Local

D.C. man found guilty of assault — but not guilty of hate crime

Victim suffered broken nose, loss of teeth after being called anti-gay slurs

Published

3 years ago

March 1, 2023

A D.C. Superior Court jury on Feb. 27 found a 42-year-old District man charged with a May 2022 assault against a gay man while shouting anti-gay slurs guilty of assault causing significant bodily injury but not guilty of committing a hate crime.

Court charging documents show that Anthony Duncan allegedly punched the male victim in the face and head, breaking the victim’s nose and breaking three of the victim’s teeth, after the two men crossed paths while walking along 15th Street, N.W. at the intersection of V Street at about 4:50 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, 2022.

An arrest affidavit filed in court by police and prosecutors says Duncan remained on the scene after the victim called police on his cell phone. It says Duncan attempted to blame the victim for instigating a fight.

The affidavit says Duncan told police officers who arrived on the scene that while he walked past the victim the victim “grabbed his nuts at me,” which police interpreted to mean he accused the victim of making a sexual gesture toward him.

“Defendant 1 stated that when he confronted Victim 1 over ‘grabbing his nuts’ that Victim 1 turned around and swung on him unprovoked but missed. Defendant 1 stated that they then got into a physical dispute resulting in Victim 1’s injuries,” the affidavit says.

It says the victim strongly disputed that assertion, saying he attempted to walk away from Duncan after Duncan began calling him a “faggot” and punched him in the back of his head.

The affidavit says the victim “was wearing a Stonewall Bocce shirt which is a well-known LGBTQ sports league.”

The affidavit and a separate court document filed by prosecutors says Duncan told police he recorded some of the incident with his phone, which police obtained at the time they arrested Duncan at the scene of the incident.

“Defendant 1 can be heard approaching Victim 1 while he was walking away and calling him a ‘fag’ several times while the altercation was taking place,” the affidavit says in describing the video obtained from Duncan’s phone.

In a court motion filed by prosecutors asking the judge to allow the video from Duncan’s phone to be submitted as evidence, the motion further describes what was recorded and observed on the video.

“On the video, you can see the defendant approach [the victim] and start verbally accosting him,” the court motion says. “The defendant then proceeds to punch [the victim] in the face,” it says. “After reviewing the video, the police arrested the defendant,” the prosecutors’ motion says.

Court records show Duncan was charged with Assault With Significant Bodily Injury, which was designated as a bias-related crime based on the victim’s sexual orientation. Court records show Duncan was held without bond until a court appearance on May 26, 2022, when he was released under the court’s high intensity supervision program with a stay away order prohibiting him from coming into contact with the victim.

The court records show that Duncan appears to have complied with the terms of his release and that his trial began on Feb. 21 and continued until Feb. 27 when the jury handed down its verdict of guilty on the assault charge and not guilty on the “Bias Related Crime” charge.

Duncan’s defense attorney, Quo Mieko Judkins, declined a request by the Blade for comment on the case. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said the office would consider a request by the Blade for comment on the case.

Court records show that Superior Court Judge Lynn Leibovitz scheduled a sentencing hearing for Duncan on April 28. A statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office says he faces a possible maximum sentence of three years in prison.

Former Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Mike Silverstein, who has monitored the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s handling of crimes targeting LGBTQ people, praised the office for prosecuting the case against Duncan as a hate crime. Silverstein said the U.S. Attorney’s Office has chosen to drop hate crime designations in other cases brought by D.C. police.

Spokespersons for the office in the past have said the charging decisions are based on the strength of the evidence in each individual case.

“One would hope that the judge will take into account the circumstances of this case,” Silverstein told the Blade. “The extreme circumstances of someone actually filming an assault and celebrating it. And that should play a part in her decision on a sentence,” he said. “This is not open season on gays.”

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Cameroon

Gay Cameroonian immigrant will be freed from ICE detention — for now

Ludovic Mbock’s homeland criminalizes homosexuality

Published

19 hours ago

March 13, 2026

Baltimore Banner

Competitive gamer Ludovic Mbock, left, with his sister, Diane Sohna. (Photo courtesy of Diane Sohna)

By ANTONIO PLANAS | An immigration judge on Friday issued a $4,000 bond for a Cameroonian immigrant and regional gaming champion held in federal immigration detention for the past three weeks.

The ruling will allow Ludovic Mbock, of Oxon Hill, to return to Maryland from a Georgia facility this weekend, his family and attorney said.

“Realistically, by tomorrow. Hopefully, by today,” said Mbock’s attorney, Edward Neufville. “We are one step closer to getting Ludovic justice.”

