Local
D.C. anti-bullying bill clears key vote
Training requirement eliminated to cut cost of measure
‘The bill delivers a strong message that this city will not tolerate bullying – especially for our LGBT youth,’ said Council member Tommy Wells. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
A D.C. Council committee voted unanimously on April 20 to approve the Youth Bullying Prevention Act of 2012 and to send it to the full Council for an expected preliminary vote on May 1.
“The bill delivers a strong message that this city will not tolerate bullying – especially for our LGBT youth – in our schools, libraries, recreation centers and where the city serves its youth,” said Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6).
Wells is chair of the Council’s Committee on Libraries, Parks, Recreation and Planning, which worked with the mayor’s office and LGBT advocates over the past year to make significant revisions to the bill before voting to approve it last week.
With the city facing an expected budget shortfall next year, Wells and his fellow committee members were faced with the need to make changes to lower the cost of implementing the bill.
The revised version of the bill, for example, eliminates a provision in the earlier version that stated, “To the extent that funds are appropriated for these purposes,” various city agencies, including the public school system, “shall provide training on the agency’s harassment, intimidation or bullying policies to employees and volunteers who have significant contact with students or the public…”
The revised bill approved by the committee says the public schools and other city agencies “may … provide training on bullying prevention to all employees and volunteers who have significant contact with youth.”
Alison Gill, public policy manager for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, or GLSEN, which worked with Wells’ office to help revise the bill, said the training requirement in the earlier version of the bill was contingent upon the availability of city funds and the elimination of that provision would have a minimal impact on the overall bill.
“I think it’s excellent,” Gill said of the revised bill. “The new bill addresses the issues the community had raised over the past year.”
Among those issues, Gill said, was the need to broaden the definition of bullying from the original bill to include all of the categories of individuals protected under the D.C. Human Rights Act and the need to strengthen the reporting requirements for schools and city agencies to keep track of bullying incidents.
The committee vote came just over one week after Mayor Vincent Gray announced he would put into place a citywide anti-bullying initiative through his executive authority as mayor. His proposal includes the creation of a special task force on bullying and the development of a model anti-bullying policy and standards to be used by city agencies with jurisdiction over youth.
The legislation approved by Wells’ committee, among other things, also calls for creating a bullying task force and developing a comprehensive anti-bullying policy for city agencies.
Gill said the mayor’s task force and bullying polices would be adopted as those required under the bill, with an expected smooth transition once the bill becomes law.
Eleven of the Council’s 13 members signed on as co-introducers or co-sponsors of the earlier version of the bill. Supporters say the new version is expected to pass the full Council by an overwhelming margin.
A summary of the bill’s provisions released by Wells’ office says the measure includes these key components:
• The establishment and implementation of a bullying prevention policy, including reporting and investigation guidelines, that specifically covers all youth, including youth of color, LGBT youth, and youth with disabilities.
• The establishment of an appeal process for a party dissatisfied with the outcome of an initial investigation of a bullying incident.
• A clear prohibition against retaliation against a target of bullying, a witness to a bullying incident, or someone who reports an incident of bullying.
• The granting of legal immunity from lawsuits against an employee, volunteer or youth who “in good faith” reports an incident of bullying.
The bill defines bullying as “any severe, persistent act or conduct, whether physical, electronic, or verbal that … shall be reasonably predicted to place the youth in reasonable fear of physical harm to his or her person or property; cause a substantial detrimental effect on the youth’s physical or mental health; substantially interfere with the youth’s academic performance or attendance; or substantially interfere with the youth’s ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities, or privileges provided by an agency, educational institution, or grantee.”
It defines “grantee” as an entity or contractor that provides services, activities or privileges to youth on behalf of the city.
Wells said at the time the committee voted to approve the bill that a financial impact statement prepared by the Office of the Chief Financial Officer shows that implementing the measure would cost the public school system $36,000 in fiscal year 2014 and $31,000 in both fiscal years 2015 and 2016.
Wells said public school officials indicated the system “cannot absorb this amount,” requiring that the Council and mayor identify other sources of funding.
Wells’ office said last month that an inability to identify funding sources for the bill was among the reasons it has been stalled in committee for more than a year. The revised bill is believed to be far less costly than the earlier version.
“I am confident we will resolve this issue before the bill has its first reading at the full Council,” Wells said.
The committee members who voted to approve the bill, in addition to Wells, were David Catania (I-At-Large), Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) and Vincent Orange (D-At-Large).
Virginia
McPike wins special election for Va. House of Delegates
Gay Alexandria City Council member becomes 8th LGBTQ member of legislature
Gay Alexandria City Council member Kirk McPike emerged as the decisive winner in a Feb. 10 special election for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Alexandria.
McPike, a Democrat, received 81.5 percent of the vote in his race against Republican Mason Butler, according to the local publication ALX Now.
He first won election to the Alexandria Council in 2021. He will be filling the House of Delegates seat being vacated by Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria), who won in another Feb. 10 special election for the Virginia State Senate seat being vacated by gay Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria).
Ebbin is resigning from his Senate this week to take a position with Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration.
