News
Praise, criticism as HRC heads into new era
Some laud Solmonese for state focus, others say marriage crowding out other priorities
HRC President Joe Solmonese will step down at the end of March.(Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
The Human Rights Campaign’s search for a new president began in full force on Nov. 22 when an executive recruiting firm retained by the HRC board issued an eight-page job announcement describing the qualifications and experience sought for the next leader of the nation’s largest LGBT advocacy group.
The release of the job announcement, which is posted on the HRC website, followed an Oct. 3 announcement by HRC that its board had retained Russell Reynolds Associates, a nationally known executive recruitment firm, to assist the board in its search for the replacement of Joe Solmonese.
Solmonese has held the post of president and CEO of HRC and the HRC Foundation since 2005. He announced in August that he would step down from his position when his current contract expires on March 30, 2012.
“The entire HRC board understands the importance of this search to our community, to our continued progress as a movement and to our organization,” said HRC Board Co-Chair Rebecca Tillet.
“That’s why we will run a process that is inclusive and respects the importance of diversity in the candidate pool,” said Andy Linsky, co-chair of the board of the HRC Foundation, HRC’s research and educational arm.
Since Solmonese announced he was stepping down, LGBT activists have been debating HRC’s role in the movement its effectiveness during Solmonese’s tenure.
In an informal survey of LGBT activists in Washington and across the country over the past week, the Blade has found that most believe HRC has done a good job of advocating for LGBT equality on the federal and state level. Leaders of at least seven state and local LGBT organizations said HRC worked cooperatively with their respective groups on joint projects.
Others, including two nationally recognized transgender rights advocates, expressed concern that HRC – as well as other national LGBT organizations – have devoted too much of their time and resources to same-sex marriage efforts at the expense of pushing for non-discrimination laws on the federal, state and local levels. Those expressing this position say non-discrimination laws would have a beneficial impact on far more LGBT people than laws seeking to legalize same-sex marriage.
While they don’t object to spending resources on marriage equality, those expressing this view say HRC and other national LGBT groups are devoting far too little attention to non-discrimination measures, including the Employment Non-Discrimination Act or ENDA, a bill pending in Congress that would ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
“I hope the HRC board of directors thinks about this,” said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. “They do some very great things. But they are moving in the direction of marriage being their primary focus,” she said.
Keisling’s view was echoed by Maryland transgender advocate Dana Beyer, a former HRC board member, who said HRC appears to be evolving into a “marriage all the time” organization.
HRC officials have said it is devoting its resources to a wide range of programs and projects in addition to marriage equality. They say many of the projects are aimed at changing the minds of voters and lawmakers in an effort to line up the small number of additional votes in the U.S. House and Senate needed to pass ENDA.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the gay lawmaker and lead sponsor of ENDA in the House, has said the bill has no chance of passing until Democrats regain control of the House. Frank says Republican House leaders won’t allow the bill to come up for a vote, even though a sizable number of House Republicans are expected to vote for ENDA.
HRC supporters acknowledge that many in the LGBT community have questioned HRC’s capabilities and effectiveness, often fueled by HRC critics who say the group hasn’t been able to secure passage of ENDA. Some critics say HRC should have done more 2009 and 2010, when Democrats controlled the House and Senate with a Democratic president in the White House.
Arlington, Va., gay activist Bob Mialovich, an HRC member and contributor who retired recently as a federal government official, called such criticism unfair.
“I can understand peoples’ frustration, but the reality is we don’t have a majority of support in Congress to pass the bills we need to pass,” he said. “If you are not directly involved, you may not be aware of what HRC is doing. What I know is they are doing a lot.”
HRC spokesperson Fred Sainz has said HRC played a key role, along with other gay advocacy groups, in lobbying for passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which authorizes the federal government to prosecute hate crimes targeting LGBT people. Sainz also points to the success HRC and its partner groups have had in lobbying for repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
He said HRC worked closely with other groups to facilitate the Obama administration’s issuance of a large number of regulatory changes and federal agency rules that ban discrimination against LGBT people in healthcare, housing and other areas.
