Local
Donations sought for Kameny funeral
Friends, activists developing plans for public ceremony
Friends of Frank Kameny, who died last week, expect a funeral to be held within the next two weeks. (Photo by Joe Tresh)
Friends who worked closely with veteran gay activist Frank Kameny are asking the community to contribute to a local LGBT-oriented charitable group to help it meet the cost of Kameny’s funeral, which they say is expected to be held within the next two weeks.
The group, Helping Our Brothers and Sisters (HOBS), has assisted Kameny for the past year or two, helping him meet basic household needs such as the delivery of groceries, assistance in paying utility and property tax bills, and providing transportation to and from community events, according to HOBS co-founder and President Marvin Carter.
Kameny, one of the nation’s most prominent gay rights advocates, died in his home in Washington on Oct. 11 at the age of 86.
Messages of condolence over his passing continue to pour in from across the country. Nearly all major news media outlets have published obituaries recognizing Kameny as a leading figure in the LGBT rights movement over the past 50 years.
Longtime Kameny friend and gay rights advocate Bob Witeck, CEO of Witeck-Combs Communications, said friends and activists who have known Kameny for many years are developing plans for a Kameny funeral that they hope will be held in a public building in Washington.
He said Kameny’s friends and associates working on funeral plans are asking members of the LGBT community and supporters from the community at-large to make a tax deductable contribution to HOBS, which has established a Kameny funeral fund.
Contributions can be made at helpingourbrothersandsisters.com or sent by mail to HOBS, P.O. Box 53477, Washington, D.C. 20009.
“HOBS is an all-volunteer micro-charity that helps marginalized GLBT individuals in the Washington, D.C. area meet short-term needs,” the group states on its website. “HOBS’s focus is on those who do not fit the criteria for help from other organizations and agencies.”
Witeck said Kameny’s friends and associates also are planning a separate memorial service in a larger space with a target date of Nov. 15, which will mark the 50th anniversary of the Mattachine Society of Washington, the city’s first gay rights group that Kameny co-founded.
Funeral arrangements could not be made immediately, Witeck said, because Kameny’s Washington friends had to reach out to his surviving sister, 83-year-old Edna Lavey, who lives in Riverhead, N.Y. Under D.C. law, Lavey, as the next of kin, has sole legal authority to decide on what to do with Kameny’s remains.
“She’s been very gracious and very supportive of our efforts to plan the funeral,” said Witeck.
He said that under advice from lawyers, Lavey has agreed to sign a legal document giving Witeck and other friends in Washington authority to move ahead with funeral plans, including the release of Kameny’s body from the D.C. Medical Examiner’s office to a D.C. funeral home.
According to Witeck, friends will fulfill Kameny’s long-stated wish to be cremated and to have a non-religious funeral or memorial service.
One option under consideration is an offer to accept a donated cemetery plot to have Kameny’s ashes interred at D.C.’s historic Congressional Cemetery near the gravesite of the late gay Air Force veteran Leonard Matlovich. Matlovich, a decorated combat veteran in the Vietnam War, approached Kameny for assistance in his decision to become the first active duty member of the military to publicly declare that he was gay in 1975 in an effort to challenge the ban on gay service members.
The widespread media coverage of Matlovich’s declaration, which included the now famous cover story in Time magazine with the headline “I am a homosexual,” has been credited with kicking off the campaign that led to the repeal this year of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
The Blade will report all details surrounding Kameny’s funeral and memorial service as soon as they become available.
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Congratulations to Yadiel Meléndez, on their new role as Community Associate, with the Wanda Alston Foundation. Meléndez is piloting a new role as a Community Associate at the Wanda Alston Foundation, where they support queer and trans young people in finding their footing, building independence, and experiencing a housing community where they are seen, valued, and affirmed. They are coming into this role with more than a decade of experience as a community organizer and operations specialist, supporting diverse communities through service, advocacy, and program coordination.
Previously they worked for Right Proper Brewing Shaw as a server and bartender and at Sephora, Washington, DC, and at FreshFarm, DC, in bilingual food access. They also worked freelance to build foundational structures for local queer BIPOC performance art coalitions, producing variety shows to curate space for marginalized performance artists in the community. They were a production manager for Haus of Hart Productions, a BIPOC centric performance art production. They also worked as field staff with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in Stafford, Va.
Meléndez is bilingual, Spanish and English. Their work is guided by a commitment to dignity, safety, and trauma-informed engagement, particularly within LGBTQ and BIPOC communities.
Congratulations also to Ben Rosen LICSW, on his new role as program director, with the Wanda Alston Foundation. Rosen previously worked with Fountain House’s OnRamps program, helping to build a new, innovative outreach program for individuals considered chronically homeless, and living with serious mental illness, in the Times Square area of New York. Rosen is a Psychotherapist, having worked with SG Psychotherapy, and as the psychotherapist with the Nest Community Health Center (URAM).
Rosen has a B.F.A. in Theatre Arts: Musical Theatre, Minor in Psychology (Cum Laude) from Malloy University Conservatory; and his M.S.W. in Clinical Practice with Individuals, Families, and Groups, from The Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College, N.Y. He is independently licensed in New York and Washington, D.C.
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.).
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BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
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