Local
Norton, Bowser win Stein Club endorsement
Shadow Senator Brown falls short of votes needed to win endorsement
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Kwame Brown & openly gay City Council member David Catania. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
The Stein Club, the city’s largest LGBT political organization, also endorsed Democrat Nate Bennett-Fleming for the post of U.S. shadow representative.
The city created one shadow House seat and two shadow Senate seats in the early 1980s as nonpaid positions with no voting authority for the purpose of advocating for D.C. statehood and D.C. voting rights in Congress.
The club didn’t approve an endorsement for the shadow U.S. Senate seat up for election this year after incumbent Michael D. Brown fell short by less than one percent of the required 60 percent vote of the club membership needed for an endorsement.
Stein President Lateefah Williams said Brown received just over 59 percent of the vote, with the balance of the votes going to challenger Pete Ross and for the ballot option of “no endorsement.”
Williams said Bowser, a long-time supporter of LGBT rights who voted in 2009 for the city’s same-sex marriage law, won the club endorsement with 72 percent of the vote.
Bennett-Fleming and Norton are running unopposed in the primary, with Bennett-Fleming also running unopposed in the November general election.
Bowser faces five opponents. Three of them, along with Bowser, Norton, and Bennett-Fleming, attended and spoke at a club meeting at the Metropolitan Community Church on Ridge Street, N.W., where the endorsement votes took place.
The three challengers to Muriel Bowser that attended the meeting – Renee L. Bowser, Judi Jones, and Max Skolnik – and the other two – Calvin Gurley and Baruti Jahi – submitted responses to a Stein Club questionnaire expressing support for LGBT related issues, including the city’s same-sex marriage law.
The candidates’ questionnaire responses are available for viewing on the Stein Club’s website, www.steindemocrats.org.
No Republican filed to run against Norton in the November election. Statehood-Green Party candidate Natale Lino Stracuzzi is expected to run against Norton in the November general election. Political observers consider Norton the odds on favorite to win another term in Congress.
LGBT activists, along with the Stein Club, the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, and other groups consider Norton one of the strongest LGBT advocates in Congress.
Williams said the Stein Club will vote on endorsements for the Ward 7 and Ward 8 Council seats on Feb. 23 at a location to be announced. She said the club would vote on endorsements in the At-Large Council race on March 1 at the Democratic National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill.
Ward 7 incumbent Yvette Alexander and Ward 8 incumbent Marion Barry were the only two Council members to vote against the same-sex marriage law but have otherwise supported LGBT related issues during their tenure in office. Alexander faces seven opponents in the April 3 primary. Barry faces four opponents.
In the At-Large Council race, incumbent Vincent Orange, who captured the seat in a special election in 2011, faces three opponents. One of the opponents, Sekou Biddle, ran and lost against Orange in 2011. All four candidates running for the seat in the primary have expressed support on a wide range of LGBT related issues, including the same-sex marriage law.
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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