District of Columbia
Nearly 100 attend vigil for slain trans woman A’Nee Roberson
D.C. police release video, photos of ‘person of interest’ linked to murder
Close to 100 people turned out late Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 25, for a candlelight vigil on the 900 block of U Street, N.W. in honor of local transgender woman A’Nee Roberson, 30.
D.C. police said Roberson was fatally struck by a car on U Street in that location on Oct. 14 while fleeing from a yet unidentified man who assaulted her and who police say committed second-degree murder by causing her to be hit by a car.
The vigil was organized by Iya Dammons, executive director of the transgender and LGBTQ services organization DC Safe Haven, and Earline Budd, founder of the local group Empowering the Transgender Community (ETC), with support from many local activists, the two women said.
It took place on the sidewalk in front of Nellie’s Sports Bar at 900 U St., N.W., steps away from where police say witnesses saw Roberson being assaulted and chased into the street about 4:20 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14, where she was hit by an oncoming car.
Police have not said whether they know why Roberson was at that location more than an hour after Nellie’s and other bars and nightclubs in that location had closed for the night. The driver of the car stopped at the scene and cooperated with police investigators, police have said.
More than 20 people spoke at the vigil, including Roberson’s father and brother, who were accompanied by other family members, all of whom said they loved A’Nee for who she was.
The vigil also took place one day after D.C. police released a video and photos taken from the video of a male “person of interest” who police are seeking help from the public in identifying. Police said the video was obtained from a nearby security camera.
Among those attending the vigil were members of the police LGBT Liaison Unit, who handed out flyers announcing police are offering a reward of up to $25,000 to anyone who provides information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for Roberson’s murder.
“Today we stand in solidarity as one community,” Dammons told the gathering. She called on the crowd to yell out the name “A’Nee” loudly and repeatedly in honor of Roberson’s life and memory.
“In the face of adversity, we rise, we shine, conquer,” Dammons said. “We are Black, we are trans, we are queer. We are willing and we are more than what the world sees us, more than the world knows us.”
D.C. Councilmember Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), the Council’s only gay member, told the crowd he and his fellow Council members express their love and support for Roberson’s family and many friends who are mourning her loss.
“Her death is not in vain,” Parker said. “We are going to keep her spirit alive and bring her murderer to justice,” said Parker, who also asked the crowd to yell out the name A’Nee several times.
Gay D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Vincent Slatt, who is a member of the ANC LGBTQ Rainbow Caucus, told the gathering the Rainbow Caucus was advocating for the city to address in a more aggressive way violence targeting the trans community and the LGBTQ community. Also expressing support at the vigil for improved efforts to address violence targeting the trans community was June Crenshaw, executive director of the Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides housing services for homeless LGBTQ youth.
Also speaking at the vigil were at least four former employees or clients of the now closed Casa Ruby DC LGBTQ community services center, who said A’Nee Roberson was affiliated with Casa Ruby and acted as a loving and supportive mentor to them.
Gary Roberson, A’Nee Roberson’s father, thanked participants for turning out at a vigil he said demonstrated the strong support and love his daughter had from the community.
“Me, as her dad, had no choice but to support her,” Gary Roberson said after telling how he, his wife, and other children embraced and supported A’Nee after she came out to them as trans at the age of 13.
“From this day forward, I am part of the LGBTQ community,” he said. “You have my support. Thank you so much for coming out today.”
Also speaking at the vigil was Japer Bowles, director of the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs.
“We are all sick and tired of coming to these things to see justice done,” he told the gathering. “We need to see justice done. We are doing what we can,” he said in referring to the city government’s efforts to end violence targeting the trans and LGBTQ community.
Nellie’s, which is an LGBTQ establishment, placed a large chalkboard sign on the sidewalk next to a table where the speakers at the vigil stood. A handwritten message on the chalkboard said, “The Hearts and Mind of The Nellie’s Family are with The Family of A’Nee Roberson.”
The police video and photos of the person of interest in the A’Nee murder is below:
District of Columbia
Trans Day of Visibility events planned
Rally on the National Mall scheduled for Saturday
The Christopher Street Project has a number of events planned for the 2026 Trans Day of Visibility, including a rally on the Mall and an “Empowerment Ball” at the Eaton Hotel. Plenaries, panel discussions and meetings with members of Congress are scheduled in the three days of programming.
