Local
Top 10 local stories of 2021
Hate crimes, book bans, and Nellie’s protests
#10: Gay Asian man, parents assaulted in Northwest
A gay Asian man and his parents were treated and released from a local hospital after they were attacked and assaulted on Aug. 7 on a street near the Washington National Cathedral by a male assailant who shouted homophobic and anti-Asian slurs, according to D.C. police and court records.
Charging documents filed in D.C. Superior Court state that D.C. police, who arrived on the scene a short time after the attack, arrested D.C. resident and American University graduate student Patrick Trebat, 38, on one count of felony assault, two counts of simple assault, and one count of destruction of property. The charging document says Trebat allegedly damaged the cell phone of Sean Lai, 30, an out gay man of Chinese ancestry, as he allegedly punched and kicked Lai and Lai’s elderly parents on the 3700 block of Fulton St., N.W. while shouting the words “faggots” and “You’re not Americans.”
Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office changed the charges to two counts of felony assault with significant bodily injury and listed the incident as an anti-Asian bias related crime. American University in October announced Trebat was no longer a student at the school.
#9: D.C., Md, Va. pass laws banning panic defense
The D.C. Council and the Maryland and Virginia General Assemblies each passed their own laws in 2021 banning the use of the so-called LGBTQ panic defense in criminal trials.
LGBTQ rights organizations and legal experts have said attorneys representing defendants charged with committing violent crimes against LGBTQ people, including murder, have used the panic defense to confuse juries into finding them not guilty by arguing that their clients committed an act of violence against an LGBTQ person in a form of self-defense in a state of “panic” after they learned that the victim was an LGBTQ person. Supporters of banning the defense say it improperly places the blame for a violent act on the LGBTQ victim.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signed the legislation banning the panic defense after expressing strong support for the measures. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) declined to sign the Maryland bill but announced he would allow the bill to become law without his signature.
#8: Gay men arrested under Md. sodomy law in bookstore raid
Harford County, Md., Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested four men on a charge of Perverted Sexual Practice under the Maryland sodomy law during a May 20 raid on the Bush River Books & Video store in the town of Abington, located 25 miles north of Baltimore.
Four other men were charged with indecent exposure, and another was charged with solicitation for prostitution for a total of nine arrests during the May 20 raid that was prompted by complaints from nearby residents, according to a statement released by the Sheriff’s Office.
An attorney with the LGBTQ litigation group Lambda Legal said the sodomy arrests appeared to be a violation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2003 ruling declaring state sodomy laws unconstitutional. Lambda attorney Greg Nevins said that although the Supreme Court ruling does not cover acts of sodomy committed in public places, the men arrested in the May 20 raid engaged in alleged consenting sexual acts in a locked video booth, which Sheriff’s deputies unlocked after obtaining keys from a bookstore employee. He said it would be up to a judge to decide whether the video booths could be considered a private space as argued by attorneys representing the arrested men, who were released while awaiting court appearances.
The bookstore raid, meanwhile, drew attention to a little noticed development that the Maryland General Assembly in 2020 repealed only one of Maryland’s two antiquated sodomy statutes, the one outlawing anal sex. At the request of conservative Republican lawmakers, the General Assembly left in place Maryland’s Unnatural or Perverted Sexual Practice Act, which outlaws oral sex. LGBTQ supportive Maryland House of Delegates Member David Moon (D-Montgomery County) said he plans to introduce a bill in 2022 to repeal that statute.
#7: Loudoun County schools’ trans nondiscrimination policy under fire
The Loudoun County, Va., public school system’s policy of allowing students to use the bathroom or locker room that matches their gender identity came under fire in October after news surfaced that a 15-year-old “gender fluid” boy allegedly sexually assaulted two girls in different high schools.
Law enforcement officials said one of the assaults allegedly occurred on May 28 in the girl’s bathroom at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, Va., while the boy was dressed in a skirt. The other assault allegedly occurred on Oct. 6 in a vacant classroom at Broad Run High School, also in Ashburn, after the boy was transferred there while facing charges for the first assault.
“The sexual assault on our daughter and the subsequent sexual assault by the same individual were both predictable and preventable,” the parents of the girl involved in the first alleged assault said in a statement released by their attorney. “Subsequent to the sexual assault on our daughter, Loudoun County Public Schools formalized the policy regarding restroom use that was easily exploitable by a potential sexual assailant,” the parents’ statement says.
The LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Loudoun released its own statement saying sexual assault cases should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law regardless of the sexual orientation or gender identity of the perpetrator. However, the group said allegations that the perpetrator of the two school assaults was transgender or genderfluid had not been verified. “Attempts to shift the blame of this incident to any individual, group, or policy – other than the alleged perpetrator – does a grave disservice to the victims of these crimes and already marginalized youth in our community,” the Equality Loudoun statement says.
#6: Supreme Court upholds Va. trans rights ruling
The U.S. Supreme on June 28 refused to hear an appeal by the Gloucester County, Va., School Board challenging a lower court ruling that transgender former high school student Gavin Grimm had a legal right to use the men’s bathroom at his high school. The high court’s decision not to hear the case leaves in place U.S. district court and U.S. appeals court rulings declaring the school board violated federal law and the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution by prohibiting Grimm from using the same bathrooms as other boys and forcing him to use separate bathrooms. The ACLU, which represented Grimm in his more than five-year legal battle that continued after his high school graduation, called the development a major victory for the rights of trans students.
Four months after the Supreme Court’s action, the Gloucester School Board agreed to settle the case by paying Grimm $1.3 million to cover attorney’s fees that the ACLU says the school board is responsible for.
#5: Casa Ruby shakeup
Ruby Corado, the founder and executive director of D.C.’s LGBTQ community services center Casa Ruby, announced in a Facebook live broadcast in October that she had resigned from her executive director’s position. Corado stated in her broadcast that her resignation was in response to an ongoing dispute with the D.C. government that resulted in a decision by the city one week earlier to discontinue an $850,000 annual city grant to fund Casa Ruby’s emergency low barrier shelter for homeless LGBTQ youth and adults.
Corado called the decision by the D.C. Department of Human Services not to renew the grant for fiscal year 2022 an act of retaliation based, in part, on what she says was her refusal to agree to a request by the city agency to move the Casa Ruby shelter to a neighborhood unsafe for trans women and LGBTQ youth. The DHS has declined to disclose its reason for ending the grant, saying only that it has arranged for other LGBTQ supportive organizations to carry out LGBTQ-related homeless services.
Longtime D.C. transgender rights advocate Alexis Blackmon, who had been serving as Casa Ruby’s Government Affairs Director, was named the organization’s interim executive director. Corado said that, following a six-month sabbatical, she plans to organize fundraising efforts to support Casa Ruby’s programs independent of D.C. government funding.
#4: GOP victories in Va. could endanger LGBTQ rights
The close but decisive wins in the November election in Virginia by Republicans Glenn Youngkin as governor, Winsome Sears as lieutenant governor, and Jason Miyares as attorney general and Republicans winning control of the Virginia House of Delegates raises questions about whether the recent sweeping advances in LGBTQ rights in Virginia put in place by the outgoing Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, and the Democratic-controlled General Assembly could be in jeopardy.
Youngkin, who defeated Democratic candidate and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAulliffe, expressed opposition to nondiscrimination protections enacted by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly in 2020 for transgender and nonbinary students in the state’s public schools. He has also expressed opposition to same-sex marriage while saying he would not likely take steps to repeal the legal standing of marriage equality.
But of greatest concern among Virginia’s LGBTQ activists is Attorney General-elect Miyares’s voting record on LGBTQ issues in his role as a member of the state’s House of Delegates from the Virginia Beach area since 2016. Since Democrats took control of the legislature in January 2020, Miyares has voted against nearly all of the LGBTQ supportive bills passed during that time, including bills adding LGBTQ people to the state’s anti-discrimination law, adding LGBTQ people to the state’s hate crimes law, banning the use of the so-called LGBTQ panic defense in criminal trials, restricting the use of conversion therapy for minors, and repealing the state’s longstanding but unenforceable statute banning same-sex marriage.
With Democrats retaining control of the Virginia Senate, Republican elected officials hostile to LGBTQ rights cannot — without the unlikely defection of Democratic lawmakers — repeal these and other LGBTQ supportive laws in the state. But activists have expressed concern that, as attorney general, Miyares might be in a position to curtail the enforcement of the LGBTQ supportive laws.
