nation / world
Jewish LGBTQ Donor Network Names New Executive Director
The Jewish LGBTQ Donor Network
announced that it named Neil Spears
as its new executive director.

The organization provides philan-
thropic support, mentoring and other
skills to organizations, foundations and
individuals to advance and support the
international Jewish LGBTQ commu-
nity. Members have the opportunity to
engage in leadership and advancement
Neil Spears
in education, networking and giving.

Spears most recently served as
executive director of the Silverlake Independent Jewish Community Center. He
is a Schusterman Senior Fellow, an alumnus of Leading Edge’s CEO Onboarding
Program, a recipient of JQ International’s Inspiration Award and serves on the
board of JQ International, a nonprofi t that promotes community, education and
support services for LGBTQ Jews. He is also a regular participant at SVARA’s
Queer Talmud Camp.

"Neil is the ideal candidate to maximize the already considerable impact of the
Jewish LGBTQ Donor Network,” said founder Stuart Kurlander of Washington,
D.C., a member of the ownership group of Mid-Atlantic Media, publisher of
the Jewish Exponent, “to drive grant-making opportunities and to signifi cantly
grow partnerships with well-established philanthropists that will meaningfully
impact the lives of LGBTQ Jews and enhance their roles in the broader Jewish
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Judge Slashes Charlottesville Penalties by 90%
The judge in the civil case brought against the organizers of the 2017 white
supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, that resulted in the death of a
protester, has slashed the penalties awarded to the victims, JTA.org reported.

Victims in the case, brought by two Jewish attorneys who have made it their
mission to hit neo-Nazis in their bank accounts, are entitled to $2.35 million, not
the $26 million that a jury awarded, Judge Norman Moon ruled on Jan. 3.

Moon’s ruling was expected because he hewed to a Virginia law that caps punitive
damages at $350,000, The Washington Post reported. The jury in the case, which
wrapped up in November 2021, had awarded $24 million in punitive damages.

Moon left in place $2 million in compensatory damages meant to replace lost
wages and other expenses associated with being a victim, bringing the total
owed to the victims to $2.35 million.

Courtesy of the Jewish LGBTQ Donor Network
Romanian City Council Votes Down Plan to Remove Bust of
Pro-Nazi Government Offi cial
Watchdogs in Romania slammed an administrative unit of Bucharest’s city coun-
cil for refusing to dismantle a bust honoring Mircea Vulcanescu, who served as a
fi nance minister in the country’s pro-Nazi government during World War II, JTA.

org reported.

On Dec. 28, Sector 2 of the city council voted down a resolution to remove the
monument from Saint Stefan park in the Romanian capital. The resolution, which
attracted national attention, was initiated by a local councilor from the center-right
National Liberal Party and failed to be adopted as a majority of councilors abstained.

Parliament member Antonio Andrusceac, of the far-right and nationalist
Alliance for the Union of Romanians party, was present at the vote and accused
the Elie Wiesel Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania — a public
institution that has long championed the removal of monuments honoring Nazi
fi gures and collaborators — of “rewriting Romanian history and demolishing the
cult of its heroes and martyrs." ■
— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 17