Virginia
Arlington church seeks to offer LGBTQ-affirming senior housing
Project by Clarendon Presbyterian faces opposition from residents
Leaders and members of the Clarendon Presbyterian Church, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary on April 13, have said they decided to continue to fulfill their mission of religious faith by using the land on which their church is located in the Clarendon section of Arlington, Va., to develop a new, larger church building to include LGBTQ affordable housing for seniors along with an independently run childcare center that currently operates in the church.
“In line with the church’s deep history of supporting affordable housing, LGBTQ communities, and seniors, in 2021, the church relaunched a visioning process of how we might invest our most valuable physical resources, our church property, for the good of the community,” church leaders said in a Feb. 9, 2024, statement describing the project.
The statement says that in 2022, the congregation voted to partner with the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH), a real estate development company that specializes in affordable housing projects. Through that partnership, the statement says, the two partners in June of 2023 applied to the Arlington County government for a zoning change that would allow the construction of a building that could accommodate as many as 92 residential apartments for seniors 55 or 62 and older.
Among other things, the project calls for demolishing the current church building and constructing a new, larger building that would include a smaller version of the church space for its religious services as well as space for 40 to 58 children ages two through six at the Clarendon Child Care Center, which has operated at the church for more than 60 years.
Rev. Alice Tewell, the current pastor at Clarendon Presbyterian Church, told the Washington Blade another important factor contributing to the decision to redevelop the church property is the high cost of maintaining a 100-year-old building and its aging infrastructure that was becoming less and less affordable for the church’s budget. And like many churches across the country, the membership of Clarendon Presbyterian Church has declined over the years, making it no longer necessary for a worship service space as large as that in the current church building, Tewell said.
The statement describing the development plan says that without a major redevelopment project, the church could no longer afford to remain in the current building, forcing it to move to another location outside of Clarendon and possibly outside of Arlington.
According to Rev. Tewell, the redevelopment decision came after several years of internal discussion, meetings with longtime church allies, including members of the LGBTQ community and other community groups.
“And after all these conversations, we came to where we could serve Christ, which is part of our faith, and where we could be good neighbors in Arlington – would be to tear down our entire property and rebuild so it would include senior affordable housing as LGBT welcoming, a new church space, which we also plan to turn into a community space, and the new space for our preschool center,” Tewell told the Blade.
She noted that the church’s location at 1305 N. Jackson St. is walking distance to the Clarendon Metro station and many local amenities such as restaurants and retail stores, making it a convenient location for the senior residents in the redeveloped space.
She also points out that church members have consulted with the New York-based LGBTQ seniors advocacy organization SAGE, which informed them of the great need for LGBTQ welcoming senior housing, including in Northern Virginia.
But news of the church’s redevelopment project, especially reports that it would include a proposed 92-unit apartment building, prompted many nearby residents to raise strong objections and to call on the Arlington County Board, which must make a final decision on a zoning change, to deny the zoning change request.
Most of the opposition comes from residents of single-family houses, who point out that the church is located in a largely low-density residential neighborhood with just a few nearby low-rise apartment buildings. In August of 2023, a group of nearby residents created an online petition that gathered at that time more than 1,000 signatures calling for the county to turn down the church development project.
“We, the concerned residents of Arlington, Virginia, stand united in opposition to the proposed destruction of the historic, over 100-year-old, Clarendon Presbyterian Church (CPC) and the subsequent construction of a massive 6-story apartment building having 100 units within our cherished residential neighborhood,” the petition states. “We believe that this development project will have serious detrimental effects on our community’s character, quality of life, and historic heritage,” it says.
The Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing, or APAH, the development company working in partnership with the church, submitted an official application on June 29, 2023, for a Special General Land Use Plan Study calling for the needed zoning change for the church project with Arlington County Zoning Administrator Arlova Vonhm. APAH officials have said the initial application was the first of a multi-step process seeking final approval of the project.
Garrett Jackson, APAH’s Director of Resource Development and Communications, told the Blade that APAH on behalf of the church asked the Zoning Administrator to put the application on hold while the church and APAH consider revisions for the project.
“We are currently working with our architect, engineer, and construction management team to assess the feasibility of different development options while also considering feedback we have received from the county and the community,” Jackson told the Blade in a March 15 email.
