Local
‘Archive Activism’ reveals efforts to recover hidden LGBTQ gov’t documents
Memoir by Charles Francis highlights ‘secrets’ held at LBJ Presidential Library
A newly released book called “Archive Activism: Memoir Of A ‘Uniquely Nasty’ Journey” describes the efforts by author Charles Francis and his supporters to uncover long hidden documents, among other things, revealing how LGBTQ federal workers were forced out of their jobs in the 1950s and 1960s.
Francis, a former public relations consultant and longtime Washington insider, co-founded in 2011 a repurposed Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C. as an advocacy group to uncover LGBTQ-related historical and archival documents while advocating for LGBTQ equality.
The original Mattachine Society of Washington was co-founded by pioneer D.C. gay rights advocate Frank Kameny in the early 1960s as D.C.’s first gay rights organization to become politically active and engage in gay rights protests.
Francis points out that the title of his book is taken, in part, from a 1964 document in which an attorney for the then U.S. Civil Service Commission named John Steele defended the longstanding policy of not allowing LGBTQ people to work for the government.
“What it boils down to is that most men look upon homosexuality as something ‘uniquely nasty,’ not just a form of immorality,” Steele states in the document.
“Archive Activism is the story of recovering forgotten, sealed – often deleted – LGBTQ history and using it to fight for equality and social justice at a time of historic erasure, book bans, and political assault,” Francis told the Washington Blade. “This is not a bland text about ‘LGBTQ history month,’” he said.
“It is about protecting ourselves, our families and political gains by understanding the shoulders we stand upon through original archival research,” he said in a statement. “A gay, ex-Republican raised in Texas in the ‘50s and ‘60s, I was awakened by the power of our history, our gay and lesbian legacy and the fight to save American democracy,” he said.
Francis’s book covers his early years in Washington working for nationally known public relations executive and Republican Party advocate Bob Gray, his efforts to help elect former Texas Gov. George W. Bush as U.S. president in the 2000 presidential election, and his subsequent disillusionment with Bush after Bush became an outspoken advocate for a federal constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
The book also tells how Francis in 2000 formed the Republican Unity Coalition, an LGBTQ supportive group that called on the Republican Party to make homosexuality a “non-issue” for the GOP. In a development that surprised many GOP officials, then U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.), former president Gerald Ford, and Mary Cheney, daughter of former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, signed on as members of the RUC group.
Francis describes in the book his early archive activism efforts that included co-founding the Kameny Papers Project, which arranged for the Library of Congress to acquire the voluminous collection of the documents of Frank Kameny. The Mattachine Society of Washington also arranged for the Library of Congress to acquire the papers and documentary films produced by D.C. LGBTQ rights advocate Lilli Vincenz.
A statement released by the book’s publisher, University of North Texas Press, says the book breaks ground in uncovering LGBTQ-related documents generated under President Lyndon Johnson.
“For the first time, ‘Archive Activism’ reveals how LGBTQ secrets were held for decades at the LBJ Presidential Library in the papers of President Johnson’s personal secretary, sealed until her death at age 105,” the statement says.
Francis and Mattachine Society of Washington co-founder Pate Felts went to Texas in 2016 to work with LBJ Library officials to find LGBTQ-related documents, including those showing that Johnson quietly fired a longtime Johnson family friend and White House staffer named Robert “Bob” Waldron after learning that Waldron had “engaged in homosexual acts,” according to one of the documents.
“‘Archive Activism’ is a rescue mission for primary archival materials located in archives and libraries, large and small, worldwide,” Francis says in the book. “It is a preservation-minded movement to recover and protect historical queer memory,” he writes. “Archive Activism is a populist mission to recover the erased past and to document the government animus that continues to course through LGBTQ political and policy history.”
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Rehoboth Beach
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Attendees encouraged to wear appropriate gear
Diego’s in Rehoboth Beach hosts a monthly leather happy hour. April’s edition is scheduled for Friday, April 10, 5-7 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to wear appropriate gear. The event is billed as an official event of BLUF, the free community group for men interested in leather. After happy hour, the attendees are encouraged to reconvene at Local Bootlegging Company for dinner, which allows cigar smoking. There’s no cover charge for either event.
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.).
District of Columbia
D.C. Council member honored by LGBTQ homeless youth group
Doni Crawford receives inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award
About 100 people turned out Tuesday evening, April 7, for a presentation by D.C.’s Wanda Alston Foundation of its inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award to D.C. Council member Doni Crawford (I-At-Large) for her support for the foundation’s mission to support homeless LGBTQ youth.
Among those who attended the event was Japer Bowles, director of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, who delivered an official proclamation issued by Bowser declaring April 7, 2026 “A Day of Remembrance for Wanda Alston.”
Alston, a beloved women’s and LGBTQ rights activist, served as the city’s first director of the then newly created Office of LGBTQ Affairs under then-Mayor Anthony Williams from 2004 until her death by murder on March 16, 2005.
To the shock and dismay of fellow LGBTQ rights advocates, police and court records reported Alston, 45, was stabbed to death inside her Northeast D.C. house by a man high on crack cocaine who lived nearby and who stole her credit cards and car. The perpetrator, William Martin Parrott, 38, was arrested by D.C. police the next day and later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was sentenced in July 2005 to 24 years in prison.
Crawford was among those attending the award event who reflected on Alston’s legacy and outspoken advocacy for LGBTQ and feminist causes.
“I am deeply humbled and honored to receive this inaugural award,” Crawford told the Washington Blade at the conclusion of the event. “I think the world of Wanda Alston. She has set such a great foundation for me and other Council members to build on,” she said.
“Her focus on inclusivity and intersectionality is really important as we approach this work,” Crawford added. “And it’s going to guide my work at the Council every day.”
Crawford was appointed to the D.C. Council in January of this year to replace then Council member Kenyan McDuffie (I-At-Large), who resigned to run for D.C. mayor as a Democrat. She is being challenged by four other independent candidates in a June 16 special election for the Council seat.
Under the city’s Home Rule Charter written and approved by Congress, the seat is one of two D.C. Council at-large seats that cannot be held by a “majority party” candidate, meaning a Democrat.
A statement released by the Alston Foundation last month announcing Crawford’s selection for the Wanda Alston Legacy Award praised Crawford’s record of support for its work on behalf of LGBTQ youth.
“From behind the scenes to now serving as an At-Large Council member, she has fought fearlessly for affordable housing, LGBTQ+ funding priorities, and racial justice,” the statement says. “Council member Crawford’s leadership reflects the same courage and conviction that defined Wanda’s legacy.”
Organizers of the event noted that it was held on what would have been Wanda Alston’s 67th birthday.
“Today’s legacy reception was a smashing success,” said Cesar Toledo, the Alston Foundation’s executive director. “Not only did we come together to celebrate Wanda Alston on her birthday, but we also were able to raise over $10,000 for our homeless LGBTQ youth here in D.C.,” Toledo told the Blade.
“In addition to that, we celebrated and we acknowledged a rising star in our community,” he said. “And that is At-Large Council member Doni Crawford, who we named the inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award recipient.”
At the request of D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) the Council voted unanimously on Jan. 20, 2026, to appoint Crawford to the Council seat being vacated by McDuffie.
Council records show she joined McDuffie’s Council staff in 2022 as a policy adviser and later became his legislative director before McDuffie appointed her as staff director for the Council’s Committee on Business and Economic Development for which McDuffie served as chair.
Calendar: April 10-16
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
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