Local
Veteran LGBT rights activist Jerry Clark dies at 74
Attorney also backed D.C. statehood
Jerry Clark, a long-time LGBT rights and D.C. statehood activist, died April 9. (Photo courtesy of the National LGBTQ Task Force)
Jerry N. Clark, an attorney, union health and pension fund director, and health care benefits consultant in Washington who for years served as an advocate for the cause of LGBT rights and D.C. statehood died April 9 at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington. He was 74.
His sister, Melinda Rider, said the cause of death was complications associated with a severe head injury sustained from a fall in January at his home of 40 years in D.C.’s Adams Morgan neighborhood.
“Jerry was a progressive with an unwavering vision of equality for all people,” said Rea Carey, executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, for which Clark has served as a member and co-chair of its board of directors.
“He will be remembered for his leadership, but also for his kindness and compassion,” Carey said in a statement. “Surely the world is a better place having had his talents, and we are beholden to all that Jerry contributed to the movement.”
Among his numerous involvements in progressive political causes; Clark served as chair of the D.C. Statehood Coalition, political director of D.C. For Democracy and a board member of the local group Stop Gun Violence.
He has served as co-chair of D.C.’s Whitman-Walker Health’s spring gala, a trustee for the Law and Society Association and a member of the Democratic National Committee’s Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council.
Former D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray appointed Clark to the Mayor’s Committee on the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. In recent years Clark was one of the lead organizers of an LGBT contingent in the city’s annual Martin Luther King Day parade.
In 2014 the D.C. Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance presented Clark with its Distinguished Service Award for what it called his exemplary and dedicated work on behalf of LGBT equality.
“Time and again on issue after issue, Jerry can be found lending his expertise and offer a hand,” said then-GLAA Vice President for Administration Kevin Davis. “His energy and commitment are an example to others.”
Clark was born and raised in Muncie, Ind. He graduated in 1959 from Muncie’s Burris School, which he attended from kindergarten through 12th grade, according to Rider. Rider said he received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, a law degree from the University of Chicago and completed his doctoral studies in political science at the University of Minnesota.
He came to Washington in 1973 to work as a legal assistant at the Department of Justice under then-U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson. A short time later Clark began work at the Washington-based United Mine Workers Health and Retirement Funds, Rider said, where he spent the major part of his career as its executive director.
In recent years, Rider said, he did consulting work in the area of health care benefits and health care cost containment.
“He was so committed to making things better and never needed the spotlight,” said gay activist and former White House aide Dave Noble. “A real loss but…what a beautiful legacy.”
Clark is survived by his sisters Alma Marie Osborn of Boise, Idaho; Betty Hunt of Summerfield, Fla.; and Melinda Rider of Greensboro, Ga.; and his brother Parnell David Clark of Battle Creek, Mich. He was predeceased by his parents Parnell David Clark, Sr., and Alma Clark.
Earl Fowlkes, president of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, D.C.’s largest local LGBT political organization, said Clark was a longtime active member of the club.
“I have known Jerry for almost 20 years and in that time I’ve seen him work in all communities, especially Gertrude Stein, to push for D.C. statehood,” said Fowlkes. “He was a man for all seasons and will be missed by all who knew him.”
Rider said plans for a memorial celebration of Clark’s life will be announced shortly. She said contributions in remembrance of Clark can be made as a gift to Whitman-Walker Health.
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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