Local
Comings & Goings
Daniel Penchina opens company, Larry Ray starts firm
The Comings and 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 and 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 Daniel Penchina on opening his new company, Penchina Partners. Daniel said “I am delighted to announce the launch of Penchina Partners, a consultancy that aims to help organizations, individuals, and funders with solving complex challenges around strategy, advocacy, and nonprofit management.” He went on to say “I’ve always loved solving complex problems, and lord knows our country has many to address. I’m genuinely excited to apply all that I’ve learned and have accomplished fighting for the progressive movement to an even broader set of causes.”
Daniel has spent 18 years in Washington, first as a staff member on Capitol Hill, then as a public interest lobbyist and strategist, and finally as a non-profit leader. His most recent position was as President of Voices for Progress. Prior to that Daniel worked for nearly ten years with the Raben Group, Washington, DC. His work on the Hill included stints as Legislative Director for two members of Congress, Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Christopher Murphy (D-CT). He began his career on the Hill as a Legislative Assistant/Appropriations Associate with Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY).
Daniel is an active volunteer in the DC LGBTQ+ community serving on numerous boards and committees including as a Board member of SMYAL; member of the Steering committee of the Healthy Democracy Coalition, and he served a stint on the steering committee of ‘Q’ Street. He was recognized in Washingtonian Magazine’s “Top 40 Lobbyists under 40” list.
Daniel received his BFA with honors in Cinema Studies from New York University, New York, New York.
Congratulations also to Larry Ray on the start-up of his new firm SENATUS. Larry describes SENATUS as a dispute resolution firm serving the needs of DMV businesses. The firm will offer two distinct wings of customizable services featuring traditional forms of alternative dispute resolution such as mediation and arbitration, in addition to innovative offerings such as the Business Pre-nup and HR + Office Admin Partnerships. When opening the firm Larry said “Being a lawyer specializing in dispute resolution including mediation makes me feel that I am actually assisting folks to bring peace to their situation.”
Larry has been in private practice as an attorney since 1998. Prior to that he served as Executive Director, National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM); Executive Director, American Bar Association, Dispute Resolution Section; and as a City Prosecutor in Columbus, Ohio. Larry has been an active volunteer in the community. He is a former Vice President of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club and former ANC commissioner. He has recently been named a senior expert on mediation, negotiation and arbitration by TASA Alum. The TASA Group is North America’s largest and most experienced Expert Referral ServiceTM, giving access to seasoned professionals in 10,000+ technical and medical specialties. They recently published his article Communication Causes Conflict (Sometimes).
Larry has his B.A. with honors from Muskingum College, New Concord, Ohio and earned his J.D. from Capital University Law School, Columbus, Ohio.
Maryland
Parents sue Anne Arundel schools, allege officials hid child’s gender transition
America First legal Foundation filed lawsuit on July 8
By CODY BOTELER | Two parents, backed by a conservative nonprofit group, are suing Anne Arundel County Public Schools over the school system’s policies related to transgender children.
The suit, filed Wednesday in Maryland’s U.S. District Court, accuses staff at an unidentified county high school of lying to the parents, identified as John Doe and Jane Doe, about their child, identified as Mary Doe.
The Does allege the school “socially transitioned” their child without notice or their consent by using a masculine name and masculine pronouns for Mary Doe.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
Campaign launched to elect more LGBTQ candidates to ANC seats
Capital Stonewall Democrats behind Queering ANCs effort
The Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political group, announced on July 7 it has launched a campaign to help elect large numbers of LGBTQ candidates to the city’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions.
The D.C. local government is believed to be unique among U.S. cities in currently having 46 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions consisting of 345 single-member districts in neighborhoods throughout the city in which unpaid Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners are elected for two-year terms.
The commissions are charged with considering a wide range of policies and programs impacting their neighborhoods, including traffic, parking, recreation, street improvements, liquor licenses, zoning, economic development, police protection, sanitation and trash collection, and D.C.’s annual budget, according to the ANC website.
Although the ANCs do not have authority to set or reject policies or proposals, such as applications for liquor licenses, city agencies are required to give “great weight” to ANC recommendations, according to the law creating the ANCs.
Kent Boese, a gay former ANC commissioner, currently serves as executive director of the D.C. Office of ANCs.
“We are launching the most ambitious hyperlocal LGBTQ+ candidate pipeline initiative in the country,” said Stevie McCarty, the Capital Stonewall Democrats president, in a July 7 statement that announced the Queering ANCs campaign.
“As an ANC member, I know firsthand how these seats shape our neighborhoods, from housing and public safety to sanitation,” McCarty says in the statement. “I’m proud to lead this effort to ensure more LGBTQ+ Washingtonians see themselves as leaders in their communities,” he said.
The ANC Rainbow Caucus, which was created by LGBTQ ANC members, shows on its website that there are currently 38 caucus members consisting of elected LGBTQ ANC commissioners serving in the current 2025-2026 two-year term.
The website shows there are LGBTQ commissioners who are caucus members in each of the city’s eight wards, with six in Ward 1, eight in Ward 2, one in Ward 3, six in Ward 4, five in Ward 5, three in Ward 6, eight in Ward 7, and one in Ward 8.
The Washington Blade couldn’t immediately determine how many of them will be running for re-election in D.C.’s general election in November. But McCarty said Capital Stonewall Democrats hopes to recruit many more LGBTQ candidates to run for ANC seats.
The D.C. Board of Elections website shows the deadline for filing 25 required petition signatures to be placed on the ballot is Aug. 5.
A Queering ANCs website launched this week by Capital Stonewall Democrats provides details on how to run for an ANC seat and offers help for those interested in running.
“Think of someone in your building, neighborhood, friend group, community organization, or professional network who cares deeply about D.C. and would make a strong leader,” McCarty says in his statement. “Send them QueeringANCs.org and personally ask them to consider running,” he said.
The website can be accessed at QueeringANCs.org.
Baltimore
Ron Singer, owner of popular Mount Vernon gay bar Leon’s, dies
66-year-old’s funeral to take place Friday
By CAYLA HARRIS | Ron Singer, the owner of Baltimore’s popular gay bar Leon’s Backroom, died Tuesday, the venue announced in a social media post. He was 66.
“For more than 20 years, Ron made Leon’s a place so many people were proud to call home,” the post reads. “He will be deeply missed.”
The Mount Vernon bar, typically open from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily, is still open Thursday, but doors will close at midnight so staff can attend his funeral Friday morning. Services are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. at Sol Levinson’s Chapel.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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