Local
Gray, Ellerbe attend Transgender Day of Remembrance event
D.C. fire chief apologized for EMS’ refusal to treat Tyra Hunter after 1995 car accident
Transgender Remembrance Day was observed at the Metropolitan Community Church of D.C. on Tuesday. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Hundreds of people gathered at the Metropolitan Community Church in Northwest Washington on Tuesday to commemorate the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.
“It is a special day today that we think about our transgender brothers and sisters, those that are no longer on this planet and those who remain in this room who stand on the front lines fighting every day,” said Rev. Abena McCray of Unity Fellowship Church D.C. “We honor you.”
Brian Watson of Transgender Health Empowerment honored Mayor Vincent Gray and Lisa Mallory, director of the D.C. Department of Employment Services, for their work on behalf of trans Washingtonians. He specifically applauded the Gray administration for nominating Earline Budd and Alexandra Beninda to the city’s Human Rights Commission, launching the country’s first publicly-funded campaign to combat anti-trans discrimination and implementing the Project Empowerment employment initiative for trans Washingtonians.
More than 70 people have graduated from the program since it began in Sept. 2011.
D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
“It is the right thing to do,” said Gray after he and Mallory accepted their awards. “This symbolizes too that it is time, it is time for us to make sure if we’re going to call ourselves one city, than everybody in the District of Columbia will have a place to be able to enjoy life in one city in the District of Columbia.”
Gwendolyn Ann Smith organized the first Transgender Day of Remembrance as a way to honor Rita Hester, a trans woman murdered inside her Boston apartment in Nov. 1998.
The D.C. event was one of dozens of Transgender Day of Remembrance commemorations, candlelight vigils and other gatherings held across the United States and around the world.
A group of trans activists gathered at the White House earlier in the day to discuss what Budd described as “the crisis and issues of discrimination facing the transgender community.” Gray also declared Nov. 20, 2012, as Transgender Day of Remembrance in D.C.
“We come to remember and honor the life and love of those loved ones and friends and family that we’ve lost,” said Jeffrey Richardson, director of the Mayor’s Office of GLBT Affairs. “The sorrow’s still with us. The pain stays with us, but we also must celebrate the resilience, the connectedness, the love that exists within our community. We continue to get up and rise over and over and over and over again despite the challenges and circumstances that so many in our community and all of us collectively face.”
Metropolitan Police Department statistics indicate there have been nine reported bias-related crimes based on gender identity and expression in D.C. from January through October, compared to seven during the same period in 2011.
A jury late last month convicted off-duty D.C. police officer Kenneth Furr of assault with a dangerous weapon and solicitation for prostitution after prosecutors contend he shot at three trans women and their two male friends while they were sitting in a car. The D.C. Superior Court panel acquitted him with assault with intent to kill while armed and five other charges in connection with the Aug. 2011 incident.
A Human Rights Watch report in July criticized D.C. police for confiscating condoms from trans prostitutes and other sex workers.
Those who gathered at Metropolitan Community Church also paid tribute to Deoni Jones, who was stabbed to death at a Northeast Metro bus stop in February. Her mother, Jadean Jones, noted she became a receptionist at a Southeast D.C. hair salon after graduating from Project Empowerment.
“That was his title, but JaParker (Deoni Jones’ birth name) always did their hair and make-up,” said Jadean Jones. “I’m going to support y’all all the way to the end because I knew what my son stood for and what he meant.”
D.C. Fire Chief Kenneth Ellerbe used the Transgender Day of Remembrance commemoration to apologize on behalf of the department for the emergency medical personnel who declined to treat Tyra Hunter after a 1995 car accident once they discovered she was trans. Hunter subsequently died from her injuries.
“I want to say on behalf of the department, I’m truly sorry for what happened,” said Ellerbe. “Tyra Hunter’s case forced us to take a serious look at how we view and address this city’s very diverse population. Under Mayor Gray’s leadership, the District of Columbia continues to grow and flourish. And before this message gets lost in the words, I want to say again on behalf of the entire Fire and EMS Department I’m sorry for what happened and we are committed to doing better for this community throughout the city.”
Trans activist Geri Hughes said Hunter’s case has “always bothered me” as she introduced Ellerbe.
“He’s here tonight because he is a responsible man and he’s a good man,” she said. “He wants to take responsibility and apologize on behalf of the fire and emergency medical services for that lapse in service.”
The mother and siblings of NaNa Boo Mack, who stabbed to death in 2009, also attended the Transgender Day of Remembrance commemoration. Co-organizer Xion Lopez placed Mack’s ashes onto a table on the stage at the beginning of the event.
Fire Chief of the District of Columbia Fire & EMS Department Kenneth Ellerbe (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Virginia
DOJ seeks to join lawsuit against Loudoun County over trans student in locker room
Three male high school students suspended after complaining about classmate
The Justice Department has asked to join a federal lawsuit against Loudoun County Public Schools over the way it handled the case of three male high school students who complained about a transgender student in a boys’ locker room.
The Washington Blade earlier this year reported Loudoun County public schools suspended the three boys and launched a Title IX investigation into whether they sexually harassed the student after they said they felt uncomfortable with their classmate in the locker room at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn.
The parents of two of the boys filed a lawsuit against Loudoun County public schools in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria. The Richmond-based Founding Freedoms Law Center and America First Legal, which White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller co-founded, represent them.
The Justice Department in a Dec. 8 press release announced that “it filed legal action against the Loudoun County (Va.) School Board (Loudoun County) for its denial of equal protection based on religion.”
“The suit alleges that Loudoun County applied Policy 8040, which requires students and faculty to accept and promote gender ideology, to two Christian, male students in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” reads the press release.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in the press release said “students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate.”