In a phone interview with the Blade on March 21, Jackson and APAH officials Mitchell Crispell and Brian Goggin, said the decision to put the project on hold did not come as a result of an informal message from the Zoning Administrator that the project was about to be turned down.
“So, we were the ones that put it on hold,” said Crispell, APAH’s Director of Real Estate Development. “It wasn’t the county that said no to us at all. We wanted to kind of pause for a minute and consider our options, the feasibility of different options and the development plans,” he said.
Crispell noted that the decision to put the project on hold came last fall, a few months after the application was submitted in June and after strong opposition to the project surfaced by nearby residents. Crispell, Jackson, and Goggin pointed out, however, that opposition to development projects is a common phenomenon in Arlington and other jurisdictions and that ongoing dialogue between developers and concerned residents often leads to a resolution to the objections.
“We understand the back and forth that it takes to get these projects to fruition,” Jackson said. “So, you’ve got to rest assured that this is very much a part of the very thorough process that both APAH and the county go through regularly to make sure that we’re getting the absolute best product in the actual building that will go up for Clarendon Presbyterian Church and for the future residents,” Jackson points out.
Jackson and his two APAH colleagues said they couldn’t immediately predict when they will resubmit the application for the zoning change. Spokespersons for the Zoning Office, the Arlington County Board, and Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz didn’t immediately respond to a request by the Blade for comment on the church project and the likelihood of the county approving the project.
Among those supporting the church project is James Fisher, a longtime Arlington LGBTQ rights advocate and longtime church member. Fisher and Arlington gay civic activists Jay Fisette, a former elected member of the Arlington Board, and longtime Arlington resident Bob Witeck, who support the project, told the Blade they believe many nearby residents also support the church development project.
Fisette and Witeck said they do not believe anti-LGBTQ bias is a significant factor, if a factor at all, in the opposition to the church project.
“I personally observe this as disquiet about building a larger and taller presence in a space that abuts residential neighbors unsure of the implications or stresses that might come,” Witeck said. “I’m no Pollyanna, but really believe that with time, this change will be smoother than people fear or imagine,” he said.
Fisette said the church project comes a short time after the Arlington County Board adopted an “Expanded Housing Options” policy that allows for larger residential buildings in some areas originally zoned for low-density, single-family homes. This change drew objections among many residents in areas similar to where Clarendon Presbyterian church is located.
“I would say the LGBTQ elements of the proposal are likely more of a plus than a minus,” Fisette told the Blade. “I expect 99 percent of any resistance-anxiety relates to density and the real-feared impacts of that density,” he said.
Tewell told the Blade the church’s support for the LGBTQ community dates back to the 1980s, when church members voted in support of a then-controversial proposal to allow the D.C.-based Whitman-Walker Clinic, which had a Northern Virginia outreach, to use space in the church for a support group for people with HIV/AIDS and for HIV caregivers.
“And that started changing the church to becoming a church that was very welcoming to LGBTQ people,” she said, adding that the church subsequently opened its door for LGBTQ community events, some of which were organized by gay church member James Fisher. Among those using the church now is IMPACTO LGBT, a Spanish-speaking LGBT church that holds its worship services at Clarendon Presbyterian Church.
“This is how we are living out our faith in the world,” Tewell said. “We worked out what does God’s embodied love look like for the world? And how do we embody God’s grace, justice, and love? And we really feel that it is through housing for seniors that is welcoming to LGBTQ+ people,” she added. “And to transform our church space so it’s better equipped to welcome the community.”
Virginia
From the Pentagon to politics, Bree Fram fighting for LGBTQ rights
Transgender veteran running for Congress in Va.
After being ousted from military service, Col. Bree Fram — once the highest-ranking openly transgender officer in the Pentagon — is now running for Congress.
Fram, who lives in Reston, Va., brings more than two decades of public service to her campaign. From the battlefield to the halls of the Pentagon, she spent more than 20 years working inside the federal government, often advocating for LGBTQ people and other marginalized communities from within the system.
Fram spoke with the Washington Blade about her decision to run amid sustained attacks against her — and against the LGBTQ community more broadly — from the Trump-Vance administration and far-right officials.
