Local
Federal GLOBE founder Len Hirsch dies at 59
Spent 26 years at Smithsonian
Leonard Hirsch (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Leonard P. “Len” Hirsch, a senior policy adviser at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington for 26 years and founder of the organization representing LGBT employees of the federal government known as Federal GLOBE, died June 12 at the National Institutes of Health Hospital in Bethesda, Md. He was 59.
Friends said the cause of death was cancer.
Hirsch has been credited with playing a key role in bringing together scientists and public policy makers in his role as senior policy adviser at the Smithsonian’s Office of International Relations and the Office of the Under Secretary for Science from 1988 to 2014.
A statement released by those who knew him at the Smithsonian says Hirsch, who specialized in global environmental issues, helped to found the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), an international data gathering operation that “allows anyone, anywhere to access data about all types of life on earth, shared across national boundaries via the Internet,” according to its website.
The statement says Hirsch represented the Smithsonian before national and international meetings and organizations, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, a group founded by a 1992 international agreement on conservation of natural resources.
“He also dealt with a wide range of issues in history, art and culture, as well as astronomy,” the statement says.
Information released by D.C.’s Rainbow History Project says Hirsch in 1988 organized the first meeting of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Employees of the U.S. government that became known as Federal GLOBE. It happened during his first year working at the Smithsonian.
A short time later he was elected president of Federal GLOBE, a position he held for more than 10 years.
Hirsch also played a lead role in founding a GLOBE chapter at the Smithsonian and helped others form GLOBE chapters at more than a dozen federal government agencies.
“He was an important, early voice for LGBT rights for U.S. federal government personnel,” said Selim Ariturk, president of GLIFAA, the GLOBE-affiliated group representing LGBT employees in U.S. foreign affairs agencies. “Len was a great friend and supporter of GLIFAA since our organization’s inception in 1992.”
Richard Socarides, who served as the White House liaison to the LGBT community during the administration of President Bill Clinton, said Hirsch worked hard behind the scenes to lay the groundwork for an executive order that Clinton issued in his second term banning sexual orientation discrimination in the federal workforce.
“I remember Len as a tireless advocate not only for LGBT federal employees but for civil rights for all Americans,” Socarides said. “He was such a warm and dignified presence, even while a most vigorous advocate.”
Hirsch was born and raised in Queens, N.Y. Nancy Gray, a friend since the two were teenagers, said Hirsch graduated from Benjamin Cardozo High School in Bayside, Queens before starting at Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., where he received a bachelor’s degree in International Relations in 1976.
He received both a master’s degree in 1978 and his Ph.D. in 1980 in political science at Northwestern University in Chicago.
After completing his doctorate degree Hirsh landed a teaching job at the University of South Florida in Tampa, where he helped start an LGBT faculty organization, according to a Rainbow History Project write-up on Hirsch at the time he was named one the of group’s LGBT Pioneers.
The write-up says that during the 1984 annual conference of the American Political Science Association, Hirsch helped organize the first meeting of what became the association’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus.
It says Hirsch moved to D.C. in 1985 to join his partner, Kristian Fauchald, whom he met in 1983. Fauchald, a marine biologist, began a 35-year career at the Smithsonian in 1979, where he conducted research at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.
In his first three years in D.C. prior to joining the Smithsonian, Hirsch worked for a data management firm, started a company that produced a personal computer, and conducted research under a U.S. Department of Education grant at Prince George’s Community College, the Rainbow History Project’s write-up says.
During their years together in Washington, Hirsch and Fauchald became domestic partners in 2001 and married in 2008 in California. The couple’s 32-year relationship ended when Fauchald died in April of this year at the age of 79.
“We are heartbroken from the loss of Len so soon after Kristian passed away, but find comfort believing they are now together again,” said Merete Fauchald, a member of the Fauchald family, in a Facebook posting earlier this week.
Scott Miller, the Smithsonian’s Deputy Undersecretary for Collections and Interdisciplinary Support, said he worked closely with Hirsch for 15 years.
“He knew what was going on in both the science community at large and across the Smithsonian very well,” said Miller. “He was one of those people who were good at building bridges between what was going on somewhere else, what was going on at the Smithsonian, and who should know each other,” he said.
“He was a professional networker before the term was trendy,” said Miller.
Gray, an attorney in Los Angeles, called Hirsch a “brilliant and generous” person. “Len was dedicated to the pursuit of truth and scientific fact,” she said. “And he was blessed to have an extraordinary group of friends around him, and several of us were there when he died.”
She said that in keeping with his wishes, Hirsch was to be cremated. Gray said a memorial service is being planned for July 28 in Washington at a location to be announced soon.
He is survived by his father, Michael Hirsch, and a wide circle of friends and relatives.
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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More than a dozen LGBTQ athletes medal at Olympics
Judge rescinds order against activist in Capital Pride lawsuit
Trans activists arrested outside HHS headquarters in D.C.
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Calendar: February 20-26
