Local
GLAA announces service award winners
June Crenshaw and Sterling Washington to be honored


(Washington Blade file photo by Pete Exis)
The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C., announced on Wednesday that it has named local LGBT activists June Crenshaw and Sterling Washington and D.C. Office of Human Rights Director Monica Palacio as recipients of its 2016 Distinguished Service Award.
The group says it presents the annual award to individuals and organizations that have served with distinction the LGBT community in the nationās capital and the surrounding metropolitan area.
Crenshaw serves as chair of the Board of the Rainbow Response Coalition, which addresses issues related to domestic violence affecting the LGBT community. Crenshaw also serves as a board member and emeritus chair of Whitman-Walker Health as well as a member of the Board of Governors of the Human Rights Campaign. She previously served on the Community Advisory Board of Lesbian Services Programs and Black Lesbian Support Group at Whitman-Walker.
Washington served as director of the Mayorās Office of GLBT Affairs for two years under the administration of Mayor Vincent Gray. Prior to that post, Washington served as Resource and Grant Development Manager for the D.C.-based national group Center for Black Equity and worked on various projects for the D.C. AIDS services group Us Helping Us-People Into Living, Inc.
Palacio, an attorney, has served as the cityās Office of Human Rights director since March 2014. She is credited with initiating a groundbreaking six-month OHR study in 2015 that revealed anti-transgender job discrimination by 48 percent of city employers. GLAA says in a write-up that she brings ātwenty years of experience in civil rights, strengthening communities in crisis and coalition building for social justice.ā She previously directed the OHRās Language Access program and served as a member of the D.C. Commission on Human Rights.
GLAA says the awards will be presented at the groupās 45th Anniversary Reception on April 21 at Policy Restaurant and Lounge at 1904 14th St., N.W.
District of Columbia
D.C. police data show 67 anti-LGBTQ hate crimes reported in 2022
Community continues to be hit with most bias incidents in city

Recently released hate crime data by the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department shows that similar to nearly every year since 2011, LGBTQ people in 2022 were victims of a hate crime in far greater numbers than the other categories of victims, such as ethnicity/national origin, race, religion, or disability.
The data show that 45 of the reported hate crimes in 2022 were based on the victimās sexual orientation and 22 of the reported hate crimes were based on the victimās gender identity or gender expression, bringing the total number of anti-LGBTQ hate crimes to 67.
By comparison, the 2022 data show that 30 reported hate crimes were based on the victimās ethnicity or national origin, 20 were based on the victimās race, and four on the victimās religion. Three 2022 hate crimes were reported to be based on the victimās status as a homeless person and just one reported hate crime was said to be based on the victimās political affiliation.
The 67 reported anti-LGBTQ hate crimes reported in 2022 represent an increase over the 54 anti-LGBTQ hate crimes reported in 2021. The 2021 data show that 38 of the reported hate crimes were based on the victimās sexual orientation and 16 were based on the victimās gender identity or gender expression.
LGBTQ rights advocates, as well as law enforcement officials, have said they believe the reported number of hate crimes targeting LGBTQ people and other minorities are significantly less than the actual number of such cases because many go unreported.
āWhile the District strives to reduce crime for all residents of and visitors to the city, hate crimes can make a particular community feel vulnerable and more fearful,ā a D.C. police statement accompanying the release of the hate crime data says. āThis is unacceptable and is the reason everyone must work together not just to address allegations of hate crimes, but also to proactively educate the public about hate crimes,ā the statement says.
Police and prosecutors have also pointed out that a hate crime is not legally classified as a crime in and of itself but instead as a hate or ābiasā related designation to an underlying crime such as assault, threats of violence, destruction of property, and numerous other criminal offenses.
The Washington Blade couldnāt immediately obtain from D.C. police additional 2022 data showing which underlying criminal acts were linked to the LGBTQ related hate crimes. The Blade has also requested data showing how many of the 67 reported anti-LGBTQ hate crimes in 2022 resulted in an arrest.
In past years, police data have shown that far fewer arrests are made compared to the number of reported hate crime cases. Past data has also shown that the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia prosecutes significantly fewer hate crimes cases than those sent to prosecutors after an arrest has been made.
The U.S. Attorneyās Office has said that it has dropped a hate crime designation for cases on grounds that there was insufficient evidence to prove a motive of hate if the case goes before a trial by jury. Spokespersons for the office have said that when a hate crime designation is dropped, they often continue to prosecute the person arrested for the underlying crime.
A chart showing hate crime data reported by DC police from 2011 through 2022, including all categories of hate crimes, can be accessed at the D.C. police website.
District of Columbia
Prosecutors drop multiple charges in D.C. gay murder case
One count remains for defendant in 2019 stabbing death of Vongell Lugo

