Washingtonblade.com, Volume 46, Issue 30, July 24, 2015

8/20/2019 Washingtonblade.com, Volume 46, Issue 30, July 24, 2015

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Equality Act would banbias in employment,credit, housing and more

By CHRIS [email protected]

A bill that would explicitly ban anti-LGBTdiscrimination in all areas of civil rights lawwas set for introduction in both chambers ofCongress late this week.

Capitol Hill sources said lead sponsors Rep.David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)would introduce the legislation on Thursdayand hold a news conference at noon on thelegislation on the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol.

(Visit washingtonblade.com for updates.)According to a “Dear Colleague” letter dated

July 20 and obtained by the Washington Blade,the legislation intends to prohibit anti-LGBTdiscrimination in seven areas: credit, education,employment, federal funding, housing, juryservice and public accommodations.

The name of the legislation is the EqualityAct, which is the same as legislation introducedmore than 40 years ago by the late Rep. BellaAbzug of New York City. The bill, which wasthe first-ever gay rights measure introduced inCongress, would have amended the Civil RightsAct of 1964 to include sexual orientation.

In his letter to colleagues, Cicilline makesthe case that although the U.S. Supreme Court

Short sentences forsiblings who beat,slashed gay man

By LOU CHIBBARO [email protected]

D.C. Superior Court Judge Yvonne

Williams took the unusual step ofcalling a special hearing on Aug. 15 toexplain why she sentenced a 22-year-old lesbian to six months in jail and hertwin brother, who’s straight, to one year

for instigating and leading what policeand prosecutors have called a brutalgay bashing attack.

Williams called the hearing just overtwo weeks after she handed down thesentences at a separate hearing on June29. The victim, a 29-year-old gay man,and his mother, who witnessed theattack, testified then that the beating

and face slashing of the victim that tookplace during the incident have had adevastating impact on their lives.

Sources familiar with the case havesaid police and prosecutors believe

the sentences are far too lenient for aconviction in an assault that could haveresulted in the victim’s death.

“I wanted to have this hearing becauseat the initial sentencing, admittedly,I was pretty rushed because I had a

jury waiting,” said Williams, who wasreferring to another trial over which shewas presiding.

“It’s really an opportunity for me to just talk,” she said. “And apparently, asthe judge, you can just summon people

J U L Y 2 4 2 0 1 5 V O L U M E 4 6 I S S U E 3 0 • A M E R I C A ’ S G A Y N E W S S O U R C E • W A S H I N G T O N B L A D E . C O M

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SECOND ACT

Mike Fleck joins Pa. guv’s

administration after coming

out, losing House seat.

Activists with GetEqual at a protest for ENDA. Lawmakers are expectedto introduce the Equality Act this week, a broader measure than ENDAbut not all LGBT advocates support the strategy.

WASHINGTON BLADE FILE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

PAGES 21-24

SURVIVOR’S STORY

Alfred Munzer, who lived

through the Holocaust,

shares life lessons.

PAGE 26

MAKE YOU SWEAT

Martha Wash headlines

40th Baltimore Pride

celebration this weekend.

Congress to considersweeping LGBT rights bill

D.C. judge explains leniency in hate attack

D.C. Superior Court Judge YVONNEWILLIAMS said she’s known for ‘ telling itlike it is.’


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02 • JULY 24, 2015 WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

Fostering: A Transformational Life Experience

Six years ago we made the decision to become foster parents.It was an easy decision, one that did not require a lot of

pondering or mulling over. We invested in the District ofColumbia early in our careers (1987). We chose to live hereand at the time were considered pioneers. After establishingour roots, finding each other and comingling our assets weknew we wanted to give back to our community and wantedto experience parenthood through the lens of being a “fosterparent.” Warning! The best laid plans don’t always followthe script!

Fast forward to 2010 – with all of our course requirements,background checks and other importantly deemeddocumentation we were ready for a “placement.” Patienceis a virtue and waiting for a placement is a true test – wethought we had cast our net far and wide. We were willingto foster any child between the ages of 5-15. Following whatwe thought to be a lengthy wait the phone finally rang andour lives changed forever.

There was an eight (8) year old boy who was in needof a placement. He had experienced several placementdisruptions and was being cared for at Children’s Hospital

and waiting transfer to a residential living facility in Georgiawhere he would be cared for until he was eighteen (18).Again, very little discussion, we were ready for this challengeand immediately said yes!

Following our first night, we looked at each other andsimultaneously mouthed “What Have We Done?” Needlessto say, our first night was “rough” but we survived and wemade it through. We relied on our agency training, our

support groups and each other and our commitment ofproviding a safe, loving environment for one of our own – a

youth from the District of Columbia.

Fast forward to today – gone are the days of tantrums,emotional outbursts and defiance. The growth, maturityand stabilization of this child is nothing short of miraculous.He anchors us and we are his rock. So much so that wemoved forward and adopted this young man. Today, wecan’t imagine our lives without him nor can we imaginewhat his life what have been like without our paths havingcrossed.Following this experience, we maintained our license andsoon began to explore the opportunity of expanding ourfamily via the foster care path once again. In January 2015we were fortunate to have a fourteen-year-old boy placed inour care. Although the process was the same, his needs weredifferent than our younger son. Again, via our training andsupport from the agency and our friends we quickly adaptedand have formed a permanent bond. In fact we have filedour letter of intent to adopt and are eager to legalize ourexpanded family.

Fostering and adopting our sons has been the mostphenomenal life transformational experience for us. Wecan’t imagine our life without our sons being a part of it.There are so many children, especially older children, whoonly need love, support and a stable environment from aloving and flexible family. These are our children, Districtof Columbia children, and they deserve to be loved andnurtured. Take a chance and enjoy the rewards! We did!

For more information about becoming a DC foster parent call 202.671.LOVE (5683).


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WASHINGTONBLADE.COM JU LY 24 , 2015 • 03


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2016 hopeful welcomedby gay chair of local

Republican Party


Republican presidential candidate

Ben Carson won by a wide margin aGOP presidential straw poll conductedMonday night by the D.C. RepublicanParty for its members.

More than 300 people, including asizable number of gay Republicans,

turned out for what organizers called astraw poll party and reception held at theWonder Bread Factory meeting hall in thecity’s Shaw neighborhood, where Carsonwas the featured speaker and guest.

“It was phenomenal,” said JoseCunningham, the chairman of the D.C.Republican Party, who’s gay. “Obviously,for the D.C. GOP we are thrilled to be ableto attract one of the now 16 Republicanpresidential candidates,” he said.

“We’ve reached out to all of thecampaigns,” Cunningham said. “Most of

them did, in fact, have representativeshere. And so we couldn’t be happierabout this.”

According to results released by theD.C. Republican Committee, Carson,a conservative commentator and

former neurosurgeon at Johns HopkinsUniversity, received 44 percent of thevotes cast on a ballot that included thenames of 16 declared GOP presidentialcontenders.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush came insecond place with 17 percent followed

by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), whoreceived 11 percent, and Wisconsin Gov.Scott Walker, who came in fourth placewith 7 percent.

Patrick Mara, the D.C. RepublicanCommittee’s executive director, said

organizers of the event decided theywould not release the numerical votecount for any of the candidates and would

withhold the results for the remaining 12candidates on the straw poll ballot out ofrespect for those who may have receivedfew or no votes.

It became clear as the event gotunderway that the Carson campaignorganized a large turnout of Carsonsupporters – mostly from D.C. but alsofrom the Maryland and Virginia suburbs.

Many of them besieged Carson like arock star, asking him for his autographand waiting for their turn to stand besidehim while friends or family members took

their picture.In a 30-minute speech, Carson sounded

the conservative themes on domestic andforeign policy issues he outlined when heannounced his candidacy for president inMay. He didn’t discuss in detail some ofhis views on social issues, including gayrights, which have drawn sharp criticismfrom LGBT activists.

