Local
Mendelson wins top GLAA rating for D.C. Council
Grosso, Brown take high scores for at-large Council contest
D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) received GLAA’s highest possible score in his race for City Council Chair. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) received a +10 rating from the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, the highest possible score, in his race for the position of City Council Chair.
Mendelson, a long-time supporter of LGBT rights who played the lead role in shepherding the city’s same-sex marriage law though the Council, is considered the strong favorite to beat Democratic challenger Calvin Gurley in a Nov. 6 special election.
GLAA rates candidates on a scale of -10, the worst possible rating, to +10, the highest score.
In the general election race for two at-large Council seats, GLAA gave challenger David Grosso, an independent, a +9 rating compared to a +7.5 rating for incumbent Michael A. Brown, who’s also an independent.
In a statement announcing its ratings, GLAA, a non-partisan LGBT advocacy organization, said Grosso and Brown are equally supportive on the issues deemed important by GLAA and both have strong records of support on those issues.
The statement says Grosso received the higher score based on the “substance” of his answers to a GLAA questionnaire, which asks candidates to provide detailed responses to a wide range of LGBT-related issues as well as a few non-LGBT specific issues.
In a development likely to raise concern among some LGBT Democrats, GLAA gave incumbent Council member Vincent Orange (D-At-Large) a +0.5 rating, saying Orange disagrees with GLAA on a number of issues and “showed no understanding of the issues in his questionnaire” responses.
The GLAA ratings came out on Oct. 10, the same day that the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the city’s largest LGBT political group, voted to endorse Orange’s re-election bid. His supporters among club members say he has shown overall support on most LGBT issues.
Most political observers believe Orange and Brown remain the strong favorites to win re-election, with Grosso considered the challenger with the best shot at pulling off an upset victory by winning one of the two seats.
Others running for the at-large seats who were rated by GLAA are independent A.J. Cooper (+4); Leon Swain Jr. (+4), Statehood Green Party candidate Ann Wilcox (0); and Republican Mary Brooks Beatty (0). GLAA said Wilcox and Beatty failed to return the questionnaire, resulting in an automatic 0 rating absent credible information about their records or positions on LGBT issues.
The Log Cabin Republicans of D.C. endorsed Beatty.
In other Council races, GLAA gave a -3.5 rating to incumbent Council members Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7) and Marion Barry (D-Ward 8). Both voted against the same-sex marriage law when it came up for a vote in the Council in 2009. GLAA says Barry lost additional points for speaking at an anti-gay rally calling for the Council to defeat the marriage equality law.
The group says Alexander lost additional points for introducing an amendment to the same-sex marriage bill that would have “effectively removed protections of the D.C. Human Rights Act on the basis of sexual orientation.” The amendment died in committee.
GLAA gave Alexander’s Republican challenger, Ron Moten, a +1.5 rating and Barry’s independent challenger Jauhar Abraham a 0 rating. Both failed to return the questionnaire, but GLAA said Moten scored points for his record of providing services to LGBT youth through his organization Peaceoholics.
In the remaining two Council races, LGBT supportive incumbents Jack Evans (D-Ward 3) and Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) are running unopposed. GLAA gave Evans a +8.5 rating and Bowser a +6.5.
In the at-large race, LGBT activists appear to be dividing their support between Orange, Brown and Grosso, who has been aggressively courting the gay vote, according to some observers.
Brown supporters say Brown expended political capital in sections of the city dominated by conservative black voters in an effort to campaign for the same-sex marriage law, saying they believe he worked hard to persuade black clergy to support marriage equality.
Grosso supporters say Grosso was a behind-the-scenes advocate for LGBT rights while working for pro-gay Congresswoman Norton and pro-gay former Council member Ambrose.
Virginia
McPike wins special election for Va. House of Delegates
Gay Alexandria City Council member becomes 8th LGBTQ member of legislature
Gay Alexandria City Council member Kirk McPike emerged as the decisive winner in a Feb. 10 special election for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Alexandria.
McPike, a Democrat, received 81.5 percent of the vote in his race against Republican Mason Butler, according to the local publication ALX Now.
He first won election to the Alexandria Council in 2021. He will be filling the House of Delegates seat being vacated by Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria), who won in another Feb. 10 special election for the Virginia State Senate seat being vacated by gay Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria).
Ebbin is resigning from his Senate this week to take a position with Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration.
Upon taking his 5th District seat in the House of Delegate, McPike will become the eighth out LGBTQ member of the Virginia General Assembly. Among those he will be joining is Sen. Danica Roem (D-Manassas), who became the Virginia Legislature’s first transgender member when she won election to the House of Delegates in 2017 before being elected to the Senate in 2023.
