Local
Local news in brief: Oct. 29
P Street Beach raided; police seek aid in unsolved murder
Men stopped, detained in P St. Beach raid
About a half dozen D.C. and U.S. Park Police officers swooped into the woods in P Street Beach about 3:20 a.m. on Oct. 10 and stopped but did not arrest several men they observed loitering in the well-known gay male cruising spot, according to a police official and an eyewitness.
The witness, a gay man who spoke on condition that he remain anonymous, said he and between a half dozen to a dozen men were cruising in a wooded area of P Street Beach park along a slope hidden from the street and sidewalk next to tennis courts along 23rd St., N.W., near P Street.
“One or two D.C. police cars came down the gully, blocked off one side and left their spotlight on” pointing into the woods, the witness said. The witness said he saw a Park Police car pull up along the tennis courts, with officers emerging and running down the slope shouting for the men to “stop.”
“I started running and so did the guy I was with,” said the witness. But the witness said more officers arrived from the other side of the park, heading toward where he was running. In what he described as a surreal scene out of a movie, he said he managed to escape after lying motionless behind a log in the underbrush in the park for nearly an hour.
“I lay there with my head down and just waited,” he said. “I assumed most of the other guys got caught, but I don’t know for sure … And they kept coming back,” he said of the police officers. “They were shining their lights and I heard them say, ‘Come out wherever you are.’”
Assistant D.C. Police Chief Diane Groomes said a Park Police contact and the watch commander of the D.C. police department’s Second District told her the officers participating in the police action did not make any arrests. Instead, Grooms said, they “stopped some subjects.” She said she was awaiting further details from both D.C. and Park Police.
Park Police officials have said in the past that they routinely take the names and other information from people they stop in P Street Beach at night, when the park is closed to the public and people entering are considered trespassers. According to Park Police officials, the officers issue warnings to the people they stop in the park at night, telling them they could be subject to arrest for trespassing if they are caught there a second time.
Grooms said D.C. police have recently received several complaints from parents of students attending Frances Junior High School, which is located next to P Street Beach, and from school officials about “illegal activity” in the park. She said the people making the complaints pointed to disposed condoms and trash in the area where people were said to be loitering in and around the park.
P Street Beach is a section of Rock Creek Park near Dupont Circle that runs along the banks of Rock Creek. Like all of Rock Creek Park, it is maintained by the U.S. Park Service and patrolled mostly by U.S. Park Police.
Fla. sheriff seeks help from gays in murder of Va. businessman
Anyone with information concerning the murder of Samuel DelBrocco, is asked to contact BSO Homicide Detectives Tim Duggan or Efrain Torres at 954-765-4321. Or call Crimestoppers at 954-493-8477.
The Broward County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office last week asked a gay newspaper in Fort Lauderdale to publish information about the Sept. 11 murder of an Alexandria business executive, who was found dead in his vacation home in Pompano Beach.
Samuel DelBrocco, 61, chief executive officer of Alexandria-based PCI Communications, a public relations and corporate communications firm, was last seen alive by friends at a Fort Lauderdale restaurant a day or two before police discovered his body in his posh, waterfront home in Pompano Beach, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Norman Kent, editor and publisher of South Florida Gay News, said sheriff’s officers hand-delivered to his office a flier about DelBrocco’s murder, which includes DelBrocco’s photo, and urged him to publish the information.
Sheriff’s Office Det. Efrain Torres told the Blade that investigators don’t know whether DelBrocco had ties to the gay community.
“We want as much exposure as possible,” he said. “We’re reaching out to all media.”
Anyone with information about the murder should contact the Broward Sheriff’s homicide squad at 954-765-4321 or the Broward Crime stoppers hotline at 954-493-8477.
A gay man was murdered in Petersburg, Va., on March 13.
Shyyell Diamond Sanchez-McCray, who was also known as Saamel and Mable, was a drag queen who won the Miss Mayflower EOY pageant in 2015. Reports also indicate Sanchez-McCray, 42, was a well-known community activist in Virginia and in North Carolina.
Local media reports indicate police officers found Sanchez-McCray shot to death inside a home in Petersburg.
Sanchez-McCray’s brother, Jamal Mitchell Diamond, in a public statement the Washington Blade received from Equality Virginia and GLAAD, said Sanchez-McCray was not transgender as initial reports indicated.