In addition to lobbying Congress, the White House and state and local governments on LGBT supportive bills and policies, and its election-related work on behalf of LGBT supportive candidates, HRC supporters point to a wide range of projects carried out by the HRC Foundation. Among them is the HRC Corporate Equality Index, which rates the nation’s Fortune 500 companies on whether their internal personnel policies ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
In its latest criteria for companies to obtain HRC’s highest rating in the Corporate Equality Index, the group raised the bar by calling for companies to include gender reassignment surgery for transgender employees in the companies’ health insurance plans. A large number of them have agreed to do so.
Other projects include a Healthcare Equality Index, which rates hospitals and other healthcare facilities on their treatment of LGBT people; a Welcoming Schools Program, that pushes for anti-bullying and other LGBT-supportive school policies; an All Children-All Families project that trains and sensitizes adoption agencies on LGBT families; and a Religion and Faith Program, which encourages LGBT-supportive clergy to speak out on LGBT issues, including same-sex marriage efforts.
Another program trains LGBT students enrolled in the nation’s historically black colleges to become student leaders in an effort to advance LGBT equality on their campuses.
HRC supporters also point to the group’s aggressive press and communications operation, which responds quickly and on a 24-hour basis to breaking developments by providing the media with statements and information on a wide range of issues, including responses to anti-LGBT groups or public officials.
The group’s 990 IRS finance report for 2010, the most recent one filed, shows that HRC and the HRC Foundation had a combined income of $39.8 million for the fiscal year running from April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011.
With a staff of 150 full-time employees, the group’s revenue of close to $40 million makes HRC the largest national LGBT advocacy group. The group also owns its own office building in downtown Washington, an investment HRC officials and supporters have said helps the group advance its mission.
The building, among other things, houses a community event space that HRC calls the Equality Center, which often is used by local D.C. area LGBT organizations. The building includes a multimedia production facility. HRC says the building also generates income through the renting of surplus office space to outside groups and firms. The D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue has assessed the value of the building for 2012 at $16.6 million, an increase from its 2011 assessed value of $14.4 million.
‘Surplus of ill will’
Despite its income and broad range of programs, some critics say HRC has worked at cross purposes with other national and state LGBT organizations. In a development that created a stir among some activists, veteran gay rights advocate Matt Foreman, the former executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and former head of New York’s statewide LGBT group Empire State Pride Agenda, wrote a strongly worded critique of HRC that was published last month in two widely read LGBT blogs.
“The reality is that we are two separate movements: the Human Rights Campaign and everyone else,” Foreman wrote. He said that while HRC and its leaders and staff have accomplished many important things, “the cause of LGBT equality has suffered because of a deficit of trust and a surplus of ill will between HRC and the rest of the movement.”
Foreman did not respond to a call from the Blade seeking to discuss further his criticism of HRC.
Leaders of statewide LGBT advocacy groups contacted by the Blade in California, Illinois, Texas, Georgia, Florida, Pennsylvania and D.C. each said they have an amicable working relationship with HRC. Although they declined to comment directly on Foreman’s views about HRC, the officials said it was not uncommon for LGBT advocates to disagree over strategy and tactics but that the groups they work with – including HRC – have always worked through the disagreements.
Rebecca Isaacs, the recently named executive director of the Equality Federation, a national group that represents LGBT advocacy organizations in the states, has been involved in LGBT movement groups on the national level since the 1980s, including her role as political director for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
“HRC is part of the world of people with expertise on a lot of things,” Isaacs said, adding that Equality Federation is working with HRC on a number important issues occurring in the states. “We are dealing with 50 states, each with different people doing different things. My question is who wants to help? I’m not in any camp.”
Bil Browning, publisher of the Bilerico Project, an LGBT blog that published Foreman’s commentary criticizing HRC, said he was among HRC’s strongest critics in past years. But he said he has seen what he considers a major change for the better by HRC under Solmonese’s leadership.
Among other things, Browning said Solmonese greatly improved HRC’s relations with state LGBT organizations and significantly boosted HRC support for state and local initiatives. He said he saw this first hand as one of the leaders of the state LGBT group in Indiana, where Browning lived before moving to D.C.
According to Browning, HRC provided him with important support when he coordinated a successful effort to pass a non-discrimination ordinance in Indianapolis that includes protections for LGBT people.
