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D.C. prepares for primary

Election outcome not likely to change Council support on LGBT issues

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Political observers say Democratic opponents with the backing of LGBT activists have a shot at unseating Council member Vincent Orange in next weekā€™s primary. Orange once opposed marriage equality but later changed his mind. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Districtā€™s influential LGBT vote was expected to be divided on April 3 in the hotly contested race for an at-large D.C. Council seat held by Democratic incumbent Vincent Orange.

Orange and four of his Council colleagues ā€” Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4), Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7) and Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) ā€” are running for re-election in the Democratic Party primary. Evans, a longtime supporter of LGBT rights, is running unopposed.

Similar to nearly all past elections, the winner in the primary is expected to win the general election in November in a city where registered Democrats far outnumber Republicans.

But unlike most D.C. primaries in recent years, where almost all incumbents win, political observers say Democratic opponents with the backing of LGBT activists have a shot at unseating Orange and Alexander.

And the president of the gay GOP group Log Cabin Republicans of D.C., Robert Turner, says gay Republicans are joining their moderate to progressive fellow party activists to wage a spirited challenge for at least three Council seats in the November election.

Based on the candidates running, most LGBT activist leaders say they donā€™t expect the election outcome in the April primary or November general election to change the D.C. Councilā€™s overall longstanding support for LGBT equality.

ā€œI do not see any changes that will impact the LGBT community,ā€ said gay Democratic activist Peter Rosenstein. ā€œWe are a strong community with the support of the majority of the Council today and that will continue,ā€ he said.

Alexander and Barry were the only two Council members that voted against the cityā€™s same-sex marriage law when it passed in the Council by a vote of 11-2 in 2009. Both have been supportive on most other LGBT issues in the past.

However, the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance this year assigned Alexander and Barry a -3.5 rating on LGBT-related issues in a rating system with -10 as the lowest possible score and +10 the highest. (A full listing of GLAAā€™s ratings of all D.C. Council candidates and the candidatesā€™ responses to GLAAā€™s questionnaire on LGBT-related issues can be viewed at glaa.org.)

The Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the cityā€™s largest LGBT political group, has endorsed both Alexander and Barry in past elections. This year the club endorsed Ward 7 challenger Tom Brown over Alexander. The club didnā€™t make an endorsement in the Ward 8 race after none of five Democratic candidates running were able to obtain a 60 percent vote from club members to secure an endorsement.

The club also endorsed Bowser in the Ward 4 race, whoā€™s favored to emerge as the winner over five Democratic challengers. Bowser, who voted for the same-sex marriage bill, received a +6.5 rating from GLAA.

Orange wasnā€™t on the Council at the time of the same-sex marriage vote. He came out against same-sex marriage when he ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2006 but said he changed his mind on the issue a short time later. He says he now strongly supports the cityā€™s marriage equality law and points to his past support on a wide range of other LGBT-related issues during his tenure as a Ward 5 Council member from 1999 to 2007.

GLAA, which assigned Orange a rating of +0.5, says Orange lost points for backing a number of initiatives opposed by GLAA, including a bill to make permanent certain locations in the city designated as ā€œprostitution free zones.ā€ Many of the cityā€™s gay activists have joined transgender rights leaders and civil liberties advocates in calling for repeal of the law that created temporary prostitution free zones, saying it has been used to target and ā€œprofileā€ transgender women for police harassment on grounds that they appear to be engaging in prostitution by merely standing in certain parts of the city designated as prostitution free zones.

Orange said he no longer supports the bill to make the zones permanent. The bill calling for making them permanent was introduced by Alexander.

He is being challenged by former D.C. school board member Sekou Biddle, who was appointed to the at-large Council seat for less than a year in 2011, before losing it to Orange in an April 2011 special election. The seat became vacant in January 2011 after Council member Kwame Brown, who held the seat, won election to the post of Council chairman. Biddle received a GLAA rating of +5.5.

Also competing for the seat in the April 3 Democratic primary are Peter Shapiro, a former Prince Georgeā€™s County Council member who recently moved to D.C., who also received a +5.5 GLAA rating, and E. Gail Anderson Holness, a Ward 1 Democratic activist and pastor of D.C.ā€™s Christ Our Redeemer AME Church, who received a -1.5 GLAA rating.

