Local
Bin Laden’s death triggers celebrations
Thousands wave flags, cheer outside White House
Locals celebrate bin Laden death at White House (Blade photo by Michael Key)
Local gays joined in the celebration before the White House late Sunday after news broke that the U.S. military had killed long-pursued terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and taken his body into custody.
On Sunday, President Obama announced that after a firefight in Abbottabad, Pakistan, U.S. forces had killed bin Laden, founder of the international terrorist group al-Qaeda, which was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and other terrorist attacks on the United States and allies.
“For over two decades, bin Laden has been al Qaeda’s leader and symbol, and has continued to plot attacks against our country and our friends and allies,” Obama said. “The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat al Qaeda.”
Even before Obama’s announcement concluded, an estimated 2,500 people started gathering before the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue — many waiving American flags and draping them over the shoulders as others chanted “U-S-A! U-S-A!” — to commemorate the U.S. victory in the war on terrorism.
Greg Taylor, 25 and a gay D.C. resident, said he came to the White House because was “super excited” to learn bin Laden was killed after U.S. officials had been searching for him for more than 10 years.
“We wanted to celebrate with our fellow Americans and show our patriotism,” Taylor said. “We were really pumped. We were kind of getting tired and ready to go to bed, but then we got so excited, and now we’re awake and we just want to sing the National Anthem.”
David Grant, 23 and a gay D.C. resident, said the death of bin Laden at the hands of U.S. forces inspired a sense of unity that has been lacking for some time.
“We can finally unite around something after having been opposed to each other these few years,” Grant said. “I wanted to celebrate with our president. It feels great because I feel we’ve been united for the first time in a very long time.”
Smoke filled the night air as some people who attended the celebration waived sparklers. One person who took part held up a sign reading, “Osama bin Later: Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.”
Other participants climbed into the trees before the White House and in Lafayette Park where they shouted cheers and waived flags. A shirtless male participant climbed onto a streetlight before the White House and performed a set of chin-ups as the crowd cheered.
Alex Nicholson, executive director of Servicemembers United, said he wanted to join the celebration to express the sense of great joy that he felt now that a major chapter in the war on terrorism had concluded.
“I think there’s a lot of symbolic significance in this for a lot of people, and so there’s a lot of relief and jubilation that I personally felt and I think a lot of people were sharing,” Nicholson said.
Upon arrival at the gathering, Nicholson distributed an armful of the American flags that Servicemembers United had deposited in November 2007 along the National Mall to honor the then-12,000 service members who had been discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
“We just started passing them out to complete strangers out there who were celebrating and grabbing anything with American flag colors or stars and stripes that they could find,” Nicholson said. “We literally saw tons of them on TV being waived in front of the White House.”
Nicholson said he doesn’t think the feelings of gay service members following the death of bin Laden differ much from those of straight service members because both had been working for the terrorist leader’s demise.
“Everybody’s shedding their identifying characteristics — like being gay — and just showing solidarity with some common American identity,” Nicholson said.
Political observers are already predicting that bin Laden’s death will bolster the Obama’s chances for re-election in 2012 — and perhaps cement his chances for electoral victory.
Lane Hudson, a gay D.C. Democratic activist, said Obama’s victory will likely enable him to win re-election as well as pursue other items on his agenda.
“Attaining the elusive goal of killing bin Laden changes the game and empowers the president in an entirely new way,” Hudson said. “He is almost assured of re-election and now we will find out how he will use his newfound political capital.”
Virginia
McPike wins special election for Va. House of Delegates
Gay Alexandria City Council member becomes 8th LGBTQ member of legislature
Gay Alexandria City Council member Kirk McPike emerged as the decisive winner in a Feb. 10 special election for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Alexandria.
McPike, a Democrat, received 81.5 percent of the vote in his race against Republican Mason Butler, according to the local publication ALX Now.
He first won election to the Alexandria Council in 2021. He will be filling the House of Delegates seat being vacated by Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria), who won in another Feb. 10 special election for the Virginia State Senate seat being vacated by gay Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria).
Ebbin is resigning from his Senate next week to take a position with Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration.
Upon taking his 5th District seat in the House of Delegate, McPike will become the eighth out LGBTQ member of the Virginia General Assembly. Among those he will be joining is Sen. Danica Roem (D-Manassas), who became the Virginia Legislature’s first transgender member when she won election to the House of Delegates in 2017 before being elected to the Senate in 2023.
“I look forward to continuing to work to address our housing crisis, the challenge of climate change, and the damaging impacts of the Trump administration on the immigrant families, LGBTQ+ Virginians, and federal employees who call Alexandria home,” McPike said in a statement after winning the Democratic nomination for the seat in a special primary held on Jan. 20.
