District of Columbia
Real life drama unfolds at Int’l Overdose Awareness Day event in D.C. park
HIPS staffers render aid to unconscious man on sidewalk
Many of the close to 200 people that turned out on Thursday, Aug. 31, for an International Overdose Awareness Day event at a small park in Northeast D.C. known as Starburst Plaza witnessed officials with the local harm reduction services group HIPS rush to the aid of a man who lost consciousness.
One of the HIPS staffers rendered aid before D.C. Emergency Medical Services Department technicians arrived on a fire truck. The EMS technicians provided further treatment to the man, including placing an oxygen mask on his face, that resulted in his regaining consciousness.
He was taken to a hospital by an ambulance that arrived on the scene a short time later.
HIPS, whose offices and drop-in center are located a few blocks away from where the event took place, was one of its lead organizers. HIPS and about a half dozen other community-based organizations that provide services for drug users and sex workers set up tables and handed out literature on the sidewalk at the site of Starburst Plaza.
Longtime D.C. transgender rights advocate Earline Budd, who works for HIPS, said members of the LGBTQ community, including transgender women of color, have been among those who have lost their lives to opioid overdoses. Budd pointed to large photos displayed at the event of three trans women who died from an opioid overdose within the past year.
“Lives of members of our community are being lost in what is truly an epidemic, and we can no longer ignore this,” Budd said.
Also participating in the event was Devon Trotter, who serves as chair of the HIPS board of directors.
“We hope that today just brings awareness to the epidemic that we have here in this country and in our community – the opioid epidemic,” Trotter said. “We know that drug use isn’t going to stop,” he told the Washington Blade.
“So, we need to ensure that folks get access to support and resources to use their drugs safely, to be able to know what’s in them without fear for their lives,” he said. “A day like today is also important because it brings awareness to those who we have lost and those who are struggling,” said Trotter.
Among the other organizations that collaborated with HIPS and set up tables at the event to distribute literature about opioid overdose prevention were Whitman-Walker Health; the emergency services organization Forensic Nurse Examiners; the drug user support group Revise, Inc.; and the advocacy and support coalition Decrim Poverty D.C.
Also attending the event were members of the D.C. police department’s LGBT Liaison Unit.
L.J. Sislen, one of the officials with Decrim Poverty D.C., said the coalition advocates for support services for drug users and for decriminalization of drug use and possession.
“You can’t get well in a cell,” she said, referring to the frequent arrest and incarceration of people experiencing addiction on charges of illegal drug possession. “We believe that eliminating criminal penalties for drug use is one of the most effective ways for us to address the worsening drug overdose crisis,” Sislen said.
Vito Maggiolo, a spokesperson for the D.C. Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services, said the man treated and placed in the ambulance at the D.C. Overdose Awareness Day event was listed as being in “potentially serious condition.”
But he said under city privacy laws, he is unable to provide further details of the man’s condition or to disclose which hospital he was taken to. Maggiolo said that all firefighters are trained as emergency medical technicians and can provide the same emergency treatment to someone suffering from an illness or other emergency medical condition as the medical technicians assigned to an ambulance.
In a related development, the White House and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra released statements commemorating International Overdose Awareness Day and announced additional federal funding for programs that address opioid addiction and overdose prevention.
“Today, on International Overdose Awareness Day, the Biden-Harris administration is recognizing all those who have lost someone to an overdose,” the White House statement says. “President Biden declared August 27 through September 2 as Overdose Awareness Week to focus the nation’s attention on the devastation caused by illicit fentanyl and other drugs,” says the statement.
“During this week of recognition, we reaffirm our commitment to beating this epidemic – in memory of those we have lost and to protect the lives we can save,” the statement says.
In the separate HHS statement, Becerra outlined recently implemented programs of the Biden administration and HHS that allocate more than $450 million to support the administration’s Unity Agenda efforts to address the overdose problem.
“Drug overdose does not discriminate – rich or poor, Black or white, urban or suburban, drug overdoses reach every corner of our society,” Becerra said. “On this Overdose Awareness Day, we reflect on the toll that substance misuse takes, both in terms of lives lost and immeasurable pain it brings to families and communities,” he said.
(Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story reported that a HIPS staffer administered Narcan to the unconscious man. A HIPS spokesperson later told the Blade that Narcan was not administered.)
In an official statement released at the reveal event Capital Pride Alliance described its just announced 2026 Pride theme of “Exist, Resist, Have the Audacity” as a “bold declaration affirming the presence, resilience, and courage of LGBTQ+ people around the world.”
The statement adds, “Grounded in the undeniable truth that our existence is not up for debate, this year’s theme calls on the community to live loudly and proudly, stand firm against injustice and erasure, and embody the collective strength that has always defined the LGBTQ+ community.”
In a reference to the impact of the hostile political climate, the statement says, “In a time when LGBTQ+ rights and history continue to face challenges, especially in our Nation’s Capital, where policy and public discourse shape the future of our country, together, we must ensure that our voices are visible, heard, and unapologetically centered.”
The statement also quotes Capital Pride Alliance CEO and President Ryan Bos’s message at the Reveal event: “This year’s theme is both a declaration and a demand,” Bos said. “Exist, Resist, Have Audacity! reflects the resilience of our community and our responsibility to protect the progress we’ve made. As we look toward our nation’s 250th anniversary, we affirm that LGBTQ+ people have always been and always will be part of the United States’s history, and we will continue shaping its future with strength and resolve,” he concluded.
District of Columbia
Capital Pride board member resigns, alleges failure to address ‘sexual misconduct’
In startling letter, Taylor Chandler says board’s inaction protected ‘sexual predator’
Taylor Lianne Chandler, a member of the Capital Pride Alliance Board of Directors since 2019 who most recently served as the board’s secretary, submitted a letter of resignation on Feb. 24 that alleges the board has failed to address instances of “sexual misconduct” within the Capital Pride organization.
