Local
Former Whitman-Walker board chair dies at 65
Jannette Williams praised for long leadership role in community
Jannette Williams
Longtime LGBT community advocate Jannette Williams, who served nearly 25 years as a volunteer and adviser for D.C.’s Whitman-Walker Health and three years as chair of the Whitman-Walker board, died June 28 at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Md. She was 65.
Friends said the cause of death was cancer.
A lifelong D.C. resident, Williams worked for the federal government at the U.S. Postal Service and later at the Department of Justice, where she recently retired after 34 years of government service.
Whitman-Walker spokesperson Shawn Jain said Williams first became a volunteer at what was then called Whitman-Walker Clinic in 1991. She served on the clinic’s board from 1996 to 2010 and served as board chair from 2000 to 2002 and 2006 to 2007.
Jain said she had strong ties to the metro D.C. lesbian community; the Mautner Project for Lesbian Health, which later became a program of Whitman-Walker; Whitman-Walker’s Lesbian Resource Center and its Lesbian Services Program.
From 1994 to 1996 she served as president of Whitman-Walker’s Black Lesbian Support Group.
Among her other community involvements, Williams was a longtime supporter and volunteer for D.C.’s annual Black LGBT Pride festival and related events as well as Whitman-Walker’s annual AIDS Walk fundraising drive.
Don Blanchon, Whitman-Walker’s executive director, said Williams was instrumental in recruiting him to his leadership post at Whitman-Walker at a time when she served on the board as the LGBT community health organization was undergoing changes.
“She taught me the most important single lesson that I’ve learned during my time here, which is people from the LGBT community come to Whitman-Walker not just for services but they really come here for dignity, respect and love,” Blanchon said.
“And it’s the most powerful lesson I’ve ever learned, and I’ll never forget it,” he said.
Blanchon said Williams’ leadership role as board chair during and immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks was especially helpful in guiding Whitman-Walker through a period when fundraising efforts for non-profit organizations were adversely impacted.
“She was impactful on people’s lives because she did it relationship to relationship,” Blanchon said. “She really did help individuals navigate – whether they were coming out, whether they needed care, whether they needed peer support, whatever they needed; she did it in the community at the grassroots level. And she did it one person at a time,” he said.
She was predeceased by her parents, James and Creola Williams, her brother James E. Williams Jr. and her twin sister Annette Johnson, according to information provided by family members.
Williams is survived by her son, Robert L. Williams, daughter Dedria Williams, granddaughters Sierra Smoot and Shanelle Scofield; her sisters Dianna H. Walker and Patricia W. Jones; and her cat Sugar. She was the beloved aunt to six nieces and nephews and great-aunt to nine nieces and a nephew.
A viewing is scheduled to be held Friday, July 3, at 10 a.m. at Metropolitan Community Church, 474 Ridge Rd., N.W., in D.C. A service in celebration of her life is scheduled to follow the viewing at 11 a.m.
Arts & Entertainment
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District of Columbia
Imperial Court of Washington drag group has ‘dissolved’
Board president cites declining support since pandemic
The Imperial Court of Washington, a D.C.-based organization of drag performers that has raised at least $250,000 or more for local LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ charitable groups since its founding in 2010, announced on Jan. 5 that it has ended its operations by dissolving its corporate status.
In a Jan. 5 statement posted on Facebook, Robert Amos, president of the group’s board of directors, said the board voted that day to formally dissolve the organization in accordance with its bylaws.
“This decision was made after careful consideration and was based on several factors, including ongoing challenges in adhering to the bylaws, maintaining compliance with 501(c)(3) requirements, continued lack of member interest and attendance, and a lack of community involvement and support as well,” Amos said in his statement.
He told the Washington Blade in a Jan. 6 telephone interview that the group was no longer in compliance with its bylaws, which require at least six board members, when the number of board members declined to just four. He noted that the lack of compliance with its bylaws also violated the requirements of its IRS status as a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c) (3) organization.