Biddle and Shapiro have expressed strong support on LGBT issues. Both have lined up support in the LGBT community, with the largest number of prominent LGBT activists backing Biddle. Holness, who has called for a voter referendum on the cityā€™s same-sex marriage law, failed to obtain a single vote at a Stein Club endorsement meeting earlier this month.

Biddle finished ahead of Orange in the Stein endorsement vote but fell five points short of the 60 percent needed for an endorsement. Gay supporters of Orange and Shapiro said support for their respective candidates prevented Biddle from winning the clubā€™s endorsement, saying the development indicates Biddleā€™s support in the LGBT community may be declining.

They note that the Stein Club endorsed Biddle over Orange in the April 2011 special election, in which Biddle finished in third place behind Republican Patrick Mara and Orange, who won the election.

Biddle supporter John Fanning, a longtime gay Democratic activist, said polling data shows that Biddle has emerged as Orangeā€™s strongest challenger and has a shot at beating Orange if the opposition vote isnā€™t evenly divided between Biddle and Shapiro.

Biddle has been endorsed by gay D.C. Council member David Catania (I-At-Large), and former rival Mara, a pro-LGBT school board member from Ward 1 who campaigned for the cityā€™s same-sex marriage bill when it was pending before the Council.

Stein Club President Lateefah Williams said she believes challenger Tom Brown has a reasonable chance of beating Alexander in the Ward 7 primary. But similar to the at-large race, Williams and others seeking to replace Alexander say Alexander is likely to win if what they believe is a majority of the electorate opposing Alexander is divided among several candidates. Brown received a GLAA rating of +3.5.

Five candidates in addition to Brown are running against Alexander in the primary, including Kevin Chavous Jr., son of former Ward 7 Council member Kevin Chavous Sr., who also received a +3.5 GLAA rating.

Also running unopposed in the primary is D.C. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who is considered to be among the strongest supporters of LGBT rights in the U.S. Congress; and shadow U.S. House candidate Nate Bennett-Fleming. Both received endorsements from the Stein Club. GLAA doesnā€™t issue ratings for federal offices.

The Stein Club didnā€™t make an endorsement in the race for the cityā€™s shadow Senate seat, in which incumbent Michael D. Brown is being challenged in the Democratic primary by Pete Ross. Both have expressed support for LGBT rights.

Republican Mary Brooks Beatty is running unopposed in the April 3 D.C. Republican primary for the at-large Council seat. In the Statehood-Green Party primary, Ann Wilcox and G. Lee Aikin are also competing for the at-large Council seat. Brooks received a “0” GLAA rating for not returning the group’s questionnaire and not having a known record on LGBT issues. Wilcox received a +0.5 rating. GLAA said she, too, did not return the questionnaire but received a half point for her record of support as an attorney for the gay direct action group Get Equal.

In the Ward 7 Council race, longtime community and anti-crime activist Ron Moten, who has helped the former LGBT gang Check It convert into a youth organization promoting a fashion clothing line, is running for the Republican nomination. He is being challenged by GOP candidate Don Folden Sr. The Log Cabin Republicans of D.C. has endorsed Moten and Brooks. Moten received a +1.5 GLAA rating.

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District of Columbia

‘AG Schwab! Do your job!’ D.C. activists protest for trans youth healthcare

Action comes days after anti-trans executive order

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Activists hold signs and chant, 'A.G. Schwab, do your job!' while walking in a picket line outside of the D.C. Attorney General's office. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

About 100 activists protested outside of the offices of D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb on Thursday, Feb. 13. The assembled protesters held signs in support of access to gender-affirming care and support for trans youth.

The activists called upon the D.C. Attorney General to “issue public guidance affirming that denying care based on gender identity is unlawful under D.C.’s anti-discrimination laws as well as use the full authority vested in their office to ensure this care is reinstated,” according to a statement.

This action comes days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning gender-affirming care nationwide for minors. D.C. hospitals, including Children’s National Hospital, began to comply.

Speakers at the rally included Rebecca York, director of youth development and community engagement for the D.C.-area LGBTQ youth services organization, SMYAL.

