District of Columbia
Man who threatened D.C. hotel workers with gun pleads guilty
Tennessee suspect accepts plea offer; used anti-gay slur during incident
A 21-year-old Tennessee man arrested by D.C. police on Aug. 24 outside the Lyle Hotel near Dupont Circle for threatening two hotel workers with a handgun while saying his gun “is only for faggots” pleaded guilty on Tuesday in D.C. Superior Court as part of a plea bargain offer by prosecutors.
Dylan Nation, a resident of Ooltewah, Tenn., who was a guest at the hotel at the time of the incident, pleaded guilty on Aug. 30 to Attempted Assault with a Dangerous Weapon and Carrying a Pistol Without A License Outside a Home or Business.
In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors with the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia agreed to drop the charges initially filed against him by D.C. police of Assault With A Dangerous Weapon and Possession of a Firearm During a Crime of Violence. The plea agreement calls for leaving in place the charge of Carrying a Pistol Without a License that was filed by D.C. police at the time of Nation’s arrest.
Over the objections of Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Courtney, the lead prosecutor in the case, Judge Michael O’Keefe agreed to a request by defense attorney Steven Ogilvie that Nation be released from jail while he awaits a sentencing hearing scheduled for Oct. 26.
Ogilvie noted that Nation has no prior arrest record or involvement in any past illegal activity. He told the judge that Nation’s parents and his girlfriend, who the attorney said was Nation’s fiancé, were present in the courtroom as a show of support for him and his commitment to stay out of trouble upon his release.
“He had too much to drink,” Ogilvie said in referring to a possible reason for his client’s brandishing a gun at the hotel. “I don’t think we will see any trouble from him.”
An arrest affidavit filed in court by D.C. police last week says the gun related incident at the Lyle Hotel, which was formerly known as the Carlyle Hotel, began about 1:20 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 24, when a hotel security worker observed Nation engaged in a verbal altercation with a woman identified as his girlfriend outside the front entrance of the hotel located at 1731 New Hampshire Ave., N.W.
The affidavit says the security worker intervened to deescalate the altercation and escorted Nation and his girlfriend back into the hotel lobby. Once inside, Nation requested and was given permission to go to his car in the hotel parking lot to get some face wipes, and another hotel worker escorted him to the car, the affidavit says. When he reached the car Nation removed a handgun from the glove compartment and began threatening the worker who escorted him to the car and the security officer, who minutes later had walked to the site of the car.
The security worker, who is identified in the affidavit as Complainant 1, told Nation that guns were not allowed in the hotel and asked him to put the gun back in the car. “Complainant 1 stated that while in the back parking lot the suspect points the gun at him and tells him he will blow his skull off,” the affidavit states.
It says police obtained a security camera video from the hotel that also includes an audio recording in which voices of the hotel workers and Nation could be heard during the workers’ attempt to get Nation to return the gun to the car.
According to the affidavit, Nation is heard in the recording refusing to put the gun back in the car and telling the workers he didn’t feel safe being around them and they are not tough because they “are from the faggot part of D.C. and that his gun is only for faggots and pussies.”
The affidavit says the security worker reached for the gun and took it out of Nation’s hand without incident and brought it to the hotel lobby and removed the bullets from the loaded gun. It says Nation fled from the hotel after hearing sirens from arriving police cars and after the hotel security worker told him police had been called.
The security worker chased after Nation and tackled him to the ground a block away from the hotel and held him until police placed him under arrest, the affidavit states.
During the Aug. 30 court hearing in which Nation pleaded guilty to the lesser charges, defense attorney Ogilvie told the judge Nation had voluntarily surrendered the gun to the security worker. Ogilvie said Nation has since taken full responsibility for his actions.
In response to a series of questions from Judge O’Keefe asking whether he fully understood the terms of the plea agreement, in which he would be waiving his right to a jury trial, Nation repeatedly answered “yes.”
“We are grateful no one was harmed as a result of this incident, and we are grateful to our security team for their quick reaction as well as the support of the D.C. police,” Lyle Hotel spokesperson Ab Kwawu told the Blade in an email message in response to the Blade’s request for comment.
“During the process of de-escalation and while working with D.C. Police to make an arrest, the suspect hurled hateful slurs at our employee regarding the LGBTQIA community,” Kwawu said in his message. “We wholeheartedly condemn the use of such words and work hard to provide an inclusive and safe space for our neighbors, guests, and community here at Lyle D.C.,” he said.
