District of Columbia
D.C. mayoral, attorney general candidates cite LGBTQ support
Bowser absent from virtual LGBTQ candidates forum
Three of four candidates running in the city’s June 21 Democratic primary for mayor and two of the three candidates running in the primary for the office of D.C. Attorney General cited what they each said was their strong record of support on LGBTQ related issues at a May 2 LGBTQ candidates forum.
The forum was the third in a series of five LGBTQ candidate forms organized by Capital Stonewall Democrats, the city’s largest local LGBTQ political organization.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a longtime LGBTQ rights supporter whose administration includes more out LGBTQ appointees than any previous D.C. mayor, did not attend the Monday night forum due to an apparent scheduling conflict.
Bowser instead attended a Ward 3 “Meet & Greet” reception for the mayor co-organized by gay Democratic activist Kurt Vorndran at a restaurant in the city’s Tenleytown neighborhood. Vorndran said the event was scheduled before he received word that Capital Stonewall Democrats would be holding its mayoral forum at the same time and date.
Those attending the Stonewall mayoral forum included the three other mayoral candidates on the June 21 primary ballot — D.C. Councilmember Robert White (D-At-Large), D.C. Councilmember Trayon White (D-Ward 8), and former trial attorney and civil rights advocate James Butler.
The three mayoral candidates responded to a wide range of questions asked by forum moderator John Riley ranging from LGBTQ housing and homeless related services, anti-LGBTQ violence, special needs for LGBTQ seniors and youth, and the continuing higher rate of HIV infection among black men who have sex with men, MSM.
The candidates also addressed additional issues pertaining to all city residents, including gun violence and public safety, the shortage of affordable housing, whether the city’s public school system should remain under mayoral control, and whether sex work should be decriminalized. Several local LGBTQ and transgender rights organizations have expressed support for decriminalization of sex work.
As he had when the issue came before the D.C. Council in a public hearing, Robert White expressed support for decriminalizing sex work for consenting adults with continued criminalization of sex trafficking. Trayon White said he needed more time to learn about the pros and cons and decriminalization and did not have a position on the issue. Butler expressed strong opposition to decriminalization, saying it would lead to more sex trafficking by pimps.
Trayon White said he favors ending the current mayoral control over the public school system and Robert White said he wants an “independent” school superintendent no longer under the control of the mayor. Butler said he supports retaining the current mayoral control over the school system.
Two of the three D.C. attorney general candidates participated in the attorney general part of Monday’s night’s forum. Those participating included longtime D.C. attorneys Bruce V. Spiva and Ryan L. Jones. The third candidate running in the primary for the attorney general position, local attorney and law firm official Brian Schwalb, did not attend the forum. Schwalb has been endorsed by current D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine, who is not running for re-election.
Jones and Spiva each said they have supported LGBTQ equality in representing LGBTQ clients in discrimination cases. The two said they would push hard for the enforcement of the city’s Human Rights Act that bans discrimination against LGBTQ people and other minorities if elected attorney general.
Similar to past D.C. elections, each of the Democratic mayoral and attorney general candidates expressed strong support for the LGBTQ community.
Longtime D.C. gay rights activist Phil Pannell, who said he watched most of the Monday night mayoral and attorney general forum, said this year’s city election was continuing D.C.’s longstanding status of fostering candidates running for public office who strongly back LGBTQ equality. Like other activists, Pannell said this gives LGBTQ voters the “luxury” of choosing which candidates to support based on other important issues.
The next Capital Stonewall Democrats forum, scheduled for Wednesday, May 4, will be for the city’s Ward 1 and Ward 5 D.C. Council races. The Stonewall group will hold its fifth and final forum on Wednesday, May 11, for the D.C. Council Chair and at-large Council races.
A video recording of the May 2 forum can be accessed here.
Following is a Washington Blade transcript of the opening statements of each of the mayoral and attorney general candidates participating in the Capital Stonewall Democrats virtual forum on May 2:
Mayoral Candidates
Robert White
Thank you so much. I’m very excited to be here. I’m Robert White. I’m a father, a husband, an at-large Council member and a fifth generation Washingtonian. So, I grew up in D.C. like so many other people in a family that struggled to get by decade after decade, generation after generation. But my life took a very important turn when I was young. I was 8 years old. I lost my mom to breast cancer. And just a month later I was in a near fatal car accident myself and it left me out of school recovering so long that I fell tragically behind at school.