Rebecca York speaks at a rally outside the Office of the D.C. Attorney General on Thursday, Feb. 13. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

“SMYAL has long been a partner of Childrenā€™s National, a partnership we have been incredibly proud of, especially working with their Pride Clinic team,” York told the crowd. “Their dedication to providing gender-affirming care has been a lifeline for many young people and their families in our communities, offering relief, comfort and hope. But now those lifelines have been cut off. We are incredibly disappointed in and concerned by the hospitalā€™s decision to suspend gender-affirming care to comply ā€” in advance ā€” with the administrationā€™s executive order attempting to restrict healthcare for trans youth.” 

“This decision was made out of fear: the fear of losing funding,” York continued. “And it has abandoned the very youth who need it most. This executive order, barely two weeks old has already had devastating impacts on the lives of trans and non-binary youth. These cruel policies are not abstract. They are real, they are dangerous and they are hurting our young people today.”

“Gender-affirming care saves lives for trans youth,” said York.

Also speaking at the event was Dr. Omar Taweh.

“In our youthful, vibrant, queer city, doctors provide compassionate care for trans people literally all the time.” Taweh told the assembled protesters. “And weā€™re just here to demand that our local government leaders, including AG Shwalb over here, join the rest of the states that are taking stances ā€¦to defend trans and gender-affirming care.”

Protesters formed a picket line and began a series of chants, including, “AG Schwab! Do your job!”

The action was organized by the Democratic Socialists of America.

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District of Columbia

Death of D.C. gay robbery victim ruled a homicide

Police pursuing additional charges against two juveniles

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Bryan Smith (Photo via GoFundMe)

D.C. police announced on Feb. 15 that the death of gay DJ and hairstylist Bryan Smith, 39, who police say was assaulted and robbed Oct. 27, 2024, in the 500 block of T Street, N.W., has been ruled a homicide.

Police said Smith was found unconscious at about 5 a.m. on the street where they believed he was assaulted and robbed and taken to a D.C. hospital. A short time later he was transferred at the request of family members while in a coma to a Northern Virginia hospital, where he died on Nov. 7.

ā€œOn Thursday, February 13, 2025, the Northern Virginia Medical Examinerā€™s Office advised that the cause of death for the victim was blunt force trauma and the manner of death a homicide,ā€ the D.C. police statement says.

The statement notes, as the Washington Blade and other media outlets have reported, that D.C. police on Nov. 14, 2024, arrested two juvenile males, 14 and 16 years of age, on robbery and assault charges in connection with the assault and robbery of Smith.

 At the time of the arrest, police said they had evidence showing the two juveniles were implicated in three other assault and robbery incidents that occurred on the same night as the assault and robbery of Smith in nearby locations.

According to the statement, D.C. police detectives are working with the Office of the D.C. Attorney General, which prosecutes crimes committed by juveniles, to determine whether ā€œadditional chargesā€ should be brought against the two juveniles following the determination that Smithā€™s death was a homicide.

The arrest of the two juveniles was announced by D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith at a Nov. 15  press conference near the site where Smith was attacked.

ā€œWe are here today to announce the arrest of two suspects responsible for a series of robberies in this community on Sunday, Oct. 27, including the robbery of 39-year-old Bryan Smith, who was walking home in the 500 block of T Street, N.W.,ā€ Chief Smith told reporters attending the press conference.

ā€œOn behalf of the Metropolitan Police Department as well as myself, I send my deepest condolences to Mr. Smithā€™s family as well as his friends,ā€ Chief Smith said. ā€œWhile nothing can undo this senseless loss, we hope todayā€™s arrests are of some measure of justice and a step toward healing,ā€ she said.

Chief Smith also said that police investigators had no evidence to indicate the assault and robbery of Bryan Smith was ā€œmotivated by hate or bias.ā€

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District of Columbia

Dancing protesters denounce Trumpā€™s Kennedy Center takeover

ā€˜This is an attack, not only on free speech, but on artistsā€™

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Protesters demonstrated at the Kennedy Center on Thursday night. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Waiting in the windy cold of a 45-degree February day in Washington, Tara Hoot stood in Washington Circle wearing a canary yellow dress, heels, and a rainbow feather boa. Hoot was waiting, along with about 100 others, although most of them were wearing layers of clothes, for a protest to begin.