Without providing a reason, prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia requested and received approval from a D.C. Superior Court judge on Jan. 23 to drop four of the five pending charges, including two counts of murder, against the man charged with the Jan. 6, 2019 murder of gay retail manager Vongell Lugo.
Court records show that Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter V. Roman asked Judge Marisa Demeo to dismiss four of the five charges handed down in an Aug. 20, 2019, grand jury indictment against former U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman Collin J. Potter, who was 26 years old when D.C. police charged him with fatally stabbing Lugo at least 47 times.
A single charge of First Degree Murder While Armed remains pending.
An arrest affidavit filed in court states that the murder took place inside Lugoās Northwest D.C. apartment shortly after the two men met, possibly for the first time, at the Black Whisky bar at 1410 14th St., N.W., and Lugo invited Potter to his apartment.
The arrest affidavit says police arrested Potter on the night of the murder after being called to the apartment building by a neighbor and after observing Potter fully nude standing over Lugoās nude body that Potter minutes earlier dragged outside the apartment door. Potter has remained in jail since the time of his arrest on Jan. 6, 2019, while awaiting a trial that has repeatedly been postponed. The trial is currently scheduled for April 18.
Court records show that in response to a motion filed by an assistant U.S. attorney on Jan. 18 of this year, Judge Dameo agreed to drop Counts 1 through 4 of the grand jury indictment. Those charges include Kidnapping While Armed, Felony Murder While Armed (Aggravating Circumstances), First Degree Sexual Assault While Armed, and Felony Murder While Armed (Aggravating Circumstances).
Romanās motion, which the judge approved, called for leaving in place Count 5 of the indictment ā First Degree Murder While Armed (Premeditated) (Aggravating Circumstances).
When contacted by the Washington Blade, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorneyās Office declined to disclose the reason for the officeās decision to drop the four indictment counts.
āWe cannot comment on matters not in the public record,ā said spokesperson Patricia Hartman.
Prosecutors sometimes drop or lower charges against a defendant in cases like this in exchange for a plea bargain agreement in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty to a lower charge. Doing so avoids a trial, which prosecutors sometimes feel could result in a verdict of not guilty on all or some of the charges.
The public court records in the case pending against Potter do not show whether a plea bargain offer was made prior to the dropping of the four charges. Potterās defense attorney, Matthew Davis, has not responded to attempts by the Blade to reach him for comment on the case.
The next court hearing for the case, a Trial Readiness Hearing, is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 3. The Blade couldnāt immediately determine whether an explanation for why prosecutors chose to dismiss the four indictment counts would be disclosed at the Feb. 3 hearing.
District of Columbia
Three juveniles arrested for armed robbery in Dupont Circle area
Incidents took place near 17th and 18th street LGBTQ bars

D.C. police announced on Monday that detectives have arrested three juvenile males for allegedly engaging in four separate armed robbery related offenses on Sunday, Jan. 29, between 9:45 and 10:14 p.m.
Three of the incidents took place on streets in the Dupont Circle neighborhood, including areas where three LGBTQ bars are located.
In a Jan. 30 statement, police said the juveniles assaulted two of the four reported victims in the separate robbery related incidents, but no serious injury was reported.
āOn Sunday, January 29, 2023, two 16-year-old juvenile males and a 15-year-old juvenile male, all of Northwest D.C., were arrested and charged with the above offenses,ā the police statement says. It lists the offenses as Attempted Armed Robbery, Armed Robbery (Gun), Assault With a Dangerous Weapon (Gun), and Armed Robbery (Gun).
āThe 15-year-old juvenile male was additionally charged with Carrying a Pistol Without a License, Possession of an Unregistered Firearm, Possession of Unregistered Ammunition, and Possession of a Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device,ā according to the police statement.
āItās very alarming because these are in the heart of Dupont and the gay core,ā said Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Jeff Rueckgauer.
Police reports for each of the incidents say that none of them were classified as a hate crime.
The police statement says one of the incidents took place at about 9:50 p.m. on the 1900 block of T Street, N.W., when two suspects, with one brandishing a handgun, approached the victim and demanded the victimās property. āThe victim complied and then one of the suspects assaulted the victim,ā the statement says, before the suspects fled the scene in a vehicle. The offense is listed as an Armed Robbery (Gun).
That incident took place a little over one block from the gay bar Larryās Lounge, which is located at 18th and T St., N.W.
A second of the four incidents took place at approximately 9:54 p.m. in front of 1604 Q St., N.W. , according to a police incident report, when three of the juvenile suspects approached the victim, with one in possession of a handgun. The police incident report says the victim was able to escape from the suspects by entering the building where the incident occurred, the Claridge House Apartments, where the victim lives.
āNo injuries were reported,ā the separate police statement says. The statement lists the incident as an Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (Gun).
The third incident occurred in front of the nearby apartment building at 1700 Q St., N.W. at about 10:14 p.m. when the three suspects, one carrying a handgun, approached the victim. The police statement says the suspects assaulted the victim, took property from the victim and then fled the scene in a vehicle. The offense is listed as Armed Robbery (Gun). The incident report says the victim lives in another part of Northwest D.C.
The 1600 and 1700 blocks of Q St., N.W are located within one or two blocks from several bars and restaurants with a large LGBTQ clientele.
The police statement says the fourth incident linked to the three arrested juveniles took place about 9:45 p.m. on Jan. 29 in the 2400 block of Connecticut Ave., N.W. on the Taft Bridge. āOne of the suspects brandished a handgun and checked the victim for property,ā the statement says. āThe suspects then fled the scene without obtaining any property.ā The incident is listed as an Attempted Armed Robbery.
One of the police incident reports says police were able to make the arrests after one or more police officers who responded to the locations where the incidents occurred observed the suspects entering a vehicle that was later found abandoned on a D.C. street. Based on descriptions of the suspects āa canvas of nearby Metro stationsā resulted in the three suspects being stopped, the report says. Upon conducting a āprotective pat-downā police found a handgun in the possession of one of the suspects, the report says.
The police statement and the incident reports do not disclose whether any of the victims were patrons of the many bars, restaurants, or other businesses in the area, including the nearby LGBTQ bars.
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