A local group of volunteers organized by gay D.C. State Board of Education member Allister Chang is working with the Kamala Harris presidential campaign to operate a twice-weekly phone bank through which LGBTQ volunteers call voters in swing states to urge them to turn out to vote and to vote for Harris and Tim Walz.

Called Out For Harris-Walz DC, the group’s volunteers assemble each Wednesday between 6-8 p.m. at the Woman’s National Democratic Club at 1526 New Hampshire Ave., N.W., and each Saturday from 2-4 p.m. at the Human Rights Campaign headquarters at 1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W. where the phone bank operation takes place.

Chang, who is running unopposed for re-election this year for his Ward 2 school board seat, said he and others who helped him organize the Out for Harris-Walz DC phone bank effort did so because they want to do all they can help the Harris-Walz ticket win in what election experts say is a race too close to call against GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.

With D.C.’s three electoral votes certain to go to Harris with D.C.’s overwhelmingly Democratic electorate, Chang said he and his fellow volunteers want to help the Harris-Walz campaign win in the key battleground or swing states that are expected to decide the winner on Nov. 5.

“One of the things I’m most proud of is that the vast majority of people who are joining this, including myself, are first-time volunteers for a national campaign,” Chang said. “And I think that’s also representative of the responsibility we feel at this time to do something to make a difference,” he said, especially since the outcome of the presidential election is expected to have a major impact on the LGBTQ community.

Chang told the Washington Blade that about 15 volunteers turned out on Oct. 2 at the Woman’s National Democratic Club for the launching of the Out for Harris-Walz DC phone banking. He said about 15 turned out on Saturday, Oct. 5, for the kickoff of the group’s phone banking at the HRC building.

Through a social media promotional campaign, Chang said about 50 LGBTQ volunteers turned out to do the phone banking this past Saturday, Oct. 12, at the HRC location. Amazingly, he said 261 people have signed up through an online site to do the phone banking this Wednesday, Oct. 16, at the Woman’s National Democratic Club.

According to Chang, the Harris campaign and the Democratic National Committee have provided a high-tech platform using the online site called Mobilize to give instructions on how to make the phone calls though the volunteers’ own cell phones and through use of their own laptops, which volunteers are asked to bring with them.

Although volunteers use their own phones, the calls go through a campaign connection that uses a different phone number, not the caller’s number, Chang said. He said volunteers are also given a script to read to voters they call before engaging in a dialogue with the voters.

“They’re not necessarily Democrats,” Chang said of the voters that he and other volunteers have been calling. “All of us have spoken to a bunch of folks who are undecided, who are Trump supporters as well as supporters of Harris-Walz,” he said. “And the opportunity for us is to really engage.”

Chang noted that Out for Harris-Walz DC is being supported by the D.C. gay bars Number 9, JR’s, and Crush, among other things, by their hosting gatherings for the volunteers. He said Number 9 is offering a complimentary drink for the volunteers after they finish their phone banking on Saturdays at the HRC building.

Out for Harris-Walz DC is urging LGBTQ community members to turn out to volunteer for the phone banking in the remaining total of six days on Wednesdays and Saturdays before the Nov. 5 election through these signup links: events.democrats.org/event/704929/ and events.democrats.org/event/714458.

One year after its fabulous post-pandemic re-debut, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and hospitality veteran, food writer, and lead organizer David Hagedorn are hosting Chefs for Equality on Oct. 21, featuring 150 chefs, bakers, mixologists, sommeliers, and restaurateurs across 50 savory and 20 dessert stations, under the theme “Fully Committed.”

Proceeds from this night of culinary decadence and altruism support HRC Foundation’s fight for LGBTQ equality across the country.

Chefs for Equality, however, is more than an annual event. This year, for certain, it contains weight and meaning, coming days before a consequential election that may decide how inclusive, welcoming, and equity-focused state, local, and national governments will be.

While many industries and companies have pulled back on DEI efforts this year, the restaurant industry has maintained its strong stance on inclusivity. Research from the National Restaurant Association showed that even during difficult financial landscapes, restaurant operators still give back to their communities. According to the 2023 State of the Restaurant report, “84% of restaurant operators said that since 2020, they’ve made charitable contributions to assist those in need.”

