Local
Sexual health group partners with PG County police on transgender issues
Largo-based Heart to Hand works with department’s LGBTQ Outreach Team
An organization that promotes sexual health is working with the Prince George’s County Police Department to help it rebuild trust with the county’s transgender community.
Representatives from Heart to Hand and the newly formed Prince George’s County Police Department LGBTQ Outreach Team spoke about the killings of two trans women earlier this year in Fairmount Heights during a Transgender Day of Remembrance event in Seat Pleasant.
Ashanti Carmon, 27, and Zoe Spears, 23, were killed near the firehouse where the Transgender Day of Remembrance event took place. Bailey Reeves, 17, was a trans teenager killed in September in Baltimore.
The presence of Heart to Hand, the police LGBTQ Outreach Team and Prince George’s County Council member Jolene Ivey (D-District 5), among others, underscored the continuing impact that Carmon and Spears’ murders have had in the area.
“There was mention of the murders,” recalled Capt. James Mitchell, one of seven outreach team officers who all also identify as LGBTQ. “And one of the most important issues to the trans community is their safety and for young women not to end up dead.”
Mitchell explained the LGBTQ Outreach Team had been in development for a while, but the two murders pushed the urgency of its formation.
“It was eye opening for me,” said Capt. Cindy A. Thompson, another out member of the LGBTQ Outreach Team. “One of the first events that I attended was a Fairmount Heights town hall meeting over the summer and that was mainly for the trans community to come out and talk about their safety and their fears.”
“Their fears are real,” added Mitchell, stating the LGBTQ Outreach Team has attended other trans community events that include a Prince George’s County Human Relations Committee panel discussion in October and a November event at Casa Ruby in D.C. “They want to be heard and they want to be taken seriously when they report things.”
Mitchell and his colleagues said they realize trust and safety are still two serious concerns for the county’s LGBTQ residents, so they work with Heart to Hand and other local organizations as much as possible.
Kaniya Walker, a Heart to Hand employee, is a trans woman who helped set up the Transgender Day of Remembrance event that honored Spears, Carmon and others like them. Walker also facilitates the organization’s trans support group and is working with D.C.’s HIPS to provide additional services to vulnerable trans sex workers in the area.
“One of our main focuses is working with the trans community more,” said Walker.
Walker told the Washington Blade that two “black cisgender women, best friends, started” Heart to Hand because of rising HIV/AIDS rates, particularly among black women.
HIV.gov statistics indicate 1 in 7 Americans currently living with HIV are unaware of their status.
Heart to Hand, which is based in Largo, provides free HIV testing, education and contraceptives at college campuses and various locations on both sides of the D.C.-Maryland border. Walker said she wants to do more outreach to the cisgender, heterosexual population to help reduce the spread of HIV.
“Black cisgender women are important to us because they don’t have the education and knowledge about getting tested,” she said. “They think being married or in a long-term relationship will protect them from this disease, but we have heterosexual men who are willing and open about getting tested.”
Walker said she found that strange because growing up in an African-American household her mother was more willing to go see the doctor while her “daddy would have to be down and out to go.” She added this reluctance to get tested among cisgender black women is due to a mistaken perception of HIV/AIDS as a “gay man’s disease,” and as a consequence more black cis women will become unknowingly infected and spread the disease.
College Park Mayor Patrick Wojahn says stigma also keeps trans people vulnerable as well in terms of health, housing and other issues.
“Police stings on transgender sex workers in Prince George’s County have shown a lack of understanding and sensitivity toward transgender people and an inadequate response to violence against transgender people,” said Wojahn.
Mitchell agreed, stating one of the missions of the LGBTQ Outreach Team is to be an internal liaison and source of information and training for police officers as well.
“We’ve asked groups that provide services to LGBTQ people to provide us with that information so we can push that out to our officers,” he said. “So, as they encounter people at 3 a.m. who may be in crisis, instead of saying they can’t help, they can say, ‘here is Casa Ruby’s information,’ or ‘here is Whitman Walker’s information’ or, ‘here is a local clinic in the county.’”