According to Amos, the inability to recruit additional board members came at a time when the organization was continuing to encounter a sharp drop in support from the community since the start of the COVID pandemic around 2020 and 2021.
Amos and longtime Imperial Court of Washington member and organizer Richard Legg, who uses the drag name Destiny B. Childs, said in the years since its founding, the group’s drag show fundraising events have often been attended by 150 or more people. They said the events have been held in LGBTQ bars, including Freddie’s Beach Bar in Arlington, as well as in other venues such as theaters and ballrooms.
Among the organizations receiving financial support from Imperial Court of Washington have been SMYAL, PFLAG, Whitman-Walker Health’s Walk to End HIV, Capital Pride Alliance, the DC LGBT Community Center, and the LGBTQ Fallen Heroes Fund. Other groups receiving support included Pets with Disabilities, the Epilepsy Foundation of Washington, and Grandma’s House.
The Imperial Court of Washington’s website, which was still online as of Jan. 6, says the D.C. group has been a proud member of the International Court System, which was founded in San Francisco in 1965 as a drag performance organization that evolved into a charitable fundraising operation with dozens of affiliated “Imperial Court” groups like the one in D.C.
Amos, who uses the drag name Veronica Blake, said he has heard that Imperial Court groups in other cities including Richmond and New York City, have experienced similar drops in support and attendance in the past year or two. He said the D.C. group’s events in the latter part of 2025 attracted 12 or fewer people, a development that has prevented it from sustaining its operations financially.
He said the membership, which helped support it financially through membership dues, has declined in recent years from close to 100 to its current membership of 21.
“There’s a lot of good we have done for the groups we supported, for the charities, and the gay community here,” Amos said. “It is just sad that we’ve had to do this, mainly because of the lack of interest and everything going on in the world and the national scene.”
Virginia
LGBTQ groups to join Spanberger inaugural parade
Virginia Pride among more than 25 orgs to march in Jan.17 event
Virginia Gov.-Elect Abigail Spanberger’s inaugural committee announced on Jan. 2 that at least two LGBTQ organizations will be among more than 25 state-based organizations, including marching bands, that will participate in her inaugural parade on Jan. 17.
A statement released by the inaugural committee says the parade will take place immediately after Spanberger is sworn in as Virginia’s 75th governor and delivers her inaugural address in Richmond.
The statement lists the LGBTQ groups Virginia Pride and Diversity Richmond as two groups participating in the parade, although the two groups merged in 2021, with Virginia Pride becoming a project of Diversity Richmond. Among other things, Virginia Pride organizes Richmond’s annual LGBTQ Pride events.
“A display of the impressive talent and beauty of every corner of Virginia, our inaugural parade will be a celebration of all that makes our Commonwealth strong,” Spanberger said in the Jan. 2 statement. “I’m excited for attendees in the stands on Capitol Square and families watching together at home to see this incredible showing of Virginia pride,” she said.
James Millner, who serves as director of Virginia Pride, told the Washington Blade about 75 people are expected to join the Virginia Pride-Diversity Richmond contingent in the parade. He said among them will be members of other Virginia LGBTQ organizations.
“We’re going to invite our staff, our board, our volunteers, and our community partners to join us,” Millner said.
“We are thrilled and honored to have been invited to participate in Abigail Spanberger’s inauguration festivities,” he added. “I think this represents a marked change from the previous administration and demonstrates what she campaigned on – which is she sees the diversity of the Commonwealth as a strength that needs to be celebrated,” he said. “And we are very happy that she has invited us to represent the diversity of the commonwealth.”
Millner appeared to reflect on the sentiment of the large majority of Virginia’s LGBTQ community in its support for Democrat Spanberger over Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in the November 2025 Virginia election and the end of incumbent GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s term in office on Jan. 17.
“After what we’ve been through with the Younkin administration, especially in its treatment of LGBTQ folks, especially transgender and nonconforming folks, I think we are all breathing easy and excited about what opportunities will exist in working with Abigail Spanberger,” he told the Blade.
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