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New College Park mayor has mixed record on LGBTQ issues

Fazlul Kabir voted against measure to ban discrimination

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Fazlul Kabir opposed several pro-LGBTQ measure while serving on the College Park City Council.

S.M. Fazlul Kabir, a native of Bangladesh who received a doctorate degree in electrical engineering in the United Kingdom before moving to College Park, Md., in 2003, won re-election as College Park mayor on Nov. 5.

He has served on the College Park City Council since 2011 and first won election as mayor in May of this year in a special election held shortly after the resignation of gay College Park Mayor Patrick Wojahn. Wojahn abruptly left office at the time of his arrest in March of this year on multiple counts of possession and distribution of child pornography.

Wojahn has been held without bond since the time of his arrest. He pleaded guilty to most of the charges against him in a plea bargain deal with prosecutors at a Prince Georgeā€™s County Circuit Court hearing on Aug. 2. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 20.

Kabir came in first place with 54 percent of the vote in a four-candidate race in the May special election. He succeeded Denise Mitchell, a Council member who became acting mayor at the time of Wojahnā€™s resignation until the time of the special election, in which she ran and lost to Kabir.

Kabir ran unopposed for a full term in office on Nov. 5 in College Parkā€™s regularly scheduled mayoral election, reaffirming his longstanding reputation as a consensus builder and strong supporter of advancing College Park as a diverse suburban community and home to the University of Maryland, according to political observers. 

ā€œDr. Kabir is believed to be the first College Park mayor of South Asian descent and the first of Muslim faith,ā€ a statement on the College Park website says. ā€œDr. Kabir  has lived in College Park with his wife and two sons for more than two decades,ā€ the statement says.

The statement says he taught cybersecurity at the University of Maryland for eight years before beginning his current job as an information architect for the federal government.

Kabir, while expressing support for the LGBTQ community, has voted against two pro-LGBTQ bills as a member of the College Park City Council, one in 2014 and the other in 2020, according to Council records. 

The 2014 measure, which the eight-member Council passed by a vote of 6-2, with Kabir voting no, amended the city charter to ban discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on a wide range of categories, including race, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

The 2020 measure called for College Park to sign on to an amicus brief to be filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the city of Philadelphia, which was being sued by a Catholic social services organization that had a contract with Philadelphia to place children with foster parents. Philadelphia terminated the contract after the organization, Catholic Social Services (CSS), refused to place children with same-sex foster parents based on its religious beliefs, an action that violated Philadelphiaā€™s non-discrimination law.

The College Park Council voted 5-3, with Kabir and two other Council members voting no, to sign on to the amicus brief, which Council supporters said would affirm College Parkā€™s support for Philadelphiaā€™s effort to uphold its nondiscrimination policies impacting LGBTQ foster parents.

City Council records show Kabir abstained from voting on a third measure in May of 2016 that called for the flying of the LGBTQ Pride flag over College Park City Hall during LGBTQ Pride week in June of that year.

When contacted by the Washington Blade for comment on his LGBTQ voting record, Kabir pointed to his statements during the Council meetings at the time the three votes were taken, in which he expressed general support for LGBTQ rights.

The Blade watched and listened to his statements on each of the three measures in question as well as the statements by other Council members on video recordings of each of the three separate Council meetings that are available for viewing on the Councilā€™s website.

ā€œIn none of these votes I used my faith as the reason for the way I voted,ā€ Kabir told the Blade in a statement. ā€œBeing a member of several minority groups, I value the dignity of every resident of our College Park community, including the members of our LGBTQ+ community,ā€ he said.

ā€œI much appreciate the contributions of the LGBTQ+ community to making College Park a better place for all our residents,ā€ he said in his statement.

At the time of the May 2014 meeting in which the Council voted to approve the nondiscrimination charter amendment, Kabir argued that the proposed amendment was unnecessary because the Maryland state non-discrimination law covered the identical provisions of the proposed College Park charter amendment.

ā€œDiscrimination is nothing new,ā€ he said as shown in the Councilā€™s video recording of the Nov. 25, 2014 meeting. ā€œAnd discrimination happens all the time and we should not accept it,ā€ he said. ā€œBut we never had a clause, a general clause in the city charter in the 70-year history,ā€ he added, noting that the College Park charter never included this type of language thatā€™s now included in state law.

