PFOX Pushes Student Outreach

Montgomery County ''ex-gay'' group sends its message home with high school students' report cards

Published on February 4, 2012, 12:30am

Parents of students at Rockville's Albert Einstein High School got a surprise along with their children's report cards, Feb 1. Typically, individual public schools will send home approved fliers four times a year with quarterly report cards. Most fliers are from the county school system, the local PTA, government agencies, local businesses and local nonprofits, often advertising groups or afterschool activities such as scouting, clubs or summer camps. But last Wednesday students received fliers from Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays ...[more]

Transgender Woman Killed [UPDATED]

Victim suffers fatal stabbing at Northeast bus stop

Published on February 3, 2012, 4:13pm

The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the death of a transgender woman who was stabbed yesterday at a bus stop in the District's Benning Heights neighborhood, on the border of Northeast and Southeast D.C. According to police reports from the Sixth Police District, the woman was stabbed at the bus stop at the intersection of East Capitol Street SE and Sycamore Road NE at around 8:15 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 2. {Bus stop at East Capitol and Sycamore NE (Photo by ...[more]

Gender Rights Bill Stuck in Senate

With marriage equality front and center, the proposed Maryland gender identity nondiscrimination bill has been pushed to the sidelines

Published on February 2, 2012, 7:32am

A bill in the Maryland General Assembly that would prohibit discrimination based on gender identity in public accommodations, housing, employment, licensing and commercial leasing looks to be treading water as advocates try to sway Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller (D-Calvert, Prince George's counties) to allow a vote on it during this year's legislative session. The transgender rights organization Gender Rights Maryland announced on its website Jan. 25 that the gender identity bill, SB 212, would be introduced by lead ...[more]

National News Briefs

Two referendums: Maine set to re-equalize, while one Jersey boy takes a step back

Published on February 2, 2012, 4:57am

Maine Ready To Take Back Marriage Rights This November, it looks like marriage equality may once again surrender itself to the judgment of Maine's voters. EqualityMaine has submitted more than 105,000 signatures to Secretary of State Charles E. Summers Jr. in support of a proposed ''freedom to marry'' referendum. The move comes two years after opponents voted to strike down a law that had made Maine the first state to pass marriage equality through its Legislature. Since then, organizations such ...[more]

A Sudden Loss

Long-time Metro Weekly distributor Gary Teter's passing leaves behind a 25-year partnership and a reputation for quiet accomplishment

Published on February 1, 2012, 3:41pm

For regular readers of Metro Weekly or the Washington Blade, it's a good chance that Gary Teter handled more than one of the magazines or newspapers they read before it landed on the stands. Starting with the Blade in the 1990s and moving onto Metro Weekly in the early 2000s – which included the Capital Pride Guide and later the Reel Affirmations Guide – Teter literally had a hand on the content LGBT D.C. reads. It's what he was doing ...[more]

Marriage Showdown at State Senate

Maryland Gov. O'Malley testifies in support of bill extending marriage equality to gays and lesbians

Published on February 1, 2012, 2:38pm

The Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee heard more than four hours of testimony Tuesday from supporters and opponents of marriage equality as part of the debate over Senate Bill 241, a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in Maryland, recently introduced by Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) as part of his 2012 legislative agenda. O'Malley appeared at the Jan. 31 hearing as the first witness to testify in favor of the bill, appealing to lawmakers to provide protections for children of same-sex ...[more]

Seeking Order

Advocates see movement on federal action to ban contractors from anti-LGBT discrimination, but thus far the White House is silent

Published on January 31, 2012, 6:43pm

Although the White House will not confirm the claim, several sources outside the administration familiar with the process tell Metro Weekly that a proposed expansion of the federal contractor nondiscrimination executive order to include sexual orientation and gender identity has been given the OK by both the Labor Department, which oversees federal contract compliance, and the Justice Department and that the executive order proposal is at the White House. More than one of these sources add, however, that there is ...[more]

The Next Battle

The question of trans service could be getting a big boost with the focus OutServe has decided to give it

Published on January 29, 2012, 8:20pm

The new issue of OutServe Magazine, which is available online and at select military bases and outside of certain installations across the world, takes on what it calls ''The New DADT: Transgender Service.'' One of the six current or former servicemembers who are transgender and profiled in the fifth issue of OutServe's publication, who goes by Bryan in the article to protect his identity, says, ''I want to speak out about it because I know a lot of people are ...[more]