Upon taking his 5th District seat in the House of Delegate, McPike will become the eighth out LGBTQ member of the Virginia General Assembly. Among those he will be joining is Sen. Danica Roem (D-Manassas), who became the Virginia Legislature’s first transgender member when she won election to the House of Delegates in 2017 before being elected to the Senate in 2023.
“I look forward to continuing to work to address our housing crisis, the challenge of climate change, and the damaging impacts of the Trump administration on the immigrant families, LGBTQ+ Virginians, and federal employees who call Alexandria home,” McPike said in a statement after winning the Democratic nomination for the seat in a special primary held on Jan. 20.
McPike, a longtime LGBTQ rights advocate, has served for the past 13 years as chief of staff for gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and has remained in that position during his tenure on the Alexandria Council. He said he will resign from that position before taking office in the House of Delegates.
Local
Local LGBTQ groups, activists to commemorate Black History Month
Rayceen Pendarvis to moderate Dupont Underground panel on Sunday
LGBTQ groups in D.C. and elsewhere plan to use Black History Month as an opportunity to commemorate and celebrate Black lives and experiences.
Team Rayceen Productions has no specific events planned, but co-founder Rayceen Pendarvis will attend many functions around D.C. this month.
Pendarvis, a longtime voice in the LGBTQ community in D.C. moderated a panel at Dupont Underground on Feb. 8. The event, “Every (Body) Wants to Be a Showgirl,” will feature art from Black burlesque artists from around the country. Pendarvis on Feb. 23 will attend the showing of multimedia play at the Lincoln Theatre that commemorates the life of James Baldwin.
Equality Virginia plans to prioritize Black voices through a weekly online series, and community-based story telling. The online digital series will center Black LGBTQ voices, specifically trailblazers and activists, and contemporary Black queer and transgender people.
Narissa Rahaman, Equality Virginia’s executive director, stressed the importance of the Black queer community to the overall Pride movement, and said “Equality Virginia is proud to center those voices in our work this month and beyond.”
The Capital Pride Alliance, which hosts Pride events in D.C., has an alliance with the Center for Black Equity, which brings Black Pride to D.C. over Memorial Day weekend. The National LGBTQ Task Force has no specific Black History Month events planned, but plans to participate in online collaborations.
Cathy Renna, the Task Force’s director of communications, told the Washington Blade the organization remains committed to uplifting Black voices. “Our priority is keeping this at the forefront everyday,” she said.
The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center is also hosting a series of Black History Month events.
The D.C. Public Library earlier this year launched “Freedom and Resistance,” an exhibition that celebrates Black History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. It will remain on display until the middle of March at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at 901 G St., N.W.
District of Columbia
U.S. Attorney’s Office drops hate crime charge in anti-gay assault
Case remains under investigation and ‘further charges’ could come
D.C. police announced on Feb. 9 that they had arrested two days earlier on Feb. 7 a Germantown, Md., man on a charge of simple assault with a hate crime designation after the man allegedly assaulted a gay man at 14th and Q Streets, N.W., while using “homophobic slurs.”
But D.C. Superior Court records show that prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C., which prosecutes D.C. violent crime cases, charged the arrested man only with simple assault without a hate crime designation.
In response to a request by the Washington Blade for the reason why the hate crime designation was dropped, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office provided this response: “We continue to investigate this matter and make no mistake: should the evidence call for further charges, we will not hesitate to charge them.”
In a statement announcing the arrest in this case, D.C. police stated, “On Saturday, February 7, 2026, at approximately 7:45 p.m. the victim and suspect were in the 1500 block of 14th Street, Northwest. The suspect requested a ‘high five’ from the victim. The victim declined and continued walking,” the statement says.
“The suspect assaulted the victim and used homophobic slurs,” the police statement continues. “The suspect was apprehended by responding officers.”
It adds that 26-year-old Dean Edmundson of Germantown, Md. “was arrested and charged with Simple Assault (Hate/Bias).” The statement also adds, “A designation as a hate crime by MPD does not mean that prosecutors will prosecute it as a hate crime.”
Under D.C.’s Bias Related Crime Act of 1989, penalties for crimes motivated by prejudice against individuals based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and homelessness can be enhanced by a court upon conviction by one and a half times greater than the penalty of the underlying crime.
Prosecutors in the past both in D.C. and other states have said they sometimes decide not to include a hate crime designation in assault cases if they don’t think the evidence is sufficient to obtain a conviction by a jury. In some instances, prosecutors have said they were concerned that a skeptical jury might decide to find a defendant not guilty of the underlying assault charge if they did not believe a motive of hate was involved.
A more detailed arrest affidavit filed by D.C. police in Superior Court appears to support the charge of a hate crime designation.
“The victim stated that they refused to High-Five Defendant Edmondson, which, upon that happening, Defendant Edmondson started walking behind both the victim and witness, calling the victim, “bald, ugly, and gay,” the arrest affidavit states.
“The victim stated that upon being called that, Defendant Edmundson pushed the victim with both hands, shoving them, causing the victim to feel the force of the push,” the affidavit continues. “The victim stated that they felt offended and that they were also gay,” it says.
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