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Most LGBTQ ANC candidates win races in D.C. election

Official outcome of four write-ins delayed until Nov. 15

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Winning Advisory Neighborhood Commission candidates include Anthony Lorenzo Green, Nandini Sen and Jeremy Sherman. (Photos of Green and Sen via Twitter; photo of Sherman courtesy campaign)

At least 35 of the known roughly 44 LGBTQ Advisory Neighborhood Commission candidates running in the Nov. 8 D.C. election have won their races, according to voter returns released by the D.C. Board of Elections.

Another four LGBTQ ANC contenders who ran unopposed as write-in candidates were expected to emerge as winners when the election board discloses on Nov. 15 the names of winning write-in candidates, whose names did not appear on the ballot.

Whether the total number of LGBTQ ANC candidates who win remains at 35 or reaches 39 should the write-in candidates win, the number will surpass the 33 LGBTQ candidates who won election to ANC seats in 2020.

Twenty-two of the winning candidates this year ran unopposed.

Just five of the LGBTQ candidates appear to have lost their races. One of them, James Tandaris, an incumbent commissioner in ANC district 3F05, was trailing his opponent by just eight votes with a vote count of 210 to 202. With an undetermined number of mail-in ballots still to be counted it was possible that Tandaris could surpass his opponent, Andrew Koval, and win the election.

Among the LGBTQ write-in candidates believed to have won their races are Christopher Dyer in Logan Circle ANC 2F05 and Matt Fouracre in neighboring Logan Circle ANC 2F06. Board of Elections vote count returns show that an unnamed write-in candidate in Dyerā€™s district received 53 votes making up 100 percent of the write-in votes cast. In Fouracreā€™s district an unnamed write-in candidate received 39 votes comprising 100 percent of the write-in votes cast.

The unnamed candidates are believed to be Dyer and Fouracre, although voters could have cast their vote for other write-in candidates.

Another LGBTQ write-in candidate whose outcome was uncertain is Bradley Gallagher, who ran in ANC 1E01, which is the Park View neighborhood seat held by gay longtime ANC member Kent Boese. Boese withdrew his candidacy for re-election in October after he was nominated by the D.C. Council and later confirmed to be appointed as executive director of the D.C. Office of ANCs.

Board of Elections spokesperson Nicholas Jacobs said it was too late to remove Boeseā€™s name from the ballot, but he said the board posted notices informing voters that Boese had withdrawn his candidacy. However, the election returns show that Boese received 412 votes and 87 write-in votes were cast. It wasnā€™t expected to be confirmed whether Gallagher will be declared the winner until Nov. 15, when the election board discloses the names of write-in candidates.

Elections board spokesperson Jacobs told the Washington Blade the board requires all write-in candidates to submit an Affirmation of Write-In Candidacy form by Nov. 15 to be certified as the winner of their respective race. Jacobs said the board will disclose the names of winning write-in candidates at that time.

Following is a list of the confirmed LGBTQ ANC candidates who won their election on Nov. 8:

