Opinions
Remembering founder of Federal GLOBE, Dr. Len Hirsch
Smithsonian official fearlessly fought against discrimination
By JAMES PATTERSON
One of the most dedicated public servants I ever knew was Dr. Leonard P. “Len” Hirsch, a senior policy adviser with the Smithsonian Institution. Len, who died in 2015 during LGBT Pride Month, was dedicated to his government career and to an organization he founded: Federal GLOBE.
It was my interest in Len’s Federal Gay, Lesbian, or Bisexual (GLB) Employees, a government-wide organization representing GLB federal employees with chapters at many agencies, that brought me to meet Len at the Smithsonian in 1992. (Transgender employees were not initially included.) I was an economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. USDA is located across Independence Avenue from the Smithsonian. I told Len I wanted to join the Federal GLOBE.
I related to Len that I had seen federal managers insult and ridicule GLB colleagues in government meetings and in the hallways of government buildings. Colleagues with AIDS were shunned as well as ridiculed. I shared my concerns with Len about how this GLB abuse and harassment created an unhealthy workplace for all personnel. He shared studies and statistics to support my concerns.
Len grew up in the New York borough of Queens. I was raised in Alabama. My dad, a Korean vet, served with Alabama’s Army National Guard from 1962 to 1967. President John F. Kennedy federalized my dad’s Guard Unit for the integration of the University of Alabama in 1963. Then-Gov. George C. Wallace defied Kennedy by physically barring the doors to the university’s registration office to prevent African-American students from entering. He moved aside by order from the National Guard.
In March 1965, President Lyndon Johnson federalized Alabama’s National Guard for “as long as necessary” for Nobel Peace Prize-recipient Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and hundreds of marchers to complete the third Selma to Montgomery march. These two historic social justice events had a major influence on my life.
During my youth, I saw Black Americans insulted and ridiculed when they were in white-owned stores and on city streets. I never saw “Whites Only” signs at stores. It seemed that white business owners wanted Black customers so they could insult and ridicule them while profiting from them. It was a demented form of entertainment.
In Washington, I saw federal managers insult and ridicule their GLB colleagues. I also witnessed management laugh whenever a gay colleague’s name was mentioned. It seemed to me another demented form of entertainment, but this time in my federal workplace.
I told Len, whom I always called Dr. Hirsch, that my USDA workplace was sick with discrimination and harassment of GLB professionals. He nodded in agreement. He said many federal agencies were “sick.”
Dr. Hirsh told me that Federal GLOBE worked to change the federal workplace and prevent employment discrimination against GLB workers. I joined GLOBE to help in this much-needed work of ridding the federal workplace of discrimination based on sexual orientation. I eventually held a leadership role with GLOBE.
Meeting and working with Dr. Hirsch was one of the great experiences of my federal career. He understood that discrimination against GLB workers created hostile and unproductive workplaces. He had strategies for improving all federal agencies by organizing GLB federal employees to change discriminatory personnel policies. Dr. Hirsch was a brilliant man.
I spent many hours at Len’s office and at his residence working on GLOBE. He had a big office in his Dupont Circle residence that he shared with his partner, Kristian.
Dr. Hirsch’s federal accomplishments were many. He also made huge strides in working to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive federal workplace for GLB employees.
Federal GLOBE had a tense situation in July 1994 when then-Sen. Jesse Helms attacked me in a Senate speech. I had given a speech at a Crystal City conference that enraged Helms. Helms’s hate speech where he called me and my GLB federal colleagues “perverts” is captured on C-SPAN and in the pages of The Congressional Record for the Senate, July 19, 1994.
After 1995, my career and relationships took me on different paths. I left the Washington area. I corresponded with Dr. Hirsch on LGBT issues.
The last time I saw Dr. Hirsch was at the May 2014 White House ceremony for the unveiling of the Harvey Milk Forever Stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service. I noticed him as I walked past him seated in the audience. His appearance had changed over 20 years.
When I greeted him, Dr. Hirsch grimaced as he rose from his seat. He explained he had a back injury. We talked about old times and old battles working to end discrimination against GLB federal workers.
At the time of our meeting, I was working in San Francisco. I told Dr. Hirsch I was scheduled to return to Washington. We looked forward to renewing our friendship.