Earlier this year, in addition toexpressing strong opposition to same-sexmarriage, Carson said in a CNN interviewthat people in prisons sometime enter

the prison system as straight and comeout as gay, which he said shows thatbeing gay is a choice. He later apologizedfor the remark, saying he didn’t mean tooffend anyone.

At Monday night’s straw poll gathering

Carson elaborated on his views on LGBTrights and marriage equality in responseto two questions from the Washington

Blade when he took time to take questionsfrom reporters.

When asked if his views on social issues,including his past statements opposingmarriage equality, could hurt him amongmoderate Republicans in urban areassuch as D.C., he said he didn’t think thepositions he’s taken are controversial.

“I’m a very reasonable person, verywilling to talk about things,” he said.

“And I’ve offered to the gay communityan opportunity. I said, ‘Can you let meknow what position a person can take

— who has nothing against gay peoplebut he believes in traditional marriage —that is acceptable to them?’ And I haven’theard an answer yet,” Carson said

When asked if he has a position onthe long stalled civil rights bill pendingin Congress that would ban employmentdiscrimination against LGBT people,Carson replied:

“I would certainly support somethingto prevent discrimination, period, basedon sexual orientation, based on religiousbeliefs, based on everything that we are,”

he said. “But the good thing is we alreadyhave that. It’s called the Constitutionof the United States. We just need toenforce that.”

� CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

Victim pushed onto tracksbecause he ‘looked gay’


A 20-year-old D.C. man accused ofassaulting and robbing another man

before pushing him onto the tracks atthe Navy Yard Metro station in Marchbecause he believed the victim was gaywas sentenced on July 15 to one year in

jail by a D.C. Superior Court judge. Judge Yvonne Williams handed down

the sentence for Raheem S. Sills twomonths after Sills pled guilty on May11 to a charge of attempted assaultwith a dangerous weapon as part of aplea bargain agreement with the U.S.Attorney’s Offi ce.

At the time of his arrest in April MetroPolice charged Sills with assault with adangerous weapon and robbery.

“We did consider a hate crimeenhancement and intended to pursueit until the defendant quickly took

responsibility for his actions and pledguilty,” William Miller, a spokespersonfor the U.S. Attorney’s Offi ce, told theWashington Blade.

“We brought the defendant’smotivation to the judge’s attention duringthe allocution at sentencing,” Miller said.

A police arrest affi davit says Sills, co-defendant Isiah Bogan, 20, and other

unidentified males with them approachedthe victim on the platform of the NavyYard Metro station about 10:50 p.m. onMarch 10. The affi davit says Si lls allegedlyslapped the victim on the back of the headas the victim tried to walk away from Sillsand the others accompanying Sills.

According to the affi davit, Sill s’ initialassault triggered an altercation betweenthe victim, Sills and the others. Duringthe altercation a suspect later identifiedas Sills allegedly took the victim’s cellphone and about $80 in cash beforeshoving the victim onto the tracks “at atime when trains were still operational,”the affi davit says.

During the July 15 sentencing hearingAssistant U.S. Attorney Dineen Baker, the

prosecutor in the case, played a videoobtained from Metro security camerasthat showed the victim being pushedonto the tracks and immediately climbingback onto the platform.

The arrest affi davit says the attackcontinued as the victim fled to the upperlevel of the station. The Metro securityvideo played in court at the sentencing

shows Sills picking up a cone-shaped,four-foot-tall plastic “wet floor” sign andusing it like a baseball bat to strike thevictim repeatedly in the upper body.

During the sentencing hearing Bakerpointed out that Sills told police at thetime of his arrest that he targeted thevictim because he “looked gay” and thathe doesn’t like gay people or men who“act like women.”

Baker said the victim was a waiter, andat the time of the incident had just gottenoff work at one of the restaurants locatednear the Metro station and the nearbyWashington Nationals baseball stadium.

She asked the judge for a suggestedsentence of 14 months in jail, saying Sillshas shown remorse and has owned up to

what he did by agreeing to plead guilty.David Richter, Sills’ attorney, told

Williams his client was grappling withmental health issues.

“It was a bunch of dumb young kidsdoing this,” Richter said. “He has takenresponsibility for it.”

Before handing down her sentence,Williams asked Sills, “Did you tell police

you don’t like gay people?”Sills nodded his head and saidsomething in a soft voice that couldn’t beheard by courtroom observers.

“This boils down to, you can’t controlyour behavior, your anger,” Williams toldhim. “You sucker punched him in the backof his head when he was walking away.This is all for nothing, you hit him fornothing. Is all that worth it?”

In addition to sentencing him to oneyear in jail Williams ordered that Sills beplaced on supervised probation for twoyears upon his release from jail.

Co-defendant Bogan, who also pledguilty to a charge of attempted assaultwith a dangerous weapon, was expectedto be sentenced later this year.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

04 • JULY 24, 2015 LOCAL NEWS

‘I’m a very reasonable person, very willing totalk about things,’ said BEN CARSON.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY LOU CHIBBARO JR.

Man gets 1 year for anti-gay attack in Metro station

Carson wins D.C. GOP straw poll


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Many prominentfigures undecided onWhite House race


Republican presidential candidatescontinued to make headlines this weekas Ohio Gov. John Kasich entered the raceand Donald Trump continued to attackmembers of his own party, but prominentgay GOPers are mostly keeping quietabout which contender they intend tosupport in 2016.

Some say it’s too early to make adecision on an endorsement; others saythey hold positions preventing them from

publicly disclosing their choice.Former Rep. Jim Kolbe, who

represented Arizona in the U.S. Housefrom 1985 to 2007, is in the former campof prominent gay Republicans.

“It is still too early,” Kolbe told theWashington Blade. “I have not backed anycandidate yet for the GOP nomination.”

In the latter category is Ric Grenell,a Fox News foreign policy contributorand former Bush administrat ion offi cialwho briefly served on Mitt Romney’spresidential campaign in 2012.

“I am a Fox News contributor and mycontract is though January 2017, so I can’t[endorse],” Grenell said. “I am neutral. Iwill compliment and critique everyone.”

Gregory Angelo, executive directorof Log Cabin Republicans, also said hisposition prevents him from disclosing thecandidate he intends to support.

“I can tell you that I’ve had meetingswith a number of GOP presidentialhopefuls, including Gov. Scott Walker,Sen. Rand Paul, Carly Fiorina and Dr. BenCarson,” Angelo said. “All have expressed

a willingness to continue communicationas their respective campaigns proceed.”

Angelo said Log Cabin won’t make apresidential candidate endorsement overthe course of the primary. Historically, theorganization has waited on a decision toendorse a candidate in the general election.

A total of 16 candidates are nowseeking the Republican nomination, butin terms of support for LGBT rights, thechoices are limited.

Each of the candidates in the race is onthe record opposing same-sex marriageand many have invoked concernsover religious liberty, which manysee as code for supporting anti-LGBTdiscrimination.

There are some nuances from thecandidates on the marriage issue. Ted

Cruz and Bobby Jindal are supportingefforts to amend the U.S. Constitutionin the aftermath of the Supreme Court’smarriage decision, but Jeb Bush, MarcoRubio, and Carly Fiorina have declinedto support such a measure. Cruz, MikeHuckabee and Rick Santorum have

suggested ignoring the ruling altogether.On the issue of LGBT non-

discrimination protections, there seemsto be more room. Last week, Jeb Bushtold a gay worker in San Francisco heopposes discrimination based on sexualorientation and agrees with passing non-discrimination laws on a state-by-statebasis. (Bush reiterated his belief thatflorists shouldn’t have to accommodate asame-sex wedding.)

Moreover, Bush told reporters last weekhe’s “fine” with the Pentagon’s decision to

start the process of implementing opentransgender service in the military.

