Local
Comings & Goings
Schulman joins Dupont Circle Physicians Group
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].
Join me in welcoming Dr. Marc Schulman to the Dupont Circle Physicians Group otherwise known as Dupontdocs. The Dupont Circle Physicians Group has served the community for more than 25 years with professional care.
Upon joining the group Marc said, “As a young gay man — not yet out to friends and family — I struggled with the idea of coming out to my physician. Though I recognized the importance of being open and honest with my provider, it was easier said than done. After visiting multiple physicians, I finally found a doctor I could trust. He asked questions without passing judgment and offered the appropriate tests and treatment. In caring for patients throughout my post-graduate training, I aspired to provide the same compassionate care. I look forward to building lasting relationships with patients at Dupont Circle Physicians Group. My interests include primary care, mental health, and HIV treatment and prevention.”
Schulman is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and licensed in the District of Columbia.
He is from the area and grew up in Columbia, Md. Prior to joining Dupontdocs Schulman was with Northwestern Medical Group as a moonlighting hospitalist and attending physician at Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital. Before that he was with the University of Illinois at Chicago Global Medicine and doing an elective exposure to Tropical Medicine and Clinical Practice in the Dominican Republic. He also served as a research assistant in Enteric Diseases at the Naval Medical Research Institute.
Schulman earned his bachelor’s in Human Biology with high distinction from the University of Virginia; his doctorate in medicine from the Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, Va. He did his residency in Internal Medicine at University of Illinois Hospital and Jesse Brown VA Medical Center and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Rush University Medical Center and Cook County Health, Chicago. He is a member of the American College of Physicians Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Congratulations also to Tatiana Kolina on the first anniversary of sPACYcLOUd: a one-of-a-kind plant-based restaurant, skateshop, kava bar, art gallery, coffee shop and entertainment venue in the heart of Adams Morgan. Tatiana’s slogan for her business is “Cut Loose. Hang Tight. Recycle.” As she says, “In other words, be bold, follow your heart, believe in magic, use your intuition, and take care of planet Earth.”
She was born in the Soviet Union and raised by her grandmother. As a teenager, she joined a number of tusovkas (street groups) to survive. The group that affected her life the most was “farsovshiki.” It was a new wave group of kids who ran around big cities like Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Tallinn, etc., using trade as a way to interact and learn about the wild, wild (and very taboo) West. Tatiana was adopted by an American family and moved to California in 1991.
After earning her degree in MIS (Masters in Information Systems) from the University of Notre Dame, she moved to D.C. where she started the non-profit Skate Girls Tribe (SGT). The organization invites girls of all ages and abilities to come together and skate with other girls in a group empowering young women through action sports. SGT holds monthly events to celebrate life, art, culture, education, and fun via skateboarding and longboarding. They also organize surfing and snowboarding camps.
“Skate Girls Tribe promotes confidence and assertiveness, individuality and creativity, strength and dignity, all gathered together with a love for action sports,” Kolina said. “With a vigorous setting of play and sociality, SGT nurtures and sustains these values and goals.” She added, “With such virtues in place that healthy and responsible choices will be made later in the girls’ lives.”
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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