I failed the third grade. I could not catch up still and actually failed every single grade from third grade to tenth grade. Now what happened to me is what happened to so many young people who fall behind in school. I was labeled a troublemaker and I was treated that way. And at a time when I needed people to step up for me, most people counted me out.
But ten years after my tenth grade a guidance counselor told me that I would never go to college. I was a lawyer sitting beside Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton fighting on Capitol Hill for D.C. residents. To get from where I was to where I am now, I had to learn to become a problem solver. And that skill set is a skill set that I have brought the past fifteen years working in all three branches of government and both the federal and local government.
It’s how I helped deliver for D.C. on Capitol Hill with Congresswoman Norton. It’s how I helped deliver for D.C. residents when I worked in the Office of the Attorney General under Attorney General Karl Racine. And it’s how I’ve delivered for D.C. residents as a Council member. I have focused on affordable housing, workforce development, on helping our returning citizens, and on education.
I have been a national leader on childhood education. I have fought outside the box in ways to address our affordable housing crisis. And I’ve made the District of Columbia the first jurisdiction in the nation to expand voting rights to all incarcerated residents, who never should have lost the right to vote.
Today I’m asking for your vote because we need a problem solver as mayor. And that’s the mayor I will be.
James Butler
Thank you so much. And thank you to the Capital Stonewall Democrats. And thank you for my opponent, Robert. I’m seeing way too much of you these days, almost on a daily basis. But thank you for all you do to further the ends of democracy for these organizations, Capital Stonewall Democrats.
I’m James Butler. And I’m running to be D.C.’s next mayor. As many of you know, or you probably know, I’m a former trial lawyer and former ANC commissioner. I have sued state governments. I have sued municipalities. I have fought for justice and equality around the country my entire adult life. I currently am an advocate before the EEOC and the Office of Human Rights. I want to depart from my normal introduction since I am the only candidate that does not hold a public office right now and share with you what I’ve done over the last decade and what I continue to do in some of the LGBTQ spaces.
I have just recently did a forum on Capitol Hill at Henry’s focused on LGBTQ rights. That was moderated by Sterling Washington, who is Vincent Gray’s former LGBTQ Affairs Director. I’ve also been a volunteer and continue to be a volunteer for Whitman-Walker. I started in the days volunteering with Whitman-Walker when you could go up to the counter and just submit a dollar in your donation that way when they were in the Elizabeth Taylor Building. So, for nearly 20 years I’ve done that and still continue to do that today.
Presently, as an advocate before OHR [D.C. Office of Human Rights] I represent transgender persons, persons that are brining aggrievement based on gender identity and gender discrimination. I am committed to the fight. I will continue to be committed to the fight. And I appreciate you all having the name Capital Stonewall Democrats, because I’ve actually been to the Stonewall Inn in New York. I will continue to fight for justice and equality until the day I die.
Trayon White
Thank you. I want to thank everyone who joined tonight. I want to thank Capital Stonewall Democrats for your leadership and all the other organizations that have joined us tonight about this very important election that can change the trajectory of Washington, D.C. My name is Trayon White. I was born and raised here in Washington, D.C. My history has been fighting for those who are disadvantaged, and that includes those left without having a voice in D.C., for over 18 years. And as a result, people of D.C. have elected me to be a Council member here in the great Ward 8.
What I do know as a resident and a citizen of D.C., with a $20 billion budget, the money is not reaching everybody in an equitable way, not just in money but in resources and government accountability. And as a result, I have fought back and forth about tickets, lack of access to services, educational issues, housing insecurities. And so instead of me complaining about the problem, my job has become a solution to the problem. So, I put my name on the ballot to represent the entire D.C., especially for those who don’t feel they have a voice to make sure we have equity and inclusion. When the city has been growing tremendously every year but there are a lot of us in D.C. that don’t feel that growth. And so, our campaign has been a people’s campaign, giving people power and putting people over politics. So, my history has been fighting for several marginalized populations, especially the LGBTQ in D.C.
And as a result, we started a Commission on LGBTQ Affairs, with several organizations joining us, like the [inaudible] collaborative, Check It, Casa Ruby, SMYAL, Whitman-Walker Clinic, Mega Health, Bridge Project, THR Logistics, and the Anacostia Coordinating Council. So, we are excited to join you guys tonight to have this intensive dialogue on how we can help move D.C. along. My name is Trayon White. And I’m running for mayor. I hope to get your support on the ballot June 21, 2022. Thank you.
