District of Columbia
Vote in D.C.’s ‘LGBTQ precincts’ divided between Bowser, White
Bonds loses in 10 of 13 precincts with high concentration of queer voters
Voters in 13 of the city’s 144 electoral precincts that LGBTQ activists have long said include a high concentration of LGBTQ residents and voters divided their vote between D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. Councilmember Robert White, her lead rival, in the city’s June 21 Democratic primary.
In the D.C. Board of Elections final but unofficial vote tally for the primary, which it released on July 3, Bowser beat Robert White (D-At-Large) in seven of the 13 so-called LGBTQ precincts. Robert White won in six of the precincts. The two mayoral candidates won or lost in the 13 precincts mostly by a close margin of less than 5 percent.
The other two Democratic mayoral candidates, Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White and former attorney and former Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner James Butler, received less than 10 percent of the vote in each of the 13 precincts in question.
The precincts include the neighborhoods of Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights, Shaw, Capitol Hill, Anacostia, and the Southwest Waterfront.
In the race for the D.C. Council Chair, incumbent Phil Mendelson and his only Democratic opponent, attorney and community activist Erin Palmer, each won six of the 13 LGBTQ precincts. The two finished in a tie vote in Precinct 90, which is part of the Capitol Hill neighborhood, with each receiving 294 votes or 49.75 percent of the vote in that precinct, according to the Board of Elections final returns.
In the At-Large Council race, incumbent Councilmember Anita Bonds (D-At-Large), a longtime supporter of the LGBTQ community, did not fare as well as Bowser and Mendelson in the LGBTQ precincts. Bonds won in just three of the 13 precincts – those in Logan Circle, Shaw, and Anacostia.
Among her three opponents in the four-candidate race in the primary, attorney Nate Fleming won six of the precincts and ANC Commissioner Lisa Gore won in four of the LGBTQ precincts.
The fourth candidate running for the at-large seat, former DC Council staffer and former Howard University community relations official Dexter Williams, received less than 10 percent of the vote in each of the 13 precincts and lost in all of them.
The candidates challenging Bonds for the at-large Council seat – as well as all the Democratic candidates running for mayor and the Council Chair seat – expressed strong support for LGBTQ rights. Bonds’s poor showing in the LGBTQ precincts suggests that at least some LGBTQ voters may have voted for Fleming and Gore instead of Bonds based on other issues.
Bonds won the primary with 35.85 percent of the vote, with Gore receiving 28.08 percent of the vote and Fleming receiving 27.73 percent, according to the Board of Elections final vote count.
In the race for mayor, Bowser won the primary with 49.01 percent of the citywide vote. Robert White received 40.5 percent, Trayon White received 8.79 percent, and Butler received 1.38 percent.
In the Council chair race, Mendelson, a longtime LGBTQ rights supporter, won the citywide vote with 53.16 percent compared to challenger Palmer, who received 46.44 percent.
Four of the 13 precincts considered to have a high concentration of LGBTQ residents and voters are in Ward 1. They include Precincts 24 and 25 in Adams Morgan and Precincts 23 and 36 in Columbia Heights.
The final vote count for those four precincts show that incumbent Councilmember Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1) beat her gay opponent in the Ward 1 race, former D.C. police officer Salah Czapary, in each of the four precincts. Nadeau won in three of the four precincts by a margin greater than 10 percent of the vote.
In a development that surprised some in the LGBTQ community, Capital Stonewall Democrats, the city’s largest local LGBTQ political organization, endorsed Nadeau over Czapary in the Ward 1 Council race. Czapary received the endorsement of the national LGBTQ Victory Fund as well as from the Washington Post and former D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams.
Activists following the race have said LGBTQ voters who backed Nadeau were clearly basing their vote on issues other than LGBTQ rights, for which Nadeau and a third candidate in the race, community activist Sabel Harris, have expressed support.
Nadeau won the Ward 1 primary with 48.46 percent of the vote. Czapary received 30.94 percent, with Harris receiving 20.36 percent.
In the Ward 5 D.C. Council contest, gay D.C. Board of Education member Zachary Parker won the primary in a seven-candidate race, placing him in a strong position to win the November general election and become the first openly gay member of the D.C. Council since 2015. The Blade couldn’t immediately identify precincts in Ward 5 that may have significant numbers of LGBTQ voters.
