Local
The kink must go on
MAL Weekend in full swing, despite COVID surge
The chair of Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend affirmed the event is still scheduled to take place in D.C. this weekend.
“We’re following the guidelines,” Patrick Grady told the Washington Blade during a telephone interview. “We’re going to make the most of it.”
The event, organized by the Centaur Motorcycle Club, takes place at the Hyatt Regency from Jan. 14-17.
All MAL attendees are required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination. A statement on the event’s website also notes masks “will be mandatory at all indoor venues during MAL 2022” in accordance with the D.C. indoor mask mandate.
The Hyatt Regency has agreed to refund the cost of the room of anyone who chooses not to attend MAL. BoxOffice Tickets will also refund the registration costs of any participant who has decided not to come.
The BOOTCAMP dance party was scheduled to take place at Soundcheck on Jan. 13 at 10 p.m.
The Official MAL Weekend Closing Dance is slated to begin at the 9:30 Club on Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination is required to enter the venue.
The decision to proceed with the MAL events came at a time when some prominent local LGBTQ community advocates expressed concern about attending the MAL events due to D.C.’s rising infection rate of the Omicron strain.
Among those raising concern was Dr. Stephen Abbott, the Medical Site Director of D.C. ‘s Whitman-Walker Health’s Max Robinson Center.
“I’ve attended MAL several times in the past,” Abbott said in a statement released by Whitman-Walker. “People will be gathering in close proximity, masks will come off to drink a cocktail or kiss a new friend, the lobby of the host hotel and the market space will have hundreds of people coming and going,” he said. “The risk of exposure to the highly transmissible Omicron variant is extremely high and an event like this can contribute to the current surge in cases.”
Gay retired D.C. Police lieutenant Brett Parson, who served as director of the D.C. police LGBT Liaison Unit, expressed similar concerns.
“After personally consulting with several trusted epidemiologists and public health experts, I have decided not to attend MAL events this year,” Parson told the Blade. “I don’t want to unwittingly contribute to the growing spread of COVID-19 in the nation’s capital and around the world,” he said.
“Hopefully, anyone planning to attend MAL understands D.C. is a COVID hotspot,” said D.C. LGBTQ rights advocate Peter Rosenstein. “Personally, I would have recommended canceling out of caution,” Rosenstein said in a Jan. 5 message to the Blade. Other community members expressed similar views in Facebook postings this week.
The host hotel is the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill (400 New Jersey Ave., N.W.). The exhibitor hall is open Friday from 4-10 p.m., Saturday from 11 a.m.-6 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday’s Leather cocktails event begins at 7 p.m. in the Regency Ballroom. Sunday’s brunch is from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. in Capitol A&B and Congressional A&B. The annual Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather contest is set for Sunday from 1-4 p.m.; there will be no parade of titleholders this year. And the official MAL closing dance REACTION is from 7 p.m.-3 a.m. at 9:30 Club.
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The Comings & 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 Yadiel Meléndez, on their new role as Community Associate, with the Wanda Alston Foundation. Meléndez is piloting a new role as a Community Associate at the Wanda Alston Foundation, where they support queer and trans young people in finding their footing, building independence, and experiencing a housing community where they are seen, valued, and affirmed. They are coming into this role with more than a decade of experience as a community organizer and operations specialist, supporting diverse communities through service, advocacy, and program coordination.
Previously they worked for Right Proper Brewing Shaw as a server and bartender and at Sephora, Washington, DC, and at FreshFarm, DC, in bilingual food access. They also worked freelance to build foundational structures for local queer BIPOC performance art coalitions, producing variety shows to curate space for marginalized performance artists in the community. They were a production manager for Haus of Hart Productions, a BIPOC centric performance art production. They also worked as field staff with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in Stafford, Va.
Meléndez is bilingual, Spanish and English. Their work is guided by a commitment to dignity, safety, and trauma-informed engagement, particularly within LGBTQ and BIPOC communities.
Congratulations also to Ben Rosen LICSW, on his new role as program director, with the Wanda Alston Foundation. Rosen previously worked with Fountain House’s OnRamps program, helping to build a new, innovative outreach program for individuals considered chronically homeless, and living with serious mental illness, in the Times Square area of New York. Rosen is a Psychotherapist, having worked with SG Psychotherapy, and as the psychotherapist with the Nest Community Health Center (URAM).
Rosen has a B.F.A. in Theatre Arts: Musical Theatre, Minor in Psychology (Cum Laude) from Malloy University Conservatory; and his M.S.W. in Clinical Practice with Individuals, Families, and Groups, from The Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College, N.Y. He is independently licensed in New York and Washington, D.C.
Rehoboth Beach
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Attendees encouraged to wear appropriate gear
Diego’s in Rehoboth Beach hosts a monthly leather happy hour. April’s edition is scheduled for Friday, April 10, 5-7 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to wear appropriate gear. The event is billed as an official event of BLUF, the free community group for men interested in leather. After happy hour, the attendees are encouraged to reconvene at Local Bootlegging Company for dinner, which allows cigar smoking. There’s no cover charge for either event.
District of Columbia
Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
Two memorial events scheduled in D.C.
Two celebrations of life are planned for Sean Christopher Bartel, 48, who was found deceased on a hiking trail in Argentina on or around March 15. Bartel began his career as a television news reporter and news anchor at stations in Louisville, Ky., and Evansville, Ind., before serving as Senior Video Producer for the D.C.-based International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union from 2013 to 2024.
A memorial gathering is planned for Friday, April 10, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the IBEW International Office (900 7th St., N.W.), according to a statement by the DC Gay Flag Football League, where Bartel was a longtime member. A celebration of life is planned that same evening, 6-8 p.m. at Trade (1410 14th St., N.W.).
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BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
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