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You’ll Never Know If You Don’t Ask

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Equality Virginia’s new “Ask A Trans Person” panel series seeks to raise trans visibility and highlight transgender Virginians’ need for civil rights protections.

87 percent of Americans say they know a gay person, but only 16 percent report knowing a a trans person, according to GLAAD. For this reason, it can be harder for a lot of people to understand the pressing need for protections against discrimination felt by Virginia’s transgender citizens.

With their “Ask A Trans Person” panel series, Equality Virginia hopes to change that. The first of these panels will take place at the Chesterfield Library on Tuesday, November 12, and with it, Equality Virginia hopes to put a human face on the lives and problems of transgender people for Virginians who currently have no context for such things.

The event is being billed as “a safe space to ask questions and engage in respectful dialogue with fellow community members,” and the panel will feature Thalia Hernandez, Equality Virginia’s transgender program coordinator, and Keri Abrams of the Equality Virginia Transgender Advocacy Speakers Bureau, as well as other members of the Transgender Advocacy Speakers Bureau.

This might seem like a pretty small step in attempting to put across the essential humanity of transgender people, but I can tell you from personal experience that it makes a difference. As I began my own transition, I was working in retail, and had a variety of conversations with coworkers about issues I faced as a trans woman. While some never seemed to understand, I ended up finding several unlikely allies who, once they considered my situation, realized that transgender people like me deserved better than the treatment we all-too-frequently receive at the hands of government agencies.

With a new Democratic majority in both houses of the General Assembly, we finally have the chance to see real change in the status of LGBTQ protections here in Virginia. A big part of making sure that happens will be dialogue with people who don’t currently understand where our community is coming from. Equality Virginia’s “Ask A Trans Person” panels are a good opportunity to get that conversation started.

Whether you’re a curious newcomer to trans issues, a supportive ally, or a member of the transgender community yourself, your attendance at Equality Virginia’s “Ask A Trans Person” panel is a good way to increase understanding and make a difference. The event will take place starting at 6:30 PM on Tuesday, November 12 at Chesterfield County’s Central Library, located at 7051 Lucy Corr Blvd in Chesterfield. It is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Register at bit.ly/TransPanelChesterfield.

Opinion: We Have A Blue Virginia. What Will We Do With It?

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GayRVA Editor-In-Chief Marilyn Drew Necci has an extensive wish list for our new Democratic General Assembly, one that starts with LGBTQ civil rights and goes a lot farther from there.

Well, it’s finally happened — no matter how your mom or your Trump-loving former high school classmates feel about it, Virginia has become a blue state. Our governor is a Democrat, our Congressional representatives are mostly Democrats, and on Tuesday, we voted to give Democrats control of both houses of the Virginia General Assembly. This might change at some point in the future, but at least for the next two years, Democrats are in the driver’s seat when it comes to making the laws in Virginia.

Tuesday brought us all sorts of progressive election results. All five of Virginia’s LGBTQ representatives in the General Assembly were re-elected, which makes Danica Roem, as of two years ago the first transgender person elected to statewide office, now the first transgender person to be RE-elected to statewide office. Her fellow Delegate Dawn Adams also became the first lesbian to be re-elected in the General Assembly.

Farther down the ballot, openly LGBTQ candidate Karl Frisch won a seat on the Fairfax County School Board, defeating an opponent who used anti-LGBTQ rhetoric throughout the campaigning process. In Virginia Beach, former Hampton Roads Pride President Michael Berlucchi was elected to the vacant City Council seat he’d previously been appointed to last May.

Meanwhile, in the West End, Ghazala Hashmi defeated Glen Sturtevant and his “Save Our Neighborhood Schools” campaign to become the first Muslim woman to serve on Virginia’s state Senate. Hashmi is one of two new female state Senators, who along with four new female Delegates pushes the total of female General Assembly members to 41 out of 140 — the highest it’s ever been.