“And as Indiana was fighting its marriage amendment battle, who was one of the first groups to stand up and say do you need cash, do you need polling, what do you need? It was HRC,” Browning said.
“I have to admit that for all my quibbles with HRC and some of the various stuff that they’ve done over the years, LGBT rights wouldn’t be as far as it is in Indiana without them,” he said.
Veteran gay Democratic activist Peter Rosenstein of D.C. was among some activists who viewed Foreman’s criticism as reflecting disagreements within the LGBT movement over tactics and strategy.
“While I agree with some of what Matt Foreman writes I think he needs to take some personal responsibility for the movement not being in sync,” said Rosenstein. “As he says, he had the opportunity to lead a national organization and it sounds like he still wants all things his way. I have often criticized HRC and I agree they should be more open and work more closely with the larger LGBT community. My hope is that they first do a truly open and wide ranging search for a replacement for Joe Solmonese.”
Longtime D.C. gay and Ward 8 community activist Phil Pannell, who has advocated for LGBT support within the city’s African-American community, said he’s been an HRC member for many years and thinks HRC does good work on the local and national level.
“I have seen HRC reach out the black community,” he said.
Rick Rosendall, vice president of the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C., said he is troubled over what he called “internecine sniping” over HRC in the LGBT movement.
“The reality is that all LGBT activists and donors do not share the same goals, priorities and approaches.” He said GLAA and HRC “haven’t always seen eye to eye, but we have had a mutually respectful and productive relationship for many years.”
He added, “HRC does a lot of useful things, but if someone doesn’t like them, there are plenty of other groups to support…. HRC has a large and loyal donor base, and its headquarters is not going to crumble because of one more harsh op-ed. Any movement as diverse as ours is inherently messy. Deal with it, folks.”
District of Columbia
Your queer D.C. voting guide
June 16 primary nears; Lewis George, McDuffie lead in polling for mayor
LGBTQ voters in the nation’s capital are choosing among a long list of LGBTQ supportive candidates running for mayor, D.C. City Council, and the position of D.C. Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives in the city’s June 16 primary election.
LGBTQ activists who have spoken to the Washington Blade appear to be divided in their support for the two leading Democratic candidates for mayor – D.C. Council member Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) and former D.C. Council member Kenyan McDuffie (I-At-Large) in a seven-candidate race.
Among the other five Democratic mayoral candidates is Rini Sampath, a cyber security consultant who told the Blade she identifies as queer.
“We’re living in an extremely diverse community, an extremely unique community,” she told the Blade. “And being able to self-label, self-identify as queer is something that I just want to take pride in.”
But a poll conducted by the Washington Post and George Mason University’s School of Policy and Government released on June 5 shows Sampath receiving just 3 percent in a sample of likely voters in the D.C. Democratic primary.
The poll, conducted from May 27-June 1, shows Lewis George leading in the mayoral primary with 36 percent compared to McDuffie, who had 25 percent. However, 25 percent of those polled were undecided in the mayoral race, according to the Post, indicating at least some of the undecided voters could go to McDuffie.
“Undecided voters are concentrated among groups that lean toward McDuffie, including moderates, Black voters and those ages 65 and older,” the Post story reporting on the poll states.
Another factor making it more difficult to predict the election outcome is the start in this year’s D.C. primary of ranked choice voting, which enables voters to select as many as five candidates on their ballot as their first through fifth choice depending on how many candidates are running for a specific office, including the office of mayor.
The ranked choice process takes effect if no candidate receives at least 50 percent of the vote in a race with three or more candidates and serves as an instant run-off using voters’ second-choice or third or more choice votes until one candidate receives 50 percent of the vote.
In what appears to support the belief of many local political observers that Lewis George and McDuffie are the two leading mayoral candidates, the poll shows the remaining candidates receiving less than 5 percent.
They include former D.C. Council member Vincent Orange with 4 percent, local real estate manager and developer Gary Goodweather with 3 percent, and former U.S. Department of Homeland Security contractor Hope Solomon and real estate broker and Ward 1 community activist Ernest Johnson each receiving 1 percent.
Goodweather, a political newcomer, has attended LGBTQ events in his mayoral campaign and has expressed strong support on LGBTQ issues.
