Local
Gay former ANC commissioner seeks Council seat
Garber to challenge Orange in at-large race
David Garber (Photo courtesy Twitter)
Gay former advisory neighborhood commissioner David Garber last week announced his candidacy for the at-large D.C. Council seat currently held by Council member Vincent Orange (D-At-Large), saying he will challenge Orange in the city’s 2016 Democratic primary.
In an online video linked to his campaign website, Garber raised eyebrows by going on the attack against Orange. Calling on supporters to join him in the “movement for communities over corruption,” he raised the issue of the city’s ethics board reprimanding Orange for allegedly pressuring a city agency to call off regulatory action against a grocery store.
“While I applaud the incumbent for his long tenure in D.C. government, we simply deserve better,” Garber said in his campaign video. “Council member Orange was the first Council member to ever be publicly reprimanded by the D.C. Board of Ethics and Accountability for using his influence to – get this – to stop a health inspection of an insect and rat infested grocery store owned by one of his largest campaign contributors,” Garber said in the video.
James D. Brown, who serves as chief of staff at Orange’s Council office, released a statement to the Washington Blade taking exception to Garber’s criticism.
“Councilmember Orange has a ‘clean record’ with the D.C. Board of Ethics and Government Accountability (which you may verify),” Brown said. “CM Orange’s actions, that Mr. Garber speaks of, resulted in the health code violations being abated in less than 24 hours, the entity in question passing the D.C. Health Department inspection in less than 24 hours, and the avoidance of forty employees being laid off without pay during the Christmas holiday.”
Brown added in his statement that Orange “looks forward to addressing his insurmountable record of achievement” on a wide range of issues, including transgender rights, during his upcoming re-election campaign.
In his successful 2012 re-election campaign for his Council seat, Orange received support from a number of prominent LGBT activists, including Ward 8 civic activist Phil Pannell and Ward 3 gay ANC commissioner Lee Brian Reba.
If successful in his race for the at-large seat, Garber would become the first gay person to serve on the Council since the Council’s two long-time gay members — David Catania (I-At-Large) and Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) — left the Council in January. Catania gave up his seat in his unsuccessful race for mayor. Graham lost his re-election bid in the city’s 2014 Democratic primary.
Garber, who has named former Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance President Bob Summersgill as his campaign treasurer, surprised some of his former ANC colleagues when he made it known at the time of his campaign announcement last week that he’s gay.
Andy Litsky, one of three out gay members of ANC 6D, where Garber served as a member between 2011 and November 2014, said Garber never self-identified as gay during his tenure on the ANC. Litsky also noted that Garber first won election to ANC 6D when he defeated another gay commissioner, D.C. businessman Bob Siegel, in the November 2010 election.
“Not that it makes any difference,” said Litsky. “Everybody comes out in their own way at their own time. I wish him well as a gay man.”
Pannell, who said he plans to remain neutral in the 2016 Council elections, said running as a gay candidate could be helpful to Garber in the Democratic primary, where voter turnout tends to be low and where a large turnout of LGBT voters could work in his favor.
Summersgill pointed to a statement that Garber posted on his Facebook page in April acknowledging his sexual orientation wasn’t widely known.
“In my public roles around the city, I haven’t typically felt the need or been forced to use a bullhorn to announce all that much about my personal life,” Garber said in his posting, noting that he has preferred to highlight his numerous civic activities.
“I’m gay,” he said. “It’s one thing that defines me and the way I see others and the world. But it becomes an especially important thing for me to be proud of, to fight more personally for, and to raise a flag for when the conversation turns away from more straightforward city matters, to something like equality.”
District of Columbia
Campaign launched to elect more LGBTQ candidates to ANC seats
Capital Stonewall Democrats behind Queering ANCs effort
The Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political group, announced on July 7 it has launched a campaign to help elect large numbers of LGBTQ candidates to the city’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions.
The D.C. local government is believed to be unique among U.S. cities in currently having 46 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions consisting of 345 single-member districts in neighborhoods throughout the city in which unpaid Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners are elected for two-year terms.
The commissions are charged with considering a wide range of policies and programs impacting their neighborhoods, including traffic, parking, recreation, street improvements, liquor licenses, zoning, economic development, police protection, sanitation and trash collection, and D.C.’s annual budget, according to the ANC website.