This national report proves that the industry is deeply entrenched in the communities they serve and Hagedorn says the industry continues to serve in an inclusive way.

Echoing the survey findings, he says that in D.C., “The industry continues to step up for the LGBTQ+ community even though they have come through the hardest economic challenge they ever faced with the pandemic.”

Hagedorn, who has been part of the organizing committee since the event’s inception, says that the “chef community in D.C. is the most generous in the country. They have been supportive of Chefs for Equality since our first event in 2012.” 

Indeed, even prior to Chefs for Equality, in 1990, Hagedorn started the annual Chef’s Best Dinner & Auction, a benefit for Food & Friends to support delivery of meals and nutrition counseling for people living with HIV/AIDS. Even then, he notes, the industry made an effort to support a highly marginalized community. He continued that the “industry in D.C. continues to support the diversity that is represented across our various communities. Looking at the participating businesses this year, there are more women and people of color represented than ever.”

Plus, he says that many restaurants have LGBTQ owners, staff, and family, and, of course, clientele. “We love to eat out and spend a lot of disposable income doing it.”

RaShawn Hawkins, Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s senior director of the Workplace Equality Program, echoed that, “LGBTQ+ people exist in all spaces. We’re managers, chefs, bartenders, and customers. By being fully committed to LGBTQ+ allyship, food and beverage businesses can not only create environments that people are excited and proud to work in, but they get to reap the financial benefits. LGBTQ+ allyship is not only better for people, it’s simply better for business.”

Those employees and leaders have come out in full force. Community members include Patrick O’Connell (Inn at Little Washington, one of the original participants) Jason Berry and Michael Reginbogin (KNEAD Hospitality), Harley Peet (Bas Rouge), Kareem Queeman (Mr. Bake Sweets) and Voula Tripolitsiotis (Blue Lace Cakes), AJ Johnson and JP Sabatier (Jane Jane; and on the planning committee), Joy Crump (FoodE), Ruth Gresser (Pizzeria Paradiso), and Jamie Leeds (Hank’s Oyster Bar), among others. Dozens of allies have participated for multiple years, underlining their personal and professional dedication to the LGBTQ community, including Michelle and Christophe Poteaux, Georgetown Cupcake, Todd Thrasher, Matt Adler, Amy Brandwein, Scott Drewno, Ris Lacoste, Mike Friedman, David Guas, and Jose Andres.

One of the strongest allies, participating chef Masako Morishita (and Beard Foundation Emerging Chef winner) from Perry’s, said that taking part carries special meaning for her. “The restaurant industry has historically been male dominated, even though women are integral to the space. As an immigrant woman myself, I have seen how elements of the industry can be oppressive or exclusive, and I have made it my priority to create an inclusive environment in my kitchen.”

Perry’s, she notes, has long been a champion of LGBTQ rights, and has hosted the longest-running drag brunch in D.C., dating to the 1980s. “As executive chef, I continue to celebrate the community. Working at a restaurant that champions LGBTQ+ culture, particularly drag culture, was important to me. Funnily enough, when I moved to the U.S., I picked up a lot of my English from watching ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race,’ which is still one of my favorite TV shows.”

Participating baker Kareem (“Mr. Bake”) Queeman said, “As a Black gay man who has hidden his sexuality in the food space in the past, this event truly shows the strength and community that we have here in the DMV. Still, he says, there’s more work to do, like “providing training to staff on cultural sensitivity and inclusive practices to create a more understanding and supportive work environment.”

The 2024 version of Chefs for Equality features 13 personal chef tables, providing an opportunity to dine with celebrity chefs for a lavish five-course meal in the middle of the action.

Last year, the event premiered the Speed Diner Drag Brunch, during which five chefs prepare a 20-minute brunch while three of D.C.’s top queens — Shelita Ramen, Tara Hoot and Shi-Queeta Lee — put on a show. Upstairs, VIP ticketholders gain access to an exclusive Upper Tier Apero Champagne and Petrossian and Caviar Lounge; there is also an after-party at the Mayflower Club.

