D.C. police arrested two men in connection with an alleged assault against a gay man in Georgetown late last week. A source told the Washington Blade that the victim, a 23-year-old Georgetown University medical student, was walking along the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal path on 34th Street NW with a friend around 3 a.m. on October 3. Two other men, whom the source described as "Muslim and being of 'Middle Eastern descent,'" approached them and......

District police arrested a teenager on Thursday in connection with an attack on three gay men in Adams Morgan this summer. The teen's identity has not been released since he is a juvenile. The attack is considered a hate crime, according to a report from the Washington Blade. The MPD's announcement of the arrest -- released as a statement last night -- said the teen is charged with aggravated assault. The Blade report also stated......

Isis King, the local transgender woman who sought to be America's Next Top Model, this week became the fifth contestant of 14 to be eliminated from the television competition this season. The Advocate reports that host Tyra Banks and the show's judges "decided King had to go after too many uninspiring photo shoots and catwalk sessions. King's last photo shoot required her to wear a bikini, which clearly made her uncomfortable." Equality Maryland, the state's......

Tony Randolph Hunter, the Clinton, Md., gay man who was attacked near Be Bar on September 7, died yesterday afternoon according to an announcement by the MPD's Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit. Having suffered a laceration to the back of the head, Hunter was listed in critical condition and placed on life support at Howard University Hospital. Friends confirmed that Hunter and a companion were en route to Be Bar when they were attacked. The......

Local LGBT activists and District government insiders told the Washington Blade that same-sex marriages in the District may be approved by the D.C. Council as soon as next April. The likelihood of this approval hinges on a couple of results this Election Day. First is the defeat of Proposition 8, an initiative that seeks to reverse the legalization of same-sex marriages in California. The state's Supreme Court struck down the ban on same-sex marriage on......

Metro Weekly reports that two Maryland men were attacked and robbed on their way to Be Bar in Shaw on Sunday night. According to the police report, a group of four men beat the victims and made off with $15 and a set of car keys. One of the victims, a 37-year-old from Clinton, is on life support; the other, a 23-year-old from Fort Washington, was treated at a hospital for a bruised jaw and......

I'm not one to watch reality shows (or their talent search related ilk), but I wish I had a heads-up on this one. During last night's broadcast of America's Got Talent on NBC, the D.C. Cowboys, a gay country-western dance troupe, proved they have what it takes to entertain the masses... or at least to move on to next round. Check out their audition performance above, set to Big & Rich's 2004 single "Save......

The Washington Blade reports that Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry has come out -- in support of same-sex marriage, that is. The mayor-for-life made his stance known for the first time last week at a meeting of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the city's most powerful LGBT political group. During the meeting, Barry responded to a question about same-sex marriage saying, "I don’t think you should make that question a litmus test. But if......

In case you haven't noticed, it's Capital Pride week here in D.C. The 33rd annual celebration of all things LGBT in the nation's capital culminates in a parade tomorrow and the street festival on Sunday. Saturday's parade features head Oscar comedy writer and actor Bruce Vilanch, known for the most recent incarnation of "Hollywood Squares" and originating the role of Edna Turnblad in the touring company of Hairspray, as the celebrity grand marshal. Over 70......

Legislation protecting transgender persons in Montgomery County suffered another blow this week as a judge sided with groups opposing that legislation, reports the Washington Post. This brings the possibility that voters will be able to decide on whether the law stays or goes even closer. Last November, Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett signed off on bill 23-07, which would protect transgender persons against discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations among others. By February, a......

As Capital Pride weekend approaches, this morning the Washington Blade reports that Mayor Adrian Fenty is ordering a review of the city's legal options in anticipation of same-sex couples in D.C. heading to California next week to get married. Nearly one month ago, the California State Supreme Court struck down a ban on same-sex marriage; the court's decision goes into effect Monday at 5 p.m. PDT. Interim attorney general Peter Nickles has been directed to......

As if yesterday's news from California wasn't enough to get gays everywhere excited, same-sex couples here in D.C. recently got a little something extra to celebrate. Early last week the D.C. Council expanded its domestic partners law, granting registered couples rights previously only granted through marriage. The Council passed the measure, titled the Omnibus Domestic Partnership Equality Amendment Act of 2008, unanimously on May 6. Councilmember Phil Mendelson wrote the legislation and was its lead......

Voters in the city of Falls Church made history this week as Lawrence Webb became the first openly gay black man elected to public office in Virginia. Webb announced his candidacy last fall and was up against several other candidates for the three open City Council seats in Tuesday's general election. He won a seat by a margin of 39 votes with all precincts reporting. Nader Baroukh and Robin S. Gardner won the other two......

We mentioned it briefly at the end of the day yesterday, but more details are available about the charges against a Georgetown University student accused of committing a hate crime against another student in September, which were dropped by the U.S. Attorney's office due to a lack of evidence. The victim, who today remains unidentified in news reports, said he was followed September 9 by two men who yelled homophobic slurs at him; one of......

In the contest that was "Capital Pride Producer Idol" (Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it?), we now have a winner. The Whitman-Walker Clinic (WWC) will turn the event over to the Capital Pride Alliance next year. The Alliance is a relatively new group formed last year by longtime members of the Capital Pride Committee. The group beat out three others: the LGBT Community Center; the Southwest Renaissance Development Corporation, formed by the Westminster......

