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Comings & Goings
Kinney publishes photo book on Clinton’s 2016 campaign
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].
Barbara Kinney (Photo courtesy of Kinney)
Congratulations to Barbara Kinney on the publication of her new book. “#Still With Her; Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Moments that Sparked a Movement.” It’s a 268-page coffee table book of amazing photographs Kinney took during Clinton’s 2016 campaign for president. Anyone interested in great photography will want this book.
The book is written by Sandra Sobieraj Westfall with an introduction by Clinton and short essays by those who have known and supported her including: John West, Cecile Richards, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chad Griffin and Mary Steenburgen among others. But it’s a book of photographs and they are incredible. When they say a picture is worth a thousand words they are clearly talking about those taken by Kinney. They make you laugh and cry; they bring back good memories and leave you wanting more. She dedicates the book to the 65,845,063 who voted for Clinton.
Kinney was a staff photographer for President Bill Clinton during his time in the White House. The photograph she took of President Clinton and the leaders of the Middle East straightening their ties before a press event won her First Place for “People in the News” in the World Press Photo competition. It is currently on display in the exhibit “Pictures of the Year: 75 Years of the World’s Best Photography” at the Newseum in D.C. through January 2019. Her photographs have graced the covers of both Time and Newsweek magazines.
Kinney has been close to Hillary since those Clinton White House years. In 2008, she spent five months traveling with Hillary during the primary. She photographed Chelsea’s wedding. This time she spent the presidential campaign with Hillary being given unprecedented access to everything.
When not working with the Clintons, Kinney has worked for various foundations and non-profit groups helping them to document their work around the world. Photographing the Mobility Project distributing wheelchairs in Afghanistan; Operation Smile during a trip to Nairobi, Kenya; maternal health care in Tanzania with CARE; and a congressional delegation traveling to West Africa with former President Clinton and the Clinton Foundation. She has traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo with Ben Affleck and his Eastern Congo Initiative and has worked with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation photographing their leadership team and grantees in Mozambique, South Africa, Malawi, India and Mexico. Kinney was a photo editor and lead photographer for the 2014 “Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Pushes Back from the Brink” and was selected as one of 20 photographers to be featured in the American Society of Media Professionals Best of 2011 Portfolios for her project on Alzheimer’s, also for the Shriver Report.
In addition, she was one of a few very select photographers to work on the “A Day in the Life of the American Woman” and “A Day in the Life of the U.S. Armed Forces” book projects. She has worked as a photo editor on staff at USA Today, Reuters, The Seattle Times and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
If you are in D.C. on Jan. 19, 2019, you will have a chance to hear Kinney talk about the book and her photography at Politics and Prose. Barbara currently lives in Marin County with her 14-year-old daughter and their two cats. She joined the Emerson Collective in Palo Alto, Calif., in January 2017 as senior photo editor and photographer.
Congratulations also to David Gonce, Tyler Townsend and Bob Suppies, of the much-anticipated The Pines restaurant and bar in Rehoboth Beach, which has secured its certificate of occupancy. The first event held in the new space was the annual Thanksgiving weekend bash hosted by Marvin Miller, Dan Kyle and Tony Burns. The place is beautiful and the food was delicious. The Pines will soon open to the public and be a welcome addition to Baltimore Avenue.
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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