Local
Gay incumbents face opposition in ANC races
Crime, parking, nightlife issues dominate contests for unpaid posts

Editor’s note: Some minor changes were made to this story after it was posted as the Blade’s Lou Chibbaro heard from additional sources. The changes are in bold.
At least 29 gay or lesbian candidates are running for Advisory Neighborhood Commission seats in the city’s Nov. 2 election, and some who have served as commissioners for multiple terms are facing strong opposition.
Most observers familiar with ANC races say issues like trash collection, street crime, parking, and liquor license applications for restaurants or bars rather than LGBT rights dominate ANC elections.
Among the gay commissioners facing opposition this year is Dupont Circle Commissioner Ramon Estrada, who is being challenged by attorney Sunit Talapatra, who says Estrada’s opposition to various development projects along the 14th and U Street, N.W. corridor don’t represent the views of the majority of those living in Single Member District 2B09.
Estrada did not return a call seeking comment.
Four other gay commissioners in the Dupont Circle ANC are running unopposed in their re-election bids.
In the section of Ward 6 near the Washington Nationals Stadium, gay longtime Commissioner Bob Siegel, who represents SMD 6D07, is being challenged by urban design advocate David Garber, who says Siegel has not been aggressive enough in monitoring the rapidly changing area surrounding the new stadium.
Siegel disputes that claim, saying Garber has only been to one ANC 6D meeting in the three months he has lived in ANC 6D07. He says Garber doesn’t have the familiarity of the longtime residents in an area where new high-rise condominiums and upscale rental apartments are rapidly replacing the warehouses and auto repair garages that once dominated the neighborhood. Garber told the Blade he moved into the district in July but has familiarized himself with the important issues facing the neighborhood.
Siegel received a setback last month when popular Ward 6 Council member Tommy Wells endorsed Garber.
Congress created the ANCs in the early 1970s when it wrote and approved the city’s Home Rule Charter. In what was then considered a new means of advancing grassroots participatory democracy, the city’s congressional overseers designated 37 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions to represent neighborhoods throughout the city and subdivided them into 286 Single Member Districts.
Each district includes approximately 2,000 residents and is represented by a single commissioner elected to a two-year term. Commissioners are unpaid and their role is limited to advising the city government on a wide range of policy matters. The Home Rule Charter instructs city officials to give “great weight” to the recommendations of the ANCs.
In Ward 5, gay incumbent Barrie Daneker, who represents SMD 5C07 in the city’s Bloomingdale neighborhood, is facing a challenge from attorney James Fournier. Fournier states on his campaign website that Daneker didn’t adequately reach out to his constituents over a controversial liquor license application in the district and has not adequately handled a controversial proposal to develop the site of the city’s former water filtration plant near North Capital Street and Michigan Avenue.
Daneker said he has a two-term record of working closely with constituents and soliciting their views on a wide range of issues, including the water filtration site and the liquor license flap. He told members of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club Monday night his outspoken support for the city’s same-sex marriage equality law was controversial in a ward where many residents strongly opposed the law.
Ward 5 Council member Harry Thomas Jr., who angered many of his constituents by voting for the marriage bill, endorsed Daneker’s ANC re-election bid. Thomas won the Democratic nomination for his own seat by winning the primary in September by a comfortable margin despite organized opposition led by same-sex marriage opponents.
Daneker said some of that same opposition may be seeking to oust him from office in the ANC race.
Fournier could not be immediately reached.
In the Estrada-Talapatra race in Dupont Circle, Talapatra, who is straight, is being backed by gay civic activist and former Dupont Circle Civic Association President Joel Lawson.
Lawson and gay D.C. nightlife advocate Mark Lee have raised concerns in the past about Estrada’s tactics in opposing the liquor license of the Cada Vez restaurant, which hosted a weekly gay Latino dance party called Fuego. Estrada and others living near 15th and U St., N.W., where Cada Vez was located, complained that it appeared to be operating as a nightclub disguised as a restaurant, placing it in violation of the terms of its liquor license.
