Local

Gay man killed in Anacostia apartment

Police tell neighbors no evidence of forced entry found

Published

16 years ago

June 2, 2010

A 38-year-old gay man was found stabbed to death in his Anacostia apartment May 27, and D.C. police are seeking help from the LGBT community to help their investigation into the slaying.

Michael McKoy, who was found dead in his third-floor apartment at 1635 V St., S.E., became the fourth gay man to be killed in the D.C. area since December and the third to be murdered in neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River.

Lt. Paul Wingate of the D.C. police’s Homicide Branch said officials have no suspects or motive in the McKoy case. He noted that police are hoping residents from the neighborhood or others who knew McKoy will come forward with information to further the investigation.

Wingate said he could neither confirm nor deny information obtained by the Blade that police told neighbors that no signs of a forced entry into the building or into McKoy’s apartment were found.

Police have said in other cases that a lack of forced entry evidence usually means the victim knew his or her attacker and invited them into their home.

A resident of the building, who spoke to the Blade on condition of anonymity, said police investigators approached all residents seeking information for the case. The resident noted that investigators assured the residents they did not believe the incident was a random killing by someone who broke into the building.

Wingate said investigators have circulated a photo of McKoy to building residents and in the surrounding neighborhood.

In an announcement released May 28, police said they are offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for McKoy’s murder. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 202-727-9099.

McKoy’s stabbing death follows two other slayings of gay men in Southeast D.C. neighborhoods over the past six months. In December, District resident Anthony Perkins was found shot to death inside his car, which was parked on the 2900 block of Fourth Street, S.E. Antwan Holcomb, 20, a nearby resident, has been charged with first-degree murder while armed in connection with the killing. A police affidavit says a witness told investigators Holcomb met Perkins through a gay phone chat line and Holcomb pretended he was gay as a means of luring Perkins to a location where Holcomb could rob Perkins.

On Jan. 10, Maryland resident Gordon Rivers, also gay, was found shot to death on the street next to his car along the 2600 block of Naylor Road, S.E. Police have said witnesses told them a suspect shot Rivers in a botched holdup attempt inside Rivers’ car. Anthony Hager, 22, of Temple Hills, Md., and William Wren, 17, of Southeast D.C., have since been charged with first-degree murder in connection with Rivers’ death.

Police said Rivers drove to the area where he was shot after Wren reportedly called Rivers, inviting him to meet with Wren. Police have declined to say how Rivers and Wren first met and whether their meeting was through the Internet or a phone chat line.

Gay D.C. middle school principal Brian Betts, who was found April 15 shot to death in his house in Silver Spring, Md., met through a sexually oriented Internet and phone chat line catering to gay men at least one of three 18-year-old men charged with his murder, according to police sources.

The growing number of cases where gay men appear to have been thusly targeted prompted Gays & Lesbians Opposing Violence to issue an alert warning locals of the dangers associated with meeting people through such venues.

Gay activist Phil Pannell said listings by gay men in Southeast D.C. neighborhoods, including Anacostia, have appeared recently on Internet dating sites for gay men.

Wingate said investigators are unsure whether McKoy lived alone or had a roommate. He noted that police received conflicting reports from neighbors, with some believing McKoy lived with another man at various times.

The lieutenant confirmed a report from a neighbor that McKoy’s body was discovered a few days after authorities believe he was stabbed to death. Wingate said relatives found McKoy’s body and contacted police.

Virginia

Gay Va. State Sen. Ebbin resigns for role in Spanberger administration

Veteran lawmaker will step down in February

Published

3 days ago

January 8, 2026

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Virginia State Sen. Adam Ebbin will step down effective Feb. 18. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Alexandria Democrat Adam Ebbin, who has served as an openly gay member of the Virginia Legislature since 2004, announced on Jan. 7 that he is resigning from his seat in the State Senate to take a job in the administration of Gov.-Elect Abigail Spanberger.

Since 2012, Ebbin has been a member of the Virginia Senate for the 39^th District representing parts of Alexandria, Arlington, and Fairfax counties. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Alexandria from 2004 to 2012, becoming the state’s first out gay lawmaker.

His announcement says he submitted his resignation from his Senate position effective Feb. 18 to join the Spanberger administration as a senior adviser at the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority.

“I’m grateful to have the benefit of Senator Ebbin’s policy expertise continuing to serve the people of Virginia, and I look forward to working with him to prioritize public safety and public health,” Spanberger said in Ebbin’s announcement statement.