Kabir told his Council colleagues during that Council session that he had further concerns over the proposed non-discrimination charter amendmentā€™s provision on public accommodations. He called that ā€œkind of very controversial because it includes the bathroom and the restroom.ā€ Kabir added, ā€œWe want our transgender population to feel comfortable going to either restrooms or bathrooms, but many of our heterosexual residents, they donā€™t feel comfortable with this term.ā€

He also points out, however, that the Council approved a second nondiscrimination measure during that same Council session that applied to the College Park city governmentā€™s own internal employment policies, and which also included sexual orientation and gender identity protections. He voted for that measure, which passed the Council unanimously.

On the Councilā€™s vote on Aug. 11, 2020, in support of joining the Supreme Court amicus brief in the Philadelphia case, Kabir said he did not believe the Catholic Social Services Group was engaging in discrimination. He noted that while the group did not take on same-sex couples as clients, it readily referred any same-sex couples it came in contact with to other organizations under city contract that would help them become foster parents.

ā€œCollege Park is a diverse and pluralistic community,ā€ he told his fellow Council members during the discussion over the amicus brief question. ā€œAnd both the LGBTQ and the faith groups are very, very important and very strong parts of our community,ā€ he said. ā€œWe all want all groups to live together here in peace and with respect and dignity. Taking a side, one side over the other, will only divide us instead of uniting us,ā€ he said in explaining why he would vote against College Park joining the amicus brief.

The measure passed the Council by a vote of 5-3, with Kabir and two others voting no. Among those voting yes was then gay Council member P.J. Brennan. Then Mayor Wojahn expressed strong support for the measure.

Kabir told the Blade in his written statement that while he voted against the Philadelphia amicus brief, he voted one year earlier in favor of College Park signing on to an amicus brief for another LGBTQ-related Supreme Court case known as Bostock v. Clayton County. The amicus brief supported the gay plaintiff in that case, for whom the Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling that LGBT people are protected from discrimination under the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Regarding his decision to abstain on the Councilā€™s May 24, 2016, vote to hang the Pride flag as a banner on the front of the City Hall building for one week, Kabir did not give a reason for abstaining. Instead, he introduced a substitute motion calling for establishing a city policy for approving banners to be hung on an outside wall of the City Hall building with the mayor given authority to approve them.

ā€œThe banner may include a flag,ā€ Kabir told fellow Council members. ā€œThe mayor shall consider the applications and approve those that are appropriate and support city goals, values and objectives,ā€ he said.

The Council then voted 5-3 against Kabirā€™s motion and voted 5-0 with three abstentions, including Kabirā€™s abstention, to approve the original motion to display the Pride flag on the City Hall building from June 6-13, 2016.

About a month later, at the Councilā€™s June 14, 2016 meeting, Kabir joined his fellow Council members in voting yes in a unanimous vote to extend the display of the Pride flag at City Hall for one more week in honor of the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla., in which 49 mostly LGBTQ patrons lost their lives at the hands of a lone gunman.

Then College Park Mayor Wojahn introduced the motion to extend the flag display for the extra week.

Kabir, meanwhile, told the Blade that during his second month as mayor this year he issued a mayoral proclamation declaring June 2023 as Pride Month in College Park.

PJ Brennan, whoā€™s gay and served on the College Park Council alongside Kabir for seven years before retiring from the Council, points out that under the College Park municipal government, a city manager runs the day-to-day operations of the city government. The mayor can propose legislation and presides over Council meetings, but he doesnā€™t have a vote on the Council except to break a tie.  

ā€œI think he might wrestle with legislation that is overtly pro-LGBTQ, but I think thatā€™s true with anybody that comes from a religious community where LGBTQ rights are not necessarily supported,ā€ he said.

ā€œBut Iā€™ll tell you this,ā€ Brennan told the Blade. ā€œHis character is really nothing but loving. Heā€™s always been very kind to me. Heā€™s always been very kind to my family,ā€ said Brennan, who has a husband and two kids. ā€œIf he does have any negative feelings, I donā€™t see him pursuing legislation that is anti-LGBTQ.ā€

Jeffrey Slavin, the gay mayor of the town of Somerset, Md., which is located in Montgomery County just across the Northwest D.C. border, had a less supportive view of his fellow mayor.

ā€œI find his explanations for voting against or abstaining on fundamental policies for LGBTQ+ rights to be ludicrous and the type of reasoning that Trumpers make,ā€ Slavin told the Blade.  ā€œCollege Park deserves a different type of leader ā€” someone authentic and engaged on our issues ā€” not someone trying to pretend to be something heā€™s not.ā€

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Maryland

Trone, Alsobrooks battle it out in Md.