Congregants consider homophobia as a possible reason behind a shooting at the Metropolitan Community Church in Shaw on Friday evening, WJLA reports. MCC serves a predominantly LGBT congregation, and this marks the second time in recent history that the church was the victim of gunfire. At the time of the shooting, several church members were inside the building for a Bible study. People inside either quickly hit the floor or ran for cover as bullets......

Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler is now the first statewide elected official to support same-sex marriage. Gansler made his support known yesterday before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on the proposed same-sex marriage bill. Gansler's office -- under his predecessor, J. Joseph Curran, Jr. -- successfully defended Maryland against a suit brought by gay couples who wanted to overturn the 34-year-old state law defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman. But......

The gay blogosphere is alight with the news that a female choir member at the Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church on Rhode Island Ave. outed over 100 church members in two separate emails to Bishop Alfred Owens, Jr. The first email, sent last month, named 45 members as gay; the second email, sent earlier this month, names over 60 additional people. An anonymous gay former church member supplied the Washington Blade with copies of the......

The Religious Freedom & Civil Marriage Protection Act will be introduced by two state senators today. Senators Jamie Raskin and Rich Madaleno, both Democrats from Montgomery County, will be named as the bill's lead Senate sponsors. They will fill the sponsorship void left by Senator Gwendolyn Britt, who passed away a couple of weeks ago. The proposed bill validates marriages between "two people, not otherwise prohibited from marrying" instead of the one male and one......

Towleroad tipped us off to a Baltimore Sun poll that shows a majority of Maryland voters support same-sex unions in some form. Same-sex marriage is currently illegal in Maryland and it was only a week ago that the state defined domestic partnership, which applies to both gay and straight couples. Nearly 3 out of every 5 Maryland voters polled said the state should recognize same-sex unions; 19 percent support same-sex marriages and 39 percent back......

NBC4 reports today on an investigation launched by the D.C. Fire Department after an allegedly insensitive letter was read aloud at the Engine 30 firehouse in Northeast. According to the report, the letter, read by the station's lieutenant, was supposed to be a humorous attempt at introducing a new crew member. Instead, the letter included what was seen as potentially disparaging remarks, implying he's gay. The lieutenant was asked more than once to stop reading......

Late last week, a joint Maryland state House-Senate committee approved a new regulation that defines domestic partnerships. A state law passed last year required not only health insurers to offer domestic partner coverage to companies that request it, but also the Maryland Insurance Administration to define domestic partnerships. The law took effect January 1. The regulation defines domestic partners as a couple whose members are at least 18 years of age and "who for at......

Yesterday, the Whitman-Walker Clinic announced plans to restructure itself, with a focus on expanding its medical services. With the restructuring comes layoffs from within its nearly 240 member staff as early as today. WWC didn't specify how many would be let go, and published news reports currently give inconsistent figures; Metro Weekly says up to 10 percent of staff will be cut, while the Washington Post reports closer to 25 percent. The staff reduction will......

Did you know that D.C. has an Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs? I certainly didn't, and the Office's annual report indicated that it has more work to do to raise awareness of its existence. After surveys administered online, at DC Black Pride and Capital Pride, the office found that respondents rated the agency an average of 3.3 points on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being least aware of the office......

The AP via Baltimore's WJZ-TV reports the issue of same-sex marriage rights in Maryland will pop up again next week. This time around, it's the state legislature and not the courts who get to rule on the matter. Back in September, the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that laws banning same-sex marriages did not violate the state constitution. This contradicted a January 2007 ruling in the Baltimore Circuit Court that the laws were discriminatory and......

Via the Washington Blade, three organizations are competing to take over Capital Pride from the Whitman-Walker Clinic, which began organizing the event in 1997 with One In Ten, DC's LGBT arts group. Whitman-Walker became the sole producer and financier of Capital Pride in 2000. The three interested parties include the Southwest Renaissance Development Corporation, a group founded by the Westminster Presbyterian Church; the LGBT Community Center; and the recently-formed Capital Pride Alliance. All submitted proposals......

Last night, Fox 5 reported on an alarming attack of a gay man by six or seven men on the Metro. "Nathaniel," as he's referred to in the report, was riding alone on a train Friday night. As the doors closed at Metro Center, the group surrounded and beat Nathaniel, kicking him as he fell to the floor and yelling "faggot". Nathaniel managed to get off the train at the Smithsonian station, and he ran......

DC for Marriage, an eight-month-old group advocating same-sex marriage rights in the District, will hold a "Marriage Equality Community Forum" tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in room 412 of the Wilson Building. This is the group's first public event, which is co-sponsored by several local LGBT organizations including the DC Center, DC Black Pride, AQUA DC, and the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League, among others. Yesterday, DC for Marriage announced Sabrina Sojourner, the first open......

The anti-gay, right wing group Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) will present "raw and unedited" footage shot at this year's Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco at the National Press Club at 1 p.m. tomorrow. AFTAH president Peter LaBarbera specifically targets Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi with this conference, urging her "to do the right thing by condemning the public nudity and perversions — and blatant anti-Christian bigotry — that occurred in her......

If you're down on the National Mall this weekend and see, oh, 12,000 flags stuck in the ground, don't be alarmed. The Federal Government hasn't started an experimental flag farm, nor is the display an effort of the area's squirrels to show their patriotism. The flags have been planted to represent the 12,000 members of the United States military who have been discharged under the practice of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The policy, which governs......