Richard Tisei, a former member of theMassachusetts State Senate who cameclose to winning the state’s 6th Districtcongressional seat in 2012 and 2014,identified several candidates he’s watching.

“I am undecided at the moment,” Tiseitold the Blade. “The candidates I amfollowing closely are Chris Christie, CarlyFiorina, Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush.”

Carl DeMaio, a former San DiegoCouncil member who narrowly lost achallenge to Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.)last year, said he hasn’t chosen acandidate, but is coordinating with eachof the presidential campaigns.

� CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

TLC cancels ‘19 Kids and Counting’

NEW YORK — TLC last weekannounced it has cancelled “19Kids and Counting.”

The network pulled the plugon the reality show that features

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar andtheir 19 children roughly twomonths after their son JoshuaDuggar admitted he fondled fourof his younger sisters and anothergirl when he was a teenager.

“TLC and the Duggar familyhave decided to not move forwardwith ‘19 Kids and Counting,’” saidTLC in a statement posted to itswebsite.

Josh Duggar in May resignedfrom the Family Research Councilwhere he directed the anti-LGBTorganization’s lobbying efforts.

Michelle Duggar last summermade a robocall against an LGBTrights ordinance in Fayetteville,Ark., which is near her family’s

home. Voters in the Arkansas cityrepealed it less than four monthslater.

Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar campaigned on behalf of then-Virginia AttorneyGeneral Ken Cuccinelli during his 2013 gubernatorial campaign. Josh Duggar a fewmonths later joined opponents of nuptials for gays and lesbians who gatheredoutside federal courthouses in Richmond and Norfolk, Va., during oral argumentsin the case that challenged the commonwealth’s marriage amendment.

Advocate for LGBT service members dies

CAROLINA BEACH, N.C. — A U.S. Army offi cer who co-founded an advocacy

group for LGBT service members was found dead on a North Carolina beachon July 19.

The Port City Daily reported that authorities found Chief Warrant Offi cerTania Nichole Dunbar’s body at a park where she had been camping. CarolinaBeach Town Manager Michael Cramer said Dunbar likely died from injuries shesuffered when she fell and “hit her head” on a truck door handle.

An autopsy was scheduled to take place on July 21.Dunbar, who had just returned to the U.S. from a deployment in Kuwait, co-

founded SPARTA.“Tania Dunbar was an incredible person with a huge heart,” SPARTA

Membership Director Christopher Hooper told Port City Daily.Dunbar’s wife, Dee Graham-Dunbar, co-founded Military Partners and

Families Coalition, another group for LGBT service members. Dunbar also leaves

behind two children.

Lesbian Wheaton College stafer resigns

WHEATON, Ill. — A Wheaton College staffer cited her support of marriage rightsfor same-sex couples in her resignation from the conservative Christian school.

Julie Rodgers began working in the college’s chaplain’s offi ce last year. Shealso chaired Wheaton College’s first LGBT student group.

Rodgers submitted her resignation on July 13, which was effective immediately. TheWindy City Times reported that she was the college’s first openly LGBT staff member.

“Though I’ve been slow to admit it to myself, I’ve quietly supported same-sex relationships for a while now,” wrote Rodgers on her blog as the Windy

City Times noted. “When friends have chosen to lay their lives down for theirpartners, I’ve celebrated their commitment to one another and supported themas they’ve lost so many Christian friends they loved.”

The Princeton Review last year ranked Wheaton College as the third mostLGBT-unfriendly college in the country.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

06 • JULY 24, 2015 NATIONAL NEWS

DONALD TRUMP continues to dominate theGOP race as prominent gay conservatives areconsidering endorsements.

WASHINGTON BLADE FILE PHOTO BY LEE WHITMAN

Gay Republicans mulling2016 endorsements

Josh Duggar resigned from the FamilyResearch Council where he directed the anti-

LGBT organization’s lobbying efforts.WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY


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Mike Fleck joins guv’sadministration aftercoming out, losing seat

By MICHAEL K. [email protected]

THREE SPRINGS, Pa. — A gay Republicanwho served in the Pennsylvania House ofRepresentatives for nearly a decade hasaccepted a position in Democratic Gov.Tom Wolf’s administration.

Mike Fleck, who represented the state’srural and conservative 81st House District inthe Pennsylvania House of Representativesfrom 2006 until late last year, in Juneoffi cially became the director of the Bureauof Workplace Partnerships and Operationswithin the commonwealth’s Department ofLabor and Industry.

The agency helps Pennsylvanians findemployment after losing their jobs. It

also works with young people looking forpost-high school employment and offersaccess to training and other assistancethrough centers that operate in each ofthe state’s 67 counties.

Fleck told the Washington Blade duringan exclusive interview at his home inHuntingdon County on July 16 that hesees himself in many of the people withwhom he and his agency works.

“I was once laid off in a county withdouble-digit unemployment with amortgage to pay,” he said while sitting at

his dining room table. “That’s a lot of thepeople that we see.”

Fleck, 42, accepted the position withthe Wolf administration less than sevenmonths after he lost the seat in thePennsylvania House to which he was firstelected in 2006.

Then-Huntingdon County Treasurer RichardIrvin defeated Fleck in November 2014.

Fleck narrowly lost to Irvin in the Republicanprimary earlier that year after staging asuccessful write-in campaign. Fleck won theDemocratic nomination and appeared on

the November ballot as a Democrat, eventhough he was a Republican.Fleck told the Blade he feels he lost the

election because voters objected to the factthat he had come out in December 2012.

“It came down to me being gay,” he said.“There’s no way to sugarcoat that. Peoplewill say that it didn’t. They were upset thatI came out after the last election in 2012.”

“There were people that I had helpedwho were die-hard Democrats who hadmy opponent’s sign in their yard,” addedFleck. “It’s like I helped you repeatedly,didn’t care you were a Democrat. Stilldon’t. So why do you have a Tea PartyRepublican’s sign in your yard? They’llcome up with all sorts of excuses.”

Fleck became the first openly gay statelawmaker in Pennsylvania when he came out.

He was also the first out Republican to everhold a seat in the Pennsylvania Legislature.

Fleck told the Blade that his decisionto come out was “really an evolutionover the last several years leading intothat.” He said that one of the moments

that made him realize that he neededto publicly declare his sexual orientationcame in May 2012 when PresidentObama announced he supports marriagerights for same-sex couples.

Fleck said that he was watching CNNshortly after Obama’s announcementwhen he saw Family Research CouncilPresident Tony Perkins, a fellow alumnusof Liberty University, talking about theissue with then-anchor Piers Morgan.

Perkins said during the interview thathis son would never be gay because he

and his wife “raised him right.”“That was the first time that I really feltthat sickening in my gut,” Fleck told theBlade. “It really gnawed at me and it’s like I’mnot doing any good by staying in the closet.”

Another moment came a few days laterwhen he read a story about “equalityissues” in a local newspaper.

The reporter interviewed a gay manfrom Blair County who had just movedback to the area after living in Brooklyn,New York, for several years. Fleck read theprint version of the article in his offi ce afew days later and noticed the issue of thenewspaper had “a huge picture, this guywearing a pink boa in drag” above the fold.

“For me that’s the only gay I sawgrowing up: The butt of jokes ... no onethat I could ever relate to,” said Fleck. “It

really gnawed at me for a while. That’swhen I decided to come out.”

He said another reason that he wantedto come out was to “give hope to peoplewho were struggling,” especially in therural area in which he lives and grew up.

“I certainly didn’t see that growing up,”he said.

Fleck said he “stumbled upon anarticle” about gay former RepublicanNational Committee Chair Ken Mehlmanand sent him a message throughLinkedIn. Mehlman called Fleck and puthim in touch with lobbyist Bill Smith, whoconnected him with Denis Dison of theGay and Lesbian Victory Fund.