The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

District of Columbia

Bowser appoints first nonbinary person to Cabinet-level position

Peter Stephan named Office of Disability Rights interim director

Published

2 days ago

March 12, 2026

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

The Wilson Building (Bigstock photo by Leonid Andronov)

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bower has named longtime disability rights advocate Peter L. Stephan, who identifies as nonbinary, as interim director of the D.C. Office of Disability Rights.

The local transgender and nonbinary advocacy group Our Trans Capital and the LGBTQ group Capital Stonewall Democrats issued a joint statement calling Stephan’s appointment an historic development as the first-ever appointment of a nonbinary person to a Cabinet-level D.C. government position.

“This milestone appointment recognizes Stephan’s extensive expertise in disability rights advocacy and marks a historic advancement for transgender and nonbinary representation in District government leadership,” the statement says.

The statement notes that Stephan, an attorney, held the position of general counsel at the Office of Disability Rights immediately prior to the mayor’s decision to name him interim director.

The mayor’s office didn’t immediately respond to a question from the Washington Blade asking if Bowser plans to name Stephan as the permanent director of the Office of Disability Rights. John Fanning, a spokesperson for D.C. Council member Anita Bonds (D-At-Large), said the office’s director position requires confirmation by the Council.

Stephan couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

“At a time when trans and nonbinary people ae under attack across the country, D.C. continues to lead by example,” said Stevie McCarty, president of Capital Stonewall Democrats. “This appointment reflects what we have always believed that our community is always strongest when every voice is represented in government,” he said.

“This is a historic step forward,” said Vida Rengel, founder of Our Trans Capital. “Interim Director Stephan’s career and accomplishments are a shining example of the positive impact that trans and nonbinary public servants can have on our communities,” according to Rangel.

District of Columbia

Capital Stonewall Democrats set to celebrate 50th anniversary

Mayor Bowser expected to attend March 20 event

Published

3 days ago

March 11, 2026

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Mayor Bowser is expected to attend the Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th gala. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, members of the D.C. Council, and local and national Democratic Party officials are expected to join more than 150 LGBTQ advocates and supporters on March 20 for the 50^th anniversary celebration of the city’s Capital Stonewall Democrats.

A statement released by the organization says the event is scheduled to be held at the Pepco Edison Place Gallery building at 702 8^th St., N.W. in D.C.

“The evening will honor the people who built Capital Stonewall Democrats across five decades – activists who fought for rights when the odds were against them, public servants who opened doors and refused to let them close, and a new generation of leaders ready to carry the work forward,” the statement says.

Founded in 1976 as the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the organization’s members voted in 2021 to change its name to the Capital Stonewall Democrats.

Among those planning to attend the anniversary event is longtime D.C. gay Democratic activist Paul Kuntzler, 84, who is one of the two co-founders of the then-Gertrude Stein Democratic Club. Kuntzler told the Washington Blade that he and co-founder Richard Maulsby were joined by about a dozen others in the living room of his Southwest D.C. home at the group’s founding meeting in January 1976.

He said that among the reasons for forming a local LGBTQ Democratic group at the time was to arrange for a then “gay” presence at the 1976 Democratic National Convention, at which Jimmy Carter won the Democratic nomination for U.S. president and later won election as president.

Maulsby, who served as the Stein Club president for its first three years and who now lives in Sarasota, Fla., said he would not be attending the March 20 anniversary event, but he fully supports the organization’s continuing work as an LGBTQ organization associated with the Democratic Party.

Steven McCarty, Capital Stonewall Democrats’ current president, said in the statement that the anniversary celebration will highlight the organization’s work since the time of its founding.

“Capital Stonewall Democrats has been fighting for LGBTQ+ political power in this city for 50 years, electing people, training organizers, holding this community together through some really hard moments,” he said. “And right now, with everything going on, that work has never mattered more. This gala is the first moment of our next chapter, and I want the community to be a part of it.”

The statement says among the special guests attending the event will be Democratic National Committee Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta, who became the first openly gay LGBTQ person of color to win election to the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2018.

Other guests of honor, according to the statement, include Mayor Bowser; D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5, the Council’s only gay member; D.C. Council member Anita Bonds (D-At-Large); Earl Fowlkes, founder of the International Federation of Black Prides; Vita Rangel, a transgender woman who serves as Deputy Director of the D.C. Mayor’s Office of Talent and Appointments; Heidi Ellis, director of the D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition; Rayceen Pendarvis, longtime D.C. LGBTQ civic activist; and Phillip Pannell, longtime D.C. LGBTQ Democratic activist and Ward 8 civic activist.

Information about ticket availability for the Capital Stonewall Democrats anniversary gala can be accessed here: capitalstonewalldemocrats.com/50th