Local
Trans group struggles with financial crisis
T.H.E. hit by IRS tax liens, possible suspension of city funds
Longtime activist Earline Budd is reportedly among THE staffers experiencing problems getting paid. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Transgender Health Empowerment, a non-profit group that has provided a wide range of services for D.C.’s transgender community for more than a decade, is struggling with a financial crisis that has prevented it from paying its employees on time and has triggered staff layoffs and resignations, according to multiple sources familiar with the organization.
Public records at the D.C. Recorder of Deeds office show that the IRS filed at least 10 liens against THE over the past three-and-a-half years. Most are due to THE’s failure to pay employee payroll taxes, the records show.
Sources familiar with the situation say the liens prompted the D.C. Department of Health to suspend some or all of its funding for THE for HIV/AIDS-related services. The funding suspension reportedly was triggered by a procurement rule that restricts city funding for vendors or contractors that are in violation of the law, including federal tax law, the sources said.
A former THE employee and current client said they each were told by THE staffers that a delay in city funding forced the group to cut back on its drop-in services at its headquarters at 1414 North Capitol Street, N.W., and to limit services to clients by appointment only.
“The whole month of March we didn’t get a paycheck,” said the former employee, who was laid off in April because of THE’s financial problems, the former employee told the Blade.
Among THE employees not getting paid or getting paid late are THE official and longtime transgender activist Earline Budd, THE Director of Programs Brian Watson, and transgender activist Jeri Hughes, sources familiar with the group said.
Top officials with THE and the Department of Health have not responded to repeated requests by the Blade for information about the cause of THE’s financial problems and the status of city funding for the group.
“At this particular time, there’s no comment,” Brian Devine, THE’s finance manager, told the Blade. Devine said THE Executive Director Anthony Hall also had no comment.
“We just had a board meeting and that was one of the issues we spoke of,” said Devine, adding that the board decided not to issue a statement about the situation at the present time.
DOH spokesperson Najma Roberts said she would make inquiries about the THE funding status when contacted by the Blade last week. As of press time this week she had not responded.
The Blade filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the DOH deputy general counsel, Phillip Husband, on April 3 seeking the information that the department has yet to release through Roberts, the press spokesperson. Husband said the department usually takes up to 15 business days to respond to a FOIA request.
“My biggest concern is THE’s clients,” said transgender activist Ruby Corado, director of Casa Ruby, an LGBT community center in Columbia Heights that caters to the Latino and transgender communities.
Corado said some of THE’s clients have been coming to Casa Ruby after being told that THE’s drop in center had curtailed its services.
Corado and other transgender activists called THE the D.C. area’s preeminent service provider and advocate for the transgender community.
They note that THE also operates the city’s only housing facility dedicated to homeless LGBT youth. The facility known as the Wanda Alston House has been nationally recognized as an innovative resource for LGBT youth that offers counseling, employment and vocational training, and other services.
Among THE programs funded by DOH is its highly acclaimed Comprehensive Risk Counseling Services or CRSC program, which offers risk reduction interventions for preventing HIV infection among transgender people, especially transgender women, whom experts say are at high risk for HIV. THE also offers HIV testing and counseling.
“THE is a transgender institution for D.C.,” Corado said. “There are a lot of people counting on its services, especially those living with HIV. It is an organization that cannot go away,” she said.
“So the question I have is what is the Department of Health doing about this,” Corado said. “Why aren’t they talking about what happens to those clients? Are those clients OK?”
Transgender activist Alexandra Beninda, who serves on the D.C. Human Rights Commission, was among those who praised THE for its work in the transgender community but said she was unaware that the group was having financial problems.
She said she hoped the community would rally in support of THE but expressed concern that news of the group’s problems had not gotten out to those who might be willing to help.
Mara Keisling, executive director of the D.C.-based National Center for Transgender Equality, said she, too, was unaware of the THE financial problems.
“They are the centerpiece for local transgender efforts,” Keisling said.
Records of the IRS liens against THE filed with the D.C. Recorder of Deeds show that between March 2010 and earlier this year the group owed the IRS a total of $260,075. The records don’t show how much of that amount was for unpaid taxes and how much, if any, was for interest and penalties.
The records show that THE has since made payments of $91,912 to pay off the back taxes and currently owes the IRS $168,163.
As a non-profit, tax-exempt organization, THE doesn’t pay taxes on its income from donors or from government grants and contracts. The records indicate that most of the money owed is for employee payroll taxes.