Winner of May 14 Democratic primary will face Hogan in November

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From left, Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and U.S. Rep. David Trone (D-Md.) are running for U.S. Senate in the Maryland Democratic Party primary. (Photos courtesy of the campaigns)

The two Democrats who are running to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) told the Washington Blade they would champion LGBTQ rights in the U.S. Senate.

Congressman David Trone is a member of the LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus and co-sponsored the Equality Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to federal civil rights law. 

Trone voted in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act and co-sponsored a U.S. House of Representatives resolution in support of transgender rights. Trone helped secure $530,000 in grants from the Department of Homeland Security to develop violence prevention programs for LGBTQ youth in Montgomery County. He has also participated in Pride marches and other LGBTQ-specific events in his district that stretches from northern Montgomery County to Garrett County in western Maryland.

Trone during a telephone interview with the Blade on May 1 noted Republicans voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, which codified marriage equality in federal law.

“It’s about having to be able to personally connect with folks on the other side of the aisle,” said Trone. 

“What I found successful to me is building a personal relationship and telling stories about my life,” he added.

Trone during the interview disclosed his niece is trans, and attended Furman University in South Carolina. He said he donated $10 million to the school that he attended as an undergrad 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.ā€

Trone said his company, Total Wine & More, began to offer benefits to employees’ same-sex partners nearly 30 years ago. He told the Blade he implemented the policy after a female employee said her partner was unable to get health insurance.

“I didn’t really think much about it, because I didn’t realize that her partner was another woman,” recalled Trone. “She explained to me that she was another woman and couldn’t get married, and I said, well, we’ll figure that out, so I went down to human resources and found that you can change your policy.”

Maryland voters in 2012 approved the state’s same-sex marriage law.

Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks was the county’s state’s attorney when voters upheld the marriage equality law.

She supported the law and attended a pro-Question 6 fundraiser at state Del. Anne Kaiser (D-Montgomery County)’s home ahead of the referendum. The Montgomery County Democrat’s now wife worked with Alsobrooks when she was state’s attorney, and she toasted them at their 2013 wedding.

Alsobrooks during an April 29 interview at the Blade’s office noted Prince George’s County offers PrEP to LGBTQ people and other communities “that need the opportunity to protect themselves.”

She, like Trone, supports the Equality Act, noting it “does provide the opportunity to not experience discrimination in a number of forums.” Alsobrooks also discussed the need to “protect the courts.”

“The one thing that former President Trump did was to stack the courts with judges who make decisions that have taken away the rights of many people, including the LGBTQ community,” she told the Blade. 

Alsobrooks also said she would like to be on the Senate Judiciary Committee to “make sure that we are not appointing these conservative, activist judges who want to make decisions and choices that do not belong to them … and are determined, I think, to remove freedom from so many.”

Prince Georgeā€™s County Councilwoman Krystal Oriadha, a bisexual woman who supports Trone, last June criticized the decision not to hold a ceremony for the raising of the Pride flag over the county administrative building in Upper Marlboro.

Pastor John K. Jenkins, Sr., of First Baptist Church of Glenarden, the Upper Marlboro church that Alsobrooks attends, in 2012 urged his congregants to vote against Marylandā€™s marriage equality law. Shirley Caesar, a well-known gospel singer, during a 2017 appearance at the church defended Kim Burrell, another gospel singer who referred to the ā€œperverted homosexual lifestyleā€ in an online sermon that has been removed from YouTube and social media.

Alsobrooksā€™s campaign in an earlier statement to the Blade said she ā€œdoes not agree with those sentiments.ā€

Primary winner to likely face Hogan

Early voting in Maryland began on May 2.

Campaign finance reports indicate Trone has loaned his campaign more than $54 million. Alsobrooks has raised more than $7 million.

AĀ poll that Goucher College conducted with the Baltimore BannerĀ between March 19-24 found 42 percent of likely Democratic voters will vote for Trone, compared to 33 percent who said they will cast their ballot for Alsobrooks. Nearly a quarter of poll respondents said they were undecided.Ā Ā Ā Ā 

An Emerson College Polling/The Hill/DC News Now poll released on Thursday notes Alsobrooks is now ahead of Trone by a 42-41 percent margin with a 2.9 percent margin of error. The poll was conducted between Monday and Wednesday.

The winner of the May 14 primary will most likely face off against Republican former Gov. Larry Hogan, who entered the race in February. 

Alsobrooks would become the first Black woman to represent Maryland in the U.S. Senate if she were to win in November. She told the Blade that Maryland “is going to be one of the states” that will determine whether Democrats will retain control of the chamber. 