She was referring to the lead role Ebbin has played in the Virginia Legislature’s approval in 2020 of legislation decriminalizing marijuana and the subsequent approval in 2021of a bill legalizing recreational use and possession of marijuana for adults 21 years of age and older. But the Virginia Legislature has yet to pass legislation facilitating the retail sale of marijuana for recreational use and limits sales to purchases at licensed medical marijuana dispensaries.

“I share Governor-elect Spanberger’s goal that adults 21 and over who choose to use cannabis, and those who use it for medical treatment, have access to a well-tested, accurately labeled product, free from contamination,” Ebbin said in his statement. “2026 is the year we will move cannabis sales off the street corner and behind the age-verified counter,” he said.

Maryland

Steny Hoyer, the longest-serving House Democrat, to retire from Congress

Md. congressman served for years in party leadership

Published

4 days ago

January 8, 2026

Baltimore Banner

At 86, Steny Hoyer is the latest in a generation of senior-most leaders stepping aside, making way for a new era of lawmakers eager to take on governing. (Photo by KT Kanazawich for the Baltimore Banner)

By ASSOCIATED PRESS and LISA MASCARO | Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the longest-serving Democrat in Congress and once a rival to become House speaker, will announce Thursday he is set to retire at the end of his term.

Hoyer, who served for years in party leadership and helped steer Democrats through some of their most significant legislative victories, is set to deliver a House floor speech about his decision, according to a person familiar with the situation and granted anonymity to discuss it.

“Tune in,” Hoyer said on social media. He confirmed his retirement plans in an interview with the Washington Post.

The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

District of Columbia

Kennedy Center renaming triggers backlash

Artists who cancel shows threatened; calls for funding boycott grow

Published

4 days ago

January 7, 2026

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Richard Grenell, president of the Kennedy Center, threatened to sue a performer who canceled a holiday show. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Efforts to rename the Kennedy Center to add President Trump’s name to the D.C. arts institution continue to spark backlash.

A new petition from Qommittee , a national network of drag artists and allies led by survivors of hate crimes, calls on Kennedy Center donors to suspend funding to the center until “artistic independence is restored, and to redirect support to banned or censored artists.”

“While Trump won’t back down, the donors who contribute nearly $100 million annually to the Kennedy Center can afford to take a stand,” the petition reads. “Money talks. When donors fund censorship, they don’t just harm one institution – they tell marginalized communities their stories don’t deserve to be told.”

The petition can be found here.

Meanwhile, a decision by several prominent musicians and jazz performers to cancel their shows at the recently renamed Trump-Kennedy Center in D.C. planned for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve has drawn the ire of the Center’s president, Richard Grenell.

Grenell, a gay supporter of President Donald Trump who served as U.S. ambassador to Germany during Trump’s first term as president, was named Kennedy Center president last year by its board of directors that had been appointed by Trump.

Last month the board voted to change the official name of the center from the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts to the Donald J. Trump And The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts. The revised name has been installed on the outside wall of the center’s building but is not official because any name change would require congressional action.

According to a report by the New York Times, Grenell informed jazz musician Chuck Redd, who cancelled a 2025 Christmas Eve concert that he has hosted at the Kennedy Center for nearly 20 years in response to the name change, that Grenell planned to arrange for the center to file a lawsuit against him for the cancellation.

“Your decision to withdraw at the last moment — explicitly in response to the Center’s recent renaming, which honors President Trump’s extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure — is classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit arts institution,” the Times quoted Grenell as saying in a letter to Redd.

“This is your official notice that we will seek $1 million in damages from you for this political stunt,” the Times quoted Grenell’s letter as saying.

A spokesperson for the Trump-Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to an inquiry from the Washington Blade asking if the center still planned to file that lawsuit and whether it planned to file suits against some of the other musicians who recently cancelled their performances following the name change.

In a follow-up story published on Dec. 29, the New York Times reported that a prominent jazz ensemble and a New York dance company had canceled performances scheduled to take place on New Year’s Eve at the Kennedy Center.

The Times reported the jazz ensemble called The Cookers did not give a reason for the cancellation in a statement it released, but its drummer, Billy Hart, told the Times the center’s name change “evidently” played a role in the decision to cancel the performance.

Grenell released a statement on Dec. 29 calling these and other performers who cancelled their shows “far left political activists” who he said had been booked by the Kennedy Center’s previous leadership.

“Boycotting the arts to show you support the arts is a form of derangement syndrome,” the Times quoted him as saying in his statement.