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Kameny estate dispute sparks lawsuits

Gay rights pioneer’s burial ceremony postponed

Published

14 years ago

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Frank Kameny, gay news, gay politics dc

Frank Kameny’s March 3 burial was postponed, but his headstone and grave marker are now in place and are open for visitors at the cemetery, which is located at 18th Street and Potomac Avenue, S.E. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The man named by the late gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny as the main beneficiary of his estate has filed separate lawsuits against four of Kameny’s longtime friends and fellow activists, charging that they “wrongfully” removed property from Kameny’s house shortly after his death last October.

The lawsuits, which were filed in D.C. Superior Court on March 3 and March 5, came days after one of the men now named as a defendant, Bob Witeck, announced that a March 3 ceremony for the interment of Kameny’s ashes at Congressional Cemetery had been postponed in “deference” to Kameny’s estate.

“Timothy Lamont Clark, the Personal Representative of the Estate of Dr. Franklin E. Kameny, filed Complaints for Writ of Replevin against Dr. Marvin Carter, Charles Francis, Richard Rosendall, and Robert ‘Bob’ Witeck in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia Civil Division,” says a statement released by attorney Glen Ackerman, who is representing Clark and the Kameny estate.

“The Estate alleges that Messrs. Carter, Francis, Rosendall, and Witeck removed property belonging to the Estate of Dr. Kameny without authority or permission,” Ackerman says in the statement. “The Estate is seeking immediate recovery of the property wrongfully taken.”

Witeck and Rosendall said they had no immediate comment on the lawsuits. Rande Joiner, an attorney saying she represents Francis, said Francis also would have no comment. Carter did not respond to an email and phone message seeking comment.

U.S. Legal.com, a website specializing in legal issues, describes “Replevin” as an “action or writ issued to recover an item of personal property wrongfully taken.” It says it can be used as a legal remedy “in which a court requires a defendant to return specific goods to the plaintiff at the beginning of the action” while the case is awaiting trial.

The suits allege that some or all of the defendants improperly removed from Kameny’s house his personal papers; a U.S.  Army uniform of Kameny’s; a statue; “Gay is Good” pins; and “personal and historical photographs,” among other items.

The lawsuit also claims Francis is required to hand over to the estate the “posthumous certificate awarded to Franklin Edward Kameny by the American Astronomical Society on January 10, 2012.”

Francis said in a press release earlier this year that he traveled to Texas at the invitation of the astronomical society to accept the award on Kameny’s behalf.

The lawsuits say each of these items “belong to the Plaintiff and the Estate of Franklin Edward Kameny” and are of “unknown historical value and of a monetary value yet to be determined.”

Ackerman told the Blade that Francis, Witeck, Rosendall, and Carter removed the items from Kameny’s house in November.

Rosendall and Witeck told the Blade earlier this year that Clark, who was living in the house at the time, gave them permission to take the items to preserve them for safekeeping, with the intent of returning the items to the estate.

The two said Clark, who inherited Kameny’s house, told them he was about to have the house cleaned to prepare for placing it on the market for sale and was ready to dispose of many of the remaining items in the house as trash.

Rosendall told the Blade last week that he, Witeck, and Carter became alarmed that important papers and other items needed to preserve Kameny’s legacy were in danger of being discarded and lost. He said Clark had no objections to their temporarily taking possession of the items and allowed them access to the house.

Ackerman this week said Clark disputes that characterization of what happened. According to Ackerman, Clark says he never told Witeck, Francis, Rosendall, or Carter that he planned to throw away the items in question. Ackerman said Clark feels he was misled by the men into thinking they had the legal right to take the items from the house.

“At that time he didn’t understand the legal issues of all of this,” Ackerman said.

Activists helped Kameny in last years

Kameny’s will, which names Clark as Kameny’s personal representative for the estate, also names Clark as the sole beneficiary of Kameny’s house, car, and all other possessions except his papers, which Kameny bequeathed to the Library of Congress.

Activists who know Witeck, Francis, Carter, and Rosendall credit them with helping Kameny financially in the last years of his life. Carter, founder and executive director of the local charitable group Helping Our Brothers and Sisters (HOBS), arranged for the group to raise money to help Kameny pay his bills at a time when he was in financial need.

Francis founded the Kameny Papers Project, which arranged for the Library of Congress in 2007 to take possession of thousands of Kameny’s papers and documents that cover the gay rights leader’s work on behalf of LGBT equality over a 50-year period.

