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Comings & Goings
Kruse takes new role with Family Equality Council
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].
Julie Kruse
Congratulations to Julie Kruse who is starting a new position as Federal Policy Advocate with the Family Equality Council. Council CEO Rev. Stan J. Sloan said, “Julie’s record of committed service to the LGBTQ community speaks for itself, and we are privileged to have her join our public policy team to fight for lived and legal equality for LGBTQ families, especially in today’s challenging political climate.” Upon accepting the position Kruse said, “I’m excited to join the top-notch team at Family Equality Council in their critical work during this politically challenging time. I’m especially thrilled to return to advocacy with and for LGBTQ families and youth, to defend and advance the equal rights, opportunities, and supports we all deserve.”
As Federal Policy Advocate, Kruse will be based in D.C. and work closely with Chief Policy Officer Denise Brogan-Kator to implement and expand Family Equality Council’s public policy agenda. The Council connects, supports, and represents the 3 million LGBTQ parents in the country and their 6 million children of all ages. They provide a voice for LGBTQ families on Capitol Hill.
Kruse has more than 15 years of experience advocating for the LGBTQ community, immigrants, working families, women and girls. Her efforts have contributed to victories including relief from deportation for tens of thousands of LGBTQ immigrant families, ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and stopping discriminatory tax audits of low-income families. Prior to her career in advocacy, she developed job training and educational programs leading to high-wage careers for women and girls. She was the founding director of the National Community Tax Coalition. She served on the Governor’s Commission on the Status of Women in Illinois and chaired its Pay Equity Working Group. She has taught at the college and high school levels in the U.S. and in Latin America. Kruse has worked for a number of organizations, including the National Center for Healthy Housing, Immigration Equality, and the Servicemembers’ Legal Defense Network.
Congratulations also to Jeffrey W. Groton who has accepted the position of Director of Finance with Mile High Early Learning, which is Denver’s oldest and largest provider of subsidized quality early childhood care and education serving thousands of Denver’s vulnerable children every year since 1970.
Groton is a proven organizational leader with a strong background in strategic business planning and financial management. He has a passion for driving effectiveness in organizational work life through strategic planning and innovative problem solving. That includes a track record of developing, restructuring and improving diverse operations across finance, IT, management, and HR. He is a big-picture thinker motivated by business challenges and competing priorities.
Groton worked for the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) and was recruited to that association based on his success with the National Association of Women Judges-USA (NAWJ). Prior to that he worked at Downey Associates International, Inc. and Envision EMI, Inc.
Groton served in the United States Air Force as a Command and Control Specialist with top-secret security clearance.
Jeffrey W. Groton
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].
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.).
Minimal version of ‘Streetcar Named Desire’ heading to Dupont Underground
Comings & Goings
An effort to increase the number of psychiatrists of color
Calendar: April 10-16
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Tenn. lawmakers pass transgender “watch list” bill
Vance speaks at Orbán rally in Hungary
LGBTQ groups condemn Trump’s threat to destroy Iranian civilization
Report: Grenell wants Russian ambassadorship