Fleck told the Blade that he wanted tocome out before the 2012 election, butthe Victory Fund encouraged him to wait

until after he had secured re-election.“They didn’t think anything good wouldcome out of it,” he said. “I’m not afraid tomake a good decision, and I thought itwas a good decision.”

Fleck told the Blade another issue thatfactored into his decision not to come outuntil after the election was that a numberof his colleagues from the Philadelphiasuburbs were in close races during thatelection cycle. He downplayed reportsthat the Victory Fund asked him to delayhis coming out because it had backed gaystate Rep. Brian Sims’s (D-Philadelphia)campaign.

“That story got blown out of proportion,”Fleck told the Blade. “That whole BrianSims thing got thrown in there.”

“Brian’s worked hard to get where he’s

at,” he added. “I know that he believes inthe issues that he’s fighting for.”

Dison on Tuesday did not immediatelyreturn the Blade’s request for comment,but he has previously disputed reportsthe Victory Fund’s decision to endorseSims in 2012 factored into the way itadvised Fleck.

“Our work assisting closeted offi cialswho want to come out is aimed atincreasing the likelihood they can remainpublic servants,” Dison told the Blade in2013 after the reports emerged. “Thatwas our only consideration when weadvised Rep. Mike Fleck last year. Othertheories are false.”

GOP ‘left me’

Since leaving the Pennsylvania House,Fleck has worked with the PennsylvaniaStudent Equality Coalition, an organizationthat works with LGBT college students. He

and his partner of nearly four years, who livesin Manhattan, on June 26 hosted a fundraiserfor the group that coincided with the U.S.Supreme Court ruling in the Obergefell casethat extended marriage rights to same-sexcouples throughout the country.

Fleck highlighted the lack of astatewide anti-discrimination law inPennsylvania that includes sexualorientation and gender identity. Hepointed out to the Blade that he wason an Equality Pennsylvania panel aftersame-sex marriage became legal in the

commonwealth in May 2014.“There’s not a lot in this neck of the

woods,” said Fleck. “One of the reasons Iwanted to come out was to give hope topeople who were struggling. I certainlydidn’t see that growing up.”

Fleck also criticized the Republican Party.“I will be happy when they put any

equality issues behind them,” he said,without specifically criticizing any of theGOP presidential candidates. “I don’t feellike I left the Republican Party and I’m stilla Republican. They left me.”

“The party that I grew up loving, thatwas my grandfather’s party was not theanti-social issues,” added Fleck. “It was afiscal conservative-type thing. And I stillview myself as a fiscal conservative.”

Fleck now divides his time betweenhis home, which was built in 1840 andoverlooks a valley through which AughwickCreek flows, and his partner’s Manhattanapartment near the entrance to the LincolnTunnel in the West Chelsea neighborhood.Fleck also described his new job as“challenging,” but something he wantedbecause it is “beneficial and giving back.”

“Helping people get back on their feet,helping them find a job, helping themget to the next rung on the ladder intheir career by coming in for additionaltraining, that’s important,” he said.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM


Former Pennsylvania state Rep. MIKE FLECK at his home near Three Springs, Pa.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL K. LAVERS

A second act for Pa.’s first out gay lawmaker


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Commissioner answersyour questions onlandmark EEOC ruling


The U.S. Equal EmploymentOpportunity Commission delivered alandmark ruling last week establishingthat workplace discrimination against gay,lesbian and bisexual people is prohibitedunder current law. Part of the creditfor the decision goes to Chai Feldblum,a longtime LGBT rights advocate andlesbian member of the commission.

Feldblum was in the 3-2 majorityon the five-member commission in itsdecision for Complainant v. Foxx, whichfound employment discriminationbased on sexual orientation constitutesgender discrimination under Title VII of

the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Three yearsago, she was also part of the unanimousruling in Macy v. Holder, which foundthat transgender discrimination is illegalunder Title VII.

The decision caps off decades of workin LGBT activism from Feldblum, includingHIV/AIDS work, fighting for openly gayservice in the U.S. military and draftingan initial version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

In an email Q&A, Feldblum answeredquestions for the Washington Blade

raised by readers in the aftermath of thehistoric EEOC decision in favor of gay,lesbian and bisexual workplace rights.

Washington Blade: Everyone is sayingthis ruling is big. How sweeping is it andwhom does it cover? Is it just federal jobs?

Chai Feldblum: The ruling is assignificant as people are saying it is.The Commission’s decision that sexualorientation discrimination is alwayssex discrimination under Title VII nowapplies across all of the Commission

activities, including charges brought to usby employees and applicants who workin the private sector or for state or localgovernments. While the particular orderin this case involves only the Departmentof Transportation and the complainant,the legal analysis in this opinion affectsall of the EEOC’s work both for federalworkers and private sector workers.

Blade: If I feel I’ve experiencedworkplace discrimination based on mysexual orientation, what steps can I take toseek relief? What kind of relief can I obtain?

Feldblum: Any person who hasexperienced discrimination on the basisof sexual orientation should file a chargewith the EEOC. The EEOC website at www.eeoc.gov has information on how to do

that. But the EEOC cannot help everyonewho comes to us. We just don’t haveenough resources. So the best idea is tofind a lawyer who can help you, if youcan. You will still have to file a charge withthe EEOC before you can go to court, buta good lawyer can help you. The reliefyou can get will depend on the type ofdiscrimination you have suffered. But thetype of relief that individuals have gotten

in the past has included reinstatement ina job, backpay for a job lost unfairly, and/or money damages for harm suffered.

Blade: Is there any reason to add sexualorientation and gender identity to federalnon-discrimination laws now — eitherthrough ENDA or some other means?

Feldblum: Of course there is a reason toadd sexual orientation and gender identityto federal non-discrimination laws now.What the EEOC has done is offer a chanceto bring cases of LGBT discrimination

under existing law. That is a very big deal.But that does not remove the need for anexplicit federal law that would give LGBTpeople and employers across the countryabsolute certainty that discrimination onthe basis of sexual orientation and genderidentity will be prohibited. That is whatadding sexual orientation and genderidentity to federal non-discriminationlaws would do and that would be a veryimportant thing to achieve.

Blade: If Title VII has been aroundsince 1964, why is EEOC just now findingit applies to anti-gay employmentdiscrimination?

Feldblum: LGBT people filedclaims with the EEOC as early as the1970s claiming they had suffered sex

discrimination. They were right. But ittook time for the EEOC and the courts tosee the logic of their position. The EEOCrejected those claims in the 1970s for thesame reason that courts rejected them— namely, the agency did not believethat Congress intended to cover gay andtransgender people under Title VII. Butas the Supreme Court made clear in latercases, the question is not what Congress

intended when it passed Title VII in 1964,but rather what the actual words of thelaw prohibit. It took time for the EEOCand the courts to apply that prohibitionto cover discrimination against anemployee because of the sex of theperson that employee was attracted to.But it is actually a very simple and logicalapplication of the words of the law.

Blade: What about religiousorganizations? Unlike the 2013 version ofENDA, will the ruling help protect secular

employees of religious schools andmedical facilities?Feldblum: Our opinion does

not deal with the issue of religiousorganizations, since obviously theDepartment of Transportation is nota religious organization. Title VII doeshave an exception that permits religiousorganizations to discriminate on the basisof religion in employment and I expect wewill see future cases in the private sectorraising those issues.

Blade: It seems the vote on the decisionwas 3-2. Why was there dissent and doesit change anything substantively?

Feldblum: There is no substantiveimpact as a result of the vote being 3-2.The decision represents the position of

the Commission. As for the reasons fordissent, I am not in a position to speak formy colleagues.

Blade: Does EEOC really have thelast word on this? Is it possible for theSupreme Court to overturn the decision?

