Local
D.C. trans women remembered at vigil
Nona Conner, Gisselle Hartzog died earlier this month
Close to 100 people turned out at River Terrace Park in Northeast Washington for a May 21 vigil to honor the lives of Nona Moselle Conner, 37, and Gisselle Hartzog, 30, two D.C. transgender women who died suddenly and unexpectedly on May 13 and May 18.
Friends and LGBTQ activists who participated in the vigil called on the community to honor the two women by speaking out and taking action to address the struggles that they and many other transgender women of color have endured due to prejudice and discrimination.
People who knew the two women, including Conner’s father, who spoke at the vigil, have said the cause of death for both women had yet to be determined, but there is no evidence of foul play such as physical violence.
Several of the speakers, who did not give their names or used only a first name, described Conner and Hartzog as caring, supportive, and loyal friends who lifted their spirits. They called the two women’s unexpected passing a tragic loss for themselves and for the community.
Transgender advocates Earline Budd, who works for the sex worker advocacy organization HIPS, and Adriana Chichi Carter, an official with the transgender and sex worker advocacy organization No Justice No Pride, were among the lead organizers of the vigil. Both called on the community to rally in support of the rights and wellbeing of transgender people like Conner and Hartzog.
“We need awareness. We need to start speaking,” Carter told the gathering. “We need to stop with the hatred or judging or competing,” she said. “And we need to uplift each other and guide each other and hold each other.”
Added Carter, “And each of you who know me know I give back and I’m here to speak for my community, our community, for all of us regardless of whether you’re trans, gay, straight. It does not matter. We are human…and when we lose somebody we love, we hurt.”
Conner was involved with No Justice No Pride along with other community-based organizations providing support for the trans community, including the organization Collective Action for Safe Spaces (CASS), where she worked as a program manager, according to a tribute to Conner on the CASS website.
Budd said the lives of Conner and Hartzog could have been saved.
“We’re here recognizing the lives of two angels, Nona Conner and Gisselle Hartzog, gone too soon,” Budd said. “We as a community tonight, I’m praying, especially those who are senior and trans, we must do more. We have to do more. We can’t stay silent anymore,” she said.
Terrance Wilson, Conner’s father, drew loud applause from the crowd when he told of how he overcame his own struggle to accept his daughter for who she was and has become an advocate for the trans community.
“First of all, I want to say thank you for your love, patience, donations, and kind words – the love means so much to me and my family,” Wilson told the crowd. “I want to say it’s my prayer that fathers all over the world don’t travel the same road that I traveled, that it took me a while for my heart to soften and for me to open up and really accept my child in this world,” he said.
“I believe that had I done something and opened up sooner, life would have been so much better,” he continued. “But I thank God for it because she did come to my heart,” he said, adding, “I love her, and I hurt every day. And I pray that all of you find love and everything you deserve.”
Wilson concluded by telling the gathering, “I committed myself and I told Miss Budd that I’m going to stand for you all. I’m going to be part of the community. I’ll be out speaking.”
Among the others who spoke at the vigil was Prince George’s County Council member Calvin S. Hawkins, who pledged to push for legislation to support the trans community both in P.G. County and nearby jurisdictions, including D.C.
“As a legislator I want you to understand, today we mourn,” he said. “But there comes a moment when action has to take the place of our mourning. Legislators must know how you feel,” he said, adding that he will work with the community to push for “legislation that makes those who believe it’s OK” to engage in violence or discrimination against the trans community to know they will be held accountable.
Also speaking at the vigil was Ruby Corado, founder and executive director of the D.C. LGBTQ community services center Casa Ruby. Corado has said both Conner and Hartzog had been clients at Casa Ruby. Corado told the Washington Blade last week that she spent time with Hartzog the day before Hartzog passed away, when Hartzog expressed optimism that she was about to be enrolled in a D.C. government housing program for the homeless.
D.C. authorities found Hartzog deceased at the site of a tent in a homeless encampment under a bridge near the intersection of 1st and L Streets, N.E.
Corado told the vigil the D.C. government has failed to take adequate action to provide needed programs to address the issue of housing and jobs for transgender people, especially transgender people of color.
Others involved in organizing the May 21 vigil were Corado of Casa Ruby, Shakita Chapman of HIPS, and JeKendria Trahan of CASS.
District of Columbia
Capital Stonewall Democrats elect new leaders
LGBTQ political group set to celebrate 50th anniversary
Longtime Democratic Party activists Stevie McCarty and Brad Howard won election last week as president and vice president for administration for the Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political organization.
In a Feb. 24 announcement, the group said McCarty and Howard, both of whom are elected DC Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, ran in a special Capital Stonewall Democrats election to fill the two leadership positions that became vacant when the officers they replaced resigned.
Outgoing President Howard Garrett, who McCarty has replaced, told the Washington Blade he resigned after taking on a new position as chair of the city’s Ward 1 Democratic Committee. The Capital Stonewall Democrats announcement didn’t say who Howard replaced as vice president for administration.
The group’s website shows its other officers include Elizabeth Mitchell as Vice President for Legislative and Political Affairs, and Monica Nemeth as Treasurer. The officer position of secretary is vacant, the website shows.
