Local
Monika Nemeth to run for Ward 3 D.C. Council seat
First known trans elected official in city

Ward 3 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Monika Nemeth, who became the first known transgender person to win election to public office in D.C. when she won her ANC seat in 2018, says she plans to run as a Democrat for the Ward 3 D.C. Council seat currently held by incumbent Democrat Mary Cheh.
Nemeth is a former president of D.C.ās Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, which recently changed its name to the Capital Stonewall Democrats. She currently serves as chair of the ANC Rainbow Caucus, which advocates for LGBTQ issues. She holds the seat for ANC 3F 06, which represents the neighborhoods of North Cleveland Park and Wakefield.
Nemethās LinkedIn page says she has worked for more than 25 years in the Information Technology field. She says she currently manages a team of software developers for an IT company.
āYes, I am planning a run for Ward 3 D.C. Council in 2022,ā Nemeth told the Washington Blade. āI will be running as a Democrat, so I plan to be on the Democratic primary ballot,ā she said. āI will pursue the public finance option for my campaign.ā
When asked what she would do differently from Cheh, who is a longtime supporter of LGBTQ rights and who is expected to run for re-election, Nemeth said only that she will announce her platform at the time she formally announces her candidacy, which she expects to happen in early September.
Cheh was first elected to the D.C. Council in 2006. She is an attorney and tenured professor of constitutional law at George Washington University Law School.
The Washington City Paper has reported that at least one other candidate is considering running against Cheh for the Ward 3 Council seat ā Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority attorney Petar Dimtchev. Dimtchev received the Washington Post endorsement when he ran unsuccessfully against Cheh in 2018 as an independent, according to the City Paper.
Maryland
Bomb threat shuts down Takoma Park holiday drag show
MotorKat evacuated when Tara Hoot was performing

Police cordoned off a popular strip in Takoma Park on Saturday after a bomb threat shut down businesses, including a holiday performance by drag artist Tara Hoot.
MotorKat General Manager Mike Rothman told the Washington Blade that Takoma Park police notified them of a bomb threat to their business around noon.
Tara Hoot was delivering a holiday brunch performance at the MotorKat when the evacuation order came in.
Rothman said they were notified āfive minutes into her final performance.ā Tara Hoot herself told the audience to leave for their safety.
Police proceeded to tape off the area and evacuated all businesses between Eastern and South Carroll Avenues, including TakomaBevCo, which is co-owned by MotorKat Wine Director Seth Cook.
Cook told the Blade that police brought in ābomb-sniffing dogsā to clear the area before allowing businesses to reopen around 2 p.m.
āThe timing is unfortunate as this is one of the busiest weekends before the holidays,ā Cook said.
Rothman was also disappointed by the lost revenue due to what ultimately was a false threat, but he was firm that the Takoma Park LGBTQ community is resilient and would continue to thrive despite this setback.
āTakoma Park is a pretty proud and resilient community,ā he said. āI donāt expect people to lay down and be scared by this.ā
MotorKat and TakomaBevCo reopened for business around 3 p.m.

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].Ā
Congratulations to Jimmy Alexander who has been hired at WTOP News as a feature reporter. Over the last four years Alexander has been covering stories as varied as the Jan. 6 insurrection to the 17th Street High Heel Race. He has been working as a co-host on the Jack Diamond Morning show on Cumulus Media, Manning Media. On his acceptance of the new position Alexander said, āIām thrilled that at WTOP News, I will be able to focus on events and people that bring hope to your heart and a smile to your face.ā
Alexander is a versatile multimedia broadcaster with more than two decades of experience covering both major news events in Washington D.C., and important human-interest stories outside the Beltway. He is an engaging interviewer with a track record of having compelling conversations with the biggest names in government and show business, from presidents to Paul McCartney. Prior to this he worked as a freelance feature reporter with WDCW50-DC News Now. He is also with Writer-20, Twenty Country Countdown, United Stations Radio Networks. There he developed a concept for a countdown show featuring country music’s weekly top songs on-air and online and prepared weekly scripts for a three-hour show.
Alexander conducted the only Jan. 6, 2021 interview with “The QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley. Since 2016, he has served by request of the D.C. mayor as official host of the 17th Street High Heel Race, the city’s second largest LGBTQ event of the year. He is featured in the documentary “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work,” and is a frequent guest on CNN’s Morning Show “New Day.” He covered White House visits by Queen Elizabeth, the Pope, and the yearly Easter Egg Roll. He also won $10,000 on the game show āPyramid.ā
Maryland
LGBTQ University of Maryland students prepare to celebrate Hanukkah
Eight-day festival to begin Thursday night