Feldblum: The Supreme Court cannotoverturn this particular decision becausean agency does not have the right to

appeal a decision of the Commission toa court. But I fully expect that the legaltheory we adopted in this case will bedebated in many other cases that will goto court, including cases that the EEOCmay bring where we have a charge in theprivate sector. But before the SupremeCourt weighs in, we will get rulings froma lot of the lower courts. I feel optimisticthat many of those courts will rule thesame way we have ruled, given thecompelling logic of our position.

Blade: What about housing andpublic accommodations? Can EEOC findthat existing law prohibits anti-LGBTdiscrimination in the areas based ongender protections?

Feldblum: No. The EEOC has jurisdictiononly over employment. But other federalagencies that enforce sex discriminationprovisions often look to our interpretationfor guidance in interpreting the laws theyenforce. Many of them did that after weissued our decision in Macy v. DOJ in2012 that discrimination on the basis oftransgender status was always a form ofsex discrimination. Other agencies maychoose to do the same thing with regardto our decision that sexual orientationdiscrimination is always a form ofsex discrimination.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM


CHAI FELDBLUM serves on the U.S. EqualEmployment Opportunity Commission.


Feldblum explains new gay employment protections


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LGBT envoy travels to Uganda

Several Ugandan LGBT rights advocateslast week met with the special U.S. envoyto promote global LGBT rights while hewas in the African country.

Sexual Minorities Uganda, aUgandan advocacy group known bythe acronym SMUG, said on its websitethat the meeting with Randy Berrytook place on July 14. SMUG Researchand Documentation Director RichardLusimbo and representatives of Freedomand Roam Uganda and Spectrum Ugandawere among those who attended thegathering.

SMUG said that Berry during themeeting “emphasized the need for LGBTIorganizations to work together with thegovernment and development partners to see to it that the rights of LGBTIQ (people) inthe country are promoted and respected.” The organization noted Matthew Bunt of theU.S. Embassy in Kampala attended the meeting with Berry.

“We welcome the visit,” SMUG Executive Director Frank Mugisha told the WashingtonBlade on Tuesday in an email. “It is a clear indication that the U.S. government isstrategically working to support LGBT rights globally. We feel the visibility is goodbecause it creates dialogue and keeps the issues on the agenda, among the issuesdiscussed was working with our government to advance LGBT rights.”

Berry was in Uganda from July 13-15.State Department spokesperson Chanan Weissman told the Blade on Tuesday that

Berry “held a series of very constructive meetings” with Prime Minister RuhakanaRugunda, Uganda Police Force Inspector General Kale Kayihura and members of theUgandan Parliament during the trip. The envoy also met with Ugandan business leadersand academic offi cials while in the country.

“The objective of these meetings was to convey the U.S. government’s continuingcommitment to promoting and defending the human rights of LGBTI individuals inUganda and globally,” said Weissman.

Weissman declined to provide the Blade with additional information about themeetings.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

Obama meets with Nigerian president

Amid persistent concerns over a draconian anti-gay law in Nigeria, the White Houseon Monday gave assurances that President Obama raised human rights in a meetingwith the country’s president, but whether the actual statute came up in discussion isn’tclear.

Obama held a bilateral meeting in the Oval Offi ce with Nigerian President MuhammaduBuhari that was also attended by Vice President Joseph Biden. The intent of the meetingwas to strengthen U.S.-Nigeria relations and U.S. support for the country’s peoplefollowing a democratic election and transfer of power. Later in the day, Biden held hisown meeting with the Nigerian president in his home at the Naval Observatory.

Before the meeting, Obama told reporters in the Oval Offi ce that Buhari has “a

reputation for integrity and a very clear agenda” and topics of discussion would bedefeating Boko Haram extremists, cooperating in security as well as economic growthand rooting out corruption. But human rights, nor the anti-gay law specifically, wasn’tamong the planned topics Obama that enumerated.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest spoke broadly about human rights comingup in the talks when asked about the kidnapping of 276 Nigerian schoolgirls who havebeen enslaved and forced to convert to Islam.

A senior administration offi cial, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Sunday inresponse to a Washington Blade inquiry on whether the anti-gay law would come up atthe meeting that Obama routinely raises human rights concerns with other countries.

“We are committed to advancing human rights for all, including LGBT individuals,” theoffi cial said. “Indeed, we routinely raise issues of anti-LGBT discrimination and violencewith foreign counterparts, including the Nigerian government.”

The vice president’s offi ce didn’t immediately respond to a request from the Blade tocomment on whether the anti-gay law came up in the meeting with Biden.

The Nigeria anti-gay law, signed into law last year by Buhari’s predecessor Goodluck Jonathan, makes entering into a same-sex marriage punishable with up to 14 years inprison and being part of an LGBT organization punishable with up to 10 years in prison.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

Italy violates rightsof gay couples: court

A European court on Tuesday ruled same-sex couples in Italy face humanrights violations because the country has not “suffi ciently” recognized them.

A seven-judge panel with the European Court of Human Rights issued itsunanimous ruling in a case brought by three gay couples that are unable to marryunder current Italian law. The decision does not obligate Italy or other countrieswithin the Council of Europe to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples, but itsaid nuptials for gays and lesbians is one way to legally recognize them.

ILGA-Europe, the Italian League of Human Rights, the European Commissionon Sexual Orientation Law and the European Center for Law and Justice areamong the organizations that joined the complaint that the three couples filedwith the court in 2011.

Rome, Florence, Naples and more than 100 other Italian cities andmunicipalities have created largely symbolic civil union registries.

The European Court of Human Rights described them as “not suffi ciently reliable.”“The court considered that the legal protection currently available in Italy

to same-sex couples — as was shown by the applicants’ situation — not onlyfailed to provide for the core needs relevant to a couple in a stable committedrelationship, but it was also not suffi ciently reliable,” said the court in a pressrelease that announced the ruling.

The European Court of Human Rights issued its decision roughly five months

after Italy’s highest court ruled same-sex couples do not have a right to marryunder the country’s constitution. The Court of Cassation in the same decisionnevertheless said gays and lesbians should have the same rights as unmarriedcouples under Italian law.

“Where registration of same-sex unions with the local authorities was possible— only in a small share of municipalities in Italy — this had merely symbolicvalue, as it did not confer any rights on same-sex couples,” said the EuropeanCourt of Human Rights.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has proposed the legal recognition of civil unionsin the country, but he does not support the extension of marriage rights forsame-sex couples.

Hundreds of thousands of opponents of the proposed civil unions billmarched in Rome on June 20. Gay Italian Minister Ivan Scalfarotto earlier thismonth began a hunger strike in order to pressure the Italian government to actmore quickly on the issue.

Italy is the only Western European country in which same-sex couples lackbasic legal protections.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

12 • JULY 24, 2015 INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Supporters of Certi Diritti, an Italian LGBT advocacy group, take part in a protest insupport of marriage rights in Italy.

PHOTO COURTESY OF YURI GUAIANA/CERTI DIRITTI

Special U.S. Envoy for the Human Rights ofLGBT People RANDY BERRY was in Ugandafrom July 13-15.



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Not all LGBT advocates on board with Equality Act ruled in favor of marriage equalitynationwide LGBT people in most states“still lack basic legal protections againstdiscrimination.”

“Every day, millions of LGBT Americansface the danger of real discriminationand sometimes even violence becauseof their sexual orientation or genderidentity,” Cicilline said. “In most states,

a same-sex couple can get married onSaturday, post pictures on Facebook onSunday, and then risk being fired fromtheir job or kicked out of their apartmenton Monday.”

Lawmakers had sought as late as earlythis year to introduce the legislation inthe spring, but the legislative sessionproceeded into June and July withoutintroduction. The supporters of the billare planning to introduce the bill justweeks before lawmakers adjourn forAugust recess.

Questions remain about whichlawmakers will support the measure.Sources familiar with Capitol Hill said theyweren’t expecting any initial Republicanco-sponsors, but the “Dear Colleague”letter from Cicilline says lawmakers haveuntil Thursday at noon to sign on asoriginal co-sponsors.

