Local
Police list vandalism of Blade boxes as suspected hate crime
Distribution points have been subjected to an ongoing series of incidents
‘There’s a loss of property. This is our product. It’s being destroyed,’ said Blade publisher Lynne Brown. (Washington Blade photo)
D.C. police last week opened an official investigation into newly discovered damage to at least four distribution boxes belonging to the Washington Blade and Metro Weekly, according to a police report filed on Dec. 11.
The publishers of both publications have said their respective distribution boxes have been subjected to an ongoing series of incidents over the past two years in which many of them have been soiled with human excrement and emptied of all of the papers in an apparent attempt to prevent readers from obtaining them.
The police report says that four boxes belonging to the Blade or Metro Weekly were found on Dec. 11 to be vandalized by someone who used spray paint to write the world “PIG” on the boxes. The report lists the incidents as an offense of defacing public or private property and classifies the offense as a suspected anti-gay hate crime.
According to the report, at least one of the vandalized boxes is located at 18th and T St., N.W.
However, Blade editor Kevin Naff said an officer with the department’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit told him at least two other Blade boxes associated with this incident were found to be defaced – one at 16th and Q St., N.W. and the other at 17th and R St., N.W.
The report says Assistant D.C. Police Chief Diane Groomes and Capt. Edward Delgado were “notified and responded to the scene” of the damaged box at 18th and T, N.W., which is where the Lauriol Plaza Restaurant is located. Delgado heads a police division that oversees the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit.
Blade publisher Lynne Brown has said employees with a local distribution company that delivers the Blades takes the boxes that an as yet unidentified perpetrator soils on the inside with excrement to a warehouse where they are steam cleaned and returned to the street. In recent months, the perpetrator or perpetrators have targeted the same boxes again, forcing the distribution company to repeat the process of cleaning them.
In other cases, Brown has said someone has been breaking the Plexiglas window on the boxes and ripping off a clip that holds one of the papers against the window. The cost of repeatedly repairing the boxes is adding up, Brown said.
“We restock and clean as fast as we can,” she said. “But there’s a loss of property. This is our product. It’s being destroyed.”
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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