McPike, a longtime LGBTQ rights advocate, has served for the past 13 years as chief of staff for gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and has remained in that position during his tenure on the Alexandria Council. He said he will resign from that position before taking office in the House of Delegates.
Local
Local LGBTQ groups, activists to commemorate Black History Month
Rayceen Pendarvis to moderate Dupont Underground panel on Sunday
LGBTQ groups in D.C. and elsewhere plan to use Black History Month as an opportunity to commemorate and celebrate Black lives and experiences.
Team Rayceen Productions has no specific events planned, but co-founder Rayceen Pendarvis will attend many functions around D.C. this month.
Pendarvis, a longtime voice in the LGBTQ community in D.C. moderated a panel at Dupont Underground on Feb. 8. The event, “Every (Body) Wants to Be a Showgirl,” will feature art from Black burlesque artists from around the country. Pendarvis on Feb. 23 will attend the showing of multimedia play at the Lincoln Theatre that commemorates the life of James Baldwin.
Equality Virginia plans to prioritize Black voices through a weekly online series, and community-based story telling. The online digital series will center Black LGBTQ voices, specifically trailblazers and activists, and contemporary Black queer and transgender people.
Narissa Rahaman, Equality Virginia’s executive director, stressed the importance of the Black queer community to the overall Pride movement, and said “Equality Virginia is proud to center those voices in our work this month and beyond.”
The Capital Pride Alliance, which hosts Pride events in D.C., has an alliance with the Center for Black Equity, which brings Black Pride to D.C. over Memorial Day weekend. The National LGBTQ Task Force has no specific Black History Month events planned, but plans to participate in online collaborations.
Cathy Renna, the Task Force’s director of communications, told the Washington Blade the organization remains committed to uplifting Black voices. “Our priority is keeping this at the forefront everyday,” she said.
The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center is also hosting a series of Black History Month events.
The D.C. Public Library earlier this year launched “Freedom and Resistance,” an exhibition that celebrates Black History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. It will remain on display until the middle of March at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at 901 G St., N.W.
District of Columbia
U.S. Attorney’s Office drops hate crime charge in anti-gay assault
Case remains under investigation and ‘further charges’ could come
D.C. police announced on Feb. 9 that they had arrested two days earlier on Feb. 7 a Germantown, Md., man on a charge of simple assault with a hate crime designation after the man allegedly assaulted a gay man at 14th and Q Streets, N.W., while using “homophobic slurs.”
But D.C. Superior Court records show that prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C., which prosecutes D.C. violent crime cases, charged the arrested man only with simple assault without a hate crime designation.
In response to a request by the Washington Blade for the reason why the hate crime designation was dropped, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office provided this response: “We continue to investigate this matter and make no mistake: should the evidence call for further charges, we will not hesitate to charge them.”
In a statement announcing the arrest in this case, D.C. police stated, “On Saturday, February 7, 2026, at approximately 7:45 p.m. the victim and suspect were in the 1500 block of 14th Street, Northwest. The suspect requested a ‘high five’ from the victim. The victim declined and continued walking,” the statement says.
“The suspect assaulted the victim and used homophobic slurs,” the police statement continues. “The suspect was apprehended by responding officers.”
It adds that 26-year-old Dean Edmundson of Germantown, Md. “was arrested and charged with Simple Assault (Hate/Bias).” The statement also adds, “A designation as a hate crime by MPD does not mean that prosecutors will prosecute it as a hate crime.”
Under D.C.’s Bias Related Crime Act of 1989, penalties for crimes motivated by prejudice against individuals based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and homelessness can be enhanced by a court upon conviction by one and a half times greater than the penalty of the underlying crime.
Prosecutors in the past both in D.C. and other states have said they sometimes decide not to include a hate crime designation in assault cases if they don’t think the evidence is sufficient to obtain a conviction by a jury. In some instances, prosecutors have said they were concerned that a skeptical jury might decide to find a defendant not guilty of the underlying assault charge if they did not believe a motive of hate was involved.
A more detailed arrest affidavit filed by D.C. police in Superior Court appears to support the charge of a hate crime designation.
“The victim stated that they refused to High-Five Defendant Edmondson, which, upon that happening, Defendant Edmondson started walking behind both the victim and witness, calling the victim, “bald, ugly, and gay,” the arrest affidavit states.
“The victim stated that upon being called that, Defendant Edmundson pushed the victim with both hands, shoving them, causing the victim to feel the force of the push,” the affidavit continues. “The victim stated that they felt offended and that they were also gay,” it says.
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