Feature Story:
Bob Summersgill From childhood, when his father took him to Cape Canaveral to watch the last manned moon launch in 1972, to college when he served as president of the D.C. chapter of Students for the Exploration and the Development of Space, Bob Summersgill had an eye on the cosmos. His short-term cynicism, however, brought him back to earth.
"There just wasn't a future in it," says the 44-year-old. "I'm optimistic for the long term, I'm very cynical and pessimistic for the short term.... I wasn’t going to get to space by getting involved with this stuff. I want to be in a movement that's moving. I want to do things that actually result in some tangible change."
Summersgill did just that, turning his sights on moving legislation through the D.C. City Council, incrementally empowering the city's domestic-partnership laws. As a hobby, he's worked largely behind the scenes for years, crafting legislation, testifying and working with Council members to get GLBT Washingtonians to where they are today, with possibly the strongest partnership law in the country. He's also served as president of the local Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance (2000-2003), was named a Capital Pride Hero (2008), and has advocated for the transgender and intersex communities with the D.C. Office for Human Rights. That's, of course, when we wasn't fighting for a smoke-free D.C. or planting trees as a "citizen forester" with the nonprofit Casey Trees. ...more
Bob Summersgill From childhood, when his father took him to Cape Canaveral to watch the last manned moon launch in 1972, to college when he served as president of the D.C. chapter of Students for the Exploration and the Development of Space, Bob Summersgill had an eye on the cosmos. His short-term cynicism, however, brought him back to earth.
"There just wasn't a future in it," says the 44-year-old. "I'm optimistic for the long term, I'm very cynical and pessimistic for the short term.... I wasn’t going to get to space by getting involved with this stuff. I want to be in a movement that's moving. I want to do things that actually result in some tangible change."
Summersgill did just that, turning his sights on moving legislation through the D.C. City Council, incrementally empowering the city's domestic-partnership laws. As a hobby, he's worked largely behind the scenes for years, crafting legislation, testifying and working with Council members to get GLBT Washingtonians to where they are today, with possibly the strongest partnership law in the country. He's also served as president of the local Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance (2000-2003), was named a Capital Pride Hero (2008), and has advocated for the transgender and intersex communities with the D.C. Office for Human Rights. That's, of course, when we wasn't fighting for a smoke-free D.C. or planting trees as a "citizen forester" with the nonprofit Casey Trees. ...more
Gauge: The good news came in June. The bad news followed in July. Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) needs to find ways to close a projected budget gap of approximately $6 million, and The Center, D.C.'s GLBT community center, is being asked to take a dramatic hit -- following the budgeting of new funding that would have taken The Center to the next level.
While The Center cuts are just one component of a very broad fiscal strategy, there is a fear that the GLBT community is being asked to make a disproportionately large and, some argue, a possibly fatal sacrifice to its community center.
"It is important to note that these monies are not supplemental funding, but are core to The DC Center's functional operations and absolutely essential to its survival," offered Pat Hawkins, a member of The Center's board and a licensed clinical social worker and clinical psychologist, who has worked in the community for decades, in testimony delivered at a July 24 Committee of the Whole public oversight hearing. ...more
While The Center cuts are just one component of a very broad fiscal strategy, there is a fear that the GLBT community is being asked to make a disproportionately large and, some argue, a possibly fatal sacrifice to its community center.
"It is important to note that these monies are not supplemental funding, but are core to The DC Center's functional operations and absolutely essential to its survival," offered Pat Hawkins, a member of The Center's board and a licensed clinical social worker and clinical psychologist, who has worked in the community for decades, in testimony delivered at a July 24 Committee of the Whole public oversight hearing. ...more
Gauge: There's a ticking time bomb on the Equality Across America Web site. At least, that's how some local activists, like Michael Crawford, might view the live countdown to the National LGBT Equality March, slated for Sunday, Oct. 11, in Washington.