The project, under Francis’ and Witeck’s direction, raised more than $75,000 from donors to buy the papers from Kameny, giving him needed financial support, and donate them to the Library of Congress, where they are available to researchers.

Ackerman said he recognizes the contributions of the four men on Kameny’s behalf. But he said that he and Clark are legally obligated in probating Kameny’s will to keep an accurate inventory of all of Kameny’s property. All of the items taken from the house belong to Clark under the terms of Kameny’s will, Ackerman said.

He said Francis has declined to say why he has yet to deliver the Kameny papers he took from the house shortly after Kameny’s death to the Library of Congress.

“It’s almost six months since Dr. Kameny died,” Ackerman said. “What is it taking so long for him to give those papers to the Library of Congress?”

He said he was troubled to learn from Joiner, Francis’s lawyer,  that Francis and the others have agreed to return the items they took from the house but only if the estate issues a legal waiver releasing them from any liability associated with the estate or Clark.

Ackerman said the estate refuses to agree to such a waiver.

“Why do they want to be released from liability if they didn’t do anything wrong?” he said.

Interment delayed over gravesite ownership

The abrupt postponement of the March 3 interment ceremony for Kameny’s ashes at D.C.’s historic Congressional Cemetery startled many of the activists who knew Kameny and planned to attend.

Patrick Crowley, interim senior manager for Congressional Cemetery, said Witeck informed him on March 2, one day before the ceremony was to take place, that he and the other organizers of the event wanted to call it off.

“All I can say is there is a disagreement between the parties that own the plot and the estate of Mr. Kameny,” Crowley said.

Crowley said HOBS, operated by Carter, purchased the gravesite earlier this year.

Ackerman said HOBS along with Francis and Witeck announced plans for the burial service without consulting Clark or the Kameny estate. He said Clark, who has legal rights to the ashes and planned to take possession of them, was not informed in advance of the burial plans and was “completely excluded” from the entire process of obtaining a cemetery plot and planning the interment of the ashes.

When Clark asked about the ashes last year, he was told they already had been buried, Ackerman said Clark told him. Ackerman said he and Clark did not learn that the ashes had not been buried until last month, when he saw a press release about plans for the interment and a cemetery official told him the ashes were in an urn at the cemetery office.

With this as a backdrop, Ackerman said he informed the cemetery and Francis, Witeck, and Carter, through attorney Joiner that the estate would not allow the interment of the ashes to take place until HOBS signed over ownership of the cemetery plot to the estate.

The estate would pay HOBS for the plot and other burial related expenses, Ackerman said.

He said HOBS agreed to do this but informed him that the HOBS board could not make arrangements to approve the sale in time for the ceremony. Ackerman said the estate had no objections to holding the gravesite ceremony but it could not agree to the burial of the ashes until the estate gained legal ownership of the plot.

Reached by phone March 2, Witeck acknowledged that the interment ceremony was being postponed due to issues related to the Kameny estate, but he declined to provide further details on the reason for the postponement, including whether organizers didn’t want a ceremony if the ashes could not be interred.

Editor’s note: The law firm Ackerman Brown PLCC, of which Glen Ackerman is managing partner, represents the Washington Blade.

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Comings & Goings

Heng-Lehtinen joins Trevor Project as SVP

Published

1 day ago

on

November 28, 2025

By

Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected]. 

Congratulations to RODRIGO HENG-LEHTINEN on his new role as Trevor Project Senior Vice President of Public Engagement Campaigns. On accepting the position, he said, “My mission has long been to stop LGBTQ, and especially trans, people from being perceived as political footballs and start getting us seen as real people – your friends, your families, your neighbors. Now I get to focus on that 100% at The Trevor Project.”  

Prior to this, he was executive director, Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE), where he co-led the merger of two national transgender rights organizations, NCTE and TDLEF, to create the new organization. He had served as executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, leading that organization through a period of growth, restoring organizational size and stability. He had served as deputy executive director prior to that. Previously he served as vice president of Public Education, Freedom for All Americans, where he led a successful campaign for transgender nondiscrimination protections in New Hampshire.  He oversaw a full range of legislative lobbying, field organizing, and communications strategies and oganized a leadership coalition, established structure, and divided roles for key committees of 17 state and national partner organizations and local activists.   

Heng-Lehtinen conducted English-language interviews with outlets such as The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, and Politico. He planned a Transgender Leadership Summit for the Transgender Law Center and served as Development & Donor Services Assistant, Liberty Hill Foundation. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies from Brown University.

