Local
Stein Club spurns Barry, Alexander in D.C. primary endorsement vote
Council members voted against same-sex marriage law
Members of the Stein Club cast votes on endorsements in several key races. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
The Gertrude Stein Democratic Club last week broke from its longstanding tradition of endorsing incumbent City Council members for re-election when it turned down endorsements for Council members Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and Yvette Alexander (Ward 7).
Club members who spoke at a Feb. 23 endorsement meeting held at the Human Rights Campaign headquarters cited the two Council members’ December 2009 vote against the city’s same-sex marriage law as the reason the two should not be endorsed. The Council passed the same-sex marriage law by a vote of 11-2.
The club endorsed the two Council members in the 2008 Democratic primary and the November 2008 general election.
Barry and Alexander are running now in the city’s April 3 Democratic Primary, with political pundits saying Barry is the favorite to win his party’s nomination and the general election in November. Observers say the outcome of the Ward 7 race is uncertain.
Barry, who attended the meeting, told Stein Club members he has a long record of support on LGBT issues since 1978, when he won election as D.C. mayor, and throughout his tenure as mayor and Ward 8 Council member. He said the club should not judge him solely on his vote on the marriage issue.
Marion Barry addresses the Stein Club. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Some club members, including Ward 8 gay activist Phil Pannell, pointed to Barry’s decision to participate and speak at a 2009 rally at Freedom Plaza against the same-sex marriage bill that was organized by the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage.
Neither Alexander nor a representative of her campaign attended the meeting. In a club questionnaire she completed and turned in prior to the meeting, Alexander did not discuss her vote against the marriage bill but said, “I will not support efforts to undo marriage rights secured for D.C.’s LGBT community.”
Three of the four candidates running against Barry for the Ward 8 Council seat – Darrell Danny Gaston, Jacque Patterson, and S.S. Sandra Seegars – attended the meeting to compete for the club’s endorsement. But none of them were able to obtain a 60 percent majority vote required for a club endorsement, resulting in a Stein Club ‘no-endorsement’ for the Ward 8 race.
In the Ward 7 contest, community activist Tom Brown won the endorsement with a 62 percent vote on a second ballot. Brown did not return a club questionnaire, but Stein President Lateefah Williams said Brown expressed support for LGBT rights, including same-sex marriage, during his appearance at the Feb. 23 meeting.
“Our bylaws don’t require people to submit a questionnaire to get an endorsement,” Williams said.
She noted Barry also did not return the questionnaire.
Each of the other four candidates running against Alexander for the Council seat, in addition to Brown, attended the meeting and urged the club to back their candidacies, expressing general support for LGBT related issues. They included Kevin Chavous, Dorothy Douglas, Monica Johnson, and Rev. William Bennett II.
Bennett was among a few of the candidates seeking the club’s endorsement who acknowledged they would not have voted for the same-sex marriage bill if they were on the Council at the time it came up, citing religious grounds for their opposition.
On Feb. 16 the club endorsed the re-election bids of D.C. Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Ward 4 Council member Muriel Bowser, and D.C. shadow representative candidate Nate Bennett-Fleming.
The Stein Club, the city’s largest LGBT political organizations, is scheduled to hold its final endorsement meeting for the upcoming primary on March 1 for the at-large and Ward 2 Council races. The meeting will be held at the Democratic National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill.
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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