Local
Ethics board says Graham violated ‘code of conduct’
But gay Council member won’t face sanctions
An ethics investigation against gay D.C. Council member Jim Graham was dismissed on Thursday. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
The recently created D.C. Board of Ethics and Government Accountability says it found “sufficient evidence” that gay D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) violated the city’s code of conduct for a public official.
But in a 27-page opinion issued on Thursday, the three-member board declared that the improper actions it claims Graham took in 2008 to interfere with the selection of competing companies for lucrative Metro and D.C. Lottery contracts occurred before the city’s new ethics law went into effect last year.
Based on the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on holding someone responsible for an action that wasn’t prohibited by law at the time the person committed the action, the board said it decided not to open a formal investigation into Graham’s alleged ethics breach and dismissed the case.
“[W]e find there to be sufficient evidence to conclude that Council member Graham committed one or more violations of the District of Columbia Code of Conduct, justifying a formal investigation and the issuance of Notice of Violation,” the board said in its opinion.
“However, Constitutional constraints concerning ex post facto application of the sanctions available to the board effectively prevent the board from imposing any sanction on Council member Graham for his misconduct,” the ruling states.
“Without the power to sanction Council member Graham, the Board concludes that there is little benefit to advancing the preliminary investigation to a formal investigation and issuing a notice of violation,” the board said. “Accordingly, this matter is DISMISSED,” it said.
Graham’s attorney, William W. Taylor III, said in a statement that he and Graham expected the Ethics Board to end its proceedings.
“It is disappointing and unfair, however, for the Board to purport to make “findings” which Mr. Graham has no opportunity to contest and had no notice would be at issue in this matter,” Taylor said.
The Board’s initial proceeding in the Graham case was to determine whether the board should conduct a “formal” investigation, not to determine whether Graham had committed ethical violations, Taylor said.
“Therefore, under its own rules, the Board was not permitted or required to make ‘findings’ about Council member Graham’s conduct,” he said.
The Board of Ethics, which is chaired by gay former D.C. Attorney General Robert Spagnoletti, began its probe into an alleged ethics breach by Graham after the completion of an earlier investigation conducted by a law firm on behalf of the Metro transit board.
That investigation found that Graham violated the Metro board’s ethics rules in his alleged dealings with a Metro contract. Graham was a member of the Metro board at the time the alleged improprieties took place in 2008.
The Metro board probe, and the Board of Ethics findings released this week, each claimed that Graham offered to support a bid for a lottery contract from a D.C. businessman if the businessman agreed to withdraw a separate bid for a contract from Metro. The Metro contract was for a major real estate development project on land owned by Metro.
The Ethics Board findings, among other things, allege that Graham wanted the Metro contract to go to another company whose two principal owners made campaign contributions to Graham in the past. Graham has vigorously denied his motive for favoring the bid from the opposing businessmen was based on their campaign contributions to him. He said he favored the opposing company because it was better qualified to carry out the development project.
In its ruling, the Ethics board said Graham violated three provisions in the Code of Conduct – he lost his independence and “impartiality,” he gave preferential treatment, and he damaged public confidence in government.
The Ethics Board’s findings prompted the Washington Post to publish an editorial Thursday night calling for Graham to resign from the Council.
“I am not resigning,” Graham said in a statement released on Friday.
“There has been no allegations or suggestion that a crime has been committed, or that there is an illegal financial request or laws that have been broken,” he said. “I categorically deny any connection between any campaign donation and my actions on these matters.”
Graham added, “I am now in discussions with my lawyer as to next legal steps.”
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.
Rob Reiner, wife killed in LA home
In real estate, trust the process
Far-right José Antonio Kast elected Chile’s next president
PHOTOS: The Holiday Show
The best books to give this holiday season
EXCLUSIVE: George Santos speaks out on prison, Trump pardon, and more
The beginning of the fall of Trump
Iran, Egypt object to playing in Seattle World Cup ‘Pride Match’
PHOTOS: Team DC holiday party
