Local
A somber night for Fenty supporters
Exuberance of early hours gave way to disappointment for mayor’s faithful
The early exuberance at Adrian Fenty’s campaign headquarters on Tuesday night slowly changed to disappointment as election results rolled in showing the D.C. mayor wouldn’t retain his job.
As polls closed at 8 p.m., Fenty supporters were optimistic, despite polls showing that he was several points behind D.C. City Council Chairman Vincent Gray.
Clad in green T-shirts, Fenty campaign workers stood outside the headquarters waiving signs as they shouted “four more years!”
One Fenty supporter inside the building clapped her hands as she sang “Victory is ours … We told Gray … Get thee behind!”
As the night progressed, hip-hop music filled the headquarters as one supporter shouted, “C’mon, ya’ll. There’s a celebration here!” Signs were posted in the building reading “4 More for Fenty” and “Fenty is Fantastic!”
Supporters announced Fenty victories in precincts they said he had won, including precinct 17 in Ward 2, an area with a significant LGBT population that Fenty carried by a margin of 731-334.
One gay Fenty volunteer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity early in the evening, said he was “pretty optimistic” based on “preliminary numbers and general sentiment.”
The volunteer dismissed polls showing that Gray was leading Fenty on the day of the primary and said early voting would help the mayor retain his position.
“We were out there every day helping folks get to the precincts,” the volunteer said.
But the mood became more somber as the night progressed and the headquarters filled with supporters anxiously awaiting returns.
Some waited for hours for the results to become public online as one supporter quipped, “Are the people counting the votes the same people responsible for shoveling the snow last winter?”
As early results began to trickle in from wards across the District, one supporter noted the numbers showed Gray with a 40-point lead over Fenty.
“It’s still early and our strength hasn’t yet come in,” the supporter said with strained optimism.
The impatience over waiting for the results gave way to alarm at one point as one campaign volunteer fell and shattered a glass wall at the campaign headquarters. Supporters looked on with concern as an ambulance and police cars arrived to care for the injured worker.
The mood turned somber as it became clear late in the evening that Fenty lost to Gray. Unofficial election results the next day showed Gray leading with 53 percent of the vote compared to the 46 percent that Fenty claimed.
Christopher Dyer, director of the Mayor’s Office of GLBT Affairs, said he’s anticipating the new leadership from Gray in the wake of Fenty’s loss.
“Obviously, the mayor didn’t win, but [I’m] looking forward to being as helpful as I can to Chairman Gray as he assumes leadership of our great city in January,” Dyer said.
Dyer said he doesn’t think the LGBT vote played a major role in the outcome.
“I haven’t looked at all the results, but I think that the … gay vote pretty much mirrored the non-gay vote,” Dyer said.
Still, Dyer said the residents of Ward 2 — a part of the District with a significant LGBT population — were “predominantly Fenty supporters.”
“It’s hard to tell,” Dyer said. “The results would indicate that in LGBT-friendly precincts, Fenty did well, but in precincts where there are LGBT residents east of the river, Gray did well.”
But Dyer maintained it’s time to focus on bringing the city together under the new leadership.
“It would be nice to know what the gay vote is, but I think the real important thing is for the city to come together and be supportive of whomever our leaders are,” Dyer said.
Asked whether he thinks he would take a role in the Gray administration, Dyer replied, “I serve at the pleasure of the mayor and it’s a great pleasure.”
Virginia
DOJ seeks to join lawsuit against Loudoun County over trans student in locker room
Three male high school students suspended after complaining about classmate
The Justice Department has asked to join a federal lawsuit against Loudoun County Public Schools over the way it handled the case of three male high school students who complained about a transgender student in a boys’ locker room.
The Washington Blade earlier this year reported Loudoun County public schools suspended the three boys and launched a Title IX investigation into whether they sexually harassed the student after they said they felt uncomfortable with their classmate in the locker room at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn.
The parents of two of the boys filed a lawsuit against Loudoun County public schools in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria. The Richmond-based Founding Freedoms Law Center and America First Legal, which White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller co-founded, represent them.
The Justice Department in a Dec. 8 press release announced that “it filed legal action against the Loudoun County (Va.) School Board (Loudoun County) for its denial of equal protection based on religion.”
“The suit alleges that Loudoun County applied Policy 8040, which requires students and faculty to accept and promote gender ideology, to two Christian, male students in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” reads the press release.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in the press release said “students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate.”
“Loudoun County’s decision to advance and promote gender ideology tramples on the rights of religious students who cannot embrace ideas that deny biological reality,” said Dhillon.
Outgoing Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and outgoing Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares in May announced an investigation into the case.
The Virginia Department of Education in 2023 announced the new guidelines for trans and nonbinary students for which Youngkin asked. Equality Virginia and other advocacy groups claim they, among other things, forcibly out trans and nonbinary students.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in February launched an investigation into whether Loudoun County and four other Northern Virginia school districts’ policies in support of trans and nonbinary students violate Title IX and President Donald Trump’s executive order that prohibits federally funded educational institutions from promoting “gender ideology.”
