Local
Comings & Goings
Lazar re-elected to Democratic State 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].
John E. Lazar
Congratulations to John E. Lazar for his reelection as Ward 2 Committeeman to the D.C. Democratic State Committee. Lazar’s full-time career is as a non-profit executive who has a demonstrated ability in planning and implementing programs that align employee development and productivity with organizational goals. He is currently director of development for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.
Prior to that John has worked for a wide variety of organizations, including Global Impact, The American Cancer Society and the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office. He is also a pastor having worked for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y. He attended the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception and earned his bachelor’s from Saint John’s University and his master’s from Brooklyn College.
Congratulations also to Michael Rogers and his business partner John Byrne, owners of RawStory Media. They recently announced the acquisition of two new websites — AlterNet.org, a pioneer in progressive online journalism, and The New Civil Rights Movement a website focused on politics, civil liberties and the LGBT community.
Rogers spent 15 years as a fundraiser for LGBT organizations, including Harvey Milk High School, the National LGBTQ Task Force and Greenpeace. In 2004, he started a news website focused on the exposure of anti-gay politicians living in the closet. His work was featured in the documentary “Outrage.” In 2008, he founded Netroots Connect. Byrne’s experience includes founding a newspaper at Oberlin College and then doing a stint as an intern at the Boston Globe. He launched RawStory in 2004. Byrne founded Prevention 305, an organization promoting the use of HIV prevention drugs that assists clients in Miami-Dade with a focus on at-risk youth of color and transgender women.
Michael Rogers and John Byrne (Photo of Rogers by Pooja Mehta; photo of Byrne by Ricardo Salazar)
Congratulations also to Lamont Akins, named interim director of the D.C. Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs. Akins joined the Bowser administration in January 2015. He manages and provides guidance to the 10 constituent engagement offices reporting to him helping them to implement the Mayor’s Fresh Start vision for constituent engagement and outreach in all eight Wards of the District.
Prior to joining the Bowser administration, he served as director of constituent service for Council member Anita Bonds. He has also served as a program manager in the D.C. Department of Employment Services. Before joining D.C. government he worked in Housing and Community Development for AARP, Fairfax County and the Dallas Housing Authority.
Akins has served two terms as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner for ANC 4D01 in the Brightwood Park neighborhood. He earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, and has a master’s degree in community development from Delta State University.
Lamont Atkins
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
Police mental health struggles gain growing attention
Man faces first S.C. ‘hate intimidation’ charge
Trump budget would codify expanded global gag rule
Cuba under pressure and without answers