District of Columbia
Capital Pride chair resigns from board after just 10 months
Anna Jinkerson ‘taking step back to move forward’
Anna Jinkerson, who has served as chair of D.C.’s Capital Pride Alliance Board of Directors for the past 10 months and has served on the board for the past four years, confirmed she is resigning from the board effective Sept. 30.
Capital Pride Alliance serves as the lead organizer of D.C.’s annual LGBTQ Pride events.
“I am taking a step back to move forward and plan to stay engaged in the community,” Jinkerson told the Washington Blade in a statement. “Serving as a volunteer leader during a period of transition following World Pride was both an honor and a challenge,” she said.
“Throughout my tenure, I focused on strengthening accountability, improving communications, supporting staff and volunteers, and helping position the organization for long-term success,” she told the Blade in her statement. “Meaningful organizational progress requires collaboration, dedication, and a shared commitment to serving the community, and I am proud of the work accomplished during this period.”
In February of this year, during Jinkerson’s tenure on the board, Capital Pride announced it had expanded the size of its board from 12 to 25 members.
Around that same time one of the existing board members, transgender activist Taylor Lianne Chandler, announced in a letter to fellow board members that the Blade obtained from an anonymous sender that she was resigning from the board. Among her reasons for resigning, she said in the letter, was the board’s failure to address “sexual misconduct” within the Capital Pride organization.
In the letter, which she confirmed for the Blade was authentic, Chandler said she and other board members raised “credible concerns” of alleged sexual misconduct within the Capital Pride organization and the board chose not to adequately respond to those concerns.
Chandler told the Blade a Capital Pride investigation identified an individual implicated in a “pattern” of sexual harassment related behavior, but said she was bound by a Non-Disclosure Agreement that applied to all board members and she could not provide further details.
When the Blade contacted Capital Pride for comment on Chandler’s allegations, Jinkerson responded with a statement saying Capital Pride was addressing her concerns.
“When concerns are brought to CPA, we act quickly and appropriately to address them,” Jinkerson said. “As we continue to grow our organization, we’re proactively strengthening the policies and procedures that shape our systems, our infrastructure, and the support we provide to our team and partners,” she said.
In her statement to the Blade this week commenting on her planned resignation from the Capital Pride board, Jinkerson appeared to refer to the concern raised by Chandler.
“I am proud to have advocated for sexual harassment training, supported staff and volunteers when concerns were raised, engaged community leaders in important conversations, and helped advance practices that strengthen safety, transparency, and accountability,” she said.
“As I step away from board service, I do so with gratitude for the opportunity to serve and with confidence in the organization’s future,” she added. “I am taking a step back to move forward, and I look forward to remaining actively engaged in our community and continuing to support efforts that advance equality, belonging, and pride for all.”
District of Columbia
Over 2,000 turn out for Hands Around the Kennedy Center protest
Drag performer Tara Hoot serves as MC, Gay Men’s Chorus of DC performs, attendees shout for Trump to keep ‘hands off’ Kennedy Center
More than 2,000 supporters of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts turned out on Sept. 18, for a rally in support of the performing arts center and a vocal protest against President Donald Trump’s threats to permanently close the center and possibly demolish it.
The event was organized by a group called Hands Off the Arts, which initially called for participants to form a “human chain” around the Kennedy Center’s main building following a rally on the plaza in front of the building.
However, due to a decision by the Trump-controlled Kennedy Center’s board of trustees to close the center earlier in the week and install fencing around part of the building, participants could only form the chain around part of the building, according to organizers.
Drag performer Tara Hoot, who co-organized the event and served as master of ceremonies for the rally preceding the “human chain,” said the large turnout could have fully surrounded the building at least twice had the fencing not prevented a full encirclement.
