The What, When and Who of 2013
The Year in Review 2013
FEBRUARY
While Virginians marked Valentine’s Day with statewide protests calling for marriage equality, Gallup sent a Feb. 15 Valentine to D.C. in the form of poll results. According to Gallup, D.C. has the nation’s highest percentage of LGBT residents.
With Virginians clamoring for equality and D.C. thick with LGBT residents, it’s no wonder a Feb. 22 story from FarifaxTimes.com had locals steaming. The story centered on Centreville, Va.’s Spa World, which apparently asked a women to leave due to perceptions of her gender identity. While the back and forth that followed remains foggy to this day, the simmering controversy eventually settled.
Meanwhile, back in the District, LaShawn Carson was charged in the nonfatal shooting of a gay man at a Columbia Heights IHOP restaurant in March 2012. In October, a D.C. Superior Court jury found her guilty of aggravated assault while armed and other charges.
Looking at bigger-picture items, opponents of California’s Proposition 8 ban on marriage equality filed their brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in February. The Senate voted 58-41 to confirm Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense, following Hagel’s commitment to gay servicemembers in light of a poor record while serving as a senator. By month’s end, Congress passed an LGBT-inclusive version of the Violence Against Women Act, which Obama signed into law in March.
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