Local
Capital Pride announces 2016 award recipients
Recognition follows normalization of diplomatic relations
Rayceen Pendarvis is among this year’s Capital Pride honorees. (Photo courtesy of Rayceen Pendarvis)
HIV/AIDS activist and local entertainment show host Rayceen Pendarvis, journalist and former TV news anchor Kathleen Matthews, and veteran transgender rights advocate Jeri Hughes are among those named as 2016 recipients of the Capital Pride Alliance’s annual LGBT rights awards.
The organization’s Capital Pride Heroes Award, the Engendered Spirits recognition, and its Bill Miles Award, named for the group’s late founding board member, draw attention this year to eight individuals that have distinguished themselves as extraordinary advocates and allies of the LGBT community, Capital Pride officials said in a statement.
The awards will be presented at the Capital Pride Heroes Gala, which takes place at 7 p.m. on June 1 at the Carnegie Library, 901 K St., N.W.
“The Capital Pride Alliance is extraordinarily fortunate to have a community with so many individuals, leaders, and activists dedicated to fighting for and successfully advancing LGBTA rights for all of us,” said Capital Pride board president Bernie Delia.
“This year was a particularly difficult selection process, with so many outstanding individuals from whom to choose,” Delia said. “We are truly grateful and honored to announce and celebrate these individuals.”
The Capital Pride Alliance, among other things, produces D.C.’s annual Capital Pride Parade and Street Festival.
The Capital Pride Heroes designation was given to these individuals, whose backgrounds and accomplishments are taken from a Capital Pride pamphlet:
• Bishop Allyson Abrams, presiding bishop of the LGBT supportive Pneuma Christian Fellowship, founder of the Empowerment Liberation Cathedral and social justice advocate.
• Kathleen Matthews – LGBT advocate, human rights activist, journalist, TV news anchor, vice president for Global Communications at Marriott International Corporation, and former Maryland congressional candidate.
• Rayceen Pendarvis – HIV/AIDS activist, host of “The Ask Rayceen Show,” emcee of multiple D.C. Black Pride festivals and events, volunteer, equality advocate, and gay Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner.
• Peter Rosenstein – LGBT rights activist, racial justice champion, CEO of national healthcare and education related associations, member of multiple nonprofit boards, and co-coordinator of a group advocating for marriage equality in D.C. He also serves as a Washington Blade columnist.
Engendered Spirits honorees recognized for having made significant contributions to the transgender community:
• Julius Agers – “Two-spirited, transgender activist, volunteer for numerous nonprofit organizations and political campaigns, staff member at the D.C. Fire and EMS Department.”
• Jeri Hughes – “Human rights advocate, volunteer, marriage equality and ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ repeal activist,” longtime advocate for banning employment discrimination against transgender people, and LGBT rights activist.
Bill Miles Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service:
• Chelsea Bland – “Labor union and LGBTQ rights activist, volunteer co-producer at Capital Pride for Volunteers, LGBT committee chair for the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 2, and freelance photographer.”
• Michael Creason – “Volunteer sign language interpreter for Capital Pride and multiple LGBT organizations, nationally certified sign language interpreter, and producer at Capital Pride for Accessibility.”
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The Comings & Goings column also invites LGBTQ college students to share their successes with us. If you have been elected to a student government position, gotten an exciting internship, or are graduating and beginning your career with a great job, let us know so we can share your success.
Congratulations to Yadiel Meléndez, on their new role as Community Associate, with the Wanda Alston Foundation. Meléndez is piloting a new role as a Community Associate at the Wanda Alston Foundation, where they support queer and trans young people in finding their footing, building independence, and experiencing a housing community where they are seen, valued, and affirmed. They are coming into this role with more than a decade of experience as a community organizer and operations specialist, supporting diverse communities through service, advocacy, and program coordination.
Previously they worked for Right Proper Brewing Shaw as a server and bartender and at Sephora, Washington, DC, and at FreshFarm, DC, in bilingual food access. They also worked freelance to build foundational structures for local queer BIPOC performance art coalitions, producing variety shows to curate space for marginalized performance artists in the community. They were a production manager for Haus of Hart Productions, a BIPOC centric performance art production. They also worked as field staff with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in Stafford, Va.
Meléndez is bilingual, Spanish and English. Their work is guided by a commitment to dignity, safety, and trauma-informed engagement, particularly within LGBTQ and BIPOC communities.
Congratulations also to Ben Rosen LICSW, on his new role as program director, with the Wanda Alston Foundation. Rosen previously worked with Fountain House’s OnRamps program, helping to build a new, innovative outreach program for individuals considered chronically homeless, and living with serious mental illness, in the Times Square area of New York. Rosen is a Psychotherapist, having worked with SG Psychotherapy, and as the psychotherapist with the Nest Community Health Center (URAM).
Rosen has a B.F.A. in Theatre Arts: Musical Theatre, Minor in Psychology (Cum Laude) from Malloy University Conservatory; and his M.S.W. in Clinical Practice with Individuals, Families, and Groups, from The Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College, N.Y. He is independently licensed in New York and Washington, D.C.
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.).
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