Local
Stonewall Dems leader to step down
Departure comes as group faces financial woes
Michael Mitchell, executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats, announced today he will be stepping down. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
The National Stonewall Democrats announced today that its executive director, Michael Mitchell, will leave the organization at the end of this month when his two-year contract expires.
Mitchell’s departure comes at a time when financial problems forced the organization earlier this year to lay off at least one staff member, leaving the group with just one part-time and two full-time employees as it gears up for the 2012 elections.
The announcement that Mitchell will be stepping down also comes amid reports by knowledgeable sources that at least three of the group’s board members resigned in March over a heated dispute over whether the board should retain Mitchell as director. At the time, a majority of the board backed Mitchell, according to sources familiar with the group.
Mitchell told the Blade his decision to step down was due to his own assessment of what is best for NSD and himself at this time and it had nothing to do with the board’s deliberations earlier this year.
“That was months ago,” he said in referring to the board resignations. “Those board members left actually for a variety of reasons. I don’t think they all left because of my leadership,” he said. “That’s not what I got from several of the board members who left.”
Two board members who resigned, Melissa Sklarz of New York and Chris Massicotte of D.C., declined to comment on their reason for resigning when contacted by the Blade.
Mitchell discussed further his decision to step down in an NSD statement released Tuesday.
“The decision to leave NSD was a difficult one for me, especially with a critical election coming up next year that will define us as a nation, but it was made easier knowing that our affiliates, staff and board are fully engaged in fulfilling the mission of National Stonewall Democrats,” Mitchell said in the statement.
“It’s been my privilege to work for NSD the past two years and a distinct honor to have been able to work with our affiliates around the country who are doing the on-the-ground, necessary work of getting pro-equality Democrats elected,” he said in his statement. “It has been a particular point of privilege to work with such a dedicated and hard-working staff.”
In mentioning NSD’s affiliates Mitchell was referring to the more than 80 LGBT Democratic Party clubs from across the country, including D.C.’s Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, that are members of NSD’s grass roots network.
“Michael has accomplished many great things while serving as our executive director,” said Craig Roberts, NSD’s board chair. “During his tenure, he has represented the organization incredibly well and built and solidified relationships that are integral to the work of NSD,” he said.
“To know Michael is to know that he is incredibly committed to our organization and to electing pro-equality Democrats. I’ll miss working with him, but I know that he will continue to do good work in the next phase of his life,” Roberts said.
In its announcement on Tuesday, NSD said the board has named Jerame Davis, the organization’s current Affiliate Services Director, as interim executive director while the board conducts a search for a permanent director.
Roberts said he didn’t know whether Davis would apply for the permanent director’s position but he would welcome him, as he would other applicants, as a candidate to be considered for the post.
Sources familiar with NSD said board members who called for replacing Mitchell earlier this year praised his overall work but believed he lacked fundraising skills needed to sustain the organization at a time when a sagging U.S. economy made it more difficult for all non-profit groups to raise money.
When asked this week why NSD was encountering financial problems, both Roberts and Mitchell cited a decline in contributions from donors based largely on the economy.
In addition, the two said the widely reported support by the national Democratic Party for LGBT equality has played some role in prompting NSD donors of the past to give money directly to the Democratic National Committee or LGBT supportive Democratic candidates rather than to NSD.
“This is partially due to our success in helping to build a strong, pro-LGBT equality Democratic Party,” Roberts said.
Roberts said NSD continues to fulfill its role since its founding in 1993 by gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) as an advocate for pushing the Democratic Party to go further in its support for LGBT rights. He disputed claims by some critics that NSD has become a “puppet” of the DNC.
He and Mitchell said a decrease in the number of board members from eleven to six this year also made it more difficult for NSD to raise money. Roberts said rules established for board members require that they contribute or raise at least $10,000 a year as a condition for serving on the board. He said the group’s bylaws allow the board to expand to 15 members.
“We’re looking for new board members at this time,” Roberts said. “We invite anyone interesting in serving at this very important time leading up to the elections to contact us.”
Roberts said the group’s small staff and shortage of resources, along with an “oversight,” were responsible for NSD’s not filing its 990 IRS financial statements for the 2009 and 2010, which all non-profit, tax-exempt organizations are required to file.
“We’ll be doing that in the next few weeks,” Roberts said. Mitchell said he expected to have the two forms filed with the IRS, at which time they become public documents, by the end of this month.
Roberts declined to disclose what NSD’s current operating budget is, saying jokingly, “It’s somewhere between $100,000 and $1 million.”
The NSD 990 reporting statement for 2008, the last one the group filed as of this week, shows it raised $465,391 in revenue and had $435,946 in expenses. The 2008 revenue figure represented just over $101,000 more than the $363,947 in revenue NSD reported for 2007.
Mitchell said the 2008 income came in the midst of an exciting U.S. presidential election that prompted many supporters to make a contribution to the group and just before the recession hit.
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. will be moderating a panel at Dupont Underground on Sunday. 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.
District of Columbia
Capital Pride wins anti-stalking order against local activist
Darren Pasha claims action is linked to his criticism of Pride organizers
A D.C. Superior Court judge on Feb. 6 partially approved an anti-stalking order against a local LGBTQ activist requested last October by the Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C.-based LGBTQ group that organizes the city’s annual Pride events.
The ruling by Judge Robert D. Okun requires former Capital Pride volunteer Darren Pasha to stay at least 100 feet away from Capital Pride’s staff, board members, and volunteers until the time of a follow up court hearing he scheduled for April 17.
In his ruling at the Feb. 6 hearing, which was virtual rather than held in-person at the courthouse, Okun said he had changed the distance that Capital Pride had requested for the stay-away, anti-stalking order from 200 yards to 100 feet. The court records show that the judge also denied a motion filed earlier by Pasha, who did not attend the hearing, to “quash” the Capital Pride civil case against him.
Pasha told the Washington Blade he suffered an injury and damaged his mobile phone by falling off his scooter on the city’s snow-covered streets that prevented him from calling in to join the Feb. 6 court hearing.
In his own court filings without retaining an attorney, Pasha has strongly denied the stalking related allegations against him by Capital Pride, saying “no credible or admissible evidence has been provided” to show he engaged in any wrongdoing.
The Capital Pride complaint initially filed in court on Oct. 27, 2025, includes an 18-page legal brief outlining its allegations against Pasha and an additional 167-page addendum of “supporting exhibits” that includes multiple statements by witnesses whose names are blacked out.
“Over the past year, Defendant Darren Pasha (“DSP”) has engaged in a sustained, and escalating course of conduct directed at CPA, including repeated and unwanted contact, harassment, intimidation, threats, manipulation, and coercive behavior targeting CPA staff, board members, volunteers, and affiliates,” the Capital Pride complaint states.
In his initial 16-page response to the complaint, Pasha says the Capital Pride complaint appears to be a form of retaliation against him for a dispute he has had with the organization and its then president, Ashley Smith, last year.
“It is evident that the document is replete with false, misleading, and unsubstantiated assertions,” he said of the complaint.
Smith, who has since resigned from his role as board president, did not respond to a request by the Blade for comment at the time the Capital Pride court complaint was filed against Pasha.
Capital Pride Executive Director Ryan Bos and the attorney representing the group in its legal action against Pasha, Nick Harrison, did not immediately respond to a Blade request for comment on the judge’s Feb. 6 ruling.
Top Democrats re-introduce trans bill of rights
A dozen Senegalese men arrested for ‘unnatural acts’
Meet D.C.’s Most Eligible Queer Singles
Local LGBTQ groups, activists to commemorate Black History Month