ā€œI am here because, well, I’m angry at the situation we find ourselves in,ā€ Hoot told the Blade amid a growing crowd of pro-drag and pro-LGBTQ protesters who gathered behind her. ā€œI’m just so annoyed that this sitting president is attacking a marginalized population. It’s a distraction for the country when everything’s falling apart. The cost of eggs is up there, and inflation is rising, and he’s here attacking a marginalized population in D.C.? It’s like, go do your job, right? It’s immoral what he’s doing, and it’s weak to attack the marginalized population. He’s just showing his own weakness.ā€

Last week President Trump promised followers that he would remove anyone that ā€œdo not share our vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture,” specifically targeting drag performers at the Kennedy Center. On Wednesday he made that goal a reality by removing the 18 Democratic members on the formerly bipartisan Kennedy Center board, replacing them with Trump loyalists. 

This raised questions of the legality of removing the board, and his seeming attempt to silence First Amendment rights. As a result, the Kennedy Center issued a statement following Trumpā€™s post. 

ā€œPer the Center’s governance established by Congress in 1958, the chair of the board of trustees is appointed by the Center’s board members,ā€ the statement read. ā€œThere is nothing in the Center’s statute that would prevent a new administration from replacing board members; however, this would be the first time such action has been taken with the Kennedy Center’s board.”

Of the newly appointed board members, all have stood behind the twice impeached president as he continues to slash the federal government. These loyalists include Richard Grenell, a gay man who served as Trumpā€™s ambassador to Germany in his first term; Usha Vance, the second lady of the United States; Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff; and Patricia Duggan, a philanthropist and top GOP donor.

The newly appointed board then elected Trump as chair. 

When asked what Hoot, a local drag icon who has performed at the Kennedy Center, would say to the current board, she was quick with an answer.

ā€œWell darling, they missed their chance!ā€ Hoot said. ā€œI was running for board president of the Kennedy Center, the people’s princess, I would say. Art is gorgeous and diverse and beautiful, and it’s a way that we all tell our stories. The board needs to keep the heart of the Kennedy Center in mind, no matter who their board chair is. They actually need to have a spine and push back when these ideas that art has to be one thing or another, the board needs to push back and keep the Kennedy Center a people’s place for art.ā€

Brooke N Hymen, a self-described ā€œprofessional crossdresserā€ and trans person explained that to them, the changes in public attitude is more than a silencing of free speech, but an erasure of trans people. 

ā€œI find that attacks on drag are not just an attack on my heart, my livelihood, but also a veiled attack on trans people,ā€ Hymen said. ā€œThey want to code trans people and what they do in their daily expression as drag as a way to ban trans people. So if we don’t stand up against these attacks on drag, trans people are the first people that will be harmed.ā€ 

Hymen went on to say there are clear and simple ways that the board could offset these actions that directly and negatively impact the LGBTQ community.

ā€œMore drag programming, more queer artists, more queer musicians, and more queer casts,ā€ they said. ā€œTara Hoot was running for board of the Kennedy Center. I don’t know how possible that is under Trump, but I think that it’s a lovely sentiment and something that we should all push for.ā€

Putting Hoot back in the Kennedy Center was also on the mind of other participants of the protest dance party. John Borstel, a former arts administrator, also said that appointing someone like Hoot to the board would be beneficialā€”if only to ensure that someone would speak out at the Kennedy Center.

ā€œGet out and let the bipartisan board back in,ā€ Borstel said. ā€œGet out and get people who know the arts back in. Let Tara Hoot in here! The drag queen who’s performed at the Kennedy Center. She’s been outspoken about this. She’s gone on record where the Biden appointed and ousted board members won’t even make a public statement about what happened. They’re afraid for themselves. We’ve got drag queens speaking out. The bureaucrats won’t speak up.ā€

His sentiment regarding the lack of response from former Kennedy Center officials was echoed in his grievances with other established members of the arts community who didnā€™t show up at the protest. It did make him proud in a unique way though. 

ā€œI have never been prouder than I am tonight, to be a gay man, to be queer, because it’s the queers who have come out to protest it ā€” but it’s affecting everybody,ā€ Borstel said. ā€œHe’s going to cut it all down. Everybody should be out here. I worked in the arts sector for over 30 years here. Where are those folks? But the queers are here. And they’re dancing!ā€ 

Bennett Shoop (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Bennett Shoop, one of the protest organizers with the Claudia Jones School for Political Education, told the crowd at Washington Circleā€”just before their march down New Hampshire Avenue to the front of the Kennedy Centerā€”that drag is deeply intertwined with Washingtonā€™s history and that ignoring it means erasing that history.

