Local
Gay man attacked, beaten by neighbors in Northeast D.C.
Police list incident as hate crime but courthouse ‘backlog’ could delay arrests
A woman, her daughter, and a man believed to be the daughter’s father repeatedly punched a gay man in the face while the mother called him a “Jewish faggot” and other anti-gay slurs during an Oct. 13 incident on the grounds of an apartment building where the victim and the two women live, according to the victim and a D.C. police incident report.
The victim, Antonio Zephir, 51, told the Washington Blade the incident began after the mother began shouting anti-gay slurs at him as he walked past her and his roommate outside the Northwood Gardens Apartments at 4870 Fort Totten Dr., N.E. at about 12:40 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 13.
Zephir identifies the mother as Aurlora Y. Ellis in court papers seeking a restraining order against her that he filed in D.C. Superior Court. He said she had acted in a hostile way toward him before the assault incident.
“For several months, every time Ms. Ellis sees me, she shouts homophobic slurs and I continued to ignore her,” Zephir told the Blade in an email.
He said that minutes before the Oct. 13 attack, Ellis yelled the words “Jewish faggot” when he walked past her as she was talking to his roommate, Steven Johnson. Zephir said it is well known among his neighbors at the apartment complex that he is of the Jewish faith.
“I responded with not-so-kind words. She ran towards me and assaulted me with hard punches toward my face,” Zephir wrote in his email to the Blade.
“I punched back in an attempt to defend myself,” he wrote. “Mr. Johnson tried to break us up when her daughter Latera Cox and [Cox’s] father assaulted me,” according to Zephir’s account of the incident. “Ms. Ellis yelled, ‘Call the police, you bitch faggot. They’re not going to do anything. This isn’t over yet.”
At that point, Ellis, her daughter Latera Cox, and the man Zephir believes to be Cox’s father fled the scene, Zephir told the Blade.
The D.C. police incident report, which lists the assault as a suspected hate crime, says, “All three suspects then fled east bound” on the 4800 block of Fort Totten Dr., N.E.
Zephir said he immediately called police, who arrived on the scene and took a report on the incident. The report obtained by the Blade lists the incident as a simple assault, which is a misdemeanor under D.C. law.
But Zephir said a detective working on the case told him this week that police were looking into speeding up the process of obtaining warrants for the arrest of the three attackers based, in part, on the injuries Zephir suffered from the attack. He provided the Blade with a medical report issued by the Washington Hospital Center, where his roommate took him to the emergency room the day following the attack, in response to severe pain he was experiencing to his face and head.
The report from the hospital, which treated and released him on Oct. 14, says he was diagnosed as having a fractured nose; a fracture of the “interior orbital wall,” which is the bone surrounding one of his eyes; subconjunctival hemorrhage or bleeding of his left eye; and “laceration of oral cavity” which means an injury inside his mouth caused by trauma from the assault.
Zephir told the Blade that the same detective told him last week that due to a “backlog” in cases at the D.C. Superior Court, it could take between one and two months for police and prosecutors to obtain warrants for the arrests of the two women and the man who assaulted him.
A police spokesperson told the Blade the case remains under active investigation. A spokesperson for the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, which acts as the prosecutor for adult criminal cases in D.C., said he would look into whether the office could publicly comment on the status of efforts to obtain arrest warrants for the three attackers.
Zephir said rumors had surfaced prior to the assault incident that Ellis may have access to a gun. Based on what he feared was a threat by Ellis when she told him during the attack that “this isn’t over yet,” he said he persuaded his roommate to drive him to the courthouse on the same day as the attack to apply for a court restraining order to prevent Ellis from harming him again.
Court records show he also filed a civil complaint against Ellis, Ellis’s daughter, and Ellis’s roommate, Linda Miller, who Zephir says in the complaint acted as an “enabler” for Ellis’ hostility toward him.
The complaint, which is a civil lawsuit that Zephir wrote by hand and filed by himself without hiring a lawyer, calls for $18,000 in damages.
“I have nightmares,” Zephir told the Blade. “I can’t believe it happened. I keep reliving the experience over and over and over in my head,” he said. “And I feel like I’m a prisoner in my own apartment. I don’t feel safe because I, honest to God, feel like she is going to bodily harm me and I might be, God forbid, murdered.”
Ellis, Cox, and Miller could not immediately be reached for comment.
Maryland
Layoffs and confusion at Pride Center of Maryland after federal grants cut, reinstated
Trump administration move panicked addiction and mental health programs
By ALISSA ZHU | After learning it had abruptly lost $2 million in federal funding, the Pride Center of Maryland moved to lay off a dozen employees, or about a third of its workforce, the Baltimore nonprofit’s leader said Thursday.
