Local
Questions surround gay officer’s departure from LGBT police unit
Markiewicz headed back to Sixth District
Justin Markiewicz (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Officer Justin Markiewicz, who was honored by D.C.’s Capital Pride organization in June for his exemplary work as a member of the D.C. Police Department’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit, has left the unit and began a new assignment on Tuesday as a patrol officer with the Sixth Police District.
Police sources familiar with the GLLU have said Markiewicz was essentially forced out of his GLLU post, even though he submitted an official request to leave the unit. Police spokesperson Gwendolyn Crump said the department granted Markiewicz’s request to return to the Sixth District and is unaware of any issues that would have forced him to leave the GLLU.
“My time at the GLLU has come to an end,” Markiewicz stated in a Facebook posting on Sept. 18. “I’m sad that my tenure at the GLLU has ended in the way it did but I’m excited to continue the next step in my career,” he wrote in his posting.
Markiewicz has told the Blade police department rules prevent him from talking to the media. But two police sources familiar with the GLLU said Markiewicz requested that his indefinite detail to the GLLU be ended and that he be returned to his earlier assignment to the Sixth District because higher-up police officials had created a hostile work environment for him at the GLLU.
The sources said Markiewicz was subjected to greater scrutiny and what appeared to others as unfair disciplinary action for alleged minor infractions of rules and procedures after he filed a harassment complaint against Capt. Edward Delgado in August 2014. At the time Delgado served as commander of the Special Liaison Division, which oversees the GLLU and three other police liaison units.
Sources said the complaint, which was filed with the department’s Internal Affairs Division, accused Delgado of repeatedly addressing Markiewicz in person and in emails as “Justine.” Markiewicz viewed Delgado’s action as a form of anti-gay harassment, the sources said.
Delgado was transferred to another assignment shortly after the complaint was filed, but spokesperson Crump said police personnel rules prevented the department from disclosing the outcome of the Internal Affairs investigation into Markiewicz’s complaint.
According to the sources, Markiewicz’s decision to leave the GLLU was based, in part, on the news that Delgado had recently been reassigned to a position that oversees the GLLU and the other liaison units after he was promoted to the rank of inspector. His new position would place him once again in a role of supervising Markiewicz had Markiewicz remained at the GLLU.
“It is difficult to respond to ‘sources familiar with MPD,’” Crump told the Blade in an email on Tuesday. “However, we will state categorically that we will not tolerate retaliation in any form in MPD,” she said.
“Officer Markiewicz made a request to end his detail to GLLU and that request was granted,” Crump said, adding that the department is unaware of any retaliation claim. “We encourage anyone who feels that they have been retaliated against to file a complaint through proper channels.”
Crump said Police Chief Cathy Lanier has yet to decide whether to assign another officer to replace Markiewicz at the GLLU. Markiewicz’s departure lowers the number of GLLU officers assigned to the unit’s headquarters in Dupont Circle from five to four. Sgt. Jessica Hawkins, who serves as the GLLU’s supervisor, is also considered a member of the unit.
“We will continue to ensure trained members are available to assist on GLLU-related calls,” Crump said.
“Hopefully this isn’t goodbye forever and just a see you later,” Markiewicz said in his Facebook posting. “I truly miss seeing everyone. Come visit me east of the river,” he said in referring to the Sixth District’s location in Southeast D.C.
District of Columbia
Capital Stonewall Democrats set to celebrate 50th anniversary
Mayor Bowser expected to attend March 20 event
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, members of the D.C. Council, and local and national Democratic Party officials are expected to join more than 150 LGBTQ advocates and supporters on March 20 for the 50th anniversary celebration of the city’s Capital Stonewall Democrats.
A statement released by the organization says the event is scheduled to be held at the Pepco Edison Place Gallery building at 702 8th St., N.W. in D.C.
“The evening will honor the people who built Capital Stonewall Democrats across five decades – activists who fought for rights when the odds were against them, public servants who opened doors and refused to let them close, and a new generation of leaders ready to carry the work forward,” the statement says.
Founded in 1976 as the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the organization’s members voted in 2021 to change its name to the Capital Stonewall Democrats.
Among those planning to attend the anniversary event is longtime D.C. gay Democratic activist Paul Kuntzler, 84, who is one of the two co-founders of the then-Gertrude Stein Democratic Club. Kuntzler told the Washington Blade that he and co-founder Richard Maulsby were joined by about a dozen others in the living room of his Southwest D.C. home at the group’s founding meeting in January 1976.
He said that among the reasons for forming a local LGBTQ Democratic group at the time was to arrange for a then “gay” presence at the 1976 Democratic National Convention, at which Jimmy Carter won the Democratic nomination for U.S. president and later won election as president.
Maulsby, who served as the Stein Club president for its first three years and who now lives in Sarasota, Fla., said he would not be attending the March 20 anniversary event, but he fully supports the organization’s continuing work as an LGBTQ organization associated with the Democratic Party.
Steven McCarty, Capital Stonewall Democrats’ current president, said in the statement that the anniversary celebration will highlight the organization’s work since the time of its founding.