With that as a backdrop, the Capital Stonewall Democrats, the city’s largest LGBTQ political group, has endorsed Lewis George for mayor and GLAA DC, formerly known as the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, awarded Lewis George its highest candidate rating score of +10.
GLAA said it did not issue a rating for McDuffie because his campaign did not return a GLAA candidate questionnaire on which it bases its ratings. A spokesperson for the McDuffie campaign said campaign workers later discovered the questionnaire landed in the spam folder of their email account and McDuffie would have returned it had he received it.
At GLAA’s invitation, McDuffie completed the questionnaire and GLAA has posted it with its full responses to a list of 10 questions on the GLAA website along with the questionnaire responses from other candidates, including Lewis George. Like Lewis George, McDuffie expressed strong support for a wide range of LGBTQ issues in his responses, but GLAA said it could not issue a rating for him due to the missed deadline for submitting the questionnaire.
According to GLAA, just two other mayoral candidates returned the questionnaire and received a rating. Sampath received a +6.5 rating, and Johnson received a rating of +4.5. Under the GLAA rating system, a -10 is the lowest possible rating, with a +10 being the highest.
D.C. Board of Elections records show that no Republican candidate is running for mayor and one Statehood Green Party candidate – Robert L. Gross – is running unopposed on the primary ballot for voters registered as Statehood Green Party members. GLAA’s website shows Gross did not receive a rating under the group’s policy of not rating candidates that do not return the questionnaire.
The Statehood Green Party and its candidates for local D.C. offices have historically been supportive of LGBTQ rights.
LGBTQ activists who are backing Lewis George or McDuffie appear to be gravitating to the two based on their political leadings separate from LGBTQ issues, just like voters in general. Lewis George, who identifies as a Democratic Socialist, is popular among progressive voters.
McDuffie, who is seen as a more moderate candidate like current D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, is being supported by LGBTQ activists who hold those views, some of whom currently work in the Bowser administration.
Among Lewis George’s LGBTQ supporters are longtime Ward 8 community leader Phillip Pannell and former Capital Stonewall Democrats President Howard Garrett. Among the LGBTQ McDuffie backers are longtime D.C. Democratic activists John Fanning and David Meadows.
“The rights of LGBTQ residents in our country are under attack,” Pannell told the Blade. “We need a mayor of our nation’s capital who will be a progressive voice and force in standing up for our rights and advancing the quality of life for our community,” he said. “That is one of the reasons I enthusiastically support Janeese Lewis George for mayor.”
Fanning, a member of the staff of D.C. Council member Anita Bonds (D-At-Large), said he has observed McDuffie’s work on the Council firsthand. “He has been out and upfront on many of our issues and he has been an ally to our community,” Fanning said. “And I feel more comfortable with his judgements when it comes to city policy,” Fanning said, adding, “And I sense he has more of a pulse on how to grow our economy.”
In the race for D.C. Delegate to the U.S. House, five Democrats are competing in the June 16 primary, including D.C. Council members Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) and Robert White (D-At-Large). Pinto and White have been outspoken supporters of the LGBTQ community. Capital Stonewall Democrats has endorsed White.
Also running as Democrats for the congressional seat are community activists Kinney Zalesne, Trent Holbrook, and Greg Jaczko, who have expressed support for LGBTQ issues at candidate forums. Denise Rosado is running unopposed for the congressional seat as a Republican, and Kymone Freeman is running unopposed as a Statehood Green Party candidate in the primary.
Under D.C.’s “closed” primary system voters can only vote for a candidate for a specific political party if they are registered members of that party in the primary. In the general election in November, voters can vote for any candidate regardless of party affiliation.
GLAA has said it does not issue candidate ratings for the D.C. Delegate position, which has been held for many years by Democratic incumbent Eleanor Holmes Norton, who announced earlier this year that she is retiring and not running for re-election. Norton has been a longtime outspoken LGBTQ rights supporter.
D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), also a longtime LGBTQ rights supporter, is running unopposed for re-election in the Democratic primary, He received the Capital Stonewall Democrats endorsement and a +6.5 rating from GLAA.
Nine Democrats are running for the At-Large D.C. Council seat currently held by Bonds, who is also retiring and not running for re-election. Capital Stonewall Democrats has endorsed local pharmacist, community activist, and LGBTQ ally Oye Owolewa, who received a +9 rating from GLAA.
