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Comings & Goings
Marriott exec becomes American citizen
The ‘Comings & Goings’ column chronicles important life changes of Blade readers.
The Comings and Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
Congratulations are in order for Michael Hennessy, one of 31 petitioners who became an American citizen last Tuesday morning at a Naturalization Ceremony at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. President Obama delivered the keynote address as Hennessy reflected over the past 16 years on his path to citizenship. The ceremony coincided with the 224th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights.
Hennessy is a native of Dublin, Ireland. Graduating in 1994 from the College of Commerce in Dublin, Hennessy entered the hospitality industry and worked his way through the ranks at some of Ireland’s preeminent properties, arriving in D.C. in 1999. Since his arrival, Hennessy has worked for several D.C. hotels in senior leadership roles in operations, event planning and sales. Hennessy joined Marriott International in 2005 and soon headed up its catering sales efforts as an area sales director representing all Marriott brands in the metropolitan area. Hennessy’s professional path, ambitions and desires to experience more have allowed him a front row seat to history hosting many high-profile events, conferences and celebrations. It is that same spirit of celebration and ambition that initially motivated Hennessy to make his move to the United States. Today, Hennessy heads up sales and marketing for Marriott International, based at The Mayflower Hotel.
Hennessy’s path to citizenship is a realization of the American dream. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 marked a turning point for him and soon thereafter he applied for permanent residence status. As a long-term resident in D.C., he witnessed many historic local and national events that have shaped the community and country. As a non-citizen he was unable to vote, and decided to apply for citizenship primarily to exercise that right and power to contribute to the future of his adopted country. When asked about the ceremony, he said, “What better way to celebrate receiving my citizenship than on the anniversary of the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, guaranteeing rights such as freedom of speech, assembly, and worship. I want to remind everyone to exercise your right as American citizens and to stay engaged in the political process understanding every vote makes a difference.” Hennessy added he is humbled and thankful for all that the United States of America has allowed him to do.
Michael Hennessy
Congratulations also to Lorella Praeli, who was naturalized in the same ceremony. I was fortunate to meet Lorella last year through friends. She was born in Peru and came to the United States as an undocumented immigrant when she was 10. She recently moved from D.C. to Brooklyn, N.Y., to become Hillary Clinton’s Latino Outreach Director. She is an amazing young woman who happens to be an amputee. She has overcome many odds to achieve success and through it all has dedicated her life to helping others.
Congratulations are also in order for Chris McCannell who recently became a partner in the Eris Group, formerly Bartlett and Bendell. The Eris Group is a government relations practice. Chris previously worked as the lead of the D.C. financial services practice at APCO Worldwide.
A press release from the Eris Group stated, “In addition to continuing work on previous clients, Chris brings to the Eris Group the perspective of a senior House Democrat. Chris was previously chief of staff for current Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.), and also served as chief of staff for Rep. Michael E. McMahon (D-N.Y.).”
Doyle Bartlett, founder and managing partner of the Eris Group added, “The Eris Group is fortunate to have Chris. Chris has a passion for his clients and the clients value his counsel. He is someone who is respected on both sides of the aisle and has a proven track record of getting things done both when he was on Capitol Hill and with his clients.”
Chris McCannell
District of Columbia
Mayor Bowser signs bill requiring insurers to cover PrEP
‘This is a win in the fight against HIV/AIDS’
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on March 20 signed a bill approved by the D.C. Council that requires health insurance companies to cover the costs of HIV prevention or PrEP drugs for D.C. residents at risk for HIV infection.
Like all legislation approved by the Council and signed by the mayor, the bill, called the PrEP D.C. Amendment Act, was sent to Capitol Hill for a required 30-day congressional review period before it takes effect as D.C. law.
Gay D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5) last year introduced the bill.
Insurance coverage for PrEP drugs has been provided through coverage standards included in the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. But AIDS advocacy organizations have called on states and D.C. to pass their own legislation requiring insurance coverage of PrEP as a safeguard in case federal policies are weakened or removed by the Trump administration, which has already reduced federal funding for HIV/AIDS-related programs.
Like legislation passed by other states, the PrEP D.C. Amendment Act requires insurers to cover all PrEP drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Studies have shown that PrEP drugs, which can be taken as pills or by injection just twice a year, are highly effective in preventing HIV infection.
“I think this is a win for our community,” Parker said after the D.C. Council voted unanimously to approve the bill on its first vote on the measure in February. “And this is a win in the fight against HIV/AIDS.”
District of Columbia
Blade editor to be inducted into D.C. Society of Professional Journalists Hall of Fame
Kevin Naff marks 24 years with publication this year
Longtime Washington Blade Editor Kevin Naff will be inducted into D.C.’s Society of Professional Journalists Hall of Fame in June, the group announced this week.
Hall of Fame honorees are chosen by the Society of Professional Journalists’ Washington, D.C., Pro Chapter. Naff and two other inductees — Seth Borenstein, a Washington-based national science writer for the AP and Cheryl W. Thompson, an award-winning correspondent for National Public Radio — will be celebrated at the chapter’s Dateline Awards dinner on Tuesday, June 9, at the National Press Club. The dinner’s emcee will be Kojo Nnamdi, host of WAMU radio’s weekly “Politics Hour.”
“I am tremendously honored by this recognition,” Naff said. “I have spent a lifetime in the D.C. area learning from so many talented journalists and am humbled to be considered in their company. Thank you to SPJ and to all the LGBTQ pioneers who came before me who made this possible.”
Naff joined the Blade in 2002 after years in print and digital journalism. He worked as a financial reporter for Reuters in New York before moving to Baltimore in 1996 to launch the Baltimore Sun’s website. He spent four years at the Sun before leaving for an internet startup and later joining the mobile data group at Verizon Wireless working on the first generation of mobile apps.
He then moved to the Blade and has served as the publication’s longest-tenured editor. In 2023, Naff published his first book, “How We Won the War for LGBTQ Equality — And How Our Enemies Could Take It All Away.”
Previous Hall of Fame inductees include luminaries in journalism like Wolf Blitzer, Benjamin Bradlee, Bob Woodward, Andrea Mitchell, and Edgar Allen Poe. The Blade’s senior news reporter Lou Chibbaro Jr. was inducted in 2015.
Maryland
Supreme Court ruling against conversion therapy bans could affect Md. law
Then-Gov. Larry Hogan signed statute in 2018
By PAMELA WOOD, JOHN-JOHN WILLIAMS IV, and MADELEINE O’NEILL | The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against a law banning “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ kids in Colorado, a ruling that also could apply to Maryland’s ban on the discredited practice.
An 8-1 high court majority sided with a Christian counselor who argues the law banning talk therapy violates the First Amendment. The justices agreed that the law raises free speech concerns and sent it back to a lower court to decide whether it meets a legal standard that few laws pass.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the court’s majority, said the law “censors speech based on viewpoint.” The First Amendment, he wrote, “stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country.”
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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