Among the few positive outcomes of the Virginia election, according to LGBTQ activists, was that the three openly LGBTQ members of the House of Delegates, each of whom are Democrats, won re-election, including Danica Roem of Manassas, who is the first openly trans person to be seated in any state legislature in the U.S.
#3: LGBTQ books removed, reinstated in Fairfax schools
The Fairfax County, Va., Public Schools announced in November that it had returned two LGBTQ-themed books to the libraries of the school system’s high schools after temporarily removing the books in response to objections from some parents who claimed they included sexually explicit content inappropriate for students.
The two books, “Lawn Boy,” a novel by author Jonathan Evison, and “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” an autobiography by non-binary author Maia Kobabe, were deemed to be important works of literature suitable to young adults following a thorough review by two school system committees, according to an announcement by Fairfax Public Schools officials. The officials said that although the books include descriptions of sexual acts, they do not constitute pornography and do not promote pedophilia as claimed by some parents and others opposing the books.
The decision to reinstate the books “reaffirms Fairfax Public Schools’ ongoing commitment to provide diverse reading materials that reflect our student population, allowing every child an opportunity to see themselves reflected in literary characters,” a statement by school officials says.
News of the controversy surrounding the two books in the Fairfax County school libraries triggered efforts by conservative groups to ban LGBTQ-themed books in other school districts throughout the country.
#2: D.C. LGBTQ bars and events rebound as COVID restrictions eased
Owners of the city’s gay bars and LGBTQ friendly bars and restaurants joined nightlife businesses across the city in rejoicing over D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s announcement in May that restaurants and bars could resume operations at full capacity and return to pre-pandemic operating hours on May 21.
The mayor’s announcement followed what nightlife businesses said was severe financial hardship caused by the earlier full business shutdowns due to COVID public health restrictions followed by a partial reopening with strict limits of only 25 percent of the normal number of customers inside bars and restaurants and a ban on standing in bars or sitting at bar stools.
The lifting of the bar, restaurant and other nightlife business restrictions in May was followed by the city’s decision to lift all restrictions on indoor and outdoor events on June 11. That cleared the way for D.C.’s Capital Pride Alliance to organize several scaled back LGBTQ Pride events, including a June 12 Pride Walk, which began at Dupont Circle and traveled to Freedom Plaza, where a rally was held. The Walk drew widespread attention when U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband joined the walk as it approached Freedom Plaza.
The enthusiasm over the full reopening of LGBTQ nightlife venues, especially the bars, became evident with long lines of patrons waiting to get into some of the bars that were filled to capacity.
#1: Nellie’s hit with protests after Black woman dragged down stairs
A June 13 incident in which a black woman was dragged down a flight of stairs by a security guard during a brawl that broke out at the D.C. gay bar Nellie’s Sports Bar led to a boycott and months of protests against the bar, an investigation into the incident by the city’s liquor board, and charges by some LGBTQ activists that Nellie’s and other D.C. gay bars had racially biased policies and practices.
The action by the security guard was captured on video taken by one of the customers on their phone that went viral on social media, prompting LGBTQ activists and Black Lives Matter organizers to demand that Nellie’s take appropriate action to review its security procedures. Nellie’s issued an apology for the incident the following day and announced it had fired the private security company whose employee, who is Black, dragged college student Keisha Young, 22, down the stairs. Nellie’s also announced it would temporarily close for business to assess what happened and develop plans to reopen as a safer space for all members of the community.
After two months of staging Friday night protests outside Nellie’s from June through most of August, protest leaders announced at a community meeting that they would discontinue the protests but continue to ask the community to boycott Nellie’s.
Nellie’s reopened 35 days after its self-imposed closing. But on Oct. 20, the D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, following an investigation into the June 13 incident, approved a compromise agreement with Nellie’s that called for Nellie’s to pay a $5,000 fine and serve a seven-day license suspension for violations that liquor board investigations found had occurred in Nellie’s handling of the fight on its premises that led to Young being dragged down the stairs.
An order issued by the ABC Board said the license suspension would take place from Dec. 20-26 of this year.
District of Columbia
Gay Episcopal minister to be reinstated 40 years after being defrocked
The Rev. Harry Stock, who is currently affiliated with D.C.’s LGBTQ-supportive Westminster Presbyterian Church, has invited friends, colleagues, and members of the community to “witness a miracle” on Oct. 26 by attending a ceremony at an Episcopal church in Alexandria, Va., where he will be officially reinstated as an Episcopal priest.