D.C. Attorney General Candidates
Ryan L. Jones
Thank you for having me. I feel honored and this is a privilege for me to be here. I enjoy sharing the stage with my colleagues and I relish the opportunity to tell you a little about myself. My name is Ryan Jones. However, I’m running because I know that it’s possible to create change that’s necessary…for all District residents. I’m certain today that many folks woke up in a single-family home under the comfort of warm sheets with the certainty that a meal could be had in the morning, while many others didn’t wake up with those same conditions.
And I want to create a balanced creative polity that allows each resident to [inaudible] some semblance of what most residents or many residents do have. We have the issues of food insecurity, lack of education opportunities, lack of opportunities to enjoy jobs that pay for all of the nice things that allow us to live wonderful lives…And I know that laws make a difference to allow us all to enjoy these things. And that’s a part of the reason why I’m running.
Since 2020, things have changed, with new conditions and a new reality. We’re on Zoom as opposed to in-person because of what was created, because of the pandemic. And I know that has exacerbated conditions. And I’m looking forward to creating and sharing a vision which strives to cure the disparity that’s been spiking and causing other problems like crime and homelessness and people being put out without the opportunity to succeed…As Attorney General you have the ability to allow these responsibilities to come to fruition. I look forward to our discussion to share our opportunity to get that done.
Bruce V. Spiva
Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. My name is Bruce Spiva and I’m running for D.C. Attorney General. My parents grew up in the Jim Crow South and they went on to lives of service to others. And they believed strongly in the power of the law to change our lives for the better. And my father graduated from HBCU in 1954, the year that the Brown decision came down. And he was the one who really inspired me to become a lawyer.
And he instilled in me a sense of duty and courage to fight for change. And that’s what I’ve been doing these past 30 years as a civil rights lawyer fighting for housing justice, fighting for reform, including, I’m most proud, I’m very proud of the fact that I have fought for marriage equality for our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters, having submitted a brief fighting the blood rival that our brothers and sisters should not be allowed to marry because it wasn’t good for children. I submitted a brief on behalf of the American Psychological Association on that proposition.
And in truth – and I’ll be able to tell you a little bit more about this as we go on. But my consciousness on these issues was formed long ago in the 1970s when I was a kid and Anita Bryant came to town spewing that kind of hate. And my parents, I think because of the conditions that they had grown up in, in prejudice, fought strongly against that and spoke out against it. And that’s something that has stuck with me throughout my life as my consciousness grew on these issues.
I look forward to your questions tonight. And as AG, I will vigilantly enforce anti-hate laws and fight against discrimination against LGBTQ+ folks. Thanks so much.
District of Columbia
D.C. Council approves increased funding for Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs
Increase attached to 2027 budget bill
The D.C. Council on July 14 gave final approval for the city’s fiscal year 2027 budget that includes an amendment calling for increasing the number and size of funding grants that the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs provides for local organizations providing services for the LGBTQ community.
The amendment, called the “LGBTQ Community Grant Amendment Act of 2026,” was introduced earlier this year by D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), the Council’s only gay member.
The D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition called the Parker amendment “a historic measure that establishes the District’s most sustainable model for a vehicle for investing in LGBTQ communities.”
The Council approved the version of the FY 2027 budget bill with the attached Parker amendment in its first of two required votes on June 9. Shortly after voting unanimously to give final approval of an earlier version of the two-part budget measure on July 7 that includes the Parker amendment, the Council sent the bill to Mayor Muriel Bowser for her signature.
Bowser has expressed strong opposition to several provisions in the $22 billion budget measure passed by the Council that are unrelated to the Parker amendment regarding the Office of LGBTQ Affairs. The mayor has yet to say whether she will sign, veto, or choose not to sign the bill.
The latter option would allow the bill to become law if Congress does not choose to overturn it during its required 30-day legislative review period for all D.C. bills. Political observers believe the Council will vote to override a veto if Bowser chooses to veto the bill.
When contacted by the Washington Blade on July 22 to determine where the mayor stands on the budget bill, mayoral spokesperson Daniel Gleick said only, there was “no update on the budget just yet.”