In the House Of Delegates, four new African American delegates, only one of whom is succeeding a previous African American representative, swelled the membership of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus to 23. Of the four Democrats who have already announced their candidacy for the next session’s Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, only one is a white man, while two are black and two are women. Since the position has only ever been held by white men, there will likely be more history made when the coming session’s Speaker of the House is sworn in.

It’s easy to get bogged down in the horse race when discussing elections like these, especially when they go your way. But of course, getting representation is only half the battle. What must come next is major progress on a variety of issues that affect LGBTQ Virginians and other underrepresented minorities in our state.

For years, Equality Virginia has been pushing the General Assembly to pass a variety of much-needed LGBTQ civil rights bills, and the Republican leadership in the House Of Delegates has consistently stood in the way. Here’s a list of reforms attempted in past years, some of which passed in the Senate, none of which were ever allowed to reach a floor vote in the House Of Delegates:

  • Adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes covered by hate crime laws
  • Prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment (currently public employees enjoy this protection, but employees of private businesses do not)
  • Prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in housing
  • Modernization of the process through which transgender people can change the gender markers on legal documents including birth certificates
  • Prohibiting health care companies from withholding trans-related health care from their transgender clients
  • Removing the Marshall-Newman amendment to the Virginia State Constitution, added in 2006, that defines marriage within Virginia as solely between one man and one woman (this may not seem important now, but with Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, one legal decision on SCOTUS’ part could easily make it all too relevant again)

Two years ago, I wrote an admittedly fiery editorial in which I blamed the entire situation on gerrymandering that prevented the will of a majority of Virginians from being reflected in our state’s legislature. I was angry at the time, but based on what’s happened in the two years since that editorial, it seems I was also right — court decisions over the course of 2018 and 2019 paved the way for a redrawn district map that commentators widely agree was crucial in bringing Democrats back to legislative power.

Now that the changes have been made and the votes have been counted, it’s time for our legislature to bring more good news to Virginia’s LGBTQ community. As Equality Virginia’s Executive Director, James Parrish, stated in response to the Democrats’ electoral victory, “Virginia’s voters were loud and clear and elected a pro-equality majority in the House and Senate. We look forward to working with the 2020 General Assembly to pass nondiscrimination protections for LGBT Virginians in employment, housing, and public spaces like stores or restaurants.” In that sentiment, Parrish speaks for us here at GayRVA as well.

Newly re-elected Delegate Danica Roem, for one, stands ready to make sure that these protections come to Virginia at long last. “We have a mandate from the people to pass nondiscrimination (bills) that are comprehensive and inclusive of all our LGBTQ constituents,” Roem told the Washington Blade. “We will be getting that done.”

But there are a good many more progressive issues that we’d all like to see taken up by our new Democratic legislative majority. Governor Northam brought up several of them in a post-election cabinet meeting on Wednesday. He began with guns, a hot-button topic that has had particular relevance in Virginia over the past year due to the Virginia Beach municipal building shooting and the still-lingering fallout of Unite The Right in Charlottesville. The Republican-controlled General Assembly closed a special session called for by Northam this summer to focus on gun legislation after 90 minutes, infuriating many Virginians who want to see action taken on the issue of gun violence.

During the cabinet meeting yesterday, Northam listed a number of legislative items he’d like to see passed in the General Assembly this year. Among them were universal background checks for gun buyers, reinstating the one-handgun-a-month rule, requiring reporting of lost or stolen guns within 24 hours of their disappearance, and a ban on weapons with high-capacity magazines and bump stocks. “They’re pieces of legislation that will save lives, they’re also pieces of legislation that Virginians agree with,” Northam said, according to the Virginia Mercury. “We’ll at least start with those.”

Northam also said that he wanted to give local governments the chance to decide what to do with their Confederate monuments, an issue with relevance in Richmond (the statues on Monument Avenue are currently under state control) as well as Charlottesville and Norfolk. Northam also stated that he wants to increase Virginia’s minimum wage, and work to decriminalize marijuana.