In a Sept. 12 invitation to the ceremony that Stock sent by email, he states that the ceremony will take place 43 years after he was ordained as an Episcopal priest by a bishop in Charleston, W.Va., and 40 years after the same bishop defrocked him from the priesthood because he “declared his love for another man at the altar” in a holy union ceremony.
“As a result of our Holy Union I received a letter from Bishop [Robert] Atkinson informing me that as a result of me declaring my love for another man at the altar he was revoking my Holy Orders and stripping me from the sacred order of priest and that I would no longer be permitted to function as a priest in the Episcopal Church,” Stock says in his message. “My world fell apart,” he wrote.
Stock notes that the Holy Union that led to his being defrocked was with his life partner Mark Kristofik. He said the two have been a couple for 45 years since 1979 and are now married.
Biographical information that Stock provided shows that he received a bachelor’s degree from West Virginia University in 1969 and completed a study program at the West Virginia Episcopal Diocese School of Religion before receiving a Master in Divinity Degree in 1978 from Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Va., in 1978.
In the years since being defrocked Stock became known as an esteemed theologian. Beginning a short time after being defrocked, he became pastor in D.C. of a newly formed branch of the LGBTQ-supportive Metropolitan Community Church called the MCC Church of the Disciples, where he served for 21 years. Biographical information he sent to the Washington Blade says in 1991 the nationwide Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches ordained him as a minister.
The biographical write up says Stock later became the founder and president of Scrolls Revealed Ministries for which he traveled over a period of 20 years across the country to churches, colleges, retreats, and conferences facilitating a seminar he created called “Biblical Translation for Gay Liberation: How the Bible Does Not Condemn Homosexuality, An in-Depth Study.”
Stock said Scrolls Revealed Ministries is still active and he currently travels to churches as a guest preacher delivering a teaching sermon called “Homophobia and the Bible: A Deadly Combination.”
With that as a backdrop, Stock tells of the recent developments that brought about his upcoming reinstatement as an Episcopal priest in his email message inviting friends and colleagues to the Oct. 26 ceremony beginning at 10 a.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 228 South Pitt St. in Alexandria.
“Upon learning of my story, The Rt. Reverend Matthew Cowden, VIII, current Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia, requested a meeting with me via Zoom and on July 25 of last year we met,” according to Stock’s email message. He said that was followed by an in-person meeting in October of 2023.
“During our meeting Bishop Cowden said something that in my wildest dreams I never expected to hear, by saying, ‘On Behalf of the Episcopal Church, I apologize to you for what the church did to you back in 1984.’”
Stock adds in his message, “I found myself unable to speak and felt liberated, for the first time, from a pain that had plagued me for years. But, Bishiop Cowden didn’t stop there, he went on to say, ‘I also want to make right the mistake that was made those many years ago.’”
According to Stock’s message, “After a year of endeavoring through the Canons of the Episcopal Church and completing Canonical requirements and the joyous consent of the Bishops, and other committees and bodies responsible” – his reinstatement was approved, and the reinstatement ceremony was scheduled for Oct. 26.
“Miracles happen through moments of great beauty, prayer, faith, hope and especially through acts of great love,” Stock’s message continues. “They happen through us and to us, and for me, one is about to manifest itself and turn what I thought was the greatest disappointment in my life into a blessing,” he says in his message.
“I am delighted to share this incredible blessing with you,” his message continues. “And if you are nearby, I would be honored to have you join me for this momentous occasion.” His message says a Champagne reception will take place after the ceremony.
In recent years, Stock has preached and presided over communion services at Westminster Presbyterian Church.
In Southwest D.C. in the role of Parish Partner, a title given to ministers who are not officially ordained as Presbyterian ministers. Stock said that upon his reinstatement as an Episcopal priest on Oct. 26, he will continue his role as Parish Partner at Westminster since he still will not be an ordained Presbyterian minister.
He nevertheless said his service at Westminster is important to him and he plans to remain there. He told the Blade that at the age of 83, he considers the West Virginia bishop’s decision to reinstate him as an Episcopal priest to be an act of correcting an injustice.
