District of Columbia
D.C. Council poised for first out gay member since 2015
Parker favored to win in Ward 5; Bowser, Mendelson expected to prevail
In a city whose voters, including LGBTQ voters, are overwhelmingly Democratic, D.C. Democratic elected officials – including Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson – are considered the odds-on favorites to win reelection in the city’s Nov. 8 election.
Among the non-incumbent Democrats expected to win is gay Ward 5 D.C. Council candidate Zachary Parker, who most political observers say will become the first openly gay member of the D.C. Council since 2015, when then gay Council members David Catania (I-At-Large) and Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) left the Council.
Parker is an elected member of the nonpartisan D.C. State Board of Education. He won the Ward 5 Democratic primary on June 21 in a hotly contested, seven-candidate race, beating, among others, former Ward 5 Council member Vincent Orange. He is considered the strong favorite against his lesser-known Republican opponent, Clarence Lee, in the Nov. 8 general election.
Two other out gay candidates are also on the Nov. 8 D.C. election ballot, but they are considered far less likely to win than Parker. Both are running as Libertarian Party candidates. Bruce Majors is running for the D.C. congressional delegate seat held by longtime incumbent and LGBTQ rights supporter Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), who is considered the strong favorite to win reelection. Also running for the congressional delegate seat is Statehood Green Party candidate Natalie Stracuzzi.
The other out gay Libertarian, Adrian Salsgiver, is running for the Ward 3 D.C. Council seat against Democratic nominee Matthew Frumin and Republican David Krucoff. The Ward 3 seat became open when incumbent Democrat Mary Cheh announced she would not run for reelection. Both Frumin and Krucoff have expressed support for LGBTQ rights.
Bowser, who has a long record of support on LGBTQ issues, is similarly considered the strong favorite to finish ahead of her general election challengers, who include Republican Stacia Hall, Independent Rodney Red Grant, and Libertarian Party candidate Dennis Sobin.
Council Chair Mendelson, also a longtime LGBTQ rights supporter, is considered the favorite to win against his challengers – Republican Nate Darenge and Statehood Green Party candidate Darryl Moch.
In a development that surprised some political observers, the Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political group, endorsed D.C. Council member Robert White (D-At-Large) against Bowser and Democratic challenger Erin Palmer against Mendelson in the June 21 Democratic primary.
A short time after the primary, when Bowser and Mendelson emerged as the clear winners, Capital Stonewall Democrats endorsed Bowser, Mendelson, and the Democratic nominees in all of the other races.
Among the other races is the contest for two at-large D.C. Council seats, which has emerged as the only race in which the outcome is considered uncertain in the Nov. 8 D.C. general election. And some political observers believe the LGBTQ vote could be the decisive factor in determining the two winners in that race.
Under the city’s Home Rule Charter approved by Congress in the early 1970s, two of the city’s four at-large Council members must belong to a non-majority political party or be an independent.
Longtime LGBTQ rights supporter Anita Bonds holds the Democratic seat up for election this year. The other seat is held by independent incumbent Elisa Silverman, who has also been a strong supporter on LGBTQ issues. Six others are competing for the two seats, with voters having the option of voting for two of the eight contenders.
They include Democrat-turned-independent Kenyan McDuffie, who currently holds the Ward 5 D.C. Council seat; Republican Giuseppe Niosi, who, along with his wife and child, rode in D.C.’s Capital Pride Parade in June; Statehood Green Party candidate David Schwartzman; and independent candidates Graham McLaughlin, Fred Hill, and Karim Marshall. McDuffie has a record of support for LGBTQ rights on the Council and the others have each expressed support for LGBTQ rights.
McLaughlin, a former corporate manager and small business advocate, has said he has worked with LGBTQ organizations, including the Trevor Project, in his role as an advocate for homeless youth.
The Capital Stonewall Democrats has endorsed Bonds for reelection but decided not to make an endorsement for the non-Democrat seat, saying to do so would be backing someone running against Democrat Bonds.
In addition to the Ward 3 and Ward 5 Council races, D.C. Council seats in Wards 1 and 6 are up for election on Nov. 8. In the Ward 1 race, incumbent Democrat Brianne Nadeau, a longtime LGBTQ rights supporter, is considered the strong favorite over Statehood Green Party challenger Chris Otten.
Capital Stonewall Democrats endorsed Nadeau in both the Nov. 8 general election and in the June primary when out gay Democrat and former D.C. police officer Salah Czapary challenged her.