The offi ces of Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen,Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. MarkKirk (R-Ill.), who’ve supported pro-LGBTlegislation in the past, haven’t respondto a request for comment for months on

whether they’d support the bill.In April, Cicilline lamented not beingable to find Republican co-sponorsfor the planned legislation during aconference call with reporters about aseparate resolution against anti-LGBTdiscrimination.

“I think it’s clear where the Democratsstand on this, but I think we’re all hopefulthat we’ll be able to bring this effortforward in a bipartisan way,” Cicilline saidat the time. “We’re not in a position yetto say that’s the case, but, obviously, I’mgoing to continue to do outreach, as Iknow Sen. Merkley is going on the Senateside to try to make this a bipartisaneffort. But we won’t know that, obviouslyuntil the bill is introduced.”

Another question is whether thelegislation will consist of amending theCivil Rights Act and the Fair HousingAct to include sexual orientationand gender identity, or some kind ofseparate legislation that would achievecomprehensive non-discriminationprotections in another way. If it’s thelatter, questions remain about whether

disparate impact claims would beallowed in the legislation, which havegiven Republicans who support civilrights laws heartburn in the past.

According to sources familiar with the

bill, those questions were thorny issuesas late as this month as lawmakerssought to introduce the legislation beforethey left for August recess.

In a June op-ed piece for The Advocate,co-directors of GetEQUAL Heather Cronkand Angela Peoples, said amending the CivilRights Act to include sexual orientation andgender identity isn’t the right approach forcomprehensive LGBT legislation.

“On the surface, this is a good thing,”Cronk and Peoples wrote. “However, thereis a very real possibility that amendmentswill be introduced on the Senate floor bythe likes of Ted Cruz or Tom Cotton or awhole host of other right-wing lawmakersthat not only strip the bill of its intendedprotections, but also gut the civil rightslaws being amended.”

The offi ces of Cicill ine and Merkleyhaven’t responded to repeated requestsfor comment on the nature of the bill orthe timing for introduction.

The expected introduction of theEquality Act comes one week after theU.S. Equal Employment OpportunityCommission determined that anti-gayworkplace discrimination is alreadyprohibited under the gender protectionsof Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964and three years after the agency made

the same determination for transgenderworkplace discrimination.

Most observers expect the Equality Actwon’t see any movement this Congressgiven the body’s current makeup, which

consists of its largest Republican majoritysince the Truman administration.

If any legislation related to LGBT issuessees movement, it may be the FirstAmendment Defense Act, a religiousfreedom bill seen to enable anti-LGBTdiscrimination.

Following its introduction in June,support for the bill — introduced byRep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) in theHouse and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) in the

Senate — has steadily risen. The bill has130 co-sponsors in the House and 36co-sponsors in the Senate. A committeemarkup was initially scheduled this week,but has since been cancelled.

As a third alternative, moderateRepublicans led by Rep. Charlie Dent(R-Pa.) have proposed a compromisebill that purports to provide LGBT non-discrimination and religious freedomprotections. Shawn Millan, a Dentspokesperson, said Monday he doesn’tyet have a date for introduction.

The proposal consists of theEmployment Non-Discrimination Act andamending the Fair Housing Act to includeLGBT protections. At the same time, thebill would affi rm non-profits won’t losetheir tax-exempt status for opposingsame-sex marriage and express thesense of Congress the 1993 ReligiousFreedom Restoration Act prohibits thenationwide ruling in favor of same-sexmarriage from substantially burdeningthe free exercise of religion.

LGBT advocates met in D.C. on

Tuesday to discuss the path forwardfor the Equality Act — although theydon’t agree that the measure is the rightdirection to take.

Numerous advocates confirmed theyattended the meeting, which took placeat the headquarters of an umbrella civilrights group known as the LeadershipConference on Civil & Human Rights.Scott Simpson, a spokesperson forLCCHR, confirmed the meeting tookplace, but added it was a closed-doordiscussion and declined to provideadditional information.

The meetings at LCCHR arecommonplace for the coalition of LGBTadvocates — which heretofore had metto discuss strategy for the EmploymentNon-Discrimination Act. But now themeeting was focused on the Equality Actdays ahead of its expected introductionin Congress. The new legislation is set toaddress not just anti-LGBT employmentdiscrimination, but education, publicaccommodations, credit, federalprograms, jury service and housing.

Attendees were largely tight-lipped

about the meeting because of its off-the-record nature, although one advocatewho spoke about it to the WashingtonBlade said there was an underlyingdisagreement about strategy. The

disagreement stems from the apparentdecision that Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.)and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) intend tomake the legislation basically consist ofamending the Civil Rights Act of 1964 andother civil rights laws to include sexualorientation and gender identity.

For starters, whether LCCHR itself willsupport the legislation is unclear. Evenprior to the announced plan to introducethe bill, sources have told the Washington

Blade amending the Civil Rights Act toinclude LGBT protections makes somelongtime civil rights advocates uneasybecause it potentially opens the historiclaw up to harmful amendments.

Although LCCHR has supportediterations of ENDA in the past, theorganization didn’t respond to theWashington Blade’s request for commenton whether the organization will supportthe Equality Act upon its introduction.

Wade Henderson, president of theLCCHR, is quoted in a Wall Street Journal

article earlier this month as expressingconcern about the bill.

“Some are concerned about openingup arguably the most important statuteCongress has ever enacted for the issueof racial discrimination,” Henderson said.

Heather Cronk, co-director of theLGBT grassroots group GetEQUAL,has previously objected to the idea ofamending the Civil Rights Act to enact LGBTnon-discrimination protections and toldthe Blade on Tuesday she’s “not sure”if her organization would be able to

support the Equality Act.Cronk cited concerns that the proposalwould open up the Civil Rights Act toamendments, which she said is “way pastdangerous,” but also said the bill doesn’tgo far enough to protect LGBT people.

Amid frequent media reports ofpolice brutality and harassment, Cronksaid black LGBT people have uniquechallenges in the criminal justice systemthat should be addressed as part of theproposal. Additionally, Cronk faulted themeasure for not addressing detentionand deportation of LGBT immigrants,who face unusually high rates of violencein the immigration system.

“We’ve been really clear that we don’tsupport amending the Civil Rights Actbecause there’s so many potentialdownfalls, but also because amendingthe Civil Rights Act actually doesn’t fullyprotect LGBTQ folks in the unique way thatwe need, and so we continue to advocatefor a standalone bill,” Cronk said.

But the mainstream view of LGBTadvocates is praise and excitementahead of the introduction of the bill.

Amid media reports the legislation wouldbe introduced in the coming days, theHuman Rights Campaign and the Centerfor American Progress issued statementsin support of the measure.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

14 • JULY 24, 2015 COVER STORY

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 01

Rep. DAVID CICILLINE (D-R.I.) is planning tointroduce the Equality Act.



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and everybody has to come listen to you.So here we are.”

Saying she is someone known at thecourthouse for “telling it like it is,” Williamstook about 30 minutes to explain herrationale for assessing the seriousness ofhate crimes as well as the seriousness ofthe injuries suffered by crime victims.

According to prosecutors with the U.S.Attorney’s Offi ce, Christina Lucas and herbrother Christopher, who were 20 when theincident took place in October 2013, showedno remorse after a D.C. Superior Court juryconvicted them on May 8 of aggravatedassault while armed and designated theincident as an anti-gay hate crime.

During the trial, witnesses testifiedthat the two defendants led a group ofothers in an attack on the victim on aNorthwest Washington street, with theLucas siblings and the others punching

and stomping the victim multiple timesafter knocking him to the ground.

According to trial testimony, ChristinaLucas slashed the victim’s face with a sharpobject while he was lying on the ground,causing him to suffer a permanent facialscar just below his eye after she called hima “faggot motherfucker.”