She said her commitment to public service began more than 22 years ago, shaped in large part by watching the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“I had grown up expecting that there was this beautiful American peace stretching into the world for the foreseeable future, and that kind of image was shattered,” Fram told the Blade. “I realized that there was a continuous price to be paid to protect our democracy, to protect our freedoms. To be able to play a small part in defending those freedoms was incredibly important to me — to be part of something larger than myself.”
Commissioned through the U.S. Air Force Officer Training School in 2003, Fram served as an astronautical engineer and rose to the rank of colonel in the U.S. Air Force before later serving in the U.S. Space Force. She remained on active duty until 2025, when she was forced out following the Trump-Vance administration’s reinstated ban on trans military service.
Fram has been married for 20 years to her spouse, Peg Fram, and they have two children.
Beyond her military service, Fram has long been involved in advocacy and leadership. She has been a member of SPARTA, a trans military advocacy organization, since 2014, served on its board of directors beginning in 2018, and was president of the organization from 2021-2023.
Most recently, Fram served as chief of the Requirements Integration Division at Headquarters, Space Force, and as co-lead of the Joint Space Requirements Integration Cell in collaboration with the Joint Staff. Previously, she was chief of the Acquisition Policies and Processes Division for the assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration.
Earlier in her career, Fram served as a materiel leader at the Air Force Research Laboratory, overseeing the development of counter-small unmanned aerial systems and offensive cyberspace technologies in support of Pentagon and intelligence community priorities, managing an annual budget exceeding $100 million.
Her previous assignments also included oversight of Air Force security cooperation in four strategically significant Middle Eastern countries and 258 foreign military sales cases valued at $15.79 billion; serving as executive officer to the Air Force director of strategic plans, where she helped integrate the 30-year, $3.6 trillion Air Force Plan; a legislative fellowship on Capitol Hill with then-U.S. Del. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam), handling military, veterans, and foreign affairs issues; and a program management role at the National Reconnaissance Office, where she led a $700 million multi-agency engineering and IT contract overseeing more than 500 personnel and supporting $40 billion in assets.
Fram also directed 24/7 worldwide operations and maintenance of mission data processing for space-based and airborne national intelligence assets and co-led the Department of the Air Force’s LGBTQ+ Initiatives Team and Barrier Analysis Working Group from 2023-2025.
She holds a master’s degree from the Air Force Institute of Technology and is a distinguished graduate of the Naval War College. Fram deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, where she worked on airborne counter-improvised explosive device technologies.
In January, Fram, alongside four other trans military officers, was given a special retirement ceremony by the Human Rights Campaign — a direct result of President Donald Trump’s 2025 Executive Order 14183, titled “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness.” The policy directed the Pentagon to adopt measures prohibiting trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people from serving in the military.
Under Virginia’s current congressional maps, Fram would challenge Congressman James Walkinshaw in a Democratic primary in the 11th Congressional District, which includes the city of Fairfax and most of Fairfax County. However, the district’s boundaries could change pending ongoing redistricting discussions in the state.
Fram emphasized that her decades working within the executive branch shaped her understanding of what it means to take — and uphold — an oath to the Constitution, even when those in power later forced her out of service solely because of her identity, not her performance.
“Through 23 years of service, I learned what it meant to fulfill that oath to the Constitution, and I wanted to continue serving,” she said. “But when this administration came in and labeled me and others like me ‘dishonorable’ and ‘disciplined liars who lack the humility required for military service,’ it hit hard. When the Supreme Court then agreed to let the administration fire all of us, I had to figure out what would allow me to continue my service in a way that was meaningful and lived up to that oath.”
After being told she would have to retire from a career she describes as her life’s calling, Fram said she began searching for another way to serve — a path that ultimately led her to run for Congress.
“I had done the work over the past couple of decades to understand the America that I believe in, that America I believe we all can be,” Fram said. “That’s where this decision came from. I believe I can fight back and fight forward for Virginians — with the knowledge I have and with a vision of the America we can be.”
That vision, she said, is one that has yet to be fully realized — despite decades of promises from Democratic leaders across all branches of government.