In the mayor’s race, Bowser and Robert White each won and lost one of the two LGBTQ precincts in Dupont Circle and Logan Circle by close margins. Bowser beat Robert White in Dupont Circle Precinct 14 by a margin of 50.26 percent to 45.42 percent. But Robert White won in the adjacent Dupont Circle Precinct 15 by a margin of 49.0 percent to 48.17 percent over Bowser.
The mayor won the Logan Circle Precinct 16 by a vote of 54.29 percent compared to Robert White, who received 41.12 percent. In the Logan Circle Precinct 17, Robert White beat Bowser by a margin of 48.29 percent to 46.33 percent.
DC Democratic Primary
June 21, 2022
Final Pre-Certified Citywide Vote Count
Board of Elections
DC MAYOR
James Butler 1,753 1.38%
Muriel Bowser 62,391 49.01%
Trayon White 11,193 8.79%
Robert White 51,557 40.5%
Write-In 406 0.32%
DC Democratic Primary
June 21, 2022
Final Pre-Certified Precinct Vote Count
Precincts with High Concentration of LGBTQ voters
Board of Elections
DC MAYOR
Precinct 14 – Dupont Circle
James Butler 21 2.16%
*Muriel Bowser 488 50.26%
Trayon White 16 1.65%
Robert White 441 45.42%
Write-In 5 0.51%
Precinct 15 – Dupont Circle
James Butler 16 1.33%
Muriel Bowser 579 48.17%
Trayon White 17 1.41%
*Robert White 589 49.0%
Write-In 2 0.17%
Precinct 16 – Logan Circle
James Butler 21 1.55%
*Muriel Bowser 734 54.29%
Trayon White 34 2.51%
Robert White 556 41.12%
Write-In 7 0.23%
Precinct 17 – Logan Circle
James Butler 32 2.24%
Muriel Bowser 663 46.33%
Trayon White 43 3.0%
*Robert White 691 48.29%
Write-In 2 0.14%
Precinct 24 – Adams Morgan
James Butler 14 1.2%
Muriel Bowser 541 46.48%
Trayon White 9 0.77%
*Robert White 594 51.03%
Write-In 6 0.52%
Precinct 25 – Adams Morgan
James Butler 20 1.1%
Muriel Bowser 883 48.49%
Trayon White 19 1.94%
*Robert White 895 49.15%
Write-In 4 0.23%
Precinct 23 – Columbia Heights
James Butler 20 1.87%
Muriel Bowser 455 42.6%
Trayon White 49 4.59%
*Robert White 541 50.66%
Write-In 3 0.58%
Precinct 36 – Columbia Heights
James Butler 18 1.32%
Muriel Bowser 508 37.27%
Trayon White 102 7.48%
*Robert White 731 53.63%
Write-In 5 0.39%
Precinct 129 – Shaw
James Butler 43 1.67%
*Muriel Bowser 1,300 50.37%
Trayon White 148 5.73%
Robert White 1,081 41.88%
Write-In 9 0.35%
Precinct 89 – Capitol Hill
James Butler 12 0.98%
*Muriel Bowser 677 55.22%
Trayon White 14 1.14%
Robert White 521 42.5%
Write-In 2 0.16%
Precinct 90 – Capitol Hill
James Butler 7 1.14%
*Muriel Bowser 349 56.75%
Trayon White 11 1.79%
Robert White 246 40.0%
Write-In 3 0.51%
Precinct 127 – Southwest Waterfront
James Butler 13 0.84%
*Muriel Bowser 778 50.23%
Trayon White 128 8.26%
Robert White 628 40.54%
Write-In 2 0.13%
Precinct 112 – Anacostia
James Butler 18 3.59%
*Muriel Bowser 277 45.35%
Trayon White 107 21.36%
Robert White 148 29.54%
Write-In 1 0.2%
DC Democratic Primary
June 21, 2022
Final Pre-Certified Citywide Vote Count
Board of Elections
DC COUNCIL CHAIR
Erin Palmer 56,671 46.44%
*Phil Mendelson 64,877 53.16%
Write-In 406 0.32%
DC Democratic Primary
June 21, 2022
Final Pre-Certified Precinct Vote Count
Precincts With High Concentration of LGBTQ Voters
Board of Elections
DC COUNCIL CHAIR
Precinct 14 – Dupont Circle
*Erin Palmer 492 52.34%
Phil Mendelson 446 47.45%
Write-In 2 0.21%
Precinct 15 – Dupont Circle
*Erin Palmer 627 53.5%
Phil Mendelson 543 46.33%
