bethesda United Methodist Church in Bethesda, Md., according to Montgomery County police.
WTOP News and the online news site MOCO 360 report that one of the church’s ministers, Dennis Williams, was the first to discover the damaged Pride banner as he was leaving the church on Tuesday, Nov. 7.
“I’m a member of the LGBTQIA+ community,” MOCO 360 quoted Williams as saying. “It was gut wrenching,” he told the news site. “It made me emotional, because we belong to a church that is so welcoming and has embraced us as a family so well. It was really sad to see.”
WTOP reports that police said a preliminary investigation found that on Tuesday, Nov. 7, at around 9:35 p.m. an unidentified suspect walked to the church’s property, damaged the flag, and left the scene.
Williams told WTOP the video shows a person in a white hoodie initially trying to pull the banner down before using something to cut it. WTOP reports police have not yet determined whether the incident was a hate crime.
MOCO 360 reports the suspect’s features are not distinguishable on the video recording. It reports the incident took place about an hour after the last parishioner left the church following an event.
Williams told WTOP the church will be putting up a new Pride banner to replace the damaged one. He told MOCO 360 the church put up the Pride banner in June in recognition of Pride Month.
“It is important for our church to put [the banner] up so the LGBTQ+ community knows we’re a supportive church,” he told the online news site.
The church is located at 8300 Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda.
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.”
Maryland
Health care for Marylanders with HIV is facing huge cuts this summer
Providers poised to lose three-quarters of funding
BY MEREDITH COHN | By the end of June, health care providers in Maryland will lose nearly three-quarters of the funding they use to find and treat thousands of people with HIV.
Advocates and providers say they had been warned there would be less money by the Maryland Department of Health, but were stunned at the size of the drop — from about $17.9 million this fiscal year to $5.3 million the next. The deep cuts are less than three months away.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
GAITHERSBURG, Md. — Maryland state Del. Joe Vogel (D-Montgomery County) on Friday held a “Big Gay Canvass Kickoff” event at his congressional campaign’s headquarters.
LGBTQ+ Victory Fund Vice President of Outreach and Engagement Marty Rouse and John Klenert, a member of the DC Vote and Victory Fund Campaign board of directors, are among those who participated alongside members of Equality PAC. Vogel spoke before Rouse, Klenert and others canvassed for votes in the area.
“Joe brings a fresh new perspective to politics,” said Gabri Kurtzer-Ellenbogen, deputy field director for Vogel’s campaign.
Vogel, 27, is among the Democrats running for Congressman David Trone’s seat.
Trone last May announced his bid to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) in the U.S. Senate.
The Democratic primary is on May 14. Vogel would be the first Latino, the first gay man and first Gen Zer elected to Congress from Maryland if he were to win in November.
“We need a new generation of leadership with new perspectives, new ideas, and the courage to actually deliver for our communities if we want things to get better in this country,” Vogel told the Washington Blade last month during an interview in D.C.
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