“I look forward to continuing to work to address our housing crisis, the challenge of climate change, and the damaging impacts of the Trump administration on the immigrant families, LGBTQ+ Virginians, and federal employees who call Alexandria home,” McPike said in a statement after winning the Democratic nomination for the seat in a special primary held on Jan. 20.
McPike, a longtime LGBTQ rights advocate, has served for the past 13 years as chief of staff for gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and has remained in that position during his tenure on the Alexandria Council. He said he will resign from that position before taking office in the House of Delegates.
Local
Local LGBTQ groups, activists to commemorate Black History Month
Rayceen Pendarvis to moderate Dupont Underground panel on Sunday
LGBTQ groups in D.C. and elsewhere plan to use Black History Month as an opportunity to commemorate and celebrate Black lives and experiences.
Team Rayceen Productions has no specific events planned, but co-founder Rayceen Pendarvis will attend many functions around D.C. this month.
Pendarvis, a longtime voice in the LGBTQ community in D.C. moderated a panel at Dupont Underground on Feb. 8. The event, “Every (Body) Wants to Be a Showgirl,” will feature art from Black burlesque artists from around the country. Pendarvis on Feb. 23 will attend the showing of multimedia play at the Lincoln Theatre that commemorates the life of James Baldwin.
Equality Virginia plans to prioritize Black voices through a weekly online series, and community-based story telling. The online digital series will center Black LGBTQ voices, specifically trailblazers and activists, and contemporary Black queer and transgender people.
Narissa Rahaman, Equality Virginia’s executive director, stressed the importance of the Black queer community to the overall Pride movement, and said “Equality Virginia is proud to center those voices in our work this month and beyond.”
The Capital Pride Alliance, which hosts Pride events in D.C., has an alliance with the Center for Black Equity, which brings Black Pride to D.C. over Memorial Day weekend. The National LGBTQ Task Force has no specific Black History Month events planned, but plans to participate in online collaborations.
Cathy Renna, the Task Force’s director of communications, told the Washington Blade the organization remains committed to uplifting Black voices. “Our priority is keeping this at the forefront everyday,” she said.
The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center is also hosting a series of Black History Month events.
The D.C. Public Library earlier this year launched “Freedom and Resistance,” an exhibition that celebrates Black History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. It will remain on display until the middle of March at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at 901 G St., N.W.
District of Columbia
U.S. Attorney’s Office drops hate crime charge in anti-gay assault
Case remains under investigation and ‘further charges’ could come
D.C. police announced on Feb. 9 that they had arrested two days earlier on Feb. 7 a Germantown, Md., man on a charge of simple assault with a hate crime designation after the man allegedly assaulted a gay man at 14th and Q Streets, N.W., while using “homophobic slurs.”
But D.C. Superior Court records show that prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C., which prosecutes D.C. violent crime cases, charged the arrested man only with simple assault without a hate crime designation.
In response to a request by the Washington Blade for the reason why the hate crime designation was dropped, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office provided this response: “We continue to investigate this matter and make no mistake: should the evidence call for further charges, we will not hesitate to charge them.”
In a statement announcing the arrest in this case, D.C. police stated, “On Saturday, February 7, 2026, at approximately 7:45 p.m. the victim and suspect were in the 1500 block of 14th Street, Northwest. The suspect requested a ‘high five’ from the victim. The victim declined and continued walking,” the statement says.
“The suspect assaulted the victim and used homophobic slurs,” the police statement continues. “The suspect was apprehended by responding officers.”
It adds that 26-year-old Dean Edmundson of Germantown, Md. “was arrested and charged with Simple Assault (Hate/Bias).” The statement also adds, “A designation as a hate crime by MPD does not mean that prosecutors will prosecute it as a hate crime.”
Under D.C.’s Bias Related Crime Act of 1989, penalties for crimes motivated by prejudice against individuals based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and homelessness can be enhanced by a court upon conviction by one and a half times greater than the penalty of the underlying crime.
Prosecutors in the past both in D.C. and other states have said they sometimes decide not to include a hate crime designation in assault cases if they don’t think the evidence is sufficient to obtain a conviction by a jury. In some instances, prosecutors have said they were concerned that a skeptical jury might decide to find a defendant not guilty of the underlying assault charge if they did not believe a motive of hate was involved.
A more detailed arrest affidavit filed by D.C. police in Superior Court appears to support the charge of a hate crime designation.
“The victim stated that they refused to High-Five Defendant Edmondson, which, upon that happening, Defendant Edmondson started walking behind both the victim and witness, calling the victim, “bald, ugly, and gay,” the arrest affidavit states.
“The victim stated that upon being called that, Defendant Edmundson pushed the victim with both hands, shoving them, causing the victim to feel the force of the push,” the affidavit continues. “The victim stated that they felt offended and that they were also gay,” it says.
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