The ‘Comings & Goings’ column chronicles important life changes of Blade readers.

This column highlights the accomplishments of D.C.-area LGBT professionals. To share your good news with the community, email us at [email protected].

Brian T. Carney

Brian T. Carney shared exciting news with us. Carney, a Blade freelance writer, was recently elected to a two-year term on the Steering Committee for PennGALA (the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Alumni Association of the University of Pennsylvania). PennGALA connects and represents LGBT Penn alumni and supports the needs of students.

Carney graduated cum laude in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in economics from The Wharton School, with a concentration in management and a bachelor’s in urban studies from the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a produced playwright and published author and holds an MFA in theatre from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Carney has held senior leadership positions at a number of Washington non-profits, including the Washington Project for the Arts, the Advocacy Institute, the World Resources Institute and, most recently, AIDS United. He serves as a judge for the Mentor Capital Network Annual Business Plan Collaboration. He and his husband Brian K. Long, a senior internal auditor for the State Department Federal Credit Union, live in Wheaton, Md., with their cats.

David Franco

David Franco has been nominated to the D.C. Zoning Commission by Mayor Bowser. Franco is a native Washingtonian and successful LGBT businessman and developer. Recently Jack Evans, Ward 2 Council member, asked Council Chair Phil Mendelson to hold a confirmation hearing for Franco. Mendelson has so far declined to do so, citing concerns with Franco’s work as a developer. But Mendelson has previously voted for developers to serve on the commission, raising questions about whether he is holding up the nomination for other reasons, including a dispute with the mayor. Franco is more than qualified to serve and Mendelson should schedule a hearing as soon as possible on his nomination.

Travis Wright

Travis Wright was recently appointed deputy chief of early childhood education by Chancellor Kaya Henderson at D.C. Public Schools. Travis graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a bachelor’s in College Scholars- Summa Cum Laude in 1998. I met him in 1999 where he worked for a year as a teacher at the Gage-Eckington Elementary School. We had long conversations about how difficult it was for a first-year teacher in a class with many special education students and no support from the administration. Travis committed himself to making things better here in D.C. for all children. He attended Harvard and earned his master’s of education emphasizing human development and psychology and went on to earn his doctorate of education there in June 2006. His dissertation was titled, “Making It vs. Satisfaction: Well-Being and the Lives of Women Raising Young Children in Poverty.”

Travis took a leave from his position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he is assistant professor of Early Childhood Education. DCPS, our children and their parents, are lucky to have Travis Wright back in D.C.