Local
Stein Club endorses Pannell in school board race
Forum addresses LGBT issues, bullying
'I'm honored and humbled,' Phil Pannell said following the endorsement vote. 'This is an endorsement that I really wanted and that I really need.' (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
The Gertrude Stein Democratic Club Tuesday night endorsed gay rights and Ward 8 civic activist Phil Pannell for a seat on the D.C. State Board of Education for Ward 8 in the city’s April 26 special election.
The club made the endorsement following a forum in which candidates running for the Ward 8 and Ward 4 school board seats spoke to club members on a wide range of issues, including issues related to LGBT youth.
“I’m honored and humbled,” Pannell said following the endorsement vote. “This is an endorsement that I really wanted and that I really need. And I think it’s important for people to know in this city that there are those of us in the LGBT community who put public education at the top of our agendas.”
Pannell, a longtime member of the Stein Club, received 62.5 percent of the votes cast, bringing him over the 60 percent vote threshold required for an endorsement under the club’s rules. His closest rival was D.C. civic activist and LGBT rights supporter Eugene Kinlow, who received 34 percent of the vote.
Ward 8 candidate Sandra Williams received 3 percent and the remaining three Ward 8 candidates attending the forum – Tijwanna Phillips, Larry Pretlow II, and Cardell Shelton – did not receive any votes.
Three other candidates running in the nine-candidate Ward 8 race – Trayon White, R. Joyce Scott, and Anthony Muhammad – did not attend the forum.
In the Ward 4 race, none of the four candidates participating in the Stein Club forum received 60 percent of the vote, preventing the club from making an endorsement in that contest. Ward 4 educator An Almquist came close, capturing 54.5 percent of the vote in a second ballot runoff against Ward 4 activist D. Kamili Anderson, who received 39.3 percent of the vote. The other two Ward 4 candidates who participated in the forum were Andrew Moss and Bill Quirk.
Adam Tenner, executive director of the local group Metro Teen AIDS, served as moderator for the forum. Among the questions he asked was how the candidates would address the D.C. public school system’s high drop-out rate, which Tenner said was believed to be high among LGBT students. He also asked about HIV prevention programs, including condom distribution in the schools.
Pannell said school bullying and harassment of LGBT students was a contributing factor in students’ decision to drop out of school. He said many students, including LGBT students, regularly fail to attend school, contributing to what he called an unacceptably high truancy rate in the school system.
“So many of our LGBTQ students find that the school experience isn’t working for them,” he said.
In addition to improving programs aimed at curtailing bullying, Pannell said he would push for allowing students to form LGBT-related student organizations and for encouraging them to serve as volunteers for LGBT-related organizations in the city such as the Whitman-Walker Clinic and Us Helping Us.
Each of the other candidates participating in the forum also promised to provide support in varying ways to LGBT students in the city’s schools.
Pannell and the other candidates expressed support for age appropriate HIV prevention and sex education programs. All of the candidates said they would restrict condom distribution in the schools to parental consent.
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.).
District of Columbia
D.C. Council member honored by LGBTQ homeless youth group
Doni Crawford receives inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award
About 100 people turned out Tuesday evening, April 7, for a presentation by D.C.’s Wanda Alston Foundation of its inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award to D.C. Council member Doni Crawford (I-At-Large) for her support for the foundation’s mission to support homeless LGBTQ youth.
Among those who attended the event was Japer Bowles, director of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, who delivered an official proclamation issued by Bowser declaring April 7, 2026 “A Day of Remembrance for Wanda Alston.”
Alston, a beloved women’s and LGBTQ rights activist, served as the city’s first director of the then newly created Office of LGBTQ Affairs under then-Mayor Anthony Williams from 2004 until her death by murder on March 16, 2005.
To the shock and dismay of fellow LGBTQ rights advocates, police and court records reported Alston, 45, was stabbed to death inside her Northeast D.C. house by a man high on crack cocaine who lived nearby and who stole her credit cards and car. The perpetrator, William Martin Parrott, 38, was arrested by D.C. police the next day and later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was sentenced in July 2005 to 24 years in prison.
Crawford was among those attending the award event who reflected on Alston’s legacy and outspoken advocacy for LGBTQ and feminist causes.
“I am deeply humbled and honored to receive this inaugural award,” Crawford told the Washington Blade at the conclusion of the event. “I think the world of Wanda Alston. She has set such a great foundation for me and other Council members to build on,” she said.
“Her focus on inclusivity and intersectionality is really important as we approach this work,” Crawford added. “And it’s going to guide my work at the Council every day.”
Crawford was appointed to the D.C. Council in January of this year to replace then Council member Kenyan McDuffie (I-At-Large), who resigned to run for D.C. mayor as a Democrat. She is being challenged by four other independent candidates in a June 16 special election for the Council seat.
Under the city’s Home Rule Charter written and approved by Congress, the seat is one of two D.C. Council at-large seats that cannot be held by a “majority party” candidate, meaning a Democrat.
A statement released by the Alston Foundation last month announcing Crawford’s selection for the Wanda Alston Legacy Award praised Crawford’s record of support for its work on behalf of LGBTQ youth.
“From behind the scenes to now serving as an At-Large Council member, she has fought fearlessly for affordable housing, LGBTQ+ funding priorities, and racial justice,” the statement says. “Council member Crawford’s leadership reflects the same courage and conviction that defined Wanda’s legacy.”
Organizers of the event noted that it was held on what would have been Wanda Alston’s 67th birthday.
“Today’s legacy reception was a smashing success,” said Cesar Toledo, the Alston Foundation’s executive director. “Not only did we come together to celebrate Wanda Alston on her birthday, but we also were able to raise over $10,000 for our homeless LGBTQ youth here in D.C.,” Toledo told the Blade.
“In addition to that, we celebrated and we acknowledged a rising star in our community,” he said. “And that is At-Large Council member Doni Crawford, who we named the inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award recipient.”
At the request of D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) the Council voted unanimously on Jan. 20, 2026, to appoint Crawford to the Council seat being vacated by McDuffie.
Council records show she joined McDuffie’s Council staff in 2022 as a policy adviser and later became his legislative director before McDuffie appointed her as staff director for the Council’s Committee on Business and Economic Development for which McDuffie served as chair.
Calendar: April 10-16
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