The group is one of thousands nationwide that reportedly received letters late Tuesday from the Trump administration. Their mental health and addiction grants had been terminated, effective immediately, the letters said.
By Wednesday night, federal officials moved to reverse the funding cuts by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, estimated to total $2 billion, according to national media reports. But the Pride Center of Maryland’s CEO Cleo Manago said as of Thursday morning he had not heard anything from the federal government confirming those reports.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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].
Congratulations to Vida Rangel, JD/MPP on her promotion to Deputy Director of the Mayor’s Office of Talent and Appointments. Rangel is now the highest-ranking transgender official in the history of District government. On accepting the position Rangel said, “I am proud to step into this leadership role and to continue serving my communities. Our District is full of passionate and knowledgeable people who are committed to public service, and it is an honor to help them explore opportunities to serve their neighbors.”
Rangel has previously served in this office as Director of Operations. Prior to this as Bargaining Committee Chair, Organizing Committee, NCTE United, Nonprofit Professional Employees Union IFTPE Local 70. As Policy Counsel, National Center for Transgender Equality; and Elizabeth Warren for President, lead organizer, Illinois 4th Congressional District. She has worked with, and served on boards of, The Black & Pink National, Federal City Performing Arts Assoc., and LAGBAC.
Rangel earned her bachelor’s in sociology from Sam Houston State University; master’s of Public Policy from Loyola University, Chicago; and Juris Doctor, Loyola University, Chicago.
Congratulations also to James Conlon new PFLAG vice president of Development & Philanthropic Partnerships. Upon his appointment Conlon said, “It is an absolute privilege to join PFLAG National and lead their Development & Philanthropic Partner team into a new era. Right now, LGBTQ+ people and their families are terrified of what the future might bring, and PFLAG must continue to be there. My job is to ensure PFLAG strongly endures and thrives, because never has there been a clearer time for our community to unite in fighting for the dignity and well-being of every LGBTQ+ person.”
Brian Bond, CEO, PFLAG National, said, “At a time when PFLAG National programs and participation in them have grown significantly, even as corporate giving has left a $1.3M gap in our funding, James is a critical new addition to the team. With his vast expertise, James will drive our growth and ensure that PFLAG continues meeting the needs of families and communities across the country.”
Conlon is a seasoned fundraiser who has spent extensive time working with advocates, supporters, and leaders, of the LGBTQ+ movement to understand how to effectively support the community. He began his career as an intern in the Massachusetts State House. He has helped raise more than $60 million for critical causes and candidates. Prior to joining PFLAG James oversaw LGBTQ+ investments and fundraising, with the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Prior to that he served in the same role for Harris-Walz 2024, and additionally served in senior fundraising positions for the Senate Majority PAC, as well as for Representatives Josh Gottheimer, and Conor Lamb.
Conlon earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and government from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
District of Columbia
D.C.’s annual MLK Peace Walk and Parade set for Jan. 19
LGBTQ participants expected to join mayor’s contingent
Similar to past years, members of the LGBTQ community were expected to participate in D.C.’s 21st annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Peace Walk and Parade scheduled to take place Monday, Jan. 19.
Organizers announced this year’s Peace Walk, which takes place ahead of the parade, was scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. at the site of a Peace Rally set to begin at 9:30 a.m. at the intersection of Firth Sterling Avenue and Sumner Road, S.E., a short distance from Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.
The Peace Walk and the parade, which is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. at the same location, will each travel along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue a little over a half mile to Marion Barry Avenue near the 11th Street Bridge where they will end.
Japer Bowles, director of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, said he and members of his staff would be marching in the parade as part of the mayor’s parade contingent. In past years, LGBTQ community members have also joined the mayor’s parade contingent.
Stuart Anderson, one of the MLK Day parade organizers, said he was not aware of any specific LGBTQ organizations that had signed up as a parade contingent for this year’s parade. LGBTQ group contingents have joined the parade in past years.
Denise Rolark Barnes, one of the lead D.C. MLK Day event organizers, said LGBTQ participants often join parade contingents associated with other organizations.
Barnes said a Health and Wellness Fair was scheduled to take place on the day of the parade along the parade route in a PNC Bank parking lot at 2031 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., S.E.
A statement on the D.C. MLK Day website describes the parade’s history and impact on the community.
“Established to honor the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the parade united residents of Ward 8, the District, and the entire region in the national movement to make Dr. King’s birthday a federal holiday,” the statement says. “Today, the parade not only celebrates its historic roots but also promotes peace and non-violence, spotlights organizations that serve the community, and showcases the talent and pride of school-aged children performing for family, friends, and community members.”
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