Although the ANCs do not have authority to set or reject policies or proposals, such as applications for liquor licenses, city agencies are required to give “great weight” to ANC recommendations, according to the law creating the ANCs.
Kent Boese, a gay former ANC commissioner, currently serves as executive director of the D.C. Office of ANCs.
“We are launching the most ambitious hyperlocal LGBTQ+ candidate pipeline initiative in the country,” said Stevie McCarty, the Capital Stonewall Democrats president, in a July 7 statement that announced the Queering ANCs campaign.
“As an ANC member, I know firsthand how these seats shape our neighborhoods, from housing and public safety to sanitation,” McCarty says in the statement. “I’m proud to lead this effort to ensure more LGBTQ+ Washingtonians see themselves as leaders in their communities,” he said.
The ANC Rainbow Caucus, which was created by LGBTQ ANC members, shows on its website that there are currently 38 caucus members consisting of elected LGBTQ ANC commissioners serving in the current 2025-2026 two-year term.
The website shows there are LGBTQ commissioners who are caucus members in each of the city’s eight wards, with six in Ward 1, eight in Ward 2, one in Ward 3, six in Ward 4, five in Ward 5, three in Ward 6, eight in Ward 7, and one in Ward 8.
The Washington Blade couldn’t immediately determine how many of them will be running for re-election in D.C.’s general election in November. But McCarty said Capital Stonewall Democrats hopes to recruit many more LGBTQ candidates to run for ANC seats.
The D.C. Board of Elections website shows the deadline for filing 25 required petition signatures to be placed on the ballot is Aug. 5.
A Queering ANCs website launched this week by Capital Stonewall Democrats provides details on how to run for an ANC seat and offers help for those interested in running.
“Think of someone in your building, neighborhood, friend group, community organization, or professional network who cares deeply about D.C. and would make a strong leader,” McCarty says in his statement. “Send them QueeringANCs.org and personally ask them to consider running,” he said.
The website can be accessed at QueeringANCs.org.
Baltimore
Ron Singer, owner of popular Mount Vernon gay bar Leon’s, dies
66-year-old’s funeral to take place Friday
By CAYLA HARRIS | Ron Singer, the owner of Baltimore’s popular gay bar Leon’s Backroom, died Tuesday, the venue announced in a social media post. He was 66.
“For more than 20 years, Ron made Leon’s a place so many people were proud to call home,” the post reads. “He will be deeply missed.”
The Mount Vernon bar, typically open from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily, is still open Thursday, but doors will close at midnight so staff can attend his funeral Friday morning. Services are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. at Sol Levinson’s Chapel.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
Mary’s House founder, CEO retires
Dr. Imani Woody played leading role in opening DC’s first home for LGBTQ seniors
The board of directors for Mary’s House for Older Adults, DC’s first official home dedicated to providing affordable housing for LGBTQ seniors, announced on July 7 that its founding president and CEO, Dr. Imani Woody, has retired.
Woody, who holds a PhD in Human Services, is credited with playing a leading role over many years in arranging both city and private funding needed to construct and operate the Mary’s House three-story building located at 401 Anacostia Road, S.E., in the city’s Fort Dupont neighborhood.
The house, which opened in March 2025, with a grand opening ceremony held in May 2025, includes 15 single-occupancy residential units and more than 5,000 square feet of shared communal living space.
“It is with profound gratitude and hearts full of celebration that the board of directors of Mary’s House for Older Adults, DC (MHFOA) announces the retirement of our visionary founder, Dr. Imani Woody, from her role as president and CEO,” the Mary’s House board says in a statement.
“Dr. Woody’s journey with Mary’s House began with her vision and a kitchen table gathering of women with a bold, urgent, and loving vision: to create safe, affirming, affordable housing for LGBTQ/SGL older adults in Washington, DC,” the statement says.
It adds, “What started as a dream has grown into DC’s first affordable LGBTQ+/SGL affirming communal living space for adults 60 and over, a 15-room community residence at 401 Anacostia Road in Southeast Washington.”
The statement says Woody will continue to serve on Mary’s House board.
“The board will be sharing information about the leadership transition process in the coming weeks,” the statement continues. “We are committed to honoring Dr. Woody’s legacy by ensuring Mary’s House continues to thrive and grow in faithful service to LGBTQ/SGL elders experiencing housing insecurity and isolation.”
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