Due to THE’s refusal to comment on the matter it couldn’t immediately be determined what caused the underlying financial problems that prevented THE from paying its employee payroll taxes.
Ron Simmons, executive director of the D.C. AIDS service group Us Helping Us, which also receives city funding, said smaller community based groups like THE sometimes encounter cash flow problems when the city takes too long to reimburse the group for its services. He said DOH in the past has taken 90 days or longer to reimburse vendors and service providers.
“Among other things, they are the only LGBT homeless shelter for youth,” Simmons said. “We absolutely can’t let them go under,” he said of THE.
THE’s most recently filed IRS 990 finance report that is available for public viewing is for the fiscal year of Oct. 1, 2009 through Sept. 30, 2010.
The report shows that THE’s income for the year was $960,834 and its expenses came to $1,093,816, with a deficit of $132,982.
Virginia
Va. activists preparing campaign in support of repealing marriage amendment
Referendum about ‘dignity and equal protection under the law’
Virginia voters in November will vote on whether to repeal their state’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Feb. 6 signed House Bill 612 into law. It facilitates a referendum for voters to approve the repeal of the 2006 Marshall-Newman Amendment. Although the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell ruling extended marriage rights to same-sex couples across the country in 2014, codifying marriage equality in Virginia’s constitution would protect it in the state in case the decision is overturned.
Maryland voters in 2012 approved Question 6, which upheld the state’s marriage equality law, by a 52-48 percent margin. Same-sex marriage became legal in Maryland on Jan. 1, 2013.
LGBTQ advocacy groups and organizations that oppose marriage equality mounted political campaigns ahead of the referendum.
Equality Virginia has been involved in advancing LGBTQ rights in Virginia since 1989.
Equality Virginia is working under its 501c3 designation in conjunction with Equality Virginia Advocates, which operates under a 501c4 designation, to plan campaigns in support of repealing the Marshall-Newman Amendment.
The two main campaigns on which Equality Virginia will be focused are education and voter mobilization. Reed Williams, the group’s director of digital engagement and narrative, spoke with the Washington Blade about Equality Virginia’s plans ahead of the referendum.
Williams said an organization for a “statewide public education campaign” is currently underway. Williams told the Blade its goal will be “to ensure voters understand what this amendment does and why updating Virginia’s constitution matters for families across the commonwealth.”
The organization is also working on a “robust media and voter mobilization campaign to identify and turn out voters” to repeal Marshall-Newman Amendment. Equality Virginia plans to work with the community members to guarantee voters are getting clear and accurate information regarding the meaning of this vote and its effect on the Virginia LGBTQ community.
“We believe Virginia voters are ready to bring our constitution in line with both the law and the values of fairness and freedom that define our commonwealth,” said Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman. “This referendum is about ensuring loving, committed couples and their families are treated with dignity and equal protection under the law.”
The Human Rights Campaign has also worked closely with Equality Virginia.
“It’s time to get rid of outdated, unconstitutional language and ensure that same sex couples are protected in Virginia,” HRC President Kelley Robinson told the Blade in a statement.
District of Columbia
D.C. police arrest man for burglary at gay bar Spark Social House
Suspect ID’d from images captured by Spark Social House security cameras
D.C. police on Feb. 18 arrested a 63-year-old man “of no fixed address” for allegedly stealing cash from the registers at the gay bar Spark Social House after unlawfully entering the bar at 2009 14th St., N.W., around 12:04 a.m. after it had closed for business, according to a police incident report.
“Later that day officers canvassing for the suspect located him nearby,” a separate police statement says. “63-year-old Tony Jones of no fixed address was arrested and charged with Burglary II,” the statement says.
The police incident report states that the bar’s owner, Nick Tsusaki, told police investigators that the bar’s security cameras captured the image of a man who has frequently visited the bar and was believed to be homeless.
“Once inside, the defendant was observed via the establishment’s security cameras opening the cash register, removing U.S. currency, and placing the currency into the left front pocket of his jacket,” the report says.
Tsusaki told the Washington Blade that he and Spark’s employees have allowed Jones to enter the bar many times since it opened last year to use the bathroom in a gesture of compassion knowing he was homeless. Tsusaki said he is not aware of Jones ever having purchased anything during his visits.
According to Tsusaki, Spark closed for business at around 10:30 p.m. on the night of the incident at which time an employee did not properly lock the front entrance door. He said no employees or customers were present when the security cameras show Jones entering Spark through the front door around 12:04 a.m.