The lead prosecutor in the case,Assistant U.S. Attorney Veronica

Jennings, submitted a pre-sentencingmemorandum to the court calling for asentence in the upper range of voluntary

sentencing guidelines established bythe court for a bias-related aggravatedassault while armed. The guidelines callfor a sentence of between four and 15years of incarceration.

Instead, Williams initially sentencedthe Lucas siblings to four years in jailand suspended all but one year. Shealso sentenced them to five years ofsupervised probation upon their release.At the Aug. 15 hearing, Williams startledprosecutors by announcing she changedher mind and lowered the sentence forChristina Lucas to a six-month jail term.

A deputy U.S. Attorney attending the Aug.15 hearing suggested Williams may haveacted improperly by changing the sentenceafter the offi cial sentencing hearing hadended. He pointed out that the reducedsentence was not included in the hearingtranscript and prosecutors were not presentwhen the change was made, preventingthem from objecting to the change.

Williams said she would call anotherhearing to give prosecutors and thedefense a chance to file a motion or briefto weigh in on the sentencing change.

But she gave no indication she wouldchange the sentence back to its originalone-year jail term.

“The conduct done here by thedefendants is reprehensible, right?

They’re part of a group of people that jumped another individual,” Williams saidat the Aug. 15 hearing.

“However, in the aggravated assaultswhile armed that I have seen over my life,when I look at the severity of the injuries,you know, people are left in wheelchairs,”she said. “People are disfigured. Peoplehave broken bones … People are left withsort of lifelong disfigurements.”

By contrast, she said in the case ofthe Lucas siblings, the victim’s injuriesweren’t as severe.

“There were no long-term injuries,” shesaid. “There were no broken bones … he’sobviously not in a wheelchair.”

She added, “He, like all victims ofcrime, sort of, is dealing with the mentalfrustration of having been jumped … Allvictims of crime, violent crime, you know,have to deal with that.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kapil Longanitold Williams that recent medical reports

from the victim’s doctors show he may besuffering from a long-term brain injury asa result of repeated blows to the headduring the attack. But Williams said shecould only base her sentencing decisionon verified facts presented at the trial.

In comments that are likely to drawconcern by LGBT activists, Williams saidshe also did not believe the hate crimeaspect of the case reached a level ofseriousness that called for an enhancedprison sentence that the D.C. hate crimeslaw gives judges the option of utilizing.

“Now I don’t want anybody to think thatI’m somehow dismissing the findings thatthere was a hate crime, but I’ll tell you andI’ll be fully honest,” she said. “You know,there’s hate crime, from my perspective,and there’s hate crime. So when I think ofhate crime, I include hate crime with theidea of domestic terrorism, right? That’swhat I think it is.”

Williams said she considers a true hatecrime to be a random targeting of a personbecause he or she is a member of a certainrace, sexual orientation, gender or someother characteristic. She cited the recentmurder of nine black people in a church inSouth Carolina by a white supremacist asan example of a serious hate crime.

“The most famous homosexual killingis the one – was it in Utah?” Williamsasked. “Matthew – there’s a law namedafter him. I forgot his name. Matthew – Ican’t think of it. But the man, the man wasbeaten to near death only because hewas gay,” Williams said as the Lucas twinsstood in silence next to their attorneys.“Those people didn’t know him.”

She appeared to be referring to the

1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, thegay University of Wyoming student whowas tied to a fence post in Laramie,Wyo., and severely beaten and died ashort time later. The attacker and a co-

defendant who assisted in the attackwere sentenced to life in prison formurder convictions.

Because Wyoming did not have a hatecrimes law and there was no federal hatecrimes law that covered gay people at thetime, the Shepard case was not legallyclassified as a hate crime, even though it hasbecome recognized as one of the nation’smost egregious anti-gay hate crimes.

Williams said that while in law school20 years ago in Boston, when she was ateaching assistant, one of her students —a 22-year-old lesbian — was attacked andbeaten by a group of men who becameenraged when they saw her walkingdown the street holding hands withher girlfriend.

“At the time I’m only 24, so I’m notthat old, but that kind of stuff sticks withyou,” she said. “So I know, you know,how serious hate crimes can be and howdangerous it is.”

But in the cases of the Lucas twins,Williams said, she did not believe theattack against the gay male victim wastotally random because trial testimonyrevealed that the victim’s mother knewthe Lucases. Williams noted that thevictim’s mother’s brother is the uncle ofthe Lucas twins.

According to Williams, the motherplayed a key role in identifying theLucases to the police during theinvestigation, which led to their arrests.She said some type of dispute had been

going on between the two parties.“But part of it had to do with the useof the language and the hate crime,”Williams said in referring to the allegedanti-gay language used by one or both ofthe Lucas twins during the assault.

“Again, reprehensible behavior,” shesaid. “And so, but I just need to makeclear that there are different levels ofhate crime … For example, if two blackpeople get into a fight and one of themuses the N word against another one Idon’t think of that as … a hate crime.”

The reason she raised the issue of theN word, Williams said, is that ChristinaLucas is gay. She said she isn’t certainwhether certain anti-gay slurs that wouldbe unacceptable for straight people touse are somewhat acceptable for gays touse among themselves.

“Obviously, in this context, nothing feelsmore comfortable because it’s a violentattack,” said Williams. “But I’m just saying,linguistically, I don’t know where we arelinguistically on this issue,” she said.

“And so, we’re here at the hate crimepoint. And so I will admit that it’s hard

for me to grasp how one gay personcommits a hate crime against another.”

She added, however, that regardlessof whether she understands it, the juryhanded down a hate crime conviction in

the Lucas case. Yet she also factored in herperception that the Lucas siblings are notlikely to target gay people in the future.

“So do I have concerns with Ms.Lucas going forward, that she’s goingto be terrorizing the community andgoing after gay people? No. I don’t havethat concern.”

Likewise, concerning ChristopherLucas, Williams said she also doesn’t

believe he will likely target gay peoplegoing forward because of his closerelationship with his sister.

“I don’t have a concern that Mr. Lucas is just going to be chasing after gay peoplebecause then he’d be chasing after hisown sister,” Williams said.

Two prominent local attorneys hadopposing opinions on whether JudgeWilliams acted properly in the way shelowered her sentence for Christina Lucasand her decision not to “enhance” thesentence under the provision of the D.C.

hate crimes law. Both spoke to the Bladeon condition that they not be identifiedbecause they could have future dealingswith the judge.

One of them believes Williams’sentencing change violates judicial rulesbanning ex-parte actions by judgesand could possibly lead to disciplinaryaction against her by the an arm of theD.C. Bar that investigates allegations ofmisconduct by judges. The same attorneysaid Williams acted improperly but withinher authority as a judge to decline to

enhance the sentences under the hatecrimes law.“This is a blatant display of judge

nullification of a jury verdict,” the attorneysaid. “She is basically saying she doesn’tagree this is a hate crime. She nullifiedthe hate crime conviction.”

The other attorney took strongexception to that assessment.

“I see no hint that the judge doesn’tagree with the D.C. hate crime law,”the attorney said. “She’s just fittingthe sentence to all the relevant factsabout the crime and the victim and thedefendants, which is what we want

judges to do,” said the attorney.“Different people, different judges, will

see things differently in different cases,”the attorney said. “That doesn’t make oneright and one wrong. I don’t see any basisfor accusing the judge of misconduct onthat score.”

Concerning changing the sentence atan inappropriate time, the attorney saidthe judge has denied doing that. “And Icertainly don’t know the facts,” said theattorney. “She has invited the parties to

brief the matter, and I assume they’ll doso. If she waited too long to change thesentence, or failed to give proper notice,she can correct her error, or the court ofappeals can.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 01

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

16 • JULY 24, 2015 COVER STORY

D.C. judge justifies lenient sentence in hate attack


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Truvada adherence rates strong, study finds

NEW YORK — Transgender women and men who have sex with men (MSM)adhered at high rates to Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in anAmerican real-world study of the HIV prevention method, especially if they wereat higher risk of contracting the virus, AIDSmeds reports.