District of Columbia
Capital Pride announces change in date for 2026 D.C. Pride parade and festival
Events related to U.S. 250th anniversary and Trump birthday cited as reasons for change
The Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C. based group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, has announced it is changing the dates for the 2026 Capital Pride Parade and Festival from the second weekend in June to the third weekend.
“For over a decade, Capital Pride has taken place during the second weekend in June, but in 2026, we are shifting our dates in response to the city’s capacity due to major events and preparations for the 250th anniversary of the United States,” according to a Dec. 9 statement released by Capital Pride Alliance.
The statement says the parade will take place on Saturday, June 20, 2026, with the festival and related concert taking place on June 21.
“This change ensures our community can gather safely and without unnecessary barriers,” the statement says. “By moving the celebration, we are protecting our space and preserving Pride as a powerful act of visibility, solidarity, and resistance,” it says.
Ryan Bos, the Capital Pride Alliance CEO and President, told the Washington Blade the change in dates came after the group conferred with D.C. government officials regarding plans for a number of events in the city on the second weekend in June. Among them, he noted, is a planned White House celebration of President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday and other events related to the U.S. 250th anniversary, which are expected to take place from early June through Independence Day on July 4.
The White House has announced plans for a large June 14, 2026 celebration on the White House south lawn of Trump’s 80th birthday that will include a large-scale Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event involving boxing and wrestling competition.
Bos said the Capital Pride Parade will take place along the same route it has in the past number of years, starting at 14th and T Streets, N.W. and traveling along 14th Street to Pennsylvania Ave., where it will end. He said the festival set for the following day will also take place at its usual location on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., between 2nd Street near the U.S. Capitol, to around 7th Street, N.W.
“Our Pride events thrive because of the passion and support of the community,” Capital Pride Board Chair Anna Jinkerson said in the statement. “In 2026, your involvement is more important than ever,” she said.
District of Columbia
Three women elected leaders of Capital Pride Alliance board
Restructured body includes chair rather than president as top leader
The Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C.-based group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, announced it has restructured its board of directors and elected for the first time three women to serve as leaders of the board’s Executive Committee.
“Congratulations to our newly elected Executive Officers, making history as Capital Pride Alliance’s first all-women Board leadership,” the group said in a statement.
“As we head into 2026 with a bold new leadership structure, we’re proud to welcome Anna Jinkerson as Board Chair, Kim Baker as Board Treasurer, and Taylor Lianne Chandler as Board Secretary,” the statement says.
In a separate statement released on Nov. 20, Capital Pride Alliance says the restructured Board now includes the top leadership posts of Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary, replacing the previous structure of President and Vice President as the top board leaders.
It says an additional update to the leadership structure includes a change in title for longtime Capital Pride official Ryan Bos from executive director to chief executive officer and president.
According to the statement, June Crenshaw, who served as acting deputy director during the time the group organized WorldPride 2025 in D.C., will now continue in that role as permanent deputy director.
The statement provides background information on the three newly elected women Board leaders.
• Anna Jinkerson (chair), who joined the Capital Pride Alliance board in 2022, previously served as the group’s vice president for operations and acting president. “A seasoned non-profit executive, she currently serves as Assistant to the President and CEO and Chief of Staff at Living Cities, a national member collaborative of leading philanthropic foundations and financial institutions committed to closing income and wealth gaps in the United States and building an economy that works for everyone.”
• Kim Baker (treasurer) is a “biracial Filipino American and queer leader,” a “retired, disabled U.S. Army veteran with more than 20 years of service and extensive experience in finance, security, and risk management.” She has served on the Capital Pride Board since 2018, “bringing a proven track record of steady, principled leadership and unwavering dedication to the LGBTQ+ community.”
• Taylor Lianne Chandler (Secretary) is a former sign language interpreter and crisis management consultant. She “takes office as the first intersex and trans-identifying member of the Executive Committee.” She joined the Capital Pride Board in 2019 and previously served as executive producer from 2016 to 2018.
Bos told the Washington Blade in a Dec. 2 interview that the Capital Pride board currently has 12 members, and is in the process of interviewing additional potential board members.
“In January we will be announcing in another likely press release the full board,” Bos said. “We are finishing the interview process of new board members this month,” he said. “And they will take office to join the board in January.”
Bos said the organization’s rules set a cap of 25 total board members, but the board, which elects its members, has not yet decided how many additional members it will select and a full 25-member board is not required.
The Nov. 20 Capital Pride statement says the new board executive members will succeed the organization’s previous leadership team, which included Ashley Smith, who served as president for eight years before he resigned earlier this year; Anthony Musa, who served for seven years as vice president of board engagement; Natalie Thompson, who served eight years on the executive committee; and Vince Micone, who served for eight years as vice president of operations.
“I am grateful for the leadership, dedication, and commitment shown by our former executive officers — Ashley, Natalie, Anthony, and Vince — who have been instrumental in CPA’s growth and the exceptional success of WorldPride 2025,” Bos said in the statement.
“I look forward to collaborating with Anna in her new role, as well as Kim and Taylor in theirs, as we take on the important work ahead, prepare for Capital Pride 2026, and expand our platform and voice through Pride365,” Bos said.
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