The other Democrats running for the at-large seat who received a rating from GLAA include Lisa Raymond, +7.5; Dwight Davis, +6.5; Dyana Forester, +6; and Fred Hill, +5.5.
Board of Elections ballot records show that Darrell Green is running unopposed for the at-large seat in the Republican Primary and Darryl Moch is running unopposed in the primary as a Statehood Green Party candidate.
In the Ward 1 D.C. Council race, five LGBTQ supportive candidates are competing in the Democratic primary, including two LGBTQ candidates – gay rights activist Miguel Trindade Deramo and bi candidate Aparna Raj. The Ward 1 seat became vacant when incumbent Democrat Brianne Nadeau announced she was not running for re-election.
Capital Stonewall Democrats announced it did not make an endorsement in the Ward 1 race because the endorsement vote by its members was divided and none of the candidates received a required 60 percent of the vote for an endorsement.
GLAA awarded its highest +10 rating to both Deramo and Raj as well as to Ward 1 Democratic candidate Rashida Brown. It assigned a rating of +5.5 to candidate Terry Lynch but did not issue a rating for the fifth Democratic candidate – Jackie Reyes Yanes, who did not return the GLAA questionnaire.
The group didn’t issue ratings for Ward 1 Republican candidate Jett James Jasper or Statehood Green Party candidate Jude Cranniitch, both of whom are running unopposed. GLAA has said it sent out its questionnaire to all candidates listed by the Board of Elections to be placed on the ballot and does not rate those who do not return the questionnaire.
In the Ward 3 D.C. Council race, incumbent Council member Matthew Fruman (D), also an outspoken LGBTQ rights supporter, is running unopposed in the Democratic primary, with no GOP or Statehood Green Party candidate running in the primary. Fruman received the Capital Stonewall Democrats endorsement but was not rated by GLAA.
In the Ward 5 Council race, incumbent Zachary Parker, the Council’s only gay member, is being challenged by two Democrats in the primary – community activists Bernita Carmichael and Bridget French. Parker received the Capital Stonewall Democrats endorsement and a +7 rating from GLAA. Carmichael and French did not receive a GLAA rating.
Political observers in the ward believe Parker is the favorite to win the primary as well as the general election in November, when he will be challenged by Republican Jeffrey Kihien-Palza and Statehood Green Party candidate Joyce Robinson-Paul, who are running unopposed in their party primaries on June 16.
In Ward 6, incumbent Council member Charles Allen (D). a longtime LGBTQ rights supporter, received the Capital Stonewall Democrats endorsement and a +6.75 rating from GLAA. He is being challenged in the primary by Democrats Gloria Ann Nauden and Michael Murphy. Ward 6 political observers consider Allen the strong favorite to win the primary and the general election, when he will be challenged by Republican Jorge Rice, who is running unopposed in the GOP primary. No Statehood Green Party candidate is running for the Ward 6 Council seat.
Capital Stonewall Democrats did not make an endorsement for the D.C. Council special election for the At-Large Council seat that became vacant when then-independent Council member McDuffie resigned to enable him to run for mayor as a Democrat. Under the city’s Home Rule Charter adopted by Congress, that At-Large seat is restricted to a “non-majority party” candidate, meaning a non-Democrat.
The three candidates running for the seat, all independents, include incumbent Doni Crawford, who was temporarily appointed to the seat earlier this year; former D.C. Council member Elisa Silverman; and Jacque Patterson, president of the D.C. Board of Education. All three have expressed support for LGBTQ issues. GLAA issued a +6.5 rating for Crawford and a +5.75 rating for Silverman.
In the race for D.C. Attorney General, Capital Stonewall Democrats has endorsed incumbent Brian Schwalb, who is an outspoken LGBTQ rights supporter. He is being challenged in the Democratic primary by D.C. attorney and law firm partner J.P. Szymkowicz, who is a Ward 3 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner.
Attorney and local law firm partner Manuel Rivera is running unopposed for the Attorney General office in the Republican primary. No Statehood Green Party candidate is running for the AG post. GLAA issued a rating of +4.5 for Rivera but did not issue ratings for Schwalb or Szymkowicz.
