D.C. police investigating bomb threat targeting mayor’s Pride event In weet, user says I m gonna bomb it By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
D.C. police are investigating a short message posted on the Twitter page of Mayor uriel Bowser s ffice of B ffairs that appears to threaten to place a bomb at the annual District Pride concert scheduled to take place une at the incoln heatre. person identified as lfie ingay posted on the B ffairs ffice post, i m gonna bomb it.” The person was referring to the District ride event that the B ffairs ffice witter page was promoting. oin the ayor s ffice of B ffairs for our #District of Pride Showcase on June th at p.m., the office s weet says. his show-stopping event will highlight some of our amazing talent who live right here in DC, the witter message says. The message includes a web address for people to RSVP to attend the event. he person identified as lfie ingay @alfie tingay on the mayor s weet posted the I m gonna bomb it message underneath a
printed ad in a box on the site promoting the District Pride event. ingay posted the message at the bottom of a list of Twitter addresses to which he sent his Twitter message. They include agencies in the mayor s office and B organi ations and media outlets, including the Washington Blade, agg maga ine, etro Weekly, D.C. Black ride, and Capital ride, the organization sponsoring the upcoming Capital Pride parade and festival on June 10 and 11. The Blade forwarded the threatening Twitter post to the D.C. police ublic Information ffice and to the mayor s office for comment. he mayor s office, including ffice of B ffairs Director aper Bowles, had not responded to the Blade’s request for comment as of May 18. spokesperson for the incoln heatre couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
D.C. police spokesperson Sean Hicks responded with an email message. I have sent this to our Intel nit and Special iaison Branch to review, ickman told the Blade in an email message. We will get back to you once we ve had a chance to look into it, he said. he Special iaison Branch includes the department s B iaison nit. ickman on Wednesday, ay , sent the Blade a copy of the police incident report on the Twitter posting matter that the Blade had re uested. he report states, espondent reports that he observed a weet on witter that stated, I m going to bomb it.’ R-1 believes that the subject that posted the Tweet was targeting members and organizations that are a part of and support the B community, the report concludes. he report states that the identity of - is C IDE I . ickman told the Blade - wished to remain anonymous.” Hickman said police investigators have a copy of the threatening Tweet. He did not say whether someone from the mayor s office reported the threatening witter post to police or whether the police first learned about it from the Blade’s inquiry.
Blade names recipients of two summer fellowships he Blade oundation this week announced the recipients of its 2023 summer fellowship program. Isabelle ravis she they is a senior at merican niversity studying ournalism and women s, gender, and se uality studies. She will focus on covering B issues in the local D.C. area for 12 weeks starting this week. The fellowship is made possible by a generous donation from the DC ront unners ride un event. I ve been reading the Blade since I first moved to D.C. for my freshman year and I m so e cited to be able to contribute to such a historic paper, ravis said. I love covering the B community because of the diversity of experiences that each queer person has and the joy that ueer people bring to everything they do. I m incredibly lucky to have this opportunity to be able to cover both the city and community that I love. oel ev- ov they them is a senior at the niversity of aryland College ark studying ournalism. ev- ov also
ISABELLE KRAVIS and JOEL LEV-TOV are the Blade Foundation’s 2023 summer fellows.
serves as president of the ssociation of B ournalists at College ark. ev- ov is the si th recipient of the Steve Elkins emorial ournalism ellowship, which hon-
ors the co-founder of C ehoboth. he fellow covers issues of interest to the B community in Delaware, also for 12 weeks. The fellowship is funded by donations from the Rehoboth Beach community. I m e tremely e cited to start reporting about my community for my community, ev- ov said. he Blade is offering me a special opportunity that I m very grateful for. I can’t wait to start reporting!” evin aff, editor of the Blade, welcomed ravis and ev- ov to work this week. We re all e cited to work with Isabelle and oel this summer, aff said. here s never been more news to cover and they will add an important, fresh perspective to our work. hank you to our donors and to the ront Runners for making this program possible.” or more information on the fellowship program or to donate, visit bladefoundation.org. FROM STAFF REPORTS
Bill to repeal Md. sodomy law to take effect without guv’s signature
Maryland Gov. WES MOORE (Public domain photo/Twitter)
aryland ov. Wes oore on riday announced he will allow a bill that repeals the state s nnatural or erverted Se ual ractices ct to become law without his signature. State Dels. David Moon (D-Montgomery County) and uke Clippinger D-Baltimore City introduced ouse Bill . State Sen. Clarence am D-Baltimore and oward Counties) put forth an identical measure in the Maryland Senate. he eneral ssembly in repealed the law s sodomy” provision. I m pleased that this bill has now become law, and this is a real and hard-fought win for the B community. This was a long-overdue update to the existing law to remove an outdated provision, am told the Washington Blade in a statement. While we had wanted to remove this provision from the law years ago when sodomy was
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struck from the statute, opponents fought to keep this with reassurance that it would unlikely ever be used to criminally charge individuals. nd ust the very ne t year, the arford County sheriff s office used this part of the statute to arrest individuals at a private business.” It is unfortunate that it took so long to correct this in the law, but I m glad to see that this misguided part of the statute is now finally gone, added am. I appreciate the sustained efforts and patience of all of the advocates who saw this bill through final passage. Even though it took a while, this win is something the B community should be proud of and find reassuring. oore, a Democrat, earlier this month signed the rans ealth E uity ct, which re uires aryland s edicaid program to cover gender-affirming treatment. FROM STAFF REPORTS