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Comings & Goings
Bizzell elected president of LGBT Bar Association
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].
Congratulations to Wesley Bizzell elected President of the National LGBT Bar Association. Upon his election, he said, “So much has changed since the National LGBT Bar Association was founded over 30 years ago in the midst of the AIDS crisis. However, we continue to face a different crisis today, as both our community and the idea of equality for all remain under attack throughout our country.”
Wesley is Senior Assistant General Counsel, External Affairs and Managing Director of Political Law and Ethics Programs for Altria Client Services LLC (“ALCS”). He is a recognized authority on political compliance law. He chairs the Conference Board’s Committee on Corporate Political Spending, a committee of American corporations dedicated to accountability, education, and engagement on issues of corporate political activity. He is a faculty member for the Practicing Law Institute’s annual Corporate Political Activities conference and co-chair of the Conference Committee for the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws. In 2018, COGEL awarded Bizzell its highest honor, the COGEL Award, for making a “demonstrable and positive contribution to the fields of campaign finance, ethics, elections, lobbying and freedom of information over a significant period of time.”
Previously, he was an attorney in Winston & Strawn LLP’s Federal Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs Practice Group. He spent more than six years on Capitol Hill, serving as an aide to Arkansas Sens. David Pryor and Dale Bumpers. Bizzell is active in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within the legal and corporate communities. In both 2017 and 2018, he was named by London’s Financial Times as one of the 100 worldwide OUTstanding Leading LGBT+ Corporate Executives for his work on diversity and inclusion issues.
Congratulations also to Eva N. Juncker who joined Paley Rothman as a principal in the firm’s Family Law practice and a member of its litigation group. She said, “I am thrilled to bring my family law practice to Paley Rothman expanding its Northern Virginia presence and areas of practice to include LGBTQ+ family law and legal services.” Juncker’s years as a qualified guardian ad litem enable her to simultaneously focus on the independent best interests of a child while also focusing on a client’s stated goals. She was lead counsel on a case of nationwide first impression successfully arguing for recognition of a same-sex common law marriage in the District of Columbia. She has been a featured lecturer over the course of her career, educating her peers and the public on matters of family law in all three jurisdictions where she practices: Maryland, District of Columbia, and Virginia. She was selected as a Virginia Rising Star by Super Lawyers in 2008, recognized as one of the Best LGBT Lawyers under 40 by the National LGBT Bar Association in 2011, and recognized as one of Bethesda’s top divorce lawyers by Bethesda Magazine in 2013 and 2017.
Congratulations also to the newly elected GLASS bipartisan steering committee, the Senate LGBTQ staff association. Co-chair: Robert Curis (Sen. Debbie Stabenow), Co-chair: Tré Easton (Sen. Patty Murray), Treasurer: Hans Hansen (Agriculture Committee), Secretary: Trelaine Ito (Sen. Brian Schatz), Social Engagement Director: Donald Pollard (Sen. Tim Kaine), Communications Director: Pablo Sierra-Carmona (Sen. Kyrsten Sinema), At-Large Director: Brennen McAndrew (Sen. Bill Cassidy), At-Large Director: Mairéad Lynn (HELP Committee), At-Large Director: Russell Page (Sen. Martin Heinrich).
The GLASS Caucus is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization open to all whose purpose is to raise awareness of issues affecting the LGBTQ community, increase visibility and promote the welfare and dignity of LGBTQ employees of the United States Senate by providing a safe environment for social interaction and professional development. GLASS strives to advance LGBTQ interests on Capitol Hill by hosting various events that enhance LGBTQ visibility and working with offices to strengthen protections for LGBTQ employees.
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.
An effort to increase the number of psychiatrists of color
Calendar: April 10-16
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
The ‘X’ returns to court
Trump budget would codify expanded global gag rule
Man faces first S.C. ‘hate intimidation’ charge
Police mental health struggles gain growing attention
Cuba under pressure and without answers