Cleve Jones, gay pioneer Harvey Milk's protégé, called for the 2009 march while speaking at a Utah Pride event June 7. It was then that Jones, also the founder of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, kicked off a four-and-a-half month countdown to an event aiming to bring GLBT activists and allies from across to country to the nation's capital.
Kellan Barker
(Photo by Ward Morrison/file photo) Equality Across America (EAA) is the umbrella organization that is currently being built by the event's steering committee to manage the march. ...more
Cleve Jones, gay pioneer Harvey Milk's protégé, called for the 2009 march while speaking at a Utah Pride event June 7. It was then that Jones, also the founder of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, kicked off a four-and-a-half month countdown to an event aiming to bring GLBT activists and allies from across to country to the nation's capital.
Kellan Barker
(Photo by Ward Morrison/file photo) Equality Across America (EAA) is the umbrella organization that is currently being built by the event's steering committee to manage the march. ...more
By LOU CHIBBARO JR, Washington BladeTwo gay D.C. City Council members joined their colleagues in a unanimous vote Friday to eliminate millions of dollars in non-competitive earmark grants for dozens of non-profit organizations, including $1.01 million in grants to four LGBT groups.
The action by David Catania (I-At Large), Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) and other Council members comes one week after Mayor Adrian Fenty proposed cutting the grants by 60 percent as part of a revised city budget aimed at reversing a projected $453 million shortfall in the current fiscal year and a projected $150 million deficit in 2010.
Officials with the D.C. Center and its acclaimed Crystal ...
By CHRIS JOHNSON, Washington BladeGay rights activists in D.C. are lobbying a Wisconsin lawmaker to introduce in the Senate legislation that would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
Allison Herwitt, HRC's legislative director, told the Blade o n Friday that her organization has been communicating with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) to introduce DOMA repeal legislation that would complement a similar bill expected in the House.
"Right now, I think Sen. Feingold is the senator that has been ? liaising most with us and the House people," she said.
Feingold is an attractive ally to introduce a DOMA repeal bill because he c ...
LISBON, Portugal (AP)Portugal's Constitutional Court on Friday upheld the country's ban on gay marriage, rejecting a challenge by two lesbians who are seeking to wed.
The court said its five judges ruled 3-2 against an appeal lodged by the women two years ago.
Teresa Pires and Helena Paixao, divorced mothers in their 30s who have been together as a couple since 2003, were tur ...
Out and Equal Workplace Advocates, an LGBT-focused business advisory group based in San Francisco, has scored a major get for its annual summit this fall: John Berry, the openly gay director of the Office of Personnel Management.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today picked Ronald E. Albers for a judgeship on the San Francisco County Superior Court.
Theresa Sparks, the transgender woman who has served two terms as president of the city’s police commission, has ruled out running for a third term. When she first won the coveted seat by one vote back in 2007, Sparks became the first transgender person to head a city oversight panel. But her ascension led to [...]
Three people are dead and at least ten are wounded after a lone gunman opened fire at a gay youth center in Israel, a crime witnesses are calling a bloodbath, according to BBC News.
Department of Commerce officials said Friday that they would release the raw data collected on married same-sex couples in the 2010 Census as a way to more accurately reflect the marriage status of LGBT people. 
Marriage Equality opponents in Maine have submitted petitions that include more than 100,000 signatures in support of a referendum against same-sex marriage. If at least 55,087 of the signatures are certified as valid, the referendum will be put to voters on the November ballot.
Three gay teens were killed and at least 10 others wounded during an attack on a gay club in Tel Aviv
Australia's government has voted in favor of recognizing gay unions but stopped short of endorsing gay marriage
The seaman charged in the death of a gay sailor was found unresponsive Friday
Three gay teens were killed and at least 10 others wounded during an attack on a gay club in Tel Aviv
Australia's government has voted in favor of recognizing gay unions but stopped short of endorsing gay marriage
The seaman charged in the death of a gay sailor was found unresponsive Friday
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