1A04 Jeremy Sherman* (unopposed) ā€“ Columbia Heights

1A05 Stephen Coleman Kenny* (unopposed) ā€“ Columbia Heights

1A09 James Turner (unopposed) ā€“ Columbia Heights

1B01 Larry Handerhan (incumbent/unopposed) ā€“ LeDroit Park

1B02 Sean Holihan (Unopposed) ā€“ U Street/Shaw

1B03 Jamie S. Sycamore* (unopposed) ā€“ Columbia Heights/U Street

1C01 Howard Bauleke* (incumbent/unopposed) ā€” Adams Morgan

1/e03 Michael Wray (incumbent/unopposed) ā€“ Park View/Pleasant Plains

1E07 Brian Footer * ā€” Howard University/Pleasant Plains

2A04 Ed Comer * ā€” Foggy Bottom

2B02 Jeffrey Rueckgauer (incumbent/unopposed) ā€“ Dupont Circle

2B03 Vincent E. Slatt* (unopposed) ā€“ Dupont Circle

2B06 Matt Johnson (unopposed) ā€“ Dupont Circle

2B09 Christopher Davis (unopposed) ā€“ Dupont Circle/U Street

2C01 Michael D. Shankle (incumbent/unopposed) ā€“ Penn Quarter

2C02 Rebecca Strauss* ā€” Downtown

2F04 Brian McCabe* (unopposed) ā€“ Logan Circle

2F07 Brant J. Miller (unopposed) ā€“ Logan Circle

2G02 Alexander M. ā€˜Alexā€™ Padro (unopposed) ā€” Shaw

2G04 Steven McCarty * ā€” Shaw

3C01 Hayden Gise* (she/her) (unopposed) ā€” Woodley Park

3F01 Ryan Cudemus-Brunoli* (unopposed) ā€” Cleveland Park

4B04 Evan Yeats (incumbent/unopposed) ā€” Takoma

5A01 Duvalier Malone* (he/him) ā€” Lamond Riggs

5A09 Zachary Ammerman* (unopposed) ā€” Lamond Riggs

5B02 Nandini Sen* (unopposed) ā€” Brookland

5B04 Ra Amin* (incumbent) ā€” Brookland

5D05 Salvador Sauceda-Guzman (incumbent/unopposed) ā€” Trinidad

5F06 Joe Bishop-Henchman* (unopposed) ā€” Eckington

6A06 Robb Dooling (incumbent/unopposed) ā€“ H Street/Capitol Hill

6B03 David Sobelsohn* (unopposed) ā€” Capitol Hill

6D02 Ronald Collins (incumbent) ā€“Southwest

7B02 Jamaal Maurice McCants-Pearsall* (he/him) (unopposed) ā€” Good Hope

7B03 Travis Swanson* (incumbent/unopposed) ā€” Randle Highlands

7C04 Anthony Lorenzo Green (incumbent/unopposed) ā€” Deanwood

These LGBTQ write-in ANC candidates were expected to be certified as winners when they submit a required Affirmation of Write-In Candidacy to the D.C. Board of Elections by Nov. 15 if they have not already done so:

1E01 Bradley Gallagher (write-in/unopposed) ā€“ Park View

2F05 Christopher Dyer (write-in/unopposed) ā€“Logan Circle

2F06 Matt Fouracre* (write-in/unopposed) ā€“ Logan Circle

6E02 Charles Panfil* (write-in/unopposed) ā€” Mt. Vernon Square

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District of Columbia

News that Caps, Wizards will stay in D.C. comes amid Pride Night games

LGBTQ sports group ā€˜excitedā€™ hockey, basketball teams will remain in District

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The Caps are staying in D.C. Here a Washington Capitals player uses Pride tape during warmups at Hockey is for Everyone night in D.C. (Screen capture via Capitals YouTube)

The headline grabbing news this week that Washington Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis reached an agreement with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and will keep his hockey and basketball teams in D.C. rather than move them to Virginia came one week after the Capitals hosted its annual LGBTQ Pride Night Out game at the Capital One Arena.

And the announcement of the decision to keep the two teams in D.C. also came two days before the Wizards were scheduled to host their annual Pride Night Out game at the arena on Friday, March 29.

ā€œWeā€™re very excited that we can keep these teams in D.C.,ā€ said Miguel Ayala, president of Team D.C., the local LGBTQ sports organization that helps the cityā€™s professional sports teams organize Pride Night Out events. ā€œAnd weā€™re very excited that we can partner with the Caps and the Wizards to do events there,ā€ Ayala said in referring to the Capital One Arena located in the Chinatown section of downtown D.C.

Ayala said Team D.C., which provides support for more than 30 LGBTQ sports clubs ranging from softball and bowling to hockey and rock climbing, recognizes that Leonsisā€™s company, Monumental Sports & Entertainment, has been supportive of the LGBTQ community through the Pride Night Out events and fundraising events for local LGBTQ organizations.