“What the bishop is doing on Oct. 26 is doing what he calls making right the mistake that was made 40 years ago and validating my ministry,” Stock said.
District of Columbia
In D.C., 28 percent of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ
Advocacy groups, D.C. agency respond to increase in numbers
Editor’s Note: This article is part of our 2024 contribution to the D.C. Homeless Crisis Reporting Project in collaboration with other local newsrooms. The collective works will be published throughout the week at bit.ly/DCHCRP.
The LGBTQ operated and LGBTQ supportive homeless shelters and transitional housing facilities in D.C. are operating at full capacity this year as the number of homeless city residents, including LGBTQ homeless residents, continues to increase, according to the latest information available.
The annual 2024 Point-In-Time (PIT) count of homeless people in the District of Columbia conducted in January, shows that 12 percent of the homeless adults and 28 percent of homeless youth between the age of 18 and 24 identify as LGBTQ.
The PIT count shows an overall 14 percent increase in homelessness in the city compared to 2023. This year’s count of a total of 527 LGBTQ homeless people marks an increase over the 349 LGBTQ homeless people counted in 2023 in D.C. and 347 LGBTQ homeless counted in 2022.
Representatives of the LGBTQ organizations that provide services for homeless LGBTQ people have said the actual number of LGBTQ homeless people, especially LGBTQ youth, are most likely significantly higher than the annual PIT counts.
Liz Jaramillo, director of Youth Housing for the D.C. LGBTQ youth advocacy group SMYAL, which provides transitional housing for at least 55 homeless LGBTQ youth through four housing programs, said SMYAL staff members have observed a clear increase in the number of LGBTQ youth facing homelessness or housing insecurity.
She said the increase has been a topic of discussion with other groups providing homeless services for LGBTQ youth as well as with officials from the D.C. Department of Human Services (DHS), which provides support and funding for LGBTQ homeless related programs.
“So, I do think there has been an increase,” Jaramillo said. “We see it during our meetings when we are talking with DHS and talking about the need for what the next steps will be for growing LGBTQ housing in general across the city.”
Among other things, Jaramillo and officials with other LGBTQ organizations, including the D.C. LGBTQ+ Budget Coalition, are calling on the city to expand its funding for LGBTQ homeless programs to keep up with the need to address the increasing number of LGBTQ homeless people in the city.
SMYAL began its housing program for LGBTQ youth in 2017. It was preceded by D.C.’s Wanda Alston Foundation, which opened the city’s first transitional housing program solely dedicated to LGBTQ youth facing homelessness between the ages of 18 and 24 in 2008. As of 2022, the Alston Foundation had opened two more LGBTQ youth homeless facilities.
Both SMYAL and the Alston Foundation provide a wide range of services for their LGBTQ youth residents in addition to a safe and stable shelter, including food and nutrition services, case management services, mental health counseling, crisis intervention, and employment related skills development and education services.
The two groups also have designated at least one of their housing facilities to offer their LGBTQ residents extended transitional housing for up to six years.
In September of 2021, at the time when the LGBTQ community services center Casa Ruby lost its city funding for its own longstanding LGBTQ youth homeless shelter, the Department of Human Services awarded a grant for the opening of a new LGBTQ youth homeless shelter to Covenant House, a nonprofit group that provides homeless youth services nationwide. In 2022, Casa Ruby closed all its operations.
At the time, Covenant House announced the facility would serve as a 24-bed LGBTQ youth shelter called Shine in the city’s Deanwood neighborhood. In response to a request by the Washington Blade for an update on the status of the Shine facility, DHS released a statement saying the facility has been expanded to 30 beds and continues to receive DHS funding.
With most of the LGBTQ-specific homeless facilities in D.C. focusing on youth, the DHS opened the city’s first official shelter for LGBTQ adults in August of 2022 following a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. The 40-person shelter is located at 400 50th St., S.E.
“DHS continues to support LGBTQ adults through its low-barrier shelter, Living Life Alternative,” DHS said this week in its statement to the Blade. The statement says the facility is operated by The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness, which refers to itself as TCP, through a DHS Sole Source grant. According to the statement, TCP “sub awards the grant funding” to a company called KBEC Group, Inc., which specializes in providing comprehensive social services and residential living for youth and adults.
