Local
Street-naming bill honoring gay Democrat on ‘indefinite’ hold
Some say Rausch not significant enough to warrant honor
Richard Rausch was an LGBT rights and Democratic Party activist. (Photo courtesy David Meadows)
According to D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large), a bill introduced last year calling for the ceremonial naming of a street on Capitol Hill for the late Richard Rausch, a prominent gay Democratic Party activist and advocate for LGBT rights, has been placed on “indefinite hold.”
Mendelson, who chairs the Council’s Committee of the Whole, where the bill was sent, noted that the Ward 6 Advisory Neighborhood Commission with jurisdiction over the 200 block of 2nd Street, S.E., where the ceremonial name would be installed, strongly opposes the bill.
D.C. Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) has said he has a policy of deferring to ANCs in his ward on issues of street naming and has called on Mendelson not to move the bill out of committee for a full Council vote. Mendelson told the Blade last week that he, too, has a longstanding policy of deferring to Council members whose ward a street naming bill impacts and thus he will honor Allen’s request that the bill be placed on hold.
Both Allen and Mendelson said they have asked members of ANC 6B to consider changing their position on the bill, but so far the ANC members have declined to reverse their position on the matter.
In a letter to Mendelson in December, the ANC said its members voted 10-0 to oppose the Rausch street naming based mostly on procedural grounds. The letter says neither the Council nor the city agency in charge of street namings notified the ANC or residents of the street about the pending bill until six months after it was introduced and after a public hearing was held on the bill in September.
City officials said the lack of notification was due to a typographical error in the initial version of the bill that identified the street as the 200 block of 2nd Street, S.W. rather than S.E. This resulted in residents and the ANC in the wrong location being notified about the bill.
But supporters of the Rausch ceremonial street naming, including Earl Fowlkes, president of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the city’s largest local LGBT political group, have said although ANC 6B wasn’t initially notified about the bill, its members were eventually notified and had sufficient time to weigh in on the proposal.
Fowlkes said he is concerned that the ANC may have other motives for its opposition. He pointed to a comment by an ANC member at the meeting in which the vote opposing the bill was taken that Rausch may have been a client of a gay male escort service back in the 1980s. A brief discussion among ANC members about the escort service matter could be heard on an audio recording that the ANC makes of all of its meetings and which was obtained by the Washington Blade.
At least two commissioners also were heard on the recording saying they didn’t think Rausch was a significant enough figure to merit a street naming after him.
Fowlkes takes strong exception to that assertion, saying Rausch, who died in 2007 of natural causes at 71, worked on behalf of civil rights, including LGBT rights and women’s rights, for a period of more than 40 years.
“Richard was an extraordinary man and also did a lot for the Democratic Party,” said Fowlkes, who also serves as executive director of the Center for Black Equity, a national LGBT organization. “He blazed a trail and many of us are following behind those trails. So I stand in gratitude for people like that who stood up for our rights.”
Mendelson and Allen said they are ready to bring up the bill for a vote in the full Council, where it is expected to pass, if the ANC changes its mind or if some type of compromise can be reached to make the bill acceptable to the ANC. All ANC members throughout the city are up for re-election in November.
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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