“It’s the largest LGBTQ+-focused event of its kind in D.C., if not the entire country. The chefs always seem to make more of an effort for CFE — the food is truly remarkable,” says Hagedorn. “Restaurants are central to their neighborhoods, and I don’t see their support for our community wavering,” Hagedorn concluded.

Tickets are available at chefsforequality.org.

GLAA D.C., formerly known as the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, announced on Oct. 8 that it has issued ratings for only four of the 10 D.C. Council candidates running in the city’s Nov. 5 general election.

Under a policy adopted earlier this year, GLAA only rates candidates that return a GLAA questionnaire, the responses to which GLAA uses to determine its ratings. In resent years, GLAA has also limited its ratings to D.C. Council candidates and candidates for mayor in years when a mayoral race takes place.

The GLAA ratings for the four candidates, three of whom are incumbent Council members, include Council members Robert White (D-At-Large) +9; Christina Henderson (I-At-Large) +8.5; and Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) +9.5. Ward 7 Democratic candidate Wendell Felder received a rating of +2 rating.

Felder is running for the seat being vacated by Council member and former D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray (D), a longtime LGBTQ rights supporter who is not running for re-election.

Under the GLAA rating system, the candidate ratings range from a +10, the highest possible score, to a -10, the lowest possible score.

When GLAA, a nonpartisan LGBTQ advocacy group, began its candidate ratings in the 1970s, it based its ratings on the candidates’ positions and record on specific LGBTQ-related issues. But in recent years, with D.C.’s local government having long ago passed LGBTQ supportive nondiscrimination legislation, the group has based its ratings on issues raised in its candidate questionnaire that are mostly non-LGBTQ specific.

Among the issues raised in the GLAA candidate questionnaire this year include asking candidates if they support decriminalizing sex work among consenting adults; removing criminal penalties for possession of drugs that are currently illegal for personal use; increased funding for programs to reduce drug overdose deaths; and “addressing concentrated wealth in the District” by raising revenue “through taxing the most wealthy residents.”  

Just one of the nine questions on the questionnaire asks about a potentially LGBTQ-specific issue. The question asks if the candidate supports sufficient funding in the city’s budget for the D.C. Office of Human Rights to adequately investigate cases of discrimination. The Office of Human Rights has investigated LGBTQ discrimination cases and could investigate those cases in future years.

GLAA President TyrONE Hanley has argued that each of the specific issues it raises in its questionnaire has an impact on LGBTQ people and should not be dismissed as non-LGBTQ issues.

“We believe all of the issues are LGBTQ issues as they impact LGBTQ people,” he told the Washington Blade. “LGBTQ people are disproportionately impacted by the lack of affordable housing, incarceration, and overdoses,” he said. “To ignore the questions in our questionnaire would mean abandoning LGBTQ people who are most impacted by the failures of our government and community inaction.”

The D.C. Council candidates that were not rated because they did not return the GLAA questionnaire included Council members Brooke Pinto (D-At-Large), and Trayon White (D-Ward 8). The non-incumbent candidates who GLAA did not rate include Rob Simmons (R-At-Large), Darryl Moch (Statehood-Green Party-At Large), Noah Montgomery (R-Ward 7), and Nate Derenge (R-Ward 8).

Under its policy of only rating D.C. Council and mayoral candidates, GLAA also does not rate candidates running for the D.C. Board of Education, Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, and the shadow U.S. Senate and U.S. House seats, which are unpaid offices with no voting authority in Congress.  

Among those who disagree with GLAA’s focus on non-LGBTQ specific issues for its candidate ratings is gay Democratic activist Peter Rosenstein.

“GLAA has moved from asking candidates questions related to the LGBTQ+ community to asking general questions,” Rosenstein said. “I don’t believe that is their role, or that anyone consults the GLAA ratings anymore before they vote,” he said. “My recommendation is we as a community thank GLAA for all their past work, when activists like Rick Rosendall ran the organization, and now they should close their doors and disband.”

The questionnaire and candidate ratings can be accessed at glaa.org.