Local
Silverman wins vote, falls short of Stein Club endorsement
Five Democrats running in at-Large D.C. Council race compete for LGBT group’s support
Elissa Silverman (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
City Council candidate Elissa Silverman beat her four fellow Democratic rivals Thursday night at an endorsement forum sponsored by the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club but fell short of capturing a 60 percent vote total needed to win the club’s endorsement.
Silverman, a budget analyst and former journalist, received 39 votes, or 54.9 percent, in a second ballot runoff against interim Council member Anita Bonds, who received 26 votes, or 36.6 percent. Five club members voted to “abstain” from choosing a candidate in the runoff balloting.
The five Democrats who competed for the Stein Club endorsement and two others – a Republican and a Statehood Green Party candidate – are running in an April 23 special election for an at-large D.C. Council seat. The seat became vacant when Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) won election last year as Council Chair.
Earlier this year, the D.C. Democratic State Committee, which Bonds chairs, chose her to fill the seat as an interim Council member until the special election is held.
At the Stein Club forum Thursday night, Silverman received 43.6 percent in a first ballot vote, with Bonds receiving 32 percent. Attorney and Ward 3 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Matthew Frumin received 14 percent on the first ballot; former at-large Council member Michael A. Brown received 7 percent. Attorney Paul Zuckerberg, an advocate for marijuana decriminalization, received 2.8 percent.
Close to one hundred people turned out for the forum, which was held at the Metropolitan Community Church of Washington on Ridge Street, N.W., in the city’s Shaw neighborhood.
The voting took place after the five candidates gave opening remarks and answered questions presented by club member Earl Fowlkes, who served as the forum’s moderator. In response to questions by Fowlkes and written questions by audience members, each of the candidates expressed strong support for LGBT rights.
Many of the questions addressed non-LGBT issues, prompting the candidates to discuss their views on education reform, homelessness, unemployment, and the city’s procurement policies among other issues.
“I would have loved to have gotten the endorsement, but we had a majority of Stein Club members support me,” Silverman said after the forum. “So I’m thrilled.”
Silverman’s strong showing came after 14 prominent LGBT activists, most of whom are Stein Club members, announced their support for Silverman in an invitation to an LGBT “meet and greet” event for the candidate to be held at a Dupont Circle area gay bar. Among them are former club treasurer and transgender activist Alexandra Beninda and club members Barbara Helmick, Gregory Cendana, and Jerry Clark.
Another ten prominent Stein Club members, including former club presidents Kurt Vorndran and Lateefah Williams, announced they are hosting a separate “meet and greet” for Bonds.
“I think the candidates did a very good job tonight,” said Stein Club President Martin Garcia. “I think all of the candidates have a very good understanding of our issues. Unfortunately, today the club couldn’t come to a consensus on just one,” he said.
“But that doesn’t mean we’re not going to be out and about participating in the election as we come closer to April 23,” Garcia said.
Frumin, who received the highest rating on LGBT issues from the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, a +7 out of a possible +10 earlier this month, said he was pleased with the vote total he received at the Stein Club forum.
“I didn’t do the process of recruiting members to come so you have voters who are there,” he said. “So people who voted for me were people who were hearing from me tonight for the first time, and I think getting the votes I got was a pretty good accomplishment.”
Supporters of Brown noted that Brown received strong support from LGBT activists in his previous successful race for an at-large Council seat as an independent. They said his vote total of just 7 percent at Thursday’s Stein Club forum was due, in part, to a better effort by Silverman and Bond to turn out supports for the forum.
Brown lost his re-election bid in November to independent David Grosso, who ran as a reform candidate. Political observers say Brown’s widespread name recognition makes him a strong contender in the April 23 special election, where a low voter turnout is expected.
Republican Patrick Mara is also considered a viable candidate in the special election because he has attracted a large number of Democratic voters, including gay Democrats, in two previous races for a Council seat.
Silverman worked as a reporter for the Washington City Paper as the paper’s “Loose Lips” political columnist before becoming a reporter at the Washington Post. Since 2009 she has worked as a budget analyst for the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute.
She told the Blade after the forum that her strong showing from Stein Club members was due to her positions and her approach to addressing both LGBT and non-LGBT issues.