Researchers presented results from the U.S. PrEP Demonstration Projectat the Eighth International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis,Treatment and Prevention in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Between Sept. 2012 and Jan. 2014, the demonstration project enrolled557 MSM and trans women in municipal sexually transmitted infection (STI)and community health clinics in San Francisco, Miami and Washington, DC.Eighty-three percent of the participants stayed through the final visit in the 48-

week study. The participants contributed a total of 469 person-years of data,researchers report.

The investigators conducted dried blood spot testing on 294 participants todetermine how well they were adhering to the daily regimen of Truvada; 63percent of them had drug levels at all study visits suggesting they were takingTruvada at least four days a week (considered “maximum protection”). Threepercent of them had test levels at all study visits suggesting they were takingfewer than two pills each week and 32 percent had an inconsistent pattern ofadherence, AIDSmeds reports.

Biases found among health care providers

NEW YORK — Health care providers showed preferences toward patients whoidentified the same way as themselves, a new study has found.

Researchers from the University of Washington Health Sciences consultedthe Sexuality Implicit Association Test, which gathered results from more than200,000 participants between 2006-2012, Medical Daily reports. Participantstaking the test were asked explicit questions to indicate their preferences towardheterosexual, lesbian and gay individuals, like whether they’d endorse thestatement, “I strongly prefer gay people to straight people” or “I strongly preferstraight people to gay people.” Participants who worked in fields of health carewere specified with their test results as either a medical doctor, nurse, mentalhealth provider or other treatment provider.

Straight health care providers showed moderate to strong implicit preferencesfor heterosexual patients. Interestingly enough, the same result was found

in lesbian and gay health care providers who also displayed both implicit andexplicit preferences to treat lesbian and gay patients. Bisexual providers provedto be more indecisive, showing mixed preferences. There were also variationsbased on the type of health care profession certain participants occupied; forinstance, mental health care providers showed the weakest implicit bias forsexual preferences, while nurses had the strongest preference for heterosexualpatients over lesbian and gay patients, the Medical Daily article notes.

“Training for health care providers about treating sexual minority patients isan area in great need of attention,” researchers wrote in the findings.

Minn. DOH urges meningitis vaccine

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Department of Health has issued a publichealth alert urging gay men to get vaccinated immediately for a potentiallydeadly disease after the death of a Ramsey County man, the Minneapolis StarTribune reports.

The unidentified man, who was in his 40s, died in mid-July and was infectedwith meningococcal meningitis, a rare but potentially life-threatening diseasehealth offi cials said is responsible for an ongoing outbreak in Chicago, New Yorkand Los Angeles.

Offi cials said the Ramsey County man was infected with the same bacteria,serogroup C Neisseria meningitidis, which caused the outbreak in Chicago,where seven cases — including one death — have been confirmed. It is fatal in10-15 percent of cases, the Star Tribune reports.

“We believe that the MSM (men who have sex with men) community inMinnesota may be at increased risk for meningococcal disease,” Kristen

Ehresmann, the department’s director of the infectious disease division, said ina statement. “We want to try to head off the possibility of an outbreak occurringhere, so we strongly encourage all MSM, especially those who are HIV-positive,to go get vaccinated.”

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

18 • JULY 24, 2015 HEALTH NEWS

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20/48

Cardio confusionAdd weight, reduce rest times for better workout

Despite being one of the essentialcomponents of a good workout, theinfamous “C” word — cardio — oftenraises a bunch of questions.

What’s the best cardio? How manycalories should I be burning? How longshould I be running? Do you think spinclasses work? Within many of these cardioquestions, comes a lot of cardio confusion.

Almost every exercise is cardio. Yes girl,even your chest day makes that little heartof yours pump more beats. Though the

American College of Sports Medicine loosely defines it as any continuous exercise involvinglarge muscle groups, I like to think of it as any exercise that raises your heart rate and improvesyour cardiovascular strength. I have to emphasize the words “any exercise” because we havebeen programmed, by the people who sell cardio equipment usually, that cardio is on a bike,treadmill, elliptical or in a pool when in actuality, you can make pretty much any exercisecardiovascular with the right tweaks.

How do I turn my workout into a cardio one? Remember the main goals for most of usfrom doing a cardio-based workout is to burn a lot of calories and get our heart rate up ina short amount of time, so all of our tweaks should be based on that.

My first rule to making your workouts more cardiovascular is to focus on using large

muscle groups for your workouts. I’m not saying that your arm day isn’t burning calories,but the big muscles are where you get bang for your buck. Your large muscle groups arecomprised of your chest, back and leg muscles. Working those muscle take more energyfrom your body and in turn burn more calories. I like to achieve this by manipulatingresistance, decreasing rest time and specifying exercise types.

Increasing the resistance or weight you use on an exercise causes your body to burn morecalories and spikes your heart rate because it takes more muscle fiber recruitment to move theheavier weight. Don’t believe me? Check out how quickly your heart rate raises after doing 10repetitions of heavy squats versus doing 20 repetitions of body weight squats at the same speed.

If you’re trying to make your normal gym weight workout more cardio driven, try to pickthe heaviest weight you can perform with correct form of an exercise for 10-12 reps. Mysuggestion is to pick up something heavier than normal and if you have to stop half waythrough to reduce the weight and finish the reps, do that. I find that most people are

stronger than they think they are. If you don’t feel comfortable, ask for a spot.Decreasing your rest time between exercises is probably the easiest way to make yourcurrent workout a sure fire heart racer. When I goto the gym I see so many people who doa 90-minute workout that could be done in 45 minutes, if only they just did more chin upsthan Facebook check ins. Between playing on your phone and telling everyone you seeabout your weekend, you’re allowing your heart rate to drop back down to its resting rate.

A resting heart means resting fat, and ain’t nobody got time for that. Instead bring astopwatch or use the one on your phone and only allow yourself between 60-90 secondsbetween each exercise, depending on your exercise experience level. First off you will beable to get way more done in a shorter amount of time and second, your workout willbecome a fat-torching cardio express. I guarantee that minute of rest time will pass beforeyou know it and you will be huffi ng and puffi ng throughout your workout.

Specifying exercises to those that use the most muscle groups is a great way to makeyour workouts heart rate raisers and super calorie burners. Many times while choosing

exercises for a workout, we consistently think of a target muscle group instead of thinkinghow many muscle groups we can hit. Switch your focus from just doing a leg exercise likea lunge, to adding in some upper body movements like a bicep curl and shoulder press.

Adding these extra motions at the bottom of the lunge can make this a total-body exercise. Thisis a more compound movement because it crosses lots of joints. Compound exercises burn twotimes the calories, activate more muscles and train your core muscles exponentially harder thannormal exercises. Try adding in my favorite compound dumbbell exercises the lunge curl press,squat with a tricep kickback and single leg deadlift with a shoulder raise. You can find examplesof how to do these at coachgfitness.com or on YouTube.com/coachgfitness.

Any workout can be cooked up to become more cardio-based by increasing theresistance, cutting down the rest times and specifying your exercises to those that activatemore muscle groups. As we constantly fight against the battle of the bulge in a society withless and less gym time, we can incorporate these techniques to get in a cardio workout

without sacrificing our normal gym time.Some people, including myself, just don’t enjoy traditional cardio exercise as much as

lifting weights so by adding these techniques, you can have your cake and eat it to. Andby cake, I mean workout.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

20 • JULY 24, 2015 COACH G

GERARD BURLEY is a D.C.-based personaltrainer. Reach him via @CoachGFit or [email protected].

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Documents

Washingtonblade.com, Volume 46, Issue 30, July 24, 2015