“This is about protecting our fundamental rights — freedom of speech, freedom to assemble, bodily autonomy, a woman’s right to choose, and the ability for queer people to live our best lives,” Fram said. “Right now, our government is throwing barriers up in front of many people. They’re strengthening them, building walls higher, and actively damaging lives.”
Fram said her leadership philosophy was shaped by watching strong, effective leaders during her time in the Air Force and Space Force — leaders who reinforced her belief that true leadership means expanding opportunity, not restricting it.
“Leadership is about tearing barriers down — not climbing over them and forcing others to suffer through the same things,” she said. “It’s about making sure the people coming up behind us have even more opportunity to go further, faster. How do we be better tomorrow than we are today? How do we fulfill our founding promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?”
One way Fram said Congress could help dismantle those barriers is by passing the Equal Rights Amendment, enshrining constitutional protections for all people — particularly LGBTQ Americans.
“Getting the Equal Rights Amendment into the Constitution is absolutely critical to the future of queer rights,” she said. “Voting rights must also be clearly protected.”
Protecting democracy itself is also among her top priorities, Fram said.
“We need to take control of the House so we can put real checks on this administration,” she said. “That allows the American people to see how this administration is actively making their lives worse and less affordable — and it’s how we ultimately throw them out and get back to making life better.”
Fram said her experience working under four presidents — including during Trump’s first term — reinforced her belief that opposition to efforts curtailing civil liberties is essential.
“The primary thing we can do to protect democracy is to get rid of this administration,” she said. “Taking control of the House gives us true investigative power. Under every rock, there is likely an impeachable offense because they are failing to faithfully execute the laws of the United States.”
For her, the message Trump is sending is clear — he and others close-minded to the LGBTQ community are threatened by the possibility of what someone truly dedicated to service can become.
“One of the reasons this administration had to throw us out and silence us was because we were an example of what was possible. We shined so brightly by meeting or exceeding every standard that they couldn’t hide us away by any other means except kicking us out.”
Fram acknowledged that her identity has been a political target since 2016, but said those attacks have never been grounded in her ability to lead or accomplish complex missions over more than two decades of service.
“If others want to attack me on my identity, I welcome it,” she said. “I’m focused on whether people can afford groceries or feel safe in their communities.”
“I’m happy to be a lightning rod for those kinds of attacks,” she added. “If it allows Democrats to advance an agenda that makes life better for Americans, they can come after me all day long. They attacked me while I was in the military, before I was ever running for office.”
On policy, Fram said affordability, health care, and safety are at the center of her agenda.
“No one should be afraid to go to the doctor or fear surprise medical bills that put them into debt,” she said. “Every American deserves access to affordable, high-quality health care.”
She also emphasized a willingness to work across party lines — even with those who previously politicized her identity — if it means delivering results for constituents.
“If someone wants to work together to make people’s lives better, I’ll work with them,” she said. “If they want to come after me based on who I am, they can waste their energy on that.”
Asked how she defines hope in the current political moment, Fram rejected the idea of passive optimism.
“Hope isn’t naive optimism,” she said. “Hope is doing the work — engaging people and bending the moral arc of the universe toward justice.”
She added that representation itself can be transformative.
“Just being in Congress changes the narrative,” Fram said. “It lets a kid say, ‘Oh my God — I could do that too.’”
Virginia
LGBTQ rights at forefront of 2026 legislative session in Va.
Repeal of state’s marriage amendment a top priority
With 2026 ramping up, LGBTQ rights are at the forefront of Virginia politics.
The repeal of Virginia’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman is a top legislative priority for activists and advocacy groups.
The Virginia Senate on Jan. 17 by a 26-13 vote margin approved outgoing state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria)’s resolution that would repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment. The Virginia House of Delegates earlier this month passed it.
Two successive legislatures must approve the resolution before it can go to the ballot.
The resolution passed in 2025. Voters are expected to consider repealing the amendment on Nov. 3.
The Virginia General Assembly opened with an introduction of a two-year budget — Virginia’s budget runs biannually.
In 2024 some funding was allocated to LGBTQ causes, and others were passed over. This year’s proposed budget leaves room for funding for a host of LGBTQ opportunities. One specific priority that Equality Virginia is promoting would ensure the state budget expands healthcare for LGBTQ individuals and extending gender affirming care.