The Capitalsā€™s website includes a detailed section on LGBTQ topics, including a statement that Leonsis created a Monumental Sports & Entertainment Foundation that has donated more than $200,000 to LGBTQ organizations. Among the recipients, the website says, are the local LGBTQ youth support group SMYAL, the Human Rights Campaign Foundationā€™s Youth Well Being Project that provides support for LGBTQ youth, and Team D.C.

ā€œIn addition to in-season Pride Nights, the Capitals celebrate Pride month annually in June,ā€ the website says. ā€œIn partnership with the D.C. Capital Pride Alliance, Monumental Sports and Entertainment paints the town rainbow and participates in the D.C. Pride parade each summer,ā€ it says.

The announcement of the decision by Leonsis to keep its two teams in D.C. came three months after he and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced plans for a $2.2 billion project to build a sports and entertainment complex in the Potomac Yard section of Alexandria, Va. that would include an arena where the Capitals and Wizards would hold their games. 

Although the project received bipartisan support by most Virginia elected officials and was approved by the Virginia House of Delegates, the state Senate adjourned without approving the project after a Democratic state senator blocked the measure in her committee on grounds that taxpayers would be footing the bill for the project, a claim that Youngkin strongly disputes.

The agreement reached between Bowser and Leonsis includes $515 million in funds from the city for the renovation of the Capital One Arena that Leonsis has said needs modernizing for the two teams to continue playing there. In exchange for this and other provisions, Leonsis agreed to sign a new lease to keep the two teams in D.C. for another 25 years.

The agreement must be approved by the D.C. Council, which was expected to vote overwhelmingly to pass legislation approving it

Leonsisā€™s decision to keep the two teams in D.C. also came close to six months after the National Hockey League announced it had reversed a policy it put in place earlier in 2023 to prohibit its players from placing tape on their hockey sticks supporting social causes, including rainbow-colored Pride tape in support of the LGBTQ community.

The reversal of the policy by the NHL came after a groundswell of opposition surfaced opposing the ban from many LGBTQ and LGBTQ supportive sports organizations as well as from some NHL hockey players. Although Washington Capitals officials didnā€™t say whether they would enforce the policy for their players or penalize players for violating the policy, a spokesperson for the Capitals released a statement to the Washington Blade expressing support for the LGBTQ community.

ā€œThe Capitals stand proudly with and support the LGBTQ+ community,ā€ spokesperson Sergey Kocharov said in the statement. ā€œWe strive to create and cultivate an inclusive atmosphere for all our players, staff, and fans and are committed to fostering an environment that welcomes all,ā€ the statement says.

ā€œAlthough all players are free to decide on their level of involvement and engagement on Pride Night, and their effort may vary from season to season, our commitment in this space wonā€™t waver,ā€ the statement continues. ā€œEveryone is treated with respect and dignity regardless of their sexual orientation or identity, and we will continue to advocate for full LGBTQ+ equality.ā€

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District of Columbia

Whitman-Walker names new CEO for Health System unit

Heather Aaron credited with advancing LGBTQ health for seniors

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Heather Aaron (Photo courtesy Whitman-Walker)

Whitman-Walker Health, D.C.ā€™s longtime LGBTQ and HIV health services provider, announced on March 26 that it has appointed Heather Aaron, a health care educator and executive for more than 30 years, as the new CEO for Whitman-Walker Health System.

Whitman-Walker Health System, a division of Whitman-Walker, among other things, advances the mission of Whitman-Walker through expanding its financial and fundraising capacity through the Whitman-Walker Foundation; the Whitman-Walker Institute, which conducts HIV-related research; and the Whitman-Walker Health System Real Property Holdings, according to a write-up on the Whitman-Walker website.