“KBEC proactively offers intensive care management services allowing residents to overcome long-standing obstacles preventing them from obtaining and maintaining permanent housing,” the DHS statement says in describing KBEC’s involvement in the LGBTQ adult housing facility.
“These include connections to Behavioral Health Services, Substance Use Disorder (SUD) resources, Supportive Employment Job Training Programs, direct access to health care within the shelter at least once a month, and a comprehensive curriculum of Life Skills to include Financial Literacy Classes, Music Therapy, Art Therapy Classes, and Group Therapy sessions,” the statement says.
It says the goal of the program associated with the LGBTQ adult shelter is to enable its residents to be able to leave the facility within six months through assistance from programs leading to self-sufficiency.
“KBEC has successfully connected more than 50% of residents to some type of housing subsidy, whether through the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs, DHS Housing Vouchers, or Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH),” the statement says.
A least two other non-LGBTQ locally based organizations – the Latin American Youth Center and Sasha Bruce Youthwork – also provide services for homeless LGBTQ youth, including housing services, the two groups state on their website.
Jaramillo, of SMYAL, and Hancie Stokes, SMYAL’s communications director, told the Blade this week that SMYAL and other local LGBTQ organizations continue to advocate for LGBTQ cultural competency training for the staff at non-LGBTQ organizations or private companies that provide LGBTQ-related homeless services.
“We work closely with our community partners to make sure that when a queer young person is matched into their program or placed into their program that they are equipped with basic cultural competency to be able to provide those supportive services to folks,” Stokes said.
“But there is a great need for increased funding for programs like SMYAL and Wanda Alston, which is why we partner with the LGBTQ+ Budget Coalition to advocate for more funding on behalf of all LGBTQ+ housing programs,” she told the Blade.
One example of a possible consequence of inadequate cultural competency training surfaced in April of this year when a transgender woman filed a discrimination complaint against a D.C. homeless shelter after it refused to allow her to stay in the women’s section of the shelter, forcing her to stay in the men’s sleeping section.
The complaint was filed against the shelter operated by the Community for Creative Nonviolence at 245 2nd St., N.W., which is one of the city’s largest privately operated shelters. A spokesperson for the shelter did not respond to a phone and email message left by the Blade asking for a response to the complaint.
Transgender rights advocates have said the denial of the placement of a transgender woman in the female section of a place of public accommodation such as a homeless shelter is a violation of the D.C. Human Rights Act’s ban on gender identity discrimination.
Jaramillo and Stokes said SMYAL has responded to yet another growing need for homeless and housing services related to the city’s immigrant community. Shortly after the shutdown of Casa Ruby, Stokes said SMYAL created an LGBTQ youth street outreach program that focuses on Spanish-speaking LGBTQ youth.
“A lot of folks are experiencing homelessness,” Stokes said. “But this is particularly working with queer and trans Spanish-speaking youth who are experiencing homelessness to either get them connected to housing services, health care, legal documentation or legal support, and education,” she said.
“And so, our team goes out to areas like Columbia Heights and other areas where we know a lot of these migrant populations are setting up communities. And this is an outreach directly to them and it builds rapport in the community.”
Local
Comings & Goings
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].
Some people are especially inspiring to write about, and one such person is Joseph Poduslo. He is justly proud of his “Luminary of the Year” nomination, which is granted to survivors, caregivers, and researchers, by the Brain Industry Association of America (BIAA). I urge you to take a look at its website, and maybe help Poduslo raise some funds for this incredible organization.
“I have always wanted to share my journey to help and inspire others,” he said. “The brain is the most amazing creation and retraining the brain takes time and effort. But I’m doing it.” You can read his story in his own words. You will find it as inspiring as I did.
After spending time with his family in Texas, he is now back in D.C. He is Senior Vice President, and founding agent, the Poduslo Group. His bio notes, “His work for his real estate clients has garnered him industry-wide recognition. Joseph has been featured in the Washington Post, NBC, CNN, and in 2018, Washington Life Magazine’s ‘Most Influential Business Person Under Forty.’ … When Joseph is not redefining the real estate industry, he has invested in numerous small businesses and restaurants in downtown D.C. over the last 17 years. He founded the D.C. Progressive Dinner, an organization that helps SMYAL, a local non-profit. Joseph formerly served on the Capital Alliance Board in the DC area.”
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