Neither D.C. police nor prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s office classified the incident as a hate crime.
District of Columbia
D.C. police arrest man for burglary at gay bar Spark Social House
Suspect ID’d from images captured by Spark Social House security cameras
D.C. police on Feb. 18 arrested a 63-year-old man “of no fixed address” for allegedly stealing cash from the registers at the gay bar Spark Social House after unlawfully entering the bar at 2009 14th St., N.W., around 12:04 a.m. after it had closed for business, according to a police incident report.
“Later that day officers canvassing for the suspect located him nearby,” a separate police statement says. “63-year-old Tony Jones of no fixed address was arrested and charged with Burglary II,” the statement says.
The police incident report states that the bar’s owner, Nick Tsusaki, told police investigators that the bar’s security cameras captured the image of a man who has frequently visited the bar and was believed to be homeless.
“Once inside, the defendant was observed via the establishment’s security cameras opening the cash register, removing U.S. currency, and placing the currency into the left front pocket of his jacket,” the report says.
Tsusaki told the Washington Blade that he and Spark’s employees have allowed Jones to enter the bar many times since it opened last year to use the bathroom in a gesture of compassion knowing he was homeless. Tsusaki said he is not aware of Jones ever having purchased anything during his visits.
According to Tsusaki, Spark closed for business at around 10:30 p.m. on the night of the incident at which time an employee did not properly lock the front entrance door. He said no employees or customers were present when the security cameras show Jones entering Spark through the front door around 12:04 a.m.
Tsusaki said the security camera images show Jones had been inside Spark for about three hours on the night of the burglary and show him taking cash out of two cash registers. He took a total of $300, Tsusaki said.
When Tsusaki and Spark employees arrived at the bar later in the day and discovered the cash was missing from the registers they immediately called police, Tsusaki told the Blade. Knowing that Jones often hung out along the 2000 block of 14th Street where Spark is located, Tsusaki said he went outside to look for him and saw him across the street and pointed Jones out to police, who then placed him under arrest.
A police arrest affidavit filed in court states that at the time they arrested him police found the stolen cash inside the pocket of the jacket Jones was wearing. It says after taking him into police custody officers found a powdered substance in a Ziploc bag also in Jones’s possession that tested positive for cocaine, resulting in him being charged with cocaine possession in addition to the burglary charge.
D.C. Superior Court records show a judge ordered Jones held in preventive detention at a Feb. 19 presentment hearing. The judge then scheduled a preliminary hearing for the case on Feb. 20, the outcome of which couldn’t immediately be obtained.
District of Columbia
Judge rescinds order against activist in Capital Pride lawsuit
Darren Pasha accused of stalking organization staff, board members, volunteers
A D.C. Superior Court judge on Feb.18 agreed to rescind his earlier ruling declaring local gay activist Darren Pasha in default for failing to attend a virtual court hearing regarding an anti-stalking lawsuit brought against him by the Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes D.C.’s annual Pride events.
The Capital Pride lawsuit, initially filed on Oct. 27, 2025, accuses Pasha of engaging in a year-long “course of conduct” of “harassment, intimidation, threats, manipulation, and coercive behavior” targeting Capital Pride staff, board members, and volunteers.
In his own court filings without retaining an attorney, Pasha has strongly denied the stalking related allegations against him, saying “no credible or admissible evidence has been provided” to show he engaged in any wrongdoing.
Judge Robert D. Okum nevertheless on Feb. 6 approved a temporary stay-away order requiring Pasha to stay at least 100 feet away from Capital Pride’s staff, volunteers, and board members until the time of a follow-up court hearing scheduled for April 17. He reduced the stay-away distance from 200 yards as requested by Capital Pride.
In his two-page order issued on Feb. 18, Okun stated that Pasha explained that he was involved in a scooter accident in which he was injured and his phone was damaged, preventing him from joining the Feb. 6 court hearing.
“Therefore, the court finds there is a good cause for vacating the default,” Okun states in his order.
At the time he initially approved the default order at the Feb. 6 hearing that Pasha didn’t attend, Okun scheduled an April 17 ex parte proof hearing in which Capital Pride could have requested a ruling in its favor seeking a permanent anti-stalking order against Pasha.
In his Feb. 18 ruling rescinding the default order Okun changed the April 17 ex parte proof hearing to an initial scheduling conference hearing in which a decision on the outcome of the case is not likely to happen.
In addition, he agreed to consider Pasha’s call for a jury trial and gave Capital Pride 14 days to contest that request. The Capital Pride lawsuit initially called for a non-jury trial by judge.