Equality Virginia Communications Director Reed Williams told the Washington Blade the organization is also focused on passing three main budget amendments, and ensuring “LGBTQ+ students and their teachers have resources to navigate and address mental health challenges in K-12 schools.”
Along with ensuring school training, the organization wants funding in hopes of “establishing enhanced competency training for Virginia’s 988 Lifeline counselors and support staff to provide affirming care for LGBTQ+ youth.” This comes after the Trump-Vance administration shut down the specific hotline for LGBTQ young people that callers could previously reach if they called 988.
On a federal level, protections and health care access for LGBTQ people has taken a hit, as the Trump-Vance administration has continued to issue executive orders affecting the health care system. LGBTQ people no longer have federal legal health care protections, so local and state politics has become even more important for LGBTQ rights groups.
Equality Virginia has urged its supporters to call their local senators and stress the importance of voting to expand health care protections for LGBTQ people. The organization also plans to hold information sessions and a lobby day on Feb. 2.
Equality Virginia is tracking bills on its website.
Virginia
McPike prevails in ‘firehouse’ Dem primary for Va. House of Delegates
Gay Alexandria Council member expected to win 5th District seat
Gay Alexandria City Council member Kirk McPike emerged as the clearcut winner in a hastily called Jan. 20 “firehouse” Democratic primary for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Alexandria.
McPike, who was one of two gay candidates running in the four-candidate primary, received 1,279 votes or 60.5 percent, far ahead of gay public school teacher Gregory Darrall, a political newcomer who received 60 votes or 3 percent.
Former Alexandria City School Board member Eileen Cassidy Rivera came in second place with 508 votes or 24 percent and Northern Virginia criminal law defense attorney Chris Leibig finished in third place with 265 votes or 12.5 percent.
Each of the candidates expressed strong support for LGBTQ-related issues.
With less than a week’s notice, Democratic Party officials in Alexandria called the primary to select a Democratic nominee to run in the Feb. 10 special election to fill the 5th District House of Delegates seat being vacated by state Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria).
Bennett-Parker won the Democratic nomination for the Virginia State Senate seat being vacated by gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria), who is resigning from his seat to take a position in the administration of Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who took office on Jan. 17.
Bennett-Parker won the nomination for Ebbin’s state Senate seat in yet another firehouse primary on Jan. 13 in which she defeated three other candidates, including gay former state Del. Mark Levine.
McPike, a longtime LGBTQ rights advocate, first won election to the Alexandria City Council in 2021. He has served for 13 years as chief of staff for gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and has remained in that position during his tenure on the Alexandria Council. He told the Washington Blade he will continue as chief of staff until next month, when he will resign from that position before taking office in the House of Delegates.
He received the endorsement of Ebbin, U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), and the LGBTQ Victory Fund in his race for the 5th District Va. House seat. Being an overwhelmingly Democratic district, virtually all political observers expect McPike to win the Feb. 10 special election.
He will be running against Republican nominee Mason Butler, a local business executive who emerged as the only GOP candidate running for the delegate seat.
“Thank you to the voters of Alexandria for choosing me as the Democratic nominee in the House of Delegates District 5,” McPike said in a statement released shortly after the vote count was completed. “It is an incredible honor to have the opportunity to fight for our community and its values in Richmond,” he said.
“I look forward to continuing to work to address our housing crisis, the challenge of climate change, and the damaging impacts of the Trump administration on the immigrant families, LGBTQ+ Virginians, and federal employees who call Alexandria home,” he stated.
He praised Ebbin for his longstanding support for the LGBTQ community in the Virginia Legislature and added, “If elected to the House of Delegates in the Feb. 10 general election, I will continue to fight to protect the rights and freedoms of LGBTQ+ Virginians from my new position in Richmond.”
Gay candidate Darrall’s campaign website said he is a “proud progressive, lifelong educator, and labor leader running to put people first.” It says he is a political newcomer “with more than 20 years in the classroom” as a teacher who played a key role in the successful unionization of Fairfax Public Schools.
“He is a proud member and staunch supporter of the LGBTQIA+ community,” his website statement said.
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