“That issue of choice was also squarely featured because of his (Hogan’s) well-known position as a person who is not pro-choice,” she said, referring to abortion that has emerged as a top campaign issue after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 struck down Roe v. Wade. “It really energized a lot of people who are now really leaning in and are committed to making sure that we keep Maryland blue, and by extension that we elect people who will protect a woman’s right to choose, protect reproductive freedom.”

Trone told the Blade that he is the candidate who can defeat Hogan in November.

“I have a track record of progress and passing bills in the House for three sessions,” said Trone. “I’ll be able to beat Larry Hogan.”

Candidates attacked over insensitive comments, campaign spending

Trone and Alsobrooks in recent weeks have intensified their attacks against each other.

Somerset Mayor Jeffrey Slavin and other elected officials who have endorsed Alsobrooks over the past weekend publicly criticized Trone after he told NBC Washington last week that people who have backed her are “low level.”

Trone in March apologized after he used a racial slur during a House Budget Committee hearing. 

Alsobrooks’s campaign did not publicly respond to the comment. Alsobrooks herself pointed out to the Blade that Trone during a debate said he gave money to U.S. Reps. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.) and Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.), describing them as “great diversity candidates.” (Trone later said he meant to say “diverse candidates.”)

“We are not diversity candidates,” said Alsobrooks. “These are qualified congresswomen.”

Alsobrooks also noted Trone has given money to anti-LGBTQ Republicans.

Campaign finance records indicate Trone and/or his wife have previously supported anti-LGBTQ Republicans. These include a $38,000 donation to Texas Gov. Greg Abbottā€™s election campaign in 2014, two $4,000 contributions to former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory in 2008 and 2012 and $2,500 to U.S. Sen. Tom Tillis (R-N.C.).

Total Wine & More between 2007-2022 contributed $272,971 to Republican officials, candidates and state parties. Trone in 2015 stepped down as the company’s CEO.

Trone in response to Alsobrooks’s criticism noted his company has more than 1,000 employees in Texas. Trone also defended his company and the way that he has “always put my people first.”

“If you put your people first, you’re going to take care of your people with full time wages, wages with benefits, insurance, health care, all those things,” he said. “Republicans attack us in all these states, then they have the audacity to ask for money in those states, and that’s where the company is put between a rock and a hard place.”

“That’s why we want to get this money out of politics,” added Trone. “Get these people out (of) there asking for money.”

Trone said he has given more than $20 million to Democrats.

“The fact that the company works to protect the jobs of people in Tennessee, and in South Carolina, (works) on issues that are not related to abortion, issues that are not at all related to LGBTQ+ issues that are related to the business; I keep them open,” he told the Blade. “They’d like to conflate the world to their advantage.”

Trone noted he was not “born rich” and attended public school, while Alsobrooks “went to private school.” Trone also described Alsobrooks to the Blade as a “career politician.”

Governor Wes Moore; Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller; U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen; former U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, U.S. Reps. John Sarbanes, Glenn Ivey, Steny Hoyer, Kweisi Mfume and Jamie Raskin; state Sen. Mary Washington (D-Baltimore City); former state Del. Maggie McIntosh (D-Baltimore City); Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott; and Howard County Registrar of Wills Byron Macfarlane are among the elected officials who have endorsed Alsobrooks.

ā€œShe was for marriage equality before it was cool to be for marriage equality,” Kaiser told the Blade late last year.

Attorney General Anthony Brown, Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy and gay state Dels. Ashanti Martinez (D-Montgomery County) and Kris Fair (D-Frederick County) are among those who have endorsed Trone.

“Congressman David Trone has been an unwavering supporter of LGBTQ+ rights since his first year in office,” Fair told the Blade on Tuesday in a statement. “He has been a vocal and visible leader, showing up in queer spaces and being an active listener and facilitator.”

Gay state Del. Joe Vogel (D-Montgomery County), who is running for Trone’s seat in Congress, has also endorsed him.

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Maryland

Trone discusses transgender niece

Blade interviewed Md. congressman, Angela Alsobrooks last week

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U.S. Rep. David Trone (D-Md.) (Photo public domain)

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.

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Maryland

What Anne Arundel County school board candidates think about book bans

State lawmakers passed Freedom to Read Act in April

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Parents in some Maryland school districts have organized campaigns to restrict the kinds of books allowed in school libraries. (Photo by Kylie Cooper/Baltimore Banner)

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 authorā€™s background. Library staff that uphold the standard are protected under this act. The law, however, does not prohibit removing books deemed ā€œsexually 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.

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