District of Columbia

Gay incumbent challenges petition signatures of gay opponent in ANC race

Rivals clash over Shaw bike lane project

Published

4 years ago

August 24, 2022

Alexander ‘Alex’ Padro opposes the Shaw bike lane project.

Gay D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Michael Eichler, who represents the newly configured ANC Single Member District 2G02 in the city’s Shaw neighborhood, has filed a challenge to the petition signatures of his opponent, gay former Shaw ANC commissioner Alexander ‘Alex’ Padro, before the D.C. Board of Elections.

Eichler and Padro are among at least a dozen confirmed openly LGBTQ candidates running for Advisory Neighborhood Commission seats in the city’s Nov. 8 election, although activists believe there are far more out LGBTQ ANC candidates who have yet to be identified.

Padro told the Washington Blade Eichler has challenged seven signatures of the 32 he obtained from residents of the ANC district. Twenty-five valid signatures are required for an ANC candidate to be placed on the ballot. Padro said he is certain that all but one of the seven challenged signatures will be upheld by the Board of Elections as valid.

“This is not a challenge that will bear fruit,” he said.

“I am challenging his petition because it’s part of the process,” Eichler told the Blade in an email message. “I reviewed the signatures and found some irregularities,” he said. “The only way to resolve those irregularities is through a petition challenge.”

The Board of Elections is scheduled to make a final determination on Sept. 12 on whether the petition challenge will be upheld or turned down.

Eichler and Padro each said the main issue the two have clashed over in the past and that will likely be one of the lead issues before voters in the Shaw ANC election is the D.C. Department of Transportation’s controversial 9th Street, N.W. bike lane project.

Eichler, who describes himself as an environmentalist and advocate for ending what he calls “traffic violence,” has been a leading supporter of the project, among other things, on grounds that it will help curtail a growing number of pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities caused by vehicles operated by reckless drivers.

Padro, who serves as executive director of Shaw Main Streets, a nonprofit group that advocates for Shaw historic preservation and support for community-based businesses, has been a vocal opponent of the project on grounds that it will harm Shaw businesses.

The project, which has the support of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, calls for installing a 1.6-mile protected bike lane connecting Florida Avenue/U Street on its north end to Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., to the south.

Part of the project has already been put in place along 9th Street between T Street and the block where U Street becomes Florida Avenue in the heart of the Shaw business and nightlife district. The area is sometimes referred to as Little Ethiopia because many Ethiopian owned bars and restaurants are located along 9th Street between T and U Streets.

Nellie’s Sports Bar, one of the city’s popular gay bars, is located at the corner of 9th and U Streets.

According to Padro, the installation of the one-block long bike lane on the east side of 9th Street in the Shaw business district involved closing one of the two northbound traffic lanes to make room for the bike lane. He said the change created an immediate hardship for the businesses along the street by eliminating parking spaces and making it difficult for trucks to deliver supplies to the businesses.

He said he met about two weeks ago with representatives of the businesses along the 1900 block of 9th Street, where the bike lane was installed, and was told of the problems they have encountered. “They are already registering losses of sales from 40 to 50 percent,” Padro said. “There will be businesses that will fail.”

Eichler has pointed to studies conducted by the Department of Transportation, known as DDOT, which show removal of the 9th Street traffic lane for vehicles would result in a minimal impact on traffic congestion and instead would lead to lower vehicular speeds, making the street safer for bicyclists, pedestrians, and drivers. Bike lane supporters have also argued that businesses have not been significantly impacted by bike lanes in other parts of the city.

LGBTQ activists have said the LGBTQ community, like city residents in general, is divided over bike lane projects in different parts of the city, including the 17th Street, N.W. commercial strip near Dupont Circle that has several LGBTQ owned and supportive bars and restaurants.

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District of Columbia

Whitman-Walker Health to present ‘Pro Bono Excellence’ award to law firm

Health center set to celebrate 40th anniversary of legal services program

Published

5 hours ago

April 14, 2026

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Whitman-Walker Health’s Pro Bono Excellence award is named for Dale Edwin Sanders. (Photo courtesy of the family)

Whitman-Walker Health, the D.C.-based community healthcare center that specializes in HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ-related health services, announced it will present its annual Dale Edwin Sanders Award for Pro Bono Excellence to the international law firm McDermott Will & Schulte at a May 6 ceremony.

“This year’s award is especially significant as it coincides with the 40^th anniversary of Whitman-Walker Health’s Legal Services Program, marking it as the nation’s longest running medical-legal partnership,” a statement released by Whitman-Walker says.

“As a national leader in public health, Whitman-Walker celebrates our partnership with McDermott to strengthen the health center and to enable Whitman-Walker to reach more medical and legal clients,” the statement adds.

“McDermott’s firm-wide commitment to Whitman-Walker’s medical-legal partnership demonstrates a shared vision to serve those most in need,” Amy Nelson, Whitman-Walker’s director of Legal Services, says in the statement. “Our work protects individuals and families who face discrimination and hostility as they navigate increasingly complex administrative systems,” Nelson said.

