District of Columbia
Gay D.C. Council candidate Parker wins by wide margin
McDuffie leads Silverman for ‘non-Democratic’ at-large Council seat
Ward 5 D.C. Council candidate Zachary Parker, who won the Democratic primary in June in a hotly contested seven-candidate race, won election to the Ward 5 Council seat on Tuesday by a wide margin, clearing the way for him to become the first openly gay member of the Council since 2015.
With the D.C. Board of Elections saying all but some remaining mail-in and drop-box ballots had been counted at around 11 p.m. on Tuesday, Parker had 93.67 percent of the vote compared to his Republican challenger, Clarence Lee Jr., who had 5.57 percent of the vote.
“Although they say the Democrat usually takes it in the general election, I didn’t want to take anything for granted,” Parker told the Washington Blade at his election night victory party. “So, I ran just as hard in the general as I did in the primary, because Ward 5 deserves it,” he said.
About 150 people turned out for the Parker victory party, held at the Cotton and Reed distillery and tavern located next to Ward 5’s bustling Union Market. Those who attended and who cheered loudly as Parker delivered his victory speech reflected the diverse coalition of Ward 5 residents, including many seniors, who worked on Parker’s campaign.
“Ward 5 is a melting pot. It’s a microcosm of the city,” he told the Blade. “And it’s incumbent on me to represent all of the interests of Ward 5 residents. It’s a duty that I’m honored to have, and I look forward to the challenge.”
Parker was among nearly all the Democratic candidates, including D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson, and the Democrats running in Wards 1, 3, and 6 who were far ahead of their challengers and expected to be declared winners.
Also winning in a decisive vote was Initiative 82, the ballot measure calling for ending the city’s tipped wage system by raising the lower minimum wage for tipped workers, currently at $5.25 per hour, to the full city minimum wage, currently at $16.10 per hour, over the five-year phase-in period.
As of Tuesday evening, the “yes” vote on Initiative 82 received 74.1 percent of the vote, with the “no” vote receiving 25.9 percent.
Several of the city’s gay bar owners and a number of LGBTQ tipped workers expressed strong opposition to the initiative, saying it would lower the earnings of tipped workers, most of whom, they say, earn far more than the city’s full minimum wage. But many of the city’s LGBTQ activists supported the initiative on grounds that all workers should receive the same full minimum wage.
The only race on the D.C. election ballot that appeared too close to call as of Tuesday evening was the race for the so-called non-Democratic at-large D.C. Council seat. Two of the city’s four at-large Council seats were up for election this year, with voters allowed to vote for two candidates. A total of eight candidates were on the ballot for the at-large seats, including incumbent Democrat Anita Bonds and incumbent independent Elissa Silverman.
Incumbent Ward 5 Council member Kenyan McDuffie, a Democrat who switched to become an independent, was also among the contenders for one of the two at-large seats.
As of Tuesday evening, Bonds was in first place and the presumed winner of her seat with 32.02 percent of the vote. McDuffie was in second place with 22.16 percent, ahead of Silverman, who was in third place with 18.78 percent of the vote.
Of the remaining candidates, independent Graham McLaughlin had 10.02 percent, Statehood Green Party candidate David Schwartzman had 5.15 percent, Republican Giuseppe Niosi had 4.02 percent, independent candidate Karim Marshall had 4.96 percent, and Independent Fred Hill had 2.36 precent.
Although McDuffie was ahead of Silverman by 8,925 votes, most political observers were reluctant to declare him the winner with an undetermined number of mail-in and drop box ballots yet to be counted.
The D.C. Board of Elections has yet to officially certify any of the races. Mail-in ballots postmarked by Nov. 8 will be allowed to be counted if they are delivered by Nov. 15 under Board of Elections rules. Board of Elections spokesperson Nicholas Jacobs said the board also had yet to count ballots placed in citywide drop boxes on election day.
The Associated Press, however, declared Bowser the winner, confirming her historic role of becoming the first woman to be elected to a third term as mayor of D.C.
At around 11 p.m. Tuesday night, Bowser had 74.5 percent of the vote, far ahead of her independent rival Rodney Red Grant, who had 14.8 percent and Republican rival Stacia Hall, who had 6.01 percent of the vote. Libertarian Party candidate Dennis Sobin had 1.3 percent of the vote.
As expected, two other gay candidates on the Nov. 8 D.C. ballot fell short of wining their respective races. Gay Libertarian candidate Bruce Majors had just 2 percent of the vote as of Tuesday evening in his race for the position of D.C. delegate to the House of Representatives. Incumbent Eleanor Holmes Norton, a longtime LGBTQ rights supporter, had 86.28 percent of the vote. Republican Nelson Rimensnyder had 6.05 percent and Statehood Green Party contender had 4.0 percent of the vote.
The other out gay candidate, Adrian Salsgiver, also ran as a Libertarian Party candidate for the Ward 3 D.C. Council seat. He had 1.1 percent of the vote compared to Democrat Matthew Frumin, who had 74.9 percent of the vote. Republican candidate David Krucoff had 23.58 percent of the vote.
In the D.C. Council Chair race, Mendelson had 81.8 percent of the vote compared to Statehood Green Party candidate Darryl Moch, who had 9.5 percent and Republican challenger Nate Derenge, who had 7 percent.
In the Ward 1 D.C. Council race, incumbent Democrat and longtime LGBTQ rights supporter Brianne Nadeau had 79.5 percent of the vote. Her Statehood Green Party opponent, Chris Otten, had 17.5 percent.
Ward 6 D.C. Council member Charles Allen, who ran unopposed, had 93.6 percent of the vote, with 6.38 percent going to one or more write-in candidates, according to election returns.
Also running unopposed was D.C. Attorney General candidate Brian Schwalb, a Democrat, who had 97.4 percent of the vote, with 2.59 percent going to write-ins.
LGBTQ activists in D.C. have pointed out that unlike many states across the country, where far-right Republicans are using LGBTQ rights, especially transgender rights, as a wedge issue to attack the LGBTQ community, in D.C., for close to 20 years, all candidates with any chance of winning have been strong supporters of LGBTQ rights, including Republicans and independents.
Because of that near universal support, as longtime D.C. LGBTQ rights activist Earl Fowlkes put it, LGBTQ voters have the luxury of deciding who to vote for based on non-LGBTQ issues. And in a city where the overwhelming majority of voters, including LGBTQ voters, are Democrats, the distinction between Democratic candidates who compete in Democratic primaries has been moderate Democrats versus progressive farther left Democrats.
Parker, whose positions have placed him in the progressive left faction of the party, appears to have drawn support from the moderate faction of Democratic voters after he won the Democratic primary, according to Ward 5 political observers.
Among the moderate independents who backed Parker this year is gay former D.C. Councilmember David Catania.
“I like Zachary very much,” Catania told the Blade. “I’ve had the opportunity to meet with him, to help fundraise for him. I’m enormously proud of him,” Catania said. “And I think he is going to be an extraordinary leader.
Catania spoke about Parker while he attended the election night victory party for Mayor Bowser. Catania ran unsuccessfully against Bowser as an independent when she first ran for mayor in 2014. Carol Schwartz also ran that year as an independent.
Sporting a Bowser for Mayor sticker on his shirt, Catania said he and the mayor have the strongly held view that those who compete against one another in elections should join forces to support the needs of citizens after the election is over.
“The mayor and I certainly have done this,” Catania said. “After she was victorious, she reached out to me to serve on a number of commissions and to chair a board and so on and so on,” he said. “And I made a promise the night that I lost,” he said. “I made all my supporters raise their hands and promise to support her.”
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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