LGBT News
AGLA Names Equality Awardees
Arlington LGBT group to recognize one individual, one organization for contributions to equality
The Arlington Gay & Lesbian Alliance (AGLA) will present Equality Awards to James Fisher and Arlington PFLAG (Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays) at the LGBT group's annual holiday party at Freddie's Beach Bar & Restaurant Tuesday, Dec. 10. Fisher, receiving the 2013 AGLA Individual Equality Award, is being honored for his longtime advocacy on behalf of the LGBT community, including serving on the Arlington Human Rights Commission. Fisher also previously served as a member of AGLA's board ... [Read]
Hyattsville, Md., Passes Human Rights Act
City Council votes unanimously for LGBT-inclusive bill prohibiting discrimination
The Hyattsville City, Md., Council voted 9-0 Monday to approve the Hyattsville Human Rights Act, a bill that prohibits discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations based upon a person's age, race, color, creed, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or physical characteristics. Mayor Marc Tartaro and Ward Four Councilmember Edouard Haba, were absent, but both supported the Human Rights Act as written, according to Ward 3 Councilmember Patrick Paschall, the chief sponsor of ... [Read]
Crowd Gathers for D.C.'s World AIDS Day Vigil
Mayor Gray and others join at original site of Whitman-Walker Health for annual remembrance
About 70 people, lit candles in hand, gathered Sunday evening at the ''Pillar of Fire,'' a sculpture at 14th and S Streets NW that marks the location of the first Whitman-Walker Clinic – now Whitman-Walker Health – D.C.'s front line at the dawn the AIDS epidemic and beyond. World AIDS Day, held annually Dec. 1 since 1988, this year emphasized ''Shared Responsibility: Strengthening Results for an AIDS-Free Generation,'' a theme underscored by D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray (D), echoing statements he ... [Read]
Poth Found Guilty of Manslaughter
Jury finds former Marine guilty on lesser offense in April 2012 stabbing of fellow Marine while uttering anti-gay slur
A D.C. Superior Court jury today found Michael Poth, 22, of Washington, guilty of manslaughter while armed in the fatal stabbing of 24-year-old fellow Marine Philip Bushong in the city's Barracks Row neighborhood during the early morning hours of April 21, 2012. Poth was originally tried on a charge of second-degree murder while armed, but the jury initially deadlocked on a decision. Poth's lawyer, Bernard Grimm, made a motion for a mistrial, which was denied by D.C. Superior Court Judge ... [Read]
Montgomery Found Incompetent To Stand Trial
Suspect in 2012 murder of transgender woman Deoni Jones set for fourth mental evaluation
Gary Niles Montgomery, the Washington man accused of stabbing transgender woman Deoni Jones to death in February 2012, was today declared incompetent to stand trial and ordered to be held at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, where he will undergo psychiatric care for ''competency restoration.'' Montgomery, facing a charge of first-degree murder while armed, was twice found competent after his arrest, but his lawyers, Anthony Matthews and Colle Latin, objected to both findings and argued that the court needed to revisit the ... [Read]
LGBT Strategy To Stay the Course in Richmond
After Virginia elections and state Senate changes, push will continue for nondiscrimination law, marriage-ban repeal
LGBT allies and advocates in Virginia say they are committed to permanently banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in public employment and repealing the Marshall-Newman Amendment, which bans the recognition of any form of same-sex relationship, even if committees are reshuffled in the wake of November's election and several expected House vacancies. The victories of state Sen. Ralph Northam (D) in the lieutenant governor's race and state Sen. Mark Herring (D) – provided he maintains his lead ... [Read]
CAP Releases LGBT Detainee Report
Immigration experts share insights on particular challenges for undocumented LGBT immigrants
Four days before Thanksgiving, Nov. 25, an audience at the downtown D.C. headquarters of the Center for American Progress (CAP) listened to a story that would likely make anyone thankful not to be a detained immigrant. ''When the police arrived to settle the dispute, they arrested Krypcia and placed her in detention, because they learned that she had fallen out of legal-immigrant status,'' Jessica Jeanty told the midday crowd of about 50 people. Jeanty, policy counsel at the National Center ... [Read]
Certification Gives Herring Virginia AG Win
As LGBT-ally Democrat claims victory, margin gives GOP's Obenshain 10 days to demand statewide recount
The Virginia State Board of Elections today certified Democrat Mark Herring as the winner in the commonwealth's attorney general race, giving Herring, an LGBT-supportive candidate, a narrow 165-vote lead out of more than 2.2 million votes cast. Due to the closeness of the race, both candidates declared victory at points during the days following the election, as a re-canvass of votes throughout the state turned up various human or machine errors that affected the count. Election observers via Twitter also ... [Read]
Virginia Caucuses Continue Through Saturday
At different ends of the state, Democrats push pro-LGBT candidates to fill Senate vacancies in Richmond