Finally, in the race for the so-called “shadow” D.C. U.S. Senator and D.C. U.S. Representative—offices with no voting or official authority in Congress that were created to lobby Congress on behalf of D.C. issues—Capital Stonewall Democrats did not make an endorsement. In the Democratic primary Paul Strauss is running unopposed for the shadow U.S. Senate seat and Franklin Garcia is running unopposed for the shadow U.S. House seat. Both have been LGBTQ rights supporters.
No Republican or Statehood Green Party candidates are running for either of the two “shadow” positions. GLAA does not issue ratings for the two positions.
Following are short excerpts from the detailed statements four of the seven Democratic mayoral candidates submitted to the Capital Stonewall Democrats or the Washington Blade.
Kenyan McDuffie: “As mayor, every piece of legislation I sign, craft, or endorse should also encompass the interest and input of the LGBTQ community members and advocates…From housing to health care and everything in between… We have a dire crisis regarding the rise in homelessness especially among the youth in our LGBTQ communities. In my administration that simply cannot be the status quo and will not be…I have been a consistent champion for our LGBTQ community and will remain so as mayor of D.C.”
Janeese Lewis George: “As mayor, I will protect our LGBTQ+ neighbors against federal attacks on their identity, including their health care…On the Council I have been a strong supporter of pro-LGBTQ+ bills, including making D.C. a sanctuary for people seeking gender-affirming health care as well as addressing discrimination and harassment in nightlife and hospitality…And as mayor, I am prepared to move up and win those fights – a fight for D.C. statehood, a fight for our true economy, and a real opportunity to uplift our Black queer and trans youth.”
Gary Goodweather: “A Goodweather administration will defend every D.C. law protecting LGBTQ residents. I will establish a Defend DC office to coordinate the District’s legal and public response to federal overreach, with LGBTQ+ protections explicitly within its mandate…My affordable D.C. plan will produce 50,000 new homes with 36,000 affordable units, and I will ensure LGBTQ+ youth housing programs are funded as a budget priority.”
Rini Sampath: “I am an immigrant, proud queer woman, and a 10-year resident of Washington, D.C…For me, LGBTQ+ voters including transgender and nonbinary residents, are not a separate or symbolic constituency; they are a core part of a broader, multiracial, cross-ward coalition rooted in equity and opportunity.”
Vincent Orange: “I have a long and consistent record of supporting LGBTQ+ equality and inclusion in the District of Columbia, grounded in both policy and personal commitment. As the District’s Democratic Committeeman from 2006 to 2015, I publicly supported marriage equality and voted accordingly … During my time on the D.C. Council, I worked to advance protections for LGBTQ+ residents, including authoring and passing legislation to prohibit discrimination against transgender individuals in the workplace.”
15 LGBTQ candidates running for Democratic State Committee
At least 15 known LGBTQ candidates are running for seats on the D.C. Democratic State Committee in the city’s June 16 Democratic primary.
Under local Democratic Party rules, the State Committee includes a total of 38 members, half of whom must be women and half of whom consist of men. The highest two positions include National Committeeman and National Committeewoman. Other positions include seven At-Large Committee men and seven At-Large Committee women, and two Committee men and two Committee women for reach of the city’s eight wards.
Democratic primary voters can vote for as many as seven At-Large male and At-Large female candidates and for two male and two female candidates in each of the ward committee races.
The known LGBTQ Democratic State Committee candidates are as follows:
National Committeeman
Phillip Pannell, Free DC Slate
David Meadows, Democrats United to Free DC slate
At-Large Committeeman
Jordan Kagelmayer, Free DC slate
Malake Glee, Free DC slate
At-Large Committeewoman
Lia Lake Kuduk, Free DC slate
Sonya Joseph, Free DC slate
Ward 1 Committeewoman
Vita Rangel, Free DC slate
Ward 2 Committeeman
Steven M. McCarty, Free DC slate
John Fanning, Democrats United to Free DC
Ward 3 Committeeman
Kurt Vorndran, Democrats United to Free DC slate
Michaell Haresign, Democrats United to Free DC slate
Ward 4 Committeewoman
Corey Welcher
Ward 7 Committeeman
Jimie Williams, Democrats to Free DC slate
Ward 8 Committeeman
Alejaibra Sloan, Free DC slate
National
Blade reporters reflect on covering Pulse massacre 10 years ago
Orlando stepped up to comfort and support its LGBTQ community
Friday marks 10 years since a gunman killed 49 people inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla.