“Pro bono legal services – like that of McDermott Will & Schulte – find solutions for people who have no place else to turn in the face of financial and health threats,” she added.

“Our partnership with Whitman-Walker Health is a treasured commitment to serving our neighbors and communities,” Steven Schnelle, one of the law firm’s partners said in the statement. “We are deeply moved by Whitman-Walker’s unwavering dedication to inclusion, respect, and equitable access to health care and social services,” he said.

The statement notes that the award for Pro Bono Excellence honors the legacy of the late gay attorney Dale Edwin Sanders. It says Sanders’s pro bono legal work for Whitman-Walker clients “shaped HIV/AIDS law for more than four decades by securing key victories on behalf of individuals whose employment and patient rights were violated.”

It says the Whitman-Walker Legal Services program began during the early years of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s at a time when people with AIDS faced widespread discrimination and often needed legal assistance. According to the statement, the program evolved over the years and expanded to advocate for transgender people and immigrants.

Whitman-Walker spokesperson Lisa Amore said the presentation of the Dale Edwin Sanders Pro Bono Excellency Award will be held at the May 6 fundraising benefit for Whitman-Walker’s Legal Services Program. She said the event will take place at the offices of the DC law firm Baker McKenzie and ticket availability can be accessed here: https://www.whitman-walker.org/gtem-2026/

District of Columbia

Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel

Two memorial events scheduled in D.C.

Published

4 days ago

April 10, 2026

Tinashe Chingarande

(Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

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.).

District of Columbia

D.C. Council member honored by LGBTQ homeless youth group

Doni Crawford receives inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award

Published

6 days ago

April 8, 2026

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Wanda Alston Foundation Director Cesar Toledo presents the Wanda Alston Legacy Award to DC Councilmember Doni Crawford at an April 7 award event at Crush Bar. (Washington Blade photo by Lou Chibbaro, Jr.)

About 100 people turned out Tuesday evening, April 7, for a presentation by D.C.’s Wanda Alston Foundation of its inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award to D.C. Council member Doni Crawford (I-At-Large) for her support for the foundation’s mission to support homeless LGBTQ youth.

Among those who attended the event was Japer Bowles, director of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, who delivered an official proclamation issued by Bowser declaring April 7, 2026 “A Day of Remembrance for Wanda Alston.”

Alston, a beloved women’s and LGBTQ rights activist, served as the city’s first director of the then newly created Office of LGBTQ Affairs under then-Mayor Anthony Williams from 2004 until her death by murder on March 16, 2005.

To the shock and dismay of fellow LGBTQ rights advocates, police and court records reported Alston, 45, was stabbed to death inside her Northeast D.C. house by a man high on crack cocaine who lived nearby and who stole her credit cards and car. The perpetrator, William Martin Parrott, 38, was arrested by D.C. police the next day and later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was sentenced in July 2005 to 24 years in prison.

Crawford was among those attending the award event who reflected on Alston’s legacy and outspoken advocacy for LGBTQ and feminist causes.

“I am deeply humbled and honored to receive this inaugural award,” Crawford told the Washington Blade at the conclusion of the event. “I think the world of Wanda Alston. She has set such a great foundation for me and other Council members to build on,” she said.

“Her focus on inclusivity and intersectionality is really important as we approach this work,” Crawford added. “And it’s going to guide my work at the Council every day.”

Crawford was appointed to the D.C. Council in January of this year to replace then Council member Kenyan McDuffie (I-At-Large), who resigned to run for D.C. mayor as a Democrat. She is being challenged by four other independent candidates in a June 16 special election for the Council seat.

Under the city’s Home Rule Charter written and approved by Congress, the seat is one of two D.C. Council at-large seats that cannot be held by a “majority party” candidate, meaning a Democrat.

A statement released by the Alston Foundation last month announcing Crawford’s selection for the Wanda Alston Legacy Award praised Crawford’s record of support for its work on behalf of LGBTQ youth.

“From behind the scenes to now serving as an At-Large Council member, she has fought fearlessly for affordable housing, LGBTQ+ funding priorities, and racial justice,” the statement says. “Council member Crawford’s leadership reflects the same courage and conviction that defined Wanda’s legacy.”

Organizers of the event noted that it was held on what would have been Wanda Alston’s 67th birthday.

“Today’s legacy reception was a smashing success,” said Cesar Toledo, the Alston Foundation’s executive director. “Not only did we come together to celebrate Wanda Alston on her birthday, but we also were able to raise over $10,000 for our homeless LGBTQ youth here in D.C.,” Toledo told the Blade.

“In addition to that, we celebrated and we acknowledged a rising star in our community,” he said. “And that is At-Large Council member Doni Crawford, who we named the inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award recipient.”

At the request of D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) the Council voted unanimously on Jan. 20, 2026, to appoint Crawford to the Council seat being vacated by McDuffie.

Council records show she joined McDuffie’s Council staff in 2022 as a policy adviser and later became his legislative director before McDuffie appointed her as staff director for the Council’s Committee on Business and Economic Development for which McDuffie served as chair.