Local
Comings & Goings
2 locals heading to NYC for new positions
From left, Fabrice Houdart and Mark Anthony Dingbaum
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 businesses, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
This week, we congratulate two members of our community who will leave D.C. for exciting positions in New York City.
First, congratulations are in order for Fabrice Houdart who on Feb. 1 will take up his position as Human Rights Officer at the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR). Houdart will work on issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity.
Houdart was previously country officer for the Maghreb at the World Bank where he worked for 14 years and was the president (2011-2015) of its LGBT Group, GLOBE. He also managed a “Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Development” grant that examined sexual minorities in development. The grant, launched in 2012, provided a first estimate of the economic cost of homophobia using India as a case study. It also funded a short film on the interconnection between discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and poverty. During his career at the World Bank, Houdart has worked in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, first as a human development consultant and later as a strategy officer.
He has authored analyses on Yemen, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Tunisia. He also provided contributions to the 2012 Gender World Development Report (WDR) and the 2011 Conflict, Security, and Development WDR. He holds a bachelor’s in economics and management from Dauphine University in Paris and an MBA from American University in D.C. Houdart is on the board of Alturi and the D.C. Rainbow Theater Company. He has twin sons.
Congratulations are also in order for Mark Anthony Dingbaum who has joined the Clinton Foundation as deputy director of communications, digital engagement. After mobilizing online communities in advocacy, technology and government, Dingbaum will now focus on digital communications and enhancing awareness for the all of the foundation’s initiatives, which convene businesses, governments, NGOs, and individuals to improve global health and wellness, increase opportunity for girls and women, reduce childhood obesity, create economic opportunity and growth and help communities address the effects of climate change.
Prior to the Clinton Foundation, he served as a presidential appointee in the Obama administration, supporting White House initiatives while leading communications and digital activities at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Before joining the Obama administration, he managed campaign and communications strategy at Change.org, empowering several of the most popular petitions launched by the company’s 125 million users, including a 13-month national campaign that rallied nearly two million people to push the Boy Scouts of America to end its policy banning gay youth. Dingbaum also previously provided digital strategy and support to CREDO Mobile and the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.
Rehoboth Beach
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Attendees encouraged to wear appropriate gear
Diego’s in Rehoboth Beach hosts a monthly leather happy hour. April’s edition is scheduled for Friday, April 10, 5-7 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to wear appropriate gear. The event is billed as an official event of BLUF, the free community group for men interested in leather. After happy hour, the attendees are encouraged to reconvene at Local Bootlegging Company for dinner, which allows cigar smoking. There’s no cover charge for either event.
District of Columbia
Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
Two memorial events scheduled in D.C.
Two celebrations of life are planned for Sean Christopher Bartel, 48, who was found deceased on a hiking trail in Argentina on or around March 15. Bartel began his career as a television news reporter and news anchor at stations in Louisville, Ky., and Evansville, Ind., before serving as Senior Video Producer for the D.C.-based International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union from 2013 to 2024.
A memorial gathering is planned for Friday, April 10, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the IBEW International Office (900 7th St., N.W.), according to a statement by the DC Gay Flag Football League, where Bartel was a longtime member. A celebration of life is planned that same evening, 6-8 p.m. at Trade (1410 14th St., N.W.).
District of Columbia
D.C. Council member honored by LGBTQ homeless youth group
Doni Crawford receives inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award
About 100 people turned out Tuesday evening, April 7, for a presentation by D.C.’s Wanda Alston Foundation of its inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award to D.C. Council member Doni Crawford (I-At-Large) for her support for the foundation’s mission to support homeless LGBTQ youth.
Among those who attended the event was Japer Bowles, director of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, who delivered an official proclamation issued by Bowser declaring April 7, 2026 “A Day of Remembrance for Wanda Alston.”
Alston, a beloved women’s and LGBTQ rights activist, served as the city’s first director of the then newly created Office of LGBTQ Affairs under then-Mayor Anthony Williams from 2004 until her death by murder on March 16, 2005.
To the shock and dismay of fellow LGBTQ rights advocates, police and court records reported Alston, 45, was stabbed to death inside her Northeast D.C. house by a man high on crack cocaine who lived nearby and who stole her credit cards and car. The perpetrator, William Martin Parrott, 38, was arrested by D.C. police the next day and later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was sentenced in July 2005 to 24 years in prison.
Crawford was among those attending the award event who reflected on Alston’s legacy and outspoken advocacy for LGBTQ and feminist causes.
“I am deeply humbled and honored to receive this inaugural award,” Crawford told the Washington Blade at the conclusion of the event. “I think the world of Wanda Alston. She has set such a great foundation for me and other Council members to build on,” she said.
“Her focus on inclusivity and intersectionality is really important as we approach this work,” Crawford added. “And it’s going to guide my work at the Council every day.”
Crawford was appointed to the D.C. Council in January of this year to replace then Council member Kenyan McDuffie (I-At-Large), who resigned to run for D.C. mayor as a Democrat. She is being challenged by four other independent candidates in a June 16 special election for the Council seat.
Under the city’s Home Rule Charter written and approved by Congress, the seat is one of two D.C. Council at-large seats that cannot be held by a “majority party” candidate, meaning a Democrat.
A statement released by the Alston Foundation last month announcing Crawford’s selection for the Wanda Alston Legacy Award praised Crawford’s record of support for its work on behalf of LGBTQ youth.
“From behind the scenes to now serving as an At-Large Council member, she has fought fearlessly for affordable housing, LGBTQ+ funding priorities, and racial justice,” the statement says. “Council member Crawford’s leadership reflects the same courage and conviction that defined Wanda’s legacy.”
Organizers of the event noted that it was held on what would have been Wanda Alston’s 67th birthday.
“Today’s legacy reception was a smashing success,” said Cesar Toledo, the Alston Foundation’s executive director. “Not only did we come together to celebrate Wanda Alston on her birthday, but we also were able to raise over $10,000 for our homeless LGBTQ youth here in D.C.,” Toledo told the Blade.
“In addition to that, we celebrated and we acknowledged a rising star in our community,” he said. “And that is At-Large Council member Doni Crawford, who we named the inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award recipient.”
At the request of D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) the Council voted unanimously on Jan. 20, 2026, to appoint Crawford to the Council seat being vacated by McDuffie.
Council records show she joined McDuffie’s Council staff in 2022 as a policy adviser and later became his legislative director before McDuffie appointed her as staff director for the Council’s Committee on Business and Economic Development for which McDuffie served as chair.
Calendar: April 10-16
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Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
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LGBTQ community explores arming up during heated political times
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