Among the musicians and singing groups that performed at the rally was the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, which, like other rally performers, had performed at the Kennedy Center in past years. They drew loud applause after singing one of their favorite songs from the Broadway musical show Ragtime, which includes the lyrics, “Will justice be demanded by 10 million men? Make them hear you. When they hear you, I’ll be near you again.”
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Prior to their performance, Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington’s artistic director, Thea Kano, spoke at the rally, reminding participants that shortly after the Trump takeover of the center last year, Kennedy Center officials cancelled a concert the chorus was scheduled to perform there for World Pride 2025.
A Kennedy Center spokesperson said the cancellation was due to a scheduling conflict, but chorus members and LGBTQ activists believe it resulted from policies put in place by Trump and his leadership team at the Kennedy Center following Trump’s statements that he would end controversial “woke” performances that he claimed the majority of Americans disapprove of.
“Now this building sits empty in silence,” Kano told the crowd at the rally. “Let us raise our voices together and bring back the Kennedy Center as it was intended, a place where American culture could be celebrated and elevated, embracing the vibrancy with the spectrum of identify without censure and without politics,” she said.
Among the others who spoke at the rally were U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.), and D.C. Councilmember Robert White (D-At-Large).
Most speakers, along with LGBTQ participants in the hands-around-the-building event expressed strong opposition to Trump’s demand that the Kennedy Center name be changed from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
At Trump’s request, his appointed board initially made that name change and placed Trump’s name on the front wall of the building along with the Kennedy name. But following legal action taken by opponents who pointed out that Congress must approve such a name change, a judge ordered the removal of Trump’s name from the building. Trump has said he will take steps to reverse that order and has said he will stop plans to renovate the Kennedy Center building and possibly demolish it if his name is not restored in the Kennedy’s Center’s official name.
Throughout the Sept. 18 rally, LGBTQ participants repeatedly responded to the Trump threats by shouting, “Hands Off!”
Chris Raleigh, one of the founders of Hands Off the Arts and a lead organizer of the Sept. 18 event at the Kennedy Center who spoke at the event told the Washington Blade that more similar events are being planned and he welcomes the support the event has received from the LGBTQ community.
“The LGBTQ community was here first, and we’re following them,” he said. “They’ve been the spearhead; they’ve been the vanguard. And I’m so thankful for heroes like Tara Hoot,” he said, adding, “It’s because they know what it means and how this is a safe place – the theater – for many LGBTQ people.”
The DMV’s own furry group was on full display on the Metro on Sept. 12.
Shutterpaws is a volunteer-led 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Maryland.
The furry group has been doing the FurRide event since 2024 and has blown up in popularity for furries around DMV. They showcased themselves on the Silver and Blue Lines near the Smithsonian on Sept. 12.
“A lot of careful planning goes into running these events, with the goal being a seamless and enjoyable experience for everyone who attends,” says Zayre, a Shutterpaws staff member. “There’s a lot that you learn just by trial and error, and as Shutterpaws hosts more and more events, our team of event organizers continues to learn and refine our approach to keep things running smoothly and finding new ways to engage with our community.”
With a larger growth of participation in the community comes many challenges with the group, especially when it comes to the Metro rides and organizing.
“The biggest challenge that we face as organizers is keeping things fresh and finding new and engaging venues to host events,” says Zayre. “Recently we saw a lot of success hosting a meet at On Target Battlezone, an indoor NERF gun battle arena where our crew was welcome to show up and play both with and without a fur suit.”
Nevertheless, Shutterpaws receive overwhelming support from the community and partners.
“Across the DMV there are so many amazing places to host a Shutterpaws event so we can pursue our mission of helping connect fur suiters and photographers, and we’re blown away with the amount of support we’ve received from our community partners,” says Zayre.
Shutterpaws plans to do more events for anyone in the DMV who is interested.
Their next event in collaboration with DC Fur Meet will take place at Pitchers (2317 18th St., N.W.) on Saturday. Visit Shutterpaws’ website for more information.
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