The massacre, which, at the time was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, left the LGBTQ community in this country and around the world reeling. It also prompted renewed calls for gun control.
The OnePulse Foundation, which Pulse owner Barbara Poma founded after the massacre, raised upwards of $20 million for a memorial that never materialized.
The city of Orlando in 2023 purchased the Pulse property for $2 million. Crews earlier this year demolished the former nightclub. The city of Orlando has pledged $12 million for a permanent memorial that is scheduled to open in 2027.
Washington Blade Editor Kevin Naff and International News Editor Michael K. Lavers reported from Orlando in the days after the massacre. Here are their reflections a decade later.
Describe the scene when you arrived in Orlando. Where did you go first?
NAFF: Most mainstream reporters headed for the Pulse nightclub, but it was already roped off with police keeping bystanders at least a full city block away. Instead, I hurried to The Center, Orlando’s LGBTQ community center, downtown. I expected to find it locked down with tight security but instead the doors were flung open and everyone inside was busy at work. No tears, just dedicated staff and volunteers working the phones to secure visas and free plane tickets for relatives of the victims. The director gave me a tour and in the back storage room were pallets and pallets of bottled water stacked to the ceiling. When I asked what all the water was for, he said the city had issued a call for blood donations and the lines to donate were 1,500 deep in 100-degree heat. So The Center drove around to all the sites to deliver water to all those standing in line.
That scene was so inspiring and a testament to the strength and resiliency of the LGBTQ community. We’d seen tragedy before and knew how to respond.
LAVERS: I arrived in Orlando about 14 hours after the massacre took place. The city was shellshocked.
Equality Florida, the state’s LGBTQ advocacy group, and other organizations held a press conference at The Center shortly after my flight from D.C. landed. I drove there from the airport. Terry DeCarlo, who was The Center’s executive director at the time, along with then-Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith and others spoke on behalf of a community that was reeling. The Center at the press conference handed out business cards that read, “You matter.” I had it in my wallet when I drove to a makeshift memorial that was a block from Pulse — the police had cordoned off the area immediately around the nightclub. A local resident who I interviewed told me that she did not know if her friends who were at Pulse when the gunman opened fire survived. Another person with whom I spoke shared a similar story.
A torrential downpour began shortly after I arrived. The storm was an apt metaphor for the raw emotion of that horrific day.
What’s your most prominent memory of covering the Pulse massacre?
NAFF: I was covering a vigil in downtown Orlando when then-Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s motorcade arrived unannounced. To that point, he had not addressed the LGBTQ angle and seemed to be downplaying the fact that this was an attack on our community. I hurried to the front row as he held an impromptu news conference. To my dismay, he took only three short questions from TV reporters then rushed away. I grabbed his communications director and insisted that Scott take a question from the LGBTQ media. She agreed and told me to wait next to the SUV. When Scott approached, I asked him, “What is your message to LGBTQ Floridians?”
To my surprise, he sputtered, stammered, and broke into tears before telling me, “This was an attack, what else can you say? This was an attack against the gays, an attack against Hispanics, an attack against our country, our nation and it’s disgusting. The biggest thing we do now is ask how to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
It was his first public acknowledgment that the LGBTQ community was the target of the attack.
LAVERS: Two moments stand out for me.
The first moment is when then-President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Orlando on June 16, four days after the massacre. I was one of the reporters who the White House asked to be part of the local press pool. I was about 50 feet away from Obama and Biden when they placed bouquets with 49 flowers — one for each of the victims — at a makeshift memorial between City Hall and the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Orlando. Obama in remarks he made to the press pool mentioned one of the gay victims who had once said, “We cannot be afraid.” The emotions of the last four days simply became too much, and I broke down. Another reporter who was part of the press pool who was standing next to me realized I had broken down. She put her hand on my back to console me.
The second moment came a few weeks later when I was in Puerto Rico to cover the community’s response to the massacre and to interview victims’ relatives. Orlando has a very large Puerto Rican community, and nearly half of those who died at Pulse were of Puerto Rican descent.