Tsusaki said the security camera images show Jones had been inside Spark for about three hours on the night of the burglary and show him taking cash out of two cash registers. He took a total of $300, Tsusaki said.
When Tsusaki and Spark employees arrived at the bar later in the day and discovered the cash was missing from the registers they immediately called police, Tsusaki told the Blade. Knowing that Jones often hung out along the 2000 block of 14th Street where Spark is located, Tsusaki said he went outside to look for him and saw him across the street and pointed Jones out to police, who then placed him under arrest.
A police arrest affidavit filed in court states that at the time they arrested him police found the stolen cash inside the pocket of the jacket Jones was wearing. It says after taking him into police custody officers found a powdered substance in a Ziploc bag also in Jones’s possession that tested positive for cocaine, resulting in him being charged with cocaine possession in addition to the burglary charge.
D.C. Superior Court records show a judge ordered Jones held in preventive detention at a Feb. 19 presentment hearing. The judge then scheduled a preliminary hearing for the case on Feb. 20, the outcome of which couldn’t immediately be obtained.
District of Columbia
Judge rescinds order against activist in Capital Pride lawsuit
Darren Pasha accused of stalking organization staff, board members, volunteers
A D.C. Superior Court judge on Feb.18 agreed to rescind his earlier ruling declaring local gay activist Darren Pasha in default for failing to attend a virtual court hearing regarding an anti-stalking lawsuit brought against him by the Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes D.C.’s annual Pride events.
The Capital Pride lawsuit, initially filed on Oct. 27, 2025, accuses Pasha of engaging in a year-long “course of conduct” of “harassment, intimidation, threats, manipulation, and coercive behavior” targeting Capital Pride staff, board members, and volunteers.
In his own court filings without retaining an attorney, Pasha has strongly denied the stalking related allegations against him, saying “no credible or admissible evidence has been provided” to show he engaged in any wrongdoing.
Judge Robert D. Okum nevertheless on Feb. 6 approved a temporary stay-away order requiring Pasha to stay at least 100 feet away from Capital Pride’s staff, volunteers, and board members until the time of a follow-up court hearing scheduled for April 17. He reduced the stay-away distance from 200 yards as requested by Capital Pride.
In his two-page order issued on Feb. 18, Okun stated that Pasha explained that he was involved in a scooter accident in which he was injured and his phone was damaged, preventing him from joining the Feb. 6 court hearing.
“Therefore, the court finds there is a good cause for vacating the default,” Okun states in his order.
At the time he initially approved the default order at the Feb. 6 hearing that Pasha didn’t attend, Okun scheduled an April 17 ex parte proof hearing in which Capital Pride could have requested a ruling in its favor seeking a permanent anti-stalking order against Pasha.
In his Feb. 18 ruling rescinding the default order Okun changed the April 17 ex parte proof hearing to an initial scheduling conference hearing in which a decision on the outcome of the case is not likely to happen.
In addition, he agreed to consider Pasha’s call for a jury trial and gave Capital Pride 14 days to contest that request. The Capital Pride lawsuit initially called for a non-jury trial by judge.
One request by Pasha that Okum denied was a call for him to order Capital Pride to stop its staff or volunteers from posting information about the lawsuit on social media. Pasha has said the D.C.-based online blog called DC Homos, which Pasha claims is operated by someone associated with Capital Pride, has been posting articles portraying him in a negative light and subjecting him to highly negative publicity.
“The defendant has not set forth a sufficient basis for the court to restrict the plaintiff’s social media postings, and the court therefore will deny the defendant’s request in his social media praecipe,” Okun states in his order.
A praecipe is a formal written document requesting action by a court.
Pasha called the order a positive development in his favor. He said he plans to file another motion with more information about what he calls the unfair and defamatory reports about him related to the lawsuit by DC Homos, with a call for the judge to reverse his decision not to order Capital Pride to stop social media postings about the lawsuit.
Pasha points to a video interview on the LGBTQ Team Rayceen broadcast, a link to which he sent to the Washington Blade, in which DC Homos operator Jose Romero acknowledged his association with Capital Pride Alliance.
Capital Pride Executive Director Ryan Bos didn’t immediately respond to a message from the Blade asking whether Romero was a volunteer or employee with Capital Pride.
Pasha also said he believes the latest order has the effect of rescinding the temporary stay away order against him approved by Okun in his earlier ruling, even though Okun makes no mention of the stay away order in his latest ruling. Capital Pride attorney Nick Harrison told the Blade the stay away order “remains in full force and effect.”
Harrison said Capital Pride has no further comment on the lawsuit.
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