Local
GLAA celebrates 48th anniversary
D.C. Council members join activists at reception
D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) and fellow Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) were among more than 50 community leaders and LGBT activists and their supporters that turned out on April 18 for the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington’s 48th anniversary reception.
GLAA is the nation’s oldest continuously active LGBT civil rights organization. It has been credited with playing a lead role in advocating for and monitoring the implementation of virtually all of D.C.’s LGBT rights laws and policies, including the city’s 2009 law legalizing same-sex marriage, since its founding in 1971.
The event took place at the Lost Society restaurant and nightclub at 2001 14th Street, N.W.
Also attending the event were Monica Palacios, director of the D.C. Office of Human Rights; and members of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department’s LGBT Liaison Unit, including the unit’s supervisor, Sgt. Nicole Brown, and Lt. Brett Parson, who oversees all of the department’s liaison units.
Mendelson and Evans presented the non-partisan GLAA with a ceremonial resolution passed unanimously by the D.C. Council praising GLAA for its work on behalf of the LGBT community and the city as a whole, among other things, for its longtime advocacy for D.C. home rule and against congressional interference in D.C.’s local affairs.
Sheila Alexander-Reid, director of the Mayor’s Office on LGBTQ Affairs, presented the group with a proclamation issued by Mayor Muriel Bowser recognizing GLAA’s work over its 48-year history and declaring April 18 Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance Day in the District of Columbia.
D.C. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) earlier this month spoke on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives about GLAA and its work.
“Today, I rise to ask the House of Representatives to join me in recognizing the 48th anniversary of the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C.,” Norton said in a message recorded in the Congressional Record.
GLAA used the occasion of its anniversary reception to present its annual Distinguished Service Award to two organizations and an individual in recognition of their service to the LGBT community and the city.
The Distinguished Service Award recipients this year included Center Global, a program of the D.C. Center for the LGBT Community that provides support and services to LGBT immigrants seeking political asylum in the United States; Compassion & Choices, a national organization that advocates for end-of-life care and choices for terminally ill patients; and Diego Miguel Sanchez, an award-winning international public relations, marketing, and diversity management expert, transgender rights advocate and current Director of Advocacy, Policy & Partnerships for the national LGBT group PFLAG.
“A lot of folks think that with the accomplishment of marriage equality in the District the work of GLAA has passed,” Mendelson told the Blade at the GLAA reception. “But civil rights is never ending and the work of GLAA needs to continue,” he said.
Evans agreed with that assessment, saying it’s important that the younger generation of activists know about GLAA’s long history in pushing for LGBT equality in D.C.
“Our work is never done. It can slip away as fast as we got it,” Evans said. “And particularly what you see with the Trump administration there are those who would turn the clock back,” he said. “And so we have to be vigilant, we have to be ever forceful and we have to always advance the cause, and that’s why GLAA is here today and will be here tomorrow,” Evans said.
“I felt we had a wonderful event,” said GLAA President Bobbi Strang. “We could not have done it without all the assistance from our different members and we had wonderful honorees this year,” she said.
A gay man was murdered in Petersburg, Va., on March 13.
Shyyell Diamond Sanchez-McCray, who was also known as Saamel and Mable, was a drag queen who won the Miss Mayflower EOY pageant in 2015. Reports also indicate Sanchez-McCray, 42, was a well-known community activist in Virginia and in North Carolina.
Local media reports indicate police officers found Sanchez-McCray shot to death inside a home in Petersburg.
Sanchez-McCray’s brother, Jamal Mitchell Diamond, in a public statement the Washington Blade received from Equality Virginia and GLAAD, said Sanchez-McCray was not transgender as initial reports indicated.
“Our family has always embraced the fullness of who he was. He used the names Saamel, Shyyell, and Mable interchangeably, and we honor all of them. There is no division within our family regarding how he is being represented — only a shared commitment to preserving his truth with love and respect,” said Diamond.
“He was also deeply committed to community work through Nationz Foundation, where he worked and completed multiple state-certified programs to support marginalized communities,” added Diamond. “That work meant a great deal to him.”
Authorities have not made any arrests.
The Petersburg Bureau of Police has asked anyone with information about Sanchez-McCray’s murder to call Petersburg-Dinwiddie Crime Solvers at 804-861-1212.
District of Columbia
Trans Day of Visibility events planned
Rally on the National Mall scheduled for Saturday
The Christopher Street Project has a number of events planned for the 2026 Trans Day of Visibility, including a rally on the Mall and an “Empowerment Ball” at the Eaton Hotel. Plenaries, panel discussions and meetings with members of Congress are scheduled in the three days of programming.
Announced speakers include N.H. state Rep. Alice Wade; Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago Precious Brady-Davis; activist and performer Miss Peppermint (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”); Lexington, Ky. Councilwoman Emma Curtis; Rabbi Abby Stein; D.C. activist and host Rayceen Pendarvis; Air Force Master Sgt. Logan Ireland; among other leaders, advocates and performers.
Conference programming on Thursday and Friday includes an educational forum and a Capitol Hill policy education day. Registration for the two-day conference has closed.
The “Trans Day of Visibility PAC Reception” is scheduled for Thursday, March 26 from 7:30-9 p.m. at As You Are (500 8th St., S.E.). Special guests include Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nevada) and Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.). Tickets are available at christopherstreetproject.org starting at $25.
The National Council of Jewish Women and the Christopher Street Project host a “Trans Day of Visibility Shabbat” on Friday, March 27 from 7-8 p.m. at Sixth & I (600 I St., N.W.). The service is to be led by Rabbi Jenna Shaw and Rabbi Abby Stein.
The “Now You See Me: Trans Empowerment Social & Ball” is scheduled for Friday, March 27 from 6-11 p.m. at the Eaton Hotel (1201 K. St., N.W.). The trans-themed drag ball is hosted by the Marsha P. Johnson Institute with support from the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs, the Capital Ballroom Council, the Christopher Street Project, the Center for Black Equity, Generation for Common Good, and Parenting is Political. RSVP online at christopherstreetproject.org.
The National Transgender Day of Visibility Rally is scheduled for Saturday, March 28 on the National Mall at 11 a.m. The rally will include speakers and performances. Following the rally, attendees are encouraged to participate in the “No Kings” rally being held at Anacostia Park.
Virginia
Virginia General Assembly’s 2026 legislative session ends
Voters in November will consider repealing marriage amendment
The Virginia General Assembly’s 2026 legislative session ended on March 14.
Lawmakers have yet to approve a budget, but they did pass a resolution that paves the way for a referendum on whether to repeal the state’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Lawmakers also advanced House Bill 60, which would protect PrEP users from insurance discrimination.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger has until April 13 to decide to pass, amend, or veto legislation before it goes back to the House of Delegates on April 22.
Spanberger on Feb. 6 signed the bill that sets the stage for the marriage amendment referendum. Voters will consider whether to “remove the ban on same-sex marriage; (ii) affirm that two adults may marry regardless of sex, gender, or race; and (iii) require all legally valid marriages to be treated equally under the law?”
Equality Virginia has been working during this legislative cycle to urge lawmakers to allocate funding towards LGBTQ rights. The budget would expand funding for schools, competency training for the 988 suicide hotline, and funding to provide gender affirming care to LGBTQ youth.
“As the budget moves through conference and the Reconvene Session approaches on April 22, Equality Virginia remains focused on ensuring our victories this session translate into durable protections,” Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman told the Washington Blade in a statement. “Progress on marriage equality, nondiscrimination protections, and HIV care funding was essential, but Virginia must do more.”
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