“I think Stein Club members care about this city, they care about this city’s ethics, they care about spending our tax dollars well, they care about being an inclusive city,” she said. “Those are all things that are central to my campaign.”
During a discussion among club members following the appearance of the candidates, Stein Club treasurer Barrie Daneker urged members to vote for Bonds.
“Anita Bonds attended her first Gertrude Stein meeting in 1978,” he said. “She’s been supportive of our community for a long time…We couldn’t have a better candidate for the City Council,” Daneker said, on LGBT and all other issues.
District of Columbia
Capital Pride chair resigns from board after just 10 months
Anna Jinkerson ‘taking step back to move forward’
Anna Jinkerson, who has served as chair of D.C.’s Capital Pride Alliance Board of Directors for the past 10 months and has served on the board for the past four years, confirmed she is resigning from the board effective Sept. 30.
Capital Pride Alliance serves as the lead organizer of D.C.’s annual LGBTQ Pride events.
“I am taking a step back to move forward and plan to stay engaged in the community,” Jinkerson told the Washington Blade in a statement. “Serving as a volunteer leader during a period of transition following World Pride was both an honor and a challenge,” she said.
“Throughout my tenure, I focused on strengthening accountability, improving communications, supporting staff and volunteers, and helping position the organization for long-term success,” she told the Blade in her statement. “Meaningful organizational progress requires collaboration, dedication, and a shared commitment to serving the community, and I am proud of the work accomplished during this period.”
In February of this year, during Jinkerson’s tenure on the board, Capital Pride announced it had expanded the size of its board from 12 to 25 members.
Around that same time one of the existing board members, transgender activist Taylor Lianne Chandler, announced in a letter to fellow board members that the Blade obtained from an anonymous sender that she was resigning from the board. Among her reasons for resigning, she said in the letter, was the board’s failure to address “sexual misconduct” within the Capital Pride organization.
In the letter, which she confirmed for the Blade was authentic, Chandler said she and other board members raised “credible concerns” of alleged sexual misconduct within the Capital Pride organization and the board chose not to adequately respond to those concerns.
Chandler told the Blade a Capital Pride investigation identified an individual implicated in a “pattern” of sexual harassment related behavior, but said she was bound by a Non-Disclosure Agreement that applied to all board members and she could not provide further details.
When the Blade contacted Capital Pride for comment on Chandler’s allegations, Jinkerson responded with a statement saying Capital Pride was addressing her concerns.
“When concerns are brought to CPA, we act quickly and appropriately to address them,” Jinkerson said. “As we continue to grow our organization, we’re proactively strengthening the policies and procedures that shape our systems, our infrastructure, and the support we provide to our team and partners,” she said.
In her statement to the Blade this week commenting on her planned resignation from the Capital Pride board, Jinkerson appeared to refer to the concern raised by Chandler.
“I am proud to have advocated for sexual harassment training, supported staff and volunteers when concerns were raised, engaged community leaders in important conversations, and helped advance practices that strengthen safety, transparency, and accountability,” she said.
“As I step away from board service, I do so with gratitude for the opportunity to serve and with confidence in the organization’s future,” she added. “I am taking a step back to move forward, and I look forward to remaining actively engaged in our community and continuing to support efforts that advance equality, belonging, and pride for all.”
District of Columbia
Over 2,000 turn out for Hands Around the Kennedy Center protest
Drag performer Tara Hoot serves as MC, Gay Men’s Chorus of DC performs, attendees shout for Trump to keep ‘hands off’ Kennedy Center
More than 2,000 supporters of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts turned out on Sept. 18, for a rally in support of the performing arts center and a vocal protest against President Donald Trump’s threats to permanently close the center and possibly demolish it.
The event was organized by a group called Hands Off the Arts, which initially called for participants to form a “human chain” around the Kennedy Center’s main building following a rally on the plaza in front of the building.
However, due to a decision by the Trump-controlled Kennedy Center’s board of trustees to close the center earlier in the week and install fencing around part of the building, participants could only form the chain around part of the building, according to organizers.