Metro Weekly distribution driver dead in crash

Early morning accident in Northeast does not appear to be cause of death

Published on January 27, 2012, 6:45pm

A distribution manager for Metro Weekly was killed in a single-car crash near the intersection of 4th Street and Massachusetts Avenue NE in the early morning hours of Friday, Jan. 27. The driver has been identified as 50-year-old Gary Teter. Teter's partner, Dennis Havrilla, told Metro Weekly that he had identified the body and that the crash was low-impact, meaning the crash was not likely the cause of death, but the result of other trauma. {Gary Teter (l) with Dennis ...[more]

Gay Republican Jumps into Crowded Field for Ward 5 Council Race

Published on January 27, 2012, 1:31pm

Tim Day, an openly gay Republican who ran against former Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. (D-Ward 5) in 2010, announced his candidacy for the May 15 special election to replace Thomas. Day, the only announced Republican in a field of 18 candidates, made the announcement on Channel 8's ''NewsTalk with Bruce DePuyt'' on Thursday morning. Later, Day took to Twitter just before noon to respond to a tweet from LGBT activist Bob Summersgill that asked when Day was going to inform ...[more]

Prostitution Proposal Sparks Debate in DC

Councilmember Alexander's bill to make prostitution-free zones permanent draws both sides to heated hearing

Published on January 26, 2012, 6:48am

City Councilmembers Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) and Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7) presided over a contentious hearing of the Judiciary Committee Tuesday that saw passionate testimony from both supporters and opponents of a bill that would grant the chief of police the ability to declare any public area a permanent ''prostitution-free zone.'' The measure, introduced by Alexander and co-sponsored by six other councilmembers, would allow the police chief to declare areas such as the Eastern Avenue corridor in Ward 7, near ...[more]

Martin O'Malley Introduces Gay Marriage Bill

Maryland governor's 2012 legislative agenda includes push to legalize same-sex unions

Published on January 26, 2012, 5:50am

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) announced his 2012 legislative agenda Monday evening, which includes support for same-sex marriage, continuing a commitment he made in July 2011. The move sets off what supporters of the measure expect to be a hard-fought campaign to put marriage equality into law, followed by a likely referendum fight. ''This session, our legislative agenda will help us create jobs for Maryland families, protect the quality of life for all Marylanders, and continue our push for a ...[more]

Solitary Confinement

As a child, I learned that being gay meant being alone; as a gay man, my community has taught me a better lesson

Published on February 2, 2012, 7:40am

After coming out to my mother during college, she and I entered into one of those melancholy conversations familiar to so many of us who faced parents who obviously loved us yet had some intense feelings of loss and sadness at the news their child was going to be different. So we discussed, obliquely, some of those feelings, such as the sudden removal of potential grandchildren from her future. And we touched on the oldie-but-goodie standby of maternal coming out ...[more]

Dissing the President

Gov. Brewer's finger-wagging performance is the latest sideshow in the anti-Obama circus

Published on February 2, 2012, 7:39am

''Get your goddamn finger out of the president's face.'' That was my first thought upon seeing the photo of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) with President Obama at the Phoenix airport on Jan. 25. My second thought was that she was treating him like an errant servant: ''Don't you sass me, boy!'' Despite the president's cool response as shown in the photo, Brewer later said that she ''felt a little bit threatened'' by Obama. Really? What did she think he ...[more]

Court Time

The GOP campaign offers a frustrating experience when it comes to gay issues, but some more sporting inspiration is found Down Under

Published on January 26, 2012, 7:00am

So my television viewing this past week or so has given me a front-row seat to an intense competition, where the protagonists shift wildly between near victory and total defeat, where the the challenger who's spent years building an aura of inevitability finds that aura dashed in an unexpected defeat, where pundits and commentators dig into mounds of data to find the deeper meaning in it all. I'm talking, of course, about the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tennis ...[more]

DCTC's Chief Problem

Organizers of the trans coalition find fault with Lanier's handling of anti-trans violence

Published on January 25, 2012, 8:27am

The words rolled off her tongue like a well-rehearsed mantra, ''We'd like to see all of those folks who are in that high-risk environment find ways to increase their safety, and help us out.'' This is how Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier plans to address mounting violence against trans people, as she stated on WTOP radio Jan. 5. If we replace ''those folks'' with ''robbery victims,'' this would be an outrageous example of victim blaming. How does someone trapped in ...[more]

Foolish Thing Desire

For gay men, the intersection of sex and race brings out the worst in a small number of people, who then make headaches for everyone else

Published on January 19, 2012, 8:55am

A few years ago, before I began dating my husband, my then-boyfriend took me to a summer cookout with a local gay Asian group. It was a fun Sunday afternoon of volleyball, hotdogs and chả giò, meeting new people, and all the enjoyment you're supposed to get out of a Sunday afternoon party. While scarfing down some pasta salad and Korean barbecue, I overheard one of the few single white men in attendance, who'd been pretty openly cruising around the ...[more]