Here at GayRVA (and RVA Magazine), we’d love to see all of those things happen. Indeed, to truly fulfill the promise our newly Democratic state legislature brings to us, these things need to happen. For Virginia’s LGBTQ population and for many other marginalized communities, they will make a significant difference to our quality of life here in the Commonwealth. Let’s get it done.

Top Photo via VCU-CNS

Candidate Debates Spotlight Closely Contested General Assembly Races

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With control of the General Assembly at stake, Republican incumbents Kirk Cox and Glen Sturtevant faced their Democratic challengers, Ghazala Hashmi and Sheila Bynum-Coleman, in contentious debates last week.

Republican incumbents fighting to keep seats in the 10th Senate and 66th House Districts debated Democratic challengers Wednesday night. Del. Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, elected to the district in 1989, faced opponent Sheila Bynum-Coleman. Sen. Glen Sturtevant, R-Richmond, in his first Senate re-election campaign, debated challenger Ghazala Hashmi. 

A crowd of around 100 people filled Studio A of Virginia’s home for Public Media, and more tuned in to hear the debate live on-air. The candidates answered questions submitted by the audience in addition to ones written by hosts ChamberRVA and VPM.

Cox, who was elected unanimously as Speaker of the House in 2018, and Bynum-Coleman, now in her fourth political bid for a House district win, fielded questions on a variety of issues including budget priorities, housing, health care, gun control, climate change, and civil rights.

Bynum-Coleman, a small business owner, said she was inspired to run for office by her son, who has a learning disability. 

Bynum-Coleman and Cox agreed that education is a top legislative priority. Bynum-Coleman seeks to increase teacher pay as well as funding for schools and trade programs.

Cox, a retired teacher, also wants to raise teacher salaries to the national average. He added that he would focus on building the state’s cash reserve — currently over $1 billion — in the 2020 budget session.

“We have worked extremely hard to build that reserve against the recession,” Cox said. “I would like to build that reserve further.”

Del. Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, moderator Craig Carper, and Democrat Sheila Bynum-Coleman at the candidate forum on Wednesday. Photo via CNS

Both candidates agreed that Virginia should remain ranked No. 1 for business, but Bynum-Coleman emphasized that the state should focus on workers. 

“I’m a small business owner, and we also have to make sure that Virginia is No. 1 for workers,” Bynum-Coleman said. “We’re talking about corporations versus people.”

Both candidates voiced support for LGBTQ non-discrimination protections. Cox said “discrimination should be against the law,” even though bills such as HB 2067 and HB 2677 to end anti-LGBTQ discrimination in work and housing did not make it past Republican-led House sub-committees in the regular legislative session. Cox said that state employment decisions should be merit-based. 

On the same issue, Bynum-Coleman said legislators should put measures in place so no one is discriminated against based on gender or sexual orientation.

Candidates were asked if they believe in climate change. Cox did not directly respond yes or no, but did say the state needs to be smart about alternative sources, that he has worked very hard on clean water and coastal flooding issues and that he’s against taxpayers absorbing costly energy tax policies.

Bynum-Coleman said she believes in climate change and wants the state to go beyond federal government requirements to ensure clean water and clean air. She talked multiple times about “stopping the chemicals that are going into our water.”

In response to defining common-sense gun legislation and gun regulation, Cox recognized that gun violence is a “serious problem” but sidestepped a direct answer to the question on restrictions. He pointed to the “constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens” and that Virginia has a lower crime rate than states with “more aggressive measures” for gun control.

Bynum-Coleman, whose daughter was shot in 2016, “wholeheartedly” wants universal background checks, which she said has support across the political spectrum and even among “a group of National Rifle Association members.” She also said she wants to ban bump stocks.

About two-thirds of the crowd remained for the second debate between Sturtevant and Hashmi. Sturtevant began by stating that his main priority is “continuing to be an independent voice for this district.” Sturtevant referenced a $25,000 donation that Gov. Ralph Northam made to Hashmi’s campaign via The Way Ahead PAC, saying that the donation “bought her silence” during the governor’s blackface scandal earlier this year.