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Local

D.C., Va., Md. to commemorate World AIDS Day

Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle will hold a Mass, candlelight prayer vigil

Published

3 days ago

on

November 26, 2025

By

Washingtonians participate in a World AIDS Day candlelight vigil in Dupont Circle in 2021. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The D.C. area will observe World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 through a variety of community events.

Established by the World Health Organization in 1988, World AIDS Day aims to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and honor the individuals affected by the epidemic. The global theme for 2025 is “overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response.”

Washington

DC Health will host a World AIDS Day event at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library from noon to 9 p.m on Dec. 1. Attendees can expect live performances, free food and free HIV testing.

The all-day event will also feature community resources from DC Health, DC Public Library, DC Health Link, Serve DC, and the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs.

The Lily and Earle M. Pilgrim Art Foundation is partnering with Visual AIDS, a New York-based non-profit that uses art to fight AIDS, to reflect on World AIDS Day with a film screening on Dec. 1.

The David Bethuel Jamieson Studio House at Walbridge in Mount Pleasant will premiere “Meet Us Where We’re At,” an hour-long collection of six videos. The free screening highlights the complexity of drug use in intersection with the global HIV epidemic.

The videos, commissioned by artists in Brazil, Germany, Nigeria, Puerto Rico and Vietnam, showcase the firsthand experience of drug users, harm reduction programs, and personal narratives. The program intends to showcase drug users as key individuals in the global response to HIV.

In addition to streaming the videos, the event will include an evening potluck and conversation led by Peter Stebbins from 6-8 p.m.

The Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle will hold a 5:30 p.m. Mass and candlelight prayer vigil at 6 p.m. in honor of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1. The event is open to all and includes a subsequent reception at 6:30 p.m.

The Capital Jewish Museum is hosting a speaker series on Dec. 2 from 6:30-8 p.m. that explores the response to AIDS within the Jewish community. Speakers include LGBTQ psychiatrist Jeffrey Akman, physician assistant Barbara Lewis and Larry Neff, lay service leader at Bet Mishpachah, a synagogue founded by LGBTQ Washingtonians. Heather Alt, deputy director of nursing at Whitman-Walker Health, will moderate the event.

The program is free for museum members. General admission is $10 and Chai tickets, which help subsidize the cost of general admission, are $18. Tickets include access to LGBT Jews in the Federal City, a temporary exhibition that collectively explores Washington, Judaism, and LGBTQ history. The exhibition is on view through Jan. 4, 2026.

Virginia

Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins and local residents will commemorate World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 at the Lee Center. 

The event, which is free to attend, will include music, choir performances, educational moments and more. The commemoration will be held from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Maryland

The Frederick Center will host talks, tabling and a raffle in honor of World AIDS Day. The Frederick County Health Department will conduct free HIV testing.

The event, which is free to attend, will be held on Nov. 30 from 1-4 p.m. The Frederick County Health Department always offers free, walk-in HIV testing on Tuesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Prince George’s County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority will host a community day of awareness in honor of World AIDS Day on Dec. 6 from 1 a.m. to 2 p.m. The free event will feature free, confidential HIV testing, private talks with medical professionals and health workshops.

The event will be held at Suitland Community Center in Forestville and will include breakfast and snacks.

Damien Ministries is commemorating World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 through the grand opening of the We the People Community & Wellness Collaborative. The event, held at 11:30 a.m. at 4061 Minnesota Avenue, N.E., is free to attend.

Damien Ministries is a faith-based non-profit committed to supporting those with HIV/AIDS.

Begin Anew, a Baltimore non-profit that provides education, outreach and resources to improve public health, wellness and economic stability, is hosting its 4th Annual World AIDS Day Community Celebration on Dec. 1 alongside community partners.

Hosted at the University of Maryland BioPark from noon to 3 p.m., the program will feature keynote speaker Jason E. Farley of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The celebration will also dedicate awards to local heroes focused on fighting HIV/AIDS and promoting health equity.

The free event includes lunch, live entertainment and networking opportunities with health advocates and partners.

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District of Columbia

Bowser announces she will not seek fourth term as mayor

‘It has been the honor of my life to be your mayor’

Published

3 days ago

on

November 26, 2025

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(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a longtime vocal supporter of the LGBTQ community, announced on Nov. 25 that she will not run for a fourth term.

