Local
Comings & Goings
Gregg Kelley joins Washington Lawyers’ Committee
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].
Gregg Kelley
Congratulations to Gregg Kelley who recently joined the Washington Lawyers’ Committee (WLC) as director of development and communications. He will lead and oversee the planning, implementation and evaluation of WLC’s fundraising and communications efforts. The WLC, a non-profit organization, was established in 1968 to provide pro bono legal services to address discrimination and entrenched poverty in the D.C. community.
Kelley has extensive experience and background in development. Prior to joining the Committee, Gregg was director of development for the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, Washington’s largest civil legal services organization. During the 2004 presidential election, he served as director of events at the Human Rights Campaign supervising a national events fundraising program for the country’s largest LGBT organization.
Kelley began his legal services career in 1995 as the pro bono coordinator of the Legal Services Program at the Whitman-Walker Clinic. He remained in that position for just two years before becoming a member of the development team and eventually the director of special events. He is an active member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, and served as president of the D.C. Metro Area Chapter in 2015. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Florida State University.
Congratulations also to Nick Martin who recently began his new position as communication and outreach director at the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care. The Coalition is a network of 150 provider organizations, health systems, insurance companies, businesses and consumer advocates working to ensure Americans with advanced illnesses receive comprehensive, high-quality personal and family-centered care. Previously, Martin was an associate director in the Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He handled external affairs for Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell and stakeholder engagement on the administration’s top healthcare initiatives including open enrollment, Medicaid expansion, delivery system reform and public health issues such as the opioid epidemic and Zika virus outbreak.
Martin previously worked at the Human Rights Campaign coordinating campaign teams during the 2012 election when marriage equality was won or protected at the ballot in several states. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University.
Nick Martin
Congratulations also to David Reid who recently joined the government relations practice at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck as a policy adviser. Reid brings a wealth of on-the-ground policy and finance experience to his government relations work with Brownstein.
A seasoned finance director, Reid most recently worked with Hillary for America where he was the D.C. and PAC finance director. His efforts raised a record-breaking $30 million from the D.C. and PAC community during the last election. He had a wealth of experience before joining Hillary for America, which included being PAC Manager for the United Health Group, Inc.; field organizer for the 2007 Coordinated Campaign, the Democratic Party of Virginia; Mid-Atlantic finance director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee; and deputy finance director of the Democratic Governors Association.
Over the course of his successful career, Reid has amassed an in-depth network of industry contacts both on Capitol Hill and within the business and association communities. He began his career in Washington as a page in the United States House of Representatives. He received his bachelor’s degree in American Politics from the University of Virginia where he was a Jefferson Scholar. He is an Eagle Scout.
David Reid
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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