“Governor Northam is not on the ballot in November 2019,” Hashmi said. “If we’re going to make decisions on who is right for this district, about who is right for Virginia, we need to be focusing on the issues that concern the voters in this district.”

Sen. Glen Sturtevant, R- Richmond, moderator Craig Carper, and Democrat Ghazala Hashmi at the candidate forum on Wednesday. Photo via CNS

Hashmi and Sturtevant had different views on whether Richmond’s Confederate statues should remain in place along Monument Avenue. Sturtevant supports leaving the monuments but adding historical context.

“I don’t think that just tearing down statues is the right way forward,” Sturtevant said. “Future generations will forget what was done here — and why — and America’s original sin of slavery.”

Hashmi, a professor at Reynolds Community College, countered his point by saying she teaches history through facts, but she doesn’t “teach history through Confederate monuments.” 

“What kind of a message do we send to visitors to our city when we have edifices that glorify a Confederate past?” Hashmi said. 

The Senate candidates differed on Medicaid and gun control, but both acknowledge climate change.

“I actually don’t believe in climate change … I believe in climate crisis,” Hashmi said. Sturtevant said he also believes in climate change, but said that there is no need to “destroy Virginia’s economy” while addressing climate change.

Sturtevant cited taxes as a reason he was opposed to Medicaid expansion, but he does not support rolling it back. Hashmi said expanding access to Medicaid is “an important first step” on lowering the costs of health care and wants to ensure access to health care “for all Virginians.”

Sturtevant said gun control is a mental health issue. Hashmi wants common sense gun safety and action in the General Assembly

The 66th District was one of 25 House districts redrawn earlier this year after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling that the previous map was racially gerrymandered. Chesterfield County voters account for 78 percent of the district, which also includes the cities of Colonial Heights and Richmond. The 66th District is projected to be 32 percent more favorable to Democrats than in the past, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

Republicans have held the 10th District — which voted for Democrats in the 2018, 2017, and 2016 elections — since a special election in 1986 — 33 years. Chesterfield and Richmond voters make up the bulk of the district, in addition to Powhatan County.

Cox has accrued the largest war chest of all House candidates, raising over $1.1 million. Bynum-Coleman has raised $470,308 in the same period.

Sturtevant has outraised Hashmi, $759,637 to $607,821, according to VPAP data from the end of August. New campaign totals will be released Oct. 15.

ChamberRVA and VPM will again partner for a 12th Senate District debate Oct. 18 at the VPM studio. Incumbent Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant, R-Henrico squares off against challenger Del. Debra Rodman, D-Henrico.

Written by Jason Boleman, Capital News Service. Top Photo: Supporters meet with Del. Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, and Democrat Sheila Bynum-Coleman after the candidate forum on Wednesday, via CNS

Op-Ed: Gay Men Have a Stake In the Abortion Debate — The Women Who Have Always Supported Us

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Behind every gay man, there is a great woman — or, more accurately, great women. Joe Biden said of Will and Grace that the show “did more to educate the American public than almost anybody’s ever done so far.” And he was absolutely right. The sitcom was indeed groundbreaking, because it normalized gay people to American audiences.

Yet, perhaps just as important was how it portrayed the relationships between gay men and their straight female friends. Did Will and Grace slip into low-hanging fruit territory? Of course it did. But beyond tropes and cliches, at its core, it was a decisive and reverent portrayal of the bonds between gay men and straight women. For Will, Grace offered a brand of supportive love that is so familiar to gay men everywhere. The most unconditional, non-judgmental kind of love. A love rooted in compassion and commiseration.

As Pride Month begins, I am reminded of all of the ways straight female allies have supported me throughout my life, and how straight women have fought shoulder to shoulder with the LGBTQ community from the very beginning. They have no skin in the game. No horse in the race. They stood with us out of pure conviction.

So as we celebrate Pride and the legacies of the activists that have stood up for LGBTQ rights, we must remember the role that was played by our straight female allies. As we watch state after state pass legislation that blocks access to reproductive healthcare, we have a moral obligation to sound the alarm, to galvanize, and to fight. We must stand with them as they have always stood with us.