Write-In 2 0.17%
Precinct 16 – Logan Circle
Erin Palmer 580 44.68%
*Phil Mendelson 715 55.08%
Write-In 3 0.23%
Precinct 17 – Logan Circle
*Erin Palmer 739 54.02%
Phil Mendelson 628 45.91%
Write-In 1 0.07%
Precinct 24 – Adams Morgan
*Erin Palmer 593 53.09%
Phil Mendelson 522 46.73%
Write-In 2 0.18%
Precinct 25 – Adams Morgan
Erin Palmer 866 48.93%
*Phil Mendelson 900 50.85%
Write-In 4 0.23%
Precinct 23 – Columbia Heights
*Erin Palmer 546 53.46%
Phil Mendelson 474 46.2%
Write-In 6 0.58%
Precinct 36 – Columbia Heights
*Erin Palmer 746 58.37%
Phil Mendelson 527 41.24%
Write-In 5 0.39%
Precinct 129 – Shaw
Erin Palmer 1,144 46.62%
*Phil Mendelson 1,299 52.93%
Write-In 11 0.45%
Precinct 89 – Capitol Hill
Erin Palmer 556 46.8%
*Phil Mendelson 629 52.95%
Write-In 3 0.25%
Precinct 90 – Capitol Hill
Erin Palmer 294 49.75%
Phil Mendelson 294 49.75%
Write-In 3 0.51%
Precinct 127 – Southwest Waterfront
Erin Palmer 674 45.66%
*Phil Mendelson 796 53.93%
Write-In 6 0.41%
Precinct 112 – Anacostia
Erin Palmer 168 35.52%
*Phil Mendelson 303 64.06%
Write-In 2 0.42%
DC Democratic Primary
June 21, 2022
Final Pre-Certified Citywide Vote Count
Board of Elections
DC COUNCIL AT-LARGE
Lisa Gore 33,225 28.08%
Nate Fleming 32,815 27.73%
*Anita Bonds 42,421 35.85%
Dexter Williams 9,356 7.91%
Write-In 504 0.43%
DC Democratic Primary
June 21, 2022
Final Pre-Certified Precinct Vote Count
Precincts With High Concentration of LGBTQ Voters
Board of Elections
DC COUNCIL AT-Large
Precinct 14 – Dupont Circle
Lisa Gore 309 34.14%
*Nate Fleming 311 34.36%
Anita Bonds 207 22.87%
Dexter Williams 72 7.96%
Write-In 6 0.21%
Precinct 15 – Dupont Circle
*Lisa Gore 421 38.34%
Nate Fleming 355 32.33%
Anita Bond 222 20.22%
Dexter Williams 97 8.83%
Precinct 16 – Logan Circle
Lisa Gore 371 29.87%
*Nate Fleming 437 35.19%
Anita Bonds 350 28.18%
Dexter Williams 82 6.6%
Write-In 2 0.16%
Precinct 17 – Logan Circle
*Lisa Gore 413 30.87%
Nate Fleming 401 29. 97%
Anita Bonds 420 31.39%
Dexter Williams 101 7.55%
Write-In 3 0.22$
Precinct 24 – Adams Morgan
*Lisa Gore 384 36.4%
Nate Fleming 330 31.28%
Anita Bonds 261 24.74%
Dexter Williams 80 7.58%
Write-In 0 0%
Precinct 25 – Adams Morgan
Lisa Gore 571 34.19%
*Nate Fleming 595 35.63%
Anita Bonds 362 21.68%
Dexter Williams 132 7.9%
Write-In 10 0.6%
Precinct 23 – Columbia Heights
*Lisa Gore 336 34.46%
Nate Fleming 273 28.0%
Anita Bonds 278 28.51%
Dexter Williams 85 8.72%
Write-In 3 0.31%
Precinct 36 – Columbia Heights
*Lisa Gore 418 33.76%
Nate Fleming 318 25.69%
Anita Bonds 386 31.18%
Dexter Williams 112 9.05%
Write-In 4 0.32%
Precinct 129 – Shaw
Lisa Gore 662 28.03%
Nate Fleming 695 29.42%
*Anita Bonds 800 33.87%
Dexter Williams 195 8.26%
Write-In 10 0.42%
Precinct 89 – Capitol Hill
Lisa Gore 336 29.87%
*Nate Fleming 460 40.89%
Anita Bonds 254 22.58%
Dexter Williams 68 6.04%
Write-In 7 0.62%
Precinct 90 – Capitol Hill
Lisa Gore 164 29.55%
*Nate Fleming 206 37.12%
Anita Bonds 153 27.57%
Dexter Williams 30 5.41%
Write-In 2 0.36%
Precinct 127 – Southwest Waterfront
Lisa Gore 323 22.62%
Nate Fleming 394 27.59%
*Anita Bonds 594 41.6%
Dexter Williams 115 8.05%
Write-In 2 0.14%
Precinct 112 – Anacostia
Lisa Gore 74 15.95%
Nate Fleming 103 22.2%
*Anita Bonds 249 53.66%
Dexter Williams 37 7.97%
Write-In 1 0.22%
District of Columbia
‘No Kings’ protests set for D.C.
