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Comings & Goings
David Brown named legal director for TLDEF
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 David Brown on his appointment as Legal Director for the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund. TLDEF is committed to ending discrimination based on gender identity and expression and to achieving equality for transgender people through public education, test-case litigation, direct legal services, public policy, and community organizing efforts. In his role, Brown will design and spearhead TLDEF’s legal strategies with a focus on the most vulnerable in our communities. He will build, lead, and mentor an in-house legal team and represent TLDEF in a variety of activist, legal, and public spaces in service of the organization’s goals and priorities. He originally joined TLDEF as a member of its first class of law clerks in 2007 and served on TLDEF’s Board of Directors from 2009 to 2017.
Executive Director Andy Marra said, “We are excited to welcome David as our Legal Director at this critical time in the movement for transgender equality. David has spent his career working on behalf of those most vulnerable to discrimination and often in hostile places. David brings a wealth of insight and skills to TLDEF at a time when transgender and non-binary people face an increasing barrage of attacks on multiple fronts.”
Brown said, “I am honored to take on this new role with TLDEF, an organization I love and with which I have a long history. I believe legal advocacy achieves the best results when it is part of a social movement, and lawsuits have the greatest impact when they are intersectional. In my new role, I will work to bring high-impact cases that, while focusing on discrimination because of gender identity, also acknowledge that transgender and non-binary people face multiple sources of oppression because of their race, class, citizenship status, and disability. Bringing an intersectional perspective to movement lawyering allows us to represent and amplify the voices of the greatest possible range of stakeholders in the transgender community.”
Prior to joining TLDEF, Brown was Director and Senior Counsel for the Lawyering Project an organization dedicated to advancing reproductive health care access and challenging state-imposed restrictions on abortion and other forms of reproductive healthcare, which he helped found in 2017. He has worked for the Center for Reproductive Rights as a senior staff attorney; Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton; and American Jewish World Service as a Program Officer for Mexico & Central America. His publications include “Making Room for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in International Human Rights Law: An Introduction to the Yogyakarta Principles,” Michigan Journal of International Law. Brown earned his bachelor’s in International Relations and Latin American Studies from Pomona College, Claremont, Calif., and his J.D. cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School.
Congratulations also to Brian Harris who had been appointed office manager of Central Properties, LLC in Washington, D.C. In that role, he will oversee and support 40 real estate agents in tandem with the president of the firm. Harris said, “I am excited about this position and feel it will use my talents.”
Prior to working with Central Properties, he spent many years as director of Active Physical Therapy, LLC, in Clinton, Md. He has been an active volunteer in the community with the Human Rights Campaign and Toys for Tots.
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.”
Gay man murdered in Va.
Trans Day of Visibility events planned
Virginia General Assembly’s 2026 legislative session ends
Polish court rules country must recognize same-sex marriages from EU states
Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th anniversary gala draws sold out crowd
Protesters say SAVE Act targets voters, transgender youth
Housewives take Capitol Hill by storm
Queer American in Israel discusses Iran war’s impact
‘How We Survived’ panel set for March 25