While gay men will never need an abortion, women have everything to lose if Roe is overturned. Their fight is beyond the right to choose — it is a fight for dignity and equality. And that is precisely why I am committed to protecting access to safe and legal abortions. Advocating for women’s reproductive healthcare is a moral imperative for anyone who has ever experienced inequality. The lesson my community should take away from the advocacy of straight women is that we are all in this together. As Martin Luther King Jr said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

To the women in my life, the women of my state and of my country: I stand with you. You are not in this alone. You have always been there for us, and we are here for you now.

Note: Op-Eds are contributions from guest writers and do not reflect GayRVA editorial policy.

Photo courtesy Zachary For Virginia

Zachary Brown Brings Youthful Determination to Campaign for State Senate

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If the University of Richmond law student is elected, he’ll be the second openly gay state Senator in Virginia — as well as one of the youngest.

Zachary Brown is your average 23-year old first year law student, except in one way — he’s also running for Virginia State Senate.

“Oh my gosh, it is exactly what you would imagine,” Brown laughed. “It’s very long days, but the adrenaline of being in a campaign kind of keeps you going day after day.”

The University of Richmond law student has found a network of support for his campaign in the law students around him — all of whom are just as busy as he is. “I have this amazing support system behind me of other law students who are also dedicating 80 hour weeks on the campaign,” Brown said. “We’ve all become this one big happy family that’s trudging through law school, and also we’re excited to be a part of this state Senate campaign.”

Brown is running against incumbent Senator Glen Sturtevant in the 10th state Senate District, which encompasses parts of Richmond City, Chesterfield, and Powhatan.

“I decided to run because the current incumbent Republican Senator increasingly does not reflect the values of this district, and the values of Virginia more broadly,” Brown said. “We thought we would step up and challenge his seat.”

Brown would be the second openly gay Senator in Virginia’s Senate. While his being elected would be a great step in terms of LGBTQ representation, he doesn’t think that sexual orientation matters to his campaign as much as it once would have.

“We have new generation of people, [where] that’s like… the third or fourth thing that they learn about me,” said Brown. “It’s not even really on their radar, in terms of something to be concerned about.”

Regardless of the more accepting attitudes he’s encountered as a young, politically-involved gay man, Brown recognizes that he couldn’t be where he is today without the work of advocates who came before him. “It’s important to remember that there were a lot of people who came before me that made it possible for me to run right now,” he said. “There were people who weren’t able to do this, and fought really hard to make sure that I’m able to do it. I’m really grateful for that.”

LGBTQ equality and dignity is a key part of Brown’s platform.

“There’s definitely that barrier you have to break, I think, with some people who might be skeptical,” he said. “Especially people who think that the LGBTQ community are single issue voters, that they only care about their own issues. Of course we care about equality and making sure people have the same rights as everybody else, but we also care about infrastructure and the economy.”

Sturtevant, who was elected to office in 2015, has had a mixed record on LGBTQ issues. During the 2019 General Assembly legislative session, he voted against a bill — which died in committee — that would have added gender, disability, gender identity, and sexual orientation to the list of protected groups that can be classified as victims of hate crimes.

“Virginia is moving in the direction of becoming a beacon of equality and justice, and equal protection under the law,” Brown said. “We need to make sure we’re putting people in the Senate, and also the House of Delegates, that reflect this pursuit towards a more equal and just Virginia. And that’s what I intend to do.”

Brown says his top policy goal is to provide universal, affordable access to quality healthcare.

“Right now in Virginia, there’s lot of people who are not only uninsured but are underinsured,” he said. “So they’re afraid to go to the emergency room, or to see a primary care physician, because they cannot pay either their premium or the deductible or copay.”

Brown, a California native, said he attended “excellent public schools” growing up, and hopes to provide that same opportunity to Virginia students.

“At the current stage, your ZIP code is determining quality of your public education,” he said. “[The situation is] affecting predominantly communities of color.”