Anti-Trump demonstrations to take place across country on Saturday
As President Donald Trump and his administration escalate rhetoric targeting transgender youth and student athletes, push efforts to restrict voting access for millions of Americans, and pursue foreign policy decisions that critics say bypass congressional authority, organizers across the country are once again mobilizing in protest.
For many LGBTQ advocates, the moment feels especially urgent.
In recent months, activists have pointed to a surge in anti-trans legislation, attacks on gender-affirming care, and efforts to roll back nondiscrimination protections as direct threats to the safety and visibility of queer and trans communities. Organizers say the demonstrations are not just about policy, but about defending the right of LGBTQ people — particularly trans youth and people of color — to live openly and safely.
Thousands of “No Kings” protests are planned nationwide, with multiple demonstrations set to take place in D.C.
One of the primary events, “No Kings Washington,” will be held in Anacostia, an overwhelmingly Black area of D.C. that is often at the center of conversations around racial justice, policing, and access to resources in the nation’s capital.
The protest in Anacostia is focused on what organizers describe as the “power behind the throne,” specifically Stephen Miller, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor. Miller has been closely associated with the administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, including the family separation practice that resulted in thousands of children being separated from their parents at the Southern border.
Activists have also linked immigration enforcement policies to broader concerns about LGBTQ migrants, including queer asylum seekers who often face heightened risks of violence and discrimination both in their home countries and within detention systems.
Anacostia protest details:
Participants are asked to gather starting at 1:30 p.m. on the southeast side of the Frederick Douglass Bridge. The closest Metro station is Anacostia on the Green Line, about an 8-minute walk from the starting point. Organizers strongly encourage attendees to use public transportation, as street parking is limited.
The march will proceed past Fort McNair and conclude near the Waterfront Metro station.
D.C. icon and LGBTQ activist Rayceen Pendarvis is set to speak at the protest around 2 p.m.
Kalorama protest details:
A separate protest will take place earlier in the day in Kalorama, a neighborhood long associated with political power and home to presidents, cabinet officials, and foreign ambassadors. Demonstrators are expected to gather at 10 a.m., with a march running until approximately noon near the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and Kalorama Road.
Arlington/National Mall protest details:
Another group is expected to assemble at Memorial Circle near Arlington National Cemetery at 10 a.m. before crossing the Memorial Bridge into D.C., passing the Lincoln Memorial and continuing on to the Washington Monument. Organizers say the march is intended to defend “American democracy, the rule of law, and a healthy planet.”
Unlike last June — when organizers discouraged large-scale demonstrations in D.C. due Trump’s military/birthday parade — activists are now explicitly calling on people to show up in the nation’s capital and surrounding areas.
The protests also coincide with Transgender Day of Visibility weekend, which includes additional gatherings and celebrations on the National Mall. At the same time, peak bloom for the National Cherry Blossom Festival is expected to draw large crowds to the city. With multiple major events happening simultaneously, officials and organizers anticipate significant congestion, increased traffic, and crowded public transit throughout the weekend.
Organizers are urging participants to plan ahead and come prepared.
“Bring your signs, noisemakers, music, and creative ideas, and gather in joyful, nonviolent protest,” they said. “Children are very welcome.”
For more information, visit nokings.org.
District of Columbia
Gay priest credited with boosting church support for LGBTQ Catholics
Fr. Tom Oddo’s biographer speaks at Dignity Washington event
The author of a biography of a U.S. Catholic priest said to have advocated for support by the Catholic Church of gay Catholics in the early 1970s has called Father Thomas ‘Tom’ Oddo a little known but important figure in the LGBTQ rights movement.
Tyler Bieber, author of the recently published book “Against The Current: Father Tom Oddo And the New American Catholic,” told of Oddo’s life and work on behalf of LGBTQ rights at a March 22 talk before the local LGBTQ Catholic group Dignity Washington.