I returned to Washington, D.C. in late 2015. Dr. Hirsch died during Pride month of that year. While we never got to renew our friendship, I have great memories of our work together. I would have never met Dr. Hirsch had it not been for our common interest in fighting discrimination against federal workers. I am forever grateful to have worked with Dr. Len Hirsch. Rest in Pride, Dr. Hirsch!
James Patterson is a life member of the American Foreign Service Association. Reach him at [email protected].
Letter-to-the-Editor
Candidates should pledge to nominate LGBTQ judge to Supreme Court
Presidential, Senate hopefuls need to go on the record
As soon as the final votes are cast and counted and verified after the November 2026 elections are over, the 2028 presidential cycle will begin in earnest. Polls, financial aid requests, and volunteer opportunities ad infinitum will flood the public and personal media. There will be more issues than candidates in both parties. The rending of garments and mudslinging will be both interesting and maybe even amusing as citizens will watch how candidates react to each and every issue of the day.
There is one particular item that I am hoping each candidate will be asked whether in private or in public. If a Supreme Court vacancy occurs in your potential administration, will you nominate an open and qualified LGBTQ to join the remaining eight?
Other interest groups on both sides have made similar demands over the years and have had them honored. Is it not time that our voices are raised as well? There are several already sitting judges on both state and federal benches that have either been elected statewide or approved by the U.S. Senate.
Our communities are being utilized and abused on judicial menus. Enough already! Challenge each and every candidate, regardless of their party with our honest question and see if honest answers are given. By the way … no harm in asking the one-third of the U.S. Senate candidates too who will be on ballots. Looking forward to any candidate tap dancing!
Opinions
2026 elections will bring major changes to D.C. government
Mayor’s office, multiple Council seats up for grabs
Next year will be a banner year for elections in D.C. The mayor announced she will not run. Two Council members, Anita Bonds, At-large, and Brianne Nadeau, Ward 1, have announced they will not run. Waiting for Del. Norton to do the same, but even if she doesn’t, there will be a real race for that office.
So far, Robert White, Council member at-large, and Brooke Pinto, Council member Ward 2, are among a host of others, who have announced. If one of these Council members should win, there would be a special election for their seat. If Kenyon McDuffie, Council member at-large, announces for mayor as a Democrat, which he is expected to do, he will have to resign his seat on the Council as he fills one of the non-Democratic seats there. Janeese George, Ward 4 Council member, announced she is running for mayor. Should she win, there would be a special election for her seat. Another special election could happen if Trayon White, Ward 8, is convicted of his alleged crimes, when he is brought to trial in January. Both the Council chair, and attorney general, have announced they are seeking reelection, along with a host of other offices that will be on the ballot.
Many of the races could look like the one in Ward 1 where at least six people have already announced. They include three members of the LGBTQ community. It seems the current leader in that race is Jackie Reyes Yanes, a Latina activist, not a member of the LGBTQ community, who worked for Mayor Fenty as head of the Latino Affairs Office, and for Mayor Bowser as head of the Office of Community Affairs. About eight, including the two Council members, have already announced they are running for the delegate seat.
I am often asked by candidates for an endorsement. The reason being my years as a community, LGBTQ, and Democratic, activist; and my ability to endorse in my column in the Washington Blade. The only candidate I endorsed so far is Phil Mendelson, for Council chair. While he and I don’t always agree on everything, he’s a staunch supporter of the LGBTQ community, a rational person, and we need someone with a steady hand if there really are six new Council members, out of the 13.
When candidates call, they realize I am a policy wonk. My unsolicited advice to all candidates is: Do more than talk in generalities, be specific and honest as to what you think you can do, if elected. Candidates running for a legislative office, should talk about what bills they will support, and then what new ones they will introduce. What are the first three things you will focus on for your constituents, if elected. If you are running against an incumbent, what do you think you can do differently than the person you hope to replace? For any new policies and programs you propose, if there is a cost, let constituents know how you intend to pay for them. Take the time to learn the city budget, and how money is currently being spent. The more information you have at your fingertips, the smarter you sound, and voters respect that, at least many do. If you are running for mayor, you need to develop a full platform, covering all the issues the city will face, something I have helped a number of previous mayors do. The next mayor will continue to have to deal with the felon in the White House. He/she/they will have to ensure he doesn’t try to eliminate home rule. The next mayor will have to understand how to walk a similar tightrope Mayor Bowser has balanced so effectively.
