Local
Latino LGBT community center celebrates first anniversary
Casa Ruby opened in Columbia Heights in June 2012
Ruby Corado, founder of Latino LGBT community center Casa Ruby. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray was among those who gathered at Casa Ruby in Northwest Washington on Thursday to celebrate the first anniversary of the Latino LGBT community center.
Casa Ruby, which opened in a three-story brownstone at 2822 Georgia Ave., N.W., in Colombia Heights last June, offers a variety of social services and other programs to LGBT Latinos in D.C. area in both Spanish and English. These include job placement programs, referrals to immigration lawyers, HIV testing and a food pantry.
Casa Ruby CEO Ruby Corado told the Washington Blade her organization has provided services to more than 700 people since it opened its doors.
“It’s been an amazing year,” she said, noting the center is a multicultural space that is open to everyone. “It’s been like a dream come true and I feel accomplished because this past year, what I had in mind did happen.”
Casa Ruby has expanded into the third floor of the brownstone to accommodate the clients it now serves.
Corado said the center’s operating budget is currently $5,500 a month, with $4,500 a month in rent and another $1,000 in expenses for utilities and printing supplies. Corado contributes $2,000 – or more than a third of Casa Ruby’s monthly operating budget – each month from her personal savings.
She said a handful of major donors have contributed between $500 and $1,000. A benefit that took place at Black Cat Backstage on 14th Street in Northwest D.C. on June 3 raised $427, but the vast majority of contributions to Casa Ruby come from what Corado described as around 200 “community donors” who donate $10 or $20.
Gray announced during a Blade town hall last Friday at the John A. Wilson Building that LGBT organizations that provide community services could become eligible to receive grants for as much as $100,000 under a new city program.
Corado said she hopes to receive city grants and other funding, but she stressed her most pressing concern is paying Casa Ruby’s rent.
She paid the organization’s landlord $4,000 last week, but she still owes him $7,000.
“The only thing I worry about is the rent,” Corado said.
Client: Life “has changed completely”
Camila Munayki Quiroz had just begun her transition when Casa Ruby opened in June 2012. The D.C. resident who is originally from Perú had been an undocumented immigrant for eight years after her student visa expired, but the lawyer with whom Corado connected her won her immigration case.
“Now I have legal documents in this country, which has opened many opportunities for me,” Quiroz said. “My life has changed completely.”
D.C. resident Marquette, who did not give his last name, has attended job training classes and received an HIV test at Casa Ruby since he became a client two months ago. He told the Blade he feels the organization provides him and others “a lot of opportunities.”
“I’m really trying to do something with my life right now,” Marquette said. “This space is helping me.”
Rehoboth Beach
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Attendees encouraged to wear appropriate gear
Diego’s in Rehoboth Beach hosts a monthly leather happy hour. April’s edition is scheduled for Friday, April 10, 5-7 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to wear appropriate gear. The event is billed as an official event of BLUF, the free community group for men interested in leather. After happy hour, the attendees are encouraged to reconvene at Local Bootlegging Company for dinner, which allows cigar smoking. There’s no cover charge for either event.
District of Columbia
Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
Two memorial events scheduled in D.C.
Two celebrations of life are planned for Sean Christopher Bartel, 48, who was found deceased on a hiking trail in Argentina on or around March 15. Bartel began his career as a television news reporter and news anchor at stations in Louisville, Ky., and Evansville, Ind., before serving as Senior Video Producer for the D.C.-based International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union from 2013 to 2024.
A memorial gathering is planned for Friday, April 10, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the IBEW International Office (900 7th St., N.W.), according to a statement by the DC Gay Flag Football League, where Bartel was a longtime member. A celebration of life is planned that same evening, 6-8 p.m. at Trade (1410 14th St., N.W.).
District of Columbia
D.C. Council member honored by LGBTQ homeless youth group
Doni Crawford receives inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award
About 100 people turned out Tuesday evening, April 7, for a presentation by D.C.’s Wanda Alston Foundation of its inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award to D.C. Council member Doni Crawford (I-At-Large) for her support for the foundation’s mission to support homeless LGBTQ youth.
Among those who attended the event was Japer Bowles, director of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, who delivered an official proclamation issued by Bowser declaring April 7, 2026 “A Day of Remembrance for Wanda Alston.”
Alston, a beloved women’s and LGBTQ rights activist, served as the city’s first director of the then newly created Office of LGBTQ Affairs under then-Mayor Anthony Williams from 2004 until her death by murder on March 16, 2005.
To the shock and dismay of fellow LGBTQ rights advocates, police and court records reported Alston, 45, was stabbed to death inside her Northeast D.C. house by a man high on crack cocaine who lived nearby and who stole her credit cards and car. The perpetrator, William Martin Parrott, 38, was arrested by D.C. police the next day and later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was sentenced in July 2005 to 24 years in prison.
Crawford was among those attending the award event who reflected on Alston’s legacy and outspoken advocacy for LGBTQ and feminist causes.
“I am deeply humbled and honored to receive this inaugural award,” Crawford told the Washington Blade at the conclusion of the event. “I think the world of Wanda Alston. She has set such a great foundation for me and other Council members to build on,” she said.
“Her focus on inclusivity and intersectionality is really important as we approach this work,” Crawford added. “And it’s going to guide my work at the Council every day.”
Crawford was appointed to the D.C. Council in January of this year to replace then Council member Kenyan McDuffie (I-At-Large), who resigned to run for D.C. mayor as a Democrat. She is being challenged by four other independent candidates in a June 16 special election for the Council seat.
Under the city’s Home Rule Charter written and approved by Congress, the seat is one of two D.C. Council at-large seats that cannot be held by a “majority party” candidate, meaning a Democrat.
A statement released by the Alston Foundation last month announcing Crawford’s selection for the Wanda Alston Legacy Award praised Crawford’s record of support for its work on behalf of LGBTQ youth.
“From behind the scenes to now serving as an At-Large Council member, she has fought fearlessly for affordable housing, LGBTQ+ funding priorities, and racial justice,” the statement says. “Council member Crawford’s leadership reflects the same courage and conviction that defined Wanda’s legacy.”
Organizers of the event noted that it was held on what would have been Wanda Alston’s 67th birthday.
“Today’s legacy reception was a smashing success,” said Cesar Toledo, the Alston Foundation’s executive director. “Not only did we come together to celebrate Wanda Alston on her birthday, but we also were able to raise over $10,000 for our homeless LGBTQ youth here in D.C.,” Toledo told the Blade.
“In addition to that, we celebrated and we acknowledged a rising star in our community,” he said. “And that is At-Large Council member Doni Crawford, who we named the inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award recipient.”
At the request of D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) the Council voted unanimously on Jan. 20, 2026, to appoint Crawford to the Council seat being vacated by McDuffie.
Council records show she joined McDuffie’s Council staff in 2022 as a policy adviser and later became his legislative director before McDuffie appointed her as staff director for the Council’s Committee on Business and Economic Development for which McDuffie served as chair.
Calendar: April 10-16
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