A number of Hanukkah events for LGBTQ students will take place at the University of Maryland this week.
Queer Jewish students and allies are welcome to attend Crazy Cozy Chill Chanukah Celebration on Sunday at the University of Maryland Hillel. Hamsa, home to queer Jewish life on campus, hosted a study break with hot drinks, snacks and games and a chance to welcome Hanukkah early.Ā
The first night of Hanukkah is Thursday.
Chabad UMD is hosting a menorah lighting on Thursday in front of McKeldin Library and plans to mention the war between Israel and Hamas, according to Rabbi Eli Backman of Chabad UMD. The event is going to be a focus on the positivity and the message of the Hanukkah story.Ā Ā
āWeāve been around for thousands of years and all those whoāve tried to make sure that we didnāt live to see the next generation (is) no longer here,ā Backman said. āThat message will really resonate at home for the holiday.ā
The story of the Maccabees is one of the few stories where Jewish people fought, Backman said. In Jewish history, people donāt see a military response in many of the other holiday moments.
āIt should give us a boost of energy,ā Backman said. āA boost of strength (and) a boost of hope.ā
Part of the Hanukkah storyās message is that Jewish people were in a position that they needed to form a military to secure their borders, Backman said. And they succeeded.Ā
For some, celebrating Hanukkah depends on the people theyāre around, Florence Miller, a sophomore English and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies who is Hamsaās president, said.
Miller is agnostic and does not find themself to be a religious person, but the thing that has kept their Jewish faith is the people about whom they care are Jewish and the sense of community that comes from being Jewish.
āI just wanted to do a Hanukkah event,ā Miller said. āItās been a good refresher with how the semester has been.ā
Miller last year attended a Hanukkah party and played a game of dreidel, a spinning top with four sides marked with a Hebrew letter. The people who were in attendance wanted to bet something, but the only thing they could find were pinto beans.
āWhen I took them out of my pocket one got stuck in there,ā Miller said. āI still have that bean.ā
For some Jewish students itās important to go to Hanukkah events like Hamsaās celebration to be around like-minded Jewish people, Yarden Shestopal, a sophomore American Studies major, said.
āWhich is why I like Hamsa,ā Shestopal said. āSince weāre all queer people or allies we kind of share that mentality of acceptance.ā
Being part of the Jewish community at the University of Maryland has opened Shestopal up to how diverse the LGBTQ and Jewish communities are. Shestopal this year, however, debated whether or not to put his menorah up on the windowsill of his apartment because of the rise in anti-Semitism due to the war in Israel.Ā Ā
āIām pretty sure I am going to put the menorah in my window,ā Shestopal said. āThe only way to combat anti-Semitism is to stay visible.āĀ
Several University of Maryland students lived in Israel before or during their time at the university.
Elisheva Greene, a junior animal science major, went to seminary, a school for women to learn about Torah, during the pandemic. Greene said celebrating Hanukkah while a war is happening is going to be a similar feeling.Ā
āIām able to do what I can from over here by supporting my family and friends,ā Greene said. āThe biggest thing I can be doing is living my life as a Jewish person and showing that I express my Judaism and Iām not afraid.ā
Greene recalled they could not go more than 1,000 feet from home for two months and Hanukkah took place during that time. While it was difficult, Greene said people still put their menorahs on their windowsill.
āKnowing the resilience the Israelis have and the fact people like to show their Jewishness (is not) gonna stop me,ā Greene said. āLike thereās a war going on but youāre gonna be a Jew and youāre gonna flaunt that.ā
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