“As we look toward 2026, the stakes for D.C. and for LGBTQ+ communities have never been clearer,” the group’s statement announcing McCarty and Howard’s election says. “Our 50th anniversary celebration on March 20 and the launch of our D.C. LGBTQ+ Voter’s Guide mark the beginning of a major year for endorsements, organizing, and coalition building,” the statement says.
McCarty said among the organization’s major endeavors will be holding virtual endorsement forums where candidates running for D.C. mayor and the Council will appear and seek the group’s endorsement.
Founded in 1976 as the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the organization’s members voted in 2021 to change its name to Capital Stonewall Democrats. McCarty said the 50th anniversary celebration on March 20, in which D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and members of the D.C. Council are expected to attend, will be held at the PEPCO Gallery meeting center at 702 8th St., N.W.
Virginia
Va. activists preparing campaign in support of repealing marriage amendment
Referendum about ‘dignity and equal protection under the law’
Virginia voters in November will vote on whether to repeal their state’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Feb. 6 signed House Bill 612 into law. It facilitates a referendum for voters to approve the repeal of the 2006 Marshall-Newman Amendment. Although the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell ruling extended marriage rights to same-sex couples across the country in 2014, codifying marriage equality in Virginia’s constitution would protect it in the state in case the decision is overturned.
Maryland voters in 2012 approved Question 6, which upheld the state’s marriage equality law, by a 52-48 percent margin. Same-sex marriage became legal in Maryland on Jan. 1, 2013.
LGBTQ advocacy groups and organizations that oppose marriage equality mounted political campaigns ahead of the referendum.
Equality Virginia has been involved in advancing LGBTQ rights in Virginia since 1989.
Equality Virginia is working under its 501c3 designation in conjunction with Equality Virginia Advocates, which operates under a 501c4 designation, to plan campaigns in support of repealing the Marshall-Newman Amendment.
The two main campaigns on which Equality Virginia will be focused are education and voter mobilization. Reed Williams, the group’s director of digital engagement and narrative, spoke with the Washington Blade about Equality Virginia’s plans ahead of the referendum.
Williams said an organization for a “statewide public education campaign” is currently underway. Williams told the Blade its goal will be “to ensure voters understand what this amendment does and why updating Virginia’s constitution matters for families across the commonwealth.”
The organization is also working on a “robust media and voter mobilization campaign to identify and turn out voters” to repeal Marshall-Newman Amendment. Equality Virginia plans to work with the community members to guarantee voters are getting clear and accurate information regarding the meaning of this vote and its effect on the Virginia LGBTQ community.
“We believe Virginia voters are ready to bring our constitution in line with both the law and the values of fairness and freedom that define our commonwealth,” said Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman. “This referendum is about ensuring loving, committed couples and their families are treated with dignity and equal protection under the law.”
The Human Rights Campaign has also worked closely with Equality Virginia.
“It’s time to get rid of outdated, unconstitutional language and ensure that same sex couples are protected in Virginia,” HRC President Kelley Robinson told the Blade in a statement.
District of Columbia
D.C. police arrest man for burglary at gay bar Spark Social House
Suspect ID’d from images captured by Spark Social House security cameras
D.C. police on Feb. 18 arrested a 63-year-old man “of no fixed address” for allegedly stealing cash from the registers at the gay bar Spark Social House after unlawfully entering the bar at 2009 14th St., N.W., around 12:04 a.m. after it had closed for business, according to a police incident report.
“Later that day officers canvassing for the suspect located him nearby,” a separate police statement says. “63-year-old Tony Jones of no fixed address was arrested and charged with Burglary II,” the statement says.
The police incident report states that the bar’s owner, Nick Tsusaki, told police investigators that the bar’s security cameras captured the image of a man who has frequently visited the bar and was believed to be homeless.
“Once inside, the defendant was observed via the establishment’s security cameras opening the cash register, removing U.S. currency, and placing the currency into the left front pocket of his jacket,” the report says.
Tsusaki told the Washington Blade that he and Spark’s employees have allowed Jones to enter the bar many times since it opened last year to use the bathroom in a gesture of compassion knowing he was homeless. Tsusaki said he is not aware of Jones ever having purchased anything during his visits.
According to Tsusaki, Spark closed for business at around 10:30 p.m. on the night of the incident at which time an employee did not properly lock the front entrance door. He said no employees or customers were present when the security cameras show Jones entering Spark through the front door around 12:04 a.m.
Tsusaki said the security camera images show Jones had been inside Spark for about three hours on the night of the burglary and show him taking cash out of two cash registers. He took a total of $300, Tsusaki said.
When Tsusaki and Spark employees arrived at the bar later in the day and discovered the cash was missing from the registers they immediately called police, Tsusaki told the Blade. Knowing that Jones often hung out along the 2000 block of 14th Street where Spark is located, Tsusaki said he went outside to look for him and saw him across the street and pointed Jones out to police, who then placed him under arrest.
A police arrest affidavit filed in court states that at the time they arrested him police found the stolen cash inside the pocket of the jacket Jones was wearing. It says after taking him into police custody officers found a powdered substance in a Ziploc bag also in Jones’s possession that tested positive for cocaine, resulting in him being charged with cocaine possession in addition to the burglary charge.
D.C. Superior Court records show a judge ordered Jones held in preventive detention at a Feb. 19 presentment hearing. The judge then scheduled a preliminary hearing for the case on Feb. 20, the outcome of which couldn’t immediately be obtained.
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