LGBTQ activists who supported Czapary said the LGBTQ voters who backed Nadeau over Czapary based their decision clearly on non-LGBTQ issues – just as most LGBTQ voters are expected to continue to do on Nov. 8 in a city where all candidates with any chance of winning support LGBT rights.
In the case of the Nadeau-Czapary rivalry, Nadeau is considered to be among the progressive-left faction of the Democratic Party, with Czapary falling into the moderate Democratic faction. With the Democratic Party dominating D.C. politics, the liberal left versus moderate factions appears to be the dividing line in D.C. Democratic primaries.
The remaining Council seat up for election this year is in Ward 6, where incumbent Democrat Charles Allen, yet another longtime LGBTQ rights supporter, is running unopposed on Nov. 8.
In the sometimes-overlooked race for the position of U.S. Representative to Congress, which is widely referred to as D.C.’s “shadow” U.S. House seat, incumbent Democrat Oye Owolewa is considered the favorite over Statehood Green Party challenger Joyce Robinson-Paul. Capital Stonewall Democrats has endorsed Owolewa, who has expressed support for LGBTQ rights.
The shadow House position, which has no congressional powers, was created in an amendment to the D.C. home rule charter as a position to lobby Congress for D.C. statehood and D.C. congressional voting rights.
In the race for D.C. Attorney General, Democrat Brian Schwalb, who won the Democratic primary in June, is running unopposed in the Nov. 8 general election. He, too, has expressed support for LGBTQ rights issues.
Longtime D.C. gay Democratic activist Earl Fowlkes, who serves as executive director of the D.C.-based national LGBTQ advocacy group Center for Black Equity, is among those who have said D.C.’s LGBTQ residents sometimes don’t appreciate the supportive political climate of the local D.C. government.
“One of the incredible things that’s happened in D.C. in the last 27 years I’ve been here is the fact that LGBTQ+ issues have been brought to the forefront and there is a universal agreement among almost anyone running for any position or office that they have to be strong in supporting LGBTQ+ issues,” Fowlkes told the Blade.
“This is one of the great places in the world to live in,” he said. “And thanks to our political system and the people who run for office who understand and have their finger on the pulse of the community, LGBTQ people are considered equal citizens in the District,” Fowlkes said. “And there’s a lot of places in this country not far from here who can’t say that.”
In races that traditionally have been nonpartisan, seats on the D.C. State Board of Education are up for election on Nov. 8 for Wards 1, 3, 5, and 6. The Capital Stonewall Democrats has not taken a position on Board of Education candidates.
And the D.C. Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance (GLAA), which rates candidates for mayor, D.C. Council, and Attorney General, does not issue ratings for school board candidates, nor does it rate candidates for congressional delegate or the shadow House seat.
Founded in 1971, GLAA is a nonpartisan, all volunteer LGBTQ advocacy group that bills itself as the nation’s oldest, continuously operating LGBTQ organization. It has been rating local D.C. candidates since the 1970s on a rating scale of -10 to +10, which is the highest possible rating score showing strong support for LGBTQ equality.
But in the past year it has received criticism from some local LGBTQ activists for basing its ratings on mostly non-LGBTQ specific issues that critics say represent a progressive left viewpoint.
Among the issues the group asks all candidates to take a position on in a required 10-question questionnaire it sends to candidates are decriminalization of sex work, reallocating funds from the police budget for violence prevention programs, support for affordable housing programs for low-income residents, and support for removing criminal penalties for illegal drug possession for personal use.
Other questions in the GLAA questionnaire ask candidates about whether LGBTQ people should have access to a housing voucher program, increasing funding for the Office of Human Rights, which enforces nondiscrimination laws pertaining to LGBTQ people, and whether the city’s tipped minimum wage law should be repealed.
The tipped wage law is the subject of an initiative on the Nov. 8 D.C. election ballot called Initiative 82, which calls for repealing the lower minimum wage for tipped workers and raising it to the full D.C. minimum wage.
GLAA President Tyrone Hanley has said important so-called non-LGBTQ issues such as affordable housing impact LGBTQ people just as they impact all others, and it’s important to ask candidates running for public office to take a stand on those issues.
The group in October released its numerical ratings along with the responses to its questionnaire for 14 candidates that returned the questionnaire, including Mayor Bowser, who the group assigned a +6 rating. For 10 candidates that did not return the questionnaire, GLAA assigned a “0” rating.