Despite regional differences between the Tidewater and Northern Virginia exurbs, Democrats and Republicans – so far – seem to be adopting a traditional ''red-blue'' divide when it comes to LGBT issues in two upcoming special elections that will determine control of the Virginia Senate. Thursday, Republicans in District 6 – which covers the Eastern Shore counties of Accomack and Northampton, Mathews County, a sliver of Virginia Beach and a substantial portion Norfolk – selected Wayne Coleman as the party's nominee ... [Read]
Talking Transmission
Panel explores high HIV rates among young gay and bisexual men
A panel of LGBT advocates specializing in health and social welfare, moderated by MSNBC's Thomas Roberts, met Thursday, Nov. 21, as part of a webcast briefing for gay media on what can be done to combat a resurgence of HIV infections among young gay or bisexual men – technically termed ''men who have sex with men'' (MSM) – highlighting a need for better education and for LGBT social-justice efforts to include countering HIV among young people. Carl Siciliano, founder and ... [Read]
D.C. Marks Transgender Day of Remembrance
While honoring transgender victims of violence, local event finds some progress to celebrate
More than a hundred District activists, members of the LGBT community and others rallied at the Metropolitan Community Church of Washington, D.C., Wednesday night, Nov. 20, to mark the Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual event honoring transgender victims of violence. The internationally recognized day, started in 1998, is a rallying call to counter the transphobia that has led to such violence, often fatal. At Wednesday's event, while the Rev. Abena McCray poured water into a bowl, various people stood ... [Read]
Walling Wins Victory Fund Endorsement
Out candidate for Maryland House of Delegates gets backing from national LGBT leadership organization
Kevin Walling, the out gay man running for Maryland's 16th District in the House of Delegates, has been endorsed by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, the organization whose goal it is to help elect qualified, out LGBT candidates to public office. Walling received the organization's endorsement Oct. 29, but only recently begun touting it in fundraising emails. When candidates ask to be endorsed by the Victory Fund, the organization's campaign board – which meets monthly – determines whether they ... [Read]
Opinion
Francis the Evangelist
While papal welcome words are nice, they still go only so far
I wanted to speak to Pope Francis last week when I encountered the phrase ''openness to the transcendent'' in his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel). I feel transcendence while stargazing on a clear, moonless night; but His Holiness thinks this is an impoverished perspective because I do not assume a divinity. He leads an organization given to issuing dogmatic pronouncements. I think that in confronting transcendence we should humbly acknowledge that we simply do not know. ... [Read]
Funny Business
Once upon a time, the most powerful people in the world thought dying gay men worthy of laughter
Not long ago, I submitted myself to a full physical at my doctor's office after much concerned haranguing from husband and family. It's heartwarming that so many were concerned for me as I entered my prime heart-attack years of middle age. I wasn't particularly nervous given that my primary health problems come down to tennis-related knee and arm pain, along with stress levels that occasionally push me into drama queen territory. But the blood pressure was fine and the heart ... [Read]
The Intimate Act of Disclosure
A World AIDS Day wish for countering HIV stigma with earnest empathy
As we approach another World AIDS Day I find myself reflecting on one of the most troubling elements in our discussion moving forward. It is a barrier that continually hamstrings our efforts to create real change and fully actualize the turning point of the epidemic. That troubling element is the stigma, discrimination, blame and collective denial associated with HIV infection. We must confront stigma and its chilling effect on prevention, care and policy. The active and meaningful participation of people ... [Read]
Stand Up, Write Back
One activist's invitation for others to join her in AI's campaign for Belarus's Human Rights Center Lambda
There is something electric about being in an LGBTQ space. The spark, the sizzle of energy, compassion and willingness to both question and listen fills the air. Though I grew up in a lesbian-headed household my whole life, it was not until I was 13 that I was in a consciously LGBTQ space. I had joyfully joined the end the Boston Pride Parade a few years earlier, tossing candy to kids on the parade route with, at times, a little ... [Read]
Holiday Blue Notes
Season's greetings fit for Baldwin and Buchanan
The holidays are approaching, but events are making it hard to get in the festive spirit. Not only is a friend spamming me with polls showing that Obama is finished (I answer by agreeing that he'll never win a second term); not only is Speaker John Boehner providing meeting space to a group that promotes anti-gay persecution overseas; and not only is global warming suspected of causing murderous superstorms. What kills me is that Alec Baldwin keeps hurling homophobic threats ... [Read]
Today's Most Popular Articles
- Nexus 5 review (Technocrat)
- AGLA Names Equality Awardees (News)
- Houston, We Have a Playlist (Feature Story)
- Stars of Spunky Synth-Pop (Music)
- The 30 Best Albums of 2013 (Soundwaves)
- Wives Making Waves (Feature Story)
- 25 Gay Films Everyone Should See, Part 3D (Feature Story)
- On Air (Feature Story)
- Out and Tuned In (Feature Story)
- Conditional Success (Stage)