“Our family has always embraced the fullness of who he was. He used the names Saamel, Shyyell, and Mable interchangeably, and we honor all of them. There is no division within our family regarding how he is being represented — only a shared commitment to preserving his truth with love and respect,” said Diamond.
“He was also deeply committed to community work through Nationz Foundation, where he worked and completed multiple state-certified programs to support marginalized communities,” added Diamond. “That work meant a great deal to him.”
Authorities have not made any arrests.
The Petersburg Bureau of Police has asked anyone with information about Sanchez-McCray’s murder to call Petersburg-Dinwiddie Crime Solvers at 804-861-1212.
District of Columbia
Trans Day of Visibility events planned
Rally on the National Mall scheduled for Saturday
The Christopher Street Project has a number of events planned for the 2026 Trans Day of Visibility, including a rally on the Mall and an “Empowerment Ball” at the Eaton Hotel. Plenaries, panel discussions and meetings with members of Congress are scheduled in the three days of programming.
Announced speakers include N.H. state Rep. Alice Wade; Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago Precious Brady-Davis; activist and performer Miss Peppermint (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”); Lexington, Ky. Councilwoman Emma Curtis; Rabbi Abby Stein; D.C. activist and host Rayceen Pendarvis; Air Force Master Sgt. Logan Ireland; among other leaders, advocates and performers.
Conference programming on Thursday and Friday includes an educational forum and a Capitol Hill policy education day. Registration for the two-day conference has closed.
The “Trans Day of Visibility PAC Reception” is scheduled for Thursday, March 26 from 7:30-9 p.m. at As You Are (500 8th St., S.E.). Special guests include Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nevada) and Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.). Tickets are available at christopherstreetproject.org starting at $25.
The National Council of Jewish Women and the Christopher Street Project host a “Trans Day of Visibility Shabbat” on Friday, March 27 from 7-8 p.m. at Sixth & I (600 I St., N.W.). The service is to be led by Rabbi Jenna Shaw and Rabbi Abby Stein.
The “Now You See Me: Trans Empowerment Social & Ball” is scheduled for Friday, March 27 from 6-11 p.m. at the Eaton Hotel (1201 K. St., N.W.). The trans-themed drag ball is hosted by the Marsha P. Johnson Institute with support from the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs, the Capital Ballroom Council, the Christopher Street Project, the Center for Black Equity, Generation for Common Good, and Parenting is Political. RSVP online at christopherstreetproject.org.
The National Transgender Day of Visibility Rally is scheduled for Saturday, March 28 on the National Mall at 11 a.m. The rally will include speakers and performances. Following the rally, attendees are encouraged to participate in the “No Kings” rally being held at Anacostia Park.
Virginia
Virginia General Assembly’s 2026 legislative session ends
Voters in November will consider repealing marriage amendment
The Virginia General Assembly’s 2026 legislative session ended on March 14.
Lawmakers have yet to approve a budget, but they did pass a resolution that paves the way for a referendum on whether to repeal the state’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Lawmakers also advanced House Bill 60, which would protect PrEP users from insurance discrimination.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger has until April 13 to decide to pass, amend, or veto legislation before it goes back to the House of Delegates on April 22.
Spanberger on Feb. 6 signed the bill that sets the stage for the marriage amendment referendum. Voters will consider whether to “remove the ban on same-sex marriage; (ii) affirm that two adults may marry regardless of sex, gender, or race; and (iii) require all legally valid marriages to be treated equally under the law?”
Equality Virginia has been working during this legislative cycle to urge lawmakers to allocate funding towards LGBTQ rights. The budget would expand funding for schools, competency training for the 988 suicide hotline, and funding to provide gender affirming care to LGBTQ youth.
“As the budget moves through conference and the Reconvene Session approaches on April 22, Equality Virginia remains focused on ensuring our victories this session translate into durable protections,” Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman told the Washington Blade in a statement. “Progress on marriage equality, nondiscrimination protections, and HIV care funding was essential, but Virginia must do more.”
Markwayne Mullin confirmed as next DHS secretary
Gay man murdered in Va.
Trans Day of Visibility events planned
Virginia General Assembly’s 2026 legislative session ends
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