Since first taking office as mayor in January 2015, Bowser has been an outspoken supporter on a wide range of LGBTQ related issues, including marriage equality and services for LGBTQ youth and seniors.

Local LGBTQ advocates have also praised Bowser for playing a leading role in arranging for widespread city support in the city’s role as host for World Pride 2025 in May and June, when dozens of LGBTQ events took place throughout the city.

She has also been credited with expanding the size and funding for the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, which was put in place as a Cabinet level office by the D.C. Council in 2006 under the administration of then-Mayor Anthony Williams.

It was initially called the Office of Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Affairs. At Bowser’s request, the D.C. Council in 2016 agreed to change the name as part of the fiscal year 2016 budget bill to the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Affairs.

As she has in numerous past appearances at LGBTQ events, Bowser last month greeted the thousands of people who attended the annual LGBTQ Halloween 17th Street High Heel Race from a stage by shouting that D.C. is the “gayest city in the world.”

In a statement released after she announced she would not run for a fourth term in office; Bowser reflected on her years as mayor.

“It has been the honor of my life to be your mayor,” she said. “When you placed your trust in me 10 years ago, you gave me an extraordinary opportunity to have a positive impact on my hometown,” her statement continues.

“Together, you and I have built a legacy of success of which I am immensely proud. My term will end on Jan. 2, 2027. But until then, let’s run through the tape and keep winning for D.C,” her statement concludes.

Among the LGBTQ advocates commenting on Bowser’s decision not to run again for mayor was Howard Garrett, president of D.C.’s Capital Stonewall Democrats, one of the city’s largest local LGBTQ political groups.  

“I will say from a personal capacity that Mayor Bowser has been very supportive of the LGBTQ community,” Garrett told the Washington Blade. “I think she has done a great job with ensuring that our community has been protected and making sure we have the resources needed to be protected when it comes to housing, public safety and other areas.”

Garrett also praised Bowser’s appointment of LGBTQ advocate Japer Bowles as director of the Office of LGBTQ Affairs,

“Under the leadership of the mayor, Japer has done a fantastic job in ensuring that we have what we need and other organizations have what they need to prosper,” Garrett said.

Cesar Toledo, executive director of the D.C. based Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides housing services for homeless LGBTQ youth, credits Bowser with transforming the Office of LGBTQ Affairs “into the largest and most influential community affairs agency of its kind in the nation, annually investing more than $1 million into life-saving programs.”

Toledo added, “Because of the consistent support of Mayor Bowser and her administration, the Wanda Alston Foundation has strengthened and expanded its housing and counseling programs, ensuring that more at-risk queer and trans youth receive the safety, stability, and life-saving care they deserve.”

Gay Democratic activist Peter Rosenstein is among those who have said they have mixed reactions to Bowser’s decision not to run again.

“I am sorry for the city but happy for her that she will now be able to focus on her family, and her incredible daughter,” Rosenstein said.

“She has worked hard, and done great things for D.C,” Rosenstein added. “Those include being a stalwart supporter of the LGBTQ community, working to rebuild our schools, recreation centers, libraries, gaining the RFK site for the city, and maintaining home rule. She will be a very hard act to follow.”

Local gay activist David Hoffman is among those in the city who have criticized Bowser for not taking a stronger and more vocal position critical of President Donald Trump on a wide range of issues, including Trump’s deployment of National Guard soldiers to patrol D.C. streets. Prior to Bowser’s announcement that she is not running again for mayor, Hoffman said he would not support Bowser’s re-election and would urge the LGBTQ community to support another candidate for mayor.

Bowser supporters have argued that Bowser’s interactions with the Trump-Vance administration, including her caution about denouncing the president, were based on her and other city officials’ desire to protect the interests of D.C. and D.C.’s home rule government. They point out that Trump supporters, including Republican members of Congress, have called on Trump to curtail or even end D.C. home rule.

Most political observers are predicting a highly competitive race among a sizable number of candidates expected to run for mayor in the 2026 D.C. election. Two D.C. Council members have said they were considering a run for mayor before Bowser’s withdrawal.

They include Councilmember Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4), who identifies as a democratic socialist, and Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie (I-At-Large), who is considered a political moderate supportive of community-based businesses. Both have expressed strong support for the LGBTQ community.

The Washington Post reports that Bowser declined to say in an interview whether she will endorse a candidate to succeed her or what she plans to do after she leaves office as mayor.     

Among her reasons for not running again, she told the Post, was “we’ve accomplished what we set out to accomplish.”

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