District of Columbia
Apparent overdose deaths of two beloved D.C. gay men trigger ‘powerful response’
LGBTQ bars to offer training, distribution of Narcan, fentanyl testing kits
Sources familiar with D.C.’s LGBTQ nightlife scene say widespread reports on social media of the sudden and unexpected deaths of two widely known and beloved gay men from an apparent accidental drug overdose on Dec. 27 at one of the men’s homes has triggered an outcry for the city and the community to become more aggressive in addressing the opioid overdose problem and how it is impacting the LGBTQ community.
D.C. police and Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department reports show that prominent D.C. attorney and LGBTQ rights supporter Brandon Roman, 38, and historic preservation expert and home renovation business owner Robert ‘Robbie’ Barletta, 28, were found unconscious when police and emergency medical personnel arrived at Barletta’s house on the afternoon of Dec. 27.
The reports show that Roman was declared deceased at the scene shortly after D.C. police and an ambulance arrived at the house in response to a 911 call. According to one of the reports, Barletta was taken to Washington Hospital Center where he died on Dec. 29.
Both men were regular patrons at popular D.C. gay bars, including the gay nightclub and dance bar Bunker and the recently opened gay bar and lounge Shakers.
“Come to Honor their Lives in Your Best Sparkles and Shimmers – Saturday, February 3rd 5-8pm at Shakers,” according to an announcement by Shakers posted on Instagram of a celebration of life for Roman and Barletta.
Johnny Bailey, community outreach coordinator for the LGBTQ supportive community services organization HIPS, said the widespread news of Roman and Barletta’s passing has prompted more interest and support for the overdose training sessions that HIPS and other groups have been organizing at D.C. nightlife venues, including bars and nightclubs.
Bailey noted that one of the training sessions is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 27 at the D.C. gay bar Trade. He said the next one was scheduled for Monday, Jan. 29 at the Adams Morgan gay bar Pitchers. Among other things, facilitators at the trainings will be distributing the life-saving overdose antidote Narcan and testing kits for fentanyl, which experts say is the leading cause of drug overdose deaths when it appears in other drugs such as cocaine without the knowledge of users of those other drugs.
According to Bailey, the gay bar JR.’s on 17th Street near Dupont Circle has hosted a table set up by HIPS to distribute Narcan, fentanyl test strips, and condoms on nights when the bar holds its popular drag shows.
Bailey said he did not know Roman and Barletta personally but people he works with at HIPS knew them and, according to his sources in the community, people who knew the two men believe their apparent overdose was caused by taking some other drug contaminated with fentanyl.
“It’s horrible when it takes a tragedy for things to come together,” Bailey told the Washington Blade. “But this tragedy has truly triggered a powerful response. It was a real wakeup call to a lot of people,” he said. “So, this happening to them really triggered something.”
Among other things, Bailey said, it has heightened interest in the training sessions at bars and other nightlife venues and prompted HIPS and other organizations to increase the number of the trainings.
David Perruzza, owner of Pitchers, said he was happy to host the training session at his bar on Jan. 29. He said he was among the business owners and community members to urge D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs to become involved in boosting overdose prevention efforts “because I was sick of people dying.”
Bailey and Jennifer Loken, interim director of Therapy and Substance Use Treatment at D.C.’s Whitman-Walker Health, each said it was difficult to determine exactly how many LGBTQ people in the city have survived or died from a drug overdose because the city doesn’t specifically count or keep track of overdose cases based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
The D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which investigates and gathers data on D.C. drug overdose cases, breaks down its demographic data by race-ethnicity, gender, age, and jurisdiction of residence by city ward. In its most recent report, the medical examiner’s office says it has investigated 2,134 deaths due to the use of opioids from Jan. 1, 2017, through Feb. 28, 2023. In those years, the number of overdose deaths increased each year except for 2018, when there was a small decrease, followed by an increase in 2019 with a sharp increase in 2022 and 2023.