In an action that angered gay activists, Estrada and his domestic partner confronted the gay patrons of the Fuego dance party with video and still cameras, videotaping and photographing them as they entered and left the premises. Estrada said the action was needed to submit evidence to the city liquor board that Cada Vez was violating its liquor license by operating as a nightclub. But gay activists said the videotaping intimidated many Latino gays, some of whom feared they would be outed.
“Although Ramon is gay and I am a straight ally, I remain disturbed by the insensitivity Ramon’s demonstrated in sanctioning the videotaping of young LGBT patrons entering a club a couple years ago,” Talapatra told the Blade. “What home situations were those young kids returning to? Although businesses should abide by the conditions of their liquor licenses, of course, it is important not to embroil innocent patrons in any alleged dispute,” he said.
Another seven of the gay or lesbian ANC incumbents are facing opposition, but most are expected to win re-election to their respective seats.
Stein Club President Jeffrey Richardson said the club’s bylaws prevent it from endorsing ANC candidates because ANCs were created as non-partisan positions and the club doesn’t endorse non-Democrats. But Richardson said the club would send a list of the gay or “LGBT supportive” ANC candidates to its members to help them make “an informed decision” on which ANC candidates to support.
(Photo: Stein Club president Jeffrey Richardson; Blade file photo)
Following is a list the ANC candidates, both incumbents and challengers, who identified themselves as gay or lesbian to Stein Club members:
Juan Lopez, SMD 1B07, incumbent (South Columbia Heights)
Bill O’Field , SMD 1C02, (Kalorama Triangle)
Mike Feldstein, SMD 2B01, incumbent/unopposed (Dupont Circle)
Jack Jacobson, 2B04, incumbent/unopposed (Dupont Circle)
Victory Wexler, 2B05, incumbent/unopposed (Dupont Circle)
Mike Silverstein, 2B06, incumbent/unopposed (Dupont Circle)
Phil Carney, 2B07, incumbent/unopposed (Dupont Circle)
Ramon Estrada, 2B09, incumbent (Dupont Circle)
Alexander ‘Alex’ Padro, 2C01, incumbent/unopposed (Shaw)
Michael Benardo, 2F05, incumbent (Logan Circle)
Lee Brian Reba, 3C01, incumbent/unopposed (Woodley Park/Zoo)
Tom Smith, 3D02, incumbent/unopposed (Upper Northwest)
Bob Summersgill, 3F07, unopposed (North Cleveland Park/Van Ness)
Michael Yates, 4C01, incumbent/unopposed (Upper Northwest)
Joseph Martin, 4C09, incumbent/unopposed (Petworth)
Thalia Wiggins, 5B06, incumbent (Northeast)
Mary Lois Farmer-Allen, 5C06, incumbent (Northeast)
Barrie Daneker, 5C07, incumbent (Bloomingdale)
Neil Click, 6B08, incumbent (Capitol Hill)
Michael Patterson, 6B09, incumbent (Capitol Hill/Barney Circle)
Larry Frankel, 6B10 (RFK Stadium area)
Brian Cox, 6C05 (North Capitol Hill/H St., N.E. corridor)
Andy Litsky, 6D04, incumbent/unopposed (Southwest Waterfront)
Roger Moffatt, 6D05, incumbent (Southwest Waterfront)
Robert ‘Bob’ Siegel, 6D07, incumbent (Nationals Stadium area)
Zina Williams, 7B02, incumbent/unopposed (Naylor Rd., S.E. area)
Catherine Woods, 7C03, incumbent (Fitch Pl., N.E. area)
Maryland
Silver Spring holds annual Pride In The Plaza
‘Today means inclusion. It means to build resilience’

Silver Spring’s annual Pride in the Plaza event took place on Sunday to celebrate the LGBTQ community and emphasize inclusion and resilience.
“Today means inclusion. It means to build resilience, love,” Robyn Woods, program and outreach director for Live In Your Truth, which organized the event, said. “I mean, just being surrounded by the community and so many great entrepreneurs, business owners, and just being a part of this whole rainbow coalition that we call the LGBTQIA to be about.”
With the event being her first time organizing for Live In Your Truth, Woods said she felt emotional to see the support and love at the event.