Announced speakers include N.H. state Rep. Alice Wade; Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago Precious Brady-Davis; activist and performer Miss Peppermint (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”); Lexington, Ky. Councilwoman Emma Curtis; Rabbi Abby Stein; D.C. activist and host Rayceen Pendarvis; Air Force Master Sgt. Logan Ireland; among other leaders, advocates and performers.
Conference programming on Thursday and Friday includes an educational forum and a Capitol Hill policy education day. Registration for the two-day conference has closed.
The “Trans Day of Visibility PAC Reception” is scheduled for Thursday, March 26 from 7:30-9 p.m. at As You Are (500 8th St., S.E.). Special guests include Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nevada) and Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.). Tickets are available at christopherstreetproject.org starting at $25.
The National Council of Jewish Women and the Christopher Street Project host a “Trans Day of Visibility Shabbat” on Friday, March 27 from 7-8 p.m. at Sixth & I (600 I St., N.W.). The service is to be led by Rabbi Jenna Shaw and Rabbi Abby Stein.
The “Now You See Me: Trans Empowerment Social & Ball” is scheduled for Friday, March 27 from 6-11 p.m. at the Eaton Hotel (1201 K. St., N.W.). The trans-themed drag ball is hosted by the Marsha P. Johnson Institute with support from the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs, the Capital Ballroom Council, the Christopher Street Project, the Center for Black Equity, Generation for Common Good, and Parenting is Political. RSVP online at christopherstreetproject.org.
The National Transgender Day of Visibility Rally is scheduled for Saturday, March 28 on the National Mall at 11 a.m. The rally will include speakers and performances. Following the rally, attendees are encouraged to participate in the “No Kings” rally being held at Anacostia Park.
District of Columbia
Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th anniversary gala draws sold out crowd
D.C. elected officials, mayoral candidates praise LGBTQ Democratic group
A sold-out crowd of 186 people, including D.C. elected officials and candidates running for D.C. mayor, turned out Friday, March 20, for the Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th anniversary celebration.
Among those attending the event, held at the Pepco Edison Place Gallery building next to the city’s Chinatown neighborhood, were seven D.C. Council members and four Democratic candidates running for mayor.
But at the request of Capital Stonewall Democrats leaders, the Council members, most of whom are running for re-election, and mayoral contenders did not give campaign speeches. Instead, they mingled with the crowd and focused on the accomplishments of the LGBTQ Democratic group over the past 50 years, with some presenting the group’s special “honor” awards to about a dozen prominent LGBTQ Democratic activists.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who was initially expected to attend the event, did not attend.
The mayoral candidates attending included D.C. Council member Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) and former At-Large Council member Kenyan McDuffie, an independent turned Democrat, who are considered the leading mayoral contenders in the city’s June 16 Democratic Primary. Both have strong, longtime records of support for LGBTQ rights issues.
The other two mayoral candidates attending the event were Gary Goodweather, a real estate manager, and Rini Sampath, a cybersecurity consultant. Sampath told the Washington Blade she self-identifies as queer. Both have expressed strong support on LGBTQ-related issues.
The D.C. Council members attending the event included Lewis George; Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large); Anita Bonds (D-At-Large); Robert White (D-At-Large); Matt Frumin (D-Ward 3); Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), the Council’s only gay member; and Charles Allen (D-Ward 6).
“Tonight we celebrate not just 50 years of history but 50 years of showing up,” Howard Garrett, Capital Stonewall Democrats immediate past president, told the gathering in opening remarks. “Showing up when it was easy, showing up when it wasn’t popular,” he said, adding, “This work only continues if we continue to show up.”
He noted that the deadline for joining the organization in time to be eligible to vote on its endorsement of candidates running in D.C.’s 2026 election was midnight that night. He urged attendees who were not members to go to two tables at the event to join.
The group’s current president, Stevie McCarty, thanked the group’s longtime members who he said played a key role in what he called its historic work in building political support for the D.C. LGBTQ community. Among those he thanked was Paul Kuntzler, 84, one of the group’s founding members in January 1976, when it was initially named the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club.
Members voted to rename the group the Capital Stonewall Democrats in 2021.
Among the LGBTQ advocates who were honored at the event was Rayceen Pendarvis, the longtime host of a D.C. LGBTQ online interview show that included interviews of candidates for public office. Pendarvis also served as emcee for the Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th anniversary event.