I drove to Caguas, a city that is roughly 20 miles south of San Juan, the island’s capital, on July 7, and interviewed Aida Velázquez in her small apartment. Her son, Frankie “Jimmy” de Jesús, died at Pulse. Aida talked about her son, and she showed me pictures of him. Jimmy also danced Jíbaro, a Puerto Rican folk dance. The interview took place less than a month after the massacre — Jimmy’s funeral took place in Caguas less than two weeks earlier.
I sat in my car after the interview and sobbed uncontrollably for nearly five minutes. Nothing can possibly prepare you for interviewing a mother who had just lost her child in the most horrific way possible.
How did the local community respond and what about their response gave you hope or inspiration?
NAFF: In addition to the staff at The Center working to assist victims and their families, everyday Orlando residents stepped up to help however they could. At the downtown vigils, straight mothers and fathers carried signs offering hugs to anyone who needed them. I encountered a group of young teenage males who approached a group of law enforcement officers and appeared to perform for them. When they finished, I asked what they were doing and they told me that they were straight friends who lived in Orlando and wanted to do something to help so they composed an uplifting rap song and walked around performing it for anyone who needed cheering up.
LAVERS: The way that Orlando rallied around the LGBTQ community was simply inspiring.
Imam Muhammad Musri, president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, at a memorial service that took place at the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center on June 13 said his organization was “united as Americans when it comes to standing with the LGBT community and their rights to live freely and to practice their lives here.” This comment underscored the outpouring of support that Orlando showed its LGBTQ community after Pulse. It was also a call for the better angels among us to reject hate in all of its forms.
What surprised you most about the experience?
NAFF: I was most surprised — and moved — after talking to Rev. Debreita Taylor of Oasis Fellowship Ministries, an LGBTQ-affirming ministry.
“My message is love. Period. Love. Period. There’s nothing in the word of God that faith leaders can go to that teaches hate,” she told me. “Have faith and believe that evil and hate can be eradicated one person at a time. How do you treat someone? How do you embrace someone who treats you wrong? We all bleed, laugh, hope and have great victories and major defeats. And so, you know me, even if you don’t know my name — I’m you.”
LAVERS: It admittedly took me quite a while to fully process what I experienced in Orlando — I was focused on doing my job as a reporter, which was to cover the story, and, most importantly, show the human impact of what had happened. I suppose one surprising aspect of the time I spent in Orlando was that I found myself feeling more defiant against those who seek to destroy our community. They want us to live in fear, and I refuse to give them that satisfaction.
What, if anything, changed as a result of Pulse?
NAFF: In the immediate aftermath of the attack, queer spaces began rethinking their approach to security, which has served us well in the years since. Sadly, just a year later, Pulse was bumped to the No. 2 deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history when a gunman opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas, killing 60 people. Americans and their politicians never learn from these largely preventable tragedies. The carnage continues.
LAVERS: Gun violence remains a shameful scourge in this country. Our community remains vulnerable to violence and discrimination. President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and other politicians here in Washington, around the country, and overseas continue to use our community to advance an anti-equality agenda. The carnage continues, as my colleague correctly notes, but our community remains strong and defiant. That gives me hope.
Pride month festivities continue through the end of the month and there’s a new event for Rehoboth/Dewey Beach residents and visitors, Pride on the Bay, set for June 27.
Boaters will tie up at the sandbar near Massey’s Landing from 12-4 p.m. Visit Pride on the Bay’s Facebook page for a map of the exact location. You can rent pontoons for the day at Dewey Beach Watersports (deweybeachwatersports.com).
Aqua Bar & Grill is sponsoring the inaugural event and will provide a floating DJ for the afternoon. Aqua will then host an after-party back on land (57 Baltimore Ave., Rehoboth Beach).
Local part-time resident Brian Sparrow is organizing the gathering, citing the need for more Pride-oriented events at the beach.
“I decided to create an event in June for Pride month,” Sparrow told the Blade. “There aren’t many Pride events in Rehoboth and Dewey where we can take advantage of the Rehoboth Bay.”
He noted that there is another event called “Bay Pride” but that it is held in late summer on a Sunday. “Having the event on Saturday will allow for more boat renting options for visitors and friends to join,” Sparrow said, adding that he plans to make this an annual event.
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