Among other things, the Parker amendment calls for the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs to issue a $980,000 grant in FY 2027 to a private, nonprofit organization in partnership with the office “for the purpose of supporting programs that promote the welfare of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning community.”
It would allocate $680,000 of that funding total from existing funds from the city’s community affairs grants program and calls for $200,000 in newly appropriated funds.
It says the organization selected would also initiate its own fundraising effort to expand the amount of funds beyond the amount the office would provide, enabling it to provide larger grants to a greater number of local LGBTQ organizations.
“The legislation arrives at a critical moment, as LGBTQ-serving organizations face unprecedented uncertainty,” the D.C. Budget Coalition said in its comment on the Parker amendment. “Growing demand for services is colliding with shrinking resources, federal attacks on LGBTQ programs, and ongoing threats to local funding streams,” the coalition’s statement says.
In what some observers have called a highly controversial action; the budget bill approved by the Council reverses and restores millions of dollars in budget cuts proposed by Bowser in the budget she submitted to the Council earlier this year.
Among other things, the Council’s budget preserves the current level of funding for housing vouchers, childcare, paid family leave, and other programs slated to be cut in the mayor’s proposed budget, according to a report by the Washington Post.
Bowser points out that the Council approved budget bill calls for using $150 million from the city’s reserve fund, which she and others have said could put the city in jeopardy in future years. The mayor has said the cuts were needed to prevent a major funding shortfall brought about by the action by Republicans in Congress to cut the city’s budget by over a billion dollars.
District of Columbia
Is the Metro safe for riders?
WMATA says crime dropped 37 percent on system in 2025
I was inside Benning Road train station in April waiting for my train with two friends on the way to school. It usually took me 25-30 minutes to get from Benning Road Station to school at Congress Heights. As I waited for the train, I kept noticing that every train that got to five minutes away would disappear from the Metro screen before it got to my stop.
I found out from one of my friends that a Metro work vehicle had crashed into a train at Metro Center and that all trains were now delayed. While my friends were able to call their family to pick them up, I had no such luxury. The train was my only option. It took me more than an hour to get to school. I missed my first period because of it and had to make up my work later in the day. I was marked absent because when a student misses one class, they’re marked absent for the day and an email is sent to their parents. I felt irritated knowing that I had to deal with all of these problems that weren’t even my fault due to an incident that happened on a different side of town.
The incident at Metro Center isn’t the only incident that I have experienced on the subway. I have experienced kids fighting and almost pushing me on the tracks, massive delays because a woman was passed out on the train and Metro police pulling out their assault rifles and arresting someone in the station, which caused people to panic and start running.
I later learned the crash that led to me being late to school caused 11 injuries to people who were on the train, according to media reports. And the Metro has experienced other dangerous incidents this year. A man was beaten so badly on Cinco de Mayo that he needed staples in his head and another man was beaten to death by a stranger at the Addison Road station.
However, I’ve never experienced any incident that has led to me getting hurt, nor actually seen anyone get hurt.
So, is the Metro safe?
Metro experienced the lowest crime rate in its history in 2025, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said. The crime rate decreased by 37 percent in 2025 compared to 2024.
Last year, the Metro Transit Police Department increased enforcement efforts department-wide by more than 25 percent, Metro said. WMATA said it is in the process of installing upgraded video systems on our 6000 and 7000-series rail cars, which make up most of the cars in the system. This new camera system allows for live video access to rail cars from Metro’s Integrated Command and Communications Center.
Asked if he felt unsafe using the Metro, Dr. Aruna Rajam, a teacher at Bard High School Early College DC and George Washington University, recalled being on the train with a man who was smoking weed and yelling.
“It didn’t turn physically violent, but it was alarming and made me feel like the situation could go sideways quickly,” said Rajam, who takes the train to both of his jobs, traveling day and night.
Incidents like these are what make Rajam feel unsafe occasionally when he is riding the subway at night: “Late at night — like my 8:45 ride from Foggy Bottom to Springfield — it’s a different atmosphere.”
Jayden Payne, a rising sophomore at Bard, worries even more.
“There was a man who seemed intoxicated, moving around his phone, pretending it was a gun-all up in ladies’ faces,” he said in an interview.
When asked if he would recommend the subway to others, he gave a firm “no” due to all of the incidents that he has heard about that have happened on the Metro.