In 2022, the most recent year in which the full year data was tabulated, the report says there were 458 overdose deaths, with an average of 38 deaths per month.
“Overall, 1,807 or 84 percent of all deaths due to opioid use were among Blacks” from January 2017 through May 2023, the report says. “Approximately 72 percent of all fatal opioid overdoses occur among adults between the ages of 40-69 years old,” with 30 percent of those deaths due to opioid use among people ages 50 to 59, the report states. And the report shows that fatal opioid overdoses are far more common among males than females. In 2023, 76 percent of the overdose deaths were among men and 24 percent among women, the report shows.
Asked if Whitman-Walker has a sense or estimate of whether LGBTQ overdose cases are increasing like they are in the overall D.C. population, Loken said, “I would say yes from what I hear anecdotally. Any overdose death is a significant loss.” She added, “So, I think in general, yes, the risk is increasing. Exactly to what degree I don’t know.”
Rodney Adams, general counsel and spokesperson for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, said it would be difficult for the office to attempt to keep track of overdose deaths based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity for transgender people. Among other things, the sexual orientation or gender identity of a deceased person taken to the medical examiner’s facility for an autopsy and toxicology tests to determine the cause and manner of death would be difficult to determine, Adams said.
“I don’t think we can go out and question the next of kin of what they think their loved one identified as,” Adams told the Blade. “We have a difficult enough conversation with families when we tell them that their loved one is deceased.”
Loken of Whitman-Walker said Whitman-Walker has several programs and services for those who use drugs, including providing medication to help people who may want to stop using an opioid drug as well as harm reduction programs to help someone who wishes to continue using a drug to do so in the safest possible way.
“Sometimes there’s a lot of stigma around substance use in general,” Loken said. “And we definitely don’t want anyone to feel shameful or that they can’t ask for what they need.” All of Whitman-Walker’s substance use treatment or support programs are nonjudgmental toward those who are substance users, Loken told the Blade.
Bailey said one potential problem HIPS has encountered in organizing overdose training sessions at bars and other nightlife businesses is some of the businesses declined to host a training session because they were concerned the city’s Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA), which regulates the sale of alcoholic beverages in the city, might penalize them for appearing to encourage drug use. Bailey said owners at some bars said they were afraid ABCA might take steps to revoke their liquor license if they hosted an overdose training session in which Narcan and drug testing kits were distributed
Jarred Powell, ABCA’s chief of staff, in response to an inquiry from the Blade, said ABCA would not penalize businesses for hosting such a training.
“ABCA is strongly supportive of alcohol licensed businesses encouraging their staff to become trained in opioid overdose prevention and naloxone administration and for businesses to have naloxone on hand to administer if any opioid overdose occurs,” Powell said in a statement to the Blade. Naloxone is the generic name for the overdose treatment medication Narcan.
“Additionally, ABCA supports businesses posting and distributing overdose prevention and treatment resources such as posters and brochures,” Powell said. “All are critically important components to D.C.’s harm reduction approach to substance abuse.”
Powell said ABCA is also collaborating with the D.C. Department of Behavioral Health, which oversees the city’s overdose prevention programs, and the Mayor’s Office of Nightlife and Culture and Office of LGBTQ Affairs to increase the city’s overdose prevention initiatives and to co-host Narcan administration trainings.
Japer Bowles, director of the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, issued an announcement on Dec. 31 praising HIPS, the city’s Department of Behavioral Health, and the LGBTQ supportive Capital Ballroom Council for making sure “every LGBTQIA nightlife establishment in D.C.” had Narcan in time for their New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Bailey, meanwhile, said he and other HIPS staff members will continue the work they started in the recent past to organize overdose prevention trainings.
“We go anywhere in the community,” he said. “I’ve done libraries, bars. I did a church one day and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence the next day,” he said, referring to the group that performs in drag dressed as nuns. “Any and all sorts of places we do these Narcan trainings.”
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.”
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