District of Columbia
First D.C. LGBTQ Emergency Training event called success
Aimed at helping organizations minimize potential threats of violence
About 25 representatives of local LGBTQ organizations turned out on April 5 for the first in what is expected to be a series of LGBTQIA+ Emergency Preparedness Training sessions offered by the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency and the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs.
“It was about a two and a half to three-hour training intended for our LGBTQ nonprofits,” said Japer Bowles, director of the Mayor’s LGBTQ Affairs Office. “And we will host more trainings targeting specific audiences in our community, including our businesses and nightlife folks, particularly in the lead up to Pride month in June,” Bowles said.
In an interview with the Washington Blade on Tuesday, Bowles and Chris Rodriguez, director of the city’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, known as HSEMA, said the training is aimed at helping LGBTQ organizations take steps to minimize potential threats of violence and to recognize behaviors by individuals who may pose a potential threat.
Rodriguez said among other things, the trainers informed participants that as nonprofit groups they are eligible for security grants offered by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, which can be used to improve the security of buildings and meeting spaces through security cameras and improved security for entrance doors and other building components.
“We can also provide you with some of the materials we have on ways to spot a suspicious activity,” Rodriguez said in describing the topics discussed at the training session. “Some of them, for example, would be someone loitering around a facility and taking pictures of entrances and exits,” he said. “It’s not about how someone looks or the way someone dresses or the way someone talks,” Rodriquez said. “It’s about behavior that is observable.”
Bowles said among those attending the April 5 training session were representatives of the D.C. Center for the LGBTQ Community, one of the city’s largest local LGBTQ organizations that is about to move into a new, larger space in a building in the city’s Shaw neighborhood.
Rodriquez said the training session also informed participants of the role of the D.C. Fusion Center, which is one of similar entities located in all U.S. states and territories funded by the federal Department of Homeland Security. He said Fusion Centers serve as an “intelligence and information sharing office” to assess potential threats of violence, including terrorist threats.
He said the D.C. Fusion Center is an entity within the D.C. HSEMA.
Asked if they are aware of any recent threats targeting the local LGBTQ community or local LGBTQ organizations, both Rodriquez and Bowles said they cannot go into specific instances of potential threats due to the sensitivity of that information.
“But if that did happen, anytime that does happen, those threats are reviewed by intelligence analysts at the D.C. Fusion Center,” said Rodriguez, who added that D.C. police would also become involved in investigating such a threat.
District of Columbia
D.C. bar, LGBTQ+ Community Center to mark Lesbian Visibility Week
‘Ahead of the Curve’ documentary screening, ‘Queeroke’ among events
2026 Lesbian Visibility Week North America will take place from April 20-26.
This year marks the third annual Lesbian Visibility Week, run by the Curve Foundation. A host of events take place from April 20-26.
This year’s theme is Health and Wellness. For the Curve Foundation, the term “lesbian” serves as an umbrella term for a host of identities, including lesbians, bisexual and transgender women, and anyone else connected to the lesbian community.
The week kicks off with a flag-raising ceremony on April 19. It will take place in New York, but will be livestreamed for the public.
“Queeroke” is one of the events being held around the country. It will take place at various participating bars on April 23.
As You Are, an LGBTQ bar in Capitol Hill, is one of eight locations across the U.S. participating. Their event is free and 21+.
On April 24, the D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center will hold a screening of “Ahead of the Curve,” a documentary about the founder of Curve, Franco Stevens. The event is free with an RSVP.
April 25, is Queer Women in Sports Day. And on April 26, several monuments in New York will be illuminated.
Virtual events ranging from health to sports will be made available to the public. Details will be released closer to the start of Lesbian Visibility Week. Featured events can be found on the official website.
Some ways for individuals to get involved are to use #LVW26 and tag the official Lesbian Visibility Week account on social media posts. People are encouraged to display their lesbian flags, and businesses can hand out pins and decorate. They can also reach out to local lawmakers to encourage them to issue an official Lesbian Visibility Week.
District of Columbia
Whitman-Walker Health to present ‘Pro Bono Excellence’ award to law firm
Health center set to celebrate 40th anniversary of legal services program
Whitman-Walker Health, the D.C.-based community healthcare center that specializes in HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ-related health services, announced it will present its annual Dale Edwin Sanders Award for Pro Bono Excellence to the international law firm McDermott Will & Schulte at a May 6 ceremony.
“This year’s award is especially significant as it coincides with the 40th anniversary of Whitman-Walker Health’s Legal Services Program, marking it as the nation’s longest running medical-legal partnership,” a statement released by Whitman-Walker says.
“As a national leader in public health, Whitman-Walker celebrates our partnership with McDermott to strengthen the health center and to enable Whitman-Walker to reach more medical and legal clients,” the statement adds.
“McDermott’s firm-wide commitment to Whitman-Walker’s medical-legal partnership demonstrates a shared vision to serve those most in need,” Amy Nelson, Whitman-Walker’s director of Legal Services, says in the statement. “Our work protects individuals and families who face discrimination and hostility as they navigate increasingly complex administrative systems,” Nelson said.
“Pro bono legal services – like that of McDermott Will & Schulte – find solutions for people who have no place else to turn in the face of financial and health threats,” she added.
“Our partnership with Whitman-Walker Health is a treasured commitment to serving our neighbors and communities,” Steven Schnelle, one of the law firm’s partners said in the statement. “We are deeply moved by Whitman-Walker’s unwavering dedication to inclusion, respect, and equitable access to health care and social services,” he said.
The statement notes that the award for Pro Bono Excellence honors the legacy of the late gay attorney Dale Edwin Sanders. It says Sanders’s pro bono legal work for Whitman-Walker clients “shaped HIV/AIDS law for more than four decades by securing key victories on behalf of individuals whose employment and patient rights were violated.”
It says the Whitman-Walker Legal Services program began during the early years of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s at a time when people with AIDS faced widespread discrimination and often needed legal assistance. According to the statement, the program evolved over the years and expanded to advocate for transgender people and immigrants.
Whitman-Walker spokesperson Lisa Amore said the presentation of the Dale Edwin Sanders Pro Bono Excellency Award will be held at the May 6 fundraising benefit for Whitman-Walker’s Legal Services Program. She said the event will take place at the offices of the DC law firm Baker McKenzie and ticket availability can be accessed here: https://www.whitman-walker.org/gtem-2026/
District of Columbia
Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
Two memorial events scheduled in D.C.
Two celebrations of life are planned for Sean Christopher Bartel, 48, who was found deceased on a hiking trail in Argentina on or around March 15. Bartel began his career as a television news reporter and news anchor at stations in Louisville, Ky., and Evansville, Ind., before serving as Senior Video Producer for the D.C.-based International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union from 2013 to 2024.
A memorial gathering is planned for Friday, April 10, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the IBEW International Office (900 7th St., N.W.), according to a statement by the DC Gay Flag Football League, where Bartel was a longtime member. A celebration of life is planned that same evening, 6-8 p.m. at Trade (1410 14th St., N.W.).
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