His plans for education include ensuring teacher retention through pay raises, as well supporting legislation that would grant a tuition-free college education at in-state public universities for families making $85,000 a year or less.

“Neither of my parents went to college, but they worked really hard to make sure that I was able to go to college,” he said. “Now it’s my turn to make sure other people’s lives are easier, getting other people the same opportunities I was given.”

He also hopes to raise the state minimum wage from its current $7.25, and to reduce income inequality, in part through a progressive tax rate.

“Right now there’s a lot of people that have to work two to three jobs, not to have a little extra cash, to but to just make their rent payment, to make their mortgage payment, put a little gas in the car,” Brown said. “We want to make sure that the minimum wage is a living wage. We also want to make sure that we’re closing the growing wealth gap that is happening in Virginia, where those at top are becoming more wealthy while those at the bottom are getting less and less, even though they’re working just as hard.”

Brown said he’s part of a larger national movement of young people running for office.

“Whether it’s the high school students in Parkland, who created the march for our lives, or it’s Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, the bartender in Queens who decided to step up and run for Congress, there’s this inclination among young people to step up and throw their hat in the ring.”

This year in Virginia’s 10th Senate district, Zachary Brown is taking advantage of his opportunity to do the same.

Photos via Zachary for Virginia/Facebook

LGBTQ Rights Book Inspires Outrage For Elementary School Parent In Hanover

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Her 7-year-old daughter knows that homosexuality exists now, and she is not happy about it.

In suburban Hanover County, the mother of a second-grader is “outraged” after learning that a book about the LGBTQ civil rights struggle was read to her daughter in class. Yesterday, WRIC’s “8 Investigates” series reported on a complaint from Culley Burleson, who has a 7-year-old daughter currently attending second grade at Henry Clay Elementary School in Ashland.

“I think the topic was very heavy, I think it was inappropriate,” Burleson said in WRIC’s report on the incident.

The book in question? Pride: The Story Of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag, by Rob Sanders and Steven Salerno. To Burleson, the topic was “a little too much for a 7-year-old to understand and grasp.”

Reporter Kerri O’Brien responded with a voiceover as illustrations from the book scrolled by. “It is considered a children’s book, and Amazon calls it [a] best children’s book of the year,” O’Brien says. “But this mom thinks it’s too adult for a classroom of 7-year-olds.”

One of Burleson’s main complaints was that the book “caused her [daughter] to know what homosexuality was.” She was also upset that an illustration in the book showed people protesting Milk, holding signs that said “Gays must go” and “God says no.”

Art by Steven Salerno, from Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag

“That image was enough for my daughter to come home and question why God would hate anyone he created,” Burleson told WRIC’s Kerri O’Brien. “She has been told her entire life God doesn’t hate anyone. Love everyone, if you don’t understand something about someone, pray for them, ask questions.”

Of course, at this point one must ask how Burleson intends to explain some of her fellow Christians to her daughter as she gets older. Indeed, it was only weeks ago that Westboro Baptist Church came to Richmond to protest the existence of Danica Roem. The slogans on their signs said things like “God Still Hates Fags,” and “Fags Doom Nations.” The signs depicted in Sanders and Salerno’s book are mild in comparison.

O’Brien goes on to report that WRIC reached out to Hanover County Schools, and their doing so resulted in Henry Clay Elementary School’s principal sending a letter home to parents, saying that the use of Pride in the classroom “was not vetted through the appropriate process at our school. It is also not an approved part of our curriculum.”

At the end of the segment, O’Brien asked Burleson, “What would you like to see happen here?”

“I want to see Hanover County’s policy changed where parents are aware of what materials are going to be read in the classroom,” Burleson replied.

And so, regardless of how far we’ve come, it seems there are still people out there who consider the existence of the LGBTQ community to be a matter requiring parental guidance, and are able to obtain a platform on local newscasts to air those views.

To the anonymous Hanover County schoolteacher left under the bus by all this, we at GayRVA salute you. Hopefully the day will come when you can tell children that we exist without having reporters call your boss about it.