“Some people (are) bringing out their children, their babies, their grandparents,” Woods said. “It’s a lot more allies here than anything else. That type of support to me means so much more than just support from my community; just outside support, inside support, so much support around it, so much love. Everyone’s smiling outside, helping each other.”
Attendees of the event were able to head over to the Family Fun Zone, an air-conditioned Pride Cool Down Lounge, or watch live drag performances in the main stage area.
Along with entertainment and a shaved-ice stand, rows of information tables stood along the plaza, including FreeState Justice, the Washington Spirit, Trans Maryland, Moco Pride Center, and the Heartwood Program, an organization that offers support, therapy, education, and resources to the LGBTQ community.
“I want people to know about our services, and I love what we have to offer,” Jessica Simon, psychotherapist for Heartwood Program’s Gender Wellness Clinic, said. “I (also) want to be part of a celebration with the community, and so it feels good to be here with other people who have something they want to give to the community.”
She added that within today’s political climate, to which she called an “antidote to shame,” it’s important to be celebrating Pride.
“There’s a lot of demonization of LGBTQI people,” Siena Iacuvazzi, facilitator for Maryland Trans Unity, said. “(Pride) is part of the healing process.”
Iacuvazzi said she was taught to be ashamed of who she was growing up, but being a part of a community helped her flourish in the future.
“I was taught how to hate myself. I was taught that I was an abomination to God,” she said. “But being a community is like understanding that there are people who have experienced the same thing, and they’re flourishing. They’re flourishing because they’re willing to stand up for themselves as human beings and discover themselves and understand what’s true for themselves.”
She added that Pride allows for a mutual understanding to take place.
“It’s more of a sense of belonging … and just taking that home and understanding you’re not alone,” Iacuvazzi said. “We’re each taking our own journey — we’re not putting that on each other. It’s just walking away with a sense of belonging and humanity.”
Similar to Iacuvazzi, Woods said she hopes attendees’ biggest takeaways would be family, fun, resilience, and pride.
“Being proud of yourself, being happy for who you are, and representation and how much it matters,” she continued. “And I think all these young people that are walking around here get to see versions of themselves, but older. They get to see so many different lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual people that are successful, that are showing love, that care, and it’s not how we’re portrayed in the media. It’s lovely to see it out here. (It’s) like we’re one big old, happy family.”
Virginia
Spanberger touts equality, reproductive rights in Arlington
Democratic Va. gubernatorial nominee made campaign stop at Freddie’s Beach Bar

With the general election heating up and LGBTQ rights under increasing threat nationwide, Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger brought her “Span Virginia Bus Tour” to Arlington’s Freddie’s Beach Bar for a campaign stop filled with cheers, policy pledges, and community spirit.
Spanberger, who served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2019 through early 2025 for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, also served as a federal law enforcement officer specializing in narcotics and money laundering cases, and as a CIA case officer working on counterterrorism and nuclear counterproliferation.
Spanberger is running against Republican nominee Winsome Earle-Sears, the current lieutenant governor of Virginia, who said she was “morally opposed” to a bill protecting marriage equality in the commonwealth.
She was joined by other Democratic candidates and supporters: lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Ghazala Hashmi, attorney general candidate Jay Jones, Virginia state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria), and Congressman Don Beyer.

Freddie’s was packed wall-to-wall with supporters, many of whom wore “Spanberger for Virginia” shirts in the progressive Pride flag colors. In her speech, she made it clear that LGBTQ Virginians’ rights are on the ballot this year.
“I’m so excited to be here, and I am so grateful to the entire staff of Freddy’s for letting us overtake this incredible venue that is not just an awesome place to come together in community, but is a symbol to so many people of joy, of happiness, of community and of celebrating our friends and our neighbors,” Spanberger told the packed restaurant. “It is exciting to be here, and particularly during this Pride month, and particularly as we reflect on the 10-year anniversary of Obergefell and the reality that we still have so much work to do.”
“The reality is there are so many people who still would be inclined to take us backwards,” she said. “In this moment when we see attacks on people’s rights, on people’s humanity, on Virginia, on our economy, on research, on public education, on food security, on health care, on Virginians, on their jobs, on public service and on people — it can get heavy.”