“Loudoun County’s decision to advance and promote gender ideology tramples on the rights of religious students who cannot embrace ideas that deny biological reality,” said Dhillon.
Outgoing Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and outgoing Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares in May announced an investigation into the case.
The Virginia Department of Education in 2023 announced the new guidelines for trans and nonbinary students for which Youngkin asked. Equality Virginia and other advocacy groups claim they, among other things, forcibly out trans and nonbinary students.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in February launched an investigation into whether Loudoun County and four other Northern Virginia school districts’ policies in support of trans and nonbinary students violate Title IX and President Donald Trump’s executive order that prohibits federally funded educational institutions from promoting “gender ideology.”
District of Columbia
Capital Pride announces change in date for 2026 D.C. Pride parade and festival
Events related to U.S. 250th anniversary and Trump birthday cited as reasons for change
The Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C. based group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, has announced it is changing the dates for the 2026 Capital Pride Parade and Festival from the second weekend in June to the third weekend.
“For over a decade, Capital Pride has taken place during the second weekend in June, but in 2026, we are shifting our dates in response to the city’s capacity due to major events and preparations for the 250th anniversary of the United States,” according to a Dec. 9 statement released by Capital Pride Alliance.
The statement says the parade will take place on Saturday, June 20, 2026, with the festival and related concert taking place on June 21.
“This change ensures our community can gather safely and without unnecessary barriers,” the statement says. “By moving the celebration, we are protecting our space and preserving Pride as a powerful act of visibility, solidarity, and resistance,” it says.
Ryan Bos, the Capital Pride Alliance CEO and President, told the Washington Blade the change in dates came after the group conferred with D.C. government officials regarding plans for a number of events in the city on the second weekend in June. Among them, he noted, is a planned White House celebration of President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday and other events related to the U.S. 250th anniversary, which are expected to take place from early June through Independence Day on July 4.
The White House has announced plans for a large June 14, 2026 celebration on the White House south lawn of Trump’s 80th birthday that will include a large-scale Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event involving boxing and wrestling competition.
Bos said the Capital Pride Parade will take place along the same route it has in the past number of years, starting at 14th and T Streets, N.W. and traveling along 14th Street to Pennsylvania Ave., where it will end. He said the festival set for the following day will also take place at its usual location on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., between 2nd Street near the U.S. Capitol, to around 7th Street, N.W.
“Our Pride events thrive because of the passion and support of the community,” Capital Pride Board Chair Anna Jinkerson said in the statement. “In 2026, your involvement is more important than ever,” she said.
District of Columbia
Three women elected leaders of Capital Pride Alliance board
Restructured body includes chair rather than president as top leader
The Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C.-based group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, announced it has restructured its board of directors and elected for the first time three women to serve as leaders of the board’s Executive Committee.
“Congratulations to our newly elected Executive Officers, making history as Capital Pride Alliance’s first all-women Board leadership,” the group said in a statement.
“As we head into 2026 with a bold new leadership structure, we’re proud to welcome Anna Jinkerson as Board Chair, Kim Baker as Board Treasurer, and Taylor Lianne Chandler as Board Secretary,” the statement says.
In a separate statement released on Nov. 20, Capital Pride Alliance says the restructured Board now includes the top leadership posts of Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary, replacing the previous structure of President and Vice President as the top board leaders.
It says an additional update to the leadership structure includes a change in title for longtime Capital Pride official Ryan Bos from executive director to chief executive officer and president.
According to the statement, June Crenshaw, who served as acting deputy director during the time the group organized WorldPride 2025 in D.C., will now continue in that role as permanent deputy director.
The statement provides background information on the three newly elected women Board leaders.
• Anna Jinkerson (chair), who joined the Capital Pride Alliance board in 2022, previously served as the group’s vice president for operations and acting president. “A seasoned non-profit executive, she currently serves as Assistant to the President and CEO and Chief of Staff at Living Cities, a national member collaborative of leading philanthropic foundations and financial institutions committed to closing income and wealth gaps in the United States and building an economy that works for everyone.”
• Kim Baker (treasurer) is a “biracial Filipino American and queer leader,” a “retired, disabled U.S. Army veteran with more than 20 years of service and extensive experience in finance, security, and risk management.” She has served on the Capital Pride Board since 2018, “bringing a proven track record of steady, principled leadership and unwavering dedication to the LGBTQ+ community.”
• Taylor Lianne Chandler (Secretary) is a former sign language interpreter and crisis management consultant. She “takes office as the first intersex and trans-identifying member of the Executive Committee.” She joined the Capital Pride Board in 2019 and previously served as executive producer from 2016 to 2018.
Bos told the Washington Blade in a Dec. 2 interview that the Capital Pride board currently has 12 members, and is in the process of interviewing additional potential board members.
“In January we will be announcing in another likely press release the full board,” Bos said. “We are finishing the interview process of new board members this month,” he said. “And they will take office to join the board in January.”
Bos said the organization’s rules set a cap of 25 total board members, but the board, which elects its members, has not yet decided how many additional members it will select and a full 25-member board is not required.
The Nov. 20 Capital Pride statement says the new board executive members will succeed the organization’s previous leadership team, which included Ashley Smith, who served as president for eight years before he resigned earlier this year; Anthony Musa, who served for seven years as vice president of board engagement; Natalie Thompson, who served eight years on the executive committee; and Vince Micone, who served for eight years as vice president of operations.
“I am grateful for the leadership, dedication, and commitment shown by our former executive officers — Ashley, Natalie, Anthony, and Vince — who have been instrumental in CPA’s growth and the exceptional success of WorldPride 2025,” Bos said in the statement.
“I look forward to collaborating with Anna in her new role, as well as Kim and Taylor in theirs, as we take on the important work ahead, prepare for Capital Pride 2026, and expand our platform and voice through Pride365,” Bos said.
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