In a press release announcing the appointment, Whitman-Walker Health System Board Chair Ann Bonham called Aaron a ā€œdynamic and collaborative leader that will help us to realize the vision and full potential of our health system ā€¦ building revenue and growth opportunities that will further Whitman-Walkerā€™s care, advocacy, education, and research goals in partnership with Naseema Shafi, CEO of Whitman-Walker Health.ā€

The Whitman-Walker Health System CEO position became open in April 2023 when former Health System CEO Dr. Ryan Moran left the position to become Deputy Secretary of Health and Healthcare Finance for the State of Maryland. Whitman-Walker named Cindy Lewin, a healthcare specialist with nonprofit organizations, as interim CEO while it conducted a national search for a permanent CEO.

ā€œHeather has spent her entire career in health care, making a difference for the communities where she has served as Health Care Executive and Educator for more than thirty years,ā€ the Whitman-Walker announcement of her appointment says. ā€œShe has worked tirelessly to develop diversity, equity, and inclusion in all her work,ā€ it says, adding that her work experience includes services for members of the LGBTQ community and people with HIV/AIDS.

ā€œIn Connecticut, she operated the only continuum of care model which included a nursing home, independent living apartments and case management in one centralized community,ā€ the announcement continues. ā€œThe care model was specifically designed for people living with HIV and AIDS,ā€ it says. 

ā€œIā€™m thrilled to be joining the Whitman-Walker family in service to the community,ā€ Aaron said in the announcement press release. ā€œI look forward to getting to know staff, patients, and engaging with D.C. in a meaningful way,ā€ she said. 

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District of Columbia

Howard University, Gilead working to encourage HIV prevention

ā€˜A strategic, community-centered approach to address systemic disparitiesā€™

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Howard University earlier this month hosted an event to support efforts in the Washington, D.C. area to spread HIV/AIDS awareness.

The event highlighted a collaboration between Howard University and Gilead Sciences’ new Setting the P.A.C.EĀ  (Prevention ā€“ Arts and Advocacy ā€“ Community ā€“ Education)Ā  initiative, which addresses HIV prevention, health equity and anti-stigma efforts for both cisgender and transgender Black women and girls.Ā 

ā€œBy taking a strategic, community-centered approach to address systemic disparities and improve overall health outcomes, Gilead continues its commitment to advancing health equity for Black cisgender and transgender women and girls in the U.S. who continue to be disproportionately impacted by the HIV epidemic,ā€ said Deborah H. Telman, executive vice president of Corporate Affairs and General Counsel, Gilead Sciences. 

Gilead’s Setting the P.A.C.E. Initiative is a three-year, $10 million commitment to increase HIV prevention, anti-stigma and health equity efforts for Black cisgender and transgender women and girls in the United States. Howard is one of Setting the P.A.C.E.ā€™s grantees and through the program, it conducts HIV prevention training and informational resources, arts and advocacy, community and nonprofit capacity building, and education.

In 2021, Black women accounted for 53% of new HIV diagnoses among women aged 16 and older in the United States, despite comprising only 14% of the women living in the country, according to the Centers for Diseases Control & Prevention. Additionally, Black transgender women are likelier to be diagnosed with HIV and are likelier, more than their peers, to go undiagnosed and untreated. 

Through Setting the P.A.C.E., high-impact organizations and projects working to improve the HIV landscape receive specialized help that assists them in tackling barriers to equitable HIV health outcomes, and in receiving funding to support a variety of impactful projects to expand programs that provide culturally responsive HIV care training and leverage arts and media to engage local communities and address stigma. 

Because of the urgency of HIV awareness in the Black queer community, more than 75% of the organizations selected for P.A.C.E grants are led by Black women. Funding is directed toward initiatives spearheaded by Black women.

ā€œGileadā€™s Setting the P.A.C.E. initiative will help empower organizations to expand custom programs tailored toward fighting stigma and expanding access to HIV care in their communities,ā€ said Telman. 

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