District of Columbia
D.C. police chief: ‘Community Engagement Policing’ will address hate crimes
Mayor, MPD announce new strategies to combat violence
A ‘Focused Patrol and Community Engagement Policing Strategy’ announced last week by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee to combat the rising incidents of violent crime in the city will have a positive impact in addressing hate crimes targeting the LGBTQ community, according to Contee.
Bowser and Contee provided details of what they said is an expanded version of the existing community engagement policies in place for D.C. police officers at an April 27 news conference.
In response to a question from the Washington Blade asking if the expanded community engagement strategy would help police investigate and prevent hate crimes, including those targeting the LGBTQ community, Contee said a key to investigating hate crimes is building a relationship of trust between the police and members of the community who are at risk of becoming victims of a hate crime.
“So, one thing it might very well do is strengthen that relationship,” Contee said. “And so, with that you can see an actual increase in the reporting because people are more comfortable having those conversations with our police officers,” he said.
He was referring to the belief by police officials and community activists that many hate crimes in D.C. and other locations go unreported because victims, especially LGBTQ victims, are often reluctant to call police or other law enforcement agencies.
D.C. police hate crime statistics show that for at least the past five years the largest number of reported hate crimes involve LGBTQ people as victims, with the victim’s “sexual orientation” having the highest number of cases compared to other categories such as race, religion, or ethnicity.
The second highest “victim” category is an individual’s gender identity as a transgender person, the D.C. police statistics show.
“This is actually about a police officer who gets out of their car who’s engaging with and who they have a relationship with” members of the community, Contee said in referring to the expanded community engagement policy.
A joint statement released by the mayor’s office and the Metropolitan Police Department says the new policing strategy “will utilize data to identify specific areas in each police district and employ focused patrols for proactive policing, community engagement, and problem solving within a small geographical area.”
The statement adds, “The MPD members assigned to these areas will proactively engage in business and building checks, assist in traffic enforcement, collaborate with the community, and identify area-specific issues with police officials to problem solve and determine necessary solutions to community concerns and crime.”
News of the expanded community engagement policing plans came about three months after gay Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Vincent Slatt expressed concern that Dupont Circle area residents, including LGBTQ residents, were being targeted for armed robberies including carjackings by juveniles coming to the neighborhood from other parts of the city.
Slatt and others who spoke at a community listening session organized by D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, whose office oversees prosecuting juvenile offenders, called for changing the existing city law that prevents the public disclosure of the outcome of cases where a juvenile is arrested for a violent crime.
“The mayor’s announcement of a shift to data-driven decisions on policing strategies is both a welcome and concerning announcement,” Slatt told the Blade. “As a data librarian, I can say that data-driven policy is, in fact, a good thing, however there is both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ data,” he said. “Full disclosure on the data being used, how it is collected and shared, are important for it to work well and to build community trust.”
Slatt said he has not yet seen a noticeable change in policing in the Dupont Circle neighborhood but continues to see an ongoing police presence that has been a part of the area in the recent past, including a police car parked outside the gay bar Larry’s Lounge not far from Dupont Circle. One suggestion he said that could enhance police presence would be for the MPD to set up “mini” police stations in some of the vacant storefront buildings across the city.
The official announcement of the expanded community engagement policing policy also came one day after Chief Contee surprised city officials and community activists by announcing he will retire from his position as police chief on June 1 to take a new job as an assistant director at the FBI.
Contee’s departure ends his 33-year career with the MPD, which began in his role as a police cadet at the age of 17 and continued with a steady rise in the ranks of the department leading to his nomination by Bowser to become chief in December 2020 and the D.C. Council’s confirmation of his appointment in January 2021.
“He has pushed our criminal justice system to do more and be better,” Bowser said in a statement in response to Contee’s plans for leaving. “He has led MPD through an incredibly challenging time for our country – from the pandemic to January 6th and navigating the effects of a shrinking department during a time when gun violence is exploding across the nation,” the mayor said.