Below is a list of the candidates that GLAA has rated along with their ratings. Also below is a link to the group’s explanation for why it issued its specific rating scores and to the questionnaire responses from the 14 candidates that returned the GLAA questionnaire.
D.C. Mayor
Muriel Bowser (D) – +6
Rhonda Hamilton (I) Write-In candidate — +4
Stacia Hall (R) – 0
Dennis Sobin (Libertarian) – 0
Rodney Red Grant (I) — 0
D.C. Council Chair
Phil Mendelson (D) +6
Nate Derenge (R) – 0
Darry Moch (Statehood Green) – 0
D.C. Council At-Large
Elissa Silverman (I) — +7
Kenyan McDuffie (I) — +6.5
Anita Bonds (D) — +6
David Schwartzman (Statehood Green) +6
Graham McLaughlin (I) — +5
Karim Marshall (I) — +4
Giuseppe Niosi (R) – 0
Fred Hill (I) – 0
D.C. Council Ward 1
Brianne Nadeau (D) — +9.5
Chris Otten (Statehood Green) – 0
D.C. Council Ward 5
Zachary Parker (D) +6.5
Clarence Lee (R) – 0
D.C. Council Ward 6
Charles Allen (D) +8.5
D.C. Attorney General
Brian Schwalb (D) +6
Copies of the candidates’ GLAA questionnaire responses and GLAA’s explanation for why it issued specific ratings for the candidates can be accessed here.
In an official statement released at the reveal event Capital Pride Alliance described its just announced 2026 Pride theme of “Exist, Resist, Have the Audacity” as a “bold declaration affirming the presence, resilience, and courage of LGBTQ+ people around the world.”
The statement adds, “Grounded in the undeniable truth that our existence is not up for debate, this year’s theme calls on the community to live loudly and proudly, stand firm against injustice and erasure, and embody the collective strength that has always defined the LGBTQ+ community.”
In a reference to the impact of the hostile political climate, the statement says, “In a time when LGBTQ+ rights and history continue to face challenges, especially in our Nation’s Capital, where policy and public discourse shape the future of our country, together, we must ensure that our voices are visible, heard, and unapologetically centered.”
The statement also quotes Capital Pride Alliance CEO and President Ryan Bos’s message at the Reveal event: “This year’s theme is both a declaration and a demand,” Bos said. “Exist, Resist, Have Audacity! reflects the resilience of our community and our responsibility to protect the progress we’ve made. As we look toward our nation’s 250th anniversary, we affirm that LGBTQ+ people have always been and always will be part of the United States’s history, and we will continue shaping its future with strength and resolve,” he concluded.
District of Columbia
Capital Pride board member resigns, alleges failure to address ‘sexual misconduct’
In startling letter, Taylor Chandler says board’s inaction protected ‘sexual predator’
Taylor Lianne Chandler, a member of the Capital Pride Alliance Board of Directors since 2019 who most recently served as the board’s secretary, submitted a letter of resignation on Feb. 24 that alleges the board has failed to address instances of “sexual misconduct” within the Capital Pride organization.
The Washington Blade received a copy of Chandler’s resignation letter one day after she submitted it from an anonymous source. Chandler, who identifies as transgender and intersex, said in an interview that she did not send the letter to the Blade, but she suspected someone associated with Capital Pride, which organizes D.C.’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, “wants it out in the open.”
“It is with a heavy heart, but with absolute clarity, that I submit my resignation from the Capital Pride Alliance Board of Directors effective immediately,” Chandler states in her letter. “I have devoted nearly ten years of my life to this organization,” she wrote, pointing to her initial involvement as a volunteer and later as a producer of events as chair of the organization’s Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, and Intersex Committee.
“Capital Pride once meant something profound to me – a space of safety, visibility, and community for people who have often been denied all three,” her letter continues. “That is no longer the organization I am part of today.”
“I, along with other board members, brought forward credible concerns regarding sexual misconduct – a pattern of behavior spanning years – to the attention of this board,” Chandler states in the letter. “What followed was not accountability. What followed was retaliation. Rather than addressing the substance of what was reported, officers and fellow board members chose to chastise those of us who came forward.”
The letter adds, “This board has made its priorities clear through its actions: protecting a sexual predator matters more than protecting the people who had the courage to come forward. … I have been targeted, bullied, and made to feel like an outsider for doing what any person of integrity would do – telling the truth.”