Erin Bray, who graduated from Bard in June, recalled an incident when a man brought a gun on the train when she was on it. Asked if she felt safe on the subway, Bray said: “No, because there’s not enough security and people keep bringing [weapons] on there.”
Metro said it launched a Safety Risk Reduction Plan to improve riders’ safety and employs several other safety tactics, including Safe Passage patrols to help students in D.C. get to and from school safely.
While all of the people interviewed said that they saw or experienced an uncomfortable incident, Metro said it is increasing its security and safety protocols.
WMATA data coincides with what one of my interviewees said about his experience on Metro.
“I feel safer now than I felt riding the Metro today than I did 10 years ago,” Dr. Samuel Slattery, a social science teacher at Bard High School Early College, said.
He spoke of his experience with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority subway in Philadelphia in comparison: “… That’s what an unsafe train system feels like,” Slattery said.
The week before he was interviewed in May, Slattery said he was on SEPTA and there was a woman “eating beans off the floor of the train,” a homeless man “passed out in the middle of the train,” and a mentally ill woman yelling in his and other passengers’ faces that, “‘Jesus was watching her’ and the rest of us were in contact with demons.” This incident agitated Slattery so much that he said, “Screw this” to his friend and decided to pay extra for an Uber.
Metro riders who want to report an incident or safety concern can call Metro Transit Police (MTPD) at 202-961-2121 or text MYMTPD (696783). Metro also posts a daily Crime Blotter on its website where the public can see the calls MTPD responded to on a given day. The Crime Blotter can be found here: https://www.wmata.com/about/transit-police/crime-stats.cfm
Christian Jennings, a 2026 graduate of Bard High School Early College DC, is a rising freshman at North Carolina State University, where he plans to major in nuclear engineering. He worked with journalist-instructors at Youthcast Media Group on this article.
District of Columbia
Wanda Alston Foundation announces passing of founding executive director Brian Watson
D.C. activist praised as “passionate advocate” for homeless LGBTQ youth
The Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides housing and support services for homeless LGBTQ youth in the D.C. metro area, announced on July 20 that its founding executive director, Brian Watson, has passed away.
In a statement the Alston Foundation called Watson “one of Washington, D.C.,’s most passionate advocates for LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness.”
Neither the statement nor others who knew Watson have disclosed the cause of death or his age. Longtime LGBTQ community activist Rayceen Pendarvis said she heard only that Watson’s passing followed “a long time illness.”
“The origins of the Wanda Alston Foundation can be traced to a meeting convened by then-Mayor Anthony Williams at the request of Wanda Alston, the Mayor’s Director of LGBTQ Affairs,” the statement says.
“During that meeting, Brian spoke powerfully about the growing crisis of homelessness among LGBTQ+ youth in the District of Columbia and the urgent need for dedicated housing and support services,” it says. “His advocacy helped crystalize a vision that every young person deserves a safe place to call home.”
The statement points out that following Alston’s untimely death, Watson joined other community leaders “to transform that vision into reality by establishing the Wanda Alston Foundation in her memory.”
It says that today the Alston Foundation “proudly carries forward the mission Brian helped create by providing emergency and transitional housing, counseling, workforce development, life-skills training, and other supportive services that empower LGBTQ+ youth to achieve stability, independence, and hope for the future.”
Watson’s LinkedIn page says he served as executive director of the Alston Foundation from July 2013 to March 2014. The Washington Blade reported in April 2014 that the Alston Foundation announced in a March 11, 2014, statement that Watson had resigned to “pursue other opportunities.”
His LinkedIn page shows he worked for or with in a supporting role three local nonprofit organizations since leaving the Alston Foundation, including serving from February 2019 to November 2019 as a Methamphetamine Services Specialist for the D.C. group HIPS, which provides services for drug users and sex workers.
According to his LinkedIn page, from October 2014 to “present,” he also served as Chief Innovation Officer for the Propel Foundation, Inc., which he described as a “501c3 nonprofit organization founded in D.C. that works to strengthen nonprofit organizations through fiscal sponsorship and capacity building.”
A Facebook posting by his brother, Vidale Watson, says his family will be making arrangements for a memorial service and will share the date, time, and location once the details have been finalized.
“There are no words to describe the heartbreak our family is feeling,” Vidale Watson wrote. “While we are grateful for every prayer, kind word, and act of support we’ve received over the past week, this loss is still incredibly fresh.”
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