The Washington Blade received a copy of Chandler’s resignation letter one day after she submitted it from an anonymous source. Chandler, who identifies as transgender and intersex, said in an interview that she did not send the letter to the Blade, but she suspected someone associated with Capital Pride, which organizes D.C.’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, “wants it out in the open.”
“It is with a heavy heart, but with absolute clarity, that I submit my resignation from the Capital Pride Alliance Board of Directors effective immediately,” Chandler states in her letter. “I have devoted nearly ten years of my life to this organization,” she wrote, pointing to her initial involvement as a volunteer and later as a producer of events as chair of the organization’s Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, and Intersex Committee.
“Capital Pride once meant something profound to me – a space of safety, visibility, and community for people who have often been denied all three,” her letter continues. “That is no longer the organization I am part of today.”
“I, along with other board members, brought forward credible concerns regarding sexual misconduct – a pattern of behavior spanning years – to the attention of this board,” Chandler states in the letter. “What followed was not accountability. What followed was retaliation. Rather than addressing the substance of what was reported, officers and fellow board members chose to chastise those of us who came forward.”
The letter adds, “This board has made its priorities clear through its actions: protecting a sexual predator matters more than protecting the people who had the courage to come forward. … I have been targeted, bullied, and made to feel like an outsider for doing what any person of integrity would do – telling the truth.”
In response to a request from the Blade for comment, Anna Jinkerson, who serves as chair of the Capital Pride board, sent the Blade a statement praising Taylor Chandler’s efforts as a Capital Pride volunteer and board member but did not specifically address the issue of alleged sexual misconduct.
“We’re also aware that her resignation letter has been shared with the media and has listed concerns,” Jinkerson said in her statement. “When concerns are brought to CPA, we act quickly and appropriately to address them,” she said.
“As we continue to grow our organization, we’re proactively strengthening the policies and procedures that shape our systems, our infrastructure, and the support we provide to our team and partners,” Jinkerson said in her statement. “We’re doing this because the community’s experience with CPA must always be safe, affirming, empowering, and inclusive,” she added.
In an interview with the Blade, Chandler said she was not the target of the alleged sexual harassment.
She said a Capital Pride investigation identified one individual implicated in a “pattern” of sexual harassment related behavior over a period of time. But she said she was bound by a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) that applies to all board members and she cannot disclose the name of the person implicated in alleged sexual misconduct or those who came forward to complain about it.
“It was one individual, but there was a pattern and a history,” Chandler said, noting that was the extent of what she can disclose.
“And I’ll say this,” she added. “In my opinion, with gay culture sometimes the touchy feely-ness that goes on seems to be like just part of the culture, not necessarily the same as a sexual assault or whatever. But at the same time, if someone does not want those advances and they’re saying no and trying to push you away and trying to avoid you, then it makes it that way regardless of the culture.”
When asked about when the allegations of sexual harassment first surfaced, Chandler said, “In the past year is when the allegation came forward from one individual. But in the course of this all happening, other individuals came forward and talked about instances – several which showed a pattern.”
Chandler’s resignation comes about five months after Capital Pride Alliance announced in a statement released in October 2025 that its then board president, Ashley Smith, resigned from his position on Oct. 18 after Capital Pride became aware of a “claim” regarding Smith. The statement said the group retained an independent firm to investigate the matter, but it released no further details since that time. Smith has declined to comment on the matter.
When asked by the Blade if the Smith resignation could be linked in some way to allegations of sexual misconduct, Chandler said, “I can’t make a comment one way or the other on that.”
Chandler’s resignation and allegations come after Capital Pride Alliance has been credited with playing the lead role in organizing the World Pride celebration hosted by D.C. in which dozens of LGBTQ-related Pride events were held from May through June of 2025.
The letter of resignation also came just days before Capital Pride Alliance’s annual “Reveal” event scheduled for Feb. 26 at the Hamilton Hotel in which the theme for D.C.’s June 2026 LGBTQ Pride events was to be announced along with other Pride plans.
District of Columbia
Capital Stonewall Democrats elect new leaders
LGBTQ political group set to celebrate 50th anniversary
Longtime Democratic Party activists Stevie McCarty and Brad Howard won election last week as president and vice president for administration for the Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political organization.
In a Feb. 24 announcement, the group said McCarty and Howard, both of whom are elected DC Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, ran in a special Capital Stonewall Democrats election to fill the two leadership positions that became vacant when the officers they replaced resigned.
Outgoing President Howard Garrett, who McCarty has replaced, told the Washington Blade he resigned after taking on a new position as chair of the city’s Ward 1 Democratic Committee. The Capital Stonewall Democrats announcement didn’t say who Howard replaced as vice president for administration.
The group’s website shows its other officers include Elizabeth Mitchell as Vice President for Legislative and Political Affairs, and Monica Nemeth as Treasurer. The officer position of secretary is vacant, the website shows.
“As we look toward 2026, the stakes for D.C. and for LGBTQ+ communities have never been clearer,” the group’s statement announcing McCarty and Howard’s election says. “Our 50th anniversary celebration on March 20 and the launch of our D.C. LGBTQ+ Voter’s Guide mark the beginning of a major year for endorsements, organizing, and coalition building,” the statement says.
McCarty said among the organization’s major endeavors will be holding virtual endorsement forums where candidates running for D.C. mayor and the Council will appear and seek the group’s endorsement.
Founded in 1976 as the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the organization’s members voted in 2021 to change its name to Capital Stonewall Democrats. McCarty said the 50th anniversary celebration on March 20, in which D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and members of the D.C. Council are expected to attend, will be held at the PEPCO Gallery meeting center at 702 8th St., N.W.
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