In response to a request from the Blade for comment, Anna Jinkerson, who serves as chair of the Capital Pride board, sent the Blade a statement praising Taylor Chandler’s efforts as a Capital Pride volunteer and board member but did not specifically address the issue of alleged sexual misconduct.
“We’re also aware that her resignation letter has been shared with the media and has listed concerns,” Jinkerson said in her statement. “When concerns are brought to CPA, we act quickly and appropriately to address them,” she said.
“As we continue to grow our organization, we’re proactively strengthening the policies and procedures that shape our systems, our infrastructure, and the support we provide to our team and partners,” Jinkerson said in her statement. “We’re doing this because the community’s experience with CPA must always be safe, affirming, empowering, and inclusive,” she added.
In an interview with the Blade, Chandler said she was not the target of the alleged sexual harassment.
She said a Capital Pride investigation identified one individual implicated in a “pattern” of sexual harassment related behavior over a period of time. But she said she was bound by a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) that applies to all board members and she cannot disclose the name of the person implicated in alleged sexual misconduct or those who came forward to complain about it.
“It was one individual, but there was a pattern and a history,” Chandler said, noting that was the extent of what she can disclose.
“And I’ll say this,” she added. “In my opinion, with gay culture sometimes the touchy feely-ness that goes on seems to be like just part of the culture, not necessarily the same as a sexual assault or whatever. But at the same time, if someone does not want those advances and they’re saying no and trying to push you away and trying to avoid you, then it makes it that way regardless of the culture.”
When asked about when the allegations of sexual harassment first surfaced, Chandler said, “In the past year is when the allegation came forward from one individual. But in the course of this all happening, other individuals came forward and talked about instances – several which showed a pattern.”
Chandler’s resignation comes about five months after Capital Pride Alliance announced in a statement released in October 2025 that its then board president, Ashley Smith, resigned from his position on Oct. 18 after Capital Pride became aware of a “claim” regarding Smith. The statement said the group retained an independent firm to investigate the matter, but it released no further details since that time. Smith has declined to comment on the matter.
When asked by the Blade if the Smith resignation could be linked in some way to allegations of sexual misconduct, Chandler said, “I can’t make a comment one way or the other on that.”
Chandler’s resignation and allegations come after Capital Pride Alliance has been credited with playing the lead role in organizing the World Pride celebration hosted by D.C. in which dozens of LGBTQ-related Pride events were held from May through June of 2025.
The letter of resignation also came just days before Capital Pride Alliance’s annual “Reveal” event scheduled for Feb. 26 at the Hamilton Hotel in which the theme for D.C.’s June 2026 LGBTQ Pride events was to be announced along with other Pride plans.
District of Columbia
Capital Stonewall Democrats elect new leaders
LGBTQ political group set to celebrate 50th anniversary
Longtime Democratic Party activists Stevie McCarty and Brad Howard won election last week as president and vice president for administration for the Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political organization.
In a Feb. 24 announcement, the group said McCarty and Howard, both of whom are elected DC Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, ran in a special Capital Stonewall Democrats election to fill the two leadership positions that became vacant when the officers they replaced resigned.
Outgoing President Howard Garrett, who McCarty has replaced, told the Washington Blade he resigned after taking on a new position as chair of the city’s Ward 1 Democratic Committee. The Capital Stonewall Democrats announcement didn’t say who Howard replaced as vice president for administration.
The group’s website shows its other officers include Elizabeth Mitchell as Vice President for Legislative and Political Affairs, and Monica Nemeth as Treasurer. The officer position of secretary is vacant, the website shows.
“As we look toward 2026, the stakes for D.C. and for LGBTQ+ communities have never been clearer,” the group’s statement announcing McCarty and Howard’s election says. “Our 50th anniversary celebration on March 20 and the launch of our D.C. LGBTQ+ Voter’s Guide mark the beginning of a major year for endorsements, organizing, and coalition building,” the statement says.
McCarty said among the organization’s major endeavors will be holding virtual endorsement forums where candidates running for D.C. mayor and the Council will appear and seek the group’s endorsement.
Founded in 1976 as the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the organization’s members voted in 2021 to change its name to Capital Stonewall Democrats. McCarty said the 50th anniversary celebration on March 20, in which D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and members of the D.C. Council are expected to attend, will be held at the PEPCO Gallery meeting center at 702 8th St., N.W.
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