Local
Comings & Goings
Richmond at EPA; Grant to mayor’s LGBTQ advisory group
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].
Jonah Richmond (Photo courtesy of Jonah Richmond)
Congratulations to Jonah Richmond, who is starting as a Conflict Resolution Specialist in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of General Counsel. Richmond most recently worked in EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, implementing several provisions of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act.
Even though the Trump administration is threatening to drastically cut the staff and functions of the EPA it’s important that smart people like Richmond will still be there. He has kept his dispute resolution skills sharp as an EEO Mediator at the EPA.
Richmond is active in the LGBT community volunteering at the Whitman-Walker Health Name and Gender Change Clinic. He is married to David Olson, manager of the executive office and board engagement at the Shakespeare Theatre Company, and the managing director and chairman of the board of the Pointless Theatre Company. Richmond is a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, and the Vermont Law School.
Congratulations also to Jaime M. Grant, Ph.D. who is among a number of new people named to the D.C. Mayor’s Advisory Committee on LGBTQ Affairs. Grant is a social justice researcher, advocate and educator with a 25-year track record of strategic research, advocacy and leadership training catalyzing key moments of change to advance racial, economic, gender and LGBTQ justice.
Grant founded the first global transgender research and advocacy project based on the success of her U.S. report, “Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey” working with transgender leaders of color all over the Global South. Since 2015, Grant has run an organization she founded, Trans*Formations LLC, working with clients to achieve sustainability in racial, economic, gender and LGBTQ justice work. Prior to that among the other incredible things she has done Jaime was the Founding Executive Director of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College directing the nation’s largest endowed social justice leadership center for which she secured a $23 million endowment. Many in D.C. know Grant from her years as director of the Policy Institute at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. She had previously served the organization as its director of development.
Grant has written and edited numerous books, including “Friendship as Social Justice Activism,” forthcoming, Niharika Banerjea, Debanuj DasGupta, Rohit DasGupta, and Jaime M. Grant, editors. Grant received her doctorate in Women’s Gender and Sexuality from the Union Institute and University, her master’s from Bucknell University and her bachelor’s from Wesleyan University.
The other newest members of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on LGBTQ Affairs are Saymendy Lloyd, Dwayne Bensing and Craig Langford. The committee works to advise the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs headed by Sheila Alexander Reid.
Jaime M. Grant (Photo courtesy of Jaime Grant)
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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Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
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