ā€œDrag is really important to D.C. and it’s important to D.C. history,ā€ Shoop said to the diverse and growing crowd of people listening. ā€œWilliam Dorsey Swann was the first drag queen in the United States, an enslaved person who called themselves ā€œthe queen of drag,ā€ who threw drag balls right here in this city. Drag is a D.C. institution, one that Trump has decided is going to be one of his top targets for his fascist administration. But it’s not just about drag performers at the Kennedy Center. This administration wants to remove all kinds of gender non-conformity and LGBTQ people at large from public life, just like the Nazis did at the Hirschfeld Institute when they burned all of those books.ā€ 

ā€œThis is D.C.,ā€ he continued as the crowd cheered him on. ā€œD.C. is the queerest city per capita in the United States. We may not have representation in the federal government, but we do have a fighting spiritā€¦He could pass all the executive orders and do all of the fascist takeovers that he wants, but queer and trans people will still be here. You know, we will still dance, and that dance will long outlive them.ā€

One of those members of the LGBTQ community who resisted oppression through dance and protest, Shoop explained as he concluded his speech, could be credited with sparking the modern gay rights movement.

ā€œLet us never forget that it was none other than drag king StormĆ© DeLarverie who inspired the Stonewall uprising that led to the gay liberation revolution of the ā€˜70s. Drag was a part of our revolution then, and it must be a part of our revolution now. I just want to end with a quote from the namesake of our school, Claudia Jones, who once said ā€˜that a people’s art is the genesis of their freedom.ā€™ So like our predecessors, let this be the genesis of ours.ā€

Following speeches by the other organizing groups, the group of 200 or so walked in the middle of the road toward the Kennedy Center singing and occasionally stopping to dance. Onlookers from apartments along the road opened windows waving at the group, occasionally screaming words of support from stories up.  

One of those marching in protest was Jennifer Ives of Germantown, Md. She was bundled up in a coat and hat while holding a sign, dancing along the protest route.

ā€œIā€™m here because I want to support the trans and gay communities,ā€ Ives told the Blade. ā€œI believe that soldiers should get their hormone treatment, their therapy, their pills. I believe that Trump should get out of the Kennedy Center. I believe that right now, there’s an assault on the trans community, and we just can’t stand for it. So we gotta protest, and we gotta dance.ā€

Another participant, dressed in full dragā€”from voluminous black and red hair to a sparkly, tinsel-covered suit and thick white heelsā€”emphasized that no matter what executive orders are signed or what bans pass through state legislatures, LGBTQ people have always been here and always will be.

ā€œThe main reason is to show that even though these actions have been taken, and though they want to strip us of our power, that we’re still here,ā€ said drag performer Rhiannon LLC. ā€œI think an important thing that stuck with me after the election, even though we lost, Kamala Harris, her main message was, we’re not going back. And if we let that message die, then we kind of go along with it. So to be here and to be out, it’s awesome.ā€

They continued, saying that if they had the ability to say one thing to the Kennedy Center board, it would be two words: ā€œHave integrity. Although Trump may be there for the next four years, you are there after. These actions will follow you, and your job right now is to support the arts. So support the arts.ā€

One of the last speeches of the night was delivered directly in front of the Kennedy Center, its marble walls and gold columns providing a final backdrop for the protest. Pussy Noir, another local drag legend, was handed a mic to wrap up the night. 

ā€œThis is an intense time for all of us,ā€ said Noir, who currently has a residency with the Kennedy Center REACH program and performs in drag across the city. ā€œI don’t know if you know this about me, but I’m the main drag queen that brought drag to the Kennedy Center, and with many other drag queens in this city, helped establish it as a real art form.ā€

Noir took a moment to look out at the crowd, their faces illuminated by the glow of the Kennedy Center, before finishing with a message of resilience and solidarity for all drag artists ā€” those currently protesting in front of the Kennedy Center and those performing in hole-in-the-wall gay bars across the country.

ā€œSo no matter what anyone says, If you are a drag performer, you are an artist. If you support drag, you are supporting artists. Right now this is an attack, not only on free speech, but on artists, on small business owners, and I think that’s something that everyone in this country can understand. We must be supportive of each other and kind to each other. More than anything, that is the only way that we can fight this.ā€

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