Among Oddo’s important accomplishments, Bieber said, was his role as a co-founder of the national LGBTQ Catholic group Dignity U.S.A. in 1973 at the age of 29.
But as reported in the prologue of his book, Bieber presented details of the sad news that Oddo died in a fatal car crash in 1989 at the age of 45 in Portland, Ore., where he was serving as the highly acclaimed president of the University of Portland, a Catholic institution.
“He was a major figure in the gay rights movement in the 1970s, an unsung hero of that movement,” Bieber told Dignity Washington members, who assembled for his talk in a meeting room at St. Margaret Episcopal Church near Dupont Circle, where they attend their weekly Catholic mass on Sundays.
“And Dignity U.S.A. saw intense growth in membership and visibility” during its early years under Oddo’s leadership, Bieber said. “The story of Father Tom and his contemporaries is a story largely untold in the history of the gay rights movement, but one worth knowing and considering,” he said.
As stated in his book, Bieber told the Dignity Washington gathering Oddo was born and raised in a Catholic family on Long Island, N.Y., and attended a Catholic high school in Flushing Queens. It was at that time when he developed an interest in becoming a priest, according to Bieber.
After studying at the University of Notre Dame and completing his religious studies he was ordained as a priest in 1970 and began his work as a priest in the Boston area, Bieber said. It was around that time, Bieber told the Dignity Washington audience, that gay Catholics approached Oddo to seek advice on how they should interact with the Catholic Church. It was also around that time that Oddo became involved in a group supportive of then gay Catholics that later became a Dignity chapter in Boston.
In a development considered unusual for a Catholic priest, Bieber said Oddo in 1973 testified in support of gay rights bill before a committee of the Massachusetts Legislature and collaborated with then Massachusetts gay and lesbian rights advocate Elaine Noble.
In 1982, at the age of 39, Oddo was selected as president of the University of Portland following several years as a college teacher in the Boston area, Bieber’s book states. It says he was seen as a “vibrant and capable administrator who delivered real results to his campus,” adding, “His magnetism was obvious. One student described him as ‘John Kennedyesque’ to the university’s student newspaper.”
Bieber said that although Oddo was less active with Dignity U.S.A. during his tenure as UP president, he continued his support for gay Catholics and what is now referred to as LGBTQ rights.
“For those that knew him prior to his term at UP, though, he represented something greater than an accomplished university administrator and educator,” Bieber’s book states. “He was a new kind of priest, a gay man living and ministering in a world set loose from tradition by the Second Vatican Council,” the book says.
It was referring to the Vatican gathering of worldwide Catholic leaders from 1962 to 1965 concluding under Pope Paul VI that church observers say modernized church practices to allow far greater participation by the laity and opened the way for sympathetic consideration of gay Catholics.
District of Columbia
HRC to host National Rainbow Seder
Bet Mishpachah among annual event’s organizers
The 18th National Rainbow Seder will take place at the Human Rights Campaign on Sunday.
The sold out event is the country’s largest Passover Seder for the Jewish LGBTQ community.
Organizations behind the event include Bet Mishpachah, a local D.C. LGBTQ synagogue that Rabbi Jake Singer-Beilin leads, and GLOE, an Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center program that sponsors events for the queer Jewish community. The theme for this year’s Seder is “Liberation For All Who Journey: Remembering, Resisting, Rebuilding.” Rabbis Atara Cohen, Koach Frazier, and Avigayil Halpern will lead it.
The Seder will honor the late GLOE co-chair Michael Singer. Singer also served on the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center’s board.
“This Seder is both a celebration of how far we have come and a call to continue building a more just and inclusive world.” Bet Mishpachah Executive Director Joshua Maxey told the Washington Blade.
Trump tells Fox News he won the ‘gay vote’ — but polls tell a different story
Anti-trans visa ruling echoes Nazi regime destroying trans documents
Japanese Supreme Court to consider marriage equality
The outrage economy is not the LGBTQ community
Calendar: March 27-April 2
PHOTOS: Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th anniversary
Polish court rules country must recognize same-sex marriages from EU states
Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th anniversary gala draws sold out crowd
Trans Day of Visibility events planned
Virginia General Assembly’s 2026 legislative session ends
-
Photos5 days agoPHOTOS: Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th anniversary
-
Poland5 days ago
Polish court rules country must recognize same-sex marriages from EU states
-
District of Columbia5 days ago
Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th anniversary gala draws sold out crowd
-
District of Columbia4 days ago
Trans Day of Visibility events planned