“Capital Stonewall Democrats has been fighting for LGBTQ+ political power in this city for 50 years, electing people, training organizers, holding this community together through some really hard moments,” he said. “And right now, with everything going on, that work has never mattered more. This gala is the first moment of our next chapter, and I want the community to be a part of it.”
The statement says among the special guests attending the event will be Democratic National Committee Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta, who became the first openly gay LGBTQ person of color to win election to the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2018.
Other guests of honor, according to the statement, include Mayor Bowser; D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5, the Council’s only gay member; D.C. Council member Anita Bonds (D-At-Large); Earl Fowlkes, founder of the International Federation of Black Prides; Vita Rangel, a transgender woman who serves as Deputy Director of the D.C. Mayor’s Office of Talent and Appointments; Heidi Ellis, director of the D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition; Rayceen Pendarvis, longtime D.C. LGBTQ civic activist; and Phillip Pannell, longtime D.C. LGBTQ Democratic activist and Ward 8 civic activist.
Information about ticket availability for the Capital Stonewall Democrats anniversary gala can be accessed here: capitalstonewalldemocrats.com/50th
Maryland
Md. Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus outlines 2026 priorities
Expanded PrEP access among objectives
Maryland’s Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus outlined legislative priorities for the remainder of the General Assembly’s 2026 term during a press conference on March 5.
State Del. Kris Fair (D-Fredrick County) led the press conference. State Del. Ashanti Martinez (D-Prince George’s County) and other caucus members also spoke.
Caucus members are sponsoring 12 bills and supporting four others.
Martinez is sponsoring House Bill 1114, which would expand PrEP access in Maryland.
“PrEP is 99 percent effective in preventing HIV transmission,” he explained, noting PrEP’s cost often turns away potential users.
The bill aims to extend insurance coverage and expand pharmacists’ ability to prescribe PrEP along with other HIV treatments and testing. Martinez is working with state Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Anne Arundel and Howard Counties) and FreeState Justice on the bill.
The House Health Committee had a hearing last week that included HB1114.
“Ending the HIV epidemic is about expanding access and providing these life-saving tools to all persons in Maryland,” Martinez said.
Several other pieces of legislation were highlighted during the press conferences. They included measures focused on youth and education, birth certificate markers, so-called conversion therapy, and hormone medications.
State Sen. Cheryl Kagan (D-Montgomery County) is cosponsoring Senate Bill 950, which would update and strengthen conversion therapy laws. State Del. Bonnie Cullison (D-Montgomery County) has introduced an identical bill that would extend the statute of limitations on individuals who facilitate conversion therapy.
Kagan explained the bill would allow conversion therapy victims to come to terms with their experience undergoing the widely discredited practice that “creates shame and it silences survivors.”
When questioned, Fair explained the press conference happened late into the legislative session because “we [the caucus] are constantly having to respond in real time to what’s happening in Washington” while drafting and considering pieces of legislation.
The Frederick County Democrat described this session’s bills as the “most ambitious list of priorities to date.” Fair also described the caucus’s goals.
“It’s decency, it’s dignity, and its humanity,” he said.
District of Columbia
Owner of D.C. gay bar Green Lantern John Colameco dies at 79
Beloved businessman preferred to stay ‘behind the scenes’
John Colameco, owner of the popular D.C. gay bar Green Lantern, has died, according to a March 7 announcement posted on the bar’s website and Instagram account. The announcement didn’t provide a date of his passing or a cause of death.
Green Lantern manager Howard Hicks said Colameco was 79 at the time of his passing.
“It is with great sadness that Green Lantern announces the death of our beloved owner, John Colameco,” the announcement says. “Most of our patrons might have heard John’s name, but might not have known his face,” it says.
“He was a ‘behind-the-scenes’ kind of guy who avoided the limelight,” the announcement continues. “He preferred to stay in the back of the house with staff and team ensuring everything was running smoothly so that everyone out front was having a good time.”
The announcement adds, “As a veteran and businessman, John wasn’t a member of the LGBTQ + community, but he was one of the best damn allies our community has ever had.”
It says he “long provided spaces for the queer community to come together” since the 1990s when he owned and operated a popular restaurant on 17th Street, N.W. called Peppers.
According to the announcement, Colameco and his then business partner Greg Zehnacker opened the Green Lantern in 2001 in an alley off of 14th Street, N.W., between Thomas Circle and L Street, N.W.
The announcement points out that the Green Lantern first opened in the same location in the early 1990s before it later closed when the original owners decided to purchase and open other bars, one of which was the gay bar Fireplace near Dupont Circle. Colameco and Zehnacker were able to reopen the bar with the Green Lantern name.
“When Greg died unexpectedly in February 2014, John remained steadfastly committed to carrying on their vision and ensuring that Green Lantern remained part of the fabric of D.C.’s queer community,” the announcement says.
“Over the years, through Green Lantern, John has provided support to many community organizations, most notably Stonewall Sports, the Gay Men’s chorus of Washington, and ONYX Mid-Atlantic with Green Lantern serving as a gathering hub for their activities,” it states.
The announcement adds that Colameco’s family was planning a memorial for him in his hometown of Philadelphia.
“His Green Lantern family will celebrate his life by operating the bar as usual and we encourage you to stop by and join us,” it says. “Community coming together and having a good time – it’s exactly what John would want.”
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