“What it does for me is it makes me want to double down, because once upon a time, when I was talking to my mother about some horror show or sequence of activities coming out of a particular administration, she did not really have the patience to listen to me and said ‘Abigail, let your rage fuel you’ — and the conversation was over. And so I reflect on that, because, in fact, every day there is so much fuel to be had in this world and in this moment.”
One of the points Spanberger continued to emphasize was the importance of steadfast state government officials following the election of President Donald Trump, which has led to rollbacks of LGBTQ and bodily autonomy rights as a result of the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court.
“What the past few years have shown us is that a Supreme Court decision, no matter how many years we have celebrated its existence, does not protect us in the long term. And so as governor, I will work to make sure that every protection we can put in place for the dignity, the value, and the equal rights of all Virginians is a priority.”
During her speech, Spanberger highlighted several of the key values driving her campaign — protecting reproductive freedom and human rights, lowering healthcare costs, safeguarding Virginia’s environment, and ensuring that public education is affordable, accessible, and rooted in truth, not politics.
Spanberger went as far as to say that she wants to amend the state’s constitution to remove Section 15-A. “The reality is that in Virginia, we still have a ban in our state constitution on marriage equality. It is of the utmost urgency that we move forward with our constitutional amendment.”
“We will work to ensure that that terrible constitutional amendment, that was put in years ago, is taken out and updated and ensuring that Virginia is reflective in our most essential documents of who we are as a commonwealth, which is an accepting place that celebrates the vibrancy of every single person and recognizes that all Virginians have a place, both in that constitution and in law,” she added.
Following the event, two supporters spoke to the Washington Blade about why they had come out to support Spanberger.
“I came out because I needed to show support for this ticket, because it has been a particularly rough week, but a long few years for our rights in this country, in this state, with this governor, and it’s — we need to flip it around, because queer people need protection,” said Samantha Perez, who lives in Ballston. “Trans people need protection. Trans kids need protection. And it’s not gonna happen with who’s in Richmond right now, and we just need to get it turned around.”

“The whole neighborhood’s here. All our friends are here,” said Annie Styles of Pentagon City. “It means the world to me to take care of each other. That’s what a good community does. That’s not what we’ve had with the Republicans here or across the nation for a really long time. It’s time to show that care. It’s time to make sure that good people are in a position to do good things.”
District of Columbia
Activists protest outside Hungarian Embassy in DC
Budapest Pride scheduled to take place Saturday, despite ban

More than two dozen activists gathered in front of the Hungarian Embassy in D.C. on Friday to protest the country’s ban on Budapest Pride and other LGBTQ-specific events.
Amnesty International USA Executive Director Paul O’Brien read a letter that Dávid Vig, executive director of Amnesty International Hungary, wrote.
“For 30 years Budapest Pride has been a celebration of hope, courage, and love,” said Vig in the letter that O’Brien read. “Each march through the streets of Budapest has been a powerful testament to the resilience of those who dare to demand equality, but a new law threatens to erase Pride and silence everyone who demands equal rights for LGBTI people.”
“The Hungarian government’s relentless campaign against LGBTI rights represents a worrying trend that can spread normalizing division and hatred,” added Vig. “Thank you for standing with us when we refuse to be intimidated.”
Council for Global Equality Chair Mark Bromley and two of his colleagues — Stephen Leonelli and Keifer Buckingham — also spoke. Health GAP Executive Director Asia Russell and Chloe Schwenke, a political appointee in the Obama-Biden administration who worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development, and Planned Parenthood staffers are among those who attended the protest.
(Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)
Hungarian lawmakers in March passed a bill that bans Pride events and allow authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify those who participate in them. MPs in April amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.
Budapest Pride is scheduled to take place on Saturday, despite the ban. Hundreds of European lawmakers are expected to participate.
“Sending strength to the patriotic Hungarians marching tomorrow to advance human dignity and fundamental rights in a country they love,” said David Pressman, the gay former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, on Friday on social media.
Sending strength to the patriotic Hungarians marching tomorrow to advance human dignity and fundamental rights in a country they love. Szabadság és szerelem. My past remarks on Budapest Pride: https://t.co/y1QhA9QouA
— David Pressman (@AmbPressman) June 27, 2025
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