Drag performer Tara Hoot, who co-organized the event and served as master of ceremonies for the rally preceding the “human chain,” said the large turnout could have fully surrounded the building at least twice had the fencing not prevented a full encirclement.
Among the musicians and singing groups that performed at the rally was the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, which, like other rally performers, had performed at the Kennedy Center in past years. They drew loud applause after singing one of their favorite songs from the Broadway musical show Ragtime, which includes the lyrics, “Will justice be demanded by 10 million men? Make them hear you. When they hear you, I’ll be near you again.”
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Prior to their performance, Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington’s artistic director, Thea Kano, spoke at the rally, reminding participants that shortly after the Trump takeover of the center last year, Kennedy Center officials cancelled a concert the chorus was scheduled to perform there for World Pride 2025.
A Kennedy Center spokesperson said the cancellation was due to a scheduling conflict, but chorus members and LGBTQ activists believe it resulted from policies put in place by Trump and his leadership team at the Kennedy Center following Trump’s statements that he would end controversial “woke” performances that he claimed the majority of Americans disapprove of.
“Now this building sits empty in silence,” Kano told the crowd at the rally. “Let us raise our voices together and bring back the Kennedy Center as it was intended, a place where American culture could be celebrated and elevated, embracing the vibrancy with the spectrum of identify without censure and without politics,” she said.
Among the others who spoke at the rally were U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.), and D.C. Councilmember Robert White (D-At-Large).
Most speakers, along with LGBTQ participants in the hands-around-the-building event expressed strong opposition to Trump’s demand that the Kennedy Center name be changed from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
At Trump’s request, his appointed board initially made that name change and placed Trump’s name on the front wall of the building along with the Kennedy name. But following legal action taken by opponents who pointed out that Congress must approve such a name change, a judge ordered the removal of Trump’s name from the building. Trump has said he will take steps to reverse that order and has said he will stop plans to renovate the Kennedy Center building and possibly demolish it if his name is not restored in the Kennedy’s Center’s official name.
Throughout the Sept. 18 rally, LGBTQ participants repeatedly responded to the Trump threats by shouting, “Hands Off!”
Chris Raleigh, one of the founders of Hands Off the Arts and a lead organizer of the Sept. 18 event at the Kennedy Center who spoke at the event told the Washington Blade that more similar events are being planned and he welcomes the support the event has received from the LGBTQ community.
“The LGBTQ community was here first, and we’re following them,” he said. “They’ve been the spearhead; they’ve been the vanguard. And I’m so thankful for heroes like Tara Hoot,” he said, adding, “It’s because they know what it means and how this is a safe place – the theater – for many LGBTQ people.”
The DMV’s own furry group was on full display on the Metro on Sept. 12.
Shutterpaws is a volunteer-led 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Maryland.
The furry group has been doing the FurRide event since 2024 and has blown up in popularity for furries around DMV. They showcased themselves on the Silver and Blue Lines near the Smithsonian on Sept. 12.
“A lot of careful planning goes into running these events, with the goal being a seamless and enjoyable experience for everyone who attends,” says Zayre, a Shutterpaws staff member. “There’s a lot that you learn just by trial and error, and as Shutterpaws hosts more and more events, our team of event organizers continues to learn and refine our approach to keep things running smoothly and finding new ways to engage with our community.”
With a larger growth of participation in the community comes many challenges with the group, especially when it comes to the Metro rides and organizing.
“The biggest challenge that we face as organizers is keeping things fresh and finding new and engaging venues to host events,” says Zayre. “Recently we saw a lot of success hosting a meet at On Target Battlezone, an indoor NERF gun battle arena where our crew was welcome to show up and play both with and without a fur suit.”
Nevertheless, Shutterpaws receive overwhelming support from the community and partners.
“Across the DMV there are so many amazing places to host a Shutterpaws event so we can pursue our mission of helping connect fur suiters and photographers, and we’re blown away with the amount of support we’ve received from our community partners,” says Zayre.
Shutterpaws plans to do more events for anyone in the DMV who is interested.
Their next event in collaboration with DC Fur Meet will take place at Pitchers (2317 18th St., N.W.) on Saturday. Visit Shutterpaws’ website for more information.
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