Local
Graham, Thomas win Stein Club endorsements
Announcements come as Orange enters Council chairman race
D.C. City Council members Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who is gay, and Harry Thomas (D-Ward 5) won endorsements Monday from the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the city’s largest LGBT political group.
The two incumbents, both of whom voted for legislation to legalize same-sex marriage in the District, are running for re-election in the city’s Sept. 14 Democratic primary.
Club members voted by lopsided margins to endorse the two men during a club candidate forum and endorsement meeting for the wards 1 and 5 races, held at the Thurgood Marshall Building at 12th and T streets, N.W., in Ward 1.
The meeting took place less than a week after former Ward 5 Council member Vincent Orange, a Democrat, announced his candidacy for the Council chairman’s seat being vacated by incumbent Vincent Gray, who is running for mayor.
Orange’s chief opponent in this year’s Council chair race, Council member Kwame Brown (D-At Large), voted for the same-sex marriage law and has been a strong supporter of LGBT-related issues during his Council tenure.
In 2006, when Orange ran for mayor, he expressed strong opposition to proposals to legalize same-sex marriage in the city, calling his opponents who backed same-sex marriage “morally unfit to run this city.” Mayor Adrian Fenty, an outspoken supporter of same-sex marriage, defeated Orange and other candidates by a wide margin.
It thus surprised some activists that shortly after announcing his candidacy for Council chair, Orange issued a statement saying he now supports same-sex marriage.
He noted that as a member of the D.C. Democratic State Committee, he voted for a committee resolution endorsing the bill introduced by gay Council member David Catania (I-At Large) that legalized same-sex marriage in the District. The Council passed the bill in December, 11-2, and Fenty signed the measure that same month.
“In 2006, I did say that I believed that marriage is between a man and a woman,” Orange said in his statement released last week. “We have come a long way in the journey of life. Today, I stand on the right side of history.”
Gay activist Bob Summersgill, who helped coordinate the lobbying campaign in support of the D.C. same-sex marriage bill last year, said he was pleased that Orange has changed his position on the issue. But he was skeptical that Orange would win support from many LGBT voters.
“He wasn’t with us when this was a tough issue,” said Summersgill. “Now he’s with us when it’s a safe issue.”
At the Stein Club meeting Monday, Graham and Thomas pledged to work hard to ensure that the same-sex marriage law remains on the books by opposing efforts to hold a voter initiative to overturn it.
The main challengers to Graham and Thomas told club members that they, too, support the same-sex marriage law and would work to oppose efforts to place a voter initiative on the ballot to overturn the law. The opponents who spoke at the meeting were Ward 1 Democratic candidates Jeff Smith and Bryan Weaver, and Ward 5 candidate Kenyan McDuffie.
Each of the candidates, including Graham and Thomas, outlined their records and positions on LGBT issues in their responses to a Stein Club questionnaire. The documents can be viewed on the club’s web site, steindemocrats.org.
The club is scheduled to hold candidate endorsement forums for the wards 3 and 6 Council races May 24; the mayoral and D.C. delegate to Congress races June 14; and the Council chairman and at-large Council member contests July 12.
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
The Comings & Goings column also invites LGBTQ college students to share their successes with us. If you have been elected to a student government position, gotten an exciting internship, or are graduating and beginning your career with a great job, let us know so we can share your success.
Congratulations to Yadiel Meléndez, on their new role as Community Associate, with the Wanda Alston Foundation. Meléndez is piloting a new role as a Community Associate at the Wanda Alston Foundation, where they support queer and trans young people in finding their footing, building independence, and experiencing a housing community where they are seen, valued, and affirmed. They are coming into this role with more than a decade of experience as a community organizer and operations specialist, supporting diverse communities through service, advocacy, and program coordination.
Previously they worked for Right Proper Brewing Shaw as a server and bartender and at Sephora, Washington, DC, and at FreshFarm, DC, in bilingual food access. They also worked freelance to build foundational structures for local queer BIPOC performance art coalitions, producing variety shows to curate space for marginalized performance artists in the community. They were a production manager for Haus of Hart Productions, a BIPOC centric performance art production. They also worked as field staff with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in Stafford, Va.
Meléndez is bilingual, Spanish and English. Their work is guided by a commitment to dignity, safety, and trauma-informed engagement, particularly within LGBTQ and BIPOC communities.
Congratulations also to Ben Rosen LICSW, on his new role as program director, with the Wanda Alston Foundation. Rosen previously worked with Fountain House’s OnRamps program, helping to build a new, innovative outreach program for individuals considered chronically homeless, and living with serious mental illness, in the Times Square area of New York. Rosen is a Psychotherapist, having worked with SG Psychotherapy, and as the psychotherapist with the Nest Community Health Center (URAM).
Rosen has a B.F.A. in Theatre Arts: Musical Theatre, Minor in Psychology (Cum Laude) from Malloy University Conservatory; and his M.S.W. in Clinical Practice with Individuals, Families, and Groups, from The Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College, N.Y. He is independently licensed in New York and Washington, D.C.
Rehoboth Beach
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Attendees encouraged to wear appropriate gear
Diego’s in Rehoboth Beach hosts a monthly leather happy hour. April’s edition is scheduled for Friday, April 10, 5-7 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to wear appropriate gear. The event is billed as an official event of BLUF, the free community group for men interested in leather. After happy hour, the attendees are encouraged to reconvene at Local Bootlegging Company for dinner, which allows cigar smoking. There’s no cover charge for either event.
District of Columbia
Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
Two memorial events scheduled in D.C.
Two celebrations of life are planned for Sean Christopher Bartel, 48, who was found deceased on a hiking trail in Argentina on or around March 15. Bartel began his career as a television news reporter and news anchor at stations in Louisville, Ky., and Evansville, Ind., before serving as Senior Video Producer for the D.C.-based International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union from 2013 to 2024.
A memorial gathering is planned for Friday, April 10, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the IBEW International Office (900 7th St., N.W.), according to a statement by the DC Gay Flag Football League, where Bartel was a longtime member. A celebration of life is planned that same evening, 6-8 p.m. at Trade (1410 14th St., N.W.).
Minimal version of ‘Streetcar Named Desire’ heading to Dupont Underground
Comings & Goings
An effort to increase the number of psychiatrists of color
Calendar: April 10-16
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Tenn. lawmakers pass transgender “watch list” bill
Cuba under pressure and without answers
Vance speaks at Orbán rally in Hungary
Amendments to India’s transgender rights law criticized
