Local
Comings & Goings
Houdart joins Out Leadership in key role
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].
The Comings & Goings column also invites LGBTQ+ college students to share their successes with us. If you have been elected to a student government position, gotten an exciting internship, or are graduating and beginning your career with a great job, let us know so we can share your success.
Congratulations to Fabrice Houdart on his new position as Managing Director, Global Equality Initiatives with Out Leadership. According to its website, “Out Leadership is a global LGBT+ business advisory organization that partners with the world’s most influential companies to build business opportunities, cultivate talent, and drive LGBT equality forward. We believe that LGBT+ inclusion positively impacts business results, and that including LGBT+ people at the most senior level of executive leadership builds business.”
Out Leadership CEO & Founder Todd Sears said, “We could not be more excited to have Fabrice joining as Managing Director, Global Equality Initiatives. 2020 is a big year for us as we celebrate 10 years in business. When I started Out Leadership in 2010, we were the first organization to focus on driving LGBT+ equality in business. We’ve seen this grow from a summit in New York to become a global movement. As we’ve evolved it has become apparent that businesses are now at the forefront in driving LGBT+ equality. ”
Upon accepting the position Houdart said, “Joining Out Leadership is the next logical step for me after spending the past decade building the economic and business case for LGBTI inclusion at the World Bank and the United Nations. In a global context of populism and nationalism, the private sector will be a key ally in keeping the momentum on LGBTI equality we have known since Stonewall. I look forward to contributing to build a global coalition of companies steered by Out Leadership to push for positive social change.”
Most recently, Houdart served as the Human Rights Officer at the United Nations, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Before that he worked at the World Bank in a number of roles.
Houdart has received a host of awards, including being named second on Yahoo Finance’s Top 30 LGBT+ Public Sector Leaders 2019.
Houdart earned his bachelor’s of business administration in Business and Economics from the University of Paris, Dauphine, Paris, France, and his MBA in International Business/Information Technology from American University in D.C.
Congratulations also to Tommy Wrenn, new Associate Director of Individual Giving at Resources for the Future (RFF), which works to improve environmental, energy, and natural resource decisions through impartial economic research and policy engagement. He is leaving his current position with the Public Justice Foundation where he was Development Program Assistant. Upon accepting the position with RFF, Wrenn said, “Fundraising for Public Justice has been an incredible opportunity, especially over the last three years, and such a supportive environment of my professional development. I am looking forward to this next chapter, joining an incredible team that is growing and strengthening RFF’s nearly 70 years of independent, impartial research.”
Wrenn has held positions as Program Assistant with The Nexus Fund, Washington, D.C. and as a Young Fellow for Young Adult Outreach with Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) in D.C. He began his career in Washington as an intern in the White House.
He is a board member and trustee of the Pickett Endowment for Quaker Leadership and a board member of the Friends Committee on National Legislation. He is receiving the 2020 Outstanding Young Professional in Fundraising award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals International organization.
Tommy earned his bachelor’s in political science with minors in communication and music from Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C.
Congratulations also to Kevin McDuffie, Tyler Townsend and Bob Suppies the new owners of Aqua Grill in Rehoboth Beach, Del., and to Rick Hardy and David Lyons who bought Grub Market on Rehoboth Avenue in Rehoboth Beach and will reopen it in the spring as Coho’s Market and Grill.
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
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
The ‘X’ returns to court
LGBTQ community explores arming up during heated political times
Risking it all for love during World War II
D.C. is the place for the Democratic Socialists of America
PHOTOS: The Bonnet Ball
Key lifestyle changes can help patients cope with diabetes
