Local
Comings & Goings
Equality Calif. names policy director; Smith moves to G’town
The ‘Comings & Goings’ column chronicles important life changes of Blade readers.
The Comings & 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 to Valerie Ploumpis, who was named National Policy Director for Equality California. In making the announcement it said, “The reason for hiring their first national policy director is because of the unprecedented threat to LGBT civil rights represented by the incoming Donald Trump Administration and 115th Congress.”
Valerie Ploumpis
Ploumpis will handle their legislative and administrative programs in Washington, D.C., including their fight to protect LGBT civil rights’ gains at the federal level, monitoring executive orders and directives that protect LGBT people from workplace discrimination, expand Title IX to include discrimination based on gender identity, protect transgender students, shield many of California’s 250,000 LGBT undocumented immigrants from deportation, and more.
The position is also focused on Equality California’s efforts to defend the Affordable Care Act, which for the first time brought healthcare coverage to millions of LGBT people who had previously been shut out because of HIV status or preexisting conditions. Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California, said, “We’re thrilled that Valerie will move into this new role leading our federal advocacy efforts. Now more than ever, California is positioned as a bastion of LGBT civil rights and as a beacon of hope in Donald Trump’s America. Valerie will play an instrumental role as we fight attacks on the Affordable Care Act that so many LGBT people rely on, on undocumented immigrants and on the LGBT community in general.”
On accepting the position, Ploumpis said, “As a native Californian and long-time D.C. resident, I am thrilled to be joining Equality California at this critical juncture. With the incoming Trump Administration and the 115th Congress, Equality California will be on the ground to defend the programs on which every LGBT Californian, our families, and our communities rely. The stakes are high but so is our resolve and passion.”
Ploumpis has more than two decades of experience in issue-advocacy campaigns, grassroots education and mobilization, coalition building, lobbying and media outreach. She is a past co-chair of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. Recently, she was a principal at Burnside & Associates, where she managed political and mobilization campaigns.
A mother of two in their early 20s (both of whom are members of Equality California), Ploumpis considers herself to be a native Californian, though she grew up in Greece, Nigeria and Italy. Ploumpis holds a bachelor’s in international relations from Mills College and a master’s in international relations from Johns Hopkins University.
Congratulations also to Paul M. Smith who is starting his next career as a professor at the Georgetown Law School. He will also be working part-time as a vice president at the Campaign Legal Center, which focuses on voting rights and campaign finance reform.
Smith was a partner in Jenner & Block’s D.C. office for 22 years. For the last 16 years, he has chaired the firm’s Appellate and Supreme Court practice. He has argued 19 Supreme Court cases, including Lawrence v. Texas, the landmark gay rights case, and Brown v. EMA, involving the First Amendment as applied to video games. Smith was a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. He is in the ABA House of Delegates, a member of, and former chair of, the board of the American Constitution Society, and a former co-chair of Lambda Legal. In 2010, the National Law Journal named him one of the 40 Most Influential Lawyers of the Past Decade. That same year, he received the Thurgood Marshall Award from the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice for his work promoting civil rights and civil liberties. More notable that same year he married his longtime partner Michael. Smith attended Amherst College and Yale Law School.
Paul M. Smith
I end this column on a sad note. My good friend Alan B. Teitzman, DDS, passed away on New Year’s Day of pancreatic and liver cancer. According to Rich Fennell, his life partner and husband, he was in much pain and the end came fast. Alan and Rich were a team for many years living in both D.C. and Rehoboth Beach. Some knew Alan as their dentist, others as a friend, and many as both. My condolences to Rich and to all of Alan’s family and friends. He will be missed.
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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