“Thank you everyone in this room who has done the work to make this world a better place,” Pendarvis said in opening remarks. “To all our prestigious activists in the room, all of our amazing politicians in the room who are doing the work, we love you and we honor you.”
Among the honorees in addition to Pendarvis was Malcolm Kenyatta, the Democratic National Committee’s vice chair who became the first openly LGBTQ person of color to win election to the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2018.
Other honorees included Parker; 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; and Philip Pannell, longtime LGBTQ Democratic activist, Ward 8 civic leader, and longtime Capital Stonewall Democrats member.
The 50th anniversary event included an open bar and refreshments and entertainment by three drag performers.
District of Columbia
Gay candidate running for D.C. congressional delegate seat
Robert Matthews among 19 hoping to replace Eleanor Holmes Norton
Robert Matthews, a former director of the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency, is running in the city’s June 16 Democratic primary for the D.C. Congressional Delegate seat as an openly gay candidate, according to a statement released by his campaign to the Washington Blade.
Matthews is one of at least 19 candidates running to replace longtime D.C. Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), who announced earlier this year that she is not running for re-election.
Information about the candidates’ campaign financing compiled by the Federal Elections Commission, which oversees elections for federal candidates, shows that Matthews is one of only six of the candidates who have raised any money for their campaigns as of March 17.
Among those six, who political observers say have a shot at winning compared to the remaining 13, are D.C. Council members Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) and Robert White (D-At-Large). Both have longstanding records of support for LGBTQ rights and the community.
The FEC campaign finance records show Matthews was in fourth place regarding the money raised for his campaign, which was $49,078 as of March 17. The FEC records show Pinto’s campaign in first place with $843,496 raised, and White in third place with $230,399 raised.
The Matthews campaign statement released to the Blade says Matthews’s “commitment to the LGBTQ community is not a campaign position. It is the foundation of his life and his life’s work.”
The statement adds, “As the former director of D.C.’s Child and Family Services Agency, Robert led the District’s child welfare system with an explicit commitment to LGBTQ-affirming care.” It goes on to say, “He ensured that LGBTQ, trans, and nonbinary youth in foster care — among the most vulnerable young people in our city — were served with dignity, cultural humility, and genuine support.”
Among his priorities if elected as Congressional delegate, the statement says, would be “fighting to end homelessness among queer and trans seniors and youth,” opposing “federal roadblocks” to LGBTQ related health services, and defending D.C.’s budget and civil rights laws “from federal interference that directly threatens LGBTQ residents.”
The other three candidates who the FEC records show have raised campaign funds and observers say have a shot at winning are:
• Kinney Zalesne, former deputy national finance chair at the Democratic National Committee and an official at the U.S. Justice Department during the Clinton administration, whose campaign is in second place in fundraising with $593,885 raised.
• Gordon Chaffin, a former congressional staffer whose campaign has raised $17,950.
• Kelly Mikel Williams, a podcast host and candidate for the Congressional Delegate seat in 2022 and 2024, whose 2026 campaign has raised $3,094 as of March 17.
The Blade reached out to the Zalesne, Chaffin, and Williams campaigns to determine their position on LGBTQ issues. As of late Wednesday, the Zalesne campaign was the only one that responded.
“Kinney believes LGBTQ rights are fundamental civil rights and central to what makes Washington, D.C. a strong and vibrant community,” a statement sent by her campaign says. “At a time when LGBTQ people (especially transgender and nonbinary neighbors) are facing escalating political attacks across the country, she believes the District must continue to lead in protecting dignity, safety, and freedom for all,” it says.
The statement adds, “Throughout her career in government, business, and nonprofit leadership, Kinney has worked alongside LGBTQ and queer advocates and leaders. She is committed to maintaining an active partnership with the community to make sure LGBTQ voices remain central to the District’s future.”
Markwayne Mullin confirmed as next DHS secretary
Gay man murdered in Va.
Trans Day of Visibility events planned
Virginia General Assembly’s 2026 legislative session ends
Polish court rules country must recognize same-sex marriages from EU states
Queer American in Israel discusses Iran war’s impact
‘How We Survived’ panel set for March 25
Calendar: March 21-26
Small is beautiful: subcompact SUVs