“He has been a phenomenal ambassador of what it means to be a police officer in D.C. – brilliant, compassionate, and determined to build a D.C. where all people feel safe and are safe,” Bowser concluded.
LGBTQ activists familiar with the D.C. police have said Contee has been one of the MPD’s most LGBTQ supportive police chiefs. He has been credited with being a strong supporter of the department’s LGBT Liaison Unit.
District of Columbia
Capital Stonewall Democrats set to celebrate 50th anniversary
Mayor Bowser expected to attend March 20 event
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 50th 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 8th 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
District of Columbia
Owner of D.C. gay bar Green Lantern John Colameco dies at 79
Beloved businessman preferred to stay ‘behind the scenes’
John Colameco, owner of the popular D.C. gay bar Green Lantern, has died, according to a March 7 announcement posted on the bar’s website and Instagram account. The announcement didn’t provide a date of his passing or a cause of death.
Green Lantern manager Howard Hicks said Colameco was 79 at the time of his passing.
“It is with great sadness that Green Lantern announces the death of our beloved owner, John Colameco,” the announcement says. “Most of our patrons might have heard John’s name, but might not have known his face,” it says.
“He was a ‘behind-the-scenes’ kind of guy who avoided the limelight,” the announcement continues. “He preferred to stay in the back of the house with staff and team ensuring everything was running smoothly so that everyone out front was having a good time.”
The announcement adds, “As a veteran and businessman, John wasn’t a member of the LGBTQ + community, but he was one of the best damn allies our community has ever had.”
It says he “long provided spaces for the queer community to come together” since the 1990s when he owned and operated a popular restaurant on 17th Street, N.W. called Peppers.
According to the announcement, Colameco and his then business partner Greg Zehnacker opened the Green Lantern in 2001 in an alley off of 14th Street, N.W., between Thomas Circle and L Street, N.W.
The announcement points out that the Green Lantern first opened in the same location in the early 1990s before it later closed when the original owners decided to purchase and open other bars, one of which was the gay bar Fireplace near Dupont Circle. Colameco and Zehnacker were able to reopen the bar with the Green Lantern name.
“When Greg died unexpectedly in February 2014, John remained steadfastly committed to carrying on their vision and ensuring that Green Lantern remained part of the fabric of D.C.’s queer community,” the announcement says.
“Over the years, through Green Lantern, John has provided support to many community organizations, most notably Stonewall Sports, the Gay Men’s chorus of Washington, and ONYX Mid-Atlantic with Green Lantern serving as a gathering hub for their activities,” it states.
The announcement adds that Colameco’s family was planning a memorial for him in his hometown of Philadelphia.
“His Green Lantern family will celebrate his life by operating the bar as usual and we encourage you to stop by and join us,” it says. “Community coming together and having a good time – it’s exactly what John would want.”
District of Columbia
D.C. Black Pride theme, performers announced at ‘Speakeasy’
Durand Bernarr to headline 2026 programming
The Center for Black Equity held its 2026 DC Black Pride Theme Reveal event at Union Stage on Monday. The evening, a “Speakeasy Happy Hour,” was hosted by Anthony Oakes and featured performances by Lolita Leopard and Keith Angelo. The Center for Black Equity organizes DC Black Pride.
Kenya Hutton, Center for Black Equity president and CEO, spoke following the performances by Leopard and Angelo. Hutton announced this year’s theme for DC Black Pride: “New Black Renaissance.”
Performers for 2026 DC Black Pride were announced to be Bang Garcon, Be Steadwell, Jay Columbus, Bennu Byrd, Rue Pratt and Akeem Woods.
Singer-songwriter Durand Bernarr was announced as the headliner for the 2026 festivities. Bernerr gave brief remarks through a video played on the screen at the stage.
DC Black Pride is scheduled for May 22-25. For more information on DC Black Pride, visit dcblackpride.org.
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