Currently, the District provides lots of public money to candidates. If you decide to take it, know the details. The city makes it too easy to get. But while it is available, take advantage of it. One new variable in this election is the implementation of rank-choice voting. It will impact how you campaign. If you attack another candidate, you may not be the second, or even third, choice, of their strongest supporters.
Each candidate needs a website. Aside from asking for donations and volunteers, it should have a robust issues section, biography, endorsements, and news. One example I share with candidates is my friend Zach Wahls’s website. He is running for United States Senate from Iowa. It is a comprehensive site, easy to navigate, with concise language, and great pictures. One thing to remember is that D.C. is overwhelmingly Democratic. Chances are the winner of the Democratic primary will win the general election.
Potential candidates should read the DCBOE calendar. Petitions will be available at the Board of Elections on Jan. 23, with the primary on June 16th, and general election on Nov. 3. So, ready, set, go!
Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist.
Opinions
Lighting candles in a time of exhaustion
Gunmen killed 15 people at Sydney Hanukkah celebration
In the wake of the shooting at Bondi Beach that targeted Jews, many of us are sitting with a familiar feeling: exhaustion. Not shock or surprise, but the deep weariness that comes from knowing this violence continues. It is yet another reminder that antisemitism remains persistent.
Bondi Beach is far from Washington, D.C., but antisemitism does not respect geography. When Jews are attacked anywhere, Jews everywhere feel it. We check on family and friends, absorb the headlines, and brace ourselves for the quiet, numbing normalization that has followed acts of mass violence.
Many of us live at an intersection where threats can come from multiple directions. As a community, we have embraced the concept of intersectional identity, and yet in queer spaces, many LGBTQ+ Jews are being implicitly or explicitly asked to play down our Jewishness. Jews hesitate before wearing a Magen David or a kippah. Some of us have learned to compartmentalize our identities, deciding which part of ourselves feels safest to lead with. Are we welcome as queer people only if we mute our Jewishness? Are those around us able to acknowledge that our fear is not abstract, but rooted in a lived reality, one in which our friends and family are directly affected by the rise in antisemitic violence, globally and here at home?
As a result of these experiences, many LGBTQ+ Jews feel a growing fatigue. We are told, implicitly or explicitly, that our fear is inconvenient; that Jewish trauma must be contextualized, minimized, or deferred in favor of other injustices. Certainly, the world is full of horror. And yet, we long for a world in which all lives are cherished and safe, where solidarity is not conditional on political purity or on which parts of ourselves are deemed acceptable to love.
We are now in the season of Chanuka. The story of this holiday is not one of darkness vanishing overnight. It is the story of a fragile light that should not have lasted. Chanuka teaches us that hope does not require certainty; it requires persistence and the courage to kindle a flame even when the darkness feels overwhelming.
For LGBTQ+ Jews, this lesson resonates deeply. We have survived by refusing to disappear across multiple dimensions of our identities. We have built communities, created rituals, and embraced chosen families that affirm the fullness of who we are.
To our LGBTQ+ siblings who are not Jewish: this is a moment to listen, to stand with us, and to make space for our grief. Solidarity means showing up not only when it is easy or popular, but especially when it is uncomfortable.
To our fellow Jews: your exhaustion is valid. Your fear is understandable, and so is your hope. Every candle lit this Chanuka is an act of resilience. Every refusal to hide, every moment of joy, is a declaration that hatred will not have the final word.
Light does not deny darkness. It confronts it.
As we light our candles this Chanuka season, may we protect one another and bring light to one another, even as the world too often responds to difference with violence and hate.
Joshua Maxey is the executive director of Bet Mishpachah, D.C.’s LGBTQ synagogue.
Empty seats, canceled shows plague Kennedy Center ahead of Trump renaming
New queer bar Rush beset by troubles; liquor license suspended
Malaysian police raids spark renewed concern among LGBTQ activists
HHS to restrict gender-affirming care for minors
Candidates should pledge to nominate LGBTQ judge to Supreme Court
LGBTQ Democrats say they’re ready to fight to win in 2026
Brian Footer suspends campaign for Ward 1 D.C. Council seat
Far-right José Antonio Kast elected Chile’s next president
In real estate, trust the process