One request by Pasha that Okum denied was a call for him to order Capital Pride to stop its staff or volunteers from posting information about the lawsuit on social media. Pasha has said the D.C.-based online blog called DC Homos, which Pasha claims is operated by someone associated with Capital Pride, has been posting articles portraying him in a negative light and subjecting him to highly negative publicity.
“The defendant has not set forth a sufficient basis for the court to restrict the plaintiff’s social media postings, and the court therefore will deny the defendant’s request in his social media praecipe,” Okun states in his order.
A praecipe is a formal written document requesting action by a court.
Pasha called the order a positive development in his favor. He said he plans to file another motion with more information about what he calls the unfair and defamatory reports about him related to the lawsuit by DC Homos, with a call for the judge to reverse his decision not to order Capital Pride to stop social media postings about the lawsuit.
Pasha points to a video interview on the LGBTQ Team Rayceen broadcast, a link to which he sent to the Washington Blade, in which DC Homos operator Jose Romero acknowledged his association with Capital Pride Alliance.
Capital Pride Executive Director Ryan Bos didn’t immediately respond to a message from the Blade asking whether Romero was a volunteer or employee with Capital Pride.
Pasha also said he believes the latest order has the effect of rescinding the temporary stay away order against him approved by Okun in his earlier ruling, even though Okun makes no mention of the stay away order in his latest ruling. Capital Pride attorney Nick Harrison told the Blade the stay away order “remains in full force and effect.”
Harrison said Capital Pride has no further comment on the lawsuit.
District of Columbia
Trans activists arrested outside HHS headquarters in D.C.
Protesters demonstrated directive against gender-affirming care
Authorities on Tuesday arrested 24 activists outside the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services headquarters in D.C.
The Gender Liberation Movement, a national organization that uses direct action, media engagement, and policy advocacy to defend bodily autonomy and self-determination, organized the protest in which more than 50 activists participated. Organizers said the action was a response to changes in federal policy mandated by Executive Order 14187, titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.”
The order directs federal agencies and programs to work toward “significantly limiting youth access to gender-affirming care nationwide,” according to KFF, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that provides independent, fact-based information on national health issues. The executive order also includes claims about gender-affirming care and transgender youth that critics have described as misinformation.
Members of ACT UP NY and ACT UP Pittsburgh also participated in the demonstration, which took place on the final day of the public comment period for proposed federal rules that would restrict access to gender-affirming care.
Demonstrators blocked the building’s main entrance, holding a banner reading “HANDS OFF OUR ‘MONES,” while chanting, “HHS—RFK—TRANS YOUTH ARE NO DEBATE” and “NO HATE—NO FEAR—TRANS YOUTH ARE WELCOME HERE.”
“We want trans youth and their loving families to know that we see them, we cherish them, and we won’t let these attacks go on without a fight,” said GLM co-founder Raquel Willis. “We also want all Americans to understand that Trump, RFK, and their HHS won’t stop at trying to block care for trans youth — they’re coming for trans adults, for those who need treatment from insulin to SSRIs, and all those already failed by a broken health insurance system.”
“It is shameful and intentional that this administration is pitting communities against one another by weaponizing Medicaid funding to strip care from trans youth. This has nothing to do with protecting health and everything to do with political distraction,” added GLM co-founder Eliel Cruz. “They are targeting young people to deflect from their failure to deliver for working families across the country. Instead of restricting care, we should be expanding it. Healthcare is a human right, and it must be accessible to every person — without cost or exception.”
Despite HHS’s efforts to restrict gender-affirming care for trans youth, major medical associations — including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Endocrine Society — continue to regard such care as evidence-based treatment. Gender-affirming care can include psychotherapy, social support, and, when clinically appropriate, puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
The protest comes amid broader shifts in access to care nationwide.
NYU Langone Health recently announced it will stop providing transition-related medical care to minors and will no longer accept new patients into its Transgender Youth Health Program following President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order targeting trans healthcare.
PHOTOS: Queen of Hearts
New book profiles LGBTQ Ukrainians, documents war experiences
More than a dozen LGBTQ athletes medal at Olympics
Rob Jetten becomes first gay Dutch prime minister
US Embassy in Mexico issues shelter in place order for Puerto Vallarta
Judge rescinds order against activist in Capital Pride lawsuit
Trans activists arrested outside HHS headquarters in D